Cardinal Bergoglio is the 267th Successor of St. Peter
1st South American, 1st Jesuit, and 1st to Take Name Francis
VATICAN CITY, March 13, 2013 - The bells of St. Peter's started ringing and the crowds began cheering just moments after 7 p.m. local time, as white smoke from the Sistine Chapel indicated "Habemus Papam." We have a Pope!
Just over an hour later, the 267th Successor of St. Peter has been announced by the senior cardinal deacon: It is Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 76, who had been serving as the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
He takes the name Francis.
The crowds in St. Peter's Square near immediately began chanting "Francesco" as they await his arrival on the central balcony for his first "urbi et orbi" blessing.
Pope Francis' 1st Words
VATICAN CITY, March 13, 2013 - Here is a translation of the brief greeting Pope Francis gave from the central balcony of St. Peter's Square following his election as the Successor of St. Peter.
* * *
Brothers and sisters, good evening!
You know that the duty of the Conclave was to give a bishop to Rome. It seems as though my brother cardinals went almost to the end of the world to get him. But here we are. I thank you for your welcome. The diocesan community of Rome has a bishop. Thank you!
Before all else, I would like to say a prayer for our Bishop Emeritus Benedict XVI. Let us all pray together for him, that the Lord may bless him and that Our Lady may watch over him …
[Our Father … Hail Mary … Glory be]
And now let us begin this journey, [together] as bishop and people. This journey of the Church of Rome, which is to preside over all the Churches in charity. It is a journey of fraternity, of love, of trust between us. Let us always pray for one another. Let us pray for the world, so that a great brotherhood may be created. I hope that this journey of the Church, which we begin today and in which my Cardinal Vicar who is present here will assist me, will be fruitful for the Evangelization of this beautiful city.
And now I would like to give you my blessing. But before I do, I would like to ask you a favor: before the bishop blesses the people, I ask you to pray to the Lord that He bless me…. the prayer of the people for a blessing upon their bishop. Let us take a moment of silence for you to offer your prayer for me.”
[Silence … the Holy Father bows]
[Cardinal N. says … “The Holy Father, Francesco …”]
“Now I will give you my blessing and to the whole world, to all men and women of good will.”
[Pope’s blessing]
Brothers and Sisters,
I leave you now. Thank you for your welcome. Pray for me. And we’ll see one another again soon. Tomorrow I want to go and pray to Our Lady, asking her to watch over Rome. Good night and have a good rest.
-------------------------------
Francis Has Spoken With Pope Emeritus
And Journalists to Be Among First to Have Papal Audience
VATICAN CITY, March 13, 2013 - According to the director of the Vatican press office, Pope Francis has spoken with his predecessor and they hope to meet in the coming days.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi briefed journalists within an hour after Francis gave his first apostolic blessing to the faithful.
Among the information given by Father Lombardi was the news that the Pope had spoken with Benedict XVI and that the two hope to meet in the next few days.
Fr. Lombardi also announced that Francis will meet with the cardinals (electors and non-electors) on Friday morning.
The next day, Saturday morning, he will meet with journalists.
The Mass for the inauguration of his pontificate is scheduled for March 19, next Tuesday, the feast of St. Joseph.
Vatican City, 13 March 2013 (VIS) –
Following is the official biography of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J.
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J.,
Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Ordinary for Eastern-rite faithful in
Argentina who lack an Ordinary of their own rite, was born on 17 December 1936
in Buenos Aires. He studied as and holds a degree as a chemical technician, but
then chose the priesthood and entered the seminary of Villa Devoto. On 11 March
1958 he moved to the novitiate of the Company of Jesus where he finished studies
in the humanities in Chile. In 1963, on returning to Buenos Aires, he obtained a
degree in philosophy at the St. Joseph major seminary of San Miguel.
Between 1964 and 1965 he taught literature and psychology at the Immacolata
College in Santa Fe and then in 1966 he taught the same subjects at the
University of El Salvador, in Buenos Aires.
From 1967 to 1970 he studied theology at
the St. Joseph major seminary of San Miguel where he obtained a degree. On 13
December 1969 he was ordained a priest. From 1970 to 1971 he completed the third
probation at Alcala de Henares, Spain, and on 22 April 1973, pronounced his
perpetual vows.
He was novice master at Villa Varilari in
San Miguel from 1972 to 1973, where he also taught theology. On 31 July 1973 he
was elected as Provincial for Argentina, a role he served as for six years.
From 1980 to 1986 he was rector of the
Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel as well as pastor of the
Patriarca San Jose parish in the Diocese of San Miguel. In March of 1986 he went
to Germany to finish his doctoral thesis. The superiors then sent him to the
University of El Salvador and then to Cordoba where he served as a confessor and
spiritual director.
On 20 May 1992, John Paul II appointed him titular Bishop of Auca and
Auxiliary of Buenos Aires, He received episcopal consecration in the Cathedral
of Buenos Aires from Cardinal Antonio Quarracino, Apostolic Nunzio Ubaldo
Calabresi, and Bishop Emilio Ognenovich. of Mercedes-Lujan on 27 June of that
year.
On 3 June 1997 he was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Buenos Aires and
succeeded Cardinal Antonio Quarracino on 28 February 1998.
He was Adjunct Relator General of the 10th Ordinary General Assembly of the
Synod of Bishops, October 2001.
He served as President of the Bishops' Conference of Argentina from 8
November 2005 until 8 November 2011.
He was created and proclaimed Cardinal by Blessed John Paul II in the
consistory of 21 February 2001, of the Title of S. Roberto Bellarmino (St.
Robert Bellarmine).
He was a member of:
The Congregations for Divine Worship and
Discipline of the Sacraments; for the Clergy; and for Institutes of Consecrated
Life and Societies of Apostolic Life; the Pontifical Council for the Family;
and the Pontifical Commission for Latin
America.
Though the public paid little notice to Cardinal Jorge Mario
Bergoglio, his name had made the rounds among a small group of cardinals who had
descended upon Rome from different parts of the globe to choose a new pope.
.On Feb. 27, a mild, dewy morning, Alitalia Flight 681 landed
at Leonardo da Vinci airport in Rome after 13 hours in the air. A balding man
with gray-white wisps of thin hair stepped out of coach class. He wore
thick-rimmed brown glasses, black orthopedic shoes and a dark overcoat. He had a
slight limp, and his back was stiff from the long flight. His belly was a bit
swollen, due to many decades of cortisone treatments to help him breathe after
he had lost part of a lung as a young man. No one could see the silver pectoral
cross he wore under his coat, though it was the symbol of his authority.
Back home in Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was
a prominent figure, the highest-ranking Catholic prelate in his country and to
many a beloved figure known especially for his work in the city's teeming slums.
Here he was one of 115 cardinals converging on Vatican City for important
business: the election of a new leader for the Catholic Church.
Two weeks earlier, Pope Benedict XVI had suddenly announced
his resignation from office, becoming the first pontiff in 600 years to renounce
a job traditionally held until death. In church teaching, the position had been
handed down for two millennia, starting when Jesus said to St. Peter, "On this
rock I will build my church."
Cardinal Bergoglio expected his trip to be brief. He was
already carrying in his black leather briefcase the airplane ticket that would
return him home in time for Holy Week, the most important week of the year for a
Catholic prelate. His Easter Sunday homily was already written too, and in the
hands of parishioners back home.
The Argentine prelate checked into the Domus Internationalis
Paulus VI hotel for priests. Named after Catholicism's 1960s "pilgrim pope" and
housed in a 17th- and 18th-century stone palazzo that once served as a Jesuit
college, the Domus is a modest affair. The floors are made of marble, but the
rooms are sparsely furnished. Meals are served in a cafeteria-style hall
decorated with large paintings of Biblical scenes.
What drew Cardinal Bergoglio to the Domus was its location.
Positioned right in the heart of Rome, near its busiest byways and cafes, the
hotel is across the Tiber River and quite a distance from Vatican City. That
allowed for long walks over cobblestone piazzas and bridges, past peddlers,
street performers and throngs of tourists, as he commuted to the General
Congregation, the secret deliberations being held inside Vatican City in the
days before the conclave began on March 12. In his dark overcoat covering his
pectoral cross, he blended in with the crowd. He didn't wear his red cardinal's
hat, instead letting his wispy white hair flutter in the wind and rain.
What goes on behind the scenes when the cardinals convene to
pick a new pope? WSJ’s Stacy Meichtry discusses the events that led to the
election of Pope Francis with Weekend Review editor Gary Rosen.
Though the public paid little notice to Cardinal Bergoglio,
his name had made the rounds among a small group of cardinals who had descended
upon Rome from different parts of the globe to choose a new pope. Though he had
drawn support in 2005, in 2013 he was definitely a dark-horse candidate. There
were a dozen or so more high-profile cardinals regarded as papabili, or
"popeables," being touted in headlines world-wide as possible successors to Pope
Benedict. These men, who included Cardinals Timothy Dolan of New York and Angelo
Scola of Milan, were accompanied by assistants and journalists. They quickly
became the toast of the town, attending sumptuous private dinners with fellow
cardinals and kissing babies at Mass before batteries of TV cameras. Their
crimson vestments, golden pectoral crosses and sizable entourages stood out.
The Italian cardinals were chauffeured to and from the walled
confines of Vatican City in jet black Mercedes marked with Holy See license
plates. They were greeted as "Your Eminence" whenever they set foot inside the
city's best trattorias. The Americans tooled around Rome in white minivans and
lodged at the sprawling Pontifical North American College, a seminary nestled on
a hill just above the Vatican.
Inside the Synod Hall of the General Congregation, however,
the cardinals blended into one red-hued assembly. Erected in the postwar era,
the space is distinguished among Vatican architecture for its lack of majesty.
Its uniformly beige interior is as sterile as a community college lecture hall.
Eight years earlier, when they gathered in the same room after the death of John
Paul II, the princes of the church had mainly looked for a candidate who could
guarantee doctrinal continuity with the late Polish pope. But Pope Benedict's
resignation had opened the door to a flurry of unusually frank discussions. This
time, cardinals had no pope to mourn, and they spent little time worrying about
how to preserve his legacy.
Instead the deliberations swiftly turned to the biggest
challenges facing the church—the rise of secular trends in Europe and the U.S.,
the need to address a shift in Catholicism's demographics toward the Southern
Hemisphere and the dysfunction of a Vatican bureaucracy that had become too
mired in scandal to do anything about these problems.
Veteran cardinals who had cast ballots for Cardinal Bergoglio
in 2005 saw a chance to float his candidacy again. His earliest supporters—a
coalition of cardinals from Latin America, as well as Africa and Europe—viewed
him as a consummate outsider. He had never worked in the Roman Curia, the
Vatican's governing body, and he was critical of Rome's apparent disconnect with
far-flung dioceses. The challenge was getting Cardinal Bergoglio the 77 votes he
needed, representing two-thirds of the conclave, to become pope. He would need
support from many different circles, including the so-called Ratzingerian
bloc—men who were already lining up behind two candidates closely associated
with the German pope emeritus.
In the years leading up to Pope Benedict's resignation, the
pontiff had positioned two princes of the church as possible successors. In June
2010, he transferred Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet from the Archdiocese of
Quebec to the Vatican in order to run the Congregation for Bishops, the Curia
office that vets and advises the pope on bishop appointments world-wide. The
naming of bishops is among a pope's most important administrative powers.
Bishops are his bridge to the rest of the world, tending to local flocks and
implementing directives from Rome. Cardinal Ouellet's move, therefore, ensured
that cardinals from every corner of the planet would be vying for his attention.
A year later, Pope Benedict appointed Cardinal Angelo Scola
as archbishop of Milan. Not only was Milan among the biggest archdioceses in
Catholicism, it had a centuries-old reputation as a way station to the papacy.
Cardinal Scola's predecessors in Milan ranged from Cardinal Giovanni Battista
Montini, who became Paul VI in 1963, to Cardinal Giuliano Angelo Medici, who was
elected as Pope Pius IV in 1559.
U.S. Cardinals Francis George, Donald Wuerl and Daniel
DiNardo on March 5. As a potential bloc of votes inside the conclave, the
Americans were powerful, outnumbered only by the Italians. They were initially
divided over papal contenders.
Both men were adherents of Pope Benedict's school of thought.
As young priests, each had worked on "Communio," the theological journal
co-founded by Rev. Joseph Ratzinger, as Benedict XVI was then known, as a
reaction to the liberalizing forces unleashed by the Second Vatican Council. As
alumni of "Communio," they were seen as standing firmly in opposition to secular
trends rather than trying to adapt church teaching to modern life.
Cardinals Scola and Ouellet were among the names frequently
discussed over private dinners among cardinals. Such meals had become a staple
for cardinals seeking an intimate setting to sound out their colleagues ahead of
the conclave. All cardinals entering the General Congregation are required to
swear an oath never to reveal its proceedings. Even then, cardinals did not
consider the Congregation a place to let their guard down. The atmosphere inside
the Synod assembly hall was fine for broad debate over the future of the church.
But the forum was too formal—and porous—for the delicate matter of discussing
actual candidates. When cardinals vote on a potential pope, they are backing a
man they think is best-suited to serve as a spiritual pastor to 1.2 billion
Catholics. But they are also picking their next boss. That is partly why
cardinals vote anonymously in the Sistine Chapel, masking their handwriting and
burning the ballots. Cardinals do not want to be on record voting against a
future pope.
The private dinners, therefore, are regarded as the conclave
within the conclave, an ostensibly casual setting that serves in fact as a
high-stakes testing ground for candidacies. "Every night it's something
different," said Chicago's Cardinal Francis George. "So there are different
conversations going on."
At age 76, Cardinal George walks with a pronounced limp and
has shed most of his hair. Yet the Chicagoan has a keen eye for the art of
politics. His knowledge of Italy's intrigue-laden political system, from the
machinations of the postwar Christian Democrats to the more recent antics of
Silvio Berlusconi, runs deep. Going into the 2013 conclave, Cardinal George's
second, he was widely regarded by his colleagues as one of a handful of
cardinals who would play the role of kingmaker. As such, he remained
tight-lipped about his dinnertime whereabouts. In the case of one meal in
particular, he claimed to have no memory of the evening at all.
On March 5, after a long day of speeches at the Congregation,
a group of cardinals arrived at the Pontifical North American College under the
cover of night and were directed through long quiet corridors to a pair of
double doors, upholstered in crimson leather. On the other side was the Red
Room.
Named after a Vatican drawing room where prelates of past
centuries once waited for news of whether they had been named a cardinal, the
Red Room of the college offered a splendorous showcase of American Catholicism
to the dinner guests. A shimmering chandelier lighted a salon trimmed with red
marble pilasters and oil paintings depicting late eminences such as Richard J.
Cushing of Boston and John F. O'Hara of Philadelphia—cardinals who dominated the
church in post-World War II America.
Before those portraits, some of the most powerful churchmen
in the English-speaking world lounged on velvet settees. They ranged from
Cardinals George Pell of Sydney and Thomas Collins of Toronto to Americans such
as cardinals Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston and Cardinal Dolan of New York,
once the North American College's rector.
.American cardinals are an important group in papal
elections. They run archdioceses that are among the biggest donors to the
Catholic Church and to the papacy. And as a potential bloc of votes inside the
conclave, the Americans are very powerful because they're outnumbered only by
cardinals from Italy, said British Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, who attended
the dinner. Often they're even more influential because the Italians are
characteristically divided over whom to support.
Sitting down at a long banquet table, the cardinals began to
discuss a half-dozen papal candidates. Saucers of soup were served. The
candidacies of Cardinals Ouellet and Scola were weighed. Then someone dropped
Cardinal Bergoglio's name into the conversation. "His name began to be thrown
into the ring: Maybe this is the man?" recalls Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor.
The name didn't generate much buzz among the Americans and
their guests. As the evening wore on, and glasses of red and white wine began to
flow, it became clear that, this time around, the Americans were not united in
their thinking about papal contenders. "I thought the American cardinals were
quite divided about where to go," said Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, who didn't
enter the conclave because he is above the voting-age limit of 80 years.
Some princes of the church believed Cardinal Bergoglio, at
76, was probably too old to become pope, especially after Benedict XVI had
specifically cited his age and frailty as reasons for his resignation. "We came
into this whole process thinking: The next pope has to be vigorous and therefore
probably younger," said Cardinal George. "So there you have a man who isn't
young. He's 76 years old. The question is: Does he still have vigor?"
Two days after the dinner, however, something clicked. And it
happened in the span of four minutes—the length of Cardinal Bergoglio's speech
when it was his turn to address the General Congregation. On March 7, the
Argentine took out a sheet of white paper bearing notes written in tiny tight
script. They were bullet-pointed.
Many cardinals had focused their speeches on specific issues,
whether it was strategies for evangelization or progress reports on Vatican
finances. Cardinal Bergoglio, however, wanted to talk about the elephant in the
room: the long-term future of the church and its recent history of failure. From
its start, Pope Benedict's papacy had been focused on reinforcing Catholicism's
identity, particularly in Europe, its historic home. Amid a collapse of the
church's influence and following in Europe, the German pontiff had called on
Catholics to hunker down and cultivate a "creative minority" whose embrace of
doctrine was sound enough to resist the pull of secular trends across the
continent. That message, however, had been overshadowed by the explosion of
sexual-abuse allegations across Europe and rampant infighting in the Vatican
ranks.
The notes on Cardinal Bergoglio's sheet were written in his
native Spanish. And he could easily have delivered the remarks in Spanish—19 of
the cardinals voting in the conclave came from Spanish-speaking countries and a
team of Vatican translators was on hand to provide simultaneous translations in
at least four other languages.
But he spoke in Italian, the language cardinals most commonly
use inside Vatican City and the native tongue of Italy's 28 voting-age
cardinals, the most of any single nation. He wanted to be understood, loud and
clear. The leaders of the Catholic Church, our very selves, Cardinal Bergoglio
warned, had become too focused on its inner life. The church was navel-gazing.
The church was too self-referential.
"When the church is self-referential," he said,
"inadvertently, she believes she has her own light; she ceases to be the
mysterium lunae and gives way to that very serious evil, spiritual worldliness."
Roman Catholicism, he said, needed to shift its focus
outward, to the world beyond Vatican City walls, to the outside. The new pope
"must be a man who, from the contemplation and adoration of Jesus Christ, helps
the church to go out to the existential peripheries, that helps her to be the
fruitful mother, who gains life from the sweet and comforting joy of
evangelizing."
The word he used, periferia in Italian, literally translates
into "the periphery" or "the edge." But to Italian ears, periferia is also a
term loaded with heavy socioeconomic connotations. It is on the periphery of
Italian cities, and most European ones, that the working-class poor live, many
of them immigrants. The core mission of the church wasn't self-examination, the
cardinal said. It was getting in touch with the everyday problems of a global
flock, most of whom were battling poverty and the indignities of socioeconomic
injustice.
German Cardinals Reinhard Marx of Munich and Walter Kasper,
an old Vatican hand, perked up. So did Cardinals Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne of
Lima and Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino of Havana, who promptly asked the pope for
the notes of his address. For days they had heard speeches about "new
evangelization," a term from past popes that many cardinals used to honor their
memory while disagreeing over what it meant. Suddenly, they were hearing someone
speak about justice, human dignity. And it was simple, clear, refreshing.
"He speaks in a very straightforward way," said Cardinal
George. "And so perhaps—more than the content—it was simply a reminder that here
is someone who has authenticity in such a way that he's a wonderful witness to
the discipleship."
To Cardinal Cipriani Thorne of Lima, Peru, the address was
vintage Bergoglio. For years, the Peruvian had heard his fellow Latin American
cardinal deliver similar remarks. And like those earlier speeches, his message
to the General Congregation walked a very fine line. Many cardinals, including
Cipriani Thorne, were stern opponents of any rhetoric that appeared to invite
class warfare. Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI had reined in liberation
theology, the teachings of Latin American priests who embraced Marxism, and
churchmen like Cipriani Thorne had supported the crackdown. But Cardinal
Bergoglio's message to cardinals deftly sidestepped those ideological pitfalls
by grounding his message in a call to model the modern church on the humility of
its origins.
"He's not relating this to ideology, to let's say, rich
against poor," Cardinal Cipriani Thorne said. "No, no, nothing like that. He's
saying that Jesus himself brought us to this world to be poor—to not have this
excessive consumerism, this great difference between rich and poor."
What many thought Cardinal Bergoglio was offering the
church—after a decade of struggling to overcome the sexual-abuse crisis and
years of internal bickering over issues like the liturgy—was a new narrative. He
was telling a story of modern Catholicism that focused less on its complex inner
workings and more on its outreach to those most in need.
"We've been arguing intra-ecclesia," Cardinal Cipriani Thorne
said. Cardinal Bergoglio's speech was a call to stop "messing around" and "get
to the point: It's Jesus."
By Sunday, March 10, two days before the start of the
conclave, a new narrative was taking hold among the cardinals. Cardinal
Bergoglio was now a contender, and even the Argentine was starting to feel the
pressure of being papabile.
Late that night, the Rev. Thomas Rosica, a Canadian priest,
was walking along the edge of Rome's Piazza Navona when he ran into Cardinal
Bergoglio making his way back to the Domus hotel. Streetlamps illuminated the
contorted stone figures of Gian Lorenzo Bernini's 17th-century Fountain of Four
Rivers. The sound of trickling water accompanied the clerics.
"Pray for me," Cardinal Bergoglio said, grasping the priest's
hands.
"Are you nervous?" Father Rosica asked.
"A little bit," the cardinal said.
—Excerpted from The Wall Street Journal's new e-book "Pope
Francis: From the End of the Earth to Rome," available at
PopeFrancisTheBook.com.
A
version of this article appeared April 13, 2013, on page C1 in the U.S. edition
of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Fifteen Days in Rome How the Pope
as Picked.
15 May, 2013: Cardinal Schönborn says the
Argentinean cardinal’s election was the result of a series of “supernatural
signs” which appeared prior to the Conclave and later on in the Sistine Chapel
Andrea
Tornielli
The Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Schönborn, said that in
the run up to the papal election, he had personally had two “strong signs” that
the Argentinean candidate, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was “the chosen one”.
The
Austrian cardinal is a former pupil of Joseph Ratzinger’s and was one of the
favourites to succeed Benedict XVI in the last Conclave, spoke about Francis’
election at a conference held in the Royal Albert Hall in London. Five thousand
people attended the conference organised by the Anglican church of Holy Trinity
Brompton.
According
to British daily The Telegraph, Schönborn said “only divine intervention could
explain the speed with which the Argentine Cardinal - who did not feature on any
of the main lists of likely candidates compiled by Vatican experts - was
elected.”
The Archbishop of Vienna explained that on the evening of 12
March when the Conclave began, none of the cardinals knew who was going to be
chosen: “It was a tremendous experience of the Holy Spirit ... We were driven by
the Holy Spirit to this man – he was sitting in the last corner of the Sistine
Chapel: This man he is the chosen one.”
Schönborn
added “I received at least two strong signs: one I can tell, the other was in
the Conclave I can’t speak about – but real signs of the Lord giving me
indication ‘he is the one’.” The cardinal explained that straight after the “pro
eligendo Pontifice” Mass, or the Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff,
celebrated by cardinals on the morning of 12 March in St. Peter’s Square, he
bumped into a Latin American couple who are friends of his.
Cardinal Schönborn said:“I met them outside the Basilica and I asked: ‘You have the Holy Spirit,
can you give me advice for the Conclave that will start in a few hours?’ And the
woman whispered in my ear ‘Bergoglio’, and it hit me really: if these people say
Bergoglio, that’s an indication of the Holy Spirit.”
The cardinal also received a second sign during the Conclave
which concluded in the late afternoon the following day, on 13 March. “I’m sure
many of us received similar signs during the Conclave, it wouldn’t have been
possible to have this election so soon and so rapidly,” the cardinal said.
The comments made by Vienna’s archbishop give some idea of
the dynamics of what went on in the Sistine Chapel. Given his educational
background (he is a member of the Communio group) and his friendship with the
men in question, it was widely believed Schönborn would vote for one of the
candidates tipped as possible successors to Benedict XVI, i.e. the Archbishop of
Milan, Cardinal Angelo Scola and the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops,
Marc Ouellet. But his latest statements seem to indicate this was not the case
at all and that he had in fact intended to vote for the Argentinean candidate
right from the start.
ROME, May 06, 2013 - February
11, 2013, did not only shift the plates of the earth for the church, but
marked a seismic shift in my life. Early that morning in Rome, the pope
resigned and caught the world and the church off guard. When my colleague
and friend, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press
Office, phoned and asked me to come quickly to Rome to assist him, I
understood that help was needed in dealing with a deluge of media requests
in the aftermath of the pope’s surprise resignation.
Having run World Youth Day in Canada in 2002, founded and led Salt and
Light Catholic Television Network in Canada since 2003, and served as the
Vatican-appointed media attaché at two world Synods of Bishops in 2008 and
2012, I had some idea of media work for the church. But nothing came close
to the daunting experience of serving as a Vatican spokesperson during Lent
2013. The adventure included a papal resignation, the sede vacante (or
interregnum), a conclave taking place without the atmosphere of a papal
funeral, and the surprise election of the first pope from the Americas — not
just any pope, but a Jesuit pope — the first modern pope to have been
ordained to the priesthood after the Second Vatican Council.
Over the next month, I experienced not a deluge but a tsunami of images,
stories, encounters, people and opportunities that would change the life and
direction of the church! Thank God I was accompanied by one of the young
producers from Salt and Light Television in Canada, Sebastian Gomes.
Together we worked day and night, and Sebastian kept me steady through the
experience.
The resignation
Pope Benedict’s resignation may have shocked many in the church and in
the world, but personally, I was not surprised. The pope had been alluding
to a possible resignation for the past few years. With the announcement of
his resignation, a brilliant theologian and teacher who had been the
champion of tradition and was labeled “conservative” left us with one of the
most progressive gestures made by any pope. Acknowledging what he called his
“incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me,” this
eminently shy man known for exquisite kindness, charity, gentleness and
humility offered a final, provocative teaching moment that shook the world.
We had no playbook, script or notes left behind by Pope Celestine V, (Pietro
del Morrone, a Benedictine monk) who, overwhelmed by the demands of the
office, stepped down after five months as pope in 1294.
If Blessed John Paul II taught us the important lesson of suffering and
death with dignity, Joseph Ratzinger taught us the meaning of sweet
surrender — of not clinging to power and the throne, to prestige, tradition
and privilege for their own sakes. He truly was for us, Joseph, our brother
— the one many refused to accept in the beginning, but in the end,
recognized and embraced as a beloved brother.
One of the most poignant moments of my Roman sojourn took place on Feb.
28, the last day of Benedict’s pontificate. His departure from the Apostolic
Palace and the Vatican captured the heart and mind of the world. The
farewell from his coworkers on that crisp, Italian afternoon, the brief
helicopter flight to Castel Gandolfo, his final words as pope, reminding us
that he would become “a pilgrim” in this final stage of his life, touched us
deeply. There were no dry eyes in Rome that night. The whole departure
reminded me of that emotional moment in the Acts of the Apostles (chapter
20) when Paul took leave of the elders at Ephesus.
Sede vacante
Once the pontificate ended, our work multiplied in spades! Together with
Father Lombardi and Father Gil Tamayo from Spain, we led the daily press
briefings for hundreds of accredited journalists from every corner of the
globe. Our colleagues nicknamed us “the Trinity.” More than 6,000
journalists descended upon Rome, and they were hungry for information. We
had to make choices: either contribute to a media vacuum that would soon be
filled with all the wrong elements, or provide a media buffet of information
that would assist our colleagues in telling the world a great story
unfolding before our eyes.
The Vatican strategy of spreading the table began to bear fruit. As
cardinals gathered in Rome and met in secret sessions to assess the state of
the church and come up with a profile for the next pope, we answered
countless hundreds of media questions on a daily basis. I was asked to
handle requests in English and thus worked 18-hour days with television,
print and radio media from every corner of the globe. I lost count after
doing 165 television and radio interviews with every possible network you
can imagine — first in English, then French, Spanish, Italian and German.
Questions coming to us at press conferences and briefings revealed an
immense interest in things church! From the color of the retired pontiff’s
shoes, to the seals that would be put on the papal apartments, to the
destruction of the ring of the fisherman and papal seals, to modified,
detailed rules and regulations for conclave behavior, to the chemical
products that would be used to produce the smoke — the world was watching
and listening. I chucked several times thinking that the church had made
great strides these past years in social communications, but that for such a
major event as a conclave, we still relied on smoke signals.
The issues addressed by the cardinals during their intense pre-conclave
meetings were wide-ranging: from the state of affairs of the church, to
major challenges of evangelization; the relationship of the Roman Curia to
local churches; from the “Vatileaks” that had plagued Pope Benedict’s
pontificate to fallout from the sex-abuse scandals throughout the world and
administrative and communication challenges occurring at church’s highest
level — all of these were topics of discussion during the interregnum. And
through it all, the question intensified each day: “Who is the man that can
handle this?”
The conclave
When the College of Cardinals finally entered into conclave on Tuesday,
March 12, the excitement and expectation was palpable. I was invited to be
inside the Sistine Chapel during the opening rites of the conclave for the
majestic procession, solemn ritual, prayer and oath taking of the cardinals.
When we entered, several things struck me in that hallowed space. When I was
a boy, I used to watch movies on TV about everything that happened here. Yet
on that day, watching cardinals processing slowly up the specially
constructed ramp, I realized that this was not a movie or a political
campaign, but a deeply moving, spiritual experience. I had chills going up
my spine as I heard the Sistine Choir chanting the Litany of the Saints and
the “Veni Creator.”
I looked at the solemn faces of those cardinals, many of whom I knew, and
saw not just men in scarlet robes but also their countries — and I imagined
their people back home praying for them. I heard their voices resound in the
chapel as each cardinal placed his hand on the book of the Gospel and
pronounced the oath in accented Latin, standing before Michaelangelo’s
stunning wall of redemption and under the story of creation on the Sistine
ceiling. One of their lives would be radically changed in that room. And the
words Extra omnes had a direct impact on me, since I was one of the last
people to be ushered out of the Sistine Chapel before the voting began.
An early Easter
If one relied only on reports in the Italian media during those days, one
would think we were at the horse races. As much as Italy tried to dominate
the whole process — and delight in the “Vatileaks” that continued to flow
during the pre-conclave meetings — they got it all wrong, as did many others
throughout the world who stared in utter amazement when the white smoke
finally billowed out of that watched chimney.
I will never forget the experience of that Wednesday evening when the
white smoke appeared. It was a cold, rainy evening, and thousands of people
ran to St. Peter’s Square. Though deep into Lent, it was like Holy Saturday
night, with everyone awaiting something unexpected and new. With the words
Habemus Papam came the name of a stranger, an outsider, who instantly won
over the crowd in the piazza and the entire world with the words, Fratelli e
Sorelle, buona sera! (Brothers and sisters, good evening!) Who would believe
a pontificate beginning with those simple, common words?
And never in my wildest imaginings did I expect a pope to be called
Francis! Nor could I comprehend the scene of several hundred thousand
cheering people suddenly become still and silent as Papa Franceso bowed and
asked them to pray for him and pray over him. It was the most moving moment
I have ever experienced at a Vatican celebration. His words “Pray for me”
still resound in my ears. They were words Cardinal Bergoglio had spoken to
me twice during the week before the conclave as we met on the streets of
Rome together!
From the very first moments, Francis stressed his role with the ancient
title of “Bishop of Rome” who presides in charity, echoing the famous
statement of Ignatius of Antioch. We cannot underestimate his repeated use
of this term, which is of great significance not only for the continuation
of ecumenical dialogue — above all with Orthodox churches — but also within
the Catholic Church itself.
If Blessed John Paul II was the pilgrim pope and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
the great, intellectual pope, Pope Francis is the pastoral pope, who is very
close to the people, and a shepherd who does not exclude anyone, but who
emphasizes and loves what Christ emphasized and loved — the poor, the sick,
the marginal. Pope Francis, in continuity with his predecessors and with
simple gestures and words, has shown us how to express and communicate the
joy of being human. He has called on priests to bring the healing power of
God’s grace to everyone in need, to stay close to the marginalized and to be
“shepherds living with the smell of the sheep.”
His gestures and simple words flow from his episcopal and now papal
motto: miserando et eligendo. Jesus’ gaze of merciful tenderness
(miserando), shows this patience of God which — according to an ancient
insight expressed in our day is his response to human weakness. Taken from
St. Bede’s commentary on the call of Matthew, these words express Jesus’
whole approach to people — having mercy on others and inviting them
(eligendo) to follow him. These are the bare essentials of the Christian
faith.
Remembering Lent 2013
Many close friends, colleagues and confreres asked me during my Roman
Lenten journey: “How did you survive in the midst of chaos at the Vatican, a
resigned pope, intrigue among cardinals, scandals and back-room skullduggery
going on inside the Vatican?” I smiled, because I experienced none of these
things. Rather, I encountered a warm welcome from the Roman Curia, an
incredible interest in all things church from many of the 6,000-plus
journalists accredited to those momentous events. I celebrated Mass early
each morning with my colleague Sebastian, either in the Jesuit Generalate on
Borgo Santo Spirito, or at a side altar in St. Peter’s Basilica or in the
Vatican crypt. Then we went to work.
For four solid weeks this past Lent, we had a golden opportunity to
teach, catechize and evangelize the nations and put into practice last
fall’s Synod on the New Evangelization. I came away from the whole
experience with a renewed sense of wonder and awe, profound gratitude and
rekindled joy. This reality we call Catholicism has weathered many storms
and withstood the fury of the gates of hell. It is a story about real
people, real things and seismic changes that happened to them. These real
people staked their lives, and continue to do so, not on fables and
fantasies, but on what they came to understand as the truth, the bedrock for
shepherds named Angelo Roncalli, Giovanni Battista Montini, Albino Luciani,
Karol Wojtyla, Joseph Ratzinger and Jorge Mario Bergoglio — the popes of my
lifetime, whose lives and names were radically changed in the Sistine
Chapel. It is that same truth that we tried to serve those unforgettable
Lenten days as we told the world an ancient, at times incredible story that
continues to excite and entice the whole world.\
* * *
Fr. Thomas Rosica is the CEO of Canada's Salt and Light Television
What Can We Learn About Francis From His Earlier Teachings?
BUENOS AIRES, April 11, 2013 - What
does Pope Francis think about subjects such as bioethics, the family,
education, youth, political power, human trafficking, social justice, and
other themes?
The archbishopric of Buenos Aires shared a number of texts that are very
enlightening on these and other issues, drawn from from the teaching of
Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio.
Provided below are ZENIT translations of the excerpts:
Abortion
Abortion is never a solution. On our part, we must listen, support and
understand in order to save two lives: respect the smallest, defenseless
human being, adopt measures that can preserve his life, allow his birth and
then be creative in seeking ways that will lead to his full development
(September 16, 2012).
Defense of Life
To those who were scandalized when
Jesus dined with sinners, with publicans, He said: "publicans and
prostitutes will precede you," they were the worst at the time. Jesus
doesn't put up with. They are the ones who have clericalized -- to use a
word that is understood -- the Lord's Church. They fill her with precepts,
and I say it with sorrow, and if it seems like a criticism or an offense,
forgive me, but in our ecclesiastical region there are priests who don't
baptize the children of unmarried mothers because they weren't conceived in
the holiness of matrimony. These are today's hypocrites. Those who have
clericalized the Church. Those who take the people of God away from
salvation. And that poor girl, who could have aborted her child, had the
courage to bring him into the world, and goes from parish to parish seeking
someone who will baptize him (September 2, 2012).
Education
When I saw the text before the Mass,
I began to think of the way those first communities lived and today's Mass.
And I wondered if our educational endeavor shouldn't be directed to
achieving harmony: harmony in all boys and girls who have been entrusted to
us, inner harmony, harmony of their personality. It is by working as a
potter, imitating God, shaping the life of these children, that we will be
able to achieve harmony, and rescue them from the dissonances that are
always dark. Instead, harmony is luminous, clear, it is light. The harmony
of a growing heart, which we support in this educational endeavor, is the
one that must be achieved. (…) I often think, when I see this very relative
existentialism that is proposed to youngsters everywhere and which has no
point of reference, of our Buenos Aires prophet: "Give him anything …
everything is the same, after all we will meet in the furnace." Then these
youngsters, who have no idea of limits and are hurtling toward the future,
are in the furnace! Now! And we are going to meet in the furnace! And in the
future we'll have men and women in the furnace! (April 18, 2012).
Human Trafficking
Today in this city we want the cry
heard, God's question: Where is your brother? May that question of God run
through all the city's neighborhoods, run through our hearts, and above all
may it also enter the hearts of the modern "Cains." Perhaps someone will
ask: What brother? Where is your slave brother, the one whom you are killing
every day in the clandestine workshop, in the network of prostitution, in
the huts of youngsters that you use for mendacity, as a "bell" for the
distribution of drugs, for robbery, prostituting them? Where is your brother
who, as homeless, has to work in secret because he is yet to be formalized.
Where is your brother? And, in face of this question, we can behave as the
priest did who passed by the one who was wounded, we can pretend we are
distracted, as the Levite did, looking away because the question is not
directed to me but to someone else. The question is for everyone! Because,
established in this city is the trade of persons, that aberrant crime of the
Mafia (as it was so rightly described a few days ago by an official): Mafia
and aberrant crime! (September 25, 2012).
Social Issue
Little by little we get used to
hearing and seeing through the media the black chronicle of contemporary
society, presented almost with perverse rejoicing, and we also get used to
touching it and feeling it around us and in our own flesh. The drama is on
the street, in the neighborhood, in our home, and why not say it, in our
heart. We coexist with violence that kills, which destroys families, fuels
wars and conflicts in so many countries worldwide. We coexist with envy,
hatred, calumny, worldliness in our heart. The suffering of the innocent and
peaceful does not cease to strike us, contempt for the rights of the most
fragile persons and peoples who are not that far from us, the reign of money
with its demonic effects, such as drugs, corruption, the trade of persons,
including children, together with material and moral poverty are the current
currency. The destruction of fitting work, painful emigrations and the lack
of a future are also added to this symphony. Our errors and sins as Church
are not excluded from this great picture. The most personal egoisms are
justified and not because of this are they lesser, the lack of ethical
values in a society that metastasizes in families, which in the coexistence
of neighborhoods, towns and cities speak to us of our limitation, of our
weakness, and of our inability to transform this numberless list of
destructive realities.
Evangelization
It is not enough that our truth is
orthodox and our pastoral action effective. Without the joy of beauty, truth
becomes cold and even displaced and arrogant, as we see happens in the
speech of many bitter fundamentalists. It seems they chew ashes instead of
tasting the glorious sweetness of the Truth of Christ, who illumines with
meek light the whole of reality, assuming it as it is every day. Without the
joy of beauty, the work for good becomes somber efficiency, as we see
happening in the action of many activists who are carried away. It would
seem that they are cloaking reality with statistical mourning, instead of
anointing it with the interior oil of joy which transforms hearts, one by
one, from within (April 22, 2011).
Defense of Marriage
At stake is the identity and survival of the family: father, mother and
children. At stake is the life of so many children who will be discriminated
in advance, depriving them of the human maturation that God wills to happen
with a father and a mother. At stake is a frontal rejection of God's law,
imprinted, moreover, in our hearts. Let us not be naïve: it is not about a
simple political struggle, it is the pretension to destroy God's plan. It is
not a question of a mere legislative project (the latter is only the
instrument) but of a "move" of the father of lies who tries to confuse and
deceive the children of God (July 8, 2010).
Social Justice
It is justice that rejoices the heart: when there is enough for everyone,
when one sees that there is equality, equity, and each one has what he
needs. When one sees that there is enough for all, if one is a good person,
one feels a special joy in the heart. Each one's heart is enlarged and is
fused with that of others and it makes us love the homeland. The homeland
flourishes when we see "noble equality on the throne," as our national
anthem well states. Injustice, instead, darkens everything. How sad it is
when one sees that there is enough for all and yet this is not achieved (…)
To say "all the youngsters" is to say all the future. To say "all the
retired" is to recount our whole history." Our people know that the whole is
greater than the parts, and that is why we ask for "bread and work for all."
How contemptible, instead, is the one who hoards only for his today, the one
who has a small, egotistical heart and thinks only of fingering a slice that
he won't take with him when he dies. Because no one takes anything. I have
never seen a mving truck following a funeral cortege. My grandmother used to
say to us: "the shroud has no pockets" (August 7, 2012).
Faith
The experience of faith places us in the experience of the Spirit, marked
by the capacity to begin our journey. There is nothing more opposed to the
Spirit than to install oneself, to be shut-in on oneself. When one does not
pass through the door of Faith, the door closes, the Church closes, the
heart withdraws into itself and fear and the evil spirit sour the Good News.
When the chrism of faith dries and becomes rancid the evangelizer no longer
infects but loses his fragrance, constituting himself often a source of
scandal and alienation for many.
He who believes is the recipient of the Beatitude that runs through the
Gospel, and that resonates throughout history, on Elizabeth's lips: "happy
are you for you believed," or addressed by Jesus himself to Thomas: "Happy
are those who believe without seeing!" (June 9, 2012)
Political Power
The "madness" of the commandment to love, which the Lord proposes and
defends in our being, also dispels the other daily "madnesses," which
deceive and harm, and end up by impeding the realization of the nation's
project. They are relativism and power as the sole ideology. Relativism
that, with the excuse of respect for differences, homogenizes by
transgression and demagogy, allowing everything so as not to assume the
vexation which calls for mature courage to support values and principles.
Curiously, relativism is absolutist and totalitarian, it does not allow
anyone to differ from relativism itself, in no way does it differ from "be
quiet" or "don't get involved." Power as sole ideology is another lie. If
ideological prejudices deform the way one sees one's neighbor and society,
given one's own certainties and fears, power as the sole ideology
accentuates the persecuting and prejudiced focus that "all positions are
power schemes" and "all seek to dominate others." Thus social trust is
eroded that, as I pointed out, is the root and fruit of love (May 25, 2012).
Crisis
The symptoms of disenchantment are varied, but perhaps the clearest are
the "custom-made" enchantments: the enchantment of technology which always
promises better things; the enchantment of an economy, which offers almost
unlimited possibilities in all aspects of life, to those who succeed in
being included in the system; the enchantment of minor religious proposals,
according to the need. Disenchantment has an eschatological dimension. It
attacks indirectly, putting a stop to any definitive attitude and, in its
place, suggests those little enchantments that are like "islands" or
"truces" in face of the lack of hope, given the pace of the world in
general. Hence, the only human attitude to break the spell of enchantments
and disenchantments is to place ourselves before ultimate things and ask
ourselves in hope: Are we ascending from good to better or descending from
bad to worse? Then doubt arises. Can we answer? As Christians, do we have
the word and the gestures that indicate the way of hope for our world? Are
we, like the disciples of Emmaus and those who stayed in the Cenacle, the
first to need help? (May 8, 2011).
Humility
The Gospel passage speaks to us of humility. Humility reveals to human
self-conscious littleness the potentials it has in itself. In fact, the more
conscious we are of our gifts and limitations, both together, the freer we
will be from the blindness of arrogance. And just as Jesus praises the
Father for this revelation to the little ones, we should also praise the
Father for having May's sun shine on those who trusted in the gift of
liberty, liberty that sprouted in the heart of a nation that wagered on
greatness without losing sight of its littleness (May 25, 2011).
Simple People
The wisdom of thousands of women and men who queue to travel and to work
honestly, to bring daily bread to the table, to save and, little by little,
buy bricks to improve their home … Thousands upon thousands of children with
their pinafores go through passages and streets coming and going from home
to school, and from school to home. Meanwhile the grandparents who
accumulate popular wisdom, get together to share and recount anecdotes. The
crises and manipulations will pass; the contempt of the powerful will corner
them in misery, they will be offered the suicide of drugs, of lack of
control and violence; they will be tempted by the hatred of vengeful
resentment. But the humble, no matter what their position or social
condition, will appeal to the wisdom of the one who feels himself a child of
a God who is not distant, who accompanies them with the Cross and encourages
them with the Resurrection in those miracles, the daily achievements, which
encourage them to rejoice in sharing and celebrating (May 25, 2011).
New Evangelization
God lives in the city and the Church lives in the city. The mission is
not opposed to learning from the city – from its cultures and changes –
while we go out to preach the Gospel. And this is fruit of the Gospel
itself, which interacts with the earth on which the seed falls. Not only is
the modern city a challenge but the whole city, every culture, every
mentality and every human heart has been, is and will be a challenge.
Contemplation of the Incarnation, which Saint Ignatius presents in the
Spiritual Exercises, is a good example of the attitude we propose here. An
attitude that is not bogged down in a dualism, which constantly comes and
goes, of diagnostics for planning, but is dramatically involved in the
reality of the city and is committed to it in action. The Gospel is an
accepted kerygma that compels to be transmitted. Mediations are elaborated
while we live and coexist (August 25, 2011).
Mary
God was lacking something to be able to enter humanly in our history: He
needed a mother, and He asked us for her. She is the Mother whom we look to
today, the daughter of our people, the handmaid, the pure one, the only one
of God; the discreet one who makes room for her Son to fulfill the sign, the
one who is always making possible this reality but not as owner or as
protagonist, but as handmaid, the star that is able to go out so that the
Sun can manifest itself. So is Mary's mediation to which we refer today.
Mediation of the woman who did not renege her maternity, she assumed it from
the beginning; a maternity with a double birth, one in Bethlehem and the
other on Calvary; a maternity that contains and supports her Son's friends,
He who is the only reference until the end of time. And so Mary continues
among us, "situated in the very center of that 'enmity' of the proto-Gospel,
of that struggle that accompanies the history of humanity" (Cf. Redempt.
Mater 11). A Mother who makes spaces possible for Grace to come. Grace that
revolutionizes and transforms our existence and our identity: the Holy
Spirit who makes us adoptive children, frees us from all slavery and, in a
real and mystical possession, gives us the gift of liberty and cries out,
from within us, the invocation of the new belonging: Father! (November 7,
2011).
ROME, April 25, 2013 - Jesuit
Father Juan Carlos Scannone was teaching Greek and literature in 1957,
when a young Jorge Bergoglio was among his students.
Father Scannone is today retired
from the philosophy faculty at the Faculty of Philosophy of San Miguel,
where the future Pope studied. He now heads the Institute of
Philosophical Research, as well as being an adviser of the Justice and
Solidarity office of Latin American bishops' council (CELAM).
Father Scannone recalled his former student in this email interview
with ZENIT.
ZENIT: When did you meet Jorge Mario Bergoglio and what relation have
you had with him?
Father Scannone: I have known Pope Francis since he was a seminarian
of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, I believe since 1957, before he
entered the Jesuit novitiate. I was then his professor of Greek and
Literature, because Jorge Mario already had his Bachelor’s degree, but
he had to spend two years in the Minor Seminary to study Latin, forming
part of the “Latinists,” young men who had already finished secondary
school but had not studied Classic Humanities.
Later, on my return from studying in Europe, in 1967, I met him again
as a student of Theology at the Faculty of Theology. We were living in
the same religious House, the Colegio Maximo de San Jose. When I was
Novice Master, although he lived in another House, I gave him spiritual
direction. Later, we lived in the same Colegio Maximo, for most of his
six years as Provincial (1973-1979) and his six additional years as
Rector both of the said Colegio as well as of the Faculties of
Philosophy and Theology of San Miguel (1979-1985). He was professor of
Pastoral Theology at the Faculty of Theology, and I was professor of
Philosophical Theology at the Faculty of Philosophy. We had a daily and
very cordial relation.
ZENIT: How did Jorge Bergoglio direct the Church in Buenos Aires?
What were his principal virtues?
Father Scannone: Although San Miguel is a different diocese from that
of Buenos Aires, from the testimonies of others and the public at large
I can say that his governance was, on one hand, very pastoral, with
special care for what he calls the “faithful people” and their popular
piety, especially the poor. And on the other hand, his was a spiritual
governance that impressed the young priests. He openly supported the
“slum priests,” those who worked in the slums or favelas, and he visited
them frequently. He promoted “pastoral conversion,” of which the
Document of Aparecida talks, trying to put the Church in a state of
mission, encouraging the pastoral agents and pastors not to wait for the
faithful in the churches, but to go out to the streets and squares,
seeking everyone, especially the most excluded. He strongly promoted
interreligious dialogue with Judaism and Islam, Argentina being one of
the places where, thanks to the mediation of the Catholic Church, Islam
and Judaism are in fruitful dialogue. His style was always spiritual,
simple and austere, with unexpected gestures of personal charity, paying
attention at the same time to the public and political realm, and to
specific persons.
ZENIT: How are the Jesuits of Buenos Aires living these first days of
the Argentine Pope’s pontificate?
Father Scannone: There is great joy among the Argentine Jesuits and
much hope, especially on seeing the symbolic gestures that the new Pope
is making, and his first decisions. Moreover, the very fact that he is
Latin American is a sort of revolution in the Church and a real sign of
the times and of the present transformations.
ZENIT: Do you have a special memory of Jorge Bergoglio as cardinal?
Father Scannone: I have many
memories, but I wish to give the testimony of a friend of mine, who was
an expert at Aparecida. When, before the Conference, the latter asked
the cardinal on what it should necessarily be centered, the cardinal
answered “Christ and the poor.” I think this is an apt picture of him.
ZENIT: Of all the struggles the Pope had to face as cardinal in
Argentina, which was the principal one in your opinion?
Father Scannone: It’s not easy to
answer this question. At least it can be said that, among the principal
struggles he had to face, there were two that are related to the present
mission of the Society of Jesus according to the General Congregations,
namely, “the service of the faith and the promotion of justice.” He had
to struggle very much against unjust poverty and anxiety in his diocese,
in the country and in Latin America, practising pastorally and publicly
the preferential option for the poor, as well as fighting in favor of
evangelization, especially of young people. He was worried about the
rupture in the transmission of the faith in the family, between the
generations, as before the transmission of the faith was almost
spontaneous, but now it’s being lost.
Cardinal Bergoglio's Dialogues With Rabbi
Released in Book Form
"On Heaven and Earth" Gives Taste of Pope's Thought on Variety of
Subjects
By Edward Pentin
ROME, April 18, 2013 - Unlike
his immediate predecessor, Pope Francis' ideas and opinions are not
well known outside his home archdiocese, also because before he was
elected Pope he had written very little and given few interviews to
the media.
So when the English translation of
"On Heaven and Earth" – a 2010 dialogue between Cardinal Jorge
Bergoglio and Argentine Rabbi Abraham Skorka – hits bookstores on
Friday, one can expect sales to be brisk.
Published by Image Books with
the subtitle: "Pope Francis on Faith, Family and the Church in the
21st Century," it offers precious insights into Pope Francis’
thoughts on a wide variety of issues, from abortion and same-sex
"marriage" to euthanasia and capitalism.
The Pope begins by underlining the importance of dialogue which,
he stresses, “is born from a respectful attitude toward the other
person, from a conviction that the other person has something good
to say.” He and the rabbi then embark on a civilized and frank
discussion, each sharing their own perspectives.
Divided into 29 chapters according to topic, an early theme
concerns the Devil. One trait many have noticed and praised in Pope
Francis is his readiness to single out the Devil’s works in his
homilies, and in “On Heaven and Earth” he offers an explanation.
“Maybe his [the Devil’s] greatest achievement in these times has
been to make us believe that he does not exist, and that all can be
fixed on a purely human level,” he says, adding: “Man’s life on
Earth is warfare; Job says it, meaning that people are constantly
put to the test; that is to say, a test to overcome a situation and
overcome oneself.”
On the subject of
paedophilia, Bergoglio is forthright, strongly opposing moving
guilty priests from one parish (he describes it as “stupid”) and
admiring Benedict XVI’s “courage and straightforwardness” in
enforcing zero tolerance for such a crime.
Cardinal Bergoglio frequently stresses the importance of free
will in the book, and opposes any forms of clericalism and
fundamentalism. A priest should never impose the faith but simply
present and defend Church teaching with clarity, he frequently says.
“The priest who adopts an
attitude of only being a boss, like in fundamentalist groups,
nullifies and emasculates those who are searching for God,” he says.
“The priest, in his role as teacher, instructs, proposes the truth
as it is revealed, and accompanies.”
Without specifying, he refers to “restorationist factions” that
have “continued to multiply” and which he considers fundamentalists.
For young people, he says such rigid religiosity, which tells them
“do this, do that”, can lead to poor preparation for life, an
inability to handle crises and the shortcomings of others. It
results in preventing them from knowing and understanding the mercy
of God, he argues.
“This type of religiosity is disguised with doctrines that claim
to give justifications, but in reality deprive people of their
freedom and do not allow them to grow as persons,” Cardinal
Bergoglio says. “A large number end up living a double life.”
He goes on to say that such fundamentalism is an “opiate” because
it takes people away from the living God and reduces the Divine “to
a being you can manage with prescriptions.” It is a form of “buying
comfort, well-being, fortune and happiness,” he says, “but it leaves
behind the living God, He that accompanies you along the way.”
On euthanasia, the future Pope says he believes a kind of “covert
euthanasia” is taking place: “Our social security pays up until a
certain amount of treatment and then says 'may God help you.' The
elderly are not taken care of as they should be, but rather they are
treated as discarded material.”
Turning to abortion, Cardinal Bergoglio puts religion aside in
order to stress that from a scientific view, the genetic code of a
person is present at the moment of conception, already making him a
human being. “Abortion is killing someone that cannot defend
himself,” he says simply.
He goes on to discuss with Rabbi Skorka the issue of same-sex
"marriage" which he describes as an “anti-value”, and “anthropologic
regression”. It is a weakening of the institution of marriage, an
institution that has existed for thousands of years and is “forged
according to nature and anthropology.”
But again, the cardinal stresses the importance of free will –
including the freedom to sin. Although a priest has the right to
give an opinion if it is in service to the people, he “does not have
the right to force anything on anyone’s private life,” Bergoglio
says. “If God, in creation, ran the risk of making us free, who am I
to get involved?”. He says “one has to speak very clearly about
values, limits, commandments, but spiritual and pastoral harassment
is not allowed.”
On humility, Cardinal Bergoglio says it is a virtue that “gives
assurance that the Lord is there.” But when someone is
“self-sufficient, when he has all the answers to every question, it
is proof that God is not with him.” Self-sufficiency, he adds, “is
evident in every false prophet, in the misguided religious leaders
that use religion for their own ego.”
When discussing politics, the future pontiff says the preaching
of human and religious values has a political consequence “whether
we like it or not," but the challenge is to propose values “without
interfering” in “partisan politics.” And he criticises the press for
reducing what he says to “whatever is opportune.” “Today, from two
or three facts, the media spins something different: they
misinform,” Cardinal Bergoglio says.
Later, he says religious leaders have the obligation to defend
values but not to preach “against so and so.”
“We do not preach against anyone,” he says. “We refer to the
value that is in danger and that must be safeguarded.” And again, he
chastises the media, which he says is “sometimes infected with
hepatitis” because of “their yellow colour” and tendency to “jump
out and say 'Harsh rebuke to so and so.'"
Bergoglio is characteristically strident when it comes to
discussing capitalism and communism. Capitalism, he says, “has its
own spiritual perversion” by taming religion, so that it doesn’t
bother capitalism too much, thereby giving it a “certain
transcendence, but only a little bit.” Communism’s spiritual
perversion is to reject the transcendent because it believes it
“paralyzes man” and does not allow him to progress. Both
perversions, he says, are manifestations of worldliness.
Regarding care for the poor, the cardinal differentiates between
genuine works of charity and “social-conscience calming activities”
carried out in order that a person “feel good about oneself.” But
love, he says, “requires a person to go out from himself, to truly
give oneself to others.” He then gives as an example a Church
charity auction in which a gold Rolex was auctioned off. “What a
disgrace [and] bad use of charity,” he says. “It sought a person who
would use this watch for vanity in order to feed the poor.”
What the poor need most, he says, is a job to give him dignity,
and he must not be looked upon with disgust. “He must be looked at
in the eyes,” he says, and later repeats. The great danger when
aiding the poor is falling into an attitude of “protective
paternalism” that doesn’t allow them to grow.
A characteristic Pope
Francis’ most admires is meekness, but he stresses it is not
synonymous with weakness. “A religious leader can be very strong,
very firm, but without exercising aggression,” he contends, and, as
he has often said since his election, the true power of religious
leadership comes from service.
He sounds a hopeful note,
arguing that the “religious search” for God among most people
“continues to be strong, though somewhat disorientated outside
institutional structures.” He says “evangelizations is essential,
but not proselytism,” which, “today – thanks be to God – is crossed
out of the pastoral dictionary.” Quoting Benedict XVI - “the Church
is a proposal that is reached by attraction, not by proselytism” –
Cardinal Bergoglio says the faith is about “attraction through
testimony.”
There is plenty more in this book, including discussions about
science, globalization, divorce, education, the Holocaust and women.
The conversations on each subject are mostly short, merely giving a
taste of the Pope’s thoughts, but with so little known about the new
Holy Father, even the shortest passages make welcome reading.
Cardinal Bergoglio's October 2012 Pastoral Letter for the Year of Faith
"Among the most striking experiences of the last
decades is finding doors closed"
ROME, March 22, 2013 - Here is a translation of the pastoral letter
Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) wrote in October 2012 regarding
the Year of Faith.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
Among the most striking experiences of the last decades is finding doors
closed. Little by little increasing insecurity has made us bolt doors,
employ means of vigilance, install security cameras and mistrust strangers
who call at our door.
None the less in some places there are doors that are still open. The
closed door is really a symbol of our today. It is something more than a
simple sociological fact; it is an existential reality that is imposing
itself as a way of life, a way of confronting reality, others and the
future.
The bolted door of my house, the place of my intimate life, my dreams,
hopes, sufferings and moments of happiness, is locked against others. And it
is not simply a matter of the
physical house; it is also the whole area of my life, of my heart. All the
time there are fewer who can cross that threshold. The security of
reinforced doors protects the insecurity of a life which is becoming more
fragile and less open to the riches of the life and the love of others.
The image of an open door has always been a symbol of light, friendship,
happiness, liberty and trust. How we need to recover them. The closed door
does us harm, reduces and
separates us.
We begin the Year of Faith and, paradoxically, the image that the Pope
proposes is that of a door, a door through which we must pass to be able to
find what we need so much.
The Church, through the voice and heart of its Pastor, Benedict XVI,
invites us to cross the threshold, to take an interior and free step: to
animate ourselves to enter a new life.
The phrase "door to faith" brings us back to the Acts of the Apostles:
"On arriving, they gathered the Church together and told them what God had
done through them and how He had
opened the door of faith to the Gentiles" (Acts. 14.27).
God always takes the initiative and He does not want anyone to be
excluded. God calls at the door of our hearts: Look, I am at the door,
calling: if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I shall enter his
house and dine with him and him with me (Rev.3.20).
Faith is a grace, a gift of God.
"Only by believing does faith grow and be strengthened: in a continual
abandon into the hands of a love which is always felt as greater because it
has its origin in God"
Crossing through that door presupposes the beginning of a way or journey
that lasts a lifetime, as we pass in front of so many doors which open to us
today, many of them false doors, doors that invite us in a very attractive
but lying manner to go down that road, promising an empty narcissistic
happiness which has an expiry dated: doors that lead to cross-roads where,
no matter which option we follow, will, sooner or later, cause suffering and
confusion, doors focused on self which wear out and have no guarantee for
the future.
While the doors of the houses are closed, the doors of the shopping malls
are always open. One passes through the door of faith, one crosses that
threshold, when the Word of God is announced and the heart allows itself to
be shaped by that grace which transforms. A grace which has a concrete name,
and that name is Jesus. Jesus is the door. (Jn. 10:9). He, and only He, is
and will always be the door. No one goes to the Father except through Him.
(Jn.14.6). If there is no Christ, there is no way to God. As the door, He
opens the way to God and as Good Shepherd he is the Only One who looks after
us at the price of his own life.
Jesus is the door and he knocks on our door so that we allow him to cross
the threshold of our lives. "Don't be afraid . open the doors wide for
Christ", Blessed John Paul II told us at the beginning of his papacy. To
open the doors of our hearts as the disciples of Emmaus did, asking him to
stay with us so that we may pass through the doors of faith and that the
Lord himself bring us to understand the reasons why we believe, so that we
may then go out to announce it. Faith presumes that we decide to be with the
Lord, to live with him and share this with our brothers and sisters.
We give thanks to God for this opportunity to realise the value of our
lives as children of God through this journey of faith which began in our
lives with the waters of baptism, that unending and fruitful dew which makes
us children of God and brothers and sisters in the Church.
The purpose, the objective (of this year of Faith) is that we meet with
God with whom we have already entered into communion and who wishes to
restore us, purify us, raise us up and sanctify us, and give us the
happiness that our hearts crave.
To begin this year of faith is a call to us to deepen in our lives that
faith we have already received. To profess our faith with our mouth implies
living it in our hearts and showing it in what we do: it is a testimony and
public commitment. The disciple of Christ, a child of the Church, can never
think that believing is a private matter. It is an important and strong
challenge for every day, convinced that he who began the good work in you
will continue to perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians
1:6).Looking at our reality, as disciples who are missionaries, we ask
ourselves what challenge this crossing the threshold of the faith has for
us?
Crossing the Threshold of Faith
Crossing this threshold of the faith challenges us to discover that, even
though it would
seem that death reigns in its various forms and that our history is governed
by the law of the strongest or the most astute and that hate and ambition
are the driving forces of so many human struggles, we are also absolutely
convinced that this sad reality can and should change decisively, because
'if God is with us, who can overcome us?' (Rom. 8: 31, 37).
Crossing this threshold of the faith supposes that we'll not be ashamed
to have the heart of a child who, because he still believes in impossible
things, can still live in hope, which is the only thing capable of giving
sense to and transforming history. It means asking unceasingly, praying
without weakening and adoring so that our vision may be transfigured.
Crossing the threshold of the faith brings us to beg for everyone "the
same sentiments that Christ had" (Phil. 2-5), so that each discover a new
way of thinking, of communicating with one another, of looking at others, of
respecting one another, of being in family together, of planning our
futures, of living out love and our vocation.
Crossing the threshold of the faith is to be active, trusting in the
power of the Holy Spirit present in the Church and who is also seen in the
signs of the times. It is to join in the constant movement of life and of
history without falling into the paralyzing defeatism that everything in the
past was better. It is an urgency to think in new ways, to offer new
suggestions, a new creativity, kneading life with "the new leaven of justice
and holiness" (1 Cor. 5:8).
Crossing the threshold of the faith implies that we have eyes to wonder
and a heart that is not lazily accustomed, that is able to recognize that
every time a woman gives birth it is another bet placed for life and the
future; that, when we watch out for the innocence of children we are
guaranteeing the truth of a tomorrow and when we treat gently the dedicated
life of an elderly person we are acting justly and caressing our own roots.
Crossing the threshold of the faith means work lived with dignity and
with a vocation to serve with the self-denial of one who comes back time and
time again to begin without weakening, as if everything done so far were
only one step in the journey towards the Kingdom, the fullness of life.
It is the quiet wait after the daily planting: it is the contemplation of
the collected harvest, giving thanks to the Lord because he is good, asking
that he not abandon the work of his hands (Psalm 137).
Crossing the threshold of the faith demands that we struggle for liberty
and life together with others even when the ambient drags its feet, in the
certainty that the Lord asks of us to live justly, love goodness and walk
humbly with our God (Micah 6:8).
Crossing the threshold of the faith bears deeply within it the continued
conversion of our
attitudes, modes and tones with which we live. It demands a reformulation,
not a patching up or a varnishing. It means accepting the new form that
Jesus Christ prints on him who is touched by His hand and his Gospel of
life.
It means doing something totally new for society and the Church; because
"He who is in Christ is a new creature" (2 Cor 5, 17-21)
Crossing the threshold of the faith leads us to forgiving and to know how
to break into a
smile. It means approaching every person who lives on the edge of existence
and to call him by name. It is taking care of the fragility of the weakest
and supports his trembling knees in the certainty that in what we do for the
smallest of our brothers it is to Jesus himself that we are doing it (Mt.
25. 40).
Crossing the threshold of the Faith demands that we celebrate life. That
we let ourselves be transformed because we have been made one with Jesus at
the table of the Eucharist celebrated in community and from there our hands
and heart be busy working in the great project of the Kingdom: all the rest
will be given us in addition (Mt. 6.33).
Crossing the threshold of the faith means living in the spirit of the
Vatican Council and of Aparecida (the latest meeting of the Latin American
and Caribbean bishops), a Church of open doors, not just to receive in but
fundamentally to go out and fill the street and the people of our times with
the Good News.
Crossing the threshold of the faith, in our Archdiocesan Church,
presupposes that we be
convinced of the Mission to be a church that lives, prays and works with a
missionary orientation.
Crossing the threshold of the faith
is, definitively, the acceptance of the newness of the life of the Risen
Christ, raised in our poor flesh to make it a sign of the new life.
Meditating all these things, we look
at Mary. May she, the Virgin Mother, accompany us in our crossing the
threshold of the faith and bring the Holy Spirit over our Church, as in
Nazareth, so that just like her we may adore the Lord and go out to announce
the marvels he has done in us.
Cardenal Jorge Bergoglio
Buenos Aires
October of 2012
ROME, May 31, 2013 -
Since the election of Pope Francis publishing houses have rushed
to print with books about the new head of the Catholic Church.
In “Francis: Pope of a
New World,” (Ignatius Press), Andrea Tornielli, the Vatican
expert for the Italian newspaper La Stampa, starts by describing
the announcement of the new pope and then goes on in a couple of
retrospective chapters to describe Benedict XVI’s papacy and the
arrival of the cardinals for the conclave that elected Pope
Francis.
Tornielli dedicated the
largest part of the book to describing the life led by the new
pope in Argentina, starting with the emigration of his
grandparents from Italy.
For Jorge Mario Bergoglio
the definitive moment in the discovery of his priestly vocation
came when he was seventeen years old, while he was making his
confession at his parish church.
After ordination the future pope was engaged in a variety of
academic and pastoral activities. Regarding the period of
military dictatorship in Argentina Tornielli noted that the
accusations made against Bergoglio, that he did not sufficiently
protect two Jesuit priests from the military and that he
collaborated with the regime, were “trumped-up charges” and “a
tissue of hearsay statements.”
By means of a number of anecdotes about experiences in the
life of Bergoglio Tornielli described him as someone very close
to people and concerned about their problems. He comes across as
a kind, simple and wise priest, and later bishop.
His closeness to the people, especially the poor and the sick
was a distinctive feature of his time as archbishop of Buenos
Aires, according to Tornielli.
Conversations
Among other books recently published are a couple of
translations from Spanish of conversations. “On Heaven and
Earth,” (Image) records a series of dialogs between the then
Archbishop of Buenos Aires and Rabbi Abraham Skorka, originally
published in Argentina in 2010
A number of topics in the conversations have since surfaced
in more recent times in comments by Pope Frances. For example,
the Devil was among the many subjects examined, a topic that has
come up with certain frequency in the new pope’s addresses.
The Devil is real, the
future pontiff said a few years ago, but “Maybe his greatest
achievement in these times has been to make us believe that he
does not exist.”
“To kill in the name of
God is blasphemy,” he said in the 2010 book, a phrase he
recently repeated as pope. In the book it came in the context of
understanding other religions.
Killing in the name of God, he explained, turns the religious
experience into something ideological.
Cardinal Bergoglio also rejected what he termed as “the
liberal conception of religion” as something only allowed in
places of worship and the elimination of religion outside of
these places. The integral religious man, he explained, is just,
and religious justice creates culture.
“The culture made by a woman or a man that worships the
living God is not the same culture made by the idolater,” he
affirmed.
Later on, in a section on education, Cardinal Bergoglio
returned to the theme of culture and commented that schools need
to include the religious worldview in what they teach, or
otherwise they deprive their students of a cultural and
religious inheritance.
Another book that sheds light on the current pope’s
background is “Pope Francis: Conversations with Jorge
Bergoglio,” by journalists Sergio Rubin and Francesca
Ambrogetti, (G.P. Putnam’s Sons).
After the initial chapters about his family and early life
the conversations center on topics about the Church and the
situation in Argentina.
Being pastors
In a chapter on the challenge of evangelization Cardinal
Bergoglio warned against priests becoming administrators and not
pastors. Both priests and Catholics in general need to go out
and seek people and not remain shut up in their community, he
insisted.
He also warned against a clericalization of the Church,
observing that the laity has a potential that is not always
fully taken advantage of.
The journalists asked him if the Church asks too much of
people, particularly in relation to matters of sexual morality.
The Church preaches, he replied, what is best for people and
will make them complete and happy.
In any case, he continued, sexual morality is not the central
Christian message, which is rather the fact that God took flesh,
he lived, suffered, died and came back to life.
In one of the concluding chapters that examine the political
and social problems in Argentina the future pope talked about
the need for forgiveness, following the political turmoil in the
country.
He noted that it is very difficult to forgive without
reference to God, “because people have the capacity to forgive
only if they have the personal experience of being forgiven.”
These and other books
depict someone with a deep spiritual life, who manages to
combine wisdom, a great sensitivity to people’s needs,
simplicity and humility. Qualities that have become amply
evident in the short time since his election.
Vatican City, 14 March 2013 (VIS) –
During the course of this afternoon's press conference, Fr. Federico Lombardi,
S.J., director of the Holy See Press Office, repeated the information for the
upcoming papal events after this afternoon's Mass in the Sistine Chapel with the
Cardinal electors.
On Friday, 15 March, at 11:00am in the
Clementine Hall he will meet with the full College of Cardinals, electors and
non-electors, in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace. As the Holy See
Press Office spokesman noted, this will be a familial gathering, with the Pope
personally greeting each of the cardinals.
On Saturday at 11:00am in the Paul VI Hall, the Pope will hold an audience
with accredited journalists (permanent and temporary) and those who work in the
media.
On Sunday, 17 March at 12:00pm, he will recite the first Angelus of his
papacy from the papal apartments overlooking St. Peter's Square, as is
customary.
On Tuesday, 19 March—the Feast of St.
Joseph, patron of the Church—the Mass to inaugurate the new papacy will be held
at 9:30am in St. Peter's Square. No tickets will be issued for that Mass. All
who wish may attend.
On Wednesday, 20 March, he will hold an
audience with fraternal delegates representing the heads of the various Eastern
rite Churches so there will not be a General Audience.
Vatican City, 16 March 2013 (VIS) –
Following is a list of the upcoming activities of the Holy Father scheduled
between 17 and 24 March.
17 March, Sunday:10:00am, private Mass in
the Vatican parish of Santa Ana.
12:00pm, Angelus from the window of his private study overlooking St. Peter's
Square.
18 March, Monday:12:50pm, meeting with
the President of the Republic of Argentina at the Domus Sancthae Marthae.
19 March, Tuesday:9:30am, Eucharistic celebration to inaugurate the Petrine
ministry in St. Peter's Square (Entrance into the square will be permitted
beginning at 6:30am. No tickets will be issued for that Mass. All who wish may
attend.) Afterwards, before the Altar of the Confession in the Basilica, he will
receive the greetings of heads of official delegations and later will return to
the Domus Sancthae Marthae for lunch.
20 March, Wednesday: 11:00am, audience with fraternal delegates in the
Clementine Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace.
22 March, Friday: 11:00am, audience with members of the diplomatic corps
accredited to the Holy See in the Sala Regia of the Vatican Apostolic Palace.
23 March, Saturday: 12:00pm, departure in helicopter from the Vatican
heliport. At 12:15pm he will meet and lunch with Pope emeritus Benedict XVI at
Castel Gandolfo and will then return to the Vatican.
24 March, Sunday:9:30am, Palm Sunday
Eucharistic celebration in St. Peter's Square.
12:00pm, Angelus.
On Sunday, Francis Will Take Possession of Cathedral as Bishop of Rome
VATICAN CITY, April 03, 2013 -
The Vatican released the calendar of celebrations scheduled to be presided
over by the Holy Father in the months of April and May:
APRIL
7 April, Second Sunday of Easter, or Divine Mercy Sunday: 5:30pm, Mass in
the Basilica of St. John Lateran for the Bishop of Rome to take possession
of the Roman cathedra.
14 April, Sunday:5:30pm, Mass in the Basilica of St. Paul
Outside-the-Walls
21 April, Sunday:9:30am, Mass and priestly ordinations in St. Peter's
Basilica.
28 April, Sunday:10:00am, Mass and confirmations in St. Peter's Square.
MAY
4 May, Saturday:6:00pm, Recitation of the Rosary in the Basilica of St.
Mary Major.
5 May, Sunday:10:00am, Mass for Confraternities in St. Peter's Square.
12 May, Sunday:9:30am, Mass and canonizations of Blesseds Antonio
Primaldo and Companions; Laura di Santa Caterina da Siena Montoya y Upegui;
and Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala.
18 May, Saturday:6:00pm, Pentecost Vigil in St. Peter's Square with the
participation of ecclesial movements.
19 May, Pentecost Sunday: 10:00am,
Mass in St. Peter's Square with the participation of ecclesial movements.
"When we journey without the cross ... and when we confess a
Christ without the cross, we are not disciples of the Lord"
VATICAN CITY, March 14, 2013 - Here is a translation of the
homily Francis gave this morning at Mass with the cardinals in the Sistine
Chapel. He spoke in Italian without a text.
* * *
There is something that I see that these three readings have
in common: movement. In the first reading it is the movement of a journey; in
the second reading it is the movement in building the Church; in the third, the
Gospel, it is the movement of confession. Journeying, building, confessing.
Journeying. “House of Jacob, come, let us walk together in the
light of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:5). This is the first thing that God said to
Abraham: Walk in my presence and you will be blameless. Journey: our life is a
journey and when we stop it does not go on. Journey always in the presence of
the Lord, in the light of the Lord, seeking to live with that blamelessness that
God asked of Abraham in his promise.
Building. Building the Church. Stones are spoken of: the
stones have a consistency, but they are the living stones, stones anointed by
the Spirit. Building the Church, the Bride of Christ, upon that cornerstone that
is the Lord himself. Building is another form of movement in our life.
Third, confessing. We can journey as much as we want, we can
build many things, but if we do not confess Jesus Christ, the thing does not
work. We will become a welfare NGO but not the Church, the Bride of Christ. When
we do not journey, we stop. When we do not build upon the stones, what happens?
Everything collapses, loses its consistency, like the sandcastles that children
build on the beach. When we do not confess Jesus Christ, I am reminded of the
words of Léon Bloy: “Whoever does not pray to the Lord, prays to the devil.”
When we do not confess Jesus Christ, we confess the worldliness of the devil,
the worldliness of the demon.
Journeying, building-constructing, confessing. But it is not
that easy, because in journeying, in constructing, in confessing, there are
problems, there are movements antithetical to the journey: they are movements
that take us backward.
This Gospel continues with an important moment. The same Peter
who had confessed Jesus Christ said to him: You are the Christ, the Son of the
living God. I will follow you, but let’s not talk about the cross. This is not a
part of it. I will follow you in other directions, but not to the cross. When we
journey without the cross, when we build without the cross and when we confess a
Christ without the cross, we are not disciples of the Lord: we are worldly, we
are bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, but not disciples of the Lord.
I would like for us all, after these days of grace, to have
courage, precisely the courage, to walk in the Lord’s presence, with the cross
of the Lord; to build the Church upon the blood of the Lord, which was poured
out on the cross; and to confess the only glory there is: Christ crucified. And
in this way the Church will go forward.
It is my wish for all of us that the Holy Spirit – through the
prayer of Our Lady, our Mother – bestow upon us the grace of journeying,
building, confessing Jesus Christ crucified. Amen.
World Leaders' Statements on Pope Francis' Election
ROME, March 14, 2013 - Here are the statements of world leaders
regarding the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis,
as Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.
* * *
President of the
United States, Barack Obama
"On behalf of the American people,
Michelle and I offer our warm wishes to His Holiness Pope Francis as he
ascends to the Chair of Saint Peter and begins his papacy.
As a champion of the poor and the
most vulnerable among us, he carries forth the message of love and
compassion that has inspired the world for more than two thousand years-that
in each other we see the face of God.
As the first pope from the Americas,
his selection also speaks to the strength and vitality of a region that is
increasingly shaping our world, and alongside millions of Hispanic
Americans, those of us in the United States share the joy of this historic
day.
Just as I appreciated our work with
Pope Benedict XVI, I look forward to working with His Holiness to advance
peace, security and dignity for our fellow human beings, regardless of their
faith. We join with people around the world in offering our prayers for the
Holy Father as he begins the sacred work of leading the Catholic Church in
our modern world."
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon
"I offer my heartfelt congratulations [to the new Pope]... I look forward
to continuing cooperation between the United Nations and the Holy See, under
the wise leadership of His Holiness Pope Francis.
We share many common goals - from the promotion of peace, social justice
and human rights, to the eradication of poverty and hunger - all core
elements of sustainable development.
I am certain that His Holiness will continue to build on the legacy of
his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, in the promotion of interfaith dialogue
which is at the heart of the Alliance of Civilisations initiative."
Russian President Vladimir Putin
"I am confident that the constructive
partnership between Russia and the Vatican will continue, and will further
develop on the basis of the Christian values that unite us. Your Holiness, I
wish you good health, well-being and productive work in strengthening peace
and in furthering dialogue between civilisations and religions."
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying
"We hope that under the leadership of
the new Pope the Vatican will adopt a practical and flexible attitude and
create conditions for the improvement of China-Vatican relations."
Al-Azhar (Sunni
Islam's highest seat of learning) spokesman Mahmud Azab
"We are hoping for better relations
with the Vatican after the election of the new Pope."
Argentine President
Cristina Kirchner
"We wish him, as he takes the reins
of the Church, a fruitful pastoral mission, with such tremendous
responsibility on his shoulders, seeking justice, equality, brotherhood and
peace among mankind."
UK Prime Minister
David Cameron
"A momentous day for the 1.2 billion
Catholics around the world as His Holiness Pope Francis I is appointed the
266th Bishop of Rome."
Statement From Jesuit General Director on Election of Pope Francis
ROME, March 14, 2013 - Here is a
statement from the superior-general of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Adolfo
Nicolas, on the election of Pope Francis.
* * *
In the name of the Society of Jesus, I give thanks to God for the
election of our new Pope, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., which opens
for the Church a path full of hope.
All of us Jesuits accompany with our
prayers our brother and we thank him for his generosity in accepting the
responsibility of guiding the Church at this crucial time. The name of
"Francis" by which we shall now know him evokes for us the Holy Father’s
evangelical spirit of closeness to the poor, his identification with simple
people, and his commitment to the renewal of the Church. From the very first
moment in which he appeared before the people of God, he gave visible
witness to his simplicity, his humility, his pastoral experience and his
spiritual depth.
“The distinguishing mark of our
Society is that it is ... a companionship ... bound to the Roman Pontiff by
a special bond of love and service.” (Complementary
Norms, No. 2, § 2)
Thus, we share the joy of the whole
Church, and at the same time, wish to express our renewed availability to be
sent into the vineyard of the Lord, according to the spirit of our special
vow of obedience, which unites us in a special way to the Holy Father (General
Congregation 35, Decree 1, No. 17).
This period of the Conclave has been filled with meaning not
just for the College of Cardinals but also for all the faithful. During these
days we have felt almost palpably the affection and solidarity of the universal
Church, as well as the attention of many people who, even if not sharing our
faith, look upon the Church and the Holy See with respect and admiration.
From every corner of the earth a heart-felt chorus of prayer
was raised by Christian peoples for the new Pope, and my first encounter with
the crowds filling St. Peter’s Square was an emotional one. With that eloquent
image of a praying and joyful populace still fixed in my mind, I would like to
manifest my sincere gratitude to the Bishops, priests, consecrated persons,
young people, families, and to the aged for their spiritual closeness which is
so touching and sincere.
I feel the need to express my deepest gratitude to all of you,
venerable and dear Brother Cardinals, for your collaboration in running the
Church during the Sede Vacante. I greet, to begin with, the Dean of the College
of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano, who I thank with expressions of devotion for the
kind wishes he extended to me in your name. With him I thank Cardinal Tarcisio
Bertone, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, for his fine work during this
delicate transition phase, and also Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who led us in
the Conclave. Many thanks! I think with particular affection of the venerable
Cardinals who, because of age or illness, assured us of their participation and
love for the Church by offering their suffering and prayers. And I would like to
inform them that, the day before yesterday, Cardinal Mejia had a heart attack
and is in hospital. I believe he is in stable condition and he has sent us his
greetings.
I cannot forget to thank all those, who in so many ways,
worked to prepare and conduct the Conclave, ensuring the safety and tranquillity
of the Cardinals during this very important time in the life of the Church.
I extend an especially affectionate thought, filled with
gratitude, to my venerable predecessor, Benedict XVI, who, during the years of
his pontificate enriched and invigorated the Church with his teaching, his
goodness, guidance, faith, humility, and his meekness, which will remain the
spiritual patrimony of all. The Petrine ministry, lived with total dedication,
found in him a wise and humble interpreter with his gaze always fixed on Christ,
the Risen Christ, present and alive in the Eucharist. Our fervent prayer will
always accompany him, our eternal memory, and affectionate gratitude. We feel
that Benedict XVI lit a flame in the depth of our hearts, a flame that continues
to burn because it will be fanned by his prayers that will continue to sustain
the Church on its spiritual and missionary journey.
Dear Brother Cardinals, this meeting of ours is meant to be
the continuation of that intense ecclesial communion we experienced during this
period. Animated by a profound sense of responsibility and sustained by a great
love for Christ and for the Church, we prayed together, fraternally sharing our
feelings, our experiences and reflections. In this very cordial atmosphere our
reciprocal knowledge of one another and mutual openness to one another, grew.
And this is good because we are brothers. As someone told me: the Cardinals are
the Holy Father’s priests. But we are that community, that friendship, that
closeness, that will do good for every one of us. That mutual knowledge and
openness to one another helped us to be open to the action of Holy Spirit. He,
the Paraclete, is the supreme protagonist of every initiative and manifestation
of faith. It’s interesting and it makes me think. The Paraclete creates all the
differences in the Church and seems like an apostle of Babel. On the other hand,
the Paraclete unifies all these differences – not making them equal – but in
harmony with one another. I remember a Church father who described it like this:
“Ipse harmonia est.” The Paraclete gives each one of us a different charism, and
unites us in this community of the Church that adores the Father, the Son, and
Him – the Holy Spirit.
Starting from the authentic collegial affection that united
the College of Cardinals, I express my desire to serve the Gospel with renewed
love, helping the Church to become ever more in Christ and with Christ, the
fruitful life of the Lord. Stimulated by the Year of Faith, all together,
pastors and faithful, we will make an effort to respond faithfully to the
eternal mission: to bring Jesus Christ to humanity, and to lead humanity to an
encounter with Jesus Christ: the Way, the Truth and the Life, truly present in
the Church and, at the same time, in every person. This encounter makes us
become new men in the mystery of Grace, provoking in our hearts the Christian
joy that is a hundredfold that given us by Christ to those who welcome Him into
their lives.
As Pope Benedict XVI reminded us so many times in his
teachings and, finally, with that courageous and humble gesture, it is Christ
who guides the Church through His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the soul of the
Church, with His life-giving and unifying strength. Of many He makes a single
body – the mystical Body of Christ. Let us never give in to pessimism, to that
bitterness that the devil tempts us with every day. Let us not give into
pessimism and let us not be discouraged. We have the certainty that the Holy
Spirit gives His Church, with His powerful breath, the courage to persevere, the
courage to persevere and to search for new ways to evangelise, to bring the
Gospel to the ends of the earth. Christian truth is attractive and convincing
because it responds to the deep need of human existence, announcing in a
convincing way that Christ is the one Saviour of the whole of man and of all
men. This announcement is as valid today as it was at the beginning of
Christianity when the Church worked for the great missionary expansion of the
Gospel.
Dear Brothers, have courage! Half of us are old: I like to
think of old age as the seat of wisdom in life. Old people have wisdom because
they know they have journeyed through life – like the aged Simeon and Anna in
the Temple. It was that wisdom that allowed them to recognise Jesus. We must
give this wisdom to young people: like good wine that improves with age, let us
give young people this life’s wisdom. I’m reminded of what a German poet said
about aging: “Es ist ruhig, das Alter, und fromm” – “age is the time of peace
and prayer”. We need to give young people this wisdom.
You are returning to your respective Sees to continue your
ministry, enriched by these days so filled with faith and ecclesial communion.
This unique and incomparable experience has allowed us to capture all the beauty
of the ecclesial reality, which is a refection of the light of the Risen Christ:
one day we shall gaze upon the beautiful face of that Risen Christ.
I commit my ministry, and your ministry, to the powerful
intercession of Mary, our Mother, Mother of the Church. Beneath her maternal
gaze, may each one of us walk and listen to the voice of her divine Son,
strengthening unity, persevering together in prayer and giving witness to the
true faith in the continual presence of the Lord. With these sentiments, sincere
sentiments, I impart my Apostolic Blessing, which I extend to your collaborators
and to the people under your pastoral care.
RESPONSE TO
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST BERGOGLIO IN ARGENTINA
Vatican
City, 15 March 2013 (VIS) – At this afternoon's press conference, Fr. Federico
Lombardi, S.J., director of the Holy See Press Office read a statement
responding to allegations made against Cardinal Bergoglio in Argentina. It
states:
“The
campaign against Bergoglio is well-known and dates back to many years ago. It
has been carried out by a publication specializing in sometimes slanderous and
defamatory campaigns. The anticlerical cast of this campaign and of other
accusations against Bergoglio is well-known and obvious.”
“The
charges refer to the time before Bergoglio became bishop [of Buenos Aires], when
he was Provincial Superior of the Jesuits in Argentina and accuse him of not
having protected two priests who were kidnapped.”
“This was
never a concrete or credible accusation in his regard. He was questioned by an
Argentinian court as someone aware of the situation but never as a defendant. He
has, in documented form, denied any accusations.”
“Instead,
there have been many declarations demonstrating how much Bergoglio did to
protect many persons at the time of the military dictatorship. Bergoglio's role,
once he became bishop, in promoting a request for forgiveness of the Church in
Argentina for not having done enough at the time of the dictatorship is also
well-known.”
“The
accusations pertain to a use of historical-sociological analysis of the
dictatorship period made years ago by left-wing anticlerical elements to attack
the Church. They must be firmly rejected.”
“Regarding
“Liberation Theology”: Bergoglio has always referred to the Instructions of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He has always rejected violence
saying that its price is always paid by the weakest.”
Vatican
City, 15 March 2013 (VIS) – The Holy Father has sent a message to Dr. Riccardo
Di Segni, the Chief Rabbi of Rome, the oldest Jewish community of the diaspora.
“On this day of my election as Bishop of Rome and Pastor of the Universal
Church,” reads the text, “I send you my cordial greetings, informing you that
the solemn inauguration of my pontificate will take place on Tuesday, 19
March.”
“Trusting
in the protection of the Most High,” the Pope continues, “I strongly hope to be
able to contribute to the progress of the relations that have existed between
Jews and Catholics since Vatican Council II in a spirit of renewed collaboration
and in service of a world that may always be more in harmony with the Creator's
will.”
-------------------------------------------------
Unprecedented ecumenical gesture: Patriarch of Constantinople
will attend Pope's inauguration
Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople has
announced that he plans to attend the inaugural Mass of Pope Frances on March
19.
The appearance by the Ecumenical Patriarch--the "first among
equals" of all the world's Orthodox leaders--is an unprecedented gesture. The
Patriarch of Constantinople has not attended a papal installation since 1054,
when Constantinople split from Rome.
"We need to labour together for the affirmation of
traditional moral values in modern secular societies"
MOSCOW, March 15, 2013 - To His Holiness Francis, Pope of Rome
Your Holiness:
I congratulate you on your election to the eminent and responsible
position of being the First Hierarch of the Roman Catholic Church.
Under your predecessor, Pope Benedict
XVI, the relationships between our churches received a new momentum and were
characterized by a positive dynamism. I sincerely hope that Your Holiness
would promote co-operation between our two churches in the spirit of
brotherly love and mutual understanding.
At your accession to the papacy you
chose the name Francis, which recalls famous Catholic saints who have served
as an example of sacrificial devotion to alleviating people’s suffering and
zealous preaching of the Gospel. In your choice one can see your desire to
continue to care for the poor and the afflicted, which you showed in
compassion and love over the many years of your service in Argentina,
carrying the message of Christ crucified and risen to the modern world.
This same mission is now a priority
for the Russian Orthodox Church, opening the possibility for co-operation
and interaction with the Roman Catholic Church.
Orthodox and Catholics should be
determined to combine their efforts to protect harassed and persecuted
Christians in various parts of the world, as these people need our support
and aid. We need to labour together for the affirmation of traditional moral
values in modern secular societies.
Please accept, Your Holiness, my best
wishes for peace, spiritual strength and physical vigour, so that the
generous support of God would come to you in the carrying out of your
responsible ministry.
POPE FRANCIS: “OH, HOW I WISH FOR A CHURCH THAT IS
POOR AND FOR THE POOR!”
Vatican City, 16 March 2013 (VIS) – This morning in the the
Paul VI Audience Hall, the Holy Father greeted over 6,000 journalists and those
working in the media as well as for the Holy See, accredited either permanently
or temporarily, to cover the events related to the Conclave. He addressed them
with the following words:
“Dear friends, I am pleased, at the beginning of my ministry
in the See of Peter, to meet with you who have worked here in Rome at this very
intense period that began with the surprising announcement of my venerated
predecessor Benedict XVI, this past 11 February. I warmly greet each of you.”
“The role of the mass media has been continuously growing in
recent times,” he said, “so much so that it has become essential to narrate the
events of contemporary history to the world. I therefore especially thank you
for your distinguished service these past few days—you have had a bit of work to
do, haven't you?—when the eyes of the Catholic world, and not only, were turned
toward the Eternal City, in particular to this area that has St. Peter's tomb as
its focal point. In these past few weeks you've gotten a chance to talk about
the Holy See, the Church, her rites and traditions, her faith, and, in
particular, the role of the Pope and his ministry.”
“A particularly heart-felt thanks goes to those who have been
able to observe and present these events in the Church's history while keeping
in mind the most just perspective in which they must be read, that of faith.
Historical events almost always require a complex reading that, at times, can
also include the dimension of faith. Ecclesial events are certainly not more
complicated than political or economic ones. But they have one particularly
fundamental characteristic: they answer to a logic that is not mainly that of,
so to speak, worldly categories, and this is precisely why it is not easy to
interpret and communicate them to a wide and varied audience. In fact, the
Church, although it is certainly also a human, historical institution with all
that that entails, does not have a political nature but is essentially
spiritual: it is the people of God, the holy people of God who walk toward the
encounter with Jesus Christ. Only by putting oneself in this perspective can one
fully explain how the Catholic Church works.”
“Christ is the Church's Shepherd, but His presence in history
moves through human freedom. Among these, one is chosen to serve as his Vicar,
Successor of the Apostle Peter, but Christ is the centre, the fundamental
reference, the heart of the Church! Without Him, neither Peter nor the Church
would exist or have a reason for being. As Benedict XVI repeated often, Christ
is present and leads His Church. In everything that has happened, the
protagonist is, ultimately, the Holy Spirit. He has inspired Benedict XVI's
decision for the good of the Church; He has guided the cardinals in their
prayers and in their election. Dear friends, it is important to take due account
of this interpretive horizon, this hermeneutic, to bring the heart of the events
of these days into focus.”
“From this is born, above all, a renewed and sincere thanks
for your efforts in these particularly challenging days, but also an invitation
to always seek to know more the Church's true nature and the spiritual
motivations that guide her and that are the most authentic for understanding
her. Rest assured that the Church, for her part, is very attentive to your
precious work. You have the ability to gather and express the expectations and
needs of our times, to provide the elements necessary to read reality. Like many
other professions, your job requires study, sensitivity, and experience but it
bears with it a particular attention to truth, goodness, and beauty. This makes
us particularly close because the Church exists to communicate Truth, Goodness,
and Beauty 'in person'. It should be clear that we are all called, not to
communicate ourselves, but rather this existential triad that shapes truth,
goodness, and beauty.”
“Some people didn't know why the Bishop of Rome wanted to call
himself 'Francis'. Some though of Francis Xavier, Francis de Sales, even Francis
of Assisi. I will tell you the story. At the election I had the archbishop
emeritus of Sao Paulo next to me. He is also prefect emeritus of the
Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal Claudio Hummes [O.F.M.]: a dear, dear
friend. When things were getting a little 'dangerous', he comforted me. And
then, when the votes reached the two-thirds, there was the usual applause
because the Pope had been elected. He hugged me and said: 'Do not forget the
poor.' And that word stuck here [tapping his forehead]; the poor, the poor.
Then, immediately in relation to the poor I thought of Francis of Assisi. Then I
thought of war, while the voting continued, until all the votes [were counted].
And so the name came to my heart:: Francis of Assisi. For me he is the man of
poverty, the man of peace, the man who love and safeguards Creation. In this
moment when our relationship with Creation is not so good—right?—He is the man
who gives us this spirit of peace, the poor man … Oh, how I wish for a Church
that is poor and for the poor!”
“I wish the best for you, I thank you for everything that you
have done. And I think of your work: I wish you to work fruitfully and with
serenity and to always know better the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the reality of
the Church. I entrust you to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Star
of evangelization. I I wish the best for you and your families, for each of your
families, and I wholeheartedly impart to all of you the blessing.”
After personally greeting some of the journalists present,
Pope Francis, in Spanish, concluded: “I told you I wholeheartedly imparted my
blessing. Many of you don't belong to the Catholic Church, others are not
believers. From my heart I impart this blessing, in silence, to each of you,
respecting the conscience of each one, but knowing that each of you is a child
of God: May God bless you.”
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated Mass on Sunday in the
parish church of Vatican City, dedicated to St. Anne, the mother of Our Lady.
The choir intoned the Attende, Domine! at the entrance, and the readings were
those of the fifth Sunday of Lent: from the prophet, Isaiah; Psalm 126 – the
Lord has done great things for us; the Letter of St Paul the Apostle to the
Philippians; and a reading from the Gospel according to St John, in which the
woman caught in adultery and subject under law to death by stoning, is presented
to Jesus for judgment, and he says, “Let the one among you who is without sin be
the first to cast his stone.
VATICAN CITY, March 18, 2013 - Here is the translation of the
homily Pope Francis gave at the parish of St. Ann's in Vatican City on Sunday.
* * *
This is beautiful: first Jesus alone on the mountain praying.
He prayed alone (cf. John 8:1). Then he went again to the Temple, and all the
people went to him (cf. 8:2). Jesus among the people. And then, at the end, they
left him alone with the woman (cf. 8:9). That solitude of Jesus! But it is a
fruitful solitude: it is that of prayer with the Father and that other, which is
so beautiful, which is precisely the Church’s message today, the [fruitful
solitude] of his mercy with this woman.
There is also a difference among the people: there are the
people who went with him; he sat down and began to teach them: the people who
wanted to hear Jesus’ words, the people with open hearts, in need of the Word of
God. There were others, who heard nothing, they could not hear; and they are
those who brought the woman: Listen, Master, here is one, and one that ... We
must do to her what Moses commanded us to do to these women (cf. 8:4-5).
We too believe that we are these people, who, on the one hand
wants to listen to Jesus, but, on the other hand, we like to cudgel others, to
condemn others. And Jesus’ message is: mercy. For me, I say this humbly, it is
the strongest message of the Lord: mercy. But he himself said it: I have not
come for the just; the just justify themselves. Go ahead, blessed Lord, if you
can do it, I cannot! But they think that they can do it. I have come for sinners
(cf. Mark 2:17).
Think about that complaining after the calling of Matthew: But
he goes around with sinners! (cf. Matthew 2:16). And he has come for us when we
recognize that we are sinners. But if we are like that Pharisee at the altar – I
thank you, Lord, that I am not like all the others, and that I am not like the
man at the gate, like that publican (cf. Luke 18:11-12) – then we do not know
the Lord’s heart, and we will never have the joy to experience this mercy! It is
not easy to entrust oneself to God’s mercy, because it is an inscrutable abyss.
But we must do it! “Oh, father, if you knew my life, you would not speak this
way!” “Why, what have you done?” “Oh, I have done terrible things!” “All the
better! Go to Jesus: he would be happy if you told him these things!” He
forgets, he has a special capacity to forget. He forgets, he kisses you, he
embraces you and he says to you: “Neither do I condemn you; go and from now on
sin no more” (John 8:11). That is the only counsel he gives you. After a month,
we are in the same situation ... Let us return to the Lord. The Lord never
wearies of forgiving: never! We are the ones who grow weary of asking
forgiveness. And let us ask for the grace to never weary of asking forgiveness
because he never wearies of forgiving. Let us ask for this grace.
[At the conclusion of the Eucharistic Celebration, the pastor
priest of Sant’Anna in the Vatican, Father Bruno Silvestrini, O.S.A., and the
vicar general of His Holiness for Vatican City, Cardinal Angelo Comastri,
offered their greetings to Pope Francis. Then the Holy Father concluded with
these words:]
There are a few people here who are not parishioners: these
Argentine priests, one is my auxiliary bishop, but today they are parishioners.
But I would like to introduce you to a priest who comes from a great distance,
who came, a priest who for a long time has been working with street kids, with
drug addicts. He opened a school for them, he has done a lot of things to help
them to know Jesus, and today all of these young people from the street, because
of the studies they undertook, are working, they are able to work, they believe
in and love Jesus. I would like to ask you, Gonzalo, come and greet the people:
pray for him. He works in Uruguay, he is the founder of the Liceo Jubilar Juan
Pablo II, he does this work. I don’t know how he came here today. But I will
find out! Thank you. Pray for him.
-----------------------
Following the Mass, just like a local parish priest, Pope Francis greeted
parishioners at the church door, before going briefly to the crowd gathered
outside the St Anne’s Gate.
After returning into the church to take off his liturgical
vestments, Pope Francis again greeted the faithful outside, before making his
way to his study and the window overlooking St Peter’s Square, below which was
gathered a crowd 300 thousand-strong, more than rivalling the throng of people
who braved cold, rain and dark to meet the Pope on Wednesday – the night of his
election - and receive his blessing for the first time. Dozens of national flags
were visible in the packed Square, and a deafening cheer went up when, at last,
Pope Francis appeared. Mercy was once again the cornerstone of his reflections
ahead of the traditional prayer of Marian devotion.
He told a story, of an elderly widow he encountered during a
Mass for the sick celebrated in connection with a visit of the image of Our Lady
of Fatima. “I went to confession during the Mass,” he said, “and near the end –
I had to go to do confirmations afterward, and an elderly lady approached me –
humble [she was] so very humble, more than eighty years old. I looked at her,
and said, ‘Grandmother,’ – where I come from, we call elderly people grandmother
and grandfather – ‘would you like to make your confession?’ ‘Yes,’ she said –
and I said, ‘but, if you have not sinned…’ and she said, ‘we all have sinned.’
[I replied], ‘if perhaps He should not forgive [you]?’ and, sure, she replied,
‘The Lord forgives everything.’ I asked, ‘How do you know this for sure, madam?’
and she replied, ‘If the Lord hadn’t forgiven all, then the world wouldn’t
[still] be here.’ And, I wanted to ask her, ‘Madam, did you study at the
Gregorian (the Pontifical Gregorian University, founded in 1551 by St Ignatius
Loyola, the oldest Jesuit university in the world)?’ – because that is wisdom,
which the Holy Spirit gives – interior wisdom regarding the mercy of God. Let us
not forget this word: God never tires of forgiving us,” he repeated, “but we
sometimes tire of asking Him to forgive us.” Pope Francis went on to say, “Let
us never tire of asking God’s forgiveness.”
Here is the translation of Pope Francis' Angelus address given
today at St. Peter's Square. * * *
Brothers and sisters, hello! After the first meeting last
Wednesday, today I can again offer my greeting to everyone! And I am glad to
do it on Sunday, the Lords day! This is beautiful and important for us
Christians: coming together on Sunday, greeting each other, talking with
each other like we are doing now here in the piazza; a piazza that, thanks
to the media, has the dimensions of the world. On this fifth Sunday of Lent,
the Gospel presents us with the episode of the adulterous woman (cf. John
8:1-11), who Jesus saves from the death sentence. Jesus attitude is
striking: we do not hear words of scorn, we do not hear words of
condemnation, but only words of love, of mercy, that invite us to
conversion. Neither do I condemn you: go and sin no more! (8:11). Well,
brothers and sisters, the face of God is that of a merciful father, who
always has patience. Have you thought about Gods patience, the patience that
he has for each of us? That is his mercy. He always has patience, patience
with us, he understands us, he waits for us, he does not weary of forgiving
us if we know how to return to him with a contrite heart. Great is the mercy
of the Lord, the Psalm says. These last several days I have been able to
read a book by a cardinal Cardinal Kasper, a smart theologian, a good
theologian on mercy. And it did me much good that book, but dont think that
I am advertising the books of my cardinals! It is not that way! But it did
me much good, much good... Cardinal Kasper said that hearing the word mercy,
this word changes everything. It is the best word we can hear: it changes
the world. A little mercy makes the world less cold and more just. We need
to rightly understand this mercy of God, this merciful Father, who has a lot
of patience ... Let us remember the prophet Isaiah, who says that even if
our sins are bright red, Gods mercy can make them white as snow. Mercy is
beautiful! I remember, when I had just become a bishop, in the year 1992,
Our Lady of Fatima had just arrived in Buenos Aires and there was a big Mass
for the sick. I went to hear confessions at that Mass. And near the end of
the Mass I got up, because I had to administer holy oil. An old lady came to
me, a humble lady, very humble, over 80 years old/ I looked at her and I
said to her: Grandma, because in our country this is what we call old
people: Grandma do you want to go to confession? Yes, she said to me. But if
you havent sinned..., [I said]. And she said to me: We have all sinned... .
But maybe the Lord does not forgive them... [I replied]. The Lord forgives
everything, she told me, certain of what she was saying. But how do you know
that, madam? If the Lord did not forgive everything, [she said], the world
wouldnt exist. I felt like asking her, Tell me, madam, did you study at the
Gregorian? because thats the wisdom that the Holy Spirit gives: interior
wisdom about the mercy of God. Let us not forget this: God never wearies of
forgiving us, never! So, father, whats the problem? Well, the problem is
that we grow weary, we do not want to, we tire of asking for forgiveness. He
never tires of forgiving, but we, at times, we tire of aski ng forgiveness.
Let us never tire, let us never tire! He is the loving Father, who always
forgives, who has that heart of mercy for all of us. And we too learn to be
merciful with everyone. We invoke the intercession of Our Lady who held in
her arms the Mercy of God made man. Now let us all together pray the
Angelus. [Following the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father greeted
those present in Italian.] I offer a cordial greeting to all the pilgrims.
Thanks for your welcome and for your prayers. I ask you to pray for me. I
renew my embrace of the faithful of Rome and I extend it to all of you, who
come from various parts of Italy and of the world, and to those who are
joining through different media. I chose the name of the Patron of Italy,
St. Francis of Assisi, and that reinforces my spiritual bond with this land,
where as you know my family has its origins. But Jesus has called us to be
part of a new family: his Church, this family of God, walking together along
the way of the Gospel. May the Lord bless you, may Our Lady protect you. Do
not forget this: the Lord never wearies of forgiving! We are the ones who
weary of asking for forgiveness. Have a good Sunday and a good lunch!
Preparations Under Way for Pope Francis' Inaugural
Mass
Delegations Representing 132 Countries Expected to AttendBy H. Sergio Mora
VATICAN CITY, March 18, 2013 (Zenit.org) - Tomorrow morning,
Pope Francis will mark start of his pontificate with the Inaugural Mass of the
“Beginning of the Petrine Ministry of the Bishop of Rome” in St. Peter’s Square.
“In the past it was called the Pope’s enthronement, which
might have been alright then, but not now, as he is not a king,” said Jesuit
Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office. Fr. Lombardi,
who held a briefing today at the Holy See’s Media Center, was accompanied by
Msgr. Jose Maria Gil Tamayo, the Spanish-speaking spokesman, and Fr. Thomas
Rosica, the English and French-speaking spokesman.
As of now, delegations representing 132 countries will be
present at the mass. Father Lombardi stressed “that the Holy See does not issue
invitations, and anyone who wishes to attend can do so.” If a Head of States
wishes to come he can do so.”
After the Mass, the leaders of the delegations will have the
opportunity to greet Pope Francis in front of the main altar.
Prior to the Mass, the Holy Father will leave Domus Sanctae
Marthae in the morningand will
greet pilgrims either in the popemobile or a vehicle of his choice. Then, at
9:15 am he will go to the sacristy,which is near the statue Michelangelo's
Pieta, to prepare for the Mass there which will begin at 9:30 am.
The ceremony will begin at Saint Peter’s tomb, under the main
altar, and will take place in the Square which, according to tradition, is where
Saint Peter was martyred in what was then Nero’s Circus.
“From the sacristy, the Pope will go to Saint Peter’s tomb.
Then he will go to the crypt under the altar accompanied by patriarchs, and some
ten heads of Catholic Eastern Churches, four of whom are cardinals,” Fr.
Lombardi said.
In the crypt will be the symbols the Holy Father will receive
during the Mass: the ring of the Fisherman, the pallium and the book of the
Gospels. They will then go up in procession to the door of the Basilica and go
out to the square where the Mass will be celebrated.
At this time the “laudes Reges” litanies will be sung. “An
interesting aspect is that many saints will be invoked, in particular saints who
were Popes; the litanies end with Saint Pius X. Not invoked are the Blessed, who
are so many,” Fr. Lombardi said.
“The pallium is the lamb’s wool that is placed around the
chest and back. It signifies the Good Shepherd who seeks the lost sheep. It has
red crosses because he gives his life for them, and they recall Christ’s wounds.
The metropolitan archbishops also have the pallium, but with black crosses,”
added Msgr. Gil Tamayo.
The Cardinal proto-deacon, Cardinal Jean Louis
Tauran, who announced “habemus papam” last Wednesday, will invest the pallium on
the Holy Father. It is identical to Benedict XVI’s. This will be followed by a
prayer. The dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, will then
give Pope Francis the ring.
Also known as the Ring of the Fisherman, it is called thus
“because Saint Peter was a fisherman; it recalls the biblical text of the
miraculous catch when Jesus made him fisher of men. It will have the figure of
Peter with the keys of the fisherman. It is the work of a famous Italian artist,
Enrico Manfrini. It is made of silver plate,” Fr. Lombardi said.
The concelebrants will include all the cardinals who are in
Rome, the Eastern patriarchs and archbishops who are not cardinals, the
secretary of the College of Cardinals, two priests, and the generals of the
Franciscans and the Jesuits. There will be no other concelebrants.
The ceremony will end with the promise of obedience, which
will be made by six cardinals, one of each Order, although they already made
this promise no sooner the Pope was elected. There will be no representatives
from other ranks of the clergy, who instead will make the promise in “Saint John
Lateran,” the Cathedral of Rome.
After these rites, the Mass will celebrate the feast of Saint
Joseph, patron of the Church. There will be no readings related to the new Pope
or the government of the Church.
On this occasion the Gospel will be proclaimed only in Greek.
At Easter, for instance, the singing is in Latin and Greek, which represent the
two dimensions of the life of the Church.
The offerings will not be taken in solemn procession, and the
Pope will not distribute Communion personally. This will be done by deacons and
500 priests in Saint Peter’s Square. “Aspects of simplicity mean that the Mass
will not be too long – some two hours, perhaps,” The Holy See Press Office
director specified.
The singing will be done by the choir of the Pontifical
Sistine Chapel, under Maestro Massimo Palombella, and by the Pontifical Academy
of Sacred Music. Maestro Palombella pointed out that during the Offertory there
will be music composed by Pierluigi de Palestrina for the occasion of a new
pontificate. And it is called “Tu es pastor ovium,” you are the shepherd of the
sheep. The Mass will end with the singing of the “Te Deum,” part in Gregorian
and part polyphonic. There will be no Angelus as on Sundays.
On Wednesday, the Pope will receive the Christian delegations
in the Clementine Hall. Among them will be top level representatives, such as
patriarch Bartholomew, Catholic Armenian Karekin II and metropolitan Hilarion of
the patriarchate of Moscow.
Attending the Mass also will be 16 members of the Jewish
communities, including of the Rabbi of Israel, as well as a Muslim delegation,
Buddhists and other creeds.
Pope Francis’ coat of arms will be the same episcopal coat of
arms he had as archbishop of Buenos Aires.
Pope's Motto: 'Miserando Atque Eligendo' and Coat of Arms
Released Today
By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY, March 18, 2013 (Zenit.org) - Pope Francis has
chosen to remain with his episcopal seal and motto. Added to the original papal
seal are a blue background along with a miter with cross keys of gold and silver
along with a red cord, symbol of his pontifical office.
The emblem of the Society of Jesus, the order which Pope
Francis belongs to, is placed above on the shield. The emblem is an image of a
radiant sun with the letters “IHS” the monogram of the name of Christ. A cross
is placed above the letter H of the monogram while three nails are placed below
it.
On the bottom left hand side of the shield is an image of a
star, which accordingto heraldic
tradition, symbolizesthe Virgin
Mary, mother of Christ and of the Church. To the right of the star is the image
of the spikenard, an aromatic plant, meant to symbolize St. Joseph, Patron of
the Universal Church. According to spanish iconographic tradition, St. Joseph is
depicted holding a branch of spikenard in his hand.
By placing these two symbols on his coat of arms, Pope Francis
wished to express his particular devotion to the Virgin Mary and Saint. Joseph.
The Holy Father’s motto, “Miserando Atque Eligendo”, (Because
he saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him) is taken from a homily by
Saint Bede the Venerable regarding the calling of St. Matthew by Jesus.
Saint Bede’s homily, which is read on the feast of St.
Matthew, is a homage to the divine mercy of Christ, and is of significance to
the Holy Father in his spiritual itinerary. According to a communique explaining
the Papal coat of arms, at the age of 17, the young Jorge Bergoglio experienced
in a particular way, the loving presence of God in his life.
“Following confession, his heart was touched but the descent
of the mercy of God, who with tender love called him to the religious life,
following the example of Saint Ignatius of Loyola,” the communique stated.
“Upon being chosen as bishop, Bishop Bergoglio, in remembrance
of that event that began his total consecration to God in the Church, decides to
choose as motto and program of his life, the phrase by Saint Bede miserando
atque eligendo which he has chosen to reproduce on his own pontifical coat of
arms.”
Pope Francis' Homily at Inauguration of Petrine
Ministry Mass
VATICAN CITY, March 19, 2013 - Here is the translation
of Pope Francis' homily at the Inauguration of the Petrine Ministry Mass, held
in St. Peter's Square this morning.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I thank the Lord that I can celebrate this Holy Mass for the
inauguration of my Petrine ministry on the solemnity of Saint Joseph, the spouse
of the Virgin Mary and the patron of the universal Church.It is a significant coincidence, and it is also the name-day of my
venerable predecessor: we are close to him with our prayers, full of affection
and gratitude.
I offer a warm greeting to my brother cardinals and bishops,
the priests, deacons, men and women religious, and all the lay faithful.I thank the representatives of the other Churches and ecclesial
Communities, as well as the representatives of the Jewish community and the
other religious communities, for their presence.My cordial greetings go to the Heads of State and Government, the members
of the official Delegations from many countries throughout the world, and the
Diplomatic Corps.
In the Gospel we heard that “Joseph did as the angel of the
Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife” (Mt 1:24).These words already point to the mission which God entrusts to Joseph: he
is to be the custos, the protector.
The protector of whom?Of Mary and
Jesus; but this protection is then extended to the Church, as Blessed John Paul
II pointed out: “Just as Saint Joseph took loving care of Mary and gladly
dedicated himself to Jesus Christ’s upbringing, he likewise watches over and
protects Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church, of which the Virgin Mary is the
exemplar and model” (Redemptoris Custos, 1).
How does Joseph exercise his role as protector?Discreetly, humbly and silently, but with an unfailing presence and utter
fidelity, even when he finds it hard to understand.From the time of his betrothal to Mary until the finding of the
twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, he is there at every moment
with loving care.As the spouse of
Mary, he is at her side in good times and bad, on the journey to Bethlehem for
the census and in the anxious and joyful hours when she gave birth; amid the
drama of the flight into Egypt and during the frantic search for their child in
the Temple; and later in the day-to-day life of the home of Nazareth, in the
workshop where he taught his trade to Jesus.
How does Joseph respond to his calling to be the protector of
Mary, Jesus and the Church?By being
constantly attentive to God, open to the signs of God’s presence and receptive
to God’s plans, and not simply to his own.This is what God asked of David, as we heard in the first reading.God does not want a house built by men, but faithfulness to his word, to
his plan.It is God himself who
builds the house, but from living stones sealed by his Spirit.Joseph is a “protector” because he is able to hear God’s voice and be
guided by his will; and for this reason he is all the more sensitive to the
persons entrusted to his safekeeping. He can look at things realistically, he is
in touch with his surroundings, he can make truly wise decisions.In him, dear friends, we learn how to respond to God’s call, readily and
willingly, but we also see the core of the Christian vocation, which is Christ!Let us protect Christ in our lives, so that we can protect others, so
that we can protect creation!
The vocation of being a “protector”, however, is not just
something involving us Christians alone; it also has a prior dimension which is
simply human, involving everyone.It
means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of
Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us.It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the
environment in which we live. It means protecting people, showing loving concern
for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who
are often the last we think about.
It means caring for one another in our families: husbands and wives first
protect one another, and then, as parents, they care for their children, and
children themselves, in time, protect their parents.It means building sincere friendships in which we protect one another in
trust, respect, and goodness.In the
end, everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are
responsible for it.Be protectors of
God’s gifts!
Whenever human beings fail to live up to this responsibility,
whenever we fail to care for creation and for our brothers and sisters, the way
is opened to destruction and hearts are hardened.Tragically, in every period of history there are “Herods” who plot death,
wreak havoc, and mar the countenance of men and women.
Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of
responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of
goodwill: let us be “protectors” of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed
in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance
of this world!But to be
“protectors”, we also have to keep watch over ourselves!Let us not forget that hatred, envy and pride defile our lives!Being protectors, then, also means keeping watch over our emotions, over
our hearts, because they are the seat of good and evil intentions: intentions
that build up and tear down!We must
not be afraid of goodness or even tenderness!
Here I would add one more thing: caring, protecting, demands
goodness, it calls for a certain tenderness.In the Gospels, Saint Joseph appears as a strong and courageous man, a
working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue
of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern,
for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love.We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness!
Today, together with the feast of Saint Joseph, we are
celebrating the beginning of the ministry of the new Bishop of Rome, the
Successor of Peter, which also involves a certain power.Certainly, Jesus Christ conferred power upon Peter, but what sort of
power was it?Jesus’ three questions
to Peter about love are followed by three commands: feed my lambs, feed my
sheep.Let us never forget that
authentic power is service, and that the Pope too, when exercising power, must
enter ever more fully into that service which has its radiant culmination on the
Cross.He must be inspired by the
lowly, concrete and faithful service which marked Saint Joseph and, like him, he
must open his arms to protect all of God’s people and embrace with tender
affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least
important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry,
the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison (cf. Mt
25:31-46).Only those who serve with
love are able to protect!
In the second reading, Saint Paul speaks of Abraham, who,
“hoping against hope, believed” (Rom 4:18).Hoping against hope!Today
too, amid so much darkness, we need to see the light of hope and to be men and
women who bring hope to others.To
protect creation, to protect every man and every woman, to look upon them with
tenderness and love, is to open up a horizon of hope; it is to let a shaft of
light break through the heavy clouds; it is to bring the warmth of hope!For believers, for us Christians, like Abraham, like Saint Joseph, the
hope that we bring is set against the horizon of God, which has opened up before
us in Christ.It is a hope built on
the rock which is God.
To protect Jesus with Mary, to protect the whole of creation,
to protect each person, especially the poorest, to protect ourselves: this is a
service that the Bishop of Rome is called to carry out, yet one to which all of
us are called, so that the star of hope will shine brightly.Let us protect with love all that God has given us!
I implore the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph,
Saints Peter and Paul, and Saint Francis, that the Holy Spirit may accompany my
ministry, and I ask all of you to pray for me!Amen.
Pope Francis' Address to Argentines Gathered in Plaza
De Mayo
VATICAN CITY, March 19, 2013 - Here is the translation
of Pope Francis' address to his fellow Argentines gathered in Plaza De Mayo
prior to the Inauguration of the Petrine Ministry Mass held in St. Peter's
Square.
* * *
Dear children, I know you are in the square. I know you are
praying and saying prayers, I need them very much. It is so beautiful to pray.
Thank you for that.
I want to ask you a favor. I want to ask that we all walk
together, to take care of one for the other, take care of each other, do not
hurt each other, take care of yourselves, take care of your lives. Take care of
the family, take care of nature, take care of children, take care of the
elderly; that there may be no hate, no fights, leave aside envy, do not speak
ill of anybody. Dialogue amongst each other, so that in all of you may live the
desire to care for one another.
That your hearts may grow and come close to God. God is good,
He always forgives, understands, do not be afraid of Him; He is Father, be close
to Him. May the Virgin bless you, do not forget this bishop who is far but loves
you very much. Pray for me.
Statement by Cardinal Seán Brady for Francis'
Inauguration Mass
"Pope Francis has reminded us that Jesus Christ is
everything"
DUBLIN, March 19, 2013 - Here is the statement made by
Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland regarding
the Inauguration of the Petrine Ministry Mass of Pope Francis, held today in St.
Peter's Square.
* * *
Today on the feast of Saint Joseph - patron saint of the
universal Church - I, along with other cardinals, bishops and priests, had the
honour to concelebrate Mass with Pope Francis as he began his Petrine Ministry
as the Bishop of Rome.The Mass
included the imposition of the Pallium and the bestowal of the Fisherman's Ring.
At today's special Mass in Saint Peter's Square, Rome, the
Holy Father asked us to "protect with love all that God has given us!"Let us take his important request to heart.Pope Francis has advised us how best we can do this:
Since his election last Wednesday 13 March, Pope Francis has
reminded us that Jesus Christ is everything.The Holy Father has said that we should all seek to know Jesus Christ and
to live our lives in the presence of Jesus.It is all about walking the Journey of Life in the presence of Jesus.
Pope Francis has often worried in the past about the danger
of what he calls spiritual worldliness.By that he means that we can be so obsessed about ourselves that we have
no interest or no time for anyone else.We can be so sure that we are alright that we do not need Jesus and that
we can pass judgement on everyone else.
The motto Pope Francis has chosen as pope is the same motto
he used as archbishop and it bears a teaching message for all of us.In his motto Pope Francis shows his love for the mercy of God – it says
that we are saved by the mercy and choice of God.We are not, and never can be, saved by our efforts alone.We would love to think that we can save ourselves and so we would not
have to depend on and need God.But
the fact is that we all need God’s mercy.
We are here on this earth to walk the Journey of Life in the
presence of God.We are invited to
get to know Jesus and be his friend and to sing his praises.We are called to realise that we have all sinned and need God’s mercy
which is available to each and every one of us.
I offer Pope Francis every blessing in his new role as
Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church.I ask the faithful of Ireland to join with me and to pray every success
for the Holy Father as he turns to face the many challenges of his ministry.
Latin American Bishops' Council on Francis' Election
"This event has filled us with profound joy and thanksgiving
to God"
ROME, March 19, 2013 (Zenit.org) - The leaders of the Latin
American bishops' council (CELAM) sent a letter to His Holiness Francis,
congratulating him on his election as Bishop of Rome and Successor of Peter.
* * *
Holy Father:
Gathered in Bogota at the meeting of the Presidency and
Directors of CELAM with the Secretaries General of the 22 Episcopal Conferences
of Latin America and the Caribbean, we wish to express to you, in this Year of
Faith, our sincere affection in the Lord, our adherence and loyalty.
We have lived the experience of your election as Bishop of
Rome and Successor of Peter, in an atmosphere of episcopal collegiality. This
event has filled us with profound joy and thanksgiving to God because of what it
represents for the universal Church and, in a special way, for the Churches
journeying in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In this context your words, spoken in an interview on leaving
the presidency of the Argentine Episcopal Conference, acquire for all of us a
special and significant connotation: “CELAM has been transformed into something
inspiring. The last Conference of the Episcopate in Aparecida is leaven of
inspiration, it is a call to creativity, draws lines of missionary action. It
does not end with a document as the previous conferences but culminates with a
mission. This is very important.”
We wish to express to you, Holy Father, that we identify
fully with your first message when you said: “And now we begin our journey:
Bishop and people, the journey of the Church of Rome which presides in charity
over all the Churches. A journey of brotherhood, of love, of trust among
ourselves. Let us always pray for ourselves, for one another. Let us pray for
the whole world, so that there will be great brotherhood.”
We place your Petrine ministry in Mary’s hands, Mother of the
Church and Star of the New Evangelization, so that she will put in your heart
the spirit of her Son Jesus, poor and humble, our Good Shepherd.
With humility, we implore your Apostolic Blessing for the
Church of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Bogota, March 14, 2013
+Carlos Aguiar RetesArchbishop of Tlalnepantla, Mexico
President of CELAM
+Dimas Lara BarbosaArchbishop of Campo Grande, Brazil
Second Vice-President of CELAM
+Santiago Silva RetamalesAuxiliary Bishop of Valparaiso, Chile
Secretary General of CELAM
+Carlos Maria Collazzi, SDBBishop of Mercedes, Uruguay
Pope Francis Congratulates Benedict for Feast of St.
Joseph
Holy Father Calls Pope Emeritus for His Name Day
VATICAN CITY, March 20, 2013 - The Vatican reported
Tuesday afternoon that Pope Francis called his predecessor to congratulate him
for the feast of St. Joseph, his name day.
As he was baptized Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict XVI's patron is
St. Joseph.
The Vatican statement reports: "This afternoon, shortly after
5:00 pm, Pope Francis called Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on the telephone, to
give him his best wishes on the occasion of the feast of Saint Joseph, his name
day, and to express his gratitude and that of the Church for his service. The
conversation was lengthy and cordial. The Pope Emeritus has followed intensely
the events of these days and, in particular, this morning’s celebration, and
assured his Successor of his continuous closeness in prayer."
With a Mass on Tuesday morning in St. Peter's Square, the
pontificate of Francis was officially inaugurated.
Pope's Address to Representatives of the Churches,
Ecclesial Communities and Other Religions
VATICAN CITY, March 20, 2013 - Here is the translation of the
address given today by Pope Francis, when he received in audience the fraternal
delegates of churches, ecclesial communities and international ecumenical
bodies, representatives of the Jewish people and of non-Christian religions,
gathered in Rome for the celebration of the official start of his ministry as
Bishop of Rome.
The Holy Father delivered his address after His Holiness
Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, greeted him.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
First of all I thank my Brother Andrew [Bartholomew I] very
much for what he said. Thank you very much! Thank you!
It is a cause for particular joy to meet today with you,
delegates of the Orthodox churches, the Oriental Orthodox churches and ecclesial
communities of the West. Thank you for having wanted to take part in the
celebration that has marked the beginning of my Ministry as Bishop of Rome and
successor of Peter.
Yesterday morning, during Holy Mass, through your persons I
recognized as spiritually present the communities that you represent. In this
manifestation of faith, I seemed to experience in an even more urgent way the
prayer for unity among believers in Christ and together to see somehow
foreshadowed that full realization, which depends on the plan of God and on our
loyal collaboration.
I begin my Apostolic Ministry in this year which my venerable
predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, with truly inspired insight, proclaimed the Year
of Faith for the Catholic Church. With this initiative, which I want to continue
and hope is a stimulus for the faith journey of all, he wished to mark the 50th
anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, proposing a sort of
pilgrimage towards that which is most essential for every Christian: the
personal and transforming relationship with Jesus Christ, Son of God, who died
and rose for our salvation. The heart of the Council's message resides precisely
in the desire to announce this perennially valid treasure of faith to the men of
our time.
Together with you I cannot forget how much that Council has
meant for the road of ecumenism. I would like to recall the words of Blessed
John XXIII, the 50th anniversary of whose death we will soon commemorate, which
he pronounced in his memorable inauguration speech: "the Catholic Church
considers it her duty to actively seek to fulfill the great mystery of that
unity which Jesus Christ with most ardent prayers beseeched the Heavenly Father
in the imminence of his sacrifice; It enjoys delightful peace, knowing itself to
be intimately United with Christ in those prayers» (AAS 54 [1962], 793). This is
Pope John.
Yes, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all feel
intimately united to the prayer of our Savior in the Last Supper, to his
invocation: ut unum sint. Let us ask the merciful Father to live in fullness
that faith that we received as a gift on the day of our baptism, and to be able
to bear free, courageous and joyful testimony to it. This will be our best
service to the cause of unity among Christians, a service of hope to a world
still marked by divisions, by contrast and rivalry. The more we are faithful to
His will, in our thoughts, words and deeds, the more we will actually and
substantially walk towards unity.
For my part, I wish to assure you, in the wake of my
predecessors, of my determination to continue on the path of ecumenical dialogue
and I would like to thank in advance the Pontifical Council for Promoting
Christian Unity, for the help that it will continue to offer, in my name, for
this noble cause. I ask you, dear brothers and sisters, to bring my cordial
greeting and the assurance of my remembrance in the Lord Jesus to the churches
and Christian communities here represented, and request of you the charity of a
special prayer for my person, to be a pastor according to the heart of Christ.
And now I turn to you distinguished representatives of the
Jewish people, to which we are joined in a very special spiritual bond, since,
as the Second Vatican Council affirms, the Church of Christ acknowledges that
“the beginnings of her faith and her election are already, according to the
divine mystery of salvation, in the Patriarchs, Moses, and the prophets”
(Declar. Nostra aetate, 4). Thank you for your presence and I am confident that,
with the help of the Almighty, we will be able to continue profitably that
fraternal dialogue that the Council advocated (cf. ibid.) and that has actually
been accomplished, bringing many fruits, especially in recent decades.
I then greet and cordially thank you all, dear friends
belonging to other religious traditions; first of all the Muslims, who worship
the one God, living and merciful, and call upon Him in prayer, and all of you. I
really appreciate your presence: in it I see a tangible sign of the will to grow
in mutual esteem and cooperation for the common good of humanity.
The Catholic Church is aware of the importance of promoting
friendship and respect between men and women of different religious traditions -
I wish to repeat this: promoting friendship and respect between men and women of
different religious traditions - it also attests the valuable work that the
Pontifical Council for interreligious dialogue performs. It is equally aware of
the responsibility that we all have towards this world of ours, towards all of
Creation, that we should love and protect. And we can do much for the sake of
the poorest, those who are weak and who suffer, to promote justice, to promote
reconciliation and to build peace. But, above all, we need to keep alive in the
world the thirst for the absolute, not allowing to prevail a one-dimensional
vision of the human person, according to which man is reduced to what he
produces and consumes: this is this one of the most dangerous pitfalls for our
time.
We know how much violence has been produced in recent history
by the attempt to eliminate God and the divine from the horizon of humanity, and
we experience the value of witnessing in our societies to the original opening
to transcendence that is inherent in the human heart. In this, we feel close
even to all those men and women who, whilst not recognising themselves belonging
to any religious tradition, feel themselves nevertheless to be in search of
truth, goodness and beauty, this truth, goodness and beauty of God, and who are
our precious allies in efforts to defend the dignity of man, in building a
peaceful coexistence among peoples and in guarding Creation carefully.
Dear friends, thank you again for your presence. To everyone I
extend my cordial and fraternal greeting.
VATICAN CITY, March
21, 2013 - Here is the message sent today by Pope Francis to His Grace
Justin Welby on the occasion of his enthronement as Archbishop of Canterbury
and primate of the Anglican Communion.
* * *
To the Most Reverend
and Right Honourable Justin Welby
Archbishop of
Canterbury
"May grace and peace
be multiplied to you" (1 Pet 1:2b)
I thank you for the kind words contained in your message
to me at my election, and I wish in turn to offer my greetings and best
wishes on the occasion of your Enthronement at Canterbury Cathedral.
The pastoral ministry
is a call to walk in fidelity to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Please
be assured of my prayers as you take up your new responsibilities, and I ask
you to pray for me as I respond to the new call that the Lord has addressed
to me.
I look forward to
meeting you in the near future, and to continuing the warm fraternal
relations that our predecessors enjoyed.
VATICAN CITY, March
21, 2013 - Here is the message sent by Pope Benedict XVI, prior to his
resignation from the Petrine Ministry, to Archbishop of Canterbury Justin
Welby on the occasion of his Confirmation of Election, held in the Cathedral
of St. Paul in London on February 4th.
* * *
To the Most Reverend
and Right Honourable
Justin Welby
Archbishop of
Canterbury
“In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and
of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up
for you in heaven.” (Col 1:3)
With these words of Saint Paul, I greet you joyfully in
the name of the Lord Jesus, "whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and
sanctification and redemption" (1 Cor 1:30), and I offer you my prayerful
good wishes on the occasion of your installation as Archbishop of
Canterbury.
You take up your office at a time when the Christian faith
is being called into question in many parts of the Western world by those
who claim that religion is a private matter, with no contribution to offer
to public debate. Ministers of the Gospel today have to respond to a
widespread deafness to the music of faith, and a general weariness that
shuns the demands of discipleship. Yet the hunger for God, even if
unrecognized, is ever-present in our society, and the preacher's task, as a
messenger of hope, is to speak the truth with love, shedding the light of
Christ into the darkness of people's lives. May your apostolate yield a rich
harvest and may it open the eyes and ears of many to the life-giving message
of the Gospel.
Let us give thanks to God that the bonds of affection
between Catholics and Anglicans have become firmly established in recent
decades, through dialogue and collaboration, as well as personal meetings
between our respective predecessors. It is greatly to be hoped that we will
continue to build upon that important legacy. The disappointments that have
been encountered and the challenges that remain on our journey towards full
communion are well known, but there have also been signs of hope.
Recognizing that our unity will arise only as a gift from the Lord, let us
entrust ourselves to his Holy Spirit, as we renew our determination to seek
genuine unity in faith and to engage more profoundly in common witness and
mission.
With sentiments
of fraternal regard, I assure you of my prayers as you take up your new
responsibilities. Whatever challenges you encounter, may the Lord grant you
strength and wisdom, and may the Holy Spirit guide you in all that you
undertake in his name.
"Fighting poverty, both material and spiritual, building peace and constructing
bridges"
VATICAN CITY, March
22, 2013 - Here is a Vatican translation of the address Francis
gave this morning to the diplomatic corps acredited to the Holy See.
* * *
Your
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Heartfelt thanks to your Dean, Ambassador Jean-Claude
Michel, for the kind words that he has addressed to me in the name of
everyone present. It gives me joy to welcome you for this exchange of
greetings: a simple yet deeply felt ceremony, that somehow seeks to express
the Pope’s embrace of the world. Through you, indeed, I encounter your
peoples, and thus in a sense I can reach out to every one of your fellow
citizens, with their joys, their troubles, their expectations, their
desires.
Your presence here in such numbers is a sign that the
relations between your countries and the Holy See are fruitful, that they
are truly a source of benefit to mankind. That, indeed, is what matters to
the Holy See: the good of every person upon this earth! And it is with this
understanding that the Bishop of Rome embarks upon his ministry, in the
knowledge that he can count on the friendship and affection of the countries
you represent, and in the certainty that you share this objective. At the
same time, I hope that it will also be an opportunity to begin a journey
with those few countries that do not yet have diplomatic relations with the
Holy See, some of which were present at the Mass for the beginning of my
ministry, or sent messages as a sign of their closeness – for which I am
truly grateful.
As you know, there are various reasons why I chose the
name of Francis of Assisi, a familiar figure far beyond the borders of Italy
and Europe, even among those who do not profess the Catholic faith. One of
the first reasons was Francis’ love for the poor. How many poor people there
still are in the world! And what great suffering they have to endure! After
the example of Francis of Assisi, the Church in every corner of the globe
has always tried to care for and look after those who suffer from want, and
I think that in many of your countries you can attest to the generous
activity of Christians who dedicate themselves to helping the sick, orphans,
the homeless and all the marginalized, thus striving to make society more
humane and more just.
But there is another form of poverty! It is the spiritual
poverty of our time, which afflicts the so-called richer countries
particularly seriously. It is what my much-loved predecessor, Benedict XVI,
called the "tyranny of relativism", which makes everyone his own criterion
and endangers the coexistence of peoples. And that brings me to a second
reason for my name. Francis of Assisi tells us we should work to build
peace. But there is no true peace without truth! There cannot be true peace
if everyone is his own criterion, if everyone can always claim exclusively
his own rights, without at the same time caring for the good of others, of
everyone, on the basis of the nature that unites every human being on this
earth.
One of the titles of the Bishop of Rome is Pontiff, that
is, a builder of bridges with God and between people. My wish is that the
dialogue between us should help to build bridges connecting all people, in
such a way that everyone can see in the other not an enemy, not a rival, but
a brother or sister to be welcomed and embraced! My own origins impel me to
work for the building of bridges. As you know, my family is of Italian
origin; and so this dialogue between places and cultures a great distance
apart matters greatly to me, this dialogue between one end of the world and
the other, which today are growing ever closer, more interdependent, more in
need of opportunities to meet and to create real spaces of authentic
fraternity.
In this work, the role of religion is fundamental. It is
not possible to build bridges between people while forgetting God. But the
converse is also true: it is not possible to establish true links with God,
while ignoring other people. Hence it is important to intensify dialogue
among the various religions, and I am thinking particularly of dialogue with
Islam. At the Mass marking the beginning of my ministry, I greatly
appreciated the presence of so many civil and religious leaders from the
Islamic world. And it is also important to intensify outreach to
non-believers, so that the differences which divide and hurt us may never
prevail, but rather the desire to build true links of friendship between all
peoples, despite their diversity.
Fighting poverty, both material and spiritual, building
peace and constructing bridges: these, as it were, are the reference points
for a journey that I want to invite each of the countries here represented
to take up. But it is a difficult journey, if we do not learn to grow in
love for this world of ours. Here too, it helps me to think of the name of
Francis, who teaches us profound respect for the whole of creation and the
protection of our environment, which all too often, instead of using for the
good, we exploit greedily, to one another’s detriment.
Dear Ambassadors, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you again for all the work that you do, alongside
the Secretariat of State, to build peace and construct bridges of friendship
and fraternity. Through you, I would like to renew to your Governments my
thanks for their participation in the celebrations on the occasion of my
election, and my heartfelt desire for a fruitful common endeavour. May
Almighty God pour out his gifts on each one of you, on your families and on
the peoples that you represent. Thank you!
Pope Praying for All Jesuits, That
They May Be "Evangelical Leaven in the World"
VATICAN CITY, March 22, 2013 - The Vatican made
available the text of a letter Francis sent to Fr. Adolfo Nicolás,
superior-general of the Society of Jesus, in response to Fr. Adolfo's letter
of congratulations upon his election as Pope. The two men have since met.
* * *
Dear Father Nicolás,
I received with
great joy the kind letter you sent me, in your name and that of the Society
of Jesus, on the occasion of my election to the See of Peter, in which you
assure me of your prayers for me and my apostolic ministry as well as your
full disposition to continue serving - unconditionally - the Church and the
Vicar of Christ according to the teachings of St. Ignatius Loyola. My heartfelt thanks for this sign of affection and
closeness, which I am happy to reciprocate, asking the Lord to illuminate
and accompany all Jesuits, so that faithful to the charism received and
following in the footsteps of the saints of our beloved Order, they may be
evangelical leaven in the world in their pastoral action, but above all in
the witness of a life totally dedicated to the service of the Church, the
Spouse of Christ, seeking unceasingly the glory of God and the good of
souls. With these sentiments, I ask all Jesuits to pray for me
and to entrust me to the loving protection of the Virgin Mary, our Mother in
heaven, while as a sign of God's abundant graces, I give you the Apostolic
Blessing with special affection, which I also extend to all those who
cooperate with the Society of Jesus in her activities, those who benefit
from her good deeds and participate in her spirituality. Francis Vatican, 16 March 2013
VATICAN CITY, March
24, 2013 - Here is the translation of the address Pope Francis'
delivered prior to the recitation of the Angelus at the end of today's Palm
Sunday Mass at St. Peter's Square.
* * *
Dear brothers and
sisters,
At the end of this
celebration, we invoke the intercession of the Virgin Mary that she might
accompany us during Holy Week. May she who followed her Son to Calvary help
us to follow him, carrying his cross with serenity and love, to reach the
joy of Easter. May the Virgin of Sorrows especially comfort those who are
facing the most difficult situations. A thought goes out to those who suffer
from tuberculosis since today is the World Tuberculosis Day. To Mary I
entrust you in particular, dear young people, and your journey toward Rio de
Janeiro.
See you in Rio in July! Prepare your heart spiritually.
Buon cammino a tutti!
Bonne route à tous !
I wish you all much
joy on your journey.
Alles Gute für euren
Weg auf Ostern hin und nach Rio!
VATICAN CITY, March 24, 2013 - Here is the translation of
Pope Francis' homily for Palm Sunday which was held at St. Peter's Square
earlier today.
* * *
1. Jesus enters into
Jerusalem. The crowd of disciples accompanies him in celebration, cloaks are
placed on the road before him, his miracles are spoken of, a shout of praise
goes up: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king. Peace
in heaven and glory in the highest heaven” (Luke 19:38).
Crowd, celebration, praise, blessing, peace: it is a
climate of joy that is being experienced. Jesus has reawakened many hopes of
the heart, above all in the humble people, the simple, poor, forgotten,
those who do not count in the eyes of the world. He understood human misery,
he manifested the face of God’s mercy and deigned to heal the body and soul.
This is Jesus. This is his heart that looks upon all of
us, that looks upon all of our afflictions, our sins. Jesus’ love is great.
And so he enters into Jerusalem with this love, and looks upon all of us. It
is a beautiful scene: full of light – the light of Jesus’ love, the light of
his heart – of joy, of celebrating.
At the beginning of Mass we too repeated this. We waved
our palms. We too welcomed Jesus; we too expressed the joy of accompanying
him, of knowing that he is near, present in us and among us, as a friend, as
a brother, and as king, that is, like a glowing beacon in our life. Jesus is
God but he lowered himself to walk with us. He is our friend, our brother.
Here he lights our way. And in this way we have welcomed him today. And this
is the first word that I want to say to you: joy! Never be sad men and
women: a Christian can never be! Never give in to discouragement! Ours is
not a joy that arises from possessing many things, rather it comes from
having met a Person: Jesus, who is among us; it comes from knowing that with
him we are never alone, even in difficult moments, even when the journey of
life collides with problems and obstacles that seem insurmountable, and
there are many! And it is in this moment that the enemy comes, the devil
comes, many times disguised as an angel, and he speaks to us deceitfully. Do
not listen to him! We follow Jesus! We accompany, we follow Jesus, but above
all we know that he accompanies us and he carries us: here is where our joy
lies, the hope that we, in this world of ours, must have. And, please, do
not let hope be stolen from you! Do not let your hope be stolen! The hope
that Jesus gives us.
2. But we ask ourselves – here we approach to the second
word – Why does Jesus come to Jerusalem? Or perhaps better: How does Jesus
enter into Jerusalem? The crowd acclaims him King. And he does not oppose
this, he does not silence them (cf. Luke 19:39-40). But what kind of King is
Jesus? Let us see: he rides a colt, he does not have a court that follows
him, he is not surrounded by an army that would symbolize power. Those who
welcome him are humble, simple people, who have the sense to see in Jesus
something more; they have that sense of faith, which says: this is the
Savior. Jesus does not enter the Holy City to receive the honors reserved
for earthly kings, to those who have power, to those who dominate; he enters
to be beaten, insulted and reviled, as Isaiah foretold in the first reading
(cf. Isaiah 50:6); he enters to receive a crown of thorns, a reed, a purple
cloak, his royalty will be an object of scorn; he enters to climb Calvary,
carrying a tree. And this is the second word: cross. Jesus enters Jerusalem
to die on the cross. And it is exactly here that his being a king, as God,
is manifested: the royal throne is the wood of the cross! I think of what
Benedict XVI said to the cardinals: you are princes but of a crucified King.
That is Jesus’ throne. Jesus takes it upon himself… Why the cross? Because
Jesus takes upon himself evil, filth, the sin of the world, even our sin,
the sins of all of us, and he washes them away with his blood, with mercy,
with God’s love. Let us look around: how greatly does evil wound humanity!
War, violence, economic conflicts that harm the weakest, desire for money,
which no one can take with them, it must be left behind. My grandmother said
to us children: the shroud that they bury you in won’t have pockets. Love of
money, power, corruption, divisions, crimes against human life and against
creation! And – we all know – there are our own sins: lack of love and
respect for God, for our neighbor, for the whole of creation. And Jesus on
the cross feels the whole weight of evil and with the power of God’s love
conquers it, he defeats it in his resurrection. This is the good that Jesus
does for all of us upon the cross. The cross of Christ, embraced with love,
never brings sadness with it, but joy, the joy of being saved and of doing a
little of what he did on the day of his death.
3. Today there are
many young people in this piazza: for 28 years Palm Sunday has been the Day
of Young People! This is the third word: youth! Dear young people, I saw you
in the procession, when you came in; I imagine you celebrating around Jesus,
shaking the olive branches; I imagine you as you shout his name and express
your joy at being with him! You have an important part in the feast of
faith! You bring us the joy of faith and you tell us that we must live the
faith with a young heart, always, a young heart even at 70 or 80! Young
heart! With Christ the heart never grows old! But we all know that the King
that we follow and who accompanies us is very special: he is a King who
loves even to the cross and that teaches us to serve, to love. And you are
not ashamed of the cross! On the contrary, you embrace it, because you have
understood that it is in the gift of self, in going out of yourself that you
have true joy and that with God’s love he conquered evil. You carry the
Pilgrim Cross across all the continents, down the roads of the world! You
carry it responding to Jesus’ invitation, “Go and make disciples of all
nations” (cf. Matthew 28:19), which is the theme of World Youth Day this
year. You carry it to say to everyone that on the cross Jesus broke down the
wall of enmity that separates men and peoples, and brought reconciliation
and peace. Dear friends, I too journey with you, starting today, in the
footsteps of John Paul II and of Benedict XVI. We are already near this next
stage on this great pilgrimage of the cross. Look with joy to July, to Rio
de Janeiro! I have an appointment with you in that great city in Brazil!
Prepare yourselves well, above all spiritually in your communities, so that
meeting will be a sign of faith for the whole world. The young people must
say to the world: it is good to follow Jesus; it is good to go with Jesus;
Jesus’ message is good; it is good to go out of yourself to the ends of the
earth and existence to bring Jesus! Three words: joy, cross, youth.
Let us ask the
intercession of the Virgin Mary. She teaches us the joy of the encounter
with Christ, the love with which we, at the foot of the cross, must look
upon him, the enthusiasm of the young heart with which we must follow him
this Holy Week and our whole life. Amen.
Pope's Note to Chief Rabbi of Rome for Feast of
Passover
VATICAN CITY, March
25, 2013 - Here is a translation of the note that Pope Francis sent to
the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo di Segni, for the feast of Passover, which
starts today at sundown.
The Holy Father met
Rabbi di Segni on March 20, during his audience with delegations from other
Christian confessions and non-Christian religions.
* * *
A few days on from our
meeting, and with renewed gratitude for your having desired to honor the
celebration of the beginning of my ministry with your presence and that of
other distinguished members of the Jewish community, I take great pleasure
in extending my warmest best wishes to you and Rome's entire Jewish
community on the occasion of the Great Feast of Pesach. May the Almighty,
who freed His people from slavery in Egypt to guide them to the Promised
Land, continue to deliver you from all evil and to accompany you with His
blessing. I ask you to pray for me, as I assure you of my prayers for you,
confident that we can deepen [our] ties of mutual esteem and friendship. -
FRANCIS
Havana Prelate Shares Notes From Cardinal
Bergoglio's Pre-Conclave Speech
Argentine Archbishop Warned Against a 'Worldly Church'
HAVANA, CUBA, March 26, 2013
- The archbishop of Havana says that a speech given by Cardinal Jorge
Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) during the cardinals' pre-conclave meetings
was "masterful" and "clear."
Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y
Alamino spoke of Cardinal Bergoglio's speech at a Mass on Saturday in
Cuba, having returned home from his trip to Rome to bid farewell to
Benedict, participate in the conclave, and welcome Francis.
Cardinal Ortega said that Cardinal Bergoglio gave him the handwritten
notes of the speech, and the permission to share the contents.
"Allow me to let you know, almost as an absolute first fruit, the
thought of the Holy Father Francis on the mission of the Church,"
Cardinal Ortega said.
During Saturday's Mass, Havana's archbishop spoke of the address as
"masterful, enlightening, calling for a commitment, and true," the
spokesman of the archbishopric of Havana, Orlando Marquez, told ZENIT.
Then he read the full text that the future Pope gave him, in which he
summarizes in four points the thoughts he wished to share with his
brother cardinals and which express his personal vision of the Church in
the present time.
The first of these points is on evangelization, and he says that "the
Church must come out of herself and go to the peripheries" not only in a
geographic sense, but also the existential, manifested in the mystery of
sin, pain, injustice and ignorance, among others.
The second point is a criticism of the "self-referent" Church, which
looks to herself in a sort of "theological narcissism," which separates
her from the world and "keeps Jesus Christ within herself and does not
allow Him to go out."
As a consequence of this, there are two images of the Church
according to point three of Cardinal Bergoglio's address: one is the
"evangelizing Church that comes out of herself" and another is "the
worldly Church that lives in herself, of herself, for herself." And this
twofold consideration must "give light to the possible changes and
reforms that must be made" in the Church.
In his last point, Cardinal Bergoglio spoke to the cardinals about
what he expected from the one who would be elected to lead the Church:
"a man who, from contemplation of Jesus Christ ... will help the Church
to come out of herself toward the existential peripheries."
The archbishop of Havana explained in his homily that, because he
agreed with that outline of the Church, he had asked Cardinal Bergoglio
if he had a written text of the address, as he wished to keep it.
Cardinal Bergoglio answered that he did not.
However, Cardinal Ortega continued, the following morning, "with
supreme thoughtfulness," Cardinal Bergoglio gave him a handwritten text
of his address exactly as he remembered it.
At that time, Cardinal Ortega requested and received Cardinal
Bergoglio's authorization to share those thoughts on the Church.
After Francis' election, Cardinal Ortega again asked permission to
share the text, and Francis again agreed. Cardinal Ortega reported that
he is keeping the original as a special treasure of the Church and a
privileged memento of the present Supreme Pontiff of the Church.
Palabra Nueva, the magazine of the Archbishopric of Havana directed
by Orlando Marquez, published the notes that Cardinal Bergoglio gave to
Cardinal Ortega.
The Sweet and Comforting Joy of Evangelizing
Reference was made to evangelization. It is the raison d'etre of the
Church -- "the sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing" (Paul VI). It
is Jesus Christ himself who impels us from within.
1. - To evangelize implies apostolic zeal. To evangelize implies a
desire in the Church to come out of herself. The Church is called to
come out of herself and to go to the peripheries not only in the
geographic sense but also the existential peripheries: those of the
mystery of sin, of pain, of injustice, of ignorance, of doing without
religion, of thought and of all misery.
2. - When the Church does not come out of herself to evangelize, she
becomes self-referent and then she gets sick. (cf. The hunchback woman
of the Gospel). The evils that over the course of time happen in
ecclesial institutions have their root in a self-reference and a sort of
theological narcissism. In Revelation, Jesus says that he is at the door
and knocks. Evidently the text refers to his knocking from outside in
order to enter but I think of the times in which Jesus knocks from
within so that we will let him come out. The self-referent Church keeps
Jesus Christ within herself and does not let him come out.
3. - When the Church is
self-referent without realizing it, she believes she has her own light.
She ceases to be the mysterium lunae and gives way to that very great
evil which is spiritual worldliness (according to De Lubac, it is the
worst evil that can come upon the Church). The self-referent Church
lives to give glory only to one another. In simple terms, there are two
images of the Church: the evangelizing Church that comes out of herself;
the Dei Verbum religiose audiens et fidente proclamans, and the worldly
Church that lives within herself, of herself, for herself. This must
give light to the possible changes and reforms which must be made for
the salvation of souls.
4. - Thinking of the next Pope,
he must be a man that from the contemplation and adoration of Jesus
Christ, helps the Church to come out to the existential peripheries,
that helps her to be the fruitful mother who lives from the sweet and
comforting joy of evangelizing.
Beginning again with what's become his trademark "buon
giorno!" and interrupted by several rounds of
applause as he spoke, here's the Vatican Radio
translation of the Pope's talk today – emphases added per original delivery:
Brothers and sisters, good morning!
I am pleased to welcome you to my first general
audience. With deep gratitude and veneration I am taking up the
"witness" from the hands of my beloved predecessor, Benedict XVI. After
Easter we will resume the catechesis on the Year of Faith. Today I would
like to focus a little on Holy Week. With Palm Sunday we began this week
- the center of the whole liturgical year - in which we accompany Jesus
in His Passion, Death and Resurrection. But what does it mean for us to live Holy Week?
What does it means to follow Jesus on His way to the Cross on Calvary
and the Resurrection? In His earthly mission, Jesus walked the streets
of the Holy Land; He called twelve simple people to remain with Him, to
share His journey and continue His mission; He chose them among the
people full of faith in the promises of God. He spoke to everyone,
without distinction, to the great and the lowly; to the rich young man
and the poor widow, the powerful and the weak; He brought the mercy and
forgiveness of God to all; He healed, comforted, understood, gave hope,
He led all to the presence of God, who is interested in every man and
woman, like a good father and a good mother is interested in each child.
God did not wait for us to go to Him, but He moved
towards us, without calculation, without
measures. This is how God is: He is always
the first, He moves towards us. Jesus lived the daily realities of most
ordinary people: He was moved by the crowd that seemed like a flock
without a shepherd, and He cried in front of the suffering of Martha and
Mary on the death of their brother Lazarus; He called a tax collector to
be His disciple and also suffered the betrayal of a friend. In Christ,
God has given us the assurance that He is
with us, in our midst. "Foxes", Jesus said,
"have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has
nowhere to rest His head" (Mt 8:20). Jesus did not have a home because His house is the people
-- that is, us; His mission is to open all
God’s doors, to be the loving presence of
God. In Holy Week we live the highest point of this
journey, this loving plan that runs throughout the entire history of the
relationship between God and humanity. Jesus enters Jerusalem to take
the final step, in which His whole existence is summarized: He gives
Himself totally, He keeps nothing for Himself, not even His life. At the
Last Supper, with His friends, He shares the bread and distributes the
chalice "for us."
The Son of God is offered to us,
He consigns His Body and his Blood into our hands to be with us always,
to dwell among us. And on the Mount of Olives, as in the trial before
Pilate, He puts up no resistance, He gifts Himself: He is the Suffering
Servant foretold by Isaiah, who stripped himself unto death (cf. Is
53:12). Jesus does not live this love that leads to
sacrifice passively or as a fatal destiny; certainly He does not hide
His deep human commotion in the face of a violent death, but He entrusts
Himself with full confidence to the Father. Jesus voluntarily consigned
Himself to death to respond to the love of God the Father, in perfect
union with His will, to demonstrate His love for us. On the Cross, Jesus
"loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal 2:20). Each of us can say, "He
loved me and gave Himself for me."
Everyone can say that "for me"! What does this mean for us? It means that this is my, your, our path.
Living Holy Week following Jesus not only with the emotions of the
heart; living Holy Week following Jesus means learning how to go beyond
ourselves - as I said on Sunday - to reach out to others, to go to the
outskirts of existence, to be the first to
move towards our brothers and sisters,
especially those who are most distant, those who are forgotten, those
who are most in need of understanding, consolation and help. There is so
much need to bring the living presence of Jesus, merciful and full of
love!
Living Holy Week means increasingly entering into
God's logic, the logic of the Cross, which is not first of all that of
pain and death, but of love and of self-giving that brings life. It
means entering into the logic of the Gospel. Following, accompanying
Christ, remaining with Him requires a
"stepping outside," a stepping beyond.
Stepping outside of ourselves, of a tired and routine way of living the
faith, of the temptation to withdraw into pre-established patterns that
end up closing our horizon to the creative action of God. God stepped
outside of Himself to come among us, He pitched His tent among us to
bring the mercy of God that saves and gives hope. Even if we want to
follow Him and stay with Him, we must not be content to remain in the
enclosure of the ninety-nine sheep, we have
to "step outside", to search for the lost
sheep together with Him, the one furthest away. Remember well: stepping
outside of ourselves, like Jesus, like God
has stepped outside of Himself in Jesus and Jesus stepped outside of
Himself for all of us.
Some might say to me, "But, Father, I have no
time", "I have so many things to do", "it is difficult", "what can I do
with my little strength?", with my sin, with so many things? Often we
settle for a few prayers, a distracted and inconsistent presence at
Sunday Mass, a random act of charity, but we lack this courage to "step outside" to
bring Christ. We are a bit like St. Peter. As soon as Jesus speaks of
the Passion, Death and Resurrection, of self-giving, of love for all,
the Apostle takes him aside and rebukes him. What Jesus says upsets his
plans, seems unacceptable, undermines the sense of security that he had
built up, his idea of the Messiah. And Jesus looks at the disciples
and addresses Peter with perhaps one of the strongest words of the
Gospel: "Get behind me, Satan.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do"(Mk 8:33).
God always thinks with mercy: do not forget this.
God always thinks with mercy: our merciful Father. God thinks like a
father who awaits the return of his child and goes to meet him, sees him
coming when he is still far away ... What does this mean? That each and
every day he went out to see if his son was coming home. This is our
merciful Father. It is the sign that he was waiting for him from the
terrace of his house; God thinks like the Samaritan that does not
approach the victim to commiserate with him, or look the other way, but
to rescue him without asking for anything
in return, without asking if he was Jew, if
he was pagan, a Samaritan, rich or poor: he does not ask anything – he
does not ask these things, he asks for nothing. He goes to his aid: This
is how God thinks. God thinks like the shepherd who gives his life to
defend and save his sheep.
Holy Week is a time of grace which the Lord gifts
us to open the doors of our hearts, our
lives, our parishes - what a pity, so many
parishes are closed! - in our parishes, movements, associations, and to
"step outside" towards others, to draw close to them so we can bring the
light and joy of our faith. Always step
outside yourself!And with the love and
tenderness of God, with respect and patience, knowing that we put our hands, our feet, our
hearts, but then it is God
who guides them and makes all our actions fruitful. May you all live these days well, following the
Lord with courage, and carrying within ourselves a ray of His love for
all those whom we meet.
VATICAN CITY,
March 28, 2013 - Here is the translation of the homily given today by
Pope Francis during the Chrism Mass held in St. Peter’s Basilica.
* * *
Dear Brothers and
Sisters,
This morning I
have the joy of celebrating my first Chrism Mass as the Bishop of Rome.
I greet all of you with affection, especially you, dear priests, who,
like myself, today recall the day of your ordination.
The readings of our Mass speak of God's anointed ones:
the suffering Servant of Isaiah, King David and Jesus our Lord. All
three have this in common: the anointing that they receive is meant in
turn to anoint God's faithful people, whose servants they are; they are
anointed for the poor, for prisoners, for the oppressed A fine image of
this being for others can be found in the Psalm: It is like the precious
oil upon the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron,
running down upon the collar of his robe (Ps 133:2). The image of
spreading oil, flowing down from the beard of Aaron upon the collar of
his sacred robe, is an image of the priestly anointing which, through
Christ, the Anointed One, reaches the ends of the earth, represented by
the robe.
The sacred robes of the High Priest are rich in
symbolism. One such symbol is that the names of the children of Israel
were engraved on the onyx stones mounted on the shoulder-pieces of the
ephod, the ancestor of our present-day chasuble: six on the stone of the
right shoulder-piece and six on that of the left (cf. Ex 28:6-14). The
names of the twelve tribes of Israel were also engraved on the
breastplate (cf. Es 28:21). This means that the priest celebrates by
carrying on his shoulders the people entrusted to his care and bearing
their names written in his heart. When we put on our simple chasuble, it
might well make us feel, upon our shoulders and in our hearts, the
burdens and the faces of our faithful people, our saints and martyrs of
whom there are many in these times
From the beauty of all these liturgical things, which
is not so much about trappings and fine fabrics than about the glory of
our God resplendent in his people, alive and strengthened, we turn to a
consideration of activity, action. The precious oil which anoints the
head of Aaron does more than simply lend fragrance to his person; it
overflows down to the edges. The Lord will say this clearly: his
anointing is meant for the poor, prisoners and the sick, for those who
are sorrowing and alone. The ointment is not intended just to make us
fragrant, much less to be kept in a jar, for then it would become rancid
and the heart bitter.
A good priest can be recognized by the way his people
are anointed. This is a clear test. When our people are anointed with
the oil of gladness, it is obvious: for example, when they leave Mass
looking as if they have heard good news. Our people like to hear the
Gospel preached with unction, they like it when the Gospel we preach
touches their daily lives, when it runs down like the oil of Aaron to
the edges of reality, when it brings light to moments of extreme
darkness, to the outskirts where people of faith are most exposed to the
onslaught of those who want to tear down their faith. People thank us
because they feel that we have prayed over the realities of their
everyday lives, their troubles, their joys, their burdens and their
hopes. And when they feel that the fragrance of the Anointed One, of
Christ, has come to them through us, they feel encouraged to entrust to
us everything they want to bring before the Lord: Pray for me, Father,
because I have this problem, Bless me, Pray for me these words are the
sign that the anointing has flowed down to the edges of the robe, for it
has turned into prayer.
The prayers of the people of God. When we have this
relationship with God and with his people, and grace passes through us,
then we are priests, mediators between God and men. What I want to
emphasize is that we need constantly to stir up God's grace and perceive
in every request, even those requests that are inconvenient and at times
purely material or downright banal but only apparently so the desire of
our people to be anointed with fragrant oil, since they know that we
have it. To perceive and to sense, even as the Lord sensed the
hope-filled anguish of the woman suffering from hemorrhages when she
touched the hem of his garment. At that moment, Jesus, surrounded by
people on every side, embodies all the beauty of Aaron vested in
priestly raiment, with the oil running down upon his robes. It is a
hidden beauty, one which shines forth only for those faith-filled eyes
of the woman troubled with an issue of blood. But not even the disciples
future priests see or understand: on the existential outskirts, they see
only what is on the surface: the crowd pressing in on Jesus from all
sides (cf. Lk 8:42). The Lord, on the other hand, feels the power of the
divine anointing which runs down to the edge of his cloak.
We need to go out, then, in order to experience our
own anointing, its power and its redemptive efficacy: to the outskirts
where there is suffering, bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight, and
prisoners in thrall to many evil masters. It is not in soul-searching or
constant introspection that we encounter the Lord: self-help courses can
be useful in life, but to live by going from one course to another, from
one method to another, leads us to become pelagians and to minimize the
power of grace, which comes alive and flourishes to the extent that we,
in faith, go out and give ourselves and the Gospel to others, giving
what little ointment we have to those who have nothing, nothing at all.
A priest who seldom goes out of himself, who anoints
little I won't say not at all because, thank God, our people take our
oil from us anyway misses out on the best of our people, on what can
stir the depths of his priestly heart. Those who do not go out of
themselves, instead of being mediators, gradually become intermediaries,
managers. We know the difference: the intermediary, the manager, has
already received his reward, and since he doesn't put his own skin and
his own heart on the line, he never hears a warm, heartfelt word of
thanks. This is precisely the reason why some priests grow dissatisfied,
become sad priests, lose heart and become in some sense collectors of
antiques or novelties instead of being shepherds living with the smell
of the sheep, shepherds in the midst of their flock, fishers of men.
True enough, the so-called crisis of priestly identity threatens us all
and adds to the broader cultural crisis; but if we can resist its
onslaught, we will be able to put out in the name of the Lord and cast
our nets. It is not a bad thing that reality itself forces us to put out
into the deep, where what we are by grace is clearly seen as pure grace,
out into the deep of the contemporary world, where the only thing that
counts is unction not function and the nets which overflow with fish are
those cast solely in the name of the One in whom we have put our trust:
Jesus.
Dear lay faithful, be close to your priests with
affection and with your prayers, that they may always be shepherds
according to God's heart.
Dear priests, may
God the Father renew in us the Spirit of holiness with whom we have been
anointed. May he renew his Spirit in our hearts, that this anointing may
spread to everyone, even to those outskirts where our faithful people
most look for it and most appreciate it. May our people sense that we
are the Lord's disciples; may they feel that their names are written
upon our priestly vestments and that we seek no other identity; and may
they receive through our words and deeds the oil of gladness which
Jesus, the Anointed One, came to bring us. Amen.
"Christians must respond to evil with good, taking the Cross upon themselves as
Jesus did"
ROME, March 29, 2013 - Here is a
Vatican translation of the brief address Pope Francis gave tonight at the
end of the Via Crucis held in the Colosseum.
* * *
Dear Brother and
Sisters,
Thank you for having
taken part in these moments of deep prayer. I also thank those who have
accompanied us through the media, especially the sick and elderly.
I do not wish to add too many words. One word should
suffice this evening, that is the Cross itself. The Cross is the word
through which God has responded to evil in the world. Sometimes it may seem
as though God does not react to evil, as if he is silent. And yet, God has
spoken, he has replied, and his answer is the Cross of Christ: a word which
is love, mercy, forgiveness. It is also reveals a judgment, namely that God,
in judging us, loves us. In judging us, he loves us. If I embrace his love
then I am saved, if I refuse it, then I am condemned, not by him, but my own
self, because God never condemns, he only loves and saves.
Dear brothers and sisters, the word of the Cross is also
the answer which Christians offer in the face of evil, the evil that
continues to work in us and around us. Christians must respond to evil with
good, taking the Cross upon themselves as Jesus did. This evening we have
heard the witness given by our Lebanese brothers and sisters: they composed
these beautiful prayers and meditations. We extend our heartfelt gratitude
to them for this work and for the witness they offer. We were able to see
this when Pope Benedict visited Lebanon: we saw the beauty and the strong
bond of communion joining Christians together in that land and the
friendship of our Muslim brothers and sisters and so many others. That
occasion was a sign to the Middle East and to the whole world: a sign of
hope.
We now continue this Via Crucis in our daily lives. Let us
walk together along the Way of the Cross and let us do so carrying in our
hearts this word of love and forgiveness. Let us go forward waiting for the
Resurrection of Jesus, who loves us so much. Who is all love.
Pope Francis' Holy Thursday Homily at Casal del Marmo
Juvenile Detention Center
ROME, March 29, 2013 - Here is the translation of Pope' Francis
homily for the "In Coena Domini" Mass celebrated at the Casal del Marmo
Juvenile Detention Center.
* * *
This is moving, Jesus washes the feet of his disciples.
Peter understands nothing. He refuses but Jesus explains to him. Jesus, God
did this, and He Himself explains it to the disciples.. Do you realize what
I have done for you? You call me teacher and master, and rightly so, for
indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet,
you ought to wash one anothers feet. I have given you a model to follow, so
that as I have done for you, you should also do.
It is the example set by Our Lord, its important for Him
to wash their feet, because among us the one who is highest up must be at
the service of others. This is a symbol, it is a sign washing your feet
means I am at your service. And we are too, among each other, but we dont
have to wash each others feet each day. So what does this mean? That we have
to help each othersometimes I would get angry with one someone, but we must
let it go and if they ask a favor of do it!
Help one another. This is what Jesus teaches us. This is
what I do. And I do it with my heart. I do this with my heart because it is
my duty, as a priest and bishop I must be at your service. But it is a duty
that comes from my heart and a duty I love. I love doing it because this is
what the Lord has taught me. But you too must help us and help each other,
always. And thus in helping each other we will do good for each other.
Now we will perform the ceremony of the Washing of the
Feet and we must each one of us think, Am I really willing to help others?
Just think of that. Think that this sign is Christs caress, because Jesus
came just for this, to serve us, to help us.
Francis' Address to Youth of Casal del Marmo After Holy
Thursday Mass
"The matters of the heart do not have
an explanation"
ROME, March 29, 2013 - At the
end of the Holy Mass, before returning to the Vatican, Pope Francis met in
the gymnasium of the “Famiglia dell’Istituto” penitentiary with, among
others, the Minister of Justice, the Honorable Paola Severino; the Head of
the Department of Juvenile Justice, Catherine Chinnici; the Commander of the
Penitentiary Police of Casal del Marmo, Saul Patrizi; and Director of Casal
del Marmo, Liana Giambartolomei. The youth of the penitentiary gave the a
Pope a wooden cross and a kneeler, also made of wood, which was made by them
at the workshop of the Institute.
During the meeting, responding first
to the greeting by the Hon. Severino and then responding to a question by
one of the young prisoners, the Holy Father said the following words:
* * *
I thank the Minister
for words, I thank the authorities for their welcome and thank you boys and
girls, for your welcome today I am happy to be with you. Go forward,
alright? And do not let yourselves be robbed of hope, do not let yourselves
be robbed of hope! Understood? Always with hope,
Go forward! Thank you.
* * *
Question from
young man:
Thank you for coming today Father. But I would like to
know one thing: why did you come today to Casal del Marmo?
It is a feeling that
came from the heart, that is what I heard. Where there are those that maybe
will help me more to be humble, to be a servant as a bishop should be. And I
thought, I asked: "Where are those who would like a visit?" And they said,
"Casal del Marmo, maybe." And when they told me, I came here. But it only
came from the heart. The matters of the heart do not have an explanation,
they just come. Thank you!
Final greetings:
Now I leave. Thank you so much for your welcome. Pray for
me and do not let yourselves be robbed of hope. Always go forward! Thank you
so much!
Vatican Spokesman on Participation of 2 Women in Foot
Washing Ceremony
"The very beautiful and simple
gesture of a father who desired to embrace those who were on the fringes of
society"
VATICAN CITY, March 29, 2013 -
Here is a press release Fr. Thomas Rosica, CEO of Salt & Light and Assistant
to the Director of the Vatican Press Office, sent today to journalists
regarding Thursday's Mass celebrated by Francis at the Juvenile Detention
Center, "Casal del Marmo".
* * *
In response to the many questions and
concerns raised over Pope Francis washing the feet of 12 young people at the
Roman Juvenile Detention Centre on Holy Thursday evening, especially that
two were young women, Fr. Lombardi has sent me the following information to
be shared with you.
One can easily understand that in a
great celebration, men would be chosen for the foot washing because Jesus,
himself washing the feet of the twelve apostles who were male. However the
ritual of the washing of the feet on Holy Thursday evening in the Juvenile
Detention Centre in Rome took place in a particular, small community that
included young women. When Jesus washed the feet of those who were with him
on the first Holy Thursday, he desired to teach all a lesson about the
meaning of service, using a gesture that included all members of the
community.
We are aware of the photos that show
Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, then-Archbishop of Buenos Aires, who in various
pastoral settings washed the feet of young men and women. To have excluded
the young women from the ritual washing of feet on Holy Thursday night in
this Roman prison, would have detracted our attention from the essence of
the Holy Thursday Gospel, and the very beautiful and simple gesture of a
father who desired to embrace those who were on the fringes of society;
those who were not refined experts of liturgical rules.
That the Holy Father, Francis, washed
the feet of young men and women on his first Holy Thursday as Pope, should
call our minds and hearts to the simple and spontaneous gesture of love,
affection, forgiveness and mercy of the Bishop of Rome, more than to
legalistic, liturgical or canonical discussions.
POPE FRANCIS: ON THIS NIGHT ONE WORD SHOULD SUFFICE,
THE CROSS ITSELF
Vatican City, 30 March 2013 (VIS) – At 5:00pm in St. Peter's
Basilica yesterday, Good Friday, the Holy Father presided over the celebration
of the Lord's Passion. After the Liturgy of the Word—in which we heard the
account of the Passion according to St. John—and the homily, the universal
prayers were recited. The rite continued with the adoration of the Cross and
ended with communion.
Hours later, at 9:15pm, Pope Francis presided for the first
time over the Way of the Cross at Rome's Colosseum. This year, the meditations
and prayers accompanying the stations were written by young Lebanese Catholics,
guided by Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, O.M.M., Patriarch of Antioch of the
Maronites, Lebanon. The images in the booklet reproduced 19th century
illustrations of the Way of the Cross made by an unknown Franciscan in
Bethlehem. Over a hundred thousand people, many of them youth as well as a large
group of Lebanese pilgrims, attended the event.
The Holy Father followed the ceremony, which was broadcast by
Vatican Television, from a small platform on the side of the Palatine hill. Two
young persons from the diocese of Rome and two Lebanese youth carried the
torches alongside the cross, which was carried—for the first and last station—by
Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar general of Rome, then an Italian and an Indian
family, then a woman in a wheelchair, then by two Chinese seminarians, then two
Franciscan friars of the Custody of the Holy Land, then two Nigerian sisters,
then two Lebanese sisters, and then two Brazilian youth. At the end of the Way
of the Cross the Pope spoke the following words:
“Dear Brother and Sisters,
Thank you for having taken part in these moments of deep
prayer. I also thank those who have accompanied us through the media, especially
the sick and elderly. I do not wish to add too many words. One word should
suffice this evening, that is the Cross itself. Jesus' Cross is the word through
which God has responded to evil in the world.
Sometimes it may seem as though God does not react to evil, as
if He is silent. And yet, God has spoken. He has replied and his answer is the
Cross of Christ: a word which is love, mercy, and forgiveness. It is also a
judgement, namely that God, in judging us, loves us. Let us remember this: in
judging us, God loves us. If I embrace his love then I am saved, if I refuse it,
then I am condemned. Not by him, but my own self, because God never condemns; He
only loves and saves.
“Dear brothers and sisters, the word of the Cross is also the
answer which Christians offer in the face of evil, the evil that continues to
work in us and around us. Christians must respond to evil with good, taking the
Cross upon themselves as Jesus did. This evening we have heard the witness given
by our Lebanese brothers and sisters. They are the ones who composed these
beautiful prayers and meditations. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to them for
this work and above all for the witness they offer. We were able to see this
when Pope Benedict visited Lebanon. We saw the beauty and the strong bond of
communion joining Christians together in that land and the friendship of our
Muslim brothers and sisters and so many others. That occasion was a sign to the
Middle East and to the whole world: a sign of hope.
Now let us continue this “Via Crucis” in our daily lives. Let
us walk together along the Way of the Cross and let us do so carrying in our
hearts this Word of love and forgiveness. Let us walk forward waiting for the
Resurrection of Jesus who loves us so much. He is all love!”
POPE: I JOIN ALL OF YOU GATHERED BEFORE THE HOLY
SHROUD
Vatican City, 30 March 2013 (VIS) – From 5:15pm until 6:40
this afternoon, there will be an extraordinary exposition of the Holy Shroud in
the Cathedral of Turin, Italy. The initiative is part of the Year of Faith that
was proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI and will be broadcast by the Italian
television channel, RAI1.
For the occasion, Pope Francis recorded a video message, the
text of which we offer below.
“Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I join all of you gathered before the Holy Shroud, and I thank
the Lord who, through modern technology, offers us this possibility.
Even if it takes place in this way, our gaze is not a mere
'observing', but rather a veneration. It is a prayerful gaze. I would go
further: It is a letting ourselves be looked upon. This Face has eyes that are
closed. It is the face of one who is dead and yet, mysteriously, He is watching
us and in silence He speaks to us. How is this possible? How is it that the
faithful, like you, pause before this Icon of a man who has been scourged and
crucified? It is because the Man of the Shroud invites us to contemplate Jesus
of Nazareth. This image, impressed upon the cloth, speaks to our hearts and
moves us to climb the hill of Calvary, to look upon the wood of the Cross, and
to immerse ourselves in the eloquent silence of love.”
“Let us therefore allow ourselves to be reached by this gaze,
which is directed not to our eyes but to our hearts. In silence, let us listen
to what He has to say to us from beyond death itself. By means of the Holy
Shroud, the unique and supreme Word of God comes to us: Love made man, incarnate
in our history; the merciful Love of God who has taken upon himself all the evil
of the world in order to free us from its power. This disfigured Face resembles
all those faces of men and women marred by a life that does not respect their
dignity, by war and the violence that afflict the weakest… And yet, the Face of
the Shroud conveys a great peace. This tortured body expresses a sovereign
majesty. It is as if it let a restrained but powerful energy within it shine
through, as if to tell us: have faith; do not lose hope; the power of God's
love, the power of the Risen One, conquers all.”
“So, looking upon the Man of the Shroud, I make Saint Francis
of Assisi's prayer before the Crucifix my own: 'Most High and glorious God,
enlighten the darkness of my heart, and grant me true faith, certain hope, and
perfect charity, sense and understanding, Lord, so that I may carry out your
holy and true command. Amen.'”
VATICAN CITY, March 31, 2013 - Here is the translation of Pope
Francis’homilyat yesterday ‘s Easter Vigil , held in St. Peter’s Basilica.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
1. In the Gospel of this radiant night of the Easter Vigil, we
first meet the women who go the tomb of Jesus with spices to anoint his body
(cf. Lk 24:1-3). They go to perform an act of compassion, a traditional act of
affection and love for a dear departed person, just as we would. They had
followed Jesus, they had listened to his words, they had felt understood by him
in their dignity and they had accompanied him to the very end, to Calvary and to
the moment when he was taken down from the cross. We can imagine their feelings
as they make their way to the tomb: a certain sadness, sorrow that Jesus had
left them, he had died, his life had come to an end. Life would now go on as
before. Yet the women continued to feel love, the love for Jesus which now led
them to his tomb. But at this point, something completely new and unexpected
happens, something which upsets their hearts and their plans, something which
will upset their whole life: they see the stone removed from before the tomb,
they draw near and they do not find the Lord’s body. It is an event which leaves
them perplexed, hesitant, full of questions: "What happened?", "What is the
meaning of all this?" (cf. Lk 24:4). Doesn’t the same thing also happen to us
when something completely new occurs in our everyday life? We stop short, we
don’t understand, we don’t know what to do. Newness often makes us fearful,
including the newness which God brings us, the newness which God asks of us. We
are like the Apostles in the Gospel: often we would prefer to hold on to our own
security, to stand in front of a tomb, to think about someone who has died,
someone who ultimately lives on only as a memory, like the great historical
figures from the past. We are afraid of God’s surprises. Dear brothers and
sisters, we are afraid of God’s surprises! He always surprises us! The Lord is
like that.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us not be closed to the newness
that God wants to bring into our lives! Are we often weary, disheartened and
sad? Do we feel weighed down by our sins? Do we think that we won’t be able to
cope? Let us not close our hearts, let us not lose confidence, let us never give
up: there are no situations which God cannot change, there is no sin which he
cannot forgive if only we open ourselves to him.
2. But let us return to the Gospel, to the women, and take one
step further. They find the tomb empty, the body of Jesus is not there,
something new has happened, but all this still doesn’t tell them anything
certain: it raises questions; it leaves them confused, without offering an
answer. And suddenly there are two men in dazzling clothes who say: "Why do you
look for the living among the dead? He is not here; but has risen" (Lk 24:5-6).
What was a simple act, done surely out of love – going to the tomb – has now
turned into an event, a truly life-changing event. Nothing remains as it was
before, not only in the lives of those women, but also in our own lives and in
the history of mankind. Jesus is not dead, he has risen, he is alive! He does
not simply return to life; rather, he is life itself, because he is the Son of
God, the living God (cf. Num 14:21-28; Deut 5:26; Josh 3:10). Jesus no longer
belongs to the past, but lives in the present and is projected towards the
future; Jesus is the everlasting "today" of God. This is how the newness of God
appears to the women, the disciples and all of us: as victory over sin, evil and
death, over everything that crushes life and makes it seem less human. And this
is a message meant for me and for you dear sister, for you dear brother. How
often does Love have to tell us: Why do you look for the living among the dead?
Our daily problems and worries can wrap us up in ourselves, in sadness and
bitterness... and that is where death is. That is not the place to look for the
One who is alive!
Let the risen Jesus enter your life, welcome him as a friend,
with trust: he is life! If up till now you have kept him at a distance, step
forward. He will receive you with open arms. If you have been indifferent, take
a risk: you won’t be disappointed. If following him seems difficult, don’t be
afraid, trust him, be confident that he is close to you, he is with you and he
will give you the peace you are looking for and the strength to live as he would
have you do.
3. There is one last little element that I would like to
emphasize in the Gospel for this Easter Vigil. The women encounter the newness
of God. Jesus has risen, he is alive! But faced with empty tomb and the two men
in brilliant clothes, their first reaction is one of fear: "they were terrified
and bowed their faced to the ground", Saint Luke tells us – they didn’t even
have courage to look. But when they hear the message of the Resurrection, they
accept it in faith. And the two men in dazzling clothes tell them something of
crucial importance: remember. "Remember what he told you when he was still in
Galilee… And they remembered his words" (Lk 24:6,8). This is the invitation to
remember their encounter with Jesus, to remember his words, his actions, his
life; and it is precisely this loving remembrance of their experience with the
Master that enables the women to master their fear and to bring the message of
the Resurrection to the Apostles and all the others (cf. Lk 24:9). To remember
what God has done and continues to do for me, for us, to remember the road we
have travelled; this is what opens our hearts to hope for the future. May we
learn to remember everything that God has done in our lives.
On this radiant night, let us invoke the intercession of the
Virgin Mary, who treasured all these events in her heart (cf. Lk 2:19,51) and
ask the Lord to give us a share in his Resurrection. May he open us to the
newness that transforms, to the beautiful surprises of God. May he make us men
and women capable of remembering all that he has done in our own lives and in
the history of our world. May he help us to feel his presence as the one who is
alive and at work in our midst. And may he teach us each day, dear brothers and
sisters, not to look among the dead for the Living One. Amen.
VATICAN CITY, March 31, 2013 - Here is the translation of Pope
Francis’ “Urbi et Orbi” (to the City and to the World) Blessing given to the
faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square this morning.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters in Rome and throughout the world,
Happy Easter! Happy Easter! What a joy it is for me to announce this message:
Christ is risen! I would like it to go out to every house and every family,
especially where the suffering is greatest, in hospitals, in prisons…
Most of all, I would like it to enter every heart, for it is
there that God wants to sow this Good News: Jesus is risen, there is hope for
you, you are no longer in the power of sin, of evil!
Love has triumphed, mercy has been victorious! The mercy of
God always triumphs! We too, like the women who were Jesus’ disciples, who went
to the tomb and found it empty, may wonder what this event means (cf. Lk 24:4).
What does it mean that Jesus is risen?
It means that the love of God is stronger than evil and death
itself; it means that the love of God can transform our lives and let those
desert places in our hearts bloom. The love God can do this!
This same love for which the Son of God became man and
followed the way of humility and self-giving to the very end, down to hell - to
the abyss of separation from God - this same merciful love has flooded with
light the dead body of Jesus, has transfigured it, has made it pass into eternal
life. Jesus did not return to his former life, to earthly life, but entered into
the glorious life of God and he entered there with our humanity, opening us to a
future of hope.
This is what Easter is: it is the exodus, the passage of human
beings from slavery to sin and evil to the freedom of love and goodness. Because
God is life, life alone, and we are his glory: the living man (cf. Irenaeus,
Adversus Haereses, 4,20,5-7).
Dear brothers and sisters, Christ died and rose once for all,
and for everyone, but the power of the Resurrection, this passover from slavery
to evil to the freedom of goodness, must be accomplished in every age, in our
concrete existence, in our everyday lives. How many deserts, even today, do
human beings need to cross! Above all, the desert within, when we have no love
for God or neighbour, when we fail to realize that we are guardians of all that
the Creator has given us and continues to give us. God’s mercy can make even the
driest land become a garden, can restore life to dry bones (cf. Ez 37:1-14).
So this is the invitation which I address to everyone: Let us
accept the grace of Christ’s Resurrection! Let us be renewed by God’s mercy, let
us be loved by Jesus, let us enable the power of his love to transform our lives
too; and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can
water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish. And
so we ask the risen Jesus, who turns death into life, to change hatred into
love, vengeance into forgiveness, war into peace. Yes, Christ is our peace, and
through him we implore peace for all the world.
Peace for the Middle East, and particularly between Israelis
and Palestinians, who struggle to find the road of agreement, that they may
willingly and courageously resume negotiations to end a conflict that has lasted
all too long. Peace in Iraq, that every act of violence may end, and above all
for dear Syria, for its people torn by conflict and for the many refugees who
await help and comfort. How much blood has been shed! And how much suffering
must there still be before a political solution to the crisis will be found?
Peace for Africa, still the scene of violent conflicts. In
Mali, may unity and stability be restored; in Nigeria, where attacks sadly
continue, gravely threatening the lives of many innocent people, and where great
numbers of persons, including children, are held hostage by terrorist groups.
Peace in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in the Central
African Republic, where many have been forced to leave their homes and continue
to live in fear.
Peace in Asia, above all on the Korean peninsula: may
disagreements be overcome and a renewed spirit of reconciliation grow.
Peace in the whole world, still divided by greed looking for
easy gain, wounded by the selfishness which threatens human life and the family,
selfishness that continues in human trafficking, the most extensive form of
slavery in this twenty-first century; human trafficking is the most extensive
form of slavery in this twenty-first century! Peace to the whole world, torn
apart by violence linked to drug trafficking and by the iniquitous exploitation
of natural resources! Peace to this our Earth! Made the risen Jesus bring
comfort to the victims of natural disasters and make us responsible guardians of
creation.
Dear brothers and sisters, to all of you who are listening to
me, from Rome and from all over of the world, I address the invitation of the
Psalm: “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; for his steadfast love endures
for ever. Let Israel say: ‘His steadfast love endures for ever’” (Ps 117:1-2).
Greeting
Dear Brothers and Sisters, to you who have come from all over
the world to this Square at the heart of Christianity, and to you linked by
modern technology, I repeat my greeting: Happy Easter!
Bear in your families and in your countries the message of
joy, hope and peace which every year, on this day, is powerfully renewed.
May the risen Lord, the conqueror of sin and death, be a
support to you all, especially to the weakest and neediest. Thank you for your
presence and for the witness of your faith. A thought and a special thank-you
for the beautiful flowers, which come from the Netherlands. To all of you I
affectionately say again: may the risen Christ guide all of you and the whole of
humanity on the paths of justice, love and peace.
VATICAN CITY,
April 02, 2013 - Here is Vatican Radio's translation of the
address Francis gave Monday before and after praying the midday Regina
Caeli with those gathered in St. Peter's Square.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Happy Easter to you all! Thank you for coming
today, in such large numbers, to share the joy of Easter, the central
mystery of our faith. Let us pray that the power of the resurrection of
Christ might reach everyone - especially those who suffer - and every
place that is in need of trust and hope. Christ has conquered evil fully and finally, but it
is up to us, to people in every age, to embrace this victory in our
lives and in the realities of history and society. For this reason it
seems important to point out that today we ask God in the liturgy: “O
God, who give constant increase to your Church by new offspring, grant
that your servants may hold fast in their lives to the Sacrament they
have received in faith.” (Collect for Monday in the Octave of Easter). Indeed, the Baptism that makes us children of God,
and the Eucharist that unites us to Christ, must become life. That is to
say: they must be reflected in attitudes, behaviors, actions and
choices. The grace contained in the Easter Sacraments is an enormous
source of strength for renewal in personal and family life, as well as
for social relations. Nevertheless, everything passes through the human
heart: if I allow myself to be reached by the grace of the risen Christ,
if I let that grace change for the better whatever is not good in me,
[to change whatever] might do harm to me and to others, then I allow the
victory of Christ to affirm itself in in my life, to broaden its
beneficial action. This is the power of grace! Without grace we can do
nothing – without grace we can do nothing! And with the grace of Baptism
and Holy Communion, we can become an instrument of God's mercy – that
beautiful mercy of God. To Express in our lives the sacrament we have
received: behold, dear brothers and sisters, our daily work – and, I
would say, our daily joy! The joy of being instruments of the grace of
Christ, as branches of the vine which is Christ himself, inspired by the
sustaining presence of His Spirit! We pray together, in the name of the
dead and risen Lord, and through the intercession of Mary Most Holy,
that the Paschal mystery might work deeply in us and in our time, in
order that hatred give way to love, lies to the truth, revenge to
forgiveness, sadness to joy.
"Yet mysteriously he is watching
us, and in silence he speaks to us"
VATICAN CITY, April 02, 2013 - Here is the text
of a videomessage from Pope Francis for the Holy Saturday live broadcast
of the Shroud of Turin on Italian television.
The shroud was broadcast on Saturday from 5:10 p.m. to
6:40 p.m. local time and streamed live on RAI’s Web site and on
www.sindone.org.
* * *
Dear Brothers and
Sisters,
I join all
of you gathered before the Holy Shroud, and I thank the Lord who,
through modern technology, offers us this possibility. Even if it takes place in this way, we do not
merely "look", but rather we venerate by a prayerful gaze. I would go
further: we are in fact looked upon ourselves. This face has eyes that
are closed, it is the face of one who is dead, and yet mysteriously he
is watching us, and in silence he speaks to us. How is this possible?
How is it that the faithful, like you, pause before this icon of a man
scourged and crucified? It is because the Man of the Shroud invites us
to contemplate Jesus of Nazareth. This image, impressed upon the cloth,
speaks to our heart and moves us to climb the hill of Calvary, to look
upon the wood of the Cross, and to immerse ourselves in the eloquent
silence of love. Let us therefore allow ourselves to be reached by
this look, which is directed not to our eyes but to our heart. In
silence, let us listen to what he has to say to us from beyond death
itself. By means of the Holy Shroud, the unique and supreme Word of God
comes to us: Love made man, incarnate in our history; the merciful love
of God who has taken upon himself all the evil of the world to free us
from its power. This disfigured face resembles all those faces of men
and women marred by a life which does not respect their dignity, by war
and violence which afflict the weakest… And yet, at the same time, the
face in the Shroud conveys a great peace; this tortured body expresses a
sovereign majesty. It is as if it let a restrained but powerful energy
within it shine through, as if to say: have faith, do not lose hope; the
power of the love of God, the power of the Risen One overcomes all
things. So, looking upon the Man of the Shroud, I make my
own the prayer which Saint Francis of Assisi prayed before the Crucifix:
Most High,
glorious God, enlighten the shadows of my heart, and grant me a right faith, a certain hope and
perfect charity, sense and understanding, Lord, so that I may accomplish your holy and true
command. Amen.
"The death and resurrection of Jesus are the heart of our hope"
VATICAN CITY, April
03, 2013 - Here is a translation of the address Francis gave this
morning during the general audience held in St. Peter's Square. He took up
again the cycle of catechesis dedicated to the Year of Faith.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning.
Today we continue the Catechesis of the Year of Faith. In
the Creed we repeat this phrase: "On the third day he rose again according
to the Scriptures." This is the event we are celebrating: the Resurrection
of Jesus, the center of the Christian message, which has echoed right from
the very start and has been passed on so that it might reach us. St. Paul
writes to the Christians of Corinth: "For I handed on to you as of first
importance what I, in turn, had received: that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose from
the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared
to Cephas, then to the twelve"(1 Cor 15:3-5). This short confession of faith
announces the Paschal mystery, with the first appearances of the Risen
Christ to Peter and the twelve: the death and resurrection of Jesus are the
heart of our hope. Without this faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus
our hope would be weak, it would not even be hope, and precisely the death
and resurrection of Jesus are the heart of our hope. The Apostle affirms:
"If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile and you are still in your
sins" (v. 17). Unfortunately, often attempts have been made to obscure the
faith in the resurrection of Jesus, and even among the believers themselves,
doubts have crept in. A bit of that “watered down” faith, as we say; it is
not the strong faith. This is on account of superficiality, or sometimes
because of indifference, occupied as one is with a thousand things deemed
more important than the faith, or because of a merely horizontal vision of
life. But it is the resurrection that opens us up to a greater hope, because
it opens our lives and the life of the world to God's eternal future, to
full happiness, to the certainty that evil, sin, death can be defeated. And
this leads to live the daily realities with more confidence, to face them
with courage and commitment. The resurrection of Christ illumines these
daily realities with a new light. The Resurrection of Christ is our
strength!
But how has the truth of faith in the resurrection of
Christ been transmitted to us? There are two types of testimony in the New
Testament: some are in the form of a profession of faith, namely, synthetic
formulas that indicate the center of the faith; others are in the form of
the story of the resurrection and of the events related to it. The first:
the form of the profession of faith, for example, is that which we have just
heard, or that of the Epistle to the Romans where Paul writes: "Because if
you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart
that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved"(10:9). Since the first
steps of the Church, faith in the mystery of the death and resurrection of
Jesus has been very firm and clear. Today, however, I would like to dwell on
the second form, on testimony in the form of narrative, which we find in the
Gospels. First, we notice that the first witnesses of this event were women.
At dawn, they went to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus, and find the
first sign: the empty tomb (cf. Mk 16:1). Then follows an encounter with a
Messenger of God who proclaims: Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified One, is not
here, he is risen (cf. vv. 5-6). Women are driven by love and know how to
welcome this announcement with faith: they believe, and immediately they
transmit it, they do not keep it to themselves. The joy of knowing that
Jesus is alive, the hope that fills our hearts, cannot be contained. This
should occur also in our lives. Let us feel the joy of being Christians! We
believe in a Risen Lord who has defeated evil and death! Let us have the
courage to "come out" to bring this joy and this light into all the places
of our lives! The resurrection of Christ is our greatest certainty; it is
our most precious treasure! How can we not share with others this treasure,
this certainty? It is not only for us, it is to be communicated, to be given
to others, to be shared with others. This is precisely our testimony.
Another element. In the professions of faith of the New
Testament, only the men, the Apostles, are remembered as witnesses of the
resurrection, but not the women. This is because, according to the Jewish
law of that time, women and children could not give a reliable, credible
testimony. In the Gospels, however, women have a primary, fundamental role.
Here we can grasp an element in favour of the historicity of the
resurrection: if it were a made-up event, in the context of that time it
would not have been tied to the women's testimony. Instead the evangelists
simply narrate what happened: women are the first witnesses. This says that
God does not choose according to human criteria: the first witnesses of the
birth of Jesus are the shepherds, simple and humble people; the first
witnesses of the resurrection were women. And this is beautiful. And this is
to some degree the mission of women: of the mothers, of women! To give
witness to their children, their grandchildren, that Jesus is alive, he is
the Living One, he is risen. Mothers and women, go forward with this
testimony! For God the heart counts, how open we are to Him, if we are like
children who trust. But this makes us reflect also on how women in the
Church and in the journey of faith, have had and now have a particular role
in opening the doors to the Lord, in following him and communicating his
face, because the gaze of faith always needs the simple and profound gaze of
love. The Apostles and disciples find it harder to believe in the risen
Christ. The women don’t. Peter runs to the tomb, but stops at the empty
tomb; Thomas must touch with his hands the wounds of the body of Jesus. Also
in our faith journey, it is important to know and feel that God loves us,
don't be afraid to love Him: faith is professed with the mouth and the
heart, with words and with love.
After the appearances
to the women, others follow: Jesus makes himself present in a new way: he is
the Crucified One, but his body is glorious; he has not come back to earthly
life, but has returned in a new condition. At the beginning they do not
recognize him, and only through his words and gestures are their eyes
opened: the encounter with the Risen One tranforms, gives a new force to the
faith, an unshakeable foundation. For us too there are many signs in which
the Risen One makes himself recognized: Sacred Scripture, the Eucharist, the
other sacraments, charity, those gestures of love that bring a ray of the
Risen Lord. Let us allow ourselves to be enlightened by the resurrection of
Christ, let us allow ourselves to be transformed by his strength, so that
also through us in the world, the signs of death may give way to signs of
life. I have seen that there are many young people in the Square. There they
are! To you I say: bring forward this certainty: the Lord is alive and he
walks side by side with us in life. This is your mission! Bring forward this
hope. Be anchored to this hope: this anchor that is in heaven; hold firm to
the chain, be anchored and bring forward hope. You, witnesses of Jesus,
bring forward the testimony that Jesus is alive and this will give us hope,
it will give hope to this world that has somewhat grown old on account of
the wars, evil, sin. Go forward, young people!
VATICAN CITY, April
10, 2013 - Here is a translation of the address Pope Francis gave this
morning during the general audience held in St. Peter's Square. He took up
again the cycle of catechesis dedicated to the Year of Faith.
* * *
Dear brothers and
sisters, good morning! In the last Catechesis we focused on the event of the
resurrection of Jesus, in which women played a special role. Today I would
like to reflect on the event's salvific significance. What does the
resurrection mean for our lives? And why is our faith in vain without it?
Our faith is based on
the death and resurrection of Christ, just as a house rests on foundations:
if these give way, the whole house collapses. On the cross, Jesus offered
himself, taking upon himself our sins and descending into the abyss of
death, and in the Resurrection he conquers, he takes [our sins] away and
opens the path for us to be reborn to a new life. St. Peter expresses this
succinctly at the beginning of his First Letter, as we heard: "Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given
us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and
unfading" (1:3-4).
The Apostle tells us that with the resurrection of Jesus,
something absolutely new happens: we are freed from the slavery of sin and
become God's children, we are generated, thus, to a new life. When is this
realized for us? In the sacrament of Baptism. In ancient times, it was
usually performed by immersion. The person to be baptized descended into the
large basin in the baptistery, taking off his clothes, and the bishop or
priest poured water three times over his head, baptizing him in the name of
the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Then the baptized person came
out of the baptismal font and put on the new, white garment: this signified
that he was born to a new life, by immersing himself in the death and
resurrection of Christ. He had become a son of God. St. Paul in his Letter
to the Romans writes: you have received a spirit of adoption, whereby we
cry, “Abba! Father!”(Rom 8:15). It is the Spirit that we have received in
baptism that teaches us, it urges us, to say to God: “Father”, or better,
“Abba!”, which means “dad”. This is our God: He is a dad for us. The Holy
Spirit produces in us this new condition of being sons of God. And this is
the greatest gift that we receive from the Paschal mystery of Jesus. And God
treats us as children, He understands us, forgives us, embraces us and loves
us even when we make mistakes. Already in the Old Testament, the prophet
Isaiah said that even if a mother could forget her child, God never forgets
us, ever (cf. 49:15). And this is beautiful!
However, this filial relationship with God is not like a
treasure that we store in a corner of our lives, but has to grow, it must be
fed every day by listening to the Word of God, praying and participating in
the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation, and through
charity. We can live as children! And this is our dignity – we have the
dignity of children -. To behave as true children! This means that every day
we must let Christ transform us and make us like him; it means trying to
live as Christians, trying to follow him, even if we see our limitations and
weaknesses. The temptation is always there to leave God aside in order put
to ourselves at the center and the experience of sin wounds our Christian
life, our being sons of God. For this we must have the courage of faith, and
not allow ourselves to be guided by that mentality that says to us: "God is
useless, he's not important for you". It is the exact opposite: it is only
by acting like sons of God, without getting discouraged because of our
falls, because of our sins, feeling loved by Him, that our lives will be
new, animated by serenity and joy. God is our strength! God is our hope!
Dear brothers and sisters, we, before all others, need to
have this hope firmly rooted and need to be a visible sign of it, bright and
clear for everyone. The risen Lord is the hope that never diminishes, that
never disappoints (cf. Rom 5:5). Hope never deludes. That hope that comes
from the Lord! How often in our lives do our hopes vanish, how often do the
expectations we nourish in our hearts not come about! Our hope as Christians
is strong, secure, solid in this land, where God has called us to walk, and
is open to eternity, because it is founded on God, who is always faithful.
We must not forget: God is faithful; God is always faithful with us. Being
risen with Christ through baptism, by the gift of faith, to an inheritance
that does not corrupt, leads us to seek the things of God, to think of Him
more often, to pray to Him more. Being a Christian isn't just following the
commandments, but means being in Christ, thinking like him, acting like him,
loving like him; it means letting him take possession of our lives and
change them, transform them, free them from the darkness of evil and sin.
Dear brothers and
sisters, to those who ask us an account of the hope that is in us (cf. 1 Pt
3:15), let us point out the risen Christ. Let us point him out by announcing
the Word, but especially by our risen life. Let us manifest the joy of being
children of God, the freedom that living in Christ gives, he who is the true
freedom, freedom from the slavery of evil, sin and death! Let us look to our
heavenly homeland, we will have a new light and strength also in our work
and in our daily toil. It is a valuable service that we must render to our
world, which often can no longer lift its gaze upward, it no longer manages
to lift its gaze towards God.
Speaker:
In our continuing
catechesis on the Creed during the Year of Faith we now consider the meaning
of Christ’s resurrection for us and for our salvation. The Lord’s death and
resurrection are the foundation of our faith; by his triumph over sin and
death, Christ has opened for us the way to new life. Reborn in Baptism, we
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and become God’s adoptive sons and
daughters. God is now our Father: he treats us as his beloved children; he
understands us, forgives us, embraces us, and loves us even when we go
astray. Christianity is not simply a matter of following commandments; it is
about living a new life, being in Christ, thinking and acting like Christ,
and being transformed by the love of Christ! But this new life needs to be
nourished daily by hearing God’s word, prayer, sharing in the sacraments,
especially Penance and the Eucharist, and the exercise of charity. God must
be the centre of our lives! By our daily witness to the freedom, joy and
hope born of Christ’s victory over sin and death, we also offer a precious
service to our world, helping our brothers and sisters to lift their gaze
heavenward to the God of our salvation.
General Audience: Jesus, the only and eternal Priest
(Year of Faith)
Dear brothers and sisters,
In the Creed, we find the affirmation that Jesus "ascended
into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father." The earthly life of
Jesus culminates in the event of the Ascension, that is, when he passes from
this world to the Father, and is lifted up to His right hand side. What is the
significance of this event? What are the consequences for our lives? What does
it mean to contemplate Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father? Let us be
guided by the Evangelist Luke.
We begin from the moment Jesus decides to embark on his last
pilgrimage to Jerusalem. St. Luke notes: " When the days for his being taken up
were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem" (Lk 9:51).
While he "ascends" to the Holy City, where his "exodus" from this life will be
accomplished, Jesus already sees the goal, Heaven, but he knows that the path
that brings him back to the glory of God passes through the Cross, through
obedience to the divine plan of love for humanity. The Catechism of the Catholic
Church states that " the lifting up of Jesus on the cross signifies and
announces his lifting up by his Ascension into heaven, and indeed begins it" (n.
661). We too must be clear in our Christian life, that to enter into the glory
of God requires daily fidelity to His will, even when it requires sacrifice,
when at times it requires us to change our plans. The Ascension of Jesus
actually happened on the Mount of Olives, near the place where he had retired in
prayer before his passion to be in profound union with the Father; once again we
see that prayer gives us the grace to faithfully live out God's project for us.
At the end of his Gospel, St. Luke narrates the event of the
Ascension in a very synthetic way. Jesus led the disciples "[out] as far as
Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from
them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to
Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God
"(24.50 to 53). I would like to note two elements of the passage. First, during
the Ascension Jesus fulfilled the priestly gesture of blessing and certainly the
disciples express their faith with prostration, they kneel and bow their heads.
This is a first important point: Jesus is the only and eternal Priest, who with
his passed through death and the tomb and rose again and ascended into Heaven;
He is with God the Father, where he always intercedes in our favor (cf. Heb
9:24). As St John writes in his First Letter, He is our advocate, our advocate
with the Father (cf. 2:1-2). It’s nice to hear this. The first thing we do when
we are called by a judge or are called to trial, the first thing we do is look
for an advocate to defend us. We have One who always defends us. He defends us
from the insidiousness of the Devil, He defends us from ourselves, from our
sins. But, dear brothers and sisters, we have this advocate. We must not be
afraid to turn to Him, to turn to him with our fears, to ask for his blessing
and mercy. He always forgives us, He is our advocate, He always defends us. We
must never forget this. The Ascension of Jesus into heaven then reveals to us
this reality that is so comforting for our journey: in Christ, true God and true
man, our humanity was brought to God; He has opened the passage up for us, He is
like a leader at the head of the rope when you scale a mountain, who has reached
the summit and draws us up to him leading us to God . If we entrust our lives to
Him, if we let ourselves be guided by Him we are sure to be in safe hands. In
the hands of our Savoir, our advocate.
A second element: St Luke mentions that the apostles, after
seeing Jesus ascending to heaven, returned to Jerusalem "with great joy." This
seems a bit strange. Typically when we are separated from our families, our
friends, in a lasting separation, above all because of death, we are naturally
sad, because we will no longer see their face, or hear their voice, we will no
longer be able to enjoy their affection, their presence. Instead, the evangelist
emphasizes the profound joy of the Apostles. How come? Because, with the eyes of
faith, they understand that although subtracted from their eyes, Jesus remains
with them forever, He is not abandoning them, and in the glory of the Father,
supports them, guides them and intercedes for them.
St. Luke narrates the fact of the Ascension in the beginning
of the Acts of the Apostles, to emphasize that this event is like the ring that
engages and connects the earthly life of Jesus to that of the Church. Here St.
Luke also mentions the cloud that took Jesus out of sight of the disciples, who
remain to contemplate Christ ascending to God (cf. Acts 1:9-10). Then two men in
white robes intervene, urging them not to remain looking at the sky, but to
nourish their lives and their witness from the certainty that Jesus will return
in the same way they saw him ascend into heaven (Acts 1: 10-11). It is an
invitation to begin from the contemplation of the Lordship of Jesus, to receive
from him the strength to carry and bear witness to the Gospel in everyday life:
contemplation and action, ora et labora St. Benedict teaches, are both necessary
in our lives as Christians
Dear brothers and sisters, the Ascension does not indicate
the absence of Jesus, but tells us that He is alive among us in a new way; He is
no longer in a definite place in the world as He was before the Ascension; He is
now in the lordship of God, present in all space and time, next to each of us.
We are never alone in our lives: We have this advocate who waits for us, we are
never alone, the Crucified and Risen Lord guides us, and with us there are
many brothers and sisters who in silence and obscurity, in their family life and
work, in their problems and difficulties, their joys and hopes, live their faith
every day and, together with us, bring to the world the lordship of God's love.
Speaker:
Dear Brothers and
Sisters: In our catechesis on the Creed during this Year of Faith, we now
consider the article which deals with Christ’s Ascension: "He ascended into
heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father". Saint Luke invites us to
contemplate the mystery of the Ascension in the light of the Lord’s entire life,
and particularly his decision to "ascend" to Jerusalem to embrace his saving
passion and death in obedience to the Father’s will (cf. Lk 9:51). Two aspects of
Luke’s account are significant. First, before returning to the glory of the
Father, the risen Jesus blesses his disciples (Lk
24:50). Jesus thus appears as our eternal
Priest. True God and true man, he now for ever intercedes for us before the
Father. Second, Luke tells us that the Apostles returned to Jerusalem "with
great joy" (Lk
24:51). They realize that the risen Lord, though no longer physically present,
will always be with them, guiding the life of the Church until he returns in
glory. As we contemplate the mystery of the Ascension, may we too bear joyful
witness to the Lord’s resurrection, his loving presence in our midst, and the
triumph of his Kingdom of life, holiness and love.
On Christ's Second Coming (Year of Faith - General
Audience, April 24)
VATICAN CITY, April
24, 2013 - Here is the translation of the Holy Father’s weekly General
Audience address in St. Peter’s Square where he continued the cycle of
catechesis dedicated to the Year of Faith.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning!
In the Creed we profess that Jesus "will come again in
glory to judge the living and the dead." Human history begins with the
creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God and ends with the
final judgment of Christ. Often these two poles of history are forgotten,
and, above all, faith in the return of Christ and the last judgment
sometimes is not so clear and steadfast in the hearts of Christians. Jesus,
during his public life, often focused on the reality of his last coming.
Today I would like to reflect on three Evangelical texts that help us enter
this mystery: that of the ten virgins, the talents and the final judgment.
All three are part of the Jesus' discourse on the end of times, in the
Gospel of St. Matthew.
First of all remember
that, with the Ascension, the son of God brought to the Father our humanity
that he took on and he wants to draw all men to himself, to call the whole
world to be welcomed into the open arms of God, so that, at the end of
history, all of reality will be handed over to the Father. There is, though,
this "intermediate time" between the first coming of Christ and the last,
which is precisely the time that we are living. The parable of the ten
virgins is placed within this context (cf. Mt 25:1-13). It involves ten
girls who are waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom, but he delays and
they fall asleep. At the sudden announcement that the bridegroom is coming,
all prepare to welcome him, but while five of them, who were wise, have oil
to trim their lamps, the others, who are foolish, are left with unlit lamps
because they have no oil; and while they go out to find some, the groom
arrives and the foolish virgins find the door closed that leads to the
bridal feast. They knocking persistently, but it is too late, the groom
replies: I do not know you. The groom is the Lord, and the waiting time of
arrival is the time He gives us, all of us with mercy and patience, before
his final coming, it is a time to be vigilant; a time in which we need to
keep lit the lamps of the faith, hope and charity, a time in which to keep
the heart open to the good, to beauty and to the truth; a time to live
according to God, because we know neither the day nor the hour of Christ's
return. What is asked of us is to be prepared for this encounter – prepared
for an encounter, for a beautiful encounter, the encounter with Jesus -
which means being able to see the signs of his presence, to keep alive our
faith through prayer, with the sacraments, to be vigilant in order not to
sleep, not to forget God. The Christian life asleep is a sad life, it isn’t
a happy life. The Christian must be happy, have the joy of Jesus. Let’s not
fall asleep!
The second parable, that of the talents, makes us reflect
on the relationship between how we use the gifts received from God and his
return, when he will ask how we used them (cf. Mt 25:14-30). We know the
parable: before departure, the master gives each servant some talents, to
use well during his absence. To the first he gives five, to the second, two,
and to the third, one. During the period of his absence, the first two
servants multiply their talents - ancient coins -, while the third prefers
to bury his and deliver it intact to the master. Upon his return, the master
judges their work: he commends the first two, while the third is kicked out
into the darkness, because he kept his talent hidden out of fear, closing in
on himself. A Christian who closes in on himself, who hides everything that
the Lord has given him as a Christian that is…he isn’t a Christian! He is a
Christian that does not thank God for all that he has given him! This tells
us that the time of waiting for the Lord's return is the time of action, -
we are in the time of action - the time in which to put to use the gifts of
God not for ourselves, but for Him, for the Church, for others, the time
during which always to try to increase the good in the world. And especially
now, in this time of crisis, it is important not to close in upon oneself,
burying one's talent, one’s own spiritual, intellectual, material riches,
everything that the Lord has given us, but to open oneself, to be in
solidarity, to be attentive to the other. In the square, I saw today there
are many young people. Is it so? Are there very many young people? Where are
they? To you, who are at the beginning of the journey of life, I ask: have
you thought about the talents that God has given you? Have you thought about
how you can put them at the service of others? Don't bury your talents! Bet
on big ideals, those ideals that enlarge the heart, those ideals that will
make your talents fruitful. Life is not given to us so that we can keep it
jealously for ourselves, but is given to us so that we may donate it. Dear
young people, have a great soul! Don't be afraid to dream great things!
Finally, a word on the passage of the final judgement,
that describes the second coming of the Lord, when He will judge all humans,
living and dead (cf. Mt 25:31-46). The image used by the Evangelist is that
of the Shepherd separating sheep from goats. On the right are those who
acted according to the will of God, helping their neighbor who was hungry,
thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, imprisoned, thus following the Lord himself;
while on the left are those who haven't come to the aid of their neighbour.
This tells us that we will be judged by God on charity, on how we loved him
in our brothers, especially the weakest and neediest. Of course, we must
always keep in mind that we are justified, we are saved by grace, by an act
of God's gratuitous love which always precedes us; we alone can do nothing.
Faith is first of all a gift that we have received. But to bear fruit, God's
grace always requires our openness, our free and concrete response. Christ
comes to bring us the mercy of God who saves. We are asked to trust him, to
match the gift of his love with a good life, with actions animated by faith
and love.
Dear brothers and sisters, may we never be afraid to look
to the final judgment; may it push us rather to live better lives. God gives
us with mercy and patience this time so that we may learn every day to
recognize him in the poor and in the little ones, may we strive for good and
we are vigilant in prayer and love. May the Lord, at the end of our
existence and history, may recognize us as good and faithful servants. Thank
you!
* * *
Speaker:
Dear Brothers and
Sisters: In our continuing catechesis on the Creed, we now consider the
article which deals with Christ’s second coming: "He will come again in
glory, to judge the living and the dead". Just as human history began with
the creation of man and woman in the image of God, so it will end with
Christ’s return and the final judgment. The parables of Jesus help us to
understand our responsibility before God and one another in this present
age. The parable of the wise and foolish virgins reminds us that we must be
spiritually prepared to meet the Lord when he comes. The parable of the
talents emphasizes our responsibility to use wisely God’s gifts, making them
bear abundant fruit. Here I would ask the many young people present to be
generous with their God-given talents for the good of others, the Church and
our world. Finally, the parable of the final judgement reminds us that, in
the end, we will be judged on our love for others and especially for those
in need. Through these parables, our Lord teaches us to await his coming
with fear but confident trust, ever watchful for the signs of his presence
and faithful in prayer and works of charity, so that when he comes he will
find us his good and faithful servants.
VATICAN CITY, May 08,
2013 - Here is the translation of the Holy Father’s weekly General
Audience address in St. Peter’s Square where he continued the cycle of
catechesis dedicated to the Year of Faith.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning! The Easter season that we are living with
joy, guided by the Church's liturgy, is par excellence the time of the Holy
Spirit, given "without measure" (cf. Jn 3:34) by Jesus, crucified and risen.
This time of grace ends with the feast of Pentecost, in which the Church
relives the outpouring of the Spirit upon Mary and the Apostles gathered in
prayer in the Cenacle.
But who is the Holy
Spirit? In the Creed we profess with faith: "I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord and giver of life". The first truth to which we adhere in the Creed
is that the Holy Spirit is Kýrios, Lord. This means that he is truly God, as
the Father and Son are, the object, for our part, of the same act of
adoration and glorification that we address to the Father and the Son. The
Holy Spirit is the third person of the Blessed Trinity; he is the great gift
of the risen Christ that opens our minds and our hearts to faith in Jesus as
the Son sent by the Father and that leads us to friendship, to communion
with God.
But I would like to dwell in particular on the fact that
the Holy Spirit is the inexhaustible source of the life of God in us. Men of
all times and all places want a life that is full and beautiful, just and
good, a life that is not threatened by death, but that can mature and grow
to its fullness. Man is like a wanderer who, crossing the deserts of life,
thirsts for a living water, gushing and fresh, able to quench deeply his
profound desire for light, love, beauty and peace. We all feel this desire!
And Jesus gives us this living water: it is the Holy Spirit, who proceeds
from the Father, and that Jesus pours out into our hearts. "I came that they
might have life and have it in abundance», Jesus tells us (Jn 10:10).
Jesus promises the Samaritan woman that he will give a
"living water", superabundantly and forever, to all those who recognize him
as the Son sent by the Father to save us (cf. Jn 4:5-26, 3:17). Jesus came
to give us this "living water" that is the Holy Spirit, so that our life may
be guided by God, animated by God, and nourished by God. When we say that
the Christian is a spiritual man, we mean just that: a Christian is a person
who thinks and acts according to God, according to the Holy Spirit. But I
ask: and we, do we think according to God? Do we act according to God? Or do
we let ourselves be guided by so many other things that are not exactly God?
Each one must answer this in the depths of his heart.
At this point we can ask ourselves: why is it that this
water can slake the very depths of our thirst? We know that water is
essential for life; without water you die; it quenches thirst, washes, makes
the land fertile. In the Letter to the Romans we find this expression:
"God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which
has been given to us" (5:5). The "living water", the Holy Spirit, the gift
of the risen Lord who makes its home in us, purifies us, enlightens us,
renews us, transforms us because it makes us partakers of the very life of
God who is Love. For this reason, the Apostle Paul says that the Christian
life is animated by the Spirit and its fruits, which are "love, joy, peace,
generosity, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Gal
5:22-23). The Holy Spirit inserts us into the divine life as "sons in the
Only-begotten Son". In another passage of the Epistle to the Romans, which
we have mentioned several times, St. Paul summarises it with these words:
"all those who are led by the spirit of God, are sons of God. And you...
have received the Spirit that makes us adoptive children, whereby we cry,
"Abba! Father!" The Spirit itself, together with our spirit, attests that we
are children of God. And if we are children, we are also heirs: heirs of
God, joint-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order
to participate in his glory» (8:14-17). This is the precious gift that the
Holy Spirit places in our hearts: the very life of God, life as true sons, a
relationship of confidence, freedom and trust in the love and mercy of God,
which has as an effect also a new gaze towards others, near and far, always
seen as brothers and sisters in Jesus to be respected and loved. The Holy
Spirit teaches us to look with the eyes of Christ, to live life as Christ
lived it, to understand life as Christ understood it. That's why the living
water that is the Holy Spirit quenches the thirst of our lives, because it
tells us that we are loved by God as children, that we can love God as his
children and by his grace we can live as children of God, like Jesus. And
we, we listen to the Holy Spirit? What does the Holy Spirit tell us? God
loves you. It tells us this. God loves you, He desires your good. Do we
really love God and others, like Jesus does? Let us allow ourselves to be
guided by the Holy Spirit, let us allow Him to speak to our hearts and tell
us this: that God is love, that He is waiting for us, that God is the
Father, he loves us as a true Father [Papà], he truly loves us and only the
Holy Spirit alone says this to our hearts. Let us hear the Holy Spirit, let
us listen to the Holy Spirit and let us go forward on this road of love, of
mercy and of forgiveness. Thank you.
* * *
Speaker:
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
In our continuing catechesis on the Creed, we now consider
the article which deals with the Holy Spirit: "I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord and Giver of Life". The Creed tells us that the Spirit is "Lord",
fully God, the third person of the Blessed Trinity. He is the gift of the
Risen Christ, who draws us, through faith, into communion with the Triune
God. The Creed also tells us that the Spirit is the "Giver of Life". How
greatly we desire true life and the fullness of beauty, love and peace! The
Holy Spirit, dwelling in our hearts, is the pure source of "living water,
springing up to eternal life" which Jesus promised to the Samaritan woman.
Sent by Jesus from the Father, the Spirit purifies, renews and transforms
us; he grants us his sevenfold gifts and makes us children of God our
Father. Even now the Holy Spirit invites us to see all things with the eyes
of Christ, to recognize God’s immense love for us, and to share that love
with all our brothers and sisters.
Pope Francis (in italian):
I am pleased to greet the many English-speaking pilgrims
and visitors present at today’s Audience, including those from England,
Scotland, Wales, Denmark, Sweden, Malta, Iran, Australia, China, India,
Indonesia, the Philippines, Canada and the United States. Upon you and your
families I invoke an outpouring of the Holy Spirit’s gifts of wisdom, joy
and peace!
Good morning! Today I would like to dwell on the
action that the Holy Spirit performs in guiding the Church and each of
us to the Truth. Jesus himself says to his disciples: the Holy Spirit
"will guide you into all the truth" (Jn 16:13), being He himself "the
Spirit of Truth (cf. Jn 14:17; 15:26; 16:13). We live in an age in which people are rather
sceptical towards the truth. Benedict XVI has spoken many times of
relativism, of the tendency, that is, to believe that there is nothing
definitive and to think that the truth comes from consent or from what
we want. The question arises: does "the" truth really exist? What is
"the" truth? Can we know it? Can we find it? Here I am reminded of the
question of the Roman Procurator Pontius Pilate when Jesus reveals to
him the profound meaning of his mission: "What is truth?" (Jn 18:37.38).
Pilate fails to understand that "the" Truth is in front of him, he fails
to see in Jesus the face of truth, which is the face of God. Yet, Jesus
is just that: the Truth that, in the fullness of time, "became flesh"
(Jn 1:1.14), that came among us so that we might we know it. The truth
cannot be grasped like an object, the truth has to be encountered. It is
not a possession; it is an encounter with a Person.
But who will allow us to recognize that Jesus is "the"
Word of truth, the only begotten Son of God the Father? St. Paul teaches
that "no one can say: 'Jesus is Lord!' except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor
12:3). It is the Holy Spirit, the gift of the risen Christ, who makes us
recognize the Truth. Jesus calls him the "Paraclete", i.e., "he who
comes to help," who is on our side to support us on this journey of
knowledge; and, during the Last Supper, Jesus assures his disciples that
the Holy Spirit will teach them all things, reminding them of his words
(cf. Jn 14:26).
What is then the action of the Holy Spirit in our
lives and in the life of the Church to lead us to the truth? First of
all, he reminds believers and imprints in their hearts the words that
Jesus said, and, precisely through these words, God's law – as the
prophets of the Old Testament had announced – is inscribed in our hearts
and becomes in us a principle for evaluating our choices and a guide in
daily actions, it becomes the principle of life. The great prophecy of
Ezekiel is fulfilled: "I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and
from all your idols, I will give you a new heart, I will put within you
a new spirit ... I will put my spirit within you and I will make you
follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances"(36:25-27).
In fact, it is from the depths of ourselves that our actions are born:
it is the heart that must convert to God, and the Holy Spirit transforms
it if we open ourselves to Him.
The Holy Spirit, then, as Jesus promised, guides us
"into all the truth" (Jn 16:13); he helps us not only to encounter
Jesus, the fullness of Truth, but also guides us "into" the Truth, makes
us enter into an ever more profound communion with Jesus himself, giving
us understanding of the things of God. And we cannot achieve this by our
own strength. If God does not enlighten us inwardly, our being
Christians will be superficial. The Tradition of the Church states that
the Spirit of truth acts in our hearts by arousing that "sense of the
faith (sensus fidei) through which, as the Second Vatican Council
affirms, the People of God, under the guidance of the Magisterium,
adheres indefectibly to the faith transmitted, deepens it with right
judgment and applies it more fully in life (cf. Const. Dogm. Lumen
Gentium, 12). Let us ask ourselves: am I open to the action of the Holy
Spirit, do I pray for it to give me light, to make me more sensitive to
the things of God? This is a prayer we must make every day: “Holy
Spirit, make my heart be open to the Word of God, that my heart be open
to good, that my heart be open to the beauty of God everyday”. I would
like to ask you a question: how many of you pray to the Holy Spirit
every day? Probably few, but we must satisfy this desire of Jesus and
pray every day to the Holy Spirit, so that he opens our heart towards
Jesus.
Let us think of Mary, who "kept all these things and
pondered them in her heart "(Lk 2:19.51). The welcoming of the words and
truths of faith in order that they may become life, happens and grows
under the action of the Holy Spirit. In this sense we must learn from
Mary, reliving her "Yes," her total willingness to receive the Son of
God in her life, which from that moment onwards is transformed. Through
the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son come to dwell in us: we live in
God and of God. But is our life truly inspired by God? How many things
do I put before God?
Dear brothers and sisters,
We need to allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the
light of the Holy Spirit, so that he may bring us into the Truth of God,
who is the only Lord of our lives. In this Year of Faith let us ask
ourselves if we have taken any concrete steps to know more about Christ
and the truth of the faith, by reading and meditating on the Scripture,
studying the Catechism, approaching the Sacraments with constancy. But
let us ask ourselves at the same time, what steps are we taking so that
faith may guide all our existence. One isn't a Christian "part time", at
certain moments, in certain circumstances, in some choices. One cannot
be a Christian like this. One is a Christian at all times! Totally! The
truth of Christ, which the Holy Spirit teaches us and gives us, forever
and totally affects our daily lives. Let us invoke him more often so
that he may guide us on the road of the disciples of Christ. Let us
invoke him every day. I make this proposal to you: let us invoke the
Holy Spirit every day, thus Holy Spirit will draw us close to Jesus
Christ. Thank you!
* * *
Speaker:
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
In our catechesis on the Creed, we have been
considering the person and work of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus calls
"the Spirit of Truth" (cf. Jn 16:13). In an age skeptical of truth, we
believe not only that truth exists, but that it is found through faith
in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God. The Holy Spirit brings us to
Jesus; he guides the whole Church into the fullness of truth. As the
"Paraclete", the Helper sent by the Risen Lord, he reminds us of
Christ’s words and convinces us of their saving truth. As the source of
our new life in Christ, he awakens in our hearts that supernatural
"sense of the faith" by which we hold fast to God’s word, come to a
deeper understanding of its meaning, and apply it in our daily lives.
Let us ask ourselves: am I truly open, like the Virgin Mary, to the
power of the Holy Spirit? Even now, with the Father and the Son, the
Spirit dwells in our hearts. Let us ask him to guide us into all truth
and to help us grow in friendship with Christ through daily prayer,
reading of the Scriptures and the celebration of the sacraments.
General Audience catechesis, Wednesday, May
22, 2013. (Year of Faith)
Dear brothers and sisters, good day!
In the Creed, after having professed faith in the Holy Spirit,
we say: "We believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church." There is a
deep connection between these two realities of faith: the Holy Spirit gives
life to the Church, guides Her steps. Without the presence and the incessant
action of the Holy Spirit, the Church could not live and could not
accomplish the task that the Risen Jesus has entrusted her; to go and make
disciples of all nations (cf. Mt 28:18). Evangelization is the mission of
the Church, not just of a few, but my, your, our mission. The Apostle Paul
exclaimed: "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel" (1 Cor 9:16). Everyone
must be evangelizers, especially through with their life! Paul VI pointed
out that "... evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the
Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize,"(Apostolic
Exhortation. Evangelii Nuntiandi, 14).
Who is the real engine of evangelization in our lives and in
the Church? Paul VI wrote with clarity: "It is the Holy Spirit who, today
just as at the beginning of the Church, acts in every evangelizer who allows
himself to be possessed and led by Him. The Holy Spirit places on his lips
the words which he could not find by himself, and at the same time the Holy
Spirit predisposes the soul of the hearer to be open and receptive to the
Good News and to the kingdom being proclaimed."(ibid., 75). To evangelize,
then, we must be open to the action of the Spirit of God, without fear of
what He asks us or where He leads us. Let us entrust ourselves to Him! He
enables us to live and bear witness to our faith, and enlighten the hearts
of those we meet. This was the Pentecost experience of the Apostles gathered
with Mary in the Upper Room, " Then there appeared to them tongues as of
fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all
filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the
Spirit enabled them to proclaim"(Acts 2:3-4). The Holy Spirit descending
upon the Apostles, compels them to leave the room in which they had locked
themselves in fear, makes them come out of themselves, and turns them into
heralds and witnesses of the "mighty works of God" (v. 11). And this
transformation wrought by the Holy Spirit is reflected in the crowd that
rushed to the scene and which came "from every nation under heaven" (v. 5),
so that everyone hears the words of the Apostles as if they were spoken in
their own language (v. 6 ).
Here is a first important effect of the Holy Spirit that
guides and inspires the proclamation of the Gospel: unity, communion. At
Babel, according to the Bible, the dispersion of peoples and the confusion
of tongues began, the result of man’s act of arrogance and pride in wanting
to build on his own strength, and without God, "a city and a tower whose top
may reach unto heaven "(Gen 11:4). At Pentecost, these divisions are
overcome. There is no longer more pride toward God, nor closure towards one
another, but there is openness to God, to going out to announce His Word: a
new language, that of love that the Holy Spirit pours into our hearts (cf.
Rom 5:5), a language that everyone can understand and which, when welcomed,
can be expressed in every life and in every culture. The language of the
Spirit, the language of the Gospel is the language of communion, which
invites us to overcome closure and indifference, division and conflict. We
should all ask ourselves: how do I let myself be guided by the Holy Spirit
so that my witness of faith is one of unity and communion? Do I bring the
message of reconciliation and love that is the Gospel to the places where I
live? Sometimes it seems that what happened at Babel is repeated today;
divisions, the inability to understand each other, rivalry, envy,
selfishness. What do I do with my life? Do I bring unity? Or do I divide
with gossip and envy? Let us ask ourselves this. Bringing the Gospel means
we in the first place must live reconciliation, forgiveness, peace, unity,
love that the Holy Spirit gives us. Let us remember the words of Jesus: "By
this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another"
(John 13:34-35).
A second element: on the day of Pentecost, Peter, filled with
the Holy Spirit, stands up "with the eleven" and "raided his voice" (Acts
2:14); "proclaimed" (v. 29) the good news of Jesus, who gave His life for
our salvation and who God raised from the dead. Here is another effect of
the Holy Spirit: Courage! the courage to proclaim the newness of the Gospel
of Jesus to all, with self-confidence (parrhesia), in a loud voice, in every
time and in every place. And this happens even today for the Church and for
each of us: from the fire of Pentecost, from the action of the Holy Spirit,
ever new missionary energies are released, new ways in which to proclaim the
message of salvation, new courage to evangelize. Never be closed to this
action! May we live the Gospel with humility and courage! May we witness the
novelty, the hope, the joy that the Lord brings to life. Let us feel within
us "the delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing" (Paul VI, Apostolic
Exhortation. Ap. Evangelii nuntiandi, 80) Because evangelizing, announcing
Jesus, evangelizing brings us joy! It energizes us. Being closed up within
ourselves brings bitterness. Proclaiming the joy and hope that the Lord
brings to world lifts us up!
I will only mention a third element, but it is particularly
important: a new evangelization, a Church that evangelizes must always start
from prayer, from asking, like the Apostles in the Upper Room, for the fire
of the Holy Spirit. Only a faithful and intense relationship with God allows
us to leave our enclosures and announce the Gospel with parrhesia. Without
prayer our actions become empty and our proclamation soulless, it is not
animated by the Spirit.
Dear friends, as said Benedict XVI, the Church today "
especially feels the wind of the Holy Spirit that helps us, shows us the
right path, and so, with new enthusiasm, we are on our journey and we thank
the Lord" (Address to Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, October 27, 2012).
Let us renew our trust in the Holy Spirit every day. The trust that He
enacts in us, He is in us, He gives us courage, confidence and peace! Let us
be guided by Him, men and women of prayer, witnessing the Gospel with
courage, becoming instruments in our world of God’s unity and communion.
Thank you.
English summary:
Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our catechesis on the Creed, we
now pass from the article on the Holy Spirit to that on the Church, “one,
holy, catholic and apostolic”. The Holy Spirit and the Church are in fact
inseparable. The Spirit enlivens and guides the Church, and each of us
within the Church, to carry out Christ’s mandate to make disciples of all
peoples. He opens minds and hearts to the beauty and truth of the Gospel.
The Spirit overcomes selfishness and division, creating unity, communion,
reconciliation and love. The Spirit also instils the strength needed to bear
courageous witness to the Risen Christ; he is the spirit of mission and
evangelization. The fire of the Holy Spirit was sent down upon the Apostles
at Pentecost in answer to their fervent prayer; ardent prayer in the Spirit
must always be the soul of new evangelization and the heart of our lives as
Christians. Let us renew each day our trust in the working of the Holy
Spirit, open our hearts to his inspiration and gifts, and strive to be signs
of unity and communion with God in the midst of our human family.
I extend my cordial welcome
to the Italian-speaking pilgrims. In particular, I salute the
Congregation of the Holy Family and the Daughters of Jesus who are
celebrating their general chapter; the faithful of the Eparchy of
Lungro, with Bishop Mons. Olivero, gathered at the Tomb of Peter on
the occasion of the Year of Faith; the young people of the Focolare
Movement gathered in the "Gen 3" International Congress, who, led by
the motto "a heart in action", this year have followed the practice
of performing the works of mercy. I greet the priests, the women
religious - in particular the group of the Daughters of Charity -,
the seminarians, the parochial groups and the numerous
schoolchildren. I encourage everyone to listen in their conscience
to the voice of the Holy Spirit and to make it operational in your
lives in doing good and with charity, to be authentic disciples of
Jesus!
Finally, an affectionate thought to the young people, the sick
and newlyweds. May the Virgin Mary, dear young people, be a teacher
of tenderness and love; may she sustain you, dear sick ones,
especially the thalassemici italiani di Roma [the Rome chapter of an
Italian association for the care of persons suffering from
Talassemia, -ed.], in the hardest moments of solitude and suffering;
and may she be an example for you, dear newlyweds, to live your
marital relationship in unity and harmony.
APPEAL OF THE HOLY FATHER
Friday, May 24 is the day
dedicated to the liturgical Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
help of Christians, worshipped with great devotion at the shrine of
Sheshan in Shanghai.
I invite all Catholics around the world to join in prayer with
brothers and sisters who are in China to implore from God the grace
to announce with humility and joy Christ who died and is risen, to
be faithful to his Church and to the successor of Peter and to live
daily life in service to their country and their fellow citizens in
a manner consistent with the faith they profess.
Making our words of prayer to our Lady of Sheshan, I along with
you invoke Mary thus: "Our Lady of Sheshan, sustain the commitment
of those who in China, amid their daily labors, continue to believe,
to hope, to love, so that they may never be afraid to speak of Jesus
to the world and the world to Jesus".
May Mary, the faithful Virgin, support the Chinese Catholics,
making their difficult commitments increasingly precious in the
sight of the Lord, and increase the Church in China's affection for
and participation in the journey of the universal Church.
On the Church as the Family of God (Year of
Faith)
VATICAN CITY,
May 29, 2013 - Here is the translation of the Holy Father’s
weekly General Audience address in St. Peter’s Square where he began
a new cycle of catecheses on the mystery of the Church.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Last Wednesday
I underlined the deep bond between the Holy Spirit and the Church.
Today I would like to start some catecheses on the mystery of the
Church, a mystery that we all live in and of which we are part. I
would like to do this with some well-known expressions of the texts
of Vatican II.
First: the Church as the family of God.
In recent
months, more than once I made reference to the parable of the
prodigal son, or rather of the merciful father (cf. Lk 15:11-32).
His youngest son leaves his father's house, squanders everything and
decides to return because he realizes that he has made a mistake,
but no longer considers himself worthy of being a son, and thinks
that he might be readmitted as a servant. The father instead runs to
meet him, hugs him, restores him to the dignity of a son and throws
a feast. This parable, as others in the Gospel, well describes God's
plan for humanity.
What is this
plan? It's to make of all of us the one family of his children, in
which each will feel close and feel loved by Him, as in the Gospel
parable, that each may feel the warmth of being the family of God.
In this great design, the Church finds its roots; the Church is not
an organization born out of an agreement made by some people, but -
as Pope Benedict XVI has reminded us many times - it's God's work,
it is born from this plan of love that takes place progressively in
history. The Church was born from the desire of God to call all
people to communion with Him, to His friendship, and indeed to
participate as his sons of his own divine life. The very word
"Church", from the Greek word ekklesia, means "convocation": God
summons us, he urges us to come out of our individualism, of our
tendency to close in upon ourselves and calls us to be his family.
And this call has its origin in creation itself. God created us to
live in a deep friendship with him, and even when sin broke this
relationship with him, with others and with creation, God did not
abandon us. The whole history of salvation is the story of God
seeking man, offering him His love, welcoming him. He called Abraham
to be the father of a multitude, he chose the people of Israel to
forge a covenant that embraces all people, and sent, in the fullness
of time, his Son so that his plan of love and salvation might come
true in a new and everlasting covenant with all humanity. When we
read the Gospels, we see that Jesus gathers around him a small
community that welcomes his word, follows him, shares his journey,
becomes his family, and with this community He prepares and builds
his Church.
Where is the Church born? It is born from the
supreme act of love of the cross, from the open side of Jesus from
which flow blood and water, symbol of the sacraments of the
Eucharist and baptism. In the family of God, in the Church, the
lifeblood is the love of God that is expressed in loving Him and
others, all without distinctions and without measure. The Church is
a family in which one loves and is loved.
When does the
Church become manifest? We celebrated this two Sundays ago: it is
manifested when the indwelling of the Holy Spirit fills the heart of
the Apostles and drives them to go out and start the journey to
proclaim the Gospel, to spread the love of God.
Still today someone says: "Christ yes, the Church
no." Like those who say, “I believe in God but not in priests”. But
it is precisely the Church that brings us Christ and leads us to
God; the Church is the great family of God's children. Of course it
also has human aspects; in those who compose it, pastors and
faithful, there are flaws, imperfections, sins, even the Pope has
them, and he has many, but the beautiful thing is that when we
realize that we are sinners, we find the mercy of God, which always
forgives. Don’t forget it: God always forgives and receives us in
his forgiving and merciful love. Some say sin is an offence against
God, but it is also an opportunity to be humbled, to realize that
there’s something more beautiful: the mercy of God. Let us think of
this.
Let us ask ourselves today: how much do I love the
Church? Do I pray for her? Do I feel part of the family of the
Church? What do I do so that it may be a community where everyone
feels welcomed and understood, feels the mercy and love of God that
renews life? Faith is a gift and an act that affects us personally,
but God calls us to live our faith together, as a family, like the
Church.
Let us ask the Lord, in a special way in this Year
of Faith that our communities, the whole Church, may increasingly be
true families living and bearing within them the warmth of God.
Thank you.
[Translation by Peter Waymel]
* * *
Speaker:
Dear Brothers
and Sisters: In today’s Audience I would like to speak of the Church
as God’s family. Like the merciful father in the parable of the
prodigal son, God wants all of us to live in his love and to share
in his life. The Church is an essential part of this divine plan; we
were made to know and love God and, despite our sins, he continues
to call us to return to him. In the fullness of time, he sent his
Son into our world to inaugurate the new and eternal covenant with
humanity through his sacrifice on the cross. The Church was born of
this supreme act of reconciling love, in the water and blood which
flowed from Christ’s pierced side. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit
sent the Apostles to proclaim the Gospel of God’s love to the ends
of the earth. Christ can never be separated from his Church, which
he has made the great family of God’s children. Today, let us pledge
ourselves to renewing our love for the Church and to letting her be
God’s true family, where everyone feels welcomed, understood and
loved.
Holy Father (in Italian):
I offer a cordial welcome to
all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today’s
Audience, including those from England, Scotland, Ireland, Norway,
Sweden, Canada and the United States. May you always grow in love
for Christ and for God’s family which is the Church. God bless you
all!
I greet now the many
Italian-speaking pilgrims: parishes, associations, institutions and
schools. In particular, my affectionate thought goes out to the
faithful of the Diocesan Community of L'Aquila, Vallo della Lucania,
Molfetta-Ruvo-Giovinazzo-Terlizzi, accompanied by their respective
pastors. May your pilgrimage in this Year of Faith help each of you
to participate more fully in Christ and to bear witness to him with
joy and courage. I greet the participants in the meeting sponsored
by Caritas Italiana, with the Presiding Bishop Mons. Giuseppe
Merisi; as well as those who take part in the meeting of the
Foundation "Communità di Gesù"; the seminarians and students of the
Pontifical Faculty of Southern Italy and the pilgrimage sponsored by
the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of Genoa.
I turn, finally, to you, dear young people, the sick and
newlyweds. In this last audience of the month of May, my thoughts go
spontaneously to Mary, bright star of our Christian walk. May we
make constant reference to her to find in her intercession and in
the examples of her life inspiration and sure guidance in our daily
pilgrimage of faith.
Tomorrow, the feast of Corpus Domini, as every year, we will be
celebrating Holy Mass in St. John Lateran at 7:00 p.m. At the end, a
solemn procession will follow that will end at St. Mary’s Major
Basilica. I invite the faithful of Rome and pilgrims to join in this
act of faith in the Eucharist, which is the most precious treasure
of the Church and of humanity.
VATICAN CITY, May
01, 2013 - Here is the translation of the Holy Father’s weekly General Audience address in St. Peter’s Square today.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today, the 1st of May, we celebrate St. Joseph the
Worker and begin the month traditionally dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
During this encounter, I would thus like to reflect on these two
important figures in the life of Jesus, of the Church and in our lives,
with two brief thoughts: the first regarding work, the second on the
contemplation of Jesus.
1. In the Gospel of St. Matthew, one of the times when
Jesus returns to his native region, to Nazareth, and speaks in the
synagogue, the Gospel underlines his fellow villagers' astonishment at
his wisdom, and the question they ask one another: is not this the
Carpenter's son?" (13:55). Jesus enters into our history, he comes into
our midst, being born of Mary by the work of God, but with the presence
of St. Joseph, the legal father who guards him and even teaches him his
trade. Jesus was born and lived in a family, in the Holy Family,
learning from St. Joseph the carpenter's trade, in the workshop of
Nazareth, sharing with him his commitment, hard work and satisfaction,
as well as each day's difficulties.
This calls to mind for us the dignity and importance
of work. The Book of Genesis tells us that God created man and woman by
entrusting to them the task of populating the Earth and subjugating it,
which does not mean to exploit it, but to cultivate and guard it, to
care for it with their own labour (cf. Gen 1:28; 2:15). The work is part
of the plan of God's love; we are called to cultivate and safeguard all
the goods of creation and in this way we participate in the work of
creation! The work is fundamental to the dignity of a person. Work, to
use an image, "anoints" us with dignity, it fills us with dignity; it
makes us similar to God, who has worked and works still, He is always
acting (cf. Jn 5:17); it gives the ability to maintain oneself, one's
family, to contribute to the growth of one's nation. And here I am
thinking of the difficulties which, in different countries, today's
world of work and enterprise are facing; I think about how many people,
and not just young people, are unemployed, often because of an economic
conception of society, which seeks selfish gain, outside of the
parameters of social justice.
I would like to invite everyone to solidarity, and
wish to encourage those those in charge of public affairs to make every
effort to give new impetus to employment; this means caring for the
dignity of the person; but mostly I would say not to lose hope. St.
Joseph also had difficult moments, but never lost confidence and was
able to overcome them, in the certainty that God does not abandons us.
And then I would like to address specifically the adolescents and you
young people: get involved in your daily duty, in study, in work, in
friendships, in helping others; your future depends also on your wisdom
in living these precious years of life. Don't be afraid of effort, of
sacrifice and don't look to the future with fear; keep hope alive:
there's always a light on the horizon.
I add a word about another particular work situation
that bothers me: I am referring to what could be defined as "slave
labor", work that enslaves. How many people, worldwide, are victims of
this kind of slavery, where the person is at the service of work, when
it must be work that offers a service to persons so that they may have
dignity. I would ask my brothers and sisters in faith and all men and
women of good will to make a decisive choice against the trafficking of
persons, within which falls the category of "slave labor".
2. The second thought: in the silence of his daily
activity, St. Joseph shared with Mary a single, common focal point of
attention: Jesus. They accompany and guard, with dedication and
tenderness, the growth of the Son of God made man for us, reflecting on
everything that happens. In the Gospels, Luke points out twice the
attitude of Mary, which is also that of St. Joseph: "She treasured all
these things, and pondered them in her heart" (2:19.51).
To listen to the Lord, we must learn to contemplate,
to perceive His constant presence in our lives; we have to stop and talk
to Him, give Him space with prayer. Every one of us, even you adolescent
boys and girls, and young people, so numuerous here this morning, should
ask yourselves: how much space do I give the Lord? Do I stop to dialogue
with Him? Ever since we were little, our parents have accustomed us to
begin and end the day with a prayer, to teach us to feel that the
friendship and the love of God accompany us. Let us remember the Lord
more often in our days!
And in this month of May, I would like to recall the
importance and the beauty of the prayer of the Holy Rosary. Reciting the
Hail Mary, we are led to contemplate the mysteries of Jesus, to reflect,
that is, on the central moments of his life, so that, as for Mary and
for St. Joseph, He may be the center of our thoughts, our attention and
our actions. It would be nice if, especially in this month of May, you
would pray together as a family, with your friends, in the parish, the
Holy Rosary or some prayer to Jesus and the Virgin Mary! Praying
together is a precious moment for making family life and friendship even
more stable! Let us learn to pray more in the family and as a family!
Dear brothers and sisters, let us ask St. Joseph and
the Virgin Mary to teach us to be faithful to our daily commitments, to
live our faith in everyday actions and to give more space to the Lord in
our lives, to stop to contemplate his face.
* * *
Speaker:
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
On this first day of May, Mary’s month, we celebrate
the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth,
reminds us of the dignity and importance of labour. Work is part of
God’s plan for the world; by responsibly cultivating the goods of
creation, we grow in dignity as men and women made in God’s image. For
this reason, the problem of unemployment urgently demands greater social
solidarity and wise and just policies. I also encourage the many young
people present to look to the future with hope, and to invest themselves
fully in their studies, their work and their relationships with others.
Saint Joseph, as a model of quiet prayer and closeness to Jesus, also
invites us to think about the time we devote to prayer each day. In this
month of May, the Rosary naturally comes to mind as a way to contemplate
the mysteries of Christ’s life. May Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary
help us to be faithful in our daily work and to lift up our minds and
hearts to Jesus in prayer.
Pope Francis (in italian):
I am pleased to greet the many pilgrimage groups
present at today’s Audience, including those from the Archdiocese of
Gwangju in South Korea. Upon all the English-speaking visitors,
including those from England, Scotland, Denmark, Canada and the United
States, I invoke the joy and peace of the Risen Lord.
"We must not be afraid to be Christians and to live as Christians!"
VATICAN CITY,
April 08, 2013 - Here is a translation of the address Pope Francis
gave Sunday before and after praying the midday Regina Caeli with those
gathered in St. Peter's Square.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters! Buon giorno!
On this Sunday that concludes
the Octave of Easter I renew Easter greetings to everyone with the words
of the risen Jesus himself: “Peace to you!” (John 20:19, 21, 26). It is
not salutation nor a simple greeting: it is a gift, indeed, the precious
gift that Christ offers to his disciples after having passed through
death and the netherworld (“inferi”). He gives peace as he promised: “I
leave you peace, my peace I give you. Not as the world gives it do I
give it to you” (John 14:27). This peace is the fruit of the victory of
God’s love over evil, it is the fruit of forgiveness. And this is
exactly how it is: true peace, profound peace, comes from the experience
of the mercy of God. Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, established according
to the wishes of Blessed John Paul II, who died on the very eve of this
celebration.
The Gospel of John tells us
that Jesus appeared twice to the Apostles who had locked themselves
inside the upper room: the first was on the very evening of the
Resurrection, and Thomas was not there, Thomas, who said: if I do not
see and do not touch I will not believe. The second time, eight days
later, Thomas was present. And Jesus addressed himself precisely to him,
inviting him to look at the wounds and to touch them; and Thomas
exclaimed: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). Then Jesus said: “Because
you saw me you believed; blessed are those who have not seen and have
believed!” (20:29). And who are these others who believed without
seeing? Other disciples, other men and women of Jerusalem who, although
they had not encountered the risen Jesus, believed on the testimony of
the Apostles and the women. This is a very important consideration with
respect to the faith, we might call it the beatitude of faith. Blessed
are those who have not seen and have believed: this is the beatitude of
faith! In every time and in every place those people are blessed who,
through the Word of God, proclaimed by the Church and witnessed to by
Christians, believe that Jesus Christ is the love of God incarnate,
Mercy incarnate. And this is true for all of us!
Together with his peace,
Jesus granted his Apostles the Holy Spirit, so that they could bring the
forgiveness of sins into the world, that forgiveness that only God can
give and whose cost was the Blood of his Son (cf. John 20:21-23). The
Church is sent by the risen Christ to transmit the remission of sins to
men, and in this way to make the Kingdom of love grow, to sow peace in
hearts, so that peace also be affirmed in relationships, in societies,
in institutions. And the Spirit of the risen Christ drives fear out of
the Apostles’ hearts and drives them out of the upper room to spread the
Gospel. We too have more courage to witness to the faith in the risen
Christ! We must not be afraid to be Christians and to live as
Christians! We must have this courage to go proclaim Christ risen
because he is our peace, he made peace with his love, with his
forgiveness, with his blood, with his mercy.
Dear friends, this afternoon
I will celebrate the Eucharist in the Basilica of St. John Lateran,
which is the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome. Let us pray to the Virgin
Mary that she help us, bishop and people, to walk together in faith and
charity, always confident in the mercy of the Lord: He always waits for
us, he loves us, he forgave us with is blood and he forgives us every
time we go to him to ask forgiveness. Let us have faith in his mercy!
[Following the recitation of
the “Regina Caeli” the Holy Father greeted those present. Here are some
of his greetings:]
I offer a cordial greeting to
the pilgrims who participated in the holy Mass celebrated by the
cardinal vicar of Rome in the church of Santo Spirito in Sassia, the
center of devotion to Divine Mercy. Dear bothers and sisters, be
messengers and witnesses of God’s mercy!
I am happy to greet the
numerous members of the movements and associations that are present for
our time of prayer together, especially the Neocatechumenal communities
of Rome, who begin today a special mission in the piazzas of the city. I
invite everyone to bring the Glad Tidings to every sphere of life, “with
sweetness and respect”! (1 Peter 3:16). Go into the public places and
proclaim Jesus Christ, our Savior.
"We hear many offers from the
world around us; but let us take up God's offer instead: his is a caress of
love"
ROME, April 08,
2013 - Here is a Vatican translation of the homily given by Pope
Francis on Sunday, as he celebrated Mass at the cathedral of St. John
Lateran, marking his enthronement as Bishop of Rome.
* * *
It is with joy that I am celebrating the Eucharist for
the first time in this Lateran Basilica, the Cathedral of the Bishop of
Rome. I greet all of you with great affection: my very dear Cardinal
Vicar, the auxiliary bishops, the diocesan presbyterate, the deacons,
the men and women religious, and all the lay faithful. I also greet the
Mayor, his wife and all the authorities present. Together let us walk in
the light of the risen Lord.
Today we are celebrating the Second Sunday of Easter,
also known as "Divine Mercy Sunday". What a beautiful truth of faith
this is for our lives: the mercy of God! God’s love for us is so great,
so deep; it is an unfailing love, one which always takes us by the hand
and supports us, lifts us up and leads us on.
In today’s Gospel, the Apostle Thomas personally
experiences this mercy of God, which has a concrete face, the face of
Jesus, the risen Jesus. Thomas does not believe it when the other
Apostles tell him: "We have seen the Lord". It isn’t enough for him that
Jesus had foretold it, promised it: "On the third day I will rise". He
wants to see, he wants to put his hand in the place of the nails and in
Jesus’ side. And how does Jesus react? With patience: Jesus does not
abandon Thomas in his stubborn unbelief; he gives him a week’s time, he
does not close the door, he waits. And Thomas acknowledges his own
poverty, his little faith. "My Lord and my God!": with this simple yet
faith-filled invocation, he responds to Jesus’ patience. He lets himself
be enveloped by divine mercy; he sees it before his eyes, in the wounds
of Christ’s hands and feet and in his open side, and he discovers trust:
he is a new man, no longer an unbeliever, but a believer.
Let us also remember Peter: three times he denied
Jesus, precisely when he should have been closest to him; and when he
hits bottom he meets the gaze of Jesus who patiently, wordlessly, says
to him: "Peter, don’t be afraid of your weakness, trust in me". Peter
understands, he feels the loving gaze of Jesus, and he weeps. How
beautiful is this gaze of Jesus – how much tenderness is there! Brothers
and sisters, let us never lose trust in the patience and mercy of God!
Let us think too of the two disciples on the way to
Emmaus: their sad faces, their barren journey, their despair. But Jesus
does not abandon them: he walks beside them, and not only that!
Patiently he explains the Scriptures which spoke of him, and he stays to
share a meal with them. This is God’s way of doing things: he is not
impatient like us, who often want everything all at once, even in our
dealings with other people. God is patient with us because he loves us,
and those who love are able to understand, to hope, to inspire
confidence; they do not give up, they do not burn bridges, they are able
to forgive. Let us remember this in our lives as Christians: God always
waits for us, even when we have left him behind! He is never far from
us, and if we return to him, he is ready to embrace us.
I am always struck when I reread the parable of the
merciful Father; it impresses me because it always gives me great hope.
Think of that younger son who was in the Father’s house, who was loved;
and yet he wants his part of the inheritance; he goes off, spends
everything, hits rock bottom, where he could not be more distant from
the Father, yet when he is at his lowest, he misses the warmth of the
Father’s house and he goes back. And the Father? Had he forgotten the
son? No, never. He is there, he sees the son from afar, he was waiting
for him every hour of every day, the son was always in his father’s
heart, even though he had left him, even though he had squandered his
whole inheritance, his freedom. The Father, with patience, love, hope
and mercy, had never for a second stopped thinking about him, and as
soon as he sees him still far off, he runs out to meet him and embraces
him with tenderness, the tenderness of God, without a word of reproach:
he has returned! And that is the joy of the Father. In that embrace for
his son is all this joy: he has returned! God is always waiting for us,
he never grows tired. Jesus shows us this merciful patience of God so
that we can regain confidence, hope – always! A great German theologian,
Romano Guardini, said that God responds to our weakness by his patience,
and this is the reason for our confidence, our hope (cf.
Glaubenserkenntnis, Würzburg, 1949, p. 28). It is like a dialogue
between our weakness and the patience of God, it is a dialogue that, if
we do it, will grant us hope.
I would like to emphasize one other thing: God’s
patience has to call forth in us the courage to return to him, however
many mistakes and sins there may be in our life. Jesus tells Thomas to
put his hand in the wounds of his hands and his feet, and in his side.
We too can enter into the wounds of Jesus, we can actually touch him.
This happens every time that we receive the sacraments with faith. Saint
Bernard, in a fine homily, says: "Through the wounds of Jesus I can suck
honey from the rock and oil from the flinty rock (cf. Deut 32:13), I can
taste and see the goodness of the Lord" (On the Song of Songs, 61:4). It
is there, in the wounds of Jesus, that we are truly secure; there we
encounter the boundless love of his heart. Thomas understood this. Saint
Bernard goes on to ask: But what can I count on? My own merits? No, "My
merit is God’s mercy. I am by no means lacking merits as long as he is
rich in mercy. If the mercies of the Lord are manifold, I too will
abound in merits" (ibid., 5). This is important: the courage to trust in
Jesus’ mercy, to trust in his patience, to seek refuge always in the
wounds of his love. Saint Bernard even states: "So what if my conscience
gnaws at me for my many sins? ‘Where sin has abounded, there grace has
abounded all the more’ (Rom 5:20)" (ibid.). Maybe someone among us here
is thinking: my sin is so great, I am as far from God as the younger son
in the parable, my unbelief is like that of Thomas; I don’t have the
courage to go back, to believe that God can welcome me and that he is
waiting for me, of all people. But God is indeed waiting for you; he
asks of you only the courage to go to him. How many times in my pastoral
ministry have I heard it said: "Father, I have many sins"; and I have
always pleaded: "Don’t be afraid, go to him, he is waiting for you, he
will take care of everything". We hear many offers from the world around
us; but let us take up God’s offer instead: his is a caress of love. For
God, we are not numbers, we are important, indeed we are the most
important thing to him; even if we are sinners, we are what is closest
to his heart.
Adam, after his sin, experiences shame, he feels
naked, he senses the weight of what he has done; and yet God does not
abandon him: if that moment of sin marks the beginning of his exile from
God, there is already a promise of return, a possibility of return. God
immediately asks: "Adam, where are you?" He seeks him out. Jesus took on
our nakedness, he took upon himself the shame of Adam, the nakedness of
his sin, in order to wash away our sin: by his wounds we have been
healed. Remember what Saint Paul says: "What shall I boast of, if not my
weakness, my poverty?" Precisely in feeling my sinfulness, in looking at
my sins, I can see and encounter God’s mercy, his love, and go to him to
receive forgiveness.
In my own life, I have so often seen God’s merciful
countenance, his patience; I have also seen so many people find the
courage to enter the wounds of Jesus by saying to him: Lord, I am here,
accept my poverty, hide my sin in your wounds, wash it away with your
blood. And I have always seen that God did just this – he accepted them,
consoled them, cleansed them, loved them.
Dear brothers and
sisters, let us be enveloped by the mercy of God; let us trust in his
patience, which always gives us more time. Let us find the courage to
return to his house, to dwell in his loving wounds, allowing ourselves
be loved by him and to encounter his mercy in the sacraments. We will
feel his wonderful tenderness, we will feel his embrace, and we too will
become more capable of mercy, patience, forgiveness and love.
VATICAN CITY, April 04, 2013 - Pope Francis is praying for victims
of a natural disaster that hit his homeland, as a rain storm Tuesday night
caused flash floods in Buenos Aires and La Plata, causing more than 50
deaths.
In a note signed by the Pope's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio
Bertone, the Holy Father promises "prayers to the Lord for the eternal rest
of those who died, at the same time wanting to express his paternal,
spiritual closeness to all those affected and their families."
Some 16 inches of rain fell on the city of La Plata in the space of two
hours late on Tuesday night. About that same amount fell earlier on Buenos
Aires.
The papal note continued: "[T]he Holy Father encourages civil and
ecclesiastical institutions, as well as all people of good will, to provide
in a spirit of charity and Christian solidarity the necessary help those who
have lost their homes or personal belongings."
"With these sentiments, the Supreme Pontiff imparts to those affected and
those who come to their assistance the comfort of his Apostolic Blessing, as
a sign of his closeness to the dear people of Argentina," the message
concluded.
The message was directed to Mario Aurelio Poli, the new archbishop of
Buenos Aires. Francis appointed him March 28, thereby filling the vacancy
left by his election to the See of Peter.
A Christian Should Live in Perpetual Peace, Says
Francis
At Thursday's Morning Mass, Reflects on Wonder, Consolation
VATICAN CITY, April 04, 2013 -
Francis celebrated his usual morning Mass today at Domus Sanctae Marthae,
drawing from the Gospel passage from Luke to reflect on peace, which he said
is a gift that "is not sold and we do not buy."
Drawing from the first reading, he
said that the disciples who were witnesses of the lame man's healing and now
see Jesus, “are a bit out of themselves, but not because of some mental
illness: outside themselves because of their awe."
But what is this awe? “It is something," said the Holy Father, “that
drives us out of ourselves, for joy: this is great, it is very great. This
is not mere enthusiasm: even fans in a stadium are enthusiastic when their
team wins, right? No, this is not some enthusiasm, it is something more
profound: it is the wonder that comes when we find ourselves with Jesus."
This astonishment, the Holy Father explained, is the beginning “of the
habitual state of the Christian." Certainly, he noted, we cannot live
forever in wonder, but this is condition is the beginning which allows a
“mark to be left on the soul and spiritual consolation." Actually, the
condition of being a Christian should be one of spiritual consolation,
notwithstanding problems, pains, sickness.
"The last step of consolation," the Pontiff said, “is peace: one begins
with awe, and the minor tone of this wonder, of this consolation, is peace."
The Christian, even in the most painful trials, never loses “the peace and
the presence of Jesus” and with “a little courage," we are able to say to
the Lord: “Lord, give me this grace that is the sign of the encounter with
you: spiritual consolation”; and, above all, he emphasized, “never lose
peace." We look to the Lord, who “suffered so upon the Cross, but he never
lost peace. Peace, this peace, is not our own: it is not sold and we do not
buy it." It is a gift of God for which we must beg.
Peace is like “the final step of this spiritual consolation, which begins
with a joyful wonder." Wherefore, we must not “trick ourselves with our or
others' fantasies, which lead us to believe that these fantasies are
reality." In truth, it is more Christian “to believe that reality may not be
so pretty."
The Pope ended by asking for the grace of spiritual consolation and of
peace, which “begins with this joyful wonder in the encounter with Jesus
Christ."
The first reading for today's Mass is Acts 3:11-26, which begins: As the
crippled man who had been cured clung to Peter and John, all the people
hurried in amazement toward them in the portico called “Solomon’s Portico.”
When Peter saw this, he addressed the people, “You children of Israel, why
are you amazed at this, and why do you look so intently at us as if we had
made him walk by our own power or piety?
The Gospel for today's Mass is Luke 24:35-48, which includes: While they
were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them,
“Peace be with you.” But they were startled and terrified and thought that
they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And
why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it
is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones
as you can see I have.” And as he said this, he showed them his hands and
his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he
asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of baked
fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.
VATICAN CITY, April 04, 2013 - During
the Wednesday morning Mass at Domus Sanctae Marthae, Pope Francis reflected
on tears as "glasses to see Jesus."
A group of policemen of the Vatican
gendarmerie was among the congregation for the early morning Mass.
During the homily, the Holy Father
referred to the day's Gospel, which recounts Mary Magdalene’s meeting with
the Risen One. The Pope mentioned her previous condition of “sinful woman,”
who is redeemed by anointing Jesus’ feet and drying them with her hair.
Mary Magdalene is the emblem of an “abused woman also held in contempt by
those who thought themselves just," before Jesus forgave her many sins, as
she “loved much.”
The new object of love of the
repentant sinner is Jesus himself, whose death dismayed her as it meant "the
failure of all her hopes.” Thus she bursts out crying, as is normal for one
who mourns.
“Sometimes in our life tears are the glasses to see Jesus,” said Pope
Francis. And it was in fact with her weeping, then, that Mary Magdalene
transmitted this message: “I have seen the Lord.”
The grief of this woman, whose life was changed by her personal encounter
with Jesus, is the grief of us all, in our “darkest moments.”
Hence it is right, the Pope said, to ask ourselves: “Have we had that
goodness of tears that prepare our eyes to look at, to see the Lord?"
One can weep for many reasons, he
continued: “out of goodness, for our sins, for graces, out of joy” and, like
Magdalene, we can also ask the Lord for the “beautiful grace” of tears to
prepare ourselves to see Him.
To see the Lord, does not mean to
perceive Him with our sight but “within our heart,” explained the Holy
Father. Only in this way can we give the witness of our life: “I live this
way because I have seen the Lord."
Pope: If We Can Resist Gossip, We Make Big Step
Forward
Francis Preaches Today on Building New Life of Baptism
VATICAN CITY, April 09, 2013 -
At morning Mass today in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, Francis said one way to
make a step forward in developing the new life of baptism is by rejecting
the temptation to gossip.
The Holy Father's customary morning
Mass today was attended by staff from the Vatican medical services and
office staff of the Vatican City Government.
"The first Christian community is a
timeless model for the Christian community of today, because they were of
one heart and one soul, through the Holy Spirit who had brought them into a
'new life,'" the Pontiff said, as reported by Vatican Radio.
In his homily Pope Francis reflected on the Gospel passage that recounts
the dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus, who did not immediately grasp how
a man can be "born again." Through the Holy Spirit, the Pope said, we are
born into the new life we have received in Baptism. However, he added, this
is a life that has to be developed; it does not come automatically.
"We have to do all we can to ensure that our life develops into new
life," the Pope said, acknowledging that this can be "a laborious journey,"
but reminding that it depends chiefly on the Holy Spirit, as well as our
ability to be "open to his breath."
And this, the Pope pointed out, is exactly what happened to the early
Christians. They had "new life," which was expressed in their living with
one heart and one soul. They had, he said, "that unity, that unanimity, that
harmony of feeling of love, mutual love."
Francis said that this needs to be rediscovered today, observing, for
example, that the aspect of "meekness in the community," is a somewhat
forgotten virtue. Meekness is stigmatized, it has "many enemies," the first
of which is gossip.
"When we prefer to gossip, gossip about others, criticize others -- these
are everyday things that happen to everyone, including me -- these are the
temptations of the evil one who does not want the Spirit to come to us and
bring about peace and meekness in the Christian community."
"These struggles always exist," the Pope warned, "in the parish, in the
family, in the neighborhood, among friends." But it is the Spirit who brings
us into new life, making us meek and charitable.
The Holy Father then outlined the correct behavior for a Christian.
First, "do not judge anyone" because
"the only Judge is the Lord." Then "keep quiet" and if you have something to
say, say it to the people involved, to those "who can remedy the situation,"
but "not to the entire neighborhood."
"If, by the grace of the Holy
Spirit," concluded Pope Francis, "we succeed in never gossiping, it will be
a great step forward" and "will do us all good."
Pope at Morning
Mass Warns Against False Securities
VATICAN CITY, April 10, 2013 -
Pope Francis spoke today at morning Mass about salvation that comes from God
alone.
As customary, the Holy Father
celebrated morning Mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae. Today, Cardinals
Angelo Sodano and Angelo Comastri concelebrated.
"The Lord saves us by His love: not
with a letter, nor with a decree, but with his love," the Pope said in the
homily, as reported by Vatican Radio. And salvation, is "the recovery of
that dignity, which we have lost,” the dignity of being children of God.
This is a dignity that grows, said Pope Francis, “until our final
encounter with Him,” adding, “this is the way of salvation, and this is
beautiful."
The Pontiff said that "we are men and women of hope," people who have
been "saved by love."
The problem, he explained, is that sometimes we want to save ourselves,
“and we believe we can do it,” for example basing our security on money --
and we think: “I have money, I am secure, [I have it] all, there are no
worries, I have dignity: the dignity of a rich person.”
"This,” said Pope Francis, “is not enough."
"Think of the parable of the Gospel, of the man who had the full granary,
who said, ‘I’ll make another to get more, and then I’ll sleep soundly,’ and
the Lord says, 'You fool! This evening you will die.' That salvation is
wrong, it is a temporary salvation, it is also apparent salvation.”
The Holy Father went on to say that, at other times, “We think we save
ourselves with vanity, with pride,” that, “We believe ourselves powerful
...,” and that “we mask our poverty, our sins, with vanity, with pride ...
Even that ends,” he said.
"True salvation is in the dignity
that God gives back to us in the hope that Christ has given us at Easter,"
he affirmed.
“Let's make today an act of faith,”
said Pope Francis, “[Let us say]: Lord, I believe. I believe in Your love. I
believe that Your love has saved me. I believe that Your love has given me
the dignity that I had not. I believe that Your love gives me hope.”
VATICAN CITY, April 11, 2013 -
Obedience is the path to freedom, Francis said in his homily at this
morning's Mass.
In the customary early morning Mass celebrated at his residence, Domus
Sanctae Marthae, Francis today spoke of obeying God and discerning his will,
Vatican Radio reported.
"To obey God,” said Pope Francis, “is to listen to Him, to have an open
heart, to go on the road that God shows us.”
"This is what makes us free," he
added.
Francis also spoke of the
difficulties that often accompany our efforts to discern the true voice of
God speaking to us. He said, “In our lives we hear things that do not come
from Jesus,” adding, “our weaknesses at times lead us on [the wrong] road.”
Nevertheless, God does not leave us
to our devices. He does not abandon us to our weakness and sinfulness. “It
is precisely the Holy Spirit,” he said, “who gives us the strength to go
forward.”
"He sends His spirit without measure,
[in order that we might] hear Jesus,” and walk in His way," Francis
reflected.
VATICAN CITY, April 12, 2013 -
Drawing from the advice given to the Sanhedrin by the Pharisee Gamaliel,
Pope Francis said today that it is a good idea to "give time to time."
The Pope celebrated his customary
early morning Mass in Domus Sanctae Marthae today, reflecting on the passage
from the First Reading, Acts 5:34-42.
In that reading, Gamaliel advises the
chief priests and Sanhedrin to allow the works of the first Christians to
run their course: "So now I tell you, have nothing to do with these men [the
Apostles], and let them go. For if this endeavor or this activity is of
human origin, it will destroy itself. But if it comes from God, you will not
be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God."
In his homily, Pope Francis observed that "give time to time” is “wise
advice also for our life, because time is God’s messenger. God saves us in
time, not in the moment.”
"The Lord saves us in history, in our own personal history," he
continued, as reported by the Vatican Publishing House, whose staff attended
the Mass. "The Lord does not work as a fairy with a magic wand.”
The Pontiff then described “triumphalism” as “a great temptation in
Christian life, of which not even the Apostles were immune."
"Triumphalism is not of the Lord,” who lived “humbly," the Pope said.
"The Lord teaches us that in life everything is not magic, that triumphalism
is not Christian.”
Instead, the Pope spoke of a “grace that we must ask for,” which “is that
of perseverance: to persevere in the way of the Lord, to the end, every
day.”
One proceeds on the way “with
difficulty, with effort, with so much joy.” Hence the invocation is "that
the Lord save us from triumphalist fantasies.”
The homily ended with this phrase: to
walk every day “in the presence of God: that is the way of the Lord. Let’s
go on that one!”
VATICAN CITY, April 15, 2013 - Drawing from the First Reading
account of Stephen, the first martyr, being dragged before the
Sanhedrin, Pope Francis today strongly condemned the sin of calumny.
At his customary morning Mass in Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Holy
Father noted that Stephen was accused of "false witness," and that his
enemies chose "the path of calumny."
Vatican Radio reported on the Holy Father's homily, noting that
Francis described calumny as worse than sin and a direct expression of
Satan.
"We are all sinners; all of us. We all commit sins. But calumny is
something else. It is of course a sin, too, but it is something more.
Calumny aims to destroy the work of God, and calumny comes from a very
evil thing: it is born of hatred. And hate is the work of Satan. Calumny
destroys the work of God in people, in their souls. Calumny uses lies to
get ahead. And let us be in no doubt, eh?: Where there is calumny, there
is Satan himself," he said.
The Holy Father then noted the contrast of Stephen's behavior, who
did not return falsehood with falsehood.
"He does not want to go that way
to save himself. He looks to the Lord and obeys the law," being in the
peace and truth of Christ. And that, Pope Francis said, “is what happens
in the history of the Church."
"But the age of martyrs is not
yet over, even today we can say, in truth, that the Church has more
martyrs now than during the first centuries," he continued. "The Church
has many men and women who are maligned through calumny, who are
persecuted, who are killed in hatred of Jesus, in hatred of the faith:
some are killed because they teach the catechism, others are killed
because they wear the cross ... Today, in many countries, they are
maligned, they are persecuted ... they are our brothers and sisters who
are suffering today, in this age of the martyrs."
And again Pope Francis repeated, “The age of martyrs is not yet over,
the Church has more martyrs now than during the first centuries."
He said this age of “such great
spiritual turmoil” reminds him of an ancient Russian icon that depicts
Our Lady covering the people of God with her mantle: "We pray to Our
Lady to protect us, and in times of spiritual turbulence the safest
place is under the mantle of Our Lady. She is the mother who takes care
of the Church. And in this time of martyrs, she is the protagonist, the
protagonist of protection: She is the Mother. (...) Let us state with
faith: Mother, the Church is under your protection: Care for the
Church."
Pope at Daily Mass Encourages Individuals, Whole Church
VATICAN CITY, April 17, 2013 -
Francis says there is still much of the Second Vatican Council awaiting to
be assimilated because there is a desire to "tame the Holy Spirit."
The Pope said this Tuesday during his
homily at morning Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, as Vatican Radio
reported.
The Pontiff's reflections were drawn from the First Reading, which
related Stephen's accusation that his persecutors were resisting the Holy
Spirit.
"The Holy Spirit upsets us because it moves us, it makes us walk, it
pushes the Church forward," Francis said.
He warned that we want "to calm down the Holy Spirit, we want to tame it
and this is wrong.”
"That’s because the Holy Spirit is the strength of God, it’s what gives
us the strength to go forward” but many find this upsetting and prefer the
comfort of the familiar," Francis reflected.
The Pope said there is still a
temptation to resist the Holy Spirit, even as adoration of the Third Person
of the Trinity has increased.
He suggested one example of this
temptation to resist the Spirit is the incomplete reception of Vatican II, a
council which was "a beautiful work of the Holy Spirit."
Fifty years later, “have we done everything the Holy Spirit was asking us
to do during the Council,” he asked.
The answer is “no,” said Pope Francis. “We celebrate this anniversary, we
put up a monument but we don’t want it to upset us. We don’t want to change
and what’s more there are those who wish to turn the clock back.” This, he
went on, “is called stubbornness and wanting to tame the Holy Spirit.”
The Pope said the same thing happens in our personal lives. “The Spirit
pushes us to take a more evangelical path but we resist this.”
"Submit to the Holy Spirit,” he exhorted, “which comes from within us and
makes go forward along the path of holiness.”
Babysitter
In today's homily, Francis spoke about evangelization, as L'Osservatore
Romano reported.
Already known for his use of imagery in preaching, the Pope offered an
image this morning of a Church as a "babysitter."
The Church cannot be merely “a babysitter who takes care of the child
just to get him to sleep." That would make her a "slumbering Church," he
said.
Instead, the members of the Church, the baptized, must evangelize.
"When we do this the Church becomes a mother who generates children," he
said, capable of bring Christ to the world.
"Let us ask the Lord,” he concluded,
“for the grace to become baptized persons who are brave and sure that the
Holy Spirit who is in us, received at baptism, always moves us to proclaim
Jesus Christ with our life, our testimony and even with our words."
Preaching the Gospel with 'Magnanimity and Humility'
Pontiff Reflects on the Evangelization During Daily Mass Homily
By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY, April 25, 2013 -
Pope Francis celebrated the Feast of St. Mark during his daily Morning Mass
at the Casa Sanctae Marthae, emphasizing on the need for Christians to
proclaim the Gospel as commanded by Christ.
According to Vatican Radio, members
of the Secretariate of the Synod of Bishops, who were accompanied by the
Secretary General, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, were present at the liturgy.
Also present were a group of police from the Vatican Gendarmerie.
Referring to the Gospel of St. Mark that describes the Ascension of
Christ, Pope Francis spoke on the command given to the disciples to preach
the Gospel “to the end of the world.”
“Go all over the world. The horizon ... great horizon... And as you can
see, this is the mission of the Church. The Church continues to preach this
to everyone, all over the world. But she does not go forth alone: she goes
forth with Jesus,” the Pope said.
“So they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord acted with
them'. The Lord works with all those who preach the Gospel. This is the
magnanimity that Christians should have. A pusillanimous Christian is
incomprehensible: this magnanimity is part of the Christian vocation: always
more and more, more and more, more and more, always onwards!"
The Holy Father also focused on the First Letter of St. Peter, which he
said “defines the style of Christian preaching as one of humility.”
"The style of evangelical preaching should have this attitude: humility,
service, charity, brotherly love. 'But ... Lord, we must conquer the
world!'. That word, conquer, doesn't work. We must preach in the world. The
Christian must not be like soldiers who when they win the battle make a
clean sweep of everything.”
The Christian, the Pope continued, "proclaims the Gospel with his
witness, rather than with words. And with a dual disposition, as St. Thomas
Aquinas says: a great soul that is not afraid of great things, that moves
forward towards infinite horizons, and the humility to take into account the
small things.”
Pope Francis said that this dual disposition between great and small
things is the path proceeded by Christian missionary activity.
The Holy Father concluded his homily
but encouraging those present to “go forth with this magnanimity and
humility” which accompanied the disciples during their mission in preaching
the Gospel.
“The triumph of the Church is the Resurrection of Jesus,” the Pope said.
“But there is first the Cross. Today we ask the Lord to become missionaries
in the Church, apostles in the Church but in this spirit: a great
magnanimity and also a great humility.”
Pope Francis: Prepare Your Hearts For the Heavenly
Homeland
Pontiff Reflects on Christs Words to Disciples During Morning Mass
By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY, April 26, 2013
- Staff members from the Vatican Typography, the Vatican Labor Office
and Vatican State Police attended the daily Mass celebrated by Pope
Francis this morning at Domus Sanctae Marthae. During his homily, the
Holy Father spoke on the St. John’s Gospel of Jesus’ words to his
disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”
Pope Francis reflected on the
beauty of Christ’s words of farewell which he said were “really from the
heart.”
“He knows that his disciples are sad, because they realize that
things are not going well,” the Pope said. “He says: Do not let your
hearts be troubled. And he starts to talk like that, just like a friend,
even with the attitude of a pastor. I say, the music in the words of
Jesus is how the pastor should behave, like a shepherd with his sheep,
right?”
The Holy Father also reflected on the meaning Jesus’s promise to
prepare a dwelling place for the disciples in Heaven, “the definitive
homeland.”. To prepare a place, the Pope said, “means preparing our
ability to enjoy the chance - our chance - to see, to feel, to
understand the beauty of what lies ahead, of that homeland towards which
we walk.”
The Eyes of the Soul
Pope Francis stated that Christ not only wishes to prepare a place,
but also to prepare our eyes to be able to see the world around us
through what he described as “the eyes of the soul”
“Our eyes, the eyes of our soul
they need, they have to be prepared to contemplate the beautiful face of
Jesus,” the Pope said. “Our hearing must be prepared in order to hear
the beautiful things, the beautiful words. Above all our hearts must be
prepared: prepared for love, to love more.”
To prepare us for this new vision, he continued, the Lord prepares
our hearts “with trials, with consolations, with tribulations, with good
things.”
"The whole journey of life is a journey of preparation,” the Pope
said. “Sometimes the Lord has to do it quickly, as he did with the good
thief. He only had a few minutes to prepare him and he did it. But the
normal run of things goes this way, no? In preparing our heart, eyes,
hearing to arrive in this homeland. Because that is our homeland.”
Concluding his homily, Pope Francis called on those attending the
Mass to not look at this preparation for Heaven as an alienation but as
an opportunity to prepare our hearts for the unfathomable beauty that
awaits all.
"Preparing for heaven means
beginning to greet him from afar. This is not alienation: this is the
truth, this is allowing Jesus to prepare our hearts, our eyes for the
beauty that is so great. It is the path of beauty and the path to the
homeland. "
Pontiff Emphasizes Importance of Constant Prayer In Overcoming Evil
By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY, April 30, 2013
- During morning Mass today, Pope Francis emphasized the importance of
entrusting the Church to God through constant prayer. The Holy Father
celebrated Mass with staff from the Administration of the Patrimony of
the Apostolic See.
The Pope said that while with our work we can safeguard the Church,
what the Lord Lord does is much more important. “He is the only One who
can look into the face of evil and overcome it.,” the Pope said. “If we
do not want the prince of this world to take the Church into his hands,
we must entrust it to the One who can defeat the prince of this world.”
“Here the question arises: do we pray for the Church, for the entire
Church? For our brothers and sisters whom we do not know, everywhere in
the world? It is the Lord's Church and in our prayer we say to the Lord:
Lord, look at your Church. It' s yours. Your Church is [made up of] our
brothers and sisters. This is a prayer that must come from our heart.”
While it is easy to pray to the Lord when we need something, Pope
Francis said that it is fundamental that we pray for all who have
“received the same Baptism.”
"Entrust the Church to the Lord is a prayer that makes the Church
grow. It is also an act of faith. We can do nothing, we are poor
servants - all of us - of the Church,” Pope Francis said. “It is He who
keeps her going and holds her and makes her grow , makes her holy,
defends and protects her from the prince of this world and what he wants
the Church to become, in short more and more worldly. This is the
greatest danger!”
The 76 year old Pontiff warned that a worldly Church, with the spirit
of the world within herself, the Church becomes weak, “a defeated
Church, unable to transmit the Gospel, the message of the Cross, the
scandal of the Cross. She cannot transmit this if she is worldly.”
The Holy Father called on the faithful to entrust the Church, the
elderly, the sick, the children and the youth to God in the midst of
tribulations. Doing so, he continued, “He will give us, in the midst of
tribulations, the peace that only He can give.”
“This peace which the world cannot give, that peace that cannot be
bought, that peace which is a true gift of the presence of Jesus in the
midst of his Church,” the Holy Father said. “Entrust all this to the
Lord, guard your Church in tribulation, so she does not lose faith, so
she does not lose hope.”
Pope Francis concluded his homily
asking the Lord to give all faithful the strength to not lose faith and
hope. “Entrusting the Church to the Lord,” he said, “will do us and the
Church good. It will give us great peace [and although] it will not rid
us of our tribulations, it will make us stronger in our sufferings.”
Emphasizes Importance of Transmitting the Faith During Mass With Swiss Guard
By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY, May 03, 2013
- During his daily morning Mass today, Pope Francis reflected on the
duty of all Christians to pass on the faith. The Mass was attended by
the Pontifical Swiss Guard along with their commander, Daniel Rudolf
Anrig. Concelebrating with the Pope was Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli,
president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
Addressing the Swiss Guard, Pope Francis greeted them and thanking
them for their service which he called “a beautiful testimony of
fidelity to the Church and love for the Pope.” The Swiss Guard will be
commemorate the Last Stand of 1527 on May 6th where they will also swear
in new recruits. The celebration will remember the countless Swiss
Guards who died protecting Pope Clement during the Sacking of Rome.
Contemplating on the readings of the day, the Holy Father emphasized
the importance of passing on the gift of faith by all Christians with
their lives. The fundamental faith, he said, “is faith in the Risen
Jesus, in Jesus who has forgiven our sins through His death and
reconciled us with the Father.”
"Transmitting this requires us to be courageous: the courage of
transmitting the faith. A sometimes simple courage,” the Pope said.
“I remember - excuse me - a personal story: as a child every Good
Friday my grandmother took us to the Procession of Candles and at the
end of the procession came the recumbent Christ and my grandmother made
us kneel down and told us children, 'Look he is dead, but tomorrow he
will be Risen! '. That is how the faith entered: faith in Christ
Crucified and Risen. In the history of the Church there have been many,
many people who have wanted to blur this strong certainty and speak of a
spiritual resurrection. No, Christ is alive.”
The Holy Father went on to say
that Christ asks of us the courage to not only proclaim His
Resurrection, but also the courage to pray and ask Christ when we are in
need.
“We must have the courage to go
to Jesus and ask him: 'But you said this, do it! Make the faith grow,
make evangelization move forward, help me to solve this problem,” the
Pope said. “Do we have this courage in prayer? Or do we pray a little,
when we can, spending a bit' of time in prayer? But that courage, that
parresia (boldness) even in prayer.”
Drawing the examples of Abraham and Moses who had the courage to
negotiate on behalf of others, the Holy Father said that such courage
was needed in the Church today.
"When the Church loses courage, the Church enters into a lukewarm
atmosphere. The lukewarm, lukewarm Christians, without courage,” he
said. “That hurts the Church so much, because this tepid atmosphere
draws you inside, and problems arise among us; we no longer have the
[...] courage to pray towards heaven, or the courage to proclaim the
Gospel. We are lukewarm.”
Pope Francis concluded his homily
saying that despite the fact that we may have courage to be involved in
our jealousies, envy, careers in order to selfishly move forward, such
courage is not good for the Church.
The Church, he said, “must be
courageous! We all have to be courageous in prayer, in challenging
Jesus!.”
Pontiff Celebrates Mass With Argentine Journalists
Invites Faithful to See the Wounds of Jesus in Those Less Fortunate
By H. Sergio Mora
VATICAN CITY, May 13, 2013
- On Saturday, Pope Francis celebrated his daily Mass in Saint Martha’s
residence. At the end of the celebration, he greeted 11 Argentine
journalists and their families, all residents in Rome, as correspondents
of local newspaper offices , among them ANSA, Clarin, CNN, La Nacion,
La7, Notimex and ZENIT.
Also in attendance was the Argentine ambassador to the Holy See, Juan
Pablo Cafiero and his wife. Father Antonio Pelayo, correspondent of an
Argentine publication and former director of the Foreign Press
Association of Italy, concelebrated with the Holy Father.
Journalist Cristina Tacchini of ANSA gave the Pope a poncho from his
native Argentina. The children of correspondent Elisabetta Pique showed
the Pontiff drawings they made of his person, which accentuated the
Pope’s affection. In fact, the presence of journalists’ children was
also felt during the Mass, when at the beginning of Mass a little girl
stammered “Francis, Francis.”
After greeting the journalists and their families, and saying a few
words to them, the Pontiff kept repeating: “Pray for me.”
Pope Francis was also given a book of photographs of northern Italy,
where his parents came from, a letter asking for prayers for Uruguayan
Father Mauricio Silva, who disappeared in 1977, and a list of sick
people in need of prayers. He was also given a huge soccer boot with the
signatures of Brazilian players.
In his homily, always serene and conversational, Francis invited
those attending to come out of themselves, and to do so by remembering
Jesus’ wounds and by recognizing them in needy brothers, the sick, the
ignorant, the poor and the exploited.
He quoted the Gospel of the day that invites to “pray to the Father
in Jesus’ name.” He said that the prayer that may sometimes bore us “is
always inside us, as a thought that comes and goes.” “True prayer,” he
said, “is to go out to the Father in the name of Jesus, an exodus from
ourselves,” which occurs “with the intercession of Jesus who shows His
wounds to the Father. “
The Holy Father added that of all the lacerations that Jesus suffered
in the Passion, He only took his wounds with Him. “Which is the school
where one learns to know Jesus’ wounds, His priestly wounds of
intercession?” He answered indicating: “If we do not come out of
ourselves and go to those wounds, we will never learn the freedom that
takes us to the other exit from ourselves.”
Because there are two ways to go out. “The first to Jesus’ wounds and
the second to the wounds of our brothers and sisters.” Words that are
confirmed in John’s Gospel. “Truly, truly I say to you, that whatever
you ask the Father in my name, He will give to you.”
“The door is open: in going to the Father, Jesus left the door open.
Not because He “forgot to close it” but because “He Himself is the
door.”
Pope Francis asked for prayer “with the courage of the one who makes
us know that Jesus is before the Father,” and with the “humility to
recognize and see the wounds of Jesus in needy brothers.”
“May the Lord give us the freedom
to enter into the sanctuary where He is priest and intercedes for us,
and what we ask the Father in His name, will be given to us. But we also
pray that He will give us the courage to go to that other sanctuary,
which are the wounds of our needy brothers and sisters, who suffer, who
carry the cross and who have yet to conquer, as Jesus conquered,”
concluded the Pope.
Pope Francis at Mass: bishops and priests need
prayers of faithful
Pray for priests and bishops, that they might not give in
to the temptations of money and vanity, but serve the people of God. This
was Pope Francis’ exhortation to the faithful at Mass this morning in the
chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae residence in the Vatican, at which there
was a group of Vatican Radio staff. Listen:
Pope Francis’ homily took its starting point from the
passage in the Acts of the Apostles, in which Paul exhorts the elders of the
Church of Ephesus to watch over themselves and all the flock, to be
attentive shepherds, and guard against the “ravenous wolves” that would feed
on the fold. “One of the ‘most beautiful pages of the New Testament’,” said
Pope Francis, “[the episode] is full of tenderness, of pastoral love,” from
which emerges a picture, “[of] the beautiful relationship of the bishop with
his people.” Bishops and priests, he explained, are at the service of
others, to preserve, build and defend the people of God. Theirs is, “a
relationship of protection and love between God and the pastor and the
pastor and the people”:
"In the [final analysis], a bishop is not a bishop for
himself. He is for the people, and a priest is not a priest for himself. He,
[too], is for the people: to serve [them], to nurture them, to shepherd
them, that are his flock – in order to defend them from the wolves. It is
beautiful to think this! When the bishop does this, there is a good
relationship with the people, such as Paul the bishop did with his people,
no? And when the priest [builds] that good relationship with the people, it
gives us a love: a love [unites] them, a true love, and the Church becomes
united.”
Pope Francis went on to describe the relationship of the
bishop and the priest with the people as a existential and sacramental. “We
[bishops and priests] need your prayers,” he said, “for, even the bishop and
the priest may be tempted.” Bishops and priests should pray much, proclaim
Jesus Christ Risen, and “boldly preach the message of salvation.” However,
he said, “We are men and we are sinners,” and, “we are tempted.”:
"St. Augustine, commenting on the prophet Ezekiel, speaks
of two [temptations]: wealth, which can become greed, and vanity. He says,
‘When the bishop, the priest takes advantage of the sheep for himself, the
dynamic changes: it is not the priest, the bishop, for the people - but the
priest and the bishop who take from the people.’ St. Augustine says, ‘He
takes the meat from the sheep to eat [it], he takes advantage; he makes
deals and is attached to money; he becomes greedy and even sometimes
practices simony. Perhaps he takes advantage of the wool for vanity, in
order to vaunt himself.’”
So , the Pope observes, “when a priest, a bishop goes
after money, the people do not love him – and that's a sign. But he ends
badly.” St. Paul reminds us that he worked with his hands. “He did not have
a bank account, he worked, and when a bishop, a priest goes on the road to
vanity, he enters into the spirit of careerism – and this hurts the Church
very much – [and] ends up being ridiculous: he boasts, he is pleased to be
seen, all powerful – and the people do not like that!” “Pray for us,” the
Pope repeated, “that we might be poor, that we might be humble, meek, in the
service of the people.” Finally, he suggested to the faithful that they read
Acts 20:28-30, where Paul says, “Take heed to yourselves, and to the whole
flock, wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops, to rule the church of
God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. I know that, after my
departure, ravening wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
And of your own selves shall arise men speaking perverse things, to draw
away disciples after them.":
“Read this fine passage, and while reading it, pray, pray
for us bishops and priests. We have such need in order to stay faithful, to
be men who watch over the flock and also over ourselves, who make the vigil
their own, that their heart be always turned to [the Lord’s] flock. [Pray]
also that the Lord might defend us from temptation, because if we go on the
road to riches, if we go on the road to vanity, we become wolves and not
shepherds. Pray for this, read this and pray. So be it.”
(Vatican Radio) Saint Paul was the focus of
Pope Francis’ homily at Mass Thursday morning, and in particular his talent
at ‘being a nuisance’, at unsettling people who had grown too comfortable in
their faith and imbuing them with that Apostolic zeal that is necessary for
the Church to move forward. Emer McCarthy reports:
Pope Francis said that Apostolic zeal, implies "an
element of madness, but of spiritual madness, of healthy madness” and
proclaiming Christ has its consequences, which can often result in
persecution. Nonetheless, stated the Pope, we must not be ‘backseat
Christians’ cozy in our comfort zones.
Drawing inspiration from the Acts of the Apostles,
chapter 22, where Paul was brought before the Sanhedrin, Pope Francis
pointed out that the life of the Apostle to the Gentiles was one of
"persecution", but that this did not discourage him. The fate of Paul, he
stressed, "is a fate with many crosses, but he keeps going, he looks to the
Lord and keeps going":
"Paul is a nuisance: he is a man who, with his preaching,
his work, his attitude irritates others, because testifying to Jesus Christ
and the proclamation of Jesus Christ makes us uncomfortable, it threatens
our comfort zones – even Christian comfort zones, right? It irritates us.
The Lord always wants us to move forward, forward, forward ... not to take
refuge in a quiet life or in cozy structures, no?... And Paul, in preaching
of the Lord, was a nuisance. But he had deep within him that most Christian
of attitudes: Apostolic zeal. He had its apostolic zeal. He was not a man of
compromise. No! The truth: forward! The proclamation of Jesus Christ,
forward! ".
Pope Francis noted that St. Paul was a "fiery"
individual, but this fire was not limited to his character. It was the fire
of his zeal for the Lord, who accompanied the Saint in his ‘pitched
battles’. Indeed, continued the Pope, it was the Lord who led him "onwards,"
to bear witness in Jerusalem and in Rome:
"By the way, I like the fact that the Lord has cared for
this diocese, even since then ... We are privileged! And Apostolic zeal is
not an enthusiasm for power, for possession. It is something that comes from
within, that the Lord wants from us: Christian with Apostolic Zeal. And
where does this Apostolic Zeal come from? It comes from knowing Jesus
Christ. Paul found Jesus Christ, he encountered Jesus Christ, but not with
an intellectual, scientific knowledge – which is important, because it helps
us - but with that first knowledge, that of the heart, of a personal
encounter. "
Pope Francis continued, this is what pushes Paul to keep
going, "to always proclaim Jesus". "He was always in trouble, not in trouble
for troubles’ sake, but for Jesus, proclaiming Jesus "this is the
consequence". Apostolic zeal, the Pope stressed, can only be understood "in
an atmosphere of love." Apostolic zeal, implies "an element of madness, but
of spiritual madness, of healthy madness”. Paul "had this healthy madness."
The Pope invited all those present to pray to the Holy
Spirit for this Apostolic zeal that is not only the preserve of
missionaries. Even in the Church, he warned, there are "lukewarm Christians"
who "do not feel like moving forward":
"There are backseat Christians, right? Those who are well
mannered, who do everything well, but are unable to bring people to the
Church through proclamation and Apostolic zeal. Today we can ask the Holy
Spirit to give us all this Apostolic fervor and to give us the grace to be
annoying when thin are too quiet in the Church the grace to go out to the
outskirts of life. The Church has so much need of this! Not only in distant
lands, in the young churches, among people who do not know Jesus Christ, but
here in the cities, in our cities, they need this proclamation of Jesus
Christ. So let us ask the Holy Spirit for this grace of Apostolic zeal,
let’s be Christians with apostolic zeal. And if we annoy people, blessed be
the Lord. Onwards, as the Lord says to Paul, ‘take courage!'
Thursday Mass was concelebrated by Cardinal Peter Turkson
and Bishop Mario Toso, president and secretary of the Vatican Council for
Justice and Peace. It was attended by Council staff and staff from Vatican
Radio.
Reflects on the Life and Humility of St. Peter During Morning Mass
By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY, May 17, 2013
- In his homily during Mass at Domus Sanctae Marthae this morning, Pope
Francis reflected on the love of Christ and the power it has in
redeeming one’s sins. Among those attending the Mass were employees of
the Vatican Museums.
The Holy Father spoke on the
Gospel which relates the encounter Christ had with Peter, asking him
three times if Peter loved Him.
“It is a dialogue of love between
the Lord and his disciple, one that retraces the whole history of
Peter’s meetings with Jesus, from Peter’s first calling and invitation
to follow the Lord, to his receiving the name of Cephas the Rock and
with the name, his peculiar mission, which was there, even if Peter
understood nothing of it [at the time],” Pope Francis said.
Continuing to speak on the various encounters Peter had with Jesus
during his ministry, the Holy Father said that Christ was maturing
Peter’s heart and soul while “helping Peter to grow in love.”
“So Peter, when he heard Jesus three times ask him, Simon, son of
John, do you love me? was ashamed, because he remembered the time when,
three times, he said he did not know the Lord,” the Holy Father said.
“Peter was saddened that, for a third time, Jesus asked him, Do you
love me? This pain, this shame, great man, this Peter [and] a sinner, a
sinner. The Lord makes him feel that he is a sinner makes us all feel
that we are sinners. The problem is not that we are sinners: the problem
is not repenting of sin, not being ashamed of what we have done. That's
the problem. And Peter has this shame, this humility, no? The sin, the
sin of Peter, is a fact that, with a heart as great as the heart Peter
had, brings him to a new encounter with Jesus: to the joy of
forgiveness.”
The 76 year old Pontiff went on to say that Christ, in asking St.
Peter to feed His sheep, kept His promise of establishing Peter as the
rock where he built His Church. Despite Peter being a sinner, he was not
corrupt.
“I once knew of a priest,” Pope Francis recalled, “a good parish
pastor who worked well. He was appointed bishop, and he was ashamed
because he did not feel worthy, he had a spiritual torment. And he went
to the confessor. The confessor heard him and said, But do not worry. If
after the [mess Peter made of things], they made him Pope, then you go
ahead! . The point is that this is how the Lord is. Thats the way He is.
The Lord makes us mature with many meetings with Him, even with our
weaknesses, when we recognize [them], with our sins.”
Pope Francis went on to say that St. Peter, in allowing himself to be
shaped by his encounters with Christ, had given a model for all
Christians to follow. Peter, the Pope said, “ is great, not because he
is good, but because he has a nobility of heart, which brings him to
tears, leads him to this pain, this shame - and also to take up his work
of shepherding the flock.”
Concluding his homily, the Holy Father invited those present at the
Mass to follow the example of St. Peter, who allowed himself to be
purified and matured through his encounters with Christ.
“More than this, it is important
that we let ourselves encounter the Lord: He always seeks us, He is
always near us. Many times, though, we look the other way because we do
not want to talk with the Lord or allow ourselves to encounter the Lord.
Meeting the Lord [is important], but more importantly, let us be met by
the Lord: this is a grace. This is the grace that Peter teaches us,” the
Pope said.
Posted on Wed, May 22, 2013 At this
morning’s morning Mass in the Vatican guest house, the pope elaborated
on that theme, saying that “doing good” is a principle that provides a
meeting ground between Christians and non-Christians – even atheists.
"The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of
Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’
Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of
the first class!” the pope said.
His words should challenge all Catholics, but especially those who
want to use identity politics to rule out cooperation and communication
with those who do not share the church’s beliefs.
Pope Francis began his reflection with the Gospel account of Christ’s
disciples trying to stop a man from outside their group from doing good.
Vatican Radio reports on what the pope went on to say:
“They complain … ‘If he is not one of us, he cannot do good. If he is
not of our party, he cannot do good.’ And Jesus corrects them: ‘Do not
hinder him, he says, let him do good.’”
The disciples, Pope Francis explained, “were a little intolerant,”
closed off by the idea of possessing the truth, convinced that “those
who do not have the truth, cannot do good.”
“This was wrong . . . Jesus broadens the horizon. The root of this
possibility of doing good – that we all have – is in creation.”
"The Lord created us in His image and likeness, and we are the image
of the Lord, and He does good and all of us have this commandment at
heart: do good and do not do evil. All of us. ‘But, Father, this person
is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can. He must. Not can:
must! Because he has this commandment within him.”
“Instead, this ‘closing off’ that imagines that those outside,
everyone, cannot do good is a wall that leads to war and also to what
some people throughout history have conceived of: killing in the name of
God. That we can kill in the name of God. And that, simply, is
blasphemy. To say that you can kill in the name of God is blasphemy.”
“The Lord has created us in His image and likeness, and has given us
this commandment in the depths of our heart: do good and do not do
evil”:
"The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of
Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’
Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of
the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the
Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good.
And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful
path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to
others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little
by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much.
We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am
an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.”
“Doing good” the pope said, is not a matter of faith. “It is a duty,
it is an identity card that our Father has given to all of us, because
He has made us in His image and likeness. And He does good, always.”
Explanatory Note on the Meaning of 'Salvation' in Francis' Daily Homily
of May 22
Reflections on Atheists, Christians, and Who Will Be Saved
By Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB
TORONTO, May 23, 2013 - I have
received numerous calls and messages throughout the day yesterday and
again today regarding Pope Francis’ daily homily in the Chapel of Domus
Sanctae Marthae on Wednesday May 22, 2013. The homily was inspired by
the passage in the Gospel of Mark (9:38-40) in which the disciples tell
Jesus that they tried to stop someone from driving out demons because he
was not one of their party. Jesus rebukes them saying: “There is no one
who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill
of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.”
In one section of his homily, Pope Francis stated:
"The Lord has redeemed all of
us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics.
Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this
Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created
children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us
all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for
everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we,
each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there,
doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make
that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one
another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But
do good: we will meet one another there.”
Your questions can be summed up under three categories:
1) How can atheists be saved?
2) Is Pope Francis describing some kind of “anonymous
Christianity” at work in the world today?
3) What are the implications of the Pope’s homily for daily
living?
I have prepared some brief thoughts and responses to these questions.
They flow from my own theological studies, from five years living in the
Middle East, in a Christian minority in Israel, Palestine, Jordan and
Egypt as well as working in Interreligious dialogue with Jews and
Muslims for many years. I have also had much to do with atheists and
agnostics on secular university campuses in Canada.
1) Always keep in mind the audience and context of Pope Francis’
daily homilies. He is first and foremost a seasoned pastor and preacher
who has much experience in reaching people. His words are not spoken in
the context of a theological faculty or academy nor in interreligious
dialogue or debate. He speaks in the context of the Mass, offering
reflections on the Word of God. He is speaking to other Catholics and
religious leaders. His knowledge, rooted in deep, Catholic theology and
tradition are able to be expressed in a language that everyone can
understand and appropriate. This is not a gift given to every pastor and
theologian! Is it any wonder why so many people are drawn to Pope
Francis’ words? Is it any wonder why so many ... read daily homilies of
a Pope, discuss them and raise questions about what they read?
2) Pope Francis has no intention of provoking a theological debate on
the nature of salvation through his homily or scriptural reflection when
he stated that “God has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of
Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone!” Consider these
sections of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church that
offer the Church’s teaching on who will be “saved” and how.
135. How will Christ judge the living and the dead?
Christ will judge with the power
he has gained as the Redeemer of the world who came to bring
salvation to all. The secrets of hearts will be brought to
light as well as the conduct of each one toward God and toward his
neighbor. Everyone, according to how he has lived, will either be filled
with life or damned for eternity. In this way, “the fullness of Christ”
(Ephesians 4:13) will come about in which “God will be all in all” (1
Corinthians 15:28).
152. What does it mean to say that the Church is the
universal sacrament of salvation?
This means that she is the sign and instrument both of the
reconciliation and communion of all of humanity with God and of the
unity of the entire human race.
162. Where does the one Church of Christ subsist?
The one Church of Christ, as a
society constituted and organized in the world, subsists in (subsistit
in) the Catholic Church, governed by the Successor of Peter and the
bishops in communion with him. Only through this Church can one obtain
the fullness of the means of salvation since the Lord
has entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant to the apostolic
college alone whose head is Peter.
166. Why is the Church called “Catholic”?
The Church is catholic, that is universal, insofar as Christ is
present in her: “Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic
Church” (Saint Ignatius of Antioch). The Church proclaims the fullness
and the totality of the faith; she bears and administers the
fullness of the means of salvation; she is sent out by Christ
on a mission to the whole of the human race.
171. What is the meaning of the affirmation “Outside the
Church there is no salvation”?
This means that all salvation comes from Christ, the
Head, through the Church which is his body. Hence they cannot be
saved who, knowing the Church as founded by Christ and
necessary for salvation, would refuse to enter her or remain in her. At
the same time, thanks to Christ and to his Church, those who through no
fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ and his Church but
sincerely seek God and, moved by grace, try to do his will as it is
known through the dictates of conscience can attain eternal
salvation.
3) The scriptures tell us expressly that God wants everyone to be
saved (1 Timothy 2:4); the covenant of peace which God made with Noah
after the flood has never been abrogated: on the contrary, the Son of
God himself has sealed it with the authority of his self-sacrificing
love embracing all people. Pope Francis warns Catholics not to demonize
those who are not members of the church, and he specifically defended
atheists, saying that building walls against non-Catholics leads to
“killing in the name of God.
4) The great German Jesuit theolgian, Fr. Karl Rahner introduced the
idea of “anonymous Christian” into theological reflection. Through this
concept, offered to Christians, Rahner said that God desires all people
to be saved, and cannot possibly consign all non-Christians to hell.
Secondly, Jesus Christ is God’s only means of salvation. This must mean
that the non-Christians who end up in heaven must have received the
grace of Christ without their realising it. Hence the term – ‘anonymous
Christian’.
What is meant by this thesis of the anonymous Christian is also
taught in “Lumen Gentium,” the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of
Vatican II (no.16). According to this document those who have not yet
received the gospel and this without any fault of their own are given
the possibility of eternal salvation...God ‘in the unknown ways’ of his
grace can give the faith without which there is no salvation even to
those who have not yet heard the preaching of the gospel
Catholics do not adopt the attitude of religious relativism which
regards all religions as on the whole equally justifiable, and the
confusion and disorder among them as relatively unimportant. God truly
and effectively wills all people to be saved. Catholics believe that it
is only in Jesus Christ that this salvation is conferred, and through
Christianity and the one Church that it must be mediated to all people.
5) There is always a risk in interreligious dialogue or dialogue with
atheists and agnostics today that reduces all discussions to mere
politeness and irrelevance. Dialogue does not mean compromise. There can
and must be dialogue today: dialogue in genuine freedom and not merely
in that ‘toleration’ and co-existence where one puts up with one’s
opponent merely because one does not have the power to destroy him. This
dialogue must of course be conducted with a loving attitude. The
Christian knows that love alone is the highest light of knowledge and
that what St Paul says about love must therefore be valid of dialogue.
6) A non-Christian may reject a Christian’s presentation of the
gospel of Christ. That however, does not necessarily mean that the
person has truly rejected Christ and God. Rejection of Christianity may
not mean the rejection of Christ. For if a given individual rejects the
Christianity brought to him through the Church’s preaching, even then we
are still never in any position to decide whether this rejection as it
exists in the concrete signifies a grave fault or an act of faithfulness
to one’s own conscience. We can never say with ultimate certainty
whether a non-Christian who has rejected Christianity and who, in spite
of a certain encounter with Christianity, does not become a Christian,
is still following the temporary path mapped out for his own salvation
which is leading him to an encounter with God, or whether he has now
entered upon the way of perdition.
8) The Scriptures teach that God
regards the love shown to a neighbor as love shown to Himself. Therefore
the loving relationship between a person and his or her neighbor
indicates a loving relationship between that person and God. This is not
to say that the non-Christian is able to perform these acts of
neighborly love without the help of God.
Rather these acts of love
are in fact evidence of God’s activity in the person.
9) As Christians, we believe that God is always reaching out to
humanity in love. This means that every man or woman, whatever their
situation, can be saved. Even non-Christians can respond to this saving
action of the Spirit. No person is excluded from salvation simply
because of so-called original sin; one can only lose their salvation
through serious personal sin of their own account.
In the mind of Pope Francis, especially expressed in his homily of
May 22, “Doing good” is a principle that unites all humanity, beyond the
diversity of ideologies and religions, and creates the “culture of
encounter” that is the foundation of peace.
Finally, I encourage you to read the final section of Pope John Paul
II’s masterful address to the 50thGeneral Assembly of the United Nations
Organization in New York City on October 5, 1995.
17. As a Christian, my hope and trust are centered on Jesus Christ,
the two thousandth anniversary of whose birth will be celebrated at the
coming of the new millennium. We Christians believe that in his Death
and Resurrection were fully revealed God's love and his care for all
creation. Jesus Christ is for us God made man, and made a part of the
history of humanity. Precisely for this reason, Christian hope for the
world and its future extends to every human person. Because of the
radiant humanity of Christ, nothing genuinely human fails to touch the
hearts of Christians. Faith in Christ does not impel us to intolerance.
On the contrary, it obliges us to engage others in a respectful
dialogue. Love of Christ does not distract us from interest in others,
but rather invites us to responsibility for them, to the exclusion of no
one and indeed, if anything, with a special concern for the weakest and
the suffering. Thus, as we approach the two thousandth anniversary of
the birth of Christ, the Church asks only to be able to propose
respectfully this message of salvation, and to be able to promote, in
charity and service, the solidarity of the entire human family.
Ladies and Gentlemen! I come before you, as did my predecessor Pope
Paul VI exactly thirty years ago, not as one who exercises temporal
power — these are his words — nor as a religious leader seeking special
privileges for his community. I come before you as a witness: a witness
to human dignity, a witness to hope, a witness to the conviction that
the destiny of all nations lies in the hands of a merciful Providence.
18. We must overcome our fear of the future. But we will not be able
to overcome it completely unless we do so together. The "answer" to that
fear is neither coercion nor repression, nor the imposition of one
social "model" on the entire world. The answer to the fear which darkens
human existence at the end of the twentieth century is the common effort
to build the civilization of love, founded on the universal values of
peace, solidarity, justice, and liberty. And the "soul" of the
civilization of love is the culture of freedom: the freedom of
individuals and the freedom of nations, lived in self-giving solidarity
and responsibility.
We must not be afraid of the
future. We must not be afraid of man. It is no accident that we are
here. Each and every human person has been created in the "image and
likeness" of the One who is the origin of all that is. We have within us
the capacities for wisdom and virtue. With these gifts, and with the
help of God's grace, we can build in the next century and the next
millennium a civilization worthy of the human person, a true culture of
freedom. We can and must do so! And in doing so, we shall see that the
tears of this century have prepared the ground for a new springtime of
the human spirit.
May 24, 2013. During Friday's morning Mass at the
Casa Santa Marta Chapel, the Pope explained that Christians need to
be patient when faced with difficulties. He encouraged them to
respond with love and forgiveness even when it's challenging.
POPE FRANCIS “To suffer is to accept life's difficulties and carry them with
strength. That way the difficulty does not drag us down. To carry it with
strength: this is a Christian virtue! Saint Paul says several times: Suffer,
endure. This means do not let yourselves be overcome by difficulties. This
means that a Christian has the strength to not give up, to carry
difficulties with strength. Carry them, but carry them with strength. It is
not easy, because discouragement comes, and one has the urge to give up and
say, ‘Well, come on, we’ll do what we can but no more.’ But no, it is a
grace to suffer. In difficulties, we must ask for this grace, in
difficulty.”
Since it was the Day of Prayer for the Church in China,
Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, Secretary of the Congregation for the
Evangelization of Peoples, and a group from China also attended the Mass.
Pope at Mass: Following Christ is not a
career, it is the way of the Cross
2013-05-28
We should not reduce the proclamation of Jesus to being a
mere cultural ‘gloss’ or ‘veneer’, it must go ‘straight to the heart’ and
change us. Moreover, following Jesus ‘does not mean more power’, it is not a
‘career’ because His way is that of the Cross. This was the focus of Pope
Francis’ homily at morning Mass Tuesday in the chapel of the Casa Santa
Marta residence. Emer McCarthy reports:
What is our reward in following you? Pope Francis began
with the question Peter puts to Jesus. A question, he said, which in the end
concerns the life of every Christian. Jesus says that those who follow Him
will have "many good things" but "with persecution." The path of the Lord,
he continued, "is a road of humility, a road that ends in the Cross." That
is why, he added, "there will always be difficulties," "persecution." There
will always be, "because He travelled this road before" us. The Pope warned
that "when a Christian has no difficulties in life – when everything is
fine, everything is beautiful - something is wrong." It leads us to think
that he or she is "a great friend of the spirit of the world, of
worldliness." The Pope noted this "is a temptation particular to
Christians":
"Following Jesus, yes, but up to a certain point:
following Jesus because of culture: I am a Christian, I have this culture
... But without the necessity of true discipleship of Jesus, the necessity
to travel this His road. If you follow Jesus as a cultural proposal, then
you are using this road to get higher up, to have more power. And the
history of the Church is full of this, starting with some emperors and then
many rulers and many people, no? And even some - I will not say a lot, but
some - priests, bishops, no? Some say that there are many ... but they are
those who think that following Jesus is a career. "
The Pope recalled that at one time, "in the literature of
two centuries ago," it would sometimes be stated that someone "from the time
he was a child wanted a career in the church." Here the Pope reiterated that
"many Christians, tempted by the spirit of the world, think that following
Jesus is good because it can become a career, they can get ahead." But this
"is not the spirit". Instead it is Peter’s attitude when he speaks to Jesus
about careers and Jesus answers: "Yes, I will give everything with
persecution." "You cannot remove the Cross from the path of Jesus, it is
always there." Yet, Pope Francis warned, this does not mean that Christians
must hurt themselves. The Christian "follows Jesus out of love and when you
follow Jesus out of love, the devil’s envy does many things." The "spirit of
the world will not tolerate this, does not tolerate this witness":
"Think of Mother Teresa: what does the spirit of the
world say of Mother Teresa? 'Ah, Blessed Teresa is a beautiful woman, she
did a lot of good things for others ...'. The spirit of the world never says
that the Blessed Teresa spent, every day, many hours, in adoration ...
Never! It reduces Christian activity to doing social good. As if Christian
life was a gloss, a veneer of Christianity. The proclamation of Jesus is not
a veneer: the proclamation of Jesus goes straight to the bones, heart, goes
deep within and change us. And the spirit of the world does not tolerate it,
will not tolerate it, and therefore, there is persecution. "
Pope Francis said those who leave their home, their
family to follow Jesus, receive a hundred times as much "already now in this
age." A hundred times together with persecution. And this should not be
forgotten:
"Following Jesus is just that: going with Him out of
love, behind Him: on the same journey, the same path. And the spirit of the
world will not tolerate this and what will make us suffer, but suffering as
Jesus did. Let us ask for this grace: to follow Jesus in the way that He has
revealed to us and that He has taught us. This is beautiful, because he
never leaves us alone. Never! He is always with us. So be it".
Mass was concelebrated by Archbishop Rino Fisichella and
Msgr. José Octavio Ruiz Arenas, president and secretary of the Pontifical
Council for the New Evangelization. It was attended by a group of priests
from the Council and staff from the Vatican Power Station and Technical
Laboratory of the Governorate of Vatican carpentry, accompanied by Engineer
Pier Carlo Cuscianna, Director of Technical Services of the Governorate.
May 29, 2013.During his daily
morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta chapel, Pope Francis warned
about the dangers of having a Church that only seeks success or triumphs.He said following the Cross, which to society may appear to be a
failure, is actually the true path of love. He said:
“Triumphalism
in the Church, impedes the Church. Triumphalism among Christians, impedes
Christians. A triumphalist, half-way Church that is a Church that is content
with what it is or has, well sorted , well organized with all its offices,
everything in order, everything perfect no? Efficient. But a Church that
denies its martyrs, because it does not know that martyrs are needed for the
journey towards the Cross. A Church that only thinks about triumphs,
successes, does not know the rule of Jesus: the rule of triumph through
failure, human failure, the failure of the Cross. And this is a temptation
that we all have.”
“I remember once, I was in a dark moment in my spiritual
life and I asked a favor from the Lord. Then I went to preach the annual
spiritual retreat to nuns and on the last day they made their confession.
One elderly nun, over 80 years of age, but with clear, bright eyes came to
confession: she was a woman of God. In the end I saw that she really was a
woman of God so I said ‘ Sister, as penance, pray for me, because I need a
grace, OK? If you ask the Lord for this grace on my behalf, I am sure to
receive it'. She stopped for a moment, as if in prayer, and said, 'Of course
the Lord will grant you this grace, but do not be deceived: in His own
divine manner’. This did me a lot of good. To hear that the Lord always
gives us what we ask for, but in His own divine way. And this is the divine
way to the very end. The divine way involves the Cross, not out of
masochism: no, no! Out of love. For love, to the very end.”
“Let us ask the Lord for the grace that we may not be a
half-way Church, a triumphalist Church, of great successes, but a humble
Church, that walks with decision, just like Jesus. Forward, forward,
forward. With a heart open to the will of the Father, just like Jesus. We
ask for this grace”.
May 31, 2013. During his
daily Mass at the Vatican's Casa Santa Marta, the Pope invited
Christians to embrace happiness and to not live life with a 'funeral face.'
The Pope explained that the Holy Spirit brings Christians a special joy that
should lead them to praise God.
POPE FRANCIS
“It is precisely the Holy Spirit who guides us: He is the
author of joy. And it's this joy in the Spirit that gives us true Christian
freedom. Without joy, Christians can't be free. We become slaves of our
sadness. The great Paul VI said that you can't transmit the Gospel, with
sad, distrustful, or pessimistic Christians.You cannot! You can't have that type of attitude. Sometimes it seems
like Christians are going to a funeral procession instead praising God. This
joy comes from praise, a praise of Mary, that praise thatZephaniah spoke of. That same praise of Simon and of Ana: Praise God!
He went on to explain that to truly find meaning in
prayer, one must be willing to invest one's timepraying and praising God, even if it seems like one's wasting time.
POPE FRANCIS
“Here at Mass, I ask you: do you praise God or do you
simply ask of Him and give thanks. Do you truly praise God? This is
something new, it's new to our spiritual life. It's about praising God,
about going out of ourselves and getting lost in time praising God. Some
will say 'but Mass is so long.' If you don't praise God, you don't
understand the joyful attitude that comes with praise, even if you're
wasting time, praising Him in that long Mass. But if you welcome the
attitude of praise, it's beautiful! Eternity will be about Praising God! It
won't be boring, it will be beautiful! This joy makes us free.”
The Mass was attended by a group of employees from the
Vatican's economic department and from the Swiss Guard.
Fr. Lombardi's Statement on
Questions Regarding Pope's Daily Homilies
By Fr. Federico Lombardi
VATICAN CITY, May 29, 2013
- The very great interest aroused by the Pope’s brief homilies in the
course of the Masses celebrated every morning in the chapel of the Casa
Santa Marta, poses and continues to pose often the question from
different parts on the possibility to access such celebrations or such
homilies fully and not through the syntheses published every day by
Vatican Radio and L’Osservatore Romano.
The question is understandable and has been taken several times into
consideration and made the object of profound reflection, and merits a
clear answer. First of all, it is necessary to keep in mind the
character that the Holy Father himself attributes to the morning
celebration of the Mass at Saint Martha’s.
It is a Mass with the presence of not a small group of faithful
(generally more than 50 people) but whose character of familiarity the
Pope intends to preserve. Because of this, despite the requests
received, he has asked explicitly that it not be transmitted live on
video or audio.
As regards to the homilies, they are not given on the basis of a
written text, but spontaneously, in Italian, a language the Pope knows
very well, but it isn’t his mother tongue. Hence, an “integral”
publication would necessarily entail a transcription and a rewriting of
the text on several points, given that the written form is different
from the oral, which in this case is the original form chosen
intentionally by the Holy Father. In short, there would have to be a
revision by the Holy Father himself, but the result would be clearly
“something else,” which is not what the Holy Father intends to do every
morning.
After careful reflection,
therefore, it was decided that the best way to make the richness of the
Pope’s homilies accessible to a wider public, without altering their
nature, is to publish an ample synthesis, rich also in original quoted
phrases that reflect the genuine flavor of the Pope’s expressions. It is
what L’Osservatore Romano is committed to doing every day, whereas
Vatican Radio, on the basis of its characteristic nature, offers a
briefer synthesis, but accompanied also with some passages of the
original recorded audio, as well as CTV which offers a video-clip
corresponding to one of the inserted audios published by Vatican Radio.
It is necessary to insist on the
fact that, in the whole of the Pope’s activity, the difference is
carefully preserved between the various situations and celebrations, as
well as the different levels of commitment of his pronouncements. Thus,
on the occasion of public celebrations or activities of the Pope,
broadcast live on television or radio, the homilies or addresses are
transcribed and published in full. On the occasion of more familiar and
private celebrations, the specific character of the situation is
respected, of the spontaneity and familiarity of the Holy Father’s
expressions. Hence the chosen solution respects first of all the will of
the Pope and the nature of the morning celebration and at the same time
it enables a wide public to access the principal messages that the Holy
Father offers the faithful also in this circumstance.
Pope Francis' Condolence Telegram For the Death of
Cardinal Lorenzo Antonetti
VATICAN CITY, April 10, 2013 -
Cardinal Lorenzo Antonetti passed away at dawn this morning. The
Cardinal-deacon was titular pastor of the church of S. Agnese in Agone
(Rome), President Emeritus of Administration of the Patrimony of the
Apostolic See, and Pontifical delegate for the Patriarchal Basilica of St.
Francis in Assisi.
Here is the translation of the condolence telegram for the Cardinal's
death, sent by the Holy Father, Pope Francis, to the Bishop Franco Giulio
Brambilla of Novara:
* * *
To His Most Reverend Excellency
Bishop Franco Giulio Brambilla,
Bishop of Novara
Upon learning with sadness of the death of the revered Cardinal Lorenzo
Antonetti, I wish to express my feelings of heartfelt sympathy to this
diocesan community, which counts him among its most illustrious sons, as
well as to his nephew Mario, his other nephews and nieces and respective
relatives and to all those who have known and esteemed him.
I recall how the Cardinal, whose
passing we grieve, was a zealous collaborator with the Holy See for many
years, particularly as the papal representative in several countries, in the
Secretariat of State, then as President of Administration of the Patrimony
of the Apostolic See and finally, as Pontifical Delegate for the Papal
Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi: everywhere, he rendered a
much-appreciated witness of fervent priestly zeal and faithfulness to the
Gospel. While I raise fervent prayers to the Lord Jesus that, with the
intercession of the Virgin Mary, he may deign to grant the deceased Cardinal
the eternal reward promised to his faithful disciples, I send your
Excellency, the entire presbyterate and all those who share in the sorrow
for his passing, a comforting special Apostolic blessing.
Pope Appoints
Group of Cardinals to Advise on Church Governance
Will Also Study
Plan for Revising Apostolic Constitution on Roman Curia
By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY, April 15, 2013 - In a communique released by the
Vatican Secretariat of State, Pope Francis has established a group of 8
cardinals from around the world to advise him in the government of the
Universal Church, as well as “to study a plan for revising the Apostolic
Constitution on the Roman Curia, “Pastor Bonus”.
The establishment of the group follows a suggestion that was made during
the General Congregations prior to the conclave that elected Pope Francis as
Supreme Pontiff.
The group of Cardinals consists of Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, President
of the Governorate of Vatican City State; Cardinal Francisco Javier
Errázuriz Ossa, Archbishop emeritus of Santiago de Chile, Chile; Cardinal
Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, India; Cardinal Reinhard Marx,
Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany; Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo
Pasinya, Archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Cardinal Sean
Patrick O'Malley O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Boston, USA; Cardinal George
Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, Australia; Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez
Maradiaga, S.D.B., Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, who will serve as
coordinator; and Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano, Italy, who will serve
as secretary.
Following the communique, the Holy See Press Office stated that the
announcement shows Holy Father’s attentiveness to the suggestions made by
the College of Cardinals, “his closest collaborators.”
“It is a group, not a commission, committee, or
council. The Group has no legislative power and its main function is to
advise the Pope. The Group will not in any way interfere in the normal
functions of the Roman Curia, which helps the Pope in the daily governance
of the Church,” the statement by the Holy See Press Office said.
The Holy See Press Office also stated that although the group will also
assist in revisions to the Apostolic Constitution, “Pastor Bonus”, which
relates to the Roman Curia, the Holy Father showed and expressed his “deep
gratitude for their hard work, especially over the past two months.”
According to the Secretariat of State’s communique, the group's first
meeting has been scheduled for 1-3 October 2013. “His Holiness is, however,
currently in contact with the aforementioned cardinals,” the communique
concluded.
Pope Francis Makes Telephone Call to Italian President
Expresses Gratitude and
Admiration to Newly Re-elected Head of State
By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY, April 25, 2013 - The Holy Father made a telephone call
yesterday to Giorgio Napolitano, the newly re-elected president of the
Italian Republic. Napolitano had recently sent a telegram to Pope
Francis, wishing him well during the Feast of St. George on Tuesday.
St. George is the namesake of the Holy Father, whose name is Jorge
Mario Bergoglio.
According to a communique released by the Holy See Press Office, the
Pope expressed his gratitude and his admiration for the Italian
president.
“Mr. President, I called to thank you for your example,” Pope Francis
told the president. “You have been an example for me. With your conduct,
you have brought to life the fundamental principle of coexistence: that
unity is greater than conflict. I am touched by your decision.”
On Monday, Napolitano became the
first Italian president to be re-elected to a second term. The 87 year
old head of state accepted his election due to the inconclusive general
elections in February that has caused a major institutional crisis in
the country
Pope Francis' Address to Members of the Pontifical
Biblical Commission
VATICAN CITY, April
12, 2013 - Here is the translation of the address delivered by Pope
Francis to the members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission earlier today.
The commission concluded their Plenary Assembly under the theme:
“Inspiration and Truth of the Bible.”
* * *
Venerable Brother,
Dear Members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission,
I am happy to welcome
you at the end of your annual Plenary Assembly. I thank the president,
Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller, for his greeting and his concise
exposition of the topic which was the object of attentive reflection in the
course of your works. You came together again to reflect on a very important
argument: the inspiration and truth of the Bible. It is a topic that
concerns not only the individual believer, but the whole Church, because the
life and mission of the Church are founded on the Word of God, which is the
soul of theology and, at the same time, the inspiration of all Christian
existence.
As we know, the Sacred
Scriptures are the written testimony of the Divine Word, the canonical
memorial that awaits the event of Revelation. Hence the Word of God precedes
and exceeds the Bible. It is because of this that our faith does not only
have a book at the center, but a history of salvation and above all a
Person, Jesus Christ., Word of God made flesh. Precisely because the horizon
of the Divine Word embraces and extends beyond Scripture, to understand it
adequately the constant presence of the Holy Spirit is necessary, who
“guides all to the truth” (John 16:13). We must place ourselves in the
current of the great Tradition that, under the assistance of the Holy Spirit
and the guidance of the Magisterium, has recognized the canonical writings
as Word addressed by God to his people and has never ceased to meditate on
them and discover in them inexhaustible riches. The Second Vatican Council
confirmed this with great clarity in the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum:
“For all of what has been said about the way of interpreting Scripture is
subject finally to the judgment of the Church, which carries out the divine
commission and ministry of guarding and interpreting the word of God.” (n.
12).
As the aforementioned
Constitution reminds us, there is an indissoluble unity between Sacred
Scripture and Tradition, because both come from the same source: “There
exists a close connection and communication between Sacred Tradition and
Sacred Scripture. For both of them, flowing from the same divine wellspring,
in a certain way merge into a unity and tend toward the same end. For Sacred
Scripture is the word of God inasmuch as it is consigned to writing under
the inspiration of the divine Spirit, while sacred tradition takes the word
of God entrusted by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and
hands it on to their successors in its full purity, so that led by the light
of the Spirit of truth, they may in proclaiming it preserve this word of God
faithfully, explain it, and make it more widely known. Consequently it is
not from Sacred Scripture alone that the Church draws her certainty about
everything which has been revealed. Therefore both sacred tradition and
Sacred Scripture are to be accepted and venerated with the same sense of
loyalty and reverence.” (Ibid., 9).
Hence the exegete must be attentive to perceiving the Word
of God present in the biblical texts, placing them within the faith itself
of the Church. The interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures cannot be only an
individual scientific effort, but must always be compared, inserted and
authenticated by the living tradition of the Church. This norm is decisive
in specifying the correct and reciprocal relation of exegesis and the
Magisterium of the Church. The texts inspired by God have been entrusted to
the community of believers, to the Church of Christ, to nourish the faith
and guide the life of charity. Respect for this profound nature of the
Scriptures conditions the very validity and efficacy of the biblical
hermeneutic. This highlights the insufficiency of every subjective
interpretation or simply limited analysis incapable of receiving in itself
that global sense that in the course of the centuries has constituted the
Tradition of the whole People of God, which “in credendo falli nequit”
(Conc. Ecum. Vat. II, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 12).
Dear Brothers, I wish to end my address expressing to you
all my gratitude, encouraging you in your precious work. May the Lord Jesus
Christ, Word of God Incarnate and Divine Teacher, who opened the mind and
heart of his disciples to the intelligence of the Scriptures (cf. Luke
24:45), always guide and sustain your activity. May the Virgin Mary, model
of docility and obedience to the Word of God, teach you to receive fully the
inexhaustible richness of Sacred Scripture not only through intellectual
research, but in prayer and in all your life of believers, above all in this
Year of Faith, so that your work contributes to make the light of Sacred
Scripture shine in the heart of the faithful. Wishing you a fruitful
continuation of your activities, I invoke upon you the light of the Holy
Spirit and I impart to all my Apostolic Blessing.
VATICAN CITY, April 12, 2013 - Here is the text of
Pope Francis' address yesterday to the members of the Papal Foundation on
their annual pilgrimage to Rome.
* * *
Dear Friends, I am pleased to meet the members of The Papal
Foundation during your pilgrimage to Rome, and I thank Cardinal Wuerl for
his kind words. I very much appreciate your prayers as I begin my ministry
as the Bishop of Rome and pastor of the universal Church. In the twenty-five
years that have passed since the Foundation was established, you and your
associates have helped the Successor of Saint Peter by supporting a number
of apostolates and charities especially close to his heart. In these years,
you have contributed significantly to the growth of local Churches in
developing countries by supporting, among other things, the continuing
formation of their clergy and religious, the provision of shelter, medical
assistance and care to the poor and needy, and the creation of much-needed
educational and employment opportunities.
For all of this, I am
deeply grateful. The needs of God’s people throughout the world are great,
and your efforts to advance the Church’s mission are helping to fight the
many forms of material and spiritual poverty present in our human family,
and to contribute to the growth of fraternity and peace. May the fiftieth
anniversary of the Encyclical Pacem in Terris, which falls today, serve as
an incentive for your commitment to promoting reconciliation and peace at
every level. During this Easter season, when the Church invites us to give
thanks for God’s mercy and the new life we have received from the risen
Christ, I pray that you will experience the joy born of gratitude for the
Lord’s many gifts, and seek to serve him in the least of his brothers and
sisters.
The work of The Papal
Foundation is above all one of spiritual solidarity with the Successor of
Peter. I ask you, then, to continue to pray for my ministry, for the needs
of the Church, and in a particular way for the conversion of minds and
hearts to the beauty, goodness and truth of the Gospel. With great affection
I commend you and your families to the intercession of Mary, Mother of the
Church, and cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of joy and
peace in the Risen Lord.
VATICAN CITY,
April 15, 2013 - Here is a translation of the
address delivered by Pope Francis before and after the recitation of the
Regina Caeli yesterday to the faithful gathered at St. Peter's Square.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters, hello!
I would like to reflect
briefly on the passage from the Acts of the Apostles that is read in the
liturgy of this third Sunday of Easter. This text reports that the first
preaching of the Apostles in Jerusalem filled the city with the news
that Jesus was truly risen, according to the Scriptures, and that he was
the Messiah proclaimed by the prophets. The high priests and the leaders
of the city tried to destroy the community of believers in Christ at its
birth and had the Apostles imprisoned, ordering them not to stop
teaching in his name. But Peter and the other 11 answered: “God must be
obeyed rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus ... God
exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior ... and we are the
witnesses of these things together with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 5:29-32).
So, they had the Apostles flogged and ordered them again to stop
speaking in the name of Jesus. And they went away, the Scripture says,
“rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the
sake of the name of Jesus” (5:41).
I ask myself: Where did the
first disciples find the power for this witness of theirs? And,
moreover: Where did their joy and courage to preach despite the
obstacles and violence come from? Let us not forget that the Apostles
were simple people; they were not scribes, doctors of the law, nor did
they belong to the priestly class. How were they able, with their limits
and adversaries among the authorities, to fill Jerusalem with their
teaching (cf. Acts 5:28)? It is clear that only the presence of the
risen Lord with them and the action of the Holy Spirit can explain this
fact. The Lord who was with them and the Spirit who moved them to preach
explain this extraordinary fact. Their faith was based upon an
experience of the dead and risen Christ that was so powerful and
personal that they were not afraid of anyone or anything, and indeed
they saw persecutions as a badge of honor that allowed them to follow in
Jesus’ footsteps and to be like him, bearing witness with their life.
This story about the first
Christian community tells us something very important, which is relevant
for the Church in every age and for us too: when a person truly knows
Jesus Christ and believes in him, he experiences his presence in life
and the power of his Resurrection and he cannot do anything but
communicate this experience. And if this person meets with
misunderstanding or adversity, he conducts himself as Jesus did in his
Passion: he responds with love and with the power of truth.
Praying the “Regina Caeli”
together, asking for the help of Mary Most Holy that the Church might
proclaim the Resurrection of the Lord with boldness and courage in all
the world and bear it valid witness with signs of fraternal love.
Fraternal love is the nearest testimony that we can give that Jesus is
alive among us, the risen Jesus. Let us pray in a special way for
persecuted Christians; in this time there are many Christians who suffer
persecution, many, many, in many countries: let us pray for them, with
love, from our heart. May they feel the living and comforting presence
of the risen Lord.
[Following the recitation of
the “Regina Caeli” the Holy Father greeted those present:]
Yesterday in Venice Don Luca
Passi, a priest of Bergamo who lived in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries and founded the Lay Work of Santa Dorotea and the Institute of
the Sister Teachers of Santa Dorotea, was proclaimed blessed. Let us
thank God for the witness of this holy man!
Today in Italy we celebrate
the Day of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. This year the
theme is “The new generations beyond the crisis.” This institution, born
from the mind and heart of Fr. Agostino Gemelli, and with much popular
support, has prepared thousands and thousands of young people to be
competent and responsible citizens, builders of the common good. I
invite you always to support this institution so that it continue to
offer an optimal formation to new generations to face the challenges of
the present.
Pope Francis' Homily at St. Paul Outside the Walls
VATICAN CITY,
April 15, 2013 - Here is the full text of
Pope Francis' homily at yesterday's mass in the Basilica of St. Paul
Outside the Walls in Rome. Proclamation, witness, and worship were the
three key ideas on which Pope Francis focused in his homily, with
especial emphasis on those who suffer for their witness to the Faith.
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
It is a joy for me to celebrate Mass with you in this
Basilica. I greet the Archpriest, Cardinal James Harvey, and I thank him
for the words that he has addressed to me. Along with him, I greet and
thank the various institutions that form part of this Basilica, and all
of you. We are at the tomb of Saint Paul, a great yet humble Apostle of
the Lord, who proclaimed him by word, bore witness to him by martyrdom
and worshipped him with all his heart. These are the three key ideas on
which I would like to reflect in the light of the word of God that we
have heard: proclamation, witness, worship.
In the First Reading, what strikes us is the strength
of Peter and the other Apostles. In response to the order to be silent,
no longer to teach in the name of Jesus, no longer to proclaim his
message, they respond clearly: We must obey God, rather than men. And
they remain undeterred even when flogged, ill-treated and imprisoned.
Peter and the Apostles proclaim courageously, fearlessly, what they have
received: the Gospel of Jesus. And we? Are we capable of bringing the
word of God into the environment in which we live? Do we know how to
speak of Christ, of what he represents for us, in our families, among
the people who form part of our daily lives? Faith is born from
listening, and is strengthened by proclamation.
But let us take a further step: the proclamation made
by Peter and the Apostles does not merely consist of words: fidelity to
Christ affects their whole lives, which are changed, given a new
direction, and it is through their lives that they bear witness to the
faith and to the proclamation of Christ. In todays Gospel, Jesus asks
Peter three times to feed his flock, to feed it with his love, and he
prophesies to him: When you are old, you will stretch out your hands,
and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go (Jn
21:18). These words are addressed first and foremost to those of us who
are pastors: we cannot feed Gods flock unless we let ourselves be
carried by Gods will even where we would rather not go, unless we are
prepared to bear witness to Christ with the gift of ourselves,
unreservedly, not in a calculating way, sometimes even at the cost of
our lives. But this also applies to everyone: we all have to proclaim
and bear witness to the Gospel. We should all ask ourselves: How do I
bear witness to Christ through my faith? Do I have the courage of Peter
and the other Apostles, to think, to choose and to live as a Christian,
obedient to God? To be sure, the testimony of faith comes in very many
forms, just as in a great fresco, there is a variety of colours and
shades; yet they are all important, even those which do not stand out.
In Gods great plan, every detail is important, even yours, even my
humble little witness, even the hidden witness of those who live their
faith with simplicity in everyday family relationships, work
relationships, friendships. There are the saints of every day, the
hidden saints, a sort of middle class of holiness to which we can all
belong. But in different parts of the world, there are also those who
suffer, like Peter and the Apostles, on account of the Gospel; there are
those who give their lives in order to remain faithful to Christ by
means of a witness marked by the shedding of their blood. Let us all
remember this: one cannot proclaim the Gospel of Jesus without the
tangible witness of ones life. Those who listen to us and observe us
must be able to see in our actions what they hear from our lips, and so
give glory to God! Inconsistency on the part of pastors and the faithful
between what they say and what they do, between word and manner of life,
is undermining the Churchs credibility.
But all this is possible only if we recognize Jesus
Christ, because it is he who has called us, he who has invited us to
travel his path, he who has chosen us. Proclamation and witness are only
possible if we are close to him, just as Peter, John and the other
disciples in todays Gospel passage were gathered around the Risen Jesus;
there is a daily closeness to him: they know very well who he is, they
know him. The Evangelist stresses the fact that no one dared ask him:
Who are you? they knew it was the Lord (Jn 21:12). This is important for
us: living an intense relationship with Jesus, an intimacy of dialogue
and of life, in such a way as to recognize him as the Lord, and to
worship him. The passage that we heard from the Book of Revelation
speaks to us of worship: the myriads of angels, all creatures, the
living beings, the elders, prostrate themselves before the Throne of God
and of the Lamb that was slain, namely Christ, to whom be praise, honour
and glory (cf. Rev 5:11-14). I would like all of us to ask ourselves
this question: You, I, do we worship the Lord? Do we turn to God only to
ask him for things, to thank him, or do we also turn to him to worship
him? What does it mean, then, to worship God? It means learning to be
with him, it means that we stop trying to dialogue with him, and it
means sensing that his presence is the most true, the most good, the
most important thing of all. All of us, in our own lives, consciously
and perhaps sometimes unconsciously, have a very clear order of priority
concerning the things we consider important. Worshipping the Lord means
giving him the place that he must have; worshipping the Lord means
stating, believing not only by our words that he alone truly guides our
lives; worshipping the Lord means that we are convinced before him that
he is the only God, the God of our lives, the God of our history.
This has a consequence in our lives: we have to empty
ourselves of the many small or great idols that we have and in which we
take refuge, on which we often seek to base our security. They are idols
that we sometimes keep well hidden; they can be ambition, a taste for
success, placing ourselves at the centre, the tendency to dominate
others, the claim to be the sole masters of our lives, some sins to
which we are bound, and many others. This evening I would like a
question to resound in the heart of each one of you, and I would like
you to answer it honestly: Have I considered which idol lies hidden in
my life that prevents me from worshipping the Lord? Worshipping is
stripping ourselves of our idols, even the most hidden ones, and
choosing the Lord as the centre, as the highway of our lives.
Dear brothers and
sisters, each day the Lord calls us to follow him with courage and
fidelity; he has made us the great gift of choosing us as his disciples;
he sends us to proclaim him with joy as the Risen one, but he asks us to
do so by word and by the witness of our lives, in daily life. The Lord
is the only God of our lives, and he invites us to strip ourselves of
our many idols and to worship him alone. May the Blessed Virgin Mary and
Saint Paul help us on this journey and intercede for us.
"We must come out of ourselves ... and grow in boldness"
VATICAN CITY, April
18, 2013 - Here is a translation of the letter Pope Francis sent to
the 105th plenary assembly of the Argentine episcopal conference. The letter
is dated March 25 and was posted by the episcopal conference Wednesday. The
plenary assembly is under way through Saturday.
* * *
Dear Brothers:
I am sending these
lines of greeting and also to excuse myself for being unable to attend due
to "commitments assumed recently" (sounds good?). I am spiritually with you
and ask the Lord to accompany you very much during these days.
I express to you a desire. I would like the Assembly’s
works to have as a frame of reference the Document of Aparecida and “Go into
the Deep.” The guidelines are there that we need for this moment of history.
Above all I ask you to have the special concern to grow in the continental
mission in all its aspects: programmatic mission and paradigmatic mission.
May the whole of ministry be in a missionary key. We must come out of
ourselves to all the existential peripheries and grow in boldness.
A Church that does not go out, sooner or later gets sick
in the vitiated atmosphere of her enclosure. It is true also that to a
Church that goes out something can happen, as it can to any person who goes
out to the street: to have an accident. Given this alternative, I wish to
say to you frankly that I prefer a thousand times an injured Church than a
sick Church. The typical illness of the shut-in Church is self-reference; to
look at herself, to be bent over herself like the woman in the Gospel. It is
a kind of narcissism that leads us to spiritual worldliness and to
sophisticated clericalism, and then it impedes our experiencing “the sweet
and comforting joy of evangelizing.”
I wish all of you this
joy, which so many times is united to the Cross, but which saves us from
resentment, sadness and clerical [solitude]. This joy helps us to be each
day more fruitful, spending ourselves and unraveling ourselves in the
service of the holy faithful people of God. This joy will grow increasingly
to the degree that we take seriously the pastoral conversion that the Church
asks of us.
Thank you for all that
you do and for all that you are going to do. May the Lord free us from
making up our episcopate with the tinsel of worldliness, of money and of
“market clericalism.” The Virgin will show us the way of humility and that
silent and courageous work that carries apostolic zeal forward.
I ask you, please, to
pray for me, [so that I won’t be puffed up] and so that I will be able to
hear what God wants and not what I want. I pray for you.
A brother’s embrace
and a special greeting to the faithful people of God that you have in your
care. I wish you a holy and happy Eastertide.
May Jesus bless you
and the Holy Virgin look after you.
VATICAN CITY,
April 21, 2013 - Here is the translation of the Holy Father's
address to the faithful gathered at St. Peter's Square before and after
the recitation of the Regina Caeli today.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters, hello!
The fourth Sunday of the Easter Season is characterized by the Gospel of
the Good Shepherd that we read every year. Today’s passage cites these
words of Jesus: “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they know me
and follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No
one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me,
is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.
The Father and I are one” (John 10:27-30). These 4 verses contain Jesus’
whole message, the central nucleus of his Gospel: he calls us to
participate in his relationship with the Father, and this is eternal
life.
Jesus wants to establish a
relationship with his friends that is the reflection of the one he
himself has with the Father: a relation of mutual belonging in total
confidence, in intimate communion. Jesus uses the image of the shepherd
and his sheep to express this profound shared understanding, this
relationship of friendship. The shepherd calls his sheep and they
recognize his voice, they respond to his call and follow him. This is a
beautiful parable! The mystery of the voice is suggestive: we think
about how from our mother’s womb we learn to recognize her voice and our
father’s voice; from the tone of someone’s voice we can perceive love or
scorn, affection or coldness. Jesus’s voice is unique! If we learn to
distinguish it from others, he will lead us along the path of life, a
path that stretches even beyond death.
But Jesus at a certain point
says, referring to his sheep: “My Father, who gave them to me...” (John
10:29). This is very important, it is a profound mystery, it is not easy
to understand: if I feel attracted by Jesus, if his voice warms my
heart, it is thanks to God the Father, who has placed in me the desire
for love, for truth, for life, for beauty... and Jesus is all of this in
its fullness! This helps us to understand the mystery of vocation,
especially of calls to a special consecration. Sometimes Jesus calls us,
invites us to follow him, but perhaps it occurs that we do not realize
that it is him, as happened to the young Samuel. There are many young
people here today in the piazza. There are a lot of you, no? We see...
Aha! There are many young people here today in the piazza. I would like
to ask you: Have you heard the Lord’s voice at some time in a desire, in
upheaval, invite you to follow him more closely? Have you heard it? I
can’t hear you. Okay... Have you wanted to be apostles of Jesus? Youth
must be placed at the service of great ideals. Do you think so? Do you
agree? Ask Jesus what he wants of you and be courageous! Be courageous!
Ask him! Behind and prior to every vocation to the priesthood or the
consecrated life there is always someone’s powerful and intense prayer:
a grandmother’s, a grandfather’s, a mother’s, a father’s, a
community’s... This is why Jesus said: “Pray to the Lord of the
harvest,” that is, God the Father, “that he might send workers for the
harvest!” (Matthew 9:38). Vocations are born in prayer and from prayer;
and only in prayer can they persevere and bear fruit. I would like to
underscore this today, which is the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.
Let us pray in particular for the new priests of the Diocese of Rome,
whom I had the joy to ordain this morning. And let us invoke Mary’s
intercession. Today there were 10 young men who said “Yes” to Jesus and
were ordained priests this morning... This is beautiful! Let us invoke
Mary’s intercession, she who is the Woman of “Yes.” Mary said “Yes” her
whole life! She learned to recognize Jesus’ voice from the time she
carried him in her womb. Mary our Mother, help us to recognize Jesus’
voice always better and to follow it to walk along the path of life!
Thank you.
Thanks so much for the
greeting, but greet Jesus too. Cry out “Jesus,” loudly... Let us all
pray together to Our Lady.
[Following the recitation of
the Regina Caeli the Holy Father made the following remarks:]
I am attentively following the events unfolding in
Venezuela. I follow them with much concern, with intense prayer and with
the hope that just and peaceful means are sought to get through this
time of grave difficulty that the country is experiencing. I invite the
dear Venezuelan people, in a special way institutional leaders and
politicians, firmly to reject any sort of violence and to establish
dialogue based upon truth in mutual respect, in pursuit of the common
good and in love for the nation. I call upon believers to pray and to
work for reconciliation and peace. Let us join together in a prayer full
of hope for Venezuela, placing her in the hands of Our Lady of Coromoto.
My thoughts also go out to
those affected by the earthquake in southwest continental China. Let us
pray for the victims and for those who are suffering because of this
violent quake.
This afternoon in Sondrio,
Italy Don Nicolò Rusca will be proclaimed blessed. He was a Valtellinese
priest who lived sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He was an
exemplary parish priest in Sondrio and was killed during the political
and religious struggles of that tormented Europe at that time. Let us
praise the Lord for his witness!
Pope's Telegram to Italian President Giorgio
Napolitano
VATICAN CITY, April 21, 2013 - Here is a translation
of the telegram sent by Pope Francis to the President of the Italian
Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, congratulating him on the occasion of his
reelection.
* * *
To his Excellency
the Honorable Giorgio Napolitano
President of the Italian Republic
Quirinal Palace
On the occasion in
which you have again accepted, with great openness and a spirit of
sacrifice, the supreme magistrature of the Italian state as president of
the Republic, I would like to offer to you the most sincere and cordial
congratulatory expressions and, as I wish for you to continue your
enlightened and wise work supported by everyone’s responsible
cooperation, I invoke constant divine assistance on your behalf and for
your great service to the country and from my heart I convey to you and
to the beloved Italian nation the apostolic blessing as an encouragement
to build a future of concord, of solidarity and of hope.
VATICAN CITY, April
22, 2013 - Here is the text of the telegram sent by Cardinal Tarcisio
Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, on behalf of the Holy Father, to
Bishop Joe S. Vasquez of Austin, Texas regarding the explosion at a
fertilizer plant in West, Texas last Wednesday. The explosion caused 14
deaths and hundreds wounded.
* * *
Saddened by news of the destruction caused by the
explosion in West, the Holy Father asks you kindly to convey his heartfelt
condolences to the civil authorities and the afflicted families. He prays
for the eternal rest of the victims and implores God’s blessings of
consolation and peace upon those who mourn and all who generously aid in the
continuing work of relief.
Pope's Message to IV National Eucharistic Congress in
Costa Rica
VATICAN CITY, April
22, 2013 - Here is a translation of the message that Vatican Secretary
of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, sent in the name of the Holy Father
Francis, to the participants in the 4th National Eucharistic Congress in
Costa Rica (Cartago, April 14-21, 2013) on the topic: “The Eucharist: Bread
of Life for Our People.” The message was read by the Pope’s envoy,
Archbishop Piero Marini, president of the Pontifical Committee for
International Eucharistic Congresses.
* * *
The Holy Father Francis is pleased to send his cordial
greetings to the organizers and participants of the National Eucharistic
Congress, convened under the theme: “The Eucharist: Bread of Life For Our
People.”
In this moment, His Holiness invites all to intensify
their life of prayer, making the Eucharist the true center of Christian
communities, where prayer and thanksgiving stimulate a renewed evangelizing
commitment of ecclesial communion. May all baptized draw from the Most
Blessed Sacrament of the Altar copious spiritual energies to build an ever
more just and reconciled world, in keeping with the message of Our Lord
Jesus Christ.
With these regards, the Supreme Pontiff entrusts to the
loving protection of Our Lady of the Angels, the pastors and faithful who
have made the pilgrimage to the House of the Father in Costa Rica. As a sign
of abundant heavenly gifts, he affectionately imparts to them the besought
Apostolic Blessing.
VATICAN CITY, April 22, 2013 - Here is the
translation of the homily given by Pope Francis yesterday at the Ordination
to the Priesthood Mass held in St. Peter's Basilica.
* * *
Beloved brothers and sisters:
because these our
sons, who are your relatives and friends, are now to be advanced to the
Order of priests, consider carefully the nature of the rank in the Church to
which they are about to be raised.
It is true that God has made his entire holy people a
royal priesthood in Christ. Nevertheless, our great Priest himself, Jesus
Christ, chose certain disciples to carry out publicly in his name, and on
behalf of mankind, a priestly office in the Church. For Christ was sent by
the Father and he in turn sent the Apostles into the world, so that through
them and their successors, the Bishops, he might continue to exercise his
office of Teacher, Priest, and Shepherd. Indeed, priests are established
co-workers of the Order of Bishops, with whom they are joined in the
priestly office and with whom they are called to the service of the people
of God.
After mature deliberation and prayer, these, our brothers,
are now to be ordained to the priesthood in the Order of the presbyterate so
as to serve Christ the Teacher, Priest, and Shepherd, by whose ministry his
body, that is, the Church, is built and grows into the people of God, a holy
temple.
In being configured to Christ the eternal High Priest and
joined to the priesthood of the Bishops, they will be consecrated as true
priests of the New Testament, to preach the Gospel, to shepherd Gods people,
and to celebrate the sacred Liturgy, especially the Lords sacrifice.
Now, my dear brothers and sons, you are to be raised to
the Order of the Priesthood. For your part you will exercise the sacred duty
of teaching in the name of Christ the Teacher. Impart to everyone the word
of God which you have received with joy. Remember your mothers, your
grandmothers, your catechists, who gave you the word of God, the faith ...
the gift of faith! They transmitted to you this gift of faith. Meditating on
the law of the Lord, see that you believe what you read, that you teach what
you believe, and that you practise what you teach.
Remember too that the word of God is not your
property: it is the word of God. And the Church is the custodian of the word
of God. In this way, let what you teach be nourishment for the
people of God. Let the holiness of your lives be a delightful fragrance to
Christs faithful, so that by word and example you may build up the house
which is Gods Church.
Likewise you will exercise in Christ the office of
sanctifying. For by your ministry the spiritual sacrifice of the faithful
will be made perfect, being united to the sacrifice of Christ, which will be
offered through your hands in an unbloody way on the altar, in union with
the faithful, in the celebration of the sacraments. Understand, therefore,
what you do and imitate what you celebrate. As celebrants of the mystery of
the Lords death and resurrection, strive to put to death whatever in your
members is sinful and to walk in newness of life.
You will gather others into the people of God through
Baptism, and you will forgive sins in the name of Christ and the Church in
the sacrament of Penance. Today I ask you in the name of Christ and the
Church, never tire of being merciful. You will comfort the sick and the
elderly with holy oil: do not hesitate to show tenderness towards the
elderly. When you celebrate the sacred rites, when you offer prayers of
praise and thanks to God throughout the hours of the day, not only for the
people of God but for the worldremember then that you are taken from among
men and appointed on their behalf for those things that pertain to God.
Therefore, carry out the ministry of Christ the Priest
with constant joy and genuine love, attending not to your own concerns but
to those of Jesus Christ. You are pastors, not functionaries. Be mediators,
not intermediaries.
Finally, dear sons,
exercising for your part the office of Christ, Head and Shepherd, while
united with the Bishop and subject to him, strive to bring the faithful
together into one family, so that you may lead them to God the Father
through Christ in the Holy Spirit. Keep always before your eyes the example
of the Good Shepherd who came not to be served but to serve, and who came to
seek out and save what was lost.
VATICAN CITY, April
23, 2013 - Here is the translation of Pope Francis' homily during Mass
with the Cardinals present in Rome at the Pauline Chapel for the Feast of
Saint George.
* * *
I thank His Eminence,
the Cardinal Dean, (Cardinal Angelo Sodano) for his words: thank you very
much, Your Eminence, thank you.
I also thank all of you who wanted to come today: Thank
you. Because I feel welcomed by you. Thank you. I feel good with you, and I
like that.
The [first] reading today makes me think that the
missionary expansion of the Church began precisely at a time of persecution,
and these Christians went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, and
proclaimed the Word. They had this apostolic fervor within them, and that is
how the faith spread! Some, people of Cyprus and Cyrene - not these, but
others who had become Christians - went to Antioch and began to speak to the
Greeks too. It was a further step. And this is how the Church moved forward.
Whose was this initiative to speak to the Greeks? This was not clear to
anyone but the Jews. But ... it was the Holy Spirit, the One who prompted
them ever forward ... But some in Jerusalem, when they heard this, became
'nervous and sent Barnabas on an "apostolic visitation": perhaps, with a
little sense of humor we could say that this was the theological beginning
of the Doctrine of the Faith: this apostolic visit by Barnabas. He saw, and
he saw that things were going well.
And so the Church was a Mother, the Mother of more
children, of many children. It became more and more of a Mother. A Mother
who gives us the faith, a Mother who gives us an identity. But the Christian
identity is not an identity card: Christian identity is belonging to the
Church, because all of these belonged to the Church, the Mother Church.
Because it is not possible to find Jesus outside the Church. The great Paul
VI said: "Wanting to live with Jesus without the Church, following Jesus
outside of the Church, loving Jesus without the Church is an absurd
dichotomy." And the Mother Church that gives us Jesus gives us our identity
that is not only a seal, it is a belonging. Identity means belonging. This
belonging to the Church is beautiful.
And the third idea comes to my mind - the first was the
explosion of missionary activity; the second, the Mother Church - and the
third, that when Barnabas saw that crowd - the text says: " And a large
number of people was added to the Lord" - when he saw those crowds, he
experienced joy. " When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced ":
his is the joy of the evangelizer. It was, as Paul VI said, "the sweet and
comforting joy of evangelizing." And this joy begins with a persecution,
with great sadness, and ends with joy. And so the Church goes forward, as
one Saint says - I do not remember which one, here - "amid the persecutions
of the world and the consolations of the Lord." And thus is the life of the
Church. If we want to travel a little along the road of worldliness,
negotiating with the world - as did the Maccabees, who were tempted, at that
time - we will never have the consolation of the Lord. And if we seek only
consolation, it will be a superficial consolation, not that of the Lord: a
human consolation. The Church's journey always takes place between the Cross
and the Resurrection, amid the persecutions and the consolations of the
Lord. And this is the path: those who go down this road are not mistaken.
Let us think today about the missionary activity of the
Church: these [people] came out of themselves to go forth. Even those who
had the courage to proclaim Jesus to the Greeks, an almost scandalous thing
at that time. Think of this Mother Church that grows, grows with new
children to whom She gives the identity of the faith, because you cannot
believe in Jesus without the Church. Jesus Himself says in the Gospel: " But
you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep." If we are not
"sheep of Jesus," faith does not come to us. It is a rosewater faith, a
faith without substance. And let us think of the consolation that Barnabas
felt, which is "the sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing." And let us
ask the Lord for this "parresia", this apostolic fervor that impels us to
move forward, as brothers, all of us forward! Forward, bringing the name of
Jesus in the bosom of Holy Mother Church, and, as St. Ignatius said,
"hierarchical and Catholic." So be it.
Statement by Holy See on Kidnapping of Bishops in Syria
VATICAN CITY, April 23, 2013 -
Here is the translation of the statement released by Fr. Federico Lombardi,
director of the Holy See Press Office on the recent kidnapping of two
Metropolitan bishops in Syria yesterday.
* * *
"The kidnapping of the two
Metropolitan bishops of Aleppo, Mar Gregorios Ibrahim of the Syriac Orthodox
Church, and Paul Yazigi of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, and the
killing of their driver whilst they were carrying out a humanitarian
mission, is a dramatic confirmation of the tragic situation in which the
Syrian population and the Christian communities in Syria are living. The
Holy Father has been informed of this recent, extremely grave act, which
comes on top of the increasing violence of the past days and a humanitarian
emergency of enormous proportions. Pope Francis is following the events with
deep participation and he is praying for the health and the liberation of
the two kidnapped bishops. He is also praying so that, with the support and
prayers of all, the Syrian people may finally see tangible responses to the
humanitarian drama and real hopes of peace and reconciliation rise on the
horizon."
VATICAN CITY,
April 28, 2013 - Here is the translation of the Holy Father’s homily
during the Mass for the Day of Confirmands celebrated at St. Peter’s
Basilica today.
* * *
Dear Brothers and
Sisters,
Dear Confirmands,
I would like to offer three short and simple thoughts
for your reflection.
1. In the second reading, we listened to the beautiful
vision of Saint John: new heavens and a new earth, and then the Holy
City coming down from God. All is new, changed into good, beauty and
truth; there are no more tears or mourning… This is the work of the Holy
Spirit: he brings us the new things of God. He comes to us and makes all
things new; he changes us. The Spirit changes us! And Saint John’s
vision reminds us that all of us are journeying towards the heavenly
Jerusalem, the ultimate newness which awaits us and all reality, the
happy day when we will see the Lord’s face – that marvelous face, the
most beautiful face of the Lord Jesus - and be with him for ever, in his
love.
You see, the new things of God are not like the
novelties of this world, all of which are temporary; they come and go,
and we keep looking for more. The new things which God gives to our
lives are lasting, not only in the future, when we will be with him, but
today as well. God is even now making all things new; the Holy Spirit is
truly transforming us, and through us he also wants to transform the
world in which we live. Let us open the doors to the Spirit, let
ourselves be guided by him, and allow God’s constant help to make us new
men and women, inspired by the love of God which the Holy Spirit bestows
on us! How beautiful it would be if each of you, every evening, could
say: Today at school, at home, at work, guided by God, I showed a sign
of love towards one of my friends, my parents, an older person! How
beautiful!
2. A second thought. In the first reading Paul and
Barnabas say that "we must undergo many trials if we are to enter the
kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). The journey of the Church, and our own
personal journeys as Christians, are not always easy; they meet with
difficulties and trials. To follow the Lord, to let his Spirit transform
the shadowy parts of our lives, our ungodly ways of acting, and cleanse
us of our sins, is to set out on a path with many obstacles, both in the
world around us but also within us, in the heart. But difficulties and
trials are part of the path that leads to God’s glory, just as they were
for Jesus, who was glorified on the cross; we will always encounter them
in life! Do not be discouraged! We have the power of the Holy Spirit to
overcome these trials!
3. And here I come to my last point. It is an
invitation which I make to you, young confirmandi, and to all present.
Remain steadfast in the journey of faith, with firm hope in the Lord.
This is the secret of our journey! He gives us the courage to swim
against the tide. Pay attention, my young friends: to go against the
current; this is good for the heart, but we need courage to swim against
the tide. Jesus gives us this courage! There are no difficulties, trials
or misunderstandings to fear, provided we remain united to God as
branches to the vine, provided we do not lose our friendship with him,
provided we make ever more room for him in our lives. This is especially
so whenever we feel poor, weak and sinful, because God grants strength
to our weakness, riches to our poverty, conversion and forgiveness to
our sinfulness. The Lord is so rich in mercy: every time, if we go to
him, he forgives us. Let us trust in God’s work! With him we can do
great things; he will give us the joy of being his disciples, his
witnesses. Commit yourselves to great ideals, to the most important
things. We Christians were not chosen by the Lord for little things;
push onwards toward the highest principles. Stake your lives on noble
ideals, my dear young people!
The new things of God, the trials of life, remaining
steadfast in the Lord. Dear friends, let us open wide the door of our
lives to the new things of God which the Holy Spirit gives us. May he
transform us, confirm us in our trials, strengthen our union with the
Lord, our steadfastness in him: this is a true joy! So may it be.
VATICAN CITY,
April 28, 2013 - Here is the translation of the address given by Pope
Francis prior to the recitation of the Regina Caeli at the conclusion of
the Day of Confirmands Massa in St. Peter’s Square today.
* * *
Before concluding this celebration I would like to
entrust the confirmandi and all of you to Our Lady. The Virgin Mary
teaches us what it means to live in the Holy Spirit and what it means to
welcome the newness of God in our life. She conceived Jesus by the work
of the Spirit, and every Christian, each one of us, is called to welcome
the Word of God, to welcome Jesus in ourselves and then bring him to
everyone. Mary invoked the Spirit with the Apostles in the upper room:
every time that we come together in prayer, we are supported by the
spiritual presence of the Mother of Jesus, to receive the gift of the
Spirit and to have the ability to bear witness to the risen Jesus. I say
this in a special way to you who have received Confirmation today: may
Mary help you to be attentive to that which the Lord asks of you, and
always to live and to walk according to the Holy Spirit!
I would like to extend my affectionate greeting to all
of the pilgrims who have come from many countries. In particular I greet
the young people who are preparing for Confirmation, the large group led
by the Sisters of Charity, the parish groups from Poland and Bisignano,
as well as the Katholische akademische Verbindung Capitolina.
At this time I, a
special time, I would like to offer a prayer for the numerous victims of
the tragic collapse of a factory in Bangladesh. I express my solidarity
and profound closeness to the families who weep for their loved ones and
from the depths of my heart I sincerely call for the protection of the
dignity and security of the worker.
Now in the Easter
light, fruit of the Spirit, we turn together to the Mother of the Lord.
Francis Invites Faithful to Live According to the Holy Spirit
Vatican City,
Before the final blessing at yesterday’s Mass in St. Peter’s Square, Pope
Francis entrusted the youth who received the Sacrament of Confirmation to
the Virgin Mary. The Holy Father ended the Mass reciting the Regina Caeli,
which is recited every Sunday during the Easter season.
“The Virgin Mary teaches us what it means to live in the Holy Spirit and
what it means to welcome the newness of God in our life,” the Pope said.
“She conceived Jesus by the work of the Spirit, and every Christian, each
one of us, is called to welcome the Word of God, to welcome Jesus in
ourselves and then bring him to everyone.”
The Pope went on to say that the Blessed Mother is present in every
instance that “we come together in prayer” in order to receive the gift of
the Spirit and the courage to announce the risen Christ.
“I say this in a special way to you who have received Confirmation today:
may Mary help you to be attentive to that which the Lord asks of you, and
always to live and to walk according to the Holy Spirit!,” the Holy Father
exclaimed.
The Holy Father concluded by offering prayers for the victims of the
recent collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh. Roughly 400 people have
died from the tragedy while countless others are still buried under the
rubble.
“I express my solidarity and profound closeness to the families who weep
for their loved ones and from the depths of my heart I sincerely call for
the protection of the dignity and security of the worker,” Pope Francis
said.
Coptic Bishop
Hopes Upcoming Meeting Between Pope Francis and Tawadros II
ROME, April 30, 2013 - The
newly appointed head of the Coptic Catholic Eparchy in Minya in Egypt stated
that the upcoming meeting between Pope Francis and Coptic Orthodox Patriarch
Tawadros II in May “could have important and positive results.”
In an interview with Fides News
Agency, Coptic Catholic Bishop Botros Fahim Awad Hanna also express is hope
that a theological dialogue to begin the path towards full communion would
resume. The meeting between the Holy Father and the Coptic Patriarch is set
for May 11th, 2013
The last meeting that occurred between a Coptic Patriarch and a Pope took
place nearly 40 years ago when Shenouda III met with Pope Paul VI in Rome.
Due to that historical meeting, an agreement between the two Churches signed
in 1988 put an end to centuries of misunderstanding and mistrust. The
“In the Common Christological Declaration, the Catholic Church and the
Coptic Orthodox confess to share the same faith in "Our Lord, God and Savior
Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word" that "is perfect in its Divinity and
perfect in its Humanity."
“Since then, though, that common Christological Declaration has not had
practical effects,” Bishop Fahim Hann said.
“I hope that with the visit of the
new Coptic Orthodox Patriarch to the new Bishop of Rome, recent approaches
on the spiritual and pastoral can be deepened at a theological and doctrinal
level and provide a chance to re-start a thorough theological and respectful
dialogue, to embark on a journey that could one day lead us back to full
sacramental union".
VATICAN CITY, May
05, 2013 - Here is the translation of the Holy Father's address prior to
reciting the Regina Caeli at the conclusion of the Mass for the Day of
Confraternities held in St. Peter's Square.
* * *
In this moment of profound communion in Christ we also
feel the presence of the Virgin Mary living among us. It is a maternal,
familiar presence, especially for you who belong to the confraternaties.
Love for the Madonna is one of the characteristics of popular piety,
which must be valued and directed. For this reason I invite you to
meditate on the last chapter of the second Vatican Council’s
constitution on the Church, “Lumen gentium,” which speaks precisely of
Mary in the mystery of Christ and the Church. There it is stated that
Mary “advanced in the pilgrimage of faith” (58). Dear friends, in the
Year of Faith I present this portrait of Mary the pilgrim, who follows
the Son Jesus and precedes all of us in the journey of faith.
Today the Eastern Churches, which follow the Julian
Calendar, celebrate the feast of Easter. I would like to send these
brothers and sisters a special greeting, uniting with them with my whole
heart in proclaiming the glad tidings: Christ is risen! Recollected in
prayer around Mary, we ask God for the gift the Holy Spirit, the
Paraclete, that he might console and comfort all Christians – especially
those who celebrate Easter amidst trials and suffering – and guide them
in the path of reconciliation and peace.
Yesterday in Brazil Francisca de Paula De Jesus,
called “NháChica,” was proclaimed blessed. Her simple life was dedicated
wholly to God and to charity, so much so that she was called “mother of
the poor.” I share the joy of the Church in Brazil over this luminous
disciple of the Lord.
I greet with affection all of the confraternities that
have come here from many countries. Thank you for your testimony of
faith! I greet also the parish and family groups along with the parade
of various musical bands and associations of Schützen who have come from
Germany.
I offer a special greeting today to the “Meter”
Association on this special day remembering children who are victims of
violence. And this provides me with the occasion to direct a thought to
those who have suffered and sufffer from abuse. I would like to to
assure them that you are present in my prayer, and I would also like
firmly to say that we must all cleary and courageously work that every
human person, especially children, who are among the most vulnerable,
might be defended and protected.
I also encourage those afflicted with pulmonary
hypertension.
Pope Francis' Meditation at Basilica of St. Mary
Major
VATICAN CITY, May 05, 2013 - Here is the
translation of Pope Francis' meditation after the recitation of the
rosary in the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome yesterday.
* * *
I thank the most eminent lord archpriest of this
basilica for the words he spoke at the beginning. I thank you, brother
and friend – a friendship that began in those countries at the end of
the world! Thank you so much. I am grateful for the presence of the lord
cardinal vicar, the other lord cardinals, the bishops, the priests. And
I thank you, brothers and sisters, who have come today to pray to Our
Lady, the mother, the “Salus Populi Romani” (Salvation/Health of the
Roman People). Because tonight we are here before Mary. We have prayed
under her maternal guidance that she might direct us to be ever more
united with her Son Jesus; we have brought her our joys and our
sufferings, our hopes and our problems; we have invoked her with the
title “Salus Populi Romani,” asking for all of us, for Rome, for the
world that she might give us health. Mary gives us health, she is our
health.
Jesus Christ, with his passion, death, and
resurrection, brings us salvation, gives us the grace and joy to be sons
of God, truly to call him with the name “Father.” Mary is mother, and a
mother concerns herself above all with the health of her children, she
knows how to care for it with great and tender love. Our Lady protects
our health. What does it mean to say that the Our Lady protects our
health? I think above all of 3 aspects: she helps us to grow, face life,
to be free.
A mother helps her children to grow and wants
them to grow well; for this she educates them not to fall into laziness
– which derives from a certain well-being – not to settle into a
comfortable life that contents itself only with having things. The
mother cares for the children so that they grow more, they grow strong,
able to take responsibility, to commit themselves in life, to pursue
grand ideals. In the Gospel St. Luke tells us that, in the family of
Nazareth, Jesus “grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the
favour of God was upon him” (Luke 2:40). Our
Lady does the same thing in us, she helps us to grow as human beings and
in the faith, to be strong and not to give in to the temptation to be
human and Christian in a superficial way, but to live with
responsibility, to aim ever higher.
A mother also thinks of her children’s health when she
educates them to face the problem of life. She does not educate them,
she does not care for their health by allowing them to avoid problems,
as life were a highway without obstacles. The mother helps her children
to look upon life’s problems with realism and to not get lost in them,
but to face them with courage, not to be weak, and to know how to
overcome them with a sane balance that a mother “senses” between areas
of safety and those of risk. And a mother knows how to do this! She does
not always let her child take the easy, safe way because in this way the
child cannot grow, but neither does she leave the child on the road of
risk since it is dangerous. A mother knows how to balance things. A life
without challenges does not exist, and a boy or girl who does not know
how to deal with them is a boy or girl without a spine! Let us recall
the parable of the good Samaritan. Jesus does not recommend the conduct
of the priest or the Levite, who avoid helping the man who ran into
robbers. He points to the Samaritan, who saw the man’s situation and
deals with it in a concrete way and takes risks. Mary experienced many
difficult moments in her life, from the birth of Jesus when there was
“no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7), to Calvary (cf. 19:25). And
like a good mother she is close to us so that we never lose courage in
facing the adversity of life, in facing our weakness, our sins: she
gives us strength, she indicates the path of her Son. From the cross
Jesus says to Mary, referring to John: “Woman behold your son!” (Cf.
John 19:26-27). That disciple represents all of us: the Lord entrusts us
to the Mother’s hands, full of love and tenderness, so that we feel her
support in dealing with and overcoming the problems along our human and
Christian journey. Do not be afraid of difficulties, face them with the
help of the mother.
A final aspect: a good mother does not only accompany
her children as they grow, not avoiding the problems, the challenges of
life; a good mother also helps us to make definitive decisions freely.
This is not easy but a mother knows how to do it. But what is freedom?
It is certainly not doing whatever you want, letting yourself be
dominated by your passions, passing from one experience to the next
without discernment, following the fashions of the time; freedom does
not mean, so to speak, throwing everything you do not like out the
window. No, that is not freedom! Freedom is given to us so that we know
how to make good choices in life! Mary, like a good mother, teaches us
to be, like her, capable of making definitive decisions, definitive
decisions in this moment in which their reigns, so to say, the
philosophy of the provisional. It is so difficult to commit oneself
definitively in life. And she helps us to make definitive decisions with
that complete freedom with which she answered “yes” to God’s plan for
her life (cf. Luke 1:38).
Dear brothers and sisters, how hard it is in our time
to make definitive decisions. The provisional seduces us. We are the
victims of a tendency that drives us toward the temporary… as if we
wished to remain adolescents. It is rather fashionable now to remain an
adolescent, and to stay this way all one’s life! Let us not be afraid of
definitive commitments, of commitments that involve and interest our
whole life! In this way life will be fruitful! And this is freedom: to
have the courage to make these decisions with greatness.
Mary’s entire existence is a hymn to life, a hymn of
love to life: she gave birth to Jesus in the flesh and was there at the
birth of the Church on Calvary and in the upper room. The “Salus Populi
Romani” is the mother who gives us health as we grow, she gives us the
health to face and overcome problems, she gives us the health that makes
us free for definitive decisions; the mother who teaches us to be
fruitful, to be open to life and always to be fruitful in the good,
fruitful in joy, fruitful in hope, never to lose hope, to give life to
others, physical and spiritual life.
This we ask of you this evening, O Mary, “Salus Populi
Romani,” for the people of Rome, for all of us: grant us the health that
alone can give us, to be always signs and instruments of life. Amen.
[After leaving the basilica the Holy Father addressed
these words to the many faithful gathered in the piazza:]
Brothers and sisters,
Good evening! Thank you for your presence in the house
of the mother of Rome, our Mother. Hurrah (viva) the “Salus Populi
Romani.” Hurrah for Our Lady. She is our Mother. Let us entrust
ourselves to her because she protects us like a good mother. I will pray
for you, but I ask you to pray for me, because I need it. Three “Ave’s”
for me. I wish you a good Sunday tomorrow. Goodbye. Now I will give you
the blessing – to you and to all your families. May the almighty Father
bless you. Have a good Sunday.
Pope Francis'Homily at Sunday Mass for Day of
Confraternities
VATICAN CITY, May
05, 2013 - Here is the translation of the homily given by Pope
Francis as part of the Year of Faith Mass for the Day of Confraternities
celebrated at St. Peter's Square.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It is brave of you to come here in this rain … May
the Lord bless you abundantly! As part of the journey of the Year of Faith, I
am happy to celebrate this Eucharist dedicated in a special way to
confraternities: a traditional reality in the Church, which in recent
times has experienced renewal and rediscovery. I greet all of you with
affection, particularly the confraternities which have come here from
all over the world! Thank you for your presence and your witness!
In the Gospel we heard a passage from the farewell
discourses of Jesus, as related by the evangelist John in the context of
the Last Supper. Jesus entrusts his last thoughts, as a spiritual
testament, to the apostles before he leaves them. Today’s text makes it
clear that Christian faith is completely centred on the relationship
between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Whoever loves the Lord
Jesus welcomes him and his Father interiorly, and thanks to the Holy
Spirit receives the Gospel in his or her heart and life. Here we are
shown the centre from which everything must go forth and to which
everything must lead: loving God and being Christ’s disciples by living
the Gospel. When Benedict XVI spoke to you, he used this expression:
evangelical spirit. Dear confraternities, the popular piety of which you
are an important sign is a treasure possessed by the Church, which the
bishops of Latin America defined, significantly, as a spirituality, a
form of mysticism, which is "a place of encounter with Jesus Christ".
Draw always from Christ, the inexhaustible wellspring; strengthen your
faith by attending to your spiritual formation, to personal and
communitarian prayer, and to the liturgy. Down the centuries
confraternities have been crucibles of holiness for countless people who
have lived in utter simplicity an intense relationship with the Lord.
Advance with determination along the path of holiness; do not rest
content with a mediocre Christian life, but let your affiliation serve
as a stimulus, above all for you yourselves, to an ever greater love of
Jesus Christ.
The passage of the Acts of the Apostles which we
heard also speaks to us about what is essential. In the early Church
there was immediately a need to discern what was essential about being a
Christian, about following Christ, and what was not. The apostles and
the other elders held an important meeting in Jerusalem, a first
"council", on this theme, to discuss the problems which arose after the
Gospel had been preached to the pagans, to non-Jews. It was a
providential opportunity for better understanding what is essential,
namely, belief in Jesus Christ who died and rose for our sins, and
loving him as he loved us. But note how the difficulties were overcome:
not from without, but from within the Church. And this brings up a
second element which I want to remind you of, as Benedict XVI did,
namely: ecclesial spirit. Popular piety is a road which leads to what is
essential, if it is lived in the Church in profound communion with your
pastors. Dear brothers and sisters, the Church loves you! Be an active
presence in the community, as living cells, as living stones. The Latin
American Bishops wrote that the popular piety which you reflect is "a
legitimate way of living the faith, a way of feeling that we are part of
the Church" (Aparecida Document,
264). This is wonderful! A legitimate way of living the faith, a way of
feeling that we are part of the Church. Love the Church! Let yourselves
be guided by her! In your parishes, in your dioceses, be a true "lung"
of faith and Christian life, a breath of fresh air! In this Square I see
a great variety: earlier on it was a variety of umbrellas, and now of
colours and signs. This is also the case with the Church: a great wealth
and variety of expressions in which everything leads back to unity; the
variety leads back to unity, and unity is the encounter with Christ.
I would like to add a third expression which
must distinguish you: missionary spirit. You have a specific and
important mission, that of keeping alive the relationship between the
faith and the cultures of the peoples to whom you belong. You do this
through popular piety. When, for example, you carry the crucifix in
procession with such great veneration and love for the Lord, you are not
performing a simple outward act; you are pointing to the centrality of
the Lord’s paschal mystery, his passion, death and resurrection which
have redeemed us, and you are reminding yourselves first, as well as the
community, that we have to follow Christ along the concrete path of our
daily lives so that he can transform us. Likewise, when you express
profound devotion for the Virgin Mary, you are pointing to the highest
realization of the Christian life, the one who by her faith and
obedience to God’s will, and by her meditation on the words and deeds of
Jesus, is the Lord’s perfect disciple (cf. Lumen Gentium,
53). You express this faith, born of hearing the word of God, in ways
that engage the senses, the emotions and the symbols of the different
cultures … In doing so you help to transmit it to others, and especially
the simple persons whom, in the Gospels, Jesus calls "the little ones".
In effect, "journeying together towards shrines, and participating in
other demonstrations of popular piety, bringing along your children and
engaging other people, is itself a work of evangelization" (Aparecida
Document, 264). When you visit shrines,
when you bring your family, your children, you are engaged in a real
work of evangelization. This needs to continue. May you also be true
evangelizers! May your initiatives be "bridges", means of bringing
others to Christ, so as to journey together with him. And in this spirit
may you always be attentive to charity. Each individual Christian and
every community is missionary to the extent that they bring to others
and live the Gospel, and testify to God’s love for all, especially those
experiencing difficulties. Be missionaries of God’s love and tenderness!
Be missionaries of God’s mercy, which always forgives us, always awaits
us and loves us dearly.
Evangelical
spirit, ecclesial spirit, missionary spirit. Three themes! Do not forget
them! Evangelical spirit, ecclesial spirit, missionary spirit. Let us
ask the Lord always to direct our minds and hearts to him, as living
stones of the Church, so that all that we do, our whole Christian life,
may be a luminous witness to his mercy and love. In this way we will
make our way towards the goal of our earthly pilgrimage, towards that
extremely beautiful shrine, the heavenly Jerusalem. There, there is no
longer any temple: God himself and the lamb are its temple; and the
light of the sun and the moon give way to the glory of the Most High.
Amen.
VATICAN CITY, May 06, 2013 - Here is the
translation of the Holy Father's address to the Pontifical Swiss Guards
on the occasion of the taking of oath of new recruits who were
accompanied by family members.
* * *
Dear friends of
the Swiss Guard!
I am pleased to
welcome you and extend my cordial greeting to each of you, your family,
your friends, to the authorities and to all who have wanted to take part
in these days of celebration. To all of you, dear guards, I renew most
sincere thanks for your valuable and generous service to the Pope and
the Church. Every day I am able to experience the dedication,
professionalism and love with which you conduct your service. And for
this I thank you! In particular, I would like to thank your families,
who have graciously accepted your choice to live this service at the
Vatican and support you with their affection and their prayers.
On this date you memorialize the sacrifice of the
Swiss guards engaged in fierce defense of the Pope during the "sack of
Rome". Today, you are not called to this heroic gesture, but to another
form of sacrifice, also demanding: to put your youthful energies at the
service of the Church and the Pope. And to do this you must be strong,
animated by love and sustained by faith in Christ. This year your
celebration fits in the context of the Year of Faith, that the Church is
living all over the world. I am sure that the decision to put years of
your life at the service of the Pope is not extraneous to your faith.
Indeed, the deeper motivations that have driven you here to Rome have
their source in your faith. A faith that you have learned in your
families, cultivated in your parishes, and which also manifests the
commitment of Swiss Catholics to the Church. Remember well: the faith
that God has given you on the day of your Baptism is the most valuable
treasure that you have! And even your mission at the service of the Pope
and the Church finds its source there: in faith.
During your stay in Rome, you are called to bear
witness to your faith with joy and delicacy. How important this is for
many people who pass through Vatican City! But it is also important for
those who work here for the Holy See, and it is also for me! Your
presence is a sign of the strength and beauty of the Gospel, which in
every age calls young people to follow it. And I would also like to
invite you to live out the time that you spend in the "Eternal city" in
a spirit of sincere friendship, helping each other to lead a good
Christian life, which corresponds to your faith and your mission in the
Church. May you know how be attentive to each other, to recognize when
someone of you may be having a moment of difficulty. Be ready to listen,
to be close to him. Pray for each other, and put into practice in your
mutual help that communion you draw from Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.
Your specific ecclesial experience in the body of the
Swiss Guard represents a prime opportunity to deepen your knowledge of
Christ and his Gospel and to walk in following it, almost breathing,
here in Rome, the catholicity of the Church. When some of you today will
swear faithfully to carry out the service in the guard and the others
renew this oath in their hearts, think that your service, too, is a
testimony to Christ, who is calling you to be authentic and true
Christians, the protagonists of your existence. Deeply united to Him,
you will know how to face with maturity the obstacles and the challenges
of life, in the firm conviction that, as the Liturgy of the Paschal
vigil reminds us, the risen Lord is “the eternal King who has overcome
the darkness of the world”. He alone is the Truth, the Way and the Life.
Dear Swiss Guards, don't forget that the Lord walks
with you. This is a good thought that does good to the soul: don't
forget that the Lord always work with us, is always at your side to
sustain you, especially in times of difficulty and trial. I wish deeply
that you may always feel the joy and comfort of his luminous and
merciful presence.
I commend each of you and your valuable service to the
maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary and your patron saints; and I
impart to you, to your family and to all my heartfelt Blessing as a sign
of great affection and special gratitude.
"What would the Church be without you? She would lack maternity, affection,
tenderness!"
VATICAN CITY, May 08,
2013 - Here is a translation of Francis' address today to the International
Union of Superiors General (UISG)
* * *
Lord Cardinal,
Venerable and Dear
Brother in the Episcopate,
Dear Sisters!
I am happy to meet with you today and I wish to greet each
one of you, thanking you for all that you do, so that consecrated life will
always be a light on the path of the Church. Dear Sisters, first of all I
thank dear Brother Cardinal João Bráz de Aviz, for the words he addressed to
me. I am also pleased by the presence of the Secretary of the Congregation.
The subject of your congress seems to me particularly important for the task
that has been entrusted to you: “The service of authority according to the
Gospel.” In the light of this expression, I would like to suggest three
simple thoughts, which I leave with you for your further personal and
communal reflection.
In the Last Supper, Jesus addressed these words to the
Apostles: “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16), which
reminds all, not just us priests, that a vocation is always an initiative of
God. It is Christ who has called you to follow him in the consecrated life
and this means to continually engage in an “exodus” from yourselves to
center your existence on Christ and on his Gospel, on the will of God,
divesting yourselves of your plans, to be able to say with Saint Paul: “It
is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). This
“exodus” from oneself is to put oneself on a path of adoration and service.
An exodus that leads us to a path of adoration of the Lord and of service to
Him in our brothers and sisters. To adore and to serve: two attitudes that
cannot be separated, but which must always go together. To adore the Lord
and to serve others, not holding anything for oneself: this is the
“divestment” of one who exercises authority. Live and recall always the
centrality of Christ, the evangelical identity of consecrated life. Help
your communities to live the “exodus” from themselves on a path of adoration
and service, first of all, through the three foundations of your existence.
Obedience as listening to the will of God in the interior
motion of the Holy Spirit, authenticated by the Church, accepting that
obedience passes also through human mediations. Remember that the
authority-obedience relation is placed in the wider context of the mystery
of the Church and constitutes a particular accomplishment of her mediating
function (cf. Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and
Societies of Apostolic Life, The Service of Authority and Obedience, 12.)
Poverty as the overcoming of all egoism in the logic of
the Gospel, which teaches us to trust in the Providence of God. Poverty as
an indication to the whole Church that we are not the ones who build the
Kingdom of God; it is not human means that make it grow, but primarily the
power, the grace of the Lord, who works through our weakness. “My grace is
sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,” states the
Apostle to the Gentiles (2 Corinthians 12:9). Poverty that teaches
solidarity, sharing and charity, and which is also expressed in a sobriety
and joy in the essential, to be on guard against material idols that
obfuscate the authentic meaning of life. Poverty that is learned with the
humble, the poor, the sick and all those who are on the existential
peripheries of life. Theoretical poverty is of no use to us. Poverty is
learned by touching the flesh of the poor Christ, in the humble, the poor,
the sick, in children.
And then chastity as a precious charism, which widens the
freedom of the gift to God and to others, with the tenderness, the mercy,
the closeness of Christ. Chastity for the Kingdom of Heaven shows how
affectivity has its place in mature freedom and becomes a sign of the future
world, to make God’s primacy shine always. But, please, a “fecund” chastity,
a chastity that generates spiritual children in the Church. The consecrated
woman is mother, she must be a mother and not a “spinster!” Excuse me if I
speak this way, but this maternity, this fecundity of consecrated life is
important! May this joy of spiritual fecundity animate your existence. Be
mothers, as the figure of Mother Mary and of the Mother Church. Mary cannot
be understood without her maternity; the Church cannot be understood without
her maternity and you are icons of Mary and of the Church.
A second element that I would like to stress in the
service of authority is service. We must not forget that true power, at
whatever level, is service, which has its luminous summit on the Cross. With
great wisdom Benedict XVI reminded the Church many times that for man,
authority is often synonymous with possession, dominion, success. For God
authority is always synonymous with service, humility, love. It means to
enter into Jesus’ logic, who bends down to wash the feet of the Apostles
(cf. Angelus, January 29, 2012), and who says to his disciples: “You know
that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them …. it shall not be so
among you; in fact, the motto of your assembly, no? ‘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” (Matthew 20:25-27). We
think of the harm inflicted on the People of God by men and women of the
Church who are careerists, social climbers, who “use” the people, the
Church, brothers and sisters – those they should serve -- as trampolines for
their own personal interests and ambitions. But these do great harm to the
Church.
Know always how to exercise authority by accompanying,
understanding, helping, loving, embracing all men and women, especially
persons who feel alone, excluded, arid -- the existential peripheries of the
human heart. Let us keep our sight fixed on the Cross: placed there is all
authority in the Church, where He who is the Lord makes himself a servant to
the point of total gift of himself.
Finally ecclesiality as one of the constitutive dimensions
of consecrated life, a dimension that must constantly be taken up and
deepened in life. Your vocation is an essential charism for the journey of
the Church, and it is not possible that a consecrated woman and a
consecrated man not “feel” along with the Church. A “feeling” along with the
Church which was generated in us in our Baptism; a “feeling” with the Church
which finds its filial expression in fidelity to the Magisterium, in
communion with the pastors and the Successor of Peter, Bishop of Rome, the
visible sign of unity. For every Christian, the proclamation and witnessing
of the Gospel are never an isolated act. This is important. For every
Christian the proclamation and witnessing of the Gospel are never an
isolated or group act, and no evangelizers acts, as Paul VI reminded very
well, "on the strength of a personal inspiration, but in union with the
mission of the Church and in her name” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii
nuntiandi, 80). And Paul VI continued: It is an absurd dichotomy to think of
living with Jesus without the Church, of following Jesus outside of the
Church, of loving Jesus without loving the Church (cf. Ibid., 16). Feel the
responsibility you have to take care of the formation of your Institutes in
the healthy doctrine of the Church, in love of the Church and in the
ecclesial spirit.
In sum, centrality of Christ and of his Gospel, authority
as service of love, “to feel” in and with the Mother Church: three pointers
I wish to leave with you, to which I now add once again gratitude for your
work, which is not always easy. What would the Church be without you? She
would lack maternity, affection, tenderness! A Mother’s intuition.
Dear Sisters, be
certain that I follow you with affection. I pray for you, but you also pray
for me. Greet your communities on my behalf, especially the sick and young
Sisters. I send all my encouragement to follow with parresia and joy the
Gospel of Christ. Be joyful, because it is beautiful to follow Jesus, it is
beautiful to become living icons of Our Lady and of our hierarchic Holy
Mother Church. Thank you.
VATICAN CITY, May 10,
2013 - Here is the text of the Holy Father's address to Coptic Pope
Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of Saint Mark today
during his visit.
* * *
Your Holiness,
Dear Brothers in Christ,
For me it is a great
joy and a truly graced moment to be able to receive all of you here, at the
tomb of Saint Peter, as we recall that historic meeting forty years ago
between our predecessors, Pope Paul VI and the late Pope Shenouda III, in an
embrace of peace and fraternity, after centuries in which there was a
certain distance between us. So it is with deep affection that I welcome
Your Holiness and the distinguished members of your delegation, and I thank
you for your words. Through you, I extend my cordial greetings in the Lord
to the bishops, the clergy, the monks and the whole Coptic Orthodox Church.
Today’s visit strengthens the bonds of friendship and
brotherhood that already exist between the See of Peter and the See of Mark,
heir to an inestimable heritage of martyrs, theologians, holy monks and
faithful disciples of Christ, who have borne witness to the Gospel from
generation to generation, often in situations of great adversity.
Forty years ago the Common Declaration of our predecessors
represented a milestone on the ecumenical journey, and from it emerged a
Commission for Theological Dialogue between our Churches, which has yielded
good results and has prepared the ground for a broader dialogue between the
Catholic Church and the entire family of Oriental Orthodox Churches, a
dialogue that continues to bear fruit to this day. In that solemn
Declaration, our Churches acknowledged that, in line with the apostolic
traditions, they profess "one faith in the One Triune God" and "the divinity
of the Only-begotten Son of God ... perfect God with respect to his
divinity, perfect man with respect to his humanity". They acknowledged that
divine life is given to us and nourished through the seven sacraments and
they recognized a mutual bond in their common devotion to the Mother of God.
We are glad to be able to confirm today what our
illustrious predecessors solemnly declared, we are glad to recognize that we
are united by one Baptism, of which our common prayer is a special
expression, and we long for the day when, in fulfilment of the Lord’s
desire, we will be able to communicate from the one chalice.
Of course we are well aware that the path ahead may still
prove to be long, but we do not want to forget the considerable distance
already travelled, which has taken tangible form in radiant moments of
communion, among which I am pleased to recall the meeting in February 2000
in Cairo between Pope Shenouda III and Blessed John Paul II, who went as a
pilgrim, during the Great Jubilee, to the places of origin of our faith. I
am convinced that – under the guidance of the Holy Spirit – our persevering
prayer, our dialogue and the will to build communion day by day in mutual
love will allow us to take important further steps towards full unity.
Your Holiness, I am aware of the many marks of attention
and fraternal charity that you have shown, since the early days of your
ministry, to the Catholic Coptic Church, to its Pastor, Patriarch Ibrahim
Isaac Sidrak and to his predecessor, Cardinal Antonios Naguib. The
institution of a "National Council of Christian Churches", which you
strongly desired, represents an important sign of the will of all believers
in Christ to develop relations in daily life that are increasingly fraternal
and to put themselves at the service of the whole of Egyptian society, of
which they form an integral part. Let me assure Your Holiness that your
efforts to build communion among believers in Christ, and your lively
interest in the future of your country and the role of the Christian
communities within Egyptian society find a deep echo in the heart of the
Successor of Peter and of the entire Catholic community.
"If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one
member is honoured, all rejoice together" (1
Cor 12:26). This is a law of the Christian
life, and in this sense we can say that there is also an ecumenism of
suffering: just as the blood of the martyrs was a seed of strength and
fertility for the Church, so too the sharing of daily sufferings can become
an effective instrument of unity. And this also applies, in a certain sense,
to the broader context of society and relations between Christians and
non-Christians: from shared suffering can blossom forth forgiveness,
reconciliation and peace, with God’s help.
Your Holiness, in
sincerely assuring you of my prayers that the whole flock entrusted to your
pastoral care may be ever faithful to the Lord’s call, I invoke the
protection of both Saint Peter and Saint Mark: may they who during their
lifetime worked together in practical ways for the spread of the Gospel,
intercede for us and accompany the journey of our Churches
VATICAN CITY, May
12, 2013 - Here is the address given by Pope Francis prior to the
recitation of the Regina Caeli at the end of the Canonization Mass
celebrated in St. Peter's Square today.
* * *
Dear brothers and
sisters,
At the end of this celebration, I would like to greet
all of you who have come to pay homage to the new saints, in a special
way I greet the official delegations from Italy, Colombia and Mexico.
May the martyrs of Otranto help the dear Italian
people to look to the future with hope, trusting the nearness of God,
who never abandons us even in difficult moments.
Through the intercession of Mother Laura Montoya may
the Lord grant a new missionary and evangelizing impulse to the Church
and, inspired by this new saint’s example of peace and reconciliation,
may the beloved sons and daughters of Colombia continue to work for
peace and the just development of their homeland.
In the hands of St. Guadalupe García Zavala we place
all the poor, the sick and those who assist them, and we commend to her
intercession the noble Mexican nation, that all violence and insecurity
be banished from that land, and that in every case the way of solidarity
and fraternal coexistence be advanced.
I am also happy to note that yesterday in Rome Father
Luigi Novarese, founder of the Center for the Volunteers of Suffering
(Centro volontari della Sofferenza) and the Silent Workers of the Cross
(Silenziosi Operai della Croce) was beatified. I join in the
thanksgiving for this exemplary priest, who understood how to renew
pastoral work with the sick, making them active participants in the
Church.
I greet the participants in the “March for Life,”
which took place this morning in Rome and I invite all to continue to be
attentive to this very important issue of respect for human life from
the moment of conception. In this regard I would like also to mention
the gathering of signatures that is taking place today in Italian
parishes to support the “One of Us” initiative in Europe to guarantee
legal protection of the embryo, protecting every human being from the
first instant of his existence. “‘Evangelium Vitae’ Day” will be a
special, which will take place here at the Vatican June 15-16, in the
context of the Year of Faith, will be a special moment for those who
take seriously the defense of the sacredness of human life.
I greet with affection all the parish groups,
families, schools and young people present. With filial love we turn now
to the Virgin Mary, mother and model of all Christians.
VATICAN CITY, May 12, 2013 - Here is the translation
of the homily delivered by Pope Francis during the Canonization Mass
held in St. Peter's Square this morning.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters,
On this seventh
Sunday of Easter we are gathered together with joy to celebrate a feast
of sanctity. Let us give thanks to God, who made his glory, the glory of
Love, shine in the Martyrs of Otranto, in Mother Laura Montoya and in
Mother María Guadalupe García Zavala. I greet all of you who have come
for this feast – from Italy, from Colombia, from Mexico, from other
countries – and I thank you!
I would like to consider the new saints in the light
of the Word of God that has been proclaimed. This is a Word that has
invited us to fidelity to Christ, even unto death; it has called us to
recognize the urgency and the beauty of bringing Christ and his Gospel
to all; and it has spoken to us of the witness of charity, without which
even martyrdom and missionary work lose their Christian character. The
Acts of the Apostles, when they speak to us of the deacon Stephen, the
first Christian martyr, insist on saying that he was a man “full of the
Holy Spirit” (6:5, 7:55). What does this mean? It means that he was full
of the Love of God, that is whole person, his whole life was animated by
the Spirit of the Risen Christ, so much so that it led him to follow
Christ in total fidelity, to the point of the gift of self.
Today the Church proposes for our veneration a group
of martyrs who were called together to the supreme witness to the Gospel
in 1480. About 800 people, who survived the siege and invasion of
Otranto, Italy, were decapitated on the outskirts of that city. They
refused to deny their faith and they died confessing the risen Christ.
Where did they find the strength to remain faithful? Precisely in faith,
which permits us to see beyond the limits of our human vision, beyond
the confines of earthly life, it permits us to contemplate “the heavens
opened up,” as St. Stephen says, and the living Christ at the Father’s
right hand. Dear friends, let us maintain the faith that we have
received and that is our treasure, let us renew our fidelity to the
Lord, even in the midst of obstacles and misunderstandings; God will
never let us lack strength and serenity.
As we venerate the Martyrs of Otranto, let us ask God
to sustain many Christians who, in our own time and in many parts of the
world, now still suffer from violence, and to give them the courage of
fidelity and to answer evil with good.
The second thought we can draw from the words of Jesus
that we have heard in the Gospel: “I pray for those who believe in me
through their word: that all may be one; as you, Father, are in me and I
am in you, may they also be in us” (John 17:20). St. Maria Laura Montoya
was an instrument of evangelization first as a teacher and then as a
spiritual mother of the indigenous people, to whom she gave hope,
welcoming them with God’s love and bringing them to him through an
effective pedagogy that respected their culture and did not oppose it.
In her work of evangelization Mother Laura truly made herself all things
to all men, according to the expression of St. Paul (cf. 1 Cor. 9:22).
Today too her spiritual daughters live and bring the Gospel to the most
obscure and needy places, as a kind of vanguard of the Church.
This first saint, born in the beautiful country of
Colombia, teaches us to be generous with God, not to live our faith
alone – as if it were possible to live the faith in an isolate way – but
to communicate it, to convey the joy of the Gospel with words and the
witness of life in every place in which we find ourselves. Wherever we
live let us let this light of the Gospel shine! She teaches us to see
the face of Jesus reflected in the other, to overcome indifference and
individualism, which corrode Christian communities and corrode our
heart, and she teaches us to welcome all without prejudice, without
discrimination, without reticence, with sincere love, giving them the
best of ourselves and above all sharing with them what is most precious
to us, which is not our works or our organizations, no! Our most
precious possession is Christ and his Gospel.
Lastly, a third thought. In today’s Gospel, Jesus
prays to the Father with these words: “I made known to them your name
and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be
in them and I in them” (John 17:26). The fidelity of martyrs unto death
and the proclamation of the Gospel to everyone are rooted in, have their
roots in the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (cf.
Romans 5:5), and in the testimony that we must give of this love in our
daily life. St. María Guadalupe García Zavala knew this well. Giving up
a comfortable life – how much damage is done by a comfortable life,
well-being; the “bourgeoisification” of the heart paralyzes us. Giving
up a comfortable life to follow Jesus’ call, she taught the love of
poverty, which permitted a greater love of the poor and infirm. Mother
Lupita knelt on the floor in the hospital before the sick and abandoned
to serve them with tenderness and compassion. And this is called
“touching the flesh of Christ.” The poor, the abandoned, the sick, the
marginalized are the flesh of Christ. And Mother Lupita touched the
flesh of Christ and taught us this way of acting: do not be ashamed, do
not be afraid, do not be repulsed by “touching the flesh of Christ.”
Mother Lupita understood what this “touching the flesh of Christ” meant.
Today her spiritual daughters continue to seek to reflect God’s love in
works of charity, without avoiding sacrifice and facing all obstacles
with meekness, with apostolic perseverance (hypomonē), enduring them
with courage.
This new Mexican saint invites us to love as Jesus
did, and this means not bring shut up in ourselves, in our own problems,
our own ideas, our own interests, in this little world that does so much
damage to us, but going out and caring for those who need attention,
understanding, help, to being them the warmth and nearness of God’s
love, through delicate gestures of sincere affection and love.
Fidelity to Christ
and to his Gospel, to proclaim it with our words and lives, witnessing
to God’s love with our love, with our charity to all: these are the
luminous examples and teachings the saints who are proclaimed today. But
they also pose questions for our Christian life: How am I faithful to
Christ? We bring this question with us to reflect on during the day: How
am I faithful to Christ? Am I able to manifest my faith with respect but
also with courage? Am I attentive to others, do I recognize those in
need, do I see everyone as a brother or sister to love? Let us ask for
the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the new saints, that the
Lord fill our lives with the joy of his love. Amen.
Text of Prayer Consecrating Francis' Pontificate to
Our Lady
"Fill his heart with the tenderness of God, which you felt like no one else"
ROME, May 14, 2013 -
Here is a translation of the prayer by which Cardinal José da Cruz
Policarpo, patriarch of Lisbon, Portugal, consecrated to Our Lady of Fatima
the pontificate of Pope Francis.
Monday was the feast
day of Our Lady of Fatima. The consecration was made at the end of Mass for
the feast at the Fatima shrine.
* * *
The bishops of Portugal and this multitude of pilgrims are
at your feet, on the 96th anniversary of your apparition to the little
shepherds in Cova de Iria, to fulfill Pope Francis’ clearly expressed wish,
that we consecrate to you, Virgin of Fatima, his ministry as Bishop of Rome
and universal shepherd.
Thus we consecrate to you, Lady, who are Mother of the
Church, the ministry of the new Pope. Fill his heart with the tenderness of
God, which you felt like no one else, so that he will be able to embrace all
the men and women of this time with the love of your Son Jesus Christ.
Contemporary humanity needs to feel that it is loved by God and by the
Church. Only by feeling loved will it overcome the temptation to violence,
materialism, forgetfulness of God, the loss of its way. And it will be led
by you to a new world where love will reign.
Give him the gift of discernment, to be able to identify
the paths for the renewal of the Church. Give him the courage not to
hesitate in following the paths suggested by the Holy Spirit. Shelter him in
the harsh hours of suffering, to overcome in charity the trials that the
renewal of the Church will bring. Be always by his side, saying with him
those words you know well: “I am the Handmaid of the Lord, let it be done
unto me according to Thy word.”
The paths of the renewal of the Church lead us to discover
the timeliness of the message that you gave the little shepherds: the
exigency of conversion to God who has been offended, because He is so
forgotten. Conversion is always a return to the love of God. God forgives
because He loves us. This is why His love is called mercy. The Church,
protected by your maternal solicitude and guided by this shepherd, must
assert herself increasingly as the place of conversion and forgiveness,
because in her, truth is always expressed in charity.
You indicated prayer as the decisive path of conversion.
Teach the Church of which you are a member and model, so that we will be
increasingly a people at prayer, in communion with the Holy Father, the
first of this people who prays, and also in silent communion with the
previous Pope, His Holiness Benedict XVI, who chose the path of the silent
man of prayer, taking the Church more profoundly into the paths of prayer.
In your message to the little shepherds, here in Cova de
Iria, you highlighted the Pope’s ministry, “the man dressed in white.” Three
of the last Popes were pilgrims to your shrine. Only you, Lady, in your
maternal love for the whole Church, can put in Pope Francis’ heart the
desire to be a pilgrim to this shrine. It is not something we can ask him
for other reasons. Only the silent collaboration between you and him will
attract him to this pilgrimage, in the certainty that he will be supported
by millions of believers, willing to hear your message again.
Here at this altar of
the world, he will be able to bless humanity, to make today’s world feel
that God loves all men and women of our time, that the Church loves them and
that you, Mother of the Redeemer, lead them with tenderness on the paths of
salvation.
Pope Francis' Message to Cardinal Scola on 17th
Centenary of the Edict of Milan
VATICAN CITY, May 15, 2013 -
Here is the translation of the telegram sent by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone,
Vatican Secretary of State, on behalf of the Pope to Cardinal Angelo Scola,
Archbishop of Milan, on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the
signing of the Edict of Milan.
* * *
TO HIS MOST REVEREND EXCELLENCY
THE LORD CARDINAL ANGELO SCOLA
ARCHBISHOP OF MILAN
Informed of the visit in that city of the Ecumenical Patriarch, on the
occasion of the solemn celebrations for the 17th centenary of the
Constantinian Edict, the Supreme Pontiff sends his fraternal greeting to his
His Holiness Bartholomew I, and sends a thought of welcome to the other
illustrious guests gathered for the happy circumstance and rejoices with the
beloved Ambrosian Church, with the civil authorities and with the whole city
of Milan, for the importance given to the memory of the historic decision
that, decreeing religious freedom for Christians, opened new paths to the
Gospel and contributed decisively to the birth of European civilization.
Pope Francis hopes that today, as
then, the common witness of Christians of the East and West, supported by
the spirit of the Risen One, will agree to the diffusion of the message of
salvation in Europe and in the whole world and that, thanks to the forsight
of the civil authorities, the right of public expression of one’s faith will
be respected everywhere, and that the contribution that Christianity
continues to offer to the culture and society of our time will be received
without prejudices. With these sentiments, the Holy Father, while renewing
his greeting, assures all those present of his closeness in prayer and sends
to you, Your Eminence, and to the whole flock entrusted to your pastoral
care, a special heartfelt Apostolic Blessing, in pledge of copious heavenly
graces.
"There is a need for financial reform along ethical lines that would produce in
its turn an economic reform to benefit everyone"
VATICAN CITY, May 16,
2013 - Here is a Vatican translation of the address Francis gave today
to four new ambassadors to the Holy See: Bolot Iskovich Otunbaev from
Kyrgyzstan; David Shoul from Antigua and Barbuda; Jean-Paul Senninger from
Luxembourg; and Lameck Nthekela from Botswana.
* * *
Your Excellencies,
I am pleased to receive you for the presentation of the
Letters accrediting you as Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to
the Holy See on the part of your respective countries: Kyrgyzstan, Antigua
and Barbuda, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and Botswana. The gracious words
which you have addressed to me, for which I thank you heartily, have
testified that the Heads of State of your countries are concerned to develop
relations of respect and cooperation with the Holy See. I would ask you
kindly to convey to them my sentiments of gratitude and esteem, together
with the assurance of my prayers for them and their fellow citizens.
Ladies and Gentlemen, our human family is presently
experiencing something of a turning point in its own history, if we consider
the advances made in various areas. We can only praise the positive
achievements which contribute to the authentic welfare of mankind, in fields
such as those of health, education and communications. At the same time, we
must also acknowledge that the majority of the men and women of our time
continue to live daily in situations of insecurity, with dire consequences.
Certain pathologies are increasing, with their psychological consequences;
fear and desperation grip the hearts of many people, even in the so-called
rich countries; the joy of life is diminishing; indecency and violence are
on the rise; poverty is becoming more and more evident. People have to
struggle to live and, frequently, to live in an undignified way. One cause
of this situation, in my opinion, is in the our relationship with money, and
our acceptance of its power over ourselves and our society. Consequently the
financial crisis which we are experiencing makes us forget that its ultimate
origin is to be found in a profound human crisis. In the denial of the
primacy of human beings! We have created new idols. The worship of the
golden calf of old (cf. Ex
32:15-34) has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the
dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane
goal.
The worldwide financial and economic crisis seems to
highlight their distortions and above all the gravely deficient human
perspective, which reduces man to one of his needs alone, namely,
consumption. Worse yet, human beings themselves are nowadays considered as
consumer goods which can be used and thrown away. We have started a
throw-away culture. This tendency is seen on the level of individuals and
whole societies; and it is being promoted! In circumstances like these,
solidarity, which is the treasure of the poor, is often considered
counterproductive, opposed to the logic of finance and the economy. While
the income of a minority is increasing exponentially, that of the majority
is crumbling. This imbalance results from ideologies which uphold the
absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation, and thus deny the
right of control to States, which are themselves charged with providing for
the common good. A new, invisible and at times virtual, tyranny is
established, one which unilaterally and irremediably imposes its own laws
and rules. Moreover, indebtedness and credit distance countries from their
real economy and citizens from their real buying power. Added to this, as if
it were needed, is widespread corruption and selfish fiscal evasion which
have taken on worldwide dimensions. The will to power and of possession has
become limitless.
Concealed behind this attitude is a rejection of
ethics, a rejection of God. Ethics, like solidarity, is a nuisance! It is
regarded as counterproductive: as something too human, because it
relativizes money and power; as a threat, because it rejects manipulation
and subjection of people: because ethics leads to God, who is situated
outside the categories of the market. God is thought to be unmanageable by
these financiers, economists and politicians, God is unmanageable, even
dangerous, because he calls man to his full realization and to independence
from any kind of slavery. Ethics – naturally, not the ethics of ideology –
makes it possible, in my view, to create a balanced social order that is
more humane. In this sense, I encourage the financial experts and the
political leaders of your countries to consider the words of Saint John
Chrysostom: "Not to share one’s goods with the poor is to rob them and to
deprive them of life. It is not our goods that we possess, but theirs" (Homily
on Lazarus, 1:6 – PG 48, 992D).
Dear Ambassadors, there is a need for financial reform
along ethical lines that would produce in its turn an economic reform to
benefit everyone. This would nevertheless require a courageous change of
attitude on the part of political leaders. I urge them to face this
challenge with determination and farsightedness, taking account, naturally,
of their particular situations. Money has to serve, not to rule! The Pope
loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but the Pope has the duty, in Christ’s
name, to remind the rich to help the poor, to respect them, to promote them.
The Pope appeals for disinterested solidarity and for a return to
person-centred ethics in the world of finance and economics.
For her part, the Church always works for the integral
development of every person. In this sense, she reiterates that the common
good should not be simply an extra, simply a conceptual scheme of inferior
quality tacked onto political programmes. The Church encourages those in
power to be truly at the service of the common good of their peoples. She
urges financial leaders to take account of ethics and solidarity. And why
should they not turn to God to draw inspiration from his designs? In this
way, a new political and economic mindset would arise that would help to
transform the absolute dichotomy between the economic and social spheres
into a healthy symbiosis.
Finally, through you,
I greet with affection the Pastors and the faithful of the Catholic
communities present in your countries. I urge them to continue their
courageous and joyful witness of faith and fraternal love in accordance with
Christ’s teaching. Let them not be afraid to offer their contribution to the
development of their countries, through initiatives and attitudes inspired
by the Sacred Scriptures! And as you inaugurate your mission, I extend to
you, dear Ambassadors, my very best wishes, assuring you of the assistance
of the Roman Curia for the fulfilment of your duties. To this end, upon you
and your families, and also upon your Embassy staff, I willingly invoke
abundant divine blessings. Thank you.
VATICAN CITY, May
19, 2013 - Here is the translation of the Holy Father's address prior to
the recitation of the Regina Caeli at the conclusion of the Mass for the
Solemnity of Pentecost.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters,
This feast of faith, which began yesterday with the
vigil and culminated this morning with the Eucharist, is about to
conclude, a renewed Pentecost that transformed St. Peter’s Square in a
cenacle opened to heaven. We relived the experience of the nascent
Church, united in prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus (cf. Acts 1:14).
We too, in the variety of charisms, have experienced the beauty of
unity, of being one. And this is the work of the Holy Spirit, who
continually creates the unity of the Church.
I would like to thank the movements, the associations,
the communities, the ecclesial groups. You are a gift and part of the
riches of the Church! This is what you are! I thank in a special way all
of you who have come from Rome and from many corners of the globe. Bring
the power of the Gospel wherever you go! Do not be afraid! Always
rejoice and be passionate about the communion of the Church! May the
risen Lord always be with you and Our Lady protect you! Let us remember
in prayer the people of the Region of Emilia Romagna in Italy who
experienced an earthquake last year on May 20. I also pray for the
Italian Federation of Oncology Volunteer Associations.
[After reciting the ReginaCaeli with those present the
Holy Father concluded with these words:]
Brothers and sisters, thank you so much for your love
for the Church! Have a goodSunday, happy Feast of Pentecost and have a
good lunch!
VATICAN CITY, May 19, 2013 - Here is the translation
of Pope Francis' homily at Mass for the Solemnity of Pentecost which was
celebrated this morning at St. Peter's Square.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today we contemplate and re-live in the liturgy the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit sent by the risen Christ upon his Church;
an event of grace which filled the Upper Room in Jerusalem and then
spread throughout the world.
But what happened on that day, so distant from us and
yet so close as to touch the very depths of our hearts? Luke gives us
the answer in the passage of the Acts of the Apostles which we have
heard (2:1-11). The evangelist brings us back to Jerusalem, to the Upper
Room where the apostles were gathered. The first element which draws our
attention is the sound which suddenly came from heaven like the rush of
a violent wind, and filled the house; then the tongues as of fire which
divided and came to rest on each of the apostles. Sound and tongues of
fire: these are clear, concrete signs which touch the apostles not only
from without but also within: deep in their minds and hearts. As a
result, all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, who unleashed his
irresistible power with amazing consequences: they all began to speak in
different languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. A completely
unexpected scene opens up before our eyes: a great crowd gathers,
astonished because each one heard the apostles speaking in his own
language. They all experience something new, something which had never
happened before: We hear them, each of us, speaking our own language.
And what is it that they are they speaking about? Gods deeds of power.
In the light of this passage from Acts, I would like
to reflect on three words linked to the working of the Holy Spirit:
newness, harmony and mission.
1. Newness always makes us a bit fearful, because we
feel more secure if we have everything under control, if we are the ones
who build, programme and plan our lives in accordance with our own
ideas, our own comfort, our own preferences. This is also the case when
it comes to God. Often we follow him, we accept him, but only up to a
certain point. It is hard to abandon ourselves to him with complete
trust, allowing the Holy Spirit to be the soul and guide of our lives in
our every decision. We fear that God may force us to strike out on new
paths and leave behind our all too narrow, closed and selfish horizons
in order to become open to his own. Yet throughout the history of
salvation, whenever God reveals himself, he brings newness and change,
and demands our complete trust: Noah, mocked by all, builds an ark and
is saved; Abram leaves his land with only a promise in hand; Moses
stands up to the might of Pharaoh and leads his people to freedom; the
apostles, huddled fearfully in the Upper Room, go forth with courage to
proclaim the Gospel. This is not a question of novelty for noveltys
sake, the search for something new to relieve our boredom, as is so
often the case in our own day. The newness which God brings into our
life is something that actually brings fulfilment, that gives true joy,
true serenity, because God loves us and desires only our good. Let us
ask ourselves: Are we open to Gods surprises? Or are we closed and
fearful before the newness of the Holy Spirit? Do we have the courage to
strike out along the new paths which Gods newness sets before us, or do
we resist, barricaded in transient structures which have lost their
capacity for openness to what is new?
2. A second thought: the Holy Spirit would appear to
create disorder in the Church, since he brings the diversity of charisms
and gifts; yet all this, by his working, is a great source of wealth,
for the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of unity, which does not mean
uniformity, but which leads everything back to harmony. In the Church,
it is the Holy Spirit who creates harmony. One of Fathers of the Church
has an expression which I love: the Holy Spirit himself is harmony Ipse
harmonia est. Only the Spirit can awaken diversity, plurality and
multiplicity, while at the same time building unity. Here too, when we
are the ones who try to create diversity and close ourselves up in what
makes us different and other, we bring division. When we are the ones
who want to build unity in accordance with our human plans, we end up
creating uniformity, standardization. But if instead we let ourselve be
guided by the Spirit, richness, variety and diversity never become a
source of conflict, because he impels us to experience variety within
the communion of the Church. Journeying together in the Church, under
the guidance of her pastors who possess a special charism and ministry,
is a sign of the working of the Holy Spirit. Having a sense of the
Church is something fundamental for every Christian, every community and
every movement. It is the Church which brings Christ to me, and me to
Christ; parallel journeys are dangerous! When we venture beyond
(proagon) the Churchs teaching and community, and do not remain in them,
we are not one with the God of Jesus Christ (cf. 2 Jn 9). So let us ask
ourselves: Am I open to the harmony of the Holy Spirit, overcoming every
form of exclusivity? Do I let myself be guided by him, living in the
Church and with the Church?
3. A final point. The older theologians used to say
that the soul is a kind of sailboat, the Holy Spirit is the wind which
fills its sails and drives it forward, and the gusts of wind are the
gifts of the Spirit. Lacking his impulse and his grace, we do not go
forward. The Holy Spirit draws us into the mystery of the living God and
saves us from the threat of a Church which is gnostic and
self-referential, closed in on herself; he impels us to open the doors
and go forth to proclaim and bear witness to the good news of the
Gospel, to communicate the joy of faith, the encounter with Christ. The
Holy Spirit is the soul of mission. The events that took place in
Jerusalem almost two thousand years ago are not something far removed
from us; they are events which affect us and become a lived experience
in each of us. The Pentecost of the Upper Room in Jerusalem is the
beginning, a beginning which endures. The Holy Spirit is the supreme
gift of the risen Christ to his apostles, yet he wants that gift to
reach everyone. As we heard in the Gospel, Jesus says: I will ask the
Father, and he will give you another Advocate to remain with you forever
(Jn 14:16). It is the Paraclete Spirit, the Comforter, who grants us the
courage to take to the streets of the world, bringing the Gospel! The
Holy Spirit makes us look to the horizon and drive us to the very
outskirts of existence in order to proclaim life in Jesus Christ. Let us
ask ourselves: do we tend to stay closed in on ourselves, on our group,
or do we let the Holy Spirit open us to mission?
Todays liturgy is
a great prayer which the Church, in union with Jesus, raises up to the
Father, asking him to renew the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. May each
of us, and every group and movement, in the harmony of the Church, cry
out to the Father and implore this gift. Today too, as at her origins,
the Church, in union with Mary, cries out:Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Come
Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the
fire of your love! Amen.
"Christian truth is attractive and
persuasive because it answers the profound need of human existence,
proclaiming in a convincing way that Christ is the only Savior of the whole
man and of all men." Holy Father, these words of yours have had a profound
effect on us: they express in a direct and radical way the experience that
each of us wishes to live above all in the Year of Faith and in this
pilgrimage that has brought us here this evening. We are before you to renew
our faith, to confirm it and to reinforce it. We know that the faith cannot
be <confessed> once and for all. As Benedict XVI said in Porta fidei: faith
is not an obvious presupposition. This statement does not relate only to the
world, others, the tradition from which we come: this statement relates
first of all to each one of us. Too often we realize that the faith is a new
bud, the beginning of change, but difficult to invest in it the totality of
life. It does not become the origin of all that we know and do.
Holiness, in your life, how were you able to arrive at certainty about
the faith?
And what path do you indicate to us so that each one of us can overcome
the fragility of our faith?
[Next question]
Holy Father, mine is the experience
of daily life as that of so many. I try to live the faith in the realm of
work, in contact with others, as a sincere testimony of the good received in
my encounter with the Lord. I am, we are "thoughts of God," invested with a
mysterious Love that has given us life. I teach in a school, and this
awareness gives me the motive to be attentive to my youngsters and also my
colleagues. I often see that many seek happiness in so many individual ways
in which life and its great demands are often reduced to the materialism of
the one who wants to have everything and is always dissatisfied, or to
nihilism in the one for whom nothing makes sense. I wonder how the proposal
of the faith, which is that of a personal encounter, of a community, of a
people, can reach the heart of the man and woman of our time. We are made
for the infinite -- bet your life for great things! -- you said recently,
and yet everything around us and around our young people seems to say that
we must be content with immediate, mediocre answers, and that man must adapt
himself to the finite without seeking anything else.
Sometimes we are intimidated, as the disciples on the eve of Pentecost.
The Church invites us to the New Evangelization. I think that all of us
here feel this challenge strongly, which is at the heart of our experiences.
Because of this, I would like to ask you, Holy Father, to help me and all of
us to understand how we should live this challenge in our time. What is, for
you, the most important things that all our Movements, Associations and
Communities must look at to carry out the task to which we have been called?
How can we communicate the faith in an effective way today?
[Third question]
Holy Father, I listened with emotion to the words you said at the
audience with journalists after your election: "How much I would like a poor
Church for the poor." Many of us are engaged in works of charity and
justice: we are an active part of that presence of the Church where man
suffers. I am committed, I have my family and, to the degree that I can, I
involve myself personally in closeness and help to the poor. But I don't
feel good because of this. I would like to say with Mother Teresa:
everything is for Christ. The great help in living this experience are the
brothers and sisters of my community who are committed to the same purpose.
And in this commitment we are sustained by faith and prayer. The need is
great. You have reminded us of it: "How many poor there are still in the
world and how much suffering these persons have." And the crisis has
aggravated everything. I think of the poverty that afflicts so many
countries -- which has also appeared in the well-off world -- of the lack of
work, of mass migratory movements, new slaveries, the abandonment and
loneliness of so many families, of so many elderly and of so many persons
that have no home or work.
I would like to ask you, Holy Father, how I and all of us can live a poor
Church for the poor? In what way is a suffering man a question for our
faith? All of us, as lay Movements and Associations, what concrete and
effective contribution can we make to the Church and to society to address
this grave crisis that touches public ethics, the model of development,
politics, in sum a new way of being men and women?
[Fourth question]
Walk, build, confess. This is you "program" for a Church-movement, at
least this is how I understood it on hearing one of your homilies at the
beginning of the Pontificate, you comforted and motivated us. Comforted us
because we find ourselves in a profound unity with friends of the Christian
community and with the whole universal Church. Motivated, because in a
certain sense you have exhorted us to remove the dust of time and of the
superficiality of our adherence to Christ. But I must say that I am unable
to overcome the sense of disturbance that one of these words causes me:
confess. Confess, that is, witness the faith. We think of so many of our
brothers who suffer because of [the faith], as we heard a short while ago.
One who on Sunday morning must decide to go to Mass because he knows that by
going to Mass he risks his life. One who feels fenced in and discriminated
because of his Christian faith in so many, in too many parts of the world.
In face of these situations, it seems that my confession -- our witness --
is timid and hindered. We want to do more, but what? And how can we help
these, our brothers? How can we alleviate their suffering without being able
to do anything, or very little, to change their political and social
context?
THE HOLY FATHER'S ANSWERS
Good evening to you all!
I am happy to meet with you and that we are all meeting in
this Square to pray, to be united and to await the gift of the Spirit. I
know your questions and I have thought of you – this, then, is not without
knowledge! First, the truth. I have them here, written.
The first – "in your life, how have you been able to
arrive at certainty about the faith; and what way do you indicate so that
each one of us will be able to overcome the fragility of our faith?" – It is
an historical question because it relates to my history, to the story of my
life!
I had the grace to grow up in a family in which the faith
was lived in a simple and concrete way; but it was above all my grandmother,
my father's mother, who marked my way of faith. She was a woman who
explained to us, who spoke to us of Jesus, who taught us the Catechism. I
remember that on Good Friday she would take us to the candle procession and,
at the end of this procession, the "dead Christ" would arrive, and our
grandmother would have us children kneel and said to us: "Look , He is dead,
but tomorrow He will rise." I received the first Christian proclamation from
this woman, from my grandmother! And this is most beautiful! The first
proclamation at home, with the family! And this makes me think of the love
of so many mothers and so many grandmothers in the transmission of the
faith. They are the ones who transmit the faith. This happened also in the
first times, because Saint Paul said to Timothy: "I am reminded of your
sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother" (cf. 2 Timothy
1:5). All mothers who are here, all grandmothers, think of this! To transmit
the faith, because God puts us next to persons that help us on our journey
of faith. We don't find faith in the abstract. No! It is always a person who
preaches, who tells us who Jesus is, who transmits the faith to us, who
gives us the first proclamation. And thus was the first experience of faith
that I had.
However, there is a day that was very important for me:
Sept. 21, 1953. I was almost 17. It was the "Day of the Student," for us the
day of Spring – for you the day of Autumn. Before going to the party, I went
to the parish I frequented, I met a priest whom I did not know, and felt the
need to go to Confession. This was for me an experience of encounter: I
found that someone was waiting for me. But I don't know what happened, I
don't remember, I don't know in fact why that priest was there, whom I
didn't know, why I felt this desire to go to Confession, but the truth is
that someone was waiting for me. He had been waiting for me for some time.
After Confession, I felt something had changed. I wasn't the same. In fact I
heard something like a voice, a call: I was convinced I had to become a
priest. This experience in faith is important. We say that we must seek God,
go to Him to ask Him for forgiveness, but when we go, He is waiting for us,
He is first! In Spanish we have a word that explains this well: "The Lord
always 'primerea' us," is first, is waiting for us! And this is, in fact, a
great grace: to find someone who is waiting for you. You go as a sinner, but
He is waiting for you to forgive you. This is the experience that the
Prophets of Israel described saying that the Lord is like the flower of the
almond tree, the first flower of Spring (cf. Jeremiah 1:11-12). He is there,
before the other flowers come out. He who waits. The Lord waits for us. And
when we seek Him, we find this reality: that He is waiting for us to receive
us, to give us His love. And this brings to your heart such astonishment
that you don't believe it, and so faith grows! -- with the encounter with a
person, with the encounter with the Lord. Someone will say: "No, I prefer to
study the faith in books!" It's important to study it but look, this alone
is not enough!
The important thing is the encounter with Jesus, the
encounter with Him, and this gives you faith, because it is precisely He who
gives it to you! You also spoke of the fragility of faith, what can be done
to overcome it. The enemy that is greater than fragility – it's curious, no?
– is fear. But don't be afraid! We are fragile, and we know it. But He is
stronger! If you go with Him, there's no problem! A child is very fragile –
I have seen so many today -- but he is with his father, with his mother, he
is safe! We are safe with the Lord. Faith grows with the Lord, in fact, from
the hand of the Lord; this makes us grow and makes us strong. But if we
think we can arrange ourselves on our own … Let us think what happened to
Peter: "Lord, I will never fall away!" (cf. Matthew 26:33-35); and then the
cock crowed and he had denied Him three times! (cf. vv. 69-75). Let us
think: when we have too much confidence in ourselves, we are more fragile,
more fragile. Always with the Lord! And to say with the Lord means to say
with the Eucharist, with the Bible, with prayer … but also in the family,
also with our mother, also with her, because she is the one who takes us to
the Lord; it is the mother, the one who knows everything. Hence pray also to
Our Lady and ask her that, as Mother, she make me strong. This is what I
think about fragility, at least it's my experience. One thing that makes me
strong every day is to pray the Rosary to Our Lady. I feel such great
strength because I go to her and I feel strong.
Let's go to the second question.
"I think that all of us here present feel the challenge
strongly, the challenge of evangelization, which is at the heart of our
experiences. Because of this I would like to ask you, Holy Father, to help
me and all of us to understand how we must live this challenge in our time,
what do you think is the most important thing that all our Movements,
Associations and Communities must look at to do the task to which we have
been called. How can we communicate the faith today in an effective way?"
I will say only three words.
The first: Jesus. What is the most important thing? Jesus.
If we go ahead with organization, with other things, with beautiful things
but without Jesus, we don't go forward, it doesn't work. Jesus is most
important. Now I would like to make a small reproach, but fraternally, among
us. All of you cried out in the Square: "Francis, Francis, Pope Francis."
But, where was Jesus? I would have liked you to shout: "Jesus, Jesus is the
Lord, and He is in fact in our midst! Henceforth, no "Francis" but "Jesus"!
The second word is: prayer. To look at God's face but,
above all – and this is linked to what I said first – to feel oneself looked
upon. The Lord looks at us: He looks at us first. My experience is what I
experience before the Tabernacle when I go to pray, in the evening, before
the Lord. Sometimes I fall asleep a little; this is true, because the
exhaustion of the day makes you fall asleep a bit. But He understands me.
And I feel so much comfort when I think He is looking at me. We think that
we must pray, talk, talk, talk … No! Let the Lord look at you. When He looks
at us, He gives us strength and helps us to witness Him – because the
question was about witnessing the faith, no? First "Jesus," then "prayer" –
we feel God is holding us by the hand. I stress now the importance of this:
let yourself be guided by Him. This is more important than any calculation.
We are true evangelizers by allowing ourselves to be guided by Him. We think
of Peter; perhaps he was having a siesta, after lunch, and had a vision, the
vision of the sheet with all the animals, and he felt that Jesus was saying
something to him, but he didn't understand. At that moment, some non-Jews
came to call him to go to a house, and he saw how the Holy Spirit was over
there. Peter allowed himself to be guided by Jesus to achieve that first
evangelization to the Gentiles, who were not Jews: something unimaginable at
that time (cf. Acts 10:9-33). And so, the whole story, the whole story! --
to allow oneself to be guided by Jesus. He is in fact the leader; Jesus is
our leader.
The third: witness. Jesus, prayer – pray, allowing oneself
to be guided by Him – and then witness. But I would like to add something.
This allowing of oneself to be guided by Jesus leads you to Jesus'
surprises. One can think that we must plan evangelization at the table,
thinking of strategies, making plans. But these are instruments, small
instruments. What is important is Jesus and allowing oneself to be guided by
Him. Then we can do the strategies, but this is secondary.
In fine, witness: communication of the faith can only be
done with witness, and this is love. Not with our ideas, but with the Gospel
lived in one's own life and which the Holy Spirit makes us live within
ourselves. It is like a synergy between us and the Holy Spirit, and this
leads to witness. The church is taken forward by the Saints, who are, in
fact, those who give this witness. As John Paul II and also Benedict XVI
said, the world today has such need of witnesses. Not so much of teachers
but of witnesses -- not so much talking but to speak with one's whole life:
consistency of life, in fact, consistency of life! A consistency of life
which is to live Christianity as an encounter with Jesus, who takes me to
others, and not as a social event. We are so socially, we are Christians,
shut in on ourselves. No, not this! Witness!
The third question: "I would like to ask, Holy Father, how
I and all of us can live a poor Church for the poor. In what way is the
suffering man a question for our faith? All of us, as Movements, as lay
Associations, what concrete and effective contribution can we make to the
Church and to society to address this grave crisis that touches public
ethics" – this is important! – the model of development, politics, in sum a
new way of being men and women?
I take up witness again. First of all, the main
contribution we can give is to live the Gospel. The Church is not a
political movement, or a well-organized structure: she isn't this. We're not
an NGO, and when the Church becomes an NGO she loses salt, has no flavor, is
only an empty organization. And in this you must be shrewd, because the
devil deceives us, because there is the danger of efficiency. It is one
thing to preach Jesus, and another to be efficient. No, that is another
value. The Church is salt of the earth, she is light of the world, she is
called to render present in society the leaven of the Kingdom of God and she
does so first of all with her testimony, the testimony of fraternal love, of
solidarity, of sharing. When we hear some say that solidarity isn't a value,
but that it is a "primary attitude" that must disappear … this is not on!
They are thinking only of a worldly effectiveness. The moments of crisis,
such as the ones we are living – but you said before that "we are in a world
of lies" -- this moment of crisis, let's pay attention, does not consist
solely of an economic crisis; no, it's a cultural crisis. It's a crisis of
man: what is in crisis is man! And what can be destroyed is man! But man is
the image of God! Because of this it is a profound crisis! In this moment of
crisis we can't be concerned only about ourselves, shut ourselves in
solitude, in discouragement, in the sense of impotence in face of the
problems. Don't shut yourselves in, please! This is a danger: if we shut
ourselves in in the parish, with friends, in the movement, with those with
whom we think the same things … do you know what happens? When the Church
becomes closed, she gets sick, she gets sick. Think of a closed room for a
year; when you go in, there's a smell of dampness, there are so many things
that are not on. A closed Church is the same thing: it is a sick Church. The
Church must come out of herself. Where? To the existential peripheries,
whatever they are, but go out. Jesus says to us: "Go into all the world! Go!
Preach! Give witness of the Gospel!" (cf. Mark 16:15). But what happens when
one comes out of oneself? What can happen is what might happen to all those
who leave home and go out to the street: an accident. But I say to you: I
prefer a thousand times an 'incidentata' Church, involved in an accident,
than a sick Church because she is closed! Go outside, go out! Think also of
what Revelation says. It says a beautiful thing: that Jesus is at the door
and knocks, he knocks to come in to our heart (cf. Revelation 3:20). This is
the meaning of Revelation. But ask yourselves this question: how many times
is Jesus inside and knocks on the door to go out, to go outside, and we
don't let Him go out, because of our securities, because so many times we
are in obsolete structures, which only serve to make us slaves, and not free
children of God? In this "exit" it is important to go to the encounter; this
word is very important for me: encounter with others. Why? Because the faith
is an encounter with Jesus, and we must do the same thing that Jesus does:
encounter others. We live a culture of clash, a culture of fragmentation, a
culture in which what isn't of use to me I throw away, the culture of
rejection! But we should go to an encounter and with our faith we must
create a "culture of encounter," a culture of friendship, a culture where we
find brothers, where we can speak also with those who don't think like we
do, also with those who have another faith, who don't have the same faith.
All have something in common with us: they are images of God, they are
children of God. We must go out to meet everyone, without negotiating our
membership.
And another point is important: with the poor. If we come
out of ourselves, we find poverty. Today – it pains the heart to say it –
today, to find a homeless person dead from cold isn't news. Today news,
perhaps, is a scandal. A scandal: ah, that is news! Today, to think that so
many children have nothing to eat isn't news. This is grave, this is grave!
We cannot remain calm! But … things are like this. We cannot become stiff
Christians, those Christians who are too educated, who speak of theological
things while having tea, calm Christians. No! We must become courageous
Christians and go to seek those who are in fact Christ's flesh, those who
are the flesh of Christ! When I go to hear confessions – now I can't because
to go out to hear confessions … one cannot go out of here, but this is
another problem – when I went to hear confessions in my previous diocese,
some came and I always asked this question: "But do you give alms?" – "Yes,
Father!" "Ah, good, good." And then I would ask two more: "Tell me, when you
give alms do you look into the eyes of the man or woman to whom you give
alms?" "Ah, I don't know, I don't remember." Second question: "And when you
give alms, do you touch the hand of the one to whom you give alms, or do you
toss the coin?" This is the problem -- Christ's flesh, to touch the flesh of
Christ, to take on ourselves this pain for the poor. For us Christians,
poverty is not a sociological, philosophical or cultural category. No, it is
a theological category. I would say, perhaps the first category, because
God, the Son of God, abased Himself, made Himself poor to walk with us on
the road. And this is our poverty: the poverty of the flesh of Christ, the
poverty that the Son of God brought us with His Incarnation. A poor Church
for the poor begins by going to the flesh of Christ. If we go to the flesh
of Christ, we begin to understand something, to understand what this poverty
is, the poverty of the Lord. And this isn't easy. But there is a problem
that does no good to Christians: the spirit of the world, the worldly
spirit, spiritual worldliness. This leads us to a sufficiency, to live the
spirit of the world and not that of Jesus. The question you asked: how
should one live to address this crisis that touches public ethics, the model
of development, politics. As this is a crisis of man, a crisis that destroys
man, it is a crisis that robs man of ethics.
If there is no ethics in public life, in political life,
an ethics of reference, everything is possible and everything can be done.
And when we read the newspapers we see how the lack of ethics in public life
does so much harm to the whole of humanity.
I would like to tell you a story. I've done so twice
already this week, but I'll do it a third time with you. It is the story
told by a biblical midrash of a Rabbi of the 12th century. He tells the
story of the building of the Tower of Babel and says that to build the tower
of Babel it was necessary to make bricks. What does this mean? To go, to
knead the mud, to carry the straw, do everything … then, to the oven. And
when the brick was made, it had to be taken up, for the construction of the
Tower of Babel. A brick was a treasure, for all the work entailed to make
it. When a brick fell, it was a national tragedy and the guilty worker was
punished; a brick was so precious that if it fell it was a tragedy. However,
if a worker fell, nothing happened, it was something else. This happens
today: if investments in the banks fall somewhat … tragedy … what to do? But
if people die of hunger, if they have nothing to eat, if they don't have
health, it doesn't matter! This is our crisis of today! And the testimony of
a poor Church for the poor goes against this mentality.
The fourth question: "In face of these situations, it
seems to me that my confession, my witness is timid and hindered. I would
like to do more, but what? And how should we help these our brothers, how
should we alleviate their suffering, not being able to do anything or very
little to change their political-social context?"
Two virtues are necessary to proclaim the Gospel: courage
and patience. They [Christians who suffer] are in the Church of patience.
They suffer and there are more martyrs today than in the first centuries of
the Church – more martyrs! -- brothers and sisters of ours. They suffer!
They lead their faith to the point of martyrdom. But martyrdom is never a
defeat; martyrdom is the highest degree of witness that we must give. We are
on the way to martyrdom, of little martyrs: to renounce this, to do this …
but we are on the way. And they, poor little ones, give their life, but they
give it – as we heard the situation in Pakistan – for love of Jesus,
witnessing to Jesus. A Christian must always have this attitude of meekness,
of humility, in fact the attitude they have, trusting in Jesus, entrusting
themselves to Jesus. It is necessary to specify that so many times these
conflicts do not have a religious origin; often there are other causes, of a
social or political type and, unfortunately, religious membership is used as
fuel on the fire. A Christian must always be able to respond to evil with
goodness, even if often it is difficult. We try to make these, our brothers
and sisters, feel that we are profoundly united with them – profoundly
united! – with their situation; that we know they are Christians who have
"entered into patience." When Jesus goes to meet His Passion, he enters into
patience. They have entered into patience: make them know this, but also
make it known to the Lord. I ask the question: do you pray for these
brothers and sisters? Do you pray for them In your everyday prayer? I won't
ask the one who prays to raise his hand now: no. I will not ask him now. But
think about it. In our prayer every day we say to Jesus: "Lord, look at this
brother, look at this sister who suffers so much, who suffers so much! They
experience the limit, in fact the limit between life and death. And for us
also, this experience should lead us to promote religious freedom for all,
for all! Every man and every woman must be free in his/her religious
confession, no matter what it is. Why? Because that man and that woman are
children of God.
And so, I believe I said something on your questions; I am
sorry if I was too long. Thank you so much! Thank you, and don't forget:
never a closed Church, but a Church that goes out, to the peripheries of
existence. May the Lord guide us down here. Thank you.
VATICAN CITY, May 21, 2013 - Here is the telegram sent by Cardinal
Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, to Archbishop Paul S. Coakley
of Oklahoma City expressing Pope Francis' sympathy for the victims of the
tragic tornado that struck Oklahoma City yesterday.
* * *
The Holy Father has followed with
deep concern the aftermath of the devastating tornado which has struck
Oklahoma and he asks you convey to the entire community the assurance of his
solidarity and closeness in prayer. Conscious of the tragic loss of life and
the immensity of the work of rebuilding that lies ahead, he asks Almighty
God to grant eternal rest to the departed, comfort to the afflicted, and
strength and hope to the homeless and the injured. In a particular way he
commends to the Father of mercies the many young children among the victims
and their grieving families. Upon the local civil and religious leaders, and
upon all involved in the relief efforts, His Holiness invokes the Risen
Lord’s gifts of consolation, strength and perseverance in every good.
Pope's Address to Directors of Pontifical Missionary
Societies
VATICAN CITY, May 17,
2013 - Here is the translation of Pope Francis' address to the
directors of the Pontifical Missionary Societies who are in Rome for their
annual General Assembly.
* * *
Dear Brothers and
Sisters,
I am particularly
pleased to meet for the first time with you, national directors of the
Pontifical Mission societies from around the world. I cordially greet
Cardinal Fernando Filoni, and thank him for the service that he performs as
Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of the Peoples, as well
as for the words he addressed to me on your behalf. I extend my greetings to
the Secretary, Msgr. Savio Hon Tai-Fai, to the Under-Secretary Protase
Rugambwa, and to all collaborators of the Department and of the Pontifical
Mission societies, priests, religious, and laypeople.
1. I would like to tell you that you are especially dear
to me because you help me keep alive the activity of evangelisation, the
paradigm of every work of the Church. In fact, the Bishop of Rome is called
to be the Pastor not only of his particular Church, but also of all the
churches, so that the Gospel may be announced to the ends of the earth. And
in this task, the Pontifical Mission societies are a privileged instrument
in the hands of the Pope, who is the principle and sign of the unity and
universality of the Church (cf. Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution
Lumen gentium, 23). They're called "Pontifical" because they are at the
direct disposal of the Bishop of Rome, with the specific purpose of acting
so that the precious gift of the Gospel may be offered to all. They are
still necessary today - indeed, they are of the greatest moment - because
there are so many people who have not yet known and met Christ, and it is
urgent to find new forms and new ways for God's grace to touch the heart of
every man and every woman and bring them to Him. We all are simple tools,
but important ones; we have received the gift of faith not to keep it
hidden, but to spread it, so that it can illuminate the path of so many
brothers and sisters.
2. Sure, it's a difficult mission that lies ahead, but
with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it becomes an exciting mission. We all
experience our poverty, our weakness in bringing to the world the precious
treasure of the Gospel, but we must continually repeat the words of St.
Paul: "We ... carry this treasure in jars of clay to show that this
extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us" (2 Corinthians
4:7). This is what must always give us courage: to know that the strength of
the evangelization comes from God, belongs to Him. We are called to become
even more open to the action of the Holy Spirit, to offer all of our
willingness to be instruments of God's mercy, his tenderness, his love for
every man and every woman, especially for the poor, the excluded, the far
off. And this, for every Christian, for the whole Church, is not an optional
mission, but an essential one. As St. Paul said: "Proclaiming the Gospel is
not for me a boast, but a duty: woe to me if I do not announce the Gospel!"
(1 Cor 9:16). The salvation of God is for everyone!
3. To you, dear national directors, I repeat the call that
Paul VI addressed to you, almost fifty years ago, to guard jealously the
universal scope of the Missionary Works, "who have the honor, the
responsibility, the duty to support the mission [to announce the Gospel], to
administer the necessary aid» (Address to the Pontifical Mission societies,
May 14, 1965: AAS 57 1965, 520). Do not tire of educating every Christian,
from childhood, in a truly universal missionary spirit, and to sensitize the
entire community to support and assist the missions according to the need of
each (cf. Vatican Council II, Decr. Ad gentes, 38). Make sure that the
Pontifical Mission societies continue, in the wake of their secular
tradition, to animate and form Churches, opening them to a wide dimension of
the mission to evangelize. Rightly are the Pontifical Mission societies
placed under the care of bishops, to be "rooted in the life of the
particular churches" (Statute of the Pontifical Mission societies, no. 17);
but they have actually become a privileged instrument for educating
individuals in the universal missionary spirit and in an ever-greater
communion and collaboration among Churches for the proclamation of the
Gospel to the world. Faced with the temptation of communities to close in on
themselves, worried about their own problems, your job is to invoke the
"missio ad gentes", to testify prophetically that the life of the Church and
of the Churches is the mission, and is the universal mission. The episcopal
ministry and all the ministries are certainly for the growth of the
Christian community, but they are also placed at the service of communion
among the Churches for the mission of evangelization. In this context, I
invite you to have a particular focus on the young Churches, which often
operate in an atmosphere of difficulty, discrimination and persecution, so
that they be supported and helped in witnessing with word and deed to the
Gospels.
Dear brothers and
sisters, in renewing my thanks to everyone, I encourage you to continue your
commitment so that the local Churches, in an increasingly generous way, may
assume their share of responsibility in the Church's universal mission.
Invoking Mary, Star of the Evangelization, I make my own the words of Pope
Paul VI: "may the world of our time, which seeks now in anguish, now in
hope, to receive the Good News not from sad and discouraged evangelizers,
impatient and anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel, whose lives radiate
fervor, who have first received in themselves the joy of Christ, and accept
to put their own lives at stake so that the Kingdom may be preached and the
Church be implanted in the heart of world» (Apost. exhortation Evangelii
nuntiandi, 80).
"In a world where there is so much talk of rights, it seems the only one that
has them is money"
VATICAN CITY, May 24,
2013 - Here is a translation of the Pope's address to participants in
the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of
Migrants and Travelers. He reflected on the topic “The Pastoral Concern of
the Church in the Context of Forced Migrations.”
* * *
Lord Cardinals,
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and the Priesthood,
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
I am happy to welcome you on the occasion of the Plenary
Session of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and
Itinerant People: the 20th since 25 years ago Blessed John Paul II elevated
to Pontifical Council the former Pontifical Commission. I rejoice with you
over this achievement and I thank the Lord for all that He has allowed to be
accomplished. I greet with affection the President, Cardinal Antonio Maria
Veglio, and I am grateful to him for having made himself the spokesman of
the sentiments of all. I greet the Secretary, Members, Consultors and
Officials of the dicastery. You, dear Cardinal, made reference to Syria and
the Near East, which are always present in my prayer.
The theme of your meeting is “The Pastoral Concern of the
Church in the Context of Forced Migrations,” in coincidence with the
publication of the Dicastery’s Document titled To Receive Christ in the
Refugees and in Persons Forcefully Uprooted. The Document calls attention to
the millions of refugees, dispersed and stateless, touching also the wound
of the traffic of human beings, which increasingly affects children,
involved in the worst forms of exploitation and also recruited for armed
conflicts. I confirm that the “traffic of persons” is an ignoble activity, a
disgrace for our societies that call themselves civilized! Exploiters and
clients at all levels should make a serious examination of conscience before
themselves and before God! The Church renews today her strong appeal for the
protection of the dignity and centrality of every person, respecting his
fundamental rights, as her Social Doctrine stresses, rights that she
requests be really extended where they are not recognized to millions of men
and women in every Continent. In a world where there is much talk of rights,
how many times human dignity is trampled. In a world where there is so much
talk of rights, it seems the only one that has them is money. Dear brothers
and sisters, we live in a world where money commands. We live in a world, in
a culture where the fetishism of money reigns.
You justly took to heart the situations in which the
family of nations is called to intervene, in a spirit of fraternal
solidarity, with programs of protection, often on a background of tragic
events, which strike almost daily the life of so many persons. I express to
you my appreciation and gratitude, and I encourage you to continue on the
path of service to the poorest and marginalized brothers. We recall the
words of Paul VI: “For the Catholic Church no one is a stranger, no one is
excluded, no one is far away” (Homily for the Closing of Vatican Council II,
December 8, 1965). We are in fact only one human family that, in the
multiplicity of its differences, walks towards unity, valuing solidarity and
dialogue between peoples.
The Church is Mother and her maternal attention is
manifested with particular tenderness and closeness to one who is
constrained to flee from his own country and who lives between uprootedness
and integration. This tension destroys persons. Christian compassion –
“suffering with,” com-passion – is expressed first of all in the commitment
to know the events that push one to leave forcefully his homeland, and where
it is necessary to give voice to one who is unable to have his cry of pain
and oppression heard. In this you carry out an important task also in
rendering Christian communities sensitive to the many brothers marked by
wounds that affect their existence: violence, abuse of power, distance from
family affection, traumatic events, flight from home and uncertainty about
the future in refugee camps. They are all elements that dehumanize and must
push every Christian and the whole community to concrete attention.
Today, however, dear friends, I would like to invite all
to receive in their eyes and heart the refugees and persons forcefully
uprooted and to give them the light of hope. Hope that is expressed in
expectations for the future, in the desire for friendly relations, in the
desire to participate in the society that receives them, also through
learning the language, access to work and education for the littlest ones. I
admire the courage of the one who waits to be able to take up again,
gradually, a normal life, in the hope that joy and love will make glad his
existence. We all can and must nourish this hope!
Above all I invite political leaders and lawmakers and the
entire International Community to consider the reality of persons forcefully
uprooted with effective initiatives and new approaches to protect their
dignity, to improve the quality of their life and to address the challenges
that emerge in modern forms of persecution, oppression and slavery. It is, I
stress, about human persons, who appeal to solidarity and assistance, who
are in need of urgent interventions, but also and above all of understanding
and goodness. God is good; let us imitate God. Their condition cannot leave
us indifferent. And we, as Church, recall that by curing the wounds of
refugees, of the dispersed and of victims of trafficking we put into
practice the commandment of charity that Jesus left us, when He identified
Himself with the foreigner, with one who suffers, with all innocent victims
of violence and exploitation. We should reread more often Chapter 25 of the
Gospel according to Matthew, where he speaks of the Last Judgment (cf.
31-46). And here I would also like to appeal for attention, which every
pastor and Christian Community must have, for the journey of faith of
Christian refugees and those forcefully uprooted from their reality, as well
as of Christian emigrants. They require particular pastoral care which
respects their traditions and accompanies them in a harmonious integration
in the ecclesial realities in which they are living. May our Christian
communities be truly places of hospitality, listening and communion!
Dear friends, do not forget the flesh of Christ that is
the flesh of the refugees: their flesh is the flesh of Christ. It is for you
to orientate all organizations committed in the field of forced migrations
to new forms of responsibility. Unfortunately, it is a phenomenon in
constant expansion; hence, your task is ever more demanding, to foster
concrete answers of closeness and support of persons, taking into account
the different local situations.
I invoke upon each of you the maternal protection of Mary
Most Holy, may she illumine your reflection and your action. On my part, I
assure you of my prayer, closeness and also my admiration for all that you
do in this field, blessing you from my heart. Thank you.
VATICAN CITY, May 24, 2013 - Here is the translation of
the Holy Father's meditation during the Profession of Faith of the Italian
Bishops Conference who are gathered for their 65th General Assembly.
* * *
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate,
The readings we have heard make us think. They have made
me think a great deal. I have made something like a meditation. For us
bishops, and first of all for me, a bishop like you, I share it with you.
It is significant - and I am particularly happy - that our
first meeting should be held right here in the place that preserves not only
the tomb of Peter, but also the living memory of his witness of faith, of
his service to the truth, and of the gift he gave of himself to the point of
martyrdom for the Gospel and for the Church.
This evening this altar of the Confession becomes our Lake
of Tiberias, on the shores of which we listen to the wonderful dialogue
between Jesus and Peter, with the question addressed to the Apostle, but
which should resound in our own hearts, the hearts of bishops.
Do you love me?; Are you my friend? (Cf. Jn 21:15 ff)
The question is addressed to a man who, despite his solemn
declaration, was overcome by fear and went back on his word.
Do you love me?; Are you my friend?
The question is addressed to me and to each one of you, to
all of us: if we avoid reacting too hastily and superficially, it encourages
us to look within, to enter into ourselves.
Do you love me?; Are you my friend?
He who searches hearts (cf. Rom 8:27) makes himself a
beggar of love, and questions us on the only really essential question, the
premise and condition for pastoring his sheep, his lambs, his Church. Every
ministry is based on this intimacy with the Lord; to live in him is the
measure of our ecclesial service, which is expressed in an openness to
obedience, to emptying of self, as we heard in the Letter to the
Philippians, to total giving (cf. Phil 2:6-11).
Moreover, the consequence of loving the Lord is giving
everything - absolutely everything, even ones very life - for Him: this is
what must distinguish our pastoral ministry; it is the litmus test that
shows how profoundly we have embraced the gift received in response to the
call of Jesus, and how we are joined to the people and the communities that
have been entrusted to us. We are not expressions of a structure or an
organizational need: even with the service of our authority we are called to
be a sign of the presence and action of the Risen Lord, and so, to build up
the community in fraternal charity.
Not that this is taken for granted: even the greatest
love, in fact, when it is not continuously fed, fades and goes out. Not
without reason the Apostle Paul warns: Take heed to yourselves and to all
the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the
Church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son(Acts 20:28).
The lack of vigilance - we know makes the Pastor lukewarm;
he becomes distracted, forgetful and even impatient; it seduces him with the
prospect of a career, the lure of money, and the compromises with the spirit
of the world; it makes him lazy, turning him into a functionary, a cleric
worried more about himself, about organizations and structures, than about
the true good of the People of God. He runs the risk, then, like the Apostle
Peter, of denying the Lord, even if he is present to us and speaks in His
name; the holiness of the hierarchy of Mother Church is obscured, making it
less fertile.
Who are we, Brothers, before God? What are our challenges?
We all have so many, each one of us knows his own. What is God saying to us
through them? What are we relying on to overcome them?
As it was for Peter, the insistent and heartfelt question
of Jesus can leave us saddened and may leave us more aware of the weakness
of our freedom, beset as it is by a thousand internal and external
constraints, which often cause confusion, frustration, even disbelief.
These are certainly not the feelings and attitudes that
the Lord intends to arouse; rather, the Enemy, the Devil, takes advantage of
them to isolate us in bitterness, in complaints, and in discouragement.
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, does not humiliate us or abandon
us to remorse: in Him, the tenderness of the Father speaks, He who comforts
and raises up; He who makes us pass from the disintegration of shame because
shame surely causes us to disintegrate to the fabric of trust; who restores
courage, recommits responsibility, and consigns us to the mission.
Peter, purified by the fire of forgiveness, can humbly
say, Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you (Jn 21:17). I am
sure we can all say this from the heart. In this Peter, purified, in his
first letter exhorts us to feed the flock of God that is your charge, not by
constraint but willingly, not for shameful gain but eagerly, not as
domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock(1
Peter 5,2-3).
Yes, to be pastors means to believe every day in the grace
and strength that comes to us from the Lord, despite our weakness, and to
fully assume the responsibility of walking in front of the flock, freed from
the burdens that hinder a healthy apostolic swiftness, and without
hesitation in leading, to make our voice recognizable both to those who have
embraced the faith, but also to those who are not of this fold (John 10:16):
we are called to make our own the dream of God, whose house knows no
exclusion of persons or nations, as Isaiah prophetically announced in the
First Reading (cf. Is 2:2-5).
Therefore, being pastors also means to be ready to walk in
the midst of and behind the flock: capable of listening to the silent story
of the suffering and bearing up the steps of those who are afraid of not
succeeding; careful to raise up, to reassure, and inspire hope. By sharing
with the humble our faith always comes out strengthened: let us put aside,
therefore, any form of arrogance, to incline ourselves toward those the Lord
has entrusted to our care. Among these, a special place is reserved for our
priests: especially for them, our hearts, our hands, and our doors remain
open at all times. They are the first faithful we bishops have, our priests.
Let us love them! Let us love them from the heart! They are our sons and our
brothers.
Dear brothers, the profession of faith that we now renew
together is not a formal act, but is a renewal of our response to the Follow
Me with which the Gospel of John concludes (21:19): allow your own life to
unfold according to the project of God, committing your whole self to the
Lord Jesus. From here springs that discernment that recognises and takes on
the thoughts, the expectations, and the needs of the men of our time.
With this in mind, I sincerely thank each of you for your
service, for your love for the Church and the Mother, and here, I place you,
and I place myself, too, under the mantle of Mary, Our Mother.
Mother of the silence that preserves the mystery of God,
deliver us from the idolatry of the present, to which those who forget are
condemned. Purify the eyes of pastors with the balm of memory: that we might
return to the freshness of the beginning, for a praying and penitent Church.
Mother of the beauty that blossoms from fidelity to daily
work, remove us from the torpor of laziness, of pettiness, and defeatism.
Cloak Pastors with that compassion that unifies and integrates: that we
might discover the joy of a humble and fraternal servant Church.
Mother of the
tenderness which enfolds in patience and mercy, help us burn away the
sadness, impatience, and rigidity of those who have not known what it means
to belong. Intercede with your Son that our hands, our feet and
our hearts may be swift: that we may build the Church with the truth in
charity.
Mother, we will be the
People of God, on pilgrimage towards the Kingdom. Amen.
VATICAN CITY, May
26, 2013 - Here is the Holy Father's address before and after the
recitation of the Angelus today to the faithful gathered in St. Peter's
Square.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters!
Hello! This morning I made my first pastoral visit to
a parish of the Diocese of Rome. I thank the Lord and I ask you to pray
for my pastoral service and this Church of Rome, which has the mission
of presiding in universal charity.
Today is Trinity Sunday. The light of Easter renews in
us every year the joy and stupor of the faith: let us understand that
God is not something vague, our God is not something vaporous, he is
concrete, he is not an abstraction, but has a name: “God is love.” It is
not a sentimental or emotive love, but the love of the Father that is
the origin of every life, the love of the Son who dies on the cross and
rises, the love of the Spirit, who renews man and the world.
Understanding that God is love does us a lot of good, because it teaches
us to love, to give ourselves to others as Jesus gave himself to us, to
walk with us. Jesus walks with us along the road of life.
The Most Holy Trinity is not the product of human
reasoning; it is the face with which God himself revealed himself, not
from the height of a cathedra, but walking with humanity. It is
precisely Jesus who revealed the Father and promised us the Holy Spirit.
God walked with his people in the history of the people of Israel and
Jesus always walked with us and promised us the Holy Spirit, who is
fire, who teaches us all the things that we do not know, who guides us
from within, he gives us the good ideas and the good inspirations.
Today we praise God not for a particular mystery but
for himself, “for his great glory,” as the liturgical hymn says. We
praise him and we thank him because he is Love, and because he calls us
to enter into the embrace of his communion, which is eternal life.
Let us place our praises in the hands of the Virgin
Mary. She, the most humble of creatures, through Christ has already
arrived at the goal of the earthly pilgrimage: she is already in the
glory of the Trinity. Because of this Mary our Mother, Our Lady, shines
for us as a sign of sure hope. She is the Mother of hope; on our
journey, on our road, she is the Mother of hope. She is also the Mother
who consoles us, the Mother of consolation and the Mother who is with us
on the journey. Now we all pray to Our Lady together, our Mother who
accompanies us on the journey.
[Following the recitation of the Angelus the Holy
Father made the following remarks:]
Dear brothers and sisters,
Yesterday, in Palermo, Don Giuseppe Puglisi, priest
and martyr, killed by the mafia in 1993, was beatified. Don Puglisi was
an exemplary priest, especially dedicated to pastoral work with young
people. Teaching them according to the Gospel, he snatched them out of
the hands of organized crime, and so they tried to defeat him by killing
him. In fact, however, he is the one who won, with the risen Christ. I
think of the many sufferings of men and women, and of children, who are
exploited by the mafia, who exploit them by forcing them into work that
makes them slaves, with prostitution, with many social pressures. The
mafia is behind this exploitation and slavery. Let us pray to the Lord
that he convert the hearts of these people. They cannot do this! They
cannot make us, their brothers, slaves! We must pray to the Lord! Let us
pray that these mafiosi convert to God and praise God through the
shining witness of Don Giuseppe Puglisi, and let us treasure his
example!
I greet with affection all of the pilgrims present,
the families, the parish groups, who have come from Italy, Spain, France
and many other countries. I greet in particular the Associazione
Nazionale San Paolo degli Oratori e dei Circoli Giovanili (National
Association of St. Paul of Oratories and Youth Groups). Dear friends,
may St. Philip Neri, whom we remember today, and Bl. Giuseppe Puglisi
assist you in your efforts. I greet the group of Chinese Catholics who
are present, who have gathered in Rome to pray for the Church in China,
invoking the intercession of Mary Our Help.
My thoughts go out to those who promote the “Giornate
del Sollievo” (Day of Relief) for the sick who are close to the end of
their earthly journey; and to the Associazione Italiana Sclerosi
Multipla (Italian Multiple Sclerosis Association). Thank you for your
work! I greet the Associazione Nazionale Arma di Cavalleria (National
Calvary Corps Association), and the faithful of Fiumicello, near Padova.
Pope Francis' Homily for the Solemnity of
Corpus Christi
ROME, May 31,
2013 - Here is the text of the Holy Father’s homily for the
Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)
which took place in the square in front of the Basilica of St. John
Lateran. After the Mass, Pope Francis presided over the Eucharistic
Procession that lead to the Papal basilica of St. Mary Major.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
in the Gospel we heard, there is an expression of
Jesus' that always strikes me: «You give them something to eat "(Lk
9:13). Starting from this sentence, I will allow myself be guided by
three words: discipleship, communion, sharing.
1. First of all: who are those to be fed? The
answer is found at the beginning of the Gospel: the crowds, the
multitude. Jesus is in the midst of people, he welcomes them, speaks
to them, cures them, he shows them the mercy of God; from among them
he chooses Twelve Apostles to be with Him and immerse themselves,
like Him, in the concrete situations of the world. And the people
follow Him, they listen to Him, because Jesus speaks and acts in a
new way, with the authority of someone who is genuine and
consistent, who speaks and acts with truth, who gives the hope that
comes from God, who is the revelation of the Face of a God who is
love. And the people joyfully bless God.
Tonight we are the crowd of the Gospel, we seek to
follow Jesus to listen to him, to enter into communion with him in
the Eucharist, to accompany him and so that he may accompany us. Let
us ask ourselves: how do I follow I Jesus? Jesus speaks in silence
in the mystery of the Eucharist and each time reminds us that
following him means coming out of ourselves and making our life not
our own, but a gift to him and to the others.
2. Let's go further: where does Jesus' invitation
come from, for the disciples themselves to feed the multitude? It
stems from two factors: first of all from the crowd that, following
Jesus, finds itself outdoors, away from the towns, while evening is
approaching, and then from the disciples' concern to ask Jesus to
dismiss the crowd so that they can go into the neighboring
territories to find food and lodging (cf. Lk 9:12). Faced with the
needs of the crowd, this is the disciples' solution: every man for
himself; dismiss the crowd! Every man for himself; dismiss the
crowd! How often do we Christians have this temptation! We do not
care about other's needs, and dismiss them with a pitiful: "May God
help you", or with a not so pitiful: "Good luck", and if I don't see
you anymore ... But Jesus' solution goes in another direction, one
that surprises his disciples: "You yourselves give them something to
eat." But how can we feed a multitude? "We only have five loaves and
two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people» (Lk 9:13).
But Jesus is not discouraged: he asks the disciples to make the
people sit in communities of fifty people, raises his eyes to
heaven, recites the blessing, breaks the loaves and gives them to
the disciples to distribute them (cf. Lk 9:16).
It is a moment of profound communion: the crowd,
quenched by the word of the Lord, is now nourished by his bread of
life. And all of them were filled, notes the Evangelist (cf. Lk
9:17). This evening, we too are around the Lord's table, the table
of the Eucharistic sacrifice, in which he gives us once again his
body, he makes present the one sacrifice of the cross. It is in
listening to his Word, in nourishing ourselves on his body and his
blood, that he makes us go from a multitude to being a community,
from anonymity to communion. The Eucharist is the sacrament of
communion, that makes us come out from our individualism to live
together our discipleship, our faith in him. Then we should all ask
ourselves before the Lord: how do I live the Eucharist? Do I live it
anonymously or as a moment of true communion with the Lord, but also
with all our brothers and sisters who share this same table? What
are our Eucharistic celebrations like?
3. One last element: what generates the
multiplication of the loaves? The answer lies in Jesus' invitation
to the disciples "You give... ", "give ", share. What do the
disciples share? What little they have: five loaves and two fishes.
But it is precisely those loaves and fishes in the hands of the Lord
that feed the whole crowd. And it is precisely these disciples,
distressed when faced with the inability of their means, the poverty
of what they can offer, who get the people to sit down and who
distribute – trusting Jesus' word - the loaves and fishes that feed
the crowd. And this tells us that in the Church, but also in
society, one keyword that we must not fear is 'solidarity', i.e. to
put at God's disposal what we have, our humble capacities, because
only in sharing, in the gift, will our lives be fruitful, will they
bear fruit. Solidarity: a word frowned upon by the worldly spirit!
Tonight, once again, the Lord distributes for us
the bread which is his Body, he makes himself gift. And we, too,
experience the "solidarity of God" with man, a solidarity that never
runs out, a solidarity that never ceases to amaze us: God is near
us, in the sacrifice of the cross he stoops to enter into the
darkness of death to give us his life, defeating evil, selfishness
and death. Jesus also this evening gives himself to us in the
Eucharist, he shares our same journey, indeed, he makes himself
food, the real food that sustains our lives even in times when the
road becomes tough, the obstacles slow our steps. And in the
Eucharist, the Lord makes us travel his path, that of service, of
sharing, of gift, and what little we have, what little we are, if
shared, becomes wealth, because the power of God, which is that of
love, descends into our poverty to transform it.
Let us ask ourselves then this evening, worshiping
Christ really present in the Eucharist: do I let myself be
transformed by Him? Do I let the Lord who gives himself to me, guide
me to come out more and more from behind my little fence, to go out
and not be afraid to give, to share, to love him and others?
Brothers and
sisters: discipleship, communion, sharing. Let us pray that the
participation in the Eucharist leads us to always follow the Lord
every day, to be instruments of communion, to share what we are with
him and with our neighbor. Then our lives will be truly fruitful.
Amen.
Pope's Homily During Mass at Sts. Elizabeth and
Zechariah Parish in Rome
ROME, May 26, 2013 - Here is the translation of
Pope Francis' homily during Sunday Mass at the parish of Sts. Elizabeth
and Zechariah in Rome today.
The Holy Father’s
homily was especially directed toward children at the parish who were
making their first communion. He also engages in a dialogue with them.
Dear brothers and
sisters,
The pastor’s words
made me think of a beautiful thing about Our Lady. When Our Lady, just
having received the announcement that she would be the mother of Jesus,
and the announcement that her cousin Elizabeth was expecting, the Gospel
says, she set out in haste; she did not wait. She did not say to
herself, “But I’m pregnant now, so I had better look after my health. My
cousin will have friends who perhaps will help her.” She heard something
and she “set out in haste.” It is lovely to think about these actions of
Our Lady, our Mother, who sets out in haste, because it tells us about
helping. She goes to help, she does not go to boast and say to her
cousin: “Now listen, I’m in charge now because I am God’s mamma!” No she
did not do that. She went to help! And Our Lady is always like this. She
is our Mother, who always comes in haste when we need help. It would be
nice to add to the litanies of Our Lady one that says “Lady who sets out
in haste, pray for us!” This is beautiful, isn’t it? Because she always
goes in haste she does not forget her children. And when her children
are in difficulty, have a need and they call upon her, she goes in
haste. And this makes us safe, the safety of always having our mother
near, at our side. We go, we travel better in life when we have our
mamma near. Let us think about this grace of Our Lady, this grace that
she gives us: of being with us, but without making us wait. Always! She
is – we have confidence in this – there to help us. Our Lady who always
goes in haste, for us.
Our Lady also
helps us to understand God well, Jesus, to understand the life of Jesus,
the life of God, to understand well what the Lord is, how the Lord is,
who is God. I ask you, children: “Who knows who God is?” Raise your
hand, tell me. Okay! Creator of the earth. And how many Gods are there?
1? But they told me that there are 3: the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit! How do we explain this? Is there 1 or is there 3? 1? 1? And how
do we explain that one is the Father, the other the Son and the other
Holy Spirit? Louder, louder! Good answer. They are 3 in 1, 3 persons in
1. And what does the Father do? The Father is the origin, the Father,
who created everything, created us. What does the Son do? What does
Jesus do? Who knows how to say what Jesus does? He loves us? And what
else? What did Jesus do on the earth? He saved us! And Jesus came to
give his life for us. The Father creates the world; Jesus saves us. And
the Holy Spirit, what does he do? He loves us! He gives you love! All
the children together: the Father creates everything, he creates the
world, Jesus saves us; and the Holy Spirit? He loves us! And this is the
Christian life: talking to the Father, talking to the Son, talking to
the Holy Spirit. Jesus saved us, but he also walks with us in life. Is
this true? And how does he walk? What does he do when he walks with us
in life? This is hard. The one who answers it wins! What does Jesus do
when he walks with us? Louder! The first one: he helps us. He guides us!
Very good! He walks with us, he helps us, he guides us and he teaches us
how to go forward. And Jesus also gives us the strength to walk. Is that
right? He supports us! Good! In difficulties, right? And even in school
work! He supports us, he helps us, he guides us, he supports us. Okay!
Jesus is always with us. Good. But listen, Jesus gives us strength. How
does Jesus give us strength? You know how he gives us strength! Louder,
I can’t hear you! In Communion he gives us strength, the way he helps us
is by giving us strength. He comes to us. But when you say “He gives us
Communion,” a piece of bread gives you so much strength? It’s not bread?
It’s bread? This is bread but what is on the altar, is it bread or not?
It looks like bread! It’s not really bread. What is it? It is the body
of Jesus. Jesus comes into our heart. Well, let’s all think about this:
the Father gave us life; Jesus gave us salvation, he accompanies us, he
guides us, he supports us, he teaches us; and the Holy Spirit? What does
the Holy Spirit give us? He loves us! He gives us love. Let us think
about God like this and ask Our Lady, Our Lady who is our Mother, always
quick to help us, that she help us always to understand well how God is:
how the Father is, how the Son is and how the Holy Spirit is. Amen.
Pope Francis Writes to Parish Priest Friend in
Argentina
States He Lives in Domus Sanctae Marthae To Avoid Being Isolated
By Staff
VATICAN CITY, May 29, 2013 - “Dear
Quique,
Today I received your letter of May
1. It gave me much joy. The account of the patronal feast brought me fresh
air. I am well and have not lost my peace in face of a totally astonishing
event, which I hold as a gift of God. I try to maintain the same way of
being and of acting that I had in Buenos Aires, because if I were to change
at my age it would certainly be ridiculous.”
It is the beginning of a normal
letter between two distant friends, linked by strong affection. A letter
that becomes extraordinary, however, when one learns the name of the sender:
Jorge Mario Bergoglio. The Argentine daily “El Clarin” published the message
of response today, which Pope Francis sent last May 15 to a priest friend,
parish priest in the province of La Rioja, Father Enrique Rodriguez, whom
the Holy Father affectionately calls “Quique.”
Recounting his life at Rome, the
Pontiff writes: “I didn’t want to live in the Apostolic Palace. I go there
only to work and for audiences. I live in Saint Martha’s House, which is a
boarding house, where we were guests during the Conclave. It houses bishops,
priests and laymen. I am visible to people and I lead a normal life. A
public Mass in the morning, I eat at table with everyone, etc.”
“All this does me much good and
avoids my being isolated,” adds the Pope. “
“Quique, affectionate greetings to
your parishioners. I ask you please to pray for me and have others pray for
me. Greetings to Carlos and Miguel. May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin
look after you,” he concludes.