(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday visited children in Rome’s “SOS Village,” a residential complex that cares for children coming from difficult personal, family or social backgrounds. His surprise visit there was part of his “Friday of Mercy” initiatives that have seen him perform a concrete gesture of mercy on one Friday every month during this Jubilee Year.
During his visit to the centre, the Pope was given a tour of the grounds that include a small football pitch and a playground. The children living there also showed him their rooms and their toys and he listened to them talking about their personal stories. Before returning to the Vatican, Pope Francis also had an afternoon snack with the children.
Situated in north west Rome, the SOS Village is made up of 5 lodgings in which a maximum of up to six children below the age of 12 live together with a supervisor known as an SOS Mother. The children living in the centre are cared for and supported in the same way as a real family would do. They are taken to school, they go to the local parish and they practice sporting activities. All the staff who work in the centre care for the children for a number of years so as to create a stable relationship with them and help them acquire more autonomy as they grow older.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis sent a telegram saying he was “deeply saddened” to learn of the death of Thailand’s King Bhumipol Adulyadej who died on Thursday at the age of 88 and extending his heartfelt condolences to the Members of the Royal Family and all the Thai people.
Please see below the full text of the telegram:
His Excellency Prayut Chan-o-cha
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand
I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and I extend my heartfelt condolences to the Members of the Royal Family and to all the people of the Kingdom at this sorrowful time. I pray that, as a fitting tribute to the late King’s legacy of wisdom, strength and fidelity, all Thais may work together to further the path of peace, and I willingly invoke upon all who mourn his passing the consolation of divine blessings.
FRANCISCUS PP.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis urged Christians to always tell the truth to avoid succumbing to hypocrisy which he described as a kind of spiritual schizophrenia that makes us say many things but without putting them into practice. He was speaking at his Mass on Friday morning celebrated in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence.
Good and bad Leaven: my grandmother’s Carnival pastries
In his homily at the Mass, the Pope took his cue from the day’s readings to reflect on the dangers of hypocrisy by warning Christians against the leaven of the Pharisees. Noting that there’s a good leaven and a bad leaven, he said the former builds the kingdom of God whereas the latter only creates the appearance of the Kingdom of God.
Good leaven, said Pope Francis, always rises and grows in a consistent and substantial manner and becomes a good bread, a good pastry. But as he went on to warn, bad leaven does not grow well and he used an anecdote from his own childhood to explain the concept.
“I remember that for Carnival, when we were children, our grandmother made biscuits and it was a very thin, thin, thin pastry that she made. Afterwards she placed it in the oil and that pastry swelled and swelled and when we began to eat it, it was empty. And our grandmother told us that in the dialect they were called lies – ‘these are like lies: they seem big but there’s nothing inside them, there’s nothing true there, there’s nothing of substance.’ And Jesus tells us: ‘Beware of bad leaven, that of the Pharisees.’ And what is that? It’s hypocrisy. Be on your guard against the Pharisees’ leaven which is hypocrisy.”
Hypocrisy a spiritual schizophrenia
The Pope went on to explain that hypocrisy is when we invoke the Lord with our lips but our heart is distant from Him.
“Hypocrisy is an internal division. We say one thing and we do another. It’s a kind of spiritual schizophrenia. In addition, hypocrisy is a dissembler: they seem good and polite but they have a dagger behind their backs, right? Look at Herod: terrified inside but how politely he received the Magi! And then when he was bidding them farewell, he told them: ‘Go on your way and then come back and tell me where this child can be found so that I can go and worship him!’ To kill him! He’s a two-faced hypocrite, a pretender. Jesus when speaking to the doctors of the law, said: these say this and don’t do it:’ this is another type of hypocrisy. It is an existential nominalism: those who believe that by saying the things that everything is done. No. Things must be done not just said. And a hypocrite is a nominalist who believes that by saying it, everything is done. In addition, the hypocrite is unable to accuse him or herself: they never find a stain on themselves, they accuse others.Think about the splinter and the log right? And it’s in this way that we can describe that leaven which is hypocrisy.”
Tell the truth not lies
Pope Francis urged Christians to examine their consciences to understand whether they are growing with good or bad leaven by asking themselves: With what spirit am I doing things? With what spirit am I praying? With what spirit do I turn to others? With a spirit that builds? Or with a spirit that becomes air? In conclusion, he stressed that it was important not to deceive themselves and to tell the truth rather than lies.
“How truthful children are when they confess their sins! Children never ever tell a lie during confession; they never talk about abstract things. ‘I’ve done this, I’ve done that, I’ve done……’ Concrete things. Children talk about concrete things when they are in front of God and in front of other people. Why is that? It’s because they have good leaven, leaven that makes them grow like the Kingdom of God grows. May the Lord give all of us the Holy Spirit and the grace of that lucidity to discern with which leaven I am growing, with which leaven I am behaving. Am I a loyal and transparent person or am I a hypocrite?”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The annual World Food Day is being observed this Sunday October 16th and has as its theme “the climate is changing.” In a message issued Friday to mark the occasion, Pope Francis said everyone has a responsibility to protect the planet for future generations.
Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s reports
In his message to the Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization, José Graziano da Silva, Pope Francis focused his attention on the theme for this year’s World Food Day, “the climate is changing. The Pope said that this theme, “leads us to consider the fight against hunger as a goal even more difficult to achieve, in the presence of a complex phenomenon such as climate change.
The Holy Father again stressed the importance of being stewards of creation, adding that, “we must first admit that the various negative effects on our climate have come from the daily conduct of persons, communities, peoples and states.”
He underlined that ethical and moral choices were not enough to protect the planet. What was also needed, he said, was political action, and that meant making the “necessary choices to discourage or encourage behaviors and lifestyles, for the benefit of the younger generation and those to come.
In his message, Pope Francis paid particular attention to those who suffer as a direct result of climate change, including, whom he called climate migrants, those who work in the fields, farming, small-scale fisheries, forests, or those live in rural areas in direct confrontation with the effects of climate change. But the Pope noted that much can be learned from rural communities, such as, adapting a lifestyle “that can help defend against the logic of consumption and production at all costs.”
The Holy Father also cautioned against overlooking the cycles of the seasons or improperly modifying the different species of animals and plants. Producing quality, he said, “that gives excellent results in the laboratory, may be advantageous for some, but can have disastrous effects for others.”
Speaking again about the culture of food waste, he said “world production levels are sufficient to ensure food for all, provided there is an equitable distribution.” But, he also spoke out about destruction of food simply for economic reasons.
Concluding his message the Holy Father said he echoed, “the desire of so many in hoping that the objectives outlined by the Paris Agreement do not remain pretty words, but that they would become courageous decisions.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis is sending $100,000 in initial emergency funding to help the people of the Caribbean region, particularly Haiti, devastated by Hurricane Matthew earlier this month. The powerful storm killed more than 1,000 people and demolished buildings and infrastructure, leaving thousands homeless.
The papal donation, made through the Pope’s charitable office, Cor Unum, will be distributed by the apostolic nunziature to the local Church dioceses which suffered the greatest losses in the flooding. In a note from Cor Unum, the pontifical council says the aid provided by the Pope is meant to be “a first and immediate concrete expression” of the Holy Father’s “spiritual closeness and paternal encouragement” to the people and territories hardest hit by the disaster.
The donation comes as part of the Church’s wider emergency response to the crisis through the activities of bishops conferences and the Church’s humanitarian relief organizations. Caritas Haiti , together with the Church’s umbrella organization, Caritas Internationalis, has launched an emergency appeal to assist 2,700 families (13,500 people). The first emergency aid will go towards the purchase and distribution of 2,700 food kits, 2,700 hygiene kits and for the activation of counselling programs to inform the population on ways to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
(from Vatican Radio)…