(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis today said that “ours is a Church of martyrs”. Speaking during morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta the Pope recalled the many Christians who are currently being persecuted and killed for their faith. Drawing inspiration from the First Reading of the Act of the Apostles which tells of the stoning and…
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(Vatican Radio) The chairman of the Department of International Affairs in the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has called for solidarity with Christians in the Middle East and North Africa region. “Once more, it is with a sense of deep sadness and grief that we mourn the deaths of innocent Ethiopian Christian workers who were killed with such impunity by Daesh (ISIS) in Libya,” said Bishop Declan Lang, after hearing the news of the murder of innocent Ethiopian Christian workers in Libya. “Our sorrow can easily spill into anger when thinking of the mounting number of victims of such men who clothe their actions with religion while murdering civilians across the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA),” he said. “Daesh (ISIS) strategy is two-fold – on the one hand, they and their followers are executing their own warped version of Islam, on the other, they are trying – desperately in some cases – to enrage world opinion so that our reactions of anger and retribution would justify in their own minds their heinous crimes and lead to further deaths and executions,” continued Bishop Lang. “Today, we pray for the repose of the souls of those innocent victims just as we prayed for the Coptic Christians who were killed in Libya too. We also pray for the families of those men who now have to cope not only with the loss of their loved ones, but also the loss of any economic support,” he added. “Our Christian faith encourages us to stand in solidarity with all those vulnerable peoples and communities across the MENA that spurn merciless and ungodly ideologies,” concluded Bishop Lang. “We therefore also join our prayers to those of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and beseech the Almighty that He will show the killers the way of peace and reconciliation.” (from Vatican Radio)…
Vatican City, 21 April 2015 (VIS) – This morning, in the Domus Sanctae Marthae and in the presence of Pope Francis, the executive director of UNICEF, Anthony Lake, and the deputy president of CONMEBOL signed two collaboration agreements in favour of Scholas Occurrentes, the educational network supported by the Holy Father. UNICEF is the United Nations Children’s Fund, and CONMEBOL the South American Football Confederation. Scholas Occurrentes is a the first worldwide initiative with the aim of promoting integration and peace between peoples through education, connecting more than 400,000 schools and educational networks, both public and private and of all religions. The five-year collaboration with UNICEF will be based on the broadening of access for young children, especially the most disadvantaged, to technology, sport and the arts – platforms for education, participation and the building of peace, enabling the young to learn about themselves, others and the world that surrounds them. Scholas and UNICEF will initially cooperate in a series of joint activities worldwide, with the special aim of bringing an end to violence and promoting the connectedness of all young people, making the most of the unique capacities of each person to favour the participation of adolescents and to broaden their access to the tools and information they need to be connected, to communicate and to collaborate. The two organisations will explore the bonds between their respective platforms for mobilisation on social networks and communication media, and will support both digital campaigns and social movements in aid of the most disadvantaged children. The specific collaboration projects include involvement in the Scholas network in terms of content and opportunities for the participation by young people in “The young express their own opinion”, UNICEF’s online space for adolescents and young people. UNICEF will also adapt the U-Report for the Scholas global community, which will enable its members to join the 500,000 or so young people who already use the mobile-based platform to speak about their interests and to participate. The organisations will also develop new opportunities for collaboration in relation to major events centred on world youth, such as the Summit on the Social Impact of Youth, to be held during the Summer Games of the Special Olympics in 2015 in Los Angeles. In 2016, the association will begin to explore initiatives at regional, national and community levels, including campaigns to raise awareness and joint promotional activities linked to issues affecting millions of disadvantaged adolescents….
(Vatican Radio) The Presidents of the Bishops’ Conferences of South-east Europe met from 17-21 April 2015 in Bucharest, Romania. The meeting, held within the framework of the work of the Council of European Episcopal Conferences (CCEE), took place in Romania at the invitation of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Bucharest and President of the Romanian Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Ioan Robu.
The Bishops of the region met annually from 2002-20012, and are renewing the tradition, due to the similarity of the pastoral challenges and the situation of the Catholic Church in these. There are two aims: to strengthen relationships of ecclesial communion by sharing the common pastoral challenges and to examine in depth some of the issues surrounding the theme of the family with a view to the next Ordinary Synod of Bishops (October 2015) and in the light of the 2014 Extraordinary Synod.
In the dialogue-comparison about the family, the Prelates focused on the following pastoral challenges:
1. Mixed marriages between Catholics and Orthodox. There are challenges and problems due to the differences in the way in which marriage is perceived and its sacramentality; but couples must be accompanied in a journey of faith, so that the differences do not lead to relativism and religious indifference. Mixed marriages that are well-lived out are an experience of authentic ecumenical dialogue. This issue had already been the object of in-depth reflection at their 2008 meeting in Sofia (Bulgaria).
2. The globalised economy which has neither care nor concern for the poor nor for the young people and often forces the people of this area of Europe to seek work in other regions of the world. Migration is a major challenge for the family which demands special attention from the Church. Many families have been divided due to migration. It is hoped for closer pastoral collaboration between the countries of origin and those to which they emigrate, for example, with regard to marriage preparation: the Catholic communities in the countries which welcome the migrants should guarantee preparation and then accompany the young couples who come to marry in their native countries.
3. In any case marriage preparation must be very serious and carried out in a pastoral atmosphere of welcome, so that each person feels welcomed and ready for a journey of preparation which may also be a time of encounter with Jesus and with faith. One must not forget the challenges laid down by a digital culture which, enabling access to a vast array of information, is not always integrated in a mature personality capable of taking definitive decisions and assuming responsibility for a family.
4. Pastoral care for families, which cannot be pastoral care en masse but rather a pastoral care of closeness and personal contact. In the countries of South-east Europe, the significance of family is very much alive. The family is appreciated and desired by young people. For such pastoral work there is a need for priests, but also married couples who have an important role of support at moments of happiness but also in times of trial.
5. Family groups. The participants noted with some satisfaction and a reason for hope the presence of groups of families and those movements which have a special charism devoted to the family and which are a fundamental resource for the pastoral care of the family.
6. Finally, the participants wanted to recall that the Christian family is based, grows and develops with the “Sunday Eucharist”, when with the whole Church, the family sits at table with the Lord. He gives Himself to us all, pilgrims through history towards the goal of the final encounter when “Christ is all and in all” (Col 3,11).” (Pope Francis, Message of the III Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops).
At the end the participants, shocked by the dangerous illegal construction of a building next to St Joseph’s Cathedral, declared a Monument of historic national and international interest in 1955, signed a statement, testifying to their solidarity with the efforts of the Catholic Church in Bucharest to resolve the issue. They expressed the hope that the Public Authorities might respect the final decisions of the Appeal Court in Ploiesti and the Supreme Court to put back the park which existed there previously.
During their stay in Bucharest, there was another tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea, claiming the lives of more than 700 people, who had been seeking a more dignified life and had been exploited by people without scruples. The participants at the meeting prayed for them and for all those who have lost their lives in a similar fashion and for their families, uniting their voices to all those who refuse to give in to the violence and exploitation, calling for every person to be respected in their dignity as sons and daughters of God.
Participants at the meeting were His Eminence Cardinal Vinko Puljić, Archbishop of Sarajevo and President of the Bosnia Herzegovina Bishops’ Conference; His Grace Mgr Angelo Massafra O.F.M., Metropolitan Archbishop of Shkodrë-Pult and President of the Bishops’ Conference of Albania and CCEE Vice-president; His Lordship Fragkiskos Papamanólis (O.F.M. Cap.), Bishop Emeritus of Syros-Creta-Santorini and President of the Bishops’ Conference of Greece; and His Lordship Mgr Christo Proykov, Apostolic Exarch of Sofia and President of the Bulgarian Bishops’ Conference.
In the course of the meeting, the participants visited the Latin-rite St Joseph’s Cathedral in Bucharest, where they celebrated Mass on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 with packed congregations; they also visited the Greek-Catholic Cathedral of Bucharest where they met His Lordship Mgr Mihai Fratila, Bishop of the Eparchy of Saint Basil the Great-Bucharest; the Church of Our Lady of the Graces, the first Catholic Church in Bucharest; the Sisters of the Congregatio Jesu (‘English ladies’), a Congregation founded by the Venerable Mary Ward; the Catholic cemetery and the parish of Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus, which also houses two buildings of a Catholic secondary school and the Monastery of the Carmelite Fathers at Ciofliceni. In these various places it was also possible to hear testimonies from the Communist era when persecution, especially of Greek-Catholics, was very severe.
On Sunday afternoon the Bishops went to Constanta, the port on the Black Sea, which is a Vicariate of the Archdiocese of Bucharest and they stayed there until Monday to visit Constanta and Adamclisi and to celebrate Mass in the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The chairman of the Department of International Affairs in the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has called for solidarity with Christians in the Middle East and North Africa region. “Once more, it is with a sense of deep sadness and grief that we mourn the deaths of innocent Ethiopian Christian workers…
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