Vatican City, 25 June 2015 (VIS) – This morning in the Holy See Press Office a press conference was held to present the Eighth World Meeting of Families, to be held in Philadelphia, U.S.A., from 22 to 27 September this year, on the theme “Love is our mission. The family fully alive”. The speakers were Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family; Archbishop Charles Joseph Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. of Philadelphia with his auxiliary, Bishop John J. McIntyre, and Jerry and Lucille Francesco, a couple from the same archdiocese, now married for fifty years.
Archbishop Paglia emphasised that the Meeting is a valuable opportunity to place the family at the centre of the Church and of civil society. “It is a duty”, he said, explaining that the meeting is about and for families, who are its protagonists and main recipients. “The family builds the Church and sustains society. … During the days of the conference, we will present the results of some international research that has scientifically studied this positive influence. The family constantly asks for help and support in the entire ecclesial community – and in the next few days I will write to all the monasteries of the world to ask them to accompany these very important days with their prayers – and from civil society as a whole, which cannot remain indifferent to such beauty and goodness that is so effective and so viable”.
The prelate went on to highlight the global nature of the event, and the hope that it will be seen and reported on worldwide. “The family is the heritage of all humanity, at every latitude, in every culture; it is blessed by all religions. That is why we wanted a significant presence of other Christian denominations and of major world religious traditions. … We are working so that delegations from around the globe and especially from the world’s poorest local Churches will be present. Philadelphia will be a great worldwide celebration of families: in the spectacle, we will be able to get a glimpse, we will have to show the beauty and the possibility of all humanity becoming a single family of peoples. It is the dream of peace; it is God’s dream”.
This universality will be enshrined in the final gesture of the meeting: the archbishop revealed that at the end of Mass on Sunday, 27 September, Pope Francis will give the Gospel of Luke, “the Good News of God’s mercy, which is Jesus, to families from big cities on the five continents: Kinshasa, Africa; Havana, America; Hanoi, Asia; Sydney, Australia; and Marseilles, Europe. This is a symbolic gesture that will announce the sending of a million copies of this book to the five cities involved. We want the Gospel of Mercy to be announced in the great cities of the world so that they may build bonds of love between them, in the Church and in society”.
The archbishop of Philadelphia gave some data on the Meeting, which more than a million people are expected to attend, and from which representatives of more than a hundred nations have registered. So far 6,100 volunteers have offered assistance of various types and the event organisers intend to make more than 5,000 buses available. More than 1,600 people have signed up to the “Host a Family” programme.
For more information on the events linked to the meeting, see http://www.worldmeeting2015.org/…
(Vatican Radio) Words, actions and the ability to listen: those are the three factors that determine the good pastor or Christian in whom the faithful recognize consistency and authority. Pope Francis reflected on this theme in his Homily at Santa Marta in the Vatican Thursday.
Listen to our report:
Recalling the day’s Gospel reading in which the people marvel at Jesus’s authoritative teaching, Pope Francis said that people today know “when a priest, a bishop, a catechist, a Christian, has the consistency that gives him authority.” Jesus, he said, “admonishes his disciples” to beware of “false prophets.”
But how to discern the true preachers of the Gospel from the false ones?
Pope Francis said there are three things to look for: how do they speak, what do they do and, do they listen?
Speech, action, listen
“They talk, they do, but another attitude is lacking: that is the basis, which is the very foundation of speaking, of doing. They lack the ability to listen.”
But, the pope said, “the combination of speaking-doing is not enough … “ and can often be deceptive. What Jesus expects of us instead, he said, is to “listen and do – to put into practice:” ‘Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice,’ Jesus said, ‘is like a wise man who built his house upon a rock.’
Beware of “false prophets”
Instead, Pope Francis asserted, those who “hear the words but fail to make them their own…do not listen seriously or fail to put them into practice will be like the one who builds his house on the sand.”
“When Jesus warns people to beware of ‘false prophets’, he says: ‘By their fruits ye shall know them’. And here, by their attitude: so many words, they speak, they do wonders, do great things but they do not have an open heart to hear the Word of God; they are afraid of the silence of the word of God and these are the ‘pseudo Christians’, the ‘pseudo pastors ‘. It’s true, they do good things, it is true, but they lack the rock. ”
Worldly pastors talk too much and listen too little
What such people are lacking, the Pope continued, is “the rock of the love of God, the rock of the Word of God.” And without this rock, he warned, “they can’t preach, they cannot build: they pretend [and] in the end everything collapses.”
These are the “pseudo pastors,” the “worldly pastors…or Christians also, who talk too much,” the Pope added. “They are afraid of silence; maybe they do too much.” And, the Pope insisted, they are not capable of embracing what they’ve heard – [they like the sound of their own voices] – and this does not come from God.”
Highlighting the words, “doing, listening, speaking,” the Pope said, “one who only speaks and does, is not a true prophet, not a true Christian, and in the end everything will collapse: it is not on the rock of God’s love – [it] is not as firm as a rock. One who knows how to listen and [takes action on what he’s heard] , with the strength of the word of another, not his own: that is balance. Even though he is a humble person, that does not seem important – but how many of these great ones are there in the Church! How many great bishops, how many great priests, how many great faithful who listen and do from listening!”
An example of our days, the Pope said, is Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who “did not speak, and was able to listen in silence” and “has done so much!” Neither she “nor her work collapsed,” the Pope added. “The great know how to listen and they do from listening because their trust and their strength is [based] on the rock of Jesus Christ.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) “The true authority of the Church of Rome is the charity of Christ.” That was the message of Pope Francis to members of the Pontifical Eccesiastical Academy, the “Accademia” – the Roman institution responsible for preparing priests for the diplomatic service of the Holy See. Listen: It is only the charity of Christ…
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(Vatican Radio) “The true authority of the Church of Rome is the charity of Christ.” That was the message of Pope Francis to members of the Pontifical Eccesiastical Academy, the “Accademia” – the Roman institution responsible for preparing priests for the diplomatic service of the Holy See. Listen: It is only the charity of Christ…
Read more
(Vatican Radio) Words, actions and the ability to listen: those are the three factors that determine the good pastor or Christian in whom the faithful recognize consistency and authority. Pope Francis reflected on this theme in his Homily at Santa Marta in the Vatican Thursday. Listen to our report: Recalling the day’s Gospel reading in…
Read more