Vatican City, 29 October 2015 (VIS) – This morning the Pope received in the Sala Clementina the participants in the Radio Maria 6th World Congress, taking place in the shrine of Collevallenza, Italy from 25 to 30 October and attended by the presidents and priests who direct the 75 Radio Maria broadcasters throughout the world and the further six who will shortly become active. Thousands of volunteers contribute to the running of Radio Maria, which has around 30 million listeners worldwide. Pope Francis began his address by commenting that ever since its creation the aim of Radio Maria has been to help the Church in her task of evangelising, and to do so in its own special way, “with closeness to the concerns and problems of the people, with words of consolation and hope, the fruit of faith and commitment to solidarity. … The spread of Radio Maria in many environments, very diverse in terms of culture, language and tradition, is good news for all as it shows that, when we have the courage to propose high profile content from a clearly Christian position, the initiative is well-received, beyond our best predictions, and at times by those who thereby perhaps come into contact with the message of the Gospel for the first time”. The Pope invited the members of Radio Maria to continue their work, trusting in Providence that has always enabled them to find the means to respond to their daily needs regarding the modernisation of technologies and the development of the radio station, which has spread rapidly and organically. “In this respect, the challenge is to maintain your style of sobriety, while continuing to seek suitable tools”. The work of Radio Maria has become “a true mission”, which must be carried out “with fidelity to the Gospel and to the Magisterium of the Church, and listening to society and to the people, especially the poorest and most marginalised, so as to be a point of reference and a support to all your listeners. … All those who listen to your radio programmes recognise you as a broadcaster that offers ample space to prayer, demonstrating that when one opens up to prayer, one opens the door … to the Lord. Your model in this is Our Lady. It is therefore necessary to love Mary with your heart to live and feel in harmony with the Church”. The Pope concluded by urging the directors “always to cultivate the inner garden of prayer, of listening to the Word of God”, and to seek out “good readings, so as to deepen your faith. In other words, always be aware that you give something great and unique: Christian hope, which is far more than a mere spiritual consolation, since it is based on the power of the Resurrection, witnessed with faith and works of charity”….
Vatican City, 29 October 2015 (VIS) – The Holy See Press Office today made public the programme of the Holy Father’s visit to Prato and Florence, Italy on 10 November for the Fifth National Congress of the Italian Church. The Pope will depart at 7 a.m. from the Vatican heliport and will arrive an hour later at the municipal sports camp in Prato. From there he will transfer to the cathedral and will address workers from the square. At 9 a.m. he will travel by helicopter from Prato to Florence where, after arrival at the Luigi Ridolfi stadium, he will visit the baptistery and will meet with the representatives of the National Congress of the Italian Church in Piazza Santa Maria del Fiore. At midday he will pray the Angelus and greet the sick in the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, after which he will lunch with the poor who attend the San Francesco Poverino refectory. After celebrating Holy Mass in the Artemio Franchi municipal stadium, the Holy Father will greet the authorities and depart for Rome at 5 p.m., where he is due to arrive around 6 p.m….
Vatican City, 29 October 2015 (VIS) – The Holy See Press Office today made public the programme of the Holy Father’s visit to Prato and Florence, Italy on 10 November for the Fifth National Congress of the Italian Church. The Pope will depart at 7 a.m. from the Vatican heliport and will arrive an hour later at the municipal sports camp in Prato. From there he will transfer to the cathedral and will address workers from the square. At 9 a.m. he will travel by helicopter from Prato to Florence where, after arrival at the Luigi Ridolfi stadium, he will visit the baptistery and will meet with the representatives of the National Congress of the Italian Church in Piazza Santa Maria del Fiore. At midday he will pray the Angelus and greet the sick in the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, after which he will lunch with the poor who attend the San Francesco Poverino refectory. After celebrating Holy Mass in the Artemio Franchi municipal stadium, the Holy Father will greet the authorities and depart for Rome at 5 p.m., where he is due to arrive around 6 p.m….
Vatican City, 29 October 2015 (VIS) – The Holy See Press Office today made public the programme of the Holy Father’s visit to Prato and Florence, Italy on 10 November for the Fifth National Congress of the Italian Church. The Pope will depart at 7 a.m. from the Vatican heliport and will arrive an hour later at the municipal sports camp in Prato. From there he will transfer to the cathedral and will address workers from the square. At 9 a.m. he will travel by helicopter from Prato to Florence where, after arrival at the Luigi Ridolfi stadium, he will visit the baptistery and will meet with the representatives of the National Congress of the Italian Church in Piazza Santa Maria del Fiore. At midday he will pray the Angelus and greet the sick in the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, after which he will lunch with the poor who attend the San Francesco Poverino refectory. After celebrating Holy Mass in the Artemio Franchi municipal stadium, the Holy Father will greet the authorities and depart for Rome at 5 p.m., where he is due to arrive around 6 p.m….
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says God can only love and not condemn and that love is His weakness and our victory. He said we are so closely bound to God’s love that nothing can sever us from it. That was the message at the heart of the Pope’s homily delivered on Thursday (29th October) at the Santa Marta residence.
Taking his cue from St Paul’s letter to the Romans, Pope Francis’s homily was a reflection on God’s unwavering love for us and how no person, or power or thing can separate us from this love. He said St Paul explains how Christians are the victors because “if God is for us, who can be against us.” This gift from God, he continued, is being held by Christians in their own hands and it’s almost as if they could say in a triumphalistic manner, “now we are the champions!” But the meaning is another: we are the victors not because we are holding this gift in our hands but for another reason. And that is because “nothing can ever separate us from God’s love which is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“It’s not because we are the victors over our enemies, over sin. No! We are so closely bound to God’s love that no person, no power, nothing can ever separate us from this love. Paul saw beyond the gift, he saw more, who is giving that gift: it is a gift of recreation, it’s a gift of regeneration in Jesus Christ. He saw God’s love. A love that cannot be explained.”
God’s impotence is His inability not to love
Pope Francis noted that every man, every woman can refuse this gift by preferring their own vanity, pride or sin but despite this God’s gift is always there for us.
“The gift is God’s love, a God who can’t sever himself from us. That is the impotence of God. We say: ‘God is all powerful, He can do everything!” Except for one thing: Sever Himself from us! In the gospel, that image of Jesus who weeps over Jerusalem, helps us understand something about that love. Jesus wept! He wept over Jerusalem and that weeping is all about God’s impotence: his inability to not love (us) and not sever himself from us.”
Our safeguard: God cannot condemn but only love
The Pope goes on to explain how Jesus’ weeping over Jerusalem that kills its prophets and those that announce its salvation is an image of God’s love and tenderness. He admonishes Jerusalem and all of us saying: “How often have I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings and you refused!” He said that is why St Paul understands and can say: “I am certain of this: neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nothing already in existence and nothing still to come, nor any power, nor the heights nor the depths, nor any created thing whatever will be able to come between us and the love of God.”
“It’s impossible for God to not love us! And this is our safeguard. I can refuse that love, I can refuse just like the Good Thief did, until the end of his life. But that love was waiting for him there. The most wicked and the most blasphemous person is loved by God with the tenderness of a father. And just as Paul said, as the Gospel said, as Jesus said: ‘Like a hen with her brood.’ And God the all-powerful, the Creator can do everything: God weeps! All of God’s love is contained in this weeping by Jesus over Jerusalem and in those tears. God weeps for me when I move away from him: God weeps for each one of us: God weeps for the evil people who do so many bad things, cause so much harm to mankind… He is waiting, he is not condemning (us) and he is weeping. Why? Because he loves (us)!”
(from Vatican Radio)…