(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent his good wishes to the XII International Media Forum on the Protection of Nature taking place in Rieti, Italy, and sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Family and Greenaccord.
In a telegram sent through the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy Father greeted the scientists, journalists, students, and other participants taking part in the event, and welcomed the initiative, “which helps us reflect on the common responsibilities of the custodians of Creation, and of the design of God written in Nature.”
The Pope made an urgent appeal to the scientists and journalists to contribute to the raising of awareness of political institutions and citizens of the need for a lifestyle that is sustainable on the human and ecological level, and works to ensure the full realization of each person and the authentic development of Creation.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis is to set off for his first apostolic journey to Africa on the morning of Wednesday 25 November. At the heart of his 6-day journey, taking him to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic is his desire to bring a message of peace, reconciliation, dialogue and the impetus to overcome internal divisions. Speaking on Thursday morning at a Press Conference in the Vatican, Press Office Director Fr Federico Lombardi said for Jorge Mario Bergoglio it will be a first time in Africa, and not only as Pope. This apostolic visit will be Francis’ 11 th journey abroad, but Lombardi pointed out: two Popes have been to these very countries before him. The first was Blessed Paul VI who visited Uganda in 1969. Then it was the turn of Saint John Paul II who visited some 42 African nations during his pontificate including Kenya in 1980, in 1985 and in 1995; Uganda in 1993; and Central African Republic in 1975. During his three-nation trip Pope Francis will be accompanied by Cardinal Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, his deputy Angelo Becciu and the Cardinals Filoni and Turkson, respectively prefect the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, as well as by masters of ceremonies, other Vatican staff, some 75 journalists and of course, security personnel. Pope Francis is scheduled to spend one and a half days in each country; in Nairobi, Kampala and Bangui he will celebrate Mass with the faithful, hold meetings with political and religious authorities, exchange views with the bishops, spend time with the poor and the needy, meet with the youth, participate in ecumenical encounters. In Kenya he will also address leaders and staff of the United Nations; in Uganda he will celebrate the Ugandan martyrs; in war-torn CAR he will open Bangui Cathedral’s Holy Door in a powerful gesture leading up to the Jubilee Year of Mercy. One of Pope Francis’ last commitments before he boards the Papal plane bringing him back to Rome on November 30, will be a visit to Bangui’s Central Mosque for a meeting with the Muslim community. (from Vatican Radio)…
( Vatican Radio) In two addresses in Rome this week Cardinal Parolin reflected on the vocation, formation and mission of the Catholic priest. The first address took place at the Capitoline Museum on the occasion of the presentation of a book by Vincenzo Carbone on Mgr Pericle Felici, Secretary General of Vatican Council II. The book relies on the diary of Mgr Felici and reveals a view of Vatican II from the inside, as well as a deep priestly spirituality. Mgr Felici records his desire to live in humility, always subject to the will of God and working with utmost commitment. In his diary he says, “For the voice of your Vicar you have assigned me to work; I will work as best I can.”
The second address took place at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in the course of a conference convened for the purpose of examining two great documents of the second Vatican Council on the priesthood: Optatam Totius and Presbyterorum Ordinis. These “pearls” of priestly formation rely upon the image of priest as shepherd. Despite challenges for the Church in the fifty years since the Council, Cardinal Parolin notes that we have also experienced “intense moments of communion and joy.” In both challenges and joys we should commit all of our energies to support vocations and the renewal of priestly identity.
Priestly formation can be compared to the care of a “rough diamond” the Cardinal continued. In some ways, this cannot be taught; it must be lived in intimacy with the Master. Priests are not chosen on the basis of personal merit or ability, nor are the fruits of their ministry proportional to their pastoral methods. They are partakers in Christ’s mission. They walk in the Master’s footsteps. The Cardinal concludes: it is a vocation because it is the choice of God; it is a formation because it is about transformation; it is a mission because it is about evangelization in every form.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday met with participants attending a Conference for International Healthcare Workers taking place in Rome.
Greeting the conference members gathered, Pope Francis in his prepared remarks, began by reminding them that this International Healthcare Workers event also coincided with the thirtieth anniversary of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers and the twentieth anniversary of the publication Pope Saint John Paul II’s Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae.
He told the participants that the issues that they have been debating this week such as respect for the value of life, and, even more, the love of it, was fundamental in taking care of those who suffer in body and spirit.
The Pope added that these attitudes would be further highlighted during the Jubilee of Mercy.
Returning to the encyclical Evangelium Vitae, Pope Francis said it contained the vital elements of hospitality, compassion, understanding and forgiveness.
During his address the Holy Father also noted and warned against, what he called the “medicine of desires”: a mentality, he said, increasingly common in affluent countries, characterized by the pursuit of physical perfection at any cost, the illusion of eternal youth; a mentality that leads precisely to discarding or marginalizing those who are not seen as “efficient”.
Turning his attention to the gift of creation, the Pope said the anxiety that the Church has, in fact, is the fate of the human family and of all creation which needs to be nurtured in order to be passed on to future generations.
Finally, in keeping with this theme, Pope Francis encouraged the participants present to keep in mind, in their work, the reality of those populations that suffer most from the damage caused by environmental degradation, which can has severe and often permanent consequences on their health.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) “The whole world is at war,” and the rejection of the “path of peace” means that God Himself, that Jesus Himself, weeps. This was the message of Pope Francis to the faithful following the readings of the day at Mass on Thursday morning in the Casa Santa Marta.
“Jesus wept.” These were the words with which the Holy Father’s remarks following the readings of the day on Thursday in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence in the Vatican, echoing the words of St. Luke the Evangelist, from whose Gospel the Gospel reading was taken.
A world festively bedecked
Jesus approaches Jerusalem, and seeing the city on a hill from a distance, weeps, and says, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes.” Pope Francis repeated the words of Our Lord to the Holy City, and then added:
“Today Jesus weeps as well: because we have chosen the way of war, the way of hatred, the way of enmities. We are close to Christmas: there will be lights, there will be parties, bright trees, even Nativity scenes – all decked out – while the world continues to wage war. The world has not understood the way of peace.”
War to line the pockets of the traffickers
Pope Francis went on to recall the recent commemorations of the Second World War, the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, his visit to Redipuglia last year on the anniversary of the Great War: “Useless slaughters,” he called them, repeating the words of Pope Benedict XV. “Everywhere there is war today, there is hatred,” he said. Then he asked, “What shall remain in the wake of this war, in the midst of which we are living now?”:
“What shall remain? Ruins, thousands of children without education, so many innocent victims: and lots of money in the pockets of arms dealers. Jesus once said: ‘You can not serve two masters: either God or riches.’ War is the right choice for him, who would serve wealth: ‘Let us build weapons, so that the economy will right itself somewhat, and let us go forward in pursuit of our interests. There is an ugly word the Lord spoke: ‘Cursed!’ Because He said: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers!.’ The men who work war, who make war, are cursed, they are criminals. A war can be justified – so to speak – with many, many reasons, but when all the world as it is today, at war – piecemeal though that war may be – a little here, a little there, and everywhere – there is no justification – and God weeps. Jesus weeps.”
The world weeps over its crimes
The Holy Father went on to say that, while the arms dealers go about their business, there are the poor peacemakers who, perforce to help another person, and another and another, spend themselves utterly, and even give their lives – as did Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, against whom the powerful, worldy cynic might say, “But what did she ever accomplish? She wasted her life helping others on their way to death?” He repeated, “We do not understand the way of peace.”:
“It will do us well to ask the for the grace of tears, for this world that does not recognize the path of peace, this world that lives for war, and cynically says not to make it. Let us pray for conversion of heart. Here before the door of this Jubilee of Mercy, let us ask that our joy, our jubilation, be this grace: that the world discover the ability to weep for its crimes, for what the world does with war.”
(from Vatican Radio)…