(Vatican Radio) A precious treasure from the Rome Church of San Gregorio al Celio was brought back home on Monday after spending a week on loan to Canterbury Cathedral for a meeting of worldwide Anglican leaders there.
The head of a crozier, or pastoral staff, associated with St Gregory the Great, has been on display in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral, alongside a rare 6th century book of the Gospels given by Pope Gregory to St Augustine as he set off on his mission to take the Christian faith to England. The manuscript is the oldest surviving Latin illustrated Gospel book and one of the most ancient European books in existence.
Appropriately, the relic of St Augustine was returned to Rome at the start of the annual week of prayer for Christian Unity. Accompanying it on its journey to England was Australian missionary Fr Robert McCulloch, who currently serves as Procurator General of the Society of St Columban. He talked to Philippa Hitchen about the significance of the Roman relic on display alongside the precious Augustine Gospel…
Listen:
Fr Robert says it’s important to note the relic associated with St Gregory is returning from Canterbury to Rome on the day that we mark the beginning of the week of prayer for Christian unity. Through this object, he says, we can “recapture the missionary link” in common faith, history and heritage between Catholics and Anglicans.
Fr Robert notes that this year also marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Anglican Centre in Rome, following the first official meeting of an Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, to Pope Paul VI. He talks about the important ministry over the past 50 years of linking the Roman Catholic Church with the Anglican Church, of “maintaining a fraternal, ecumenical and deeply spiritual presence” of the Anglican Church in Rome.
The Centre, he says, also organises courses which allow participants to experience Rome and the Catholic Church in a deeper way. He gives the example of the Anglican bishop of Hyderabad in Pakistan who attended one such course last auturmn and told Fr Robert he was able to see Rome “not just with his eyes, but with his heart”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Cardinal Pietro Parolin has expressed his support for the work of a Foundation dedicated to the construction of a world economic system at the service of an integral development.
The Vatican Secretary of State was speaking on Monday at a round table-meeting organized by the Global Foundation on the theme “Rejecting the globalisation of indifference – towards a more inclusive and sustainable global economy”.
The meeting took place on 17 and 18 January in Rome.
Please find below the full text of Cardinal Pietro Parolin’s speech:
Ambassador McCarthy,
Mr Howard,
[Your Eminences,]
Excellencies,
Distinguished Authorities,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to be able to attend, even if only briefly, this round-table meeting organised by the Global Foundation. In keeping with the title of this gathering: “Rejecting the globalisation of indifference – towards a more inclusive and sustainable global economy”, your purpose is to seek a “more inclusive and sustainable global economy”, which might stand in contrast to the “globalisation of indifference”. This is one of the initiatives which expresses the Global Foundation’s commitment to being a privileged place of dialogue between major economic and political players, as well as a catalyst for ideas for the construction of an economic system at the service of integral economic development. I thank you sincerely for the kind invitation and I bring you the good wishes of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, and share with you his hope that this round-table might open up areas of reflection and offer meaningful paths of action on the topic in hand.
From the beginning of his Pontificate, faced with the many difficulties which afflict the world, the Pope has not failed to make clear, with real emphasis, the grave consequences of indifference and of the lack of responsibility. Today’s meeting is thus in tune with the teaching of the Pope, who constantly calls for all people to commit themselves, freely and responsibly, to correcting an economy which causes exclusion and inequality. He invites the rich and the poor, the powerful and simple folk, politicians and entrepreneurs to put the creative power of human intelligence at the service of the common good, with a spirit of solidarity and – I would add – mercy.
Without forgetting how much has been done in these first years of the third millennium to help people escape from extreme poverty, Pope Francis continues to underscore his conviction that much more still needs to be done, and that in times of crisis and economic hardship a spirit of global solidarity must not be lost. It goes without saying – the Holy Father points out – that part of this great effort is the creation and distribution of wealth. Since the right use of natural resources, the proper application of technology and the harnessing of the spirit of enterprise are essential elements of an economy which seeks to be modern, inclusive and sustainable. That will be possible, having in mind the definition of justice of the Roman jurist Ulpian and of St Augustine of Hippo – “Iustitia est constans et perpetua voluntas ius suum cuique tribuendi” (Justice is the constant and perpetual will to render to every man his due), which the Pope quoted in his address to the United Nations on 25th September 2015, with reference to the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, in order to say to those responsible for global affairs that our world demands of all government leaders a will which is effective, practical and constant, concrete steps and immediate measures for preserving and improving the natural environment and thus putting an end as quickly as possible to the phenomenon of social and economic exclusion .
Even if the aim of this round-table is not so much to provide definitive solutions, which are more the fruit of shared political action, I am convinced that this gathering will be an important space for encouraging an increase in global awareness of the serious problems of environmental degradation and exclusion. It will thus provide a stimulus to strengthen the action which has already begun, and is starting to show positive and enduring results.
With these brief considerations, I reiterate the wish that these days might bring forth worthwhile contributions to encourage an economy which is increasingly at the service of our common home, which is the world as a whole. Thank you.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday met in the Vatican with Christine Lagarde, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.
The two also met in the Vatican on 10 December 2014.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is composed of 188 countries, was established in 1944 to help manage countries’ balance of payments. According to its website, it is “working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
A Christian who hides behind the notion
that “this is how it’s always been done…” is committing a sin, becomes
idolatrous and disobedient, and lives a “patched up, half and half life”,
because his heart is closed to the “newness of the Holy Spirit”. The invitation
to free oneself from “customs” in order to make room for “God’s surprises” was
offered by Pope Francis during Mass at Santa Marta on Monday morning, 18
January. In
the First Reading, taken from the First Book of Samuel (15:16-23), the Pope
began, “we heard that Saul the king was rejected by God for not obeying: the
Lord told him that he would win in battle, in war, but that everything had to
be utterly destroyed”. But Saul “did not obey”. Thus,
“when the prophet rebukes him for this and then in the name of God rejects him
from being king of Israel, he — the passage continues — gives an explanation:
‘I have heard the voice of the people who took the best of this livestock to
sacrifice to the Lord’”. “It
is a good thing to sacrifice”, Francis explained, “but the Lord had ordered, he
had given a mandate to do something else”. Thus Samuel says to Saul: “Has the
Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice
of the Lord?”. Therefore, the Pope affirmed, “obedience goes further” and
surpasses even Saul’s words of justification: “I listened to the people and the
people told me: this is how it’s always been done! The most valuable things go
to the service of the Lord, either in the temple or as sacrifices. This is how
it’s always been done!”. Thus,
“the king, who had to change this ‘this is how it’s always been done…’ says
to Samuel: ‘I feared the people’”. Saul “was afraid” and this is why “he
allowed life to continue contrary to the Lord’s will”. It
is the same attitude — the Pope continued, referring to the day’s passage from
Mark (2:18-22) — that “Jesus teaches in the Gospel, when the doctors of the law
rebuke him because his disciples do not fast: ‘This is how it’s always been done.
Why don’t your [disciples] fast?’. And Jesus responds with this principle of
life: ‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; if he does, the
patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And
no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the
skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but new wine is for fresh
skins’”. In
essence, Francis asked, “what does this mean, that the law has changed? No!”.
It means, rather, “that the law is at the service of man, that it is at the
service of God, and for this reason man must have an open heart”. The attitude
of those who say “this is how it’s always been done…”, in reality, is born
from “a closed heart”. Instead, however, “Jesus told us: ‘I will send the Holy
Spirit and he will lead you to the full truth”. Thus, “if your heart is closed
to the newness of the Holy Spirit, you will never reach the full truth”.
Additionally, “your Christian life will be a half and half life, a patched up
life, mended with new things but on a structure that is not open to the Lord’s
voice: a closed heart, because you are not capable of changing the wineskins”. This
was precisely, the Pontiff explained, “the sin of Saul the king, for which he
was rejected”. And it is also “the sin of many Christians who hold onto what
has always been done and do not allow the wineskins to be changed”. Thus they
end up living “a halfway, patched up, mended, senseless life”. So,
the Pope asked, “why does this happen? Why is it so serious, why does the Lord
reject Saul and then choose another king?”. The answer is given by Samuel, when
“he explains what a closed heart is, a heart that does not listen to the Lord’s
voice, that is not open to the newness of the Lord, to the Spirit who always
surprises us”. One who has such a heart, Samuel affirms, “is a sinner”. “For
rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as iniquity and
idolatry”. Thus, Francis said, “Christians who are obstinate, saying ‘this is
how it’s always been done, this is the way, this is the path’, are sinning: the
sin of divination”. It is “as if they were to go to a palm reader”. In the end,
“what has been said and what doesn’t change — by me and my closed heart”
becomes “more important” than “the Word of the Lord”. This “is also the sin of
idolatry: stubbornness. The Christian who insists, sins. The sin of idolatry”. The
question to ask with regard to this truth is: “What is the path?”. Francis
suggested that we “open our heart to the Holy Spirit, discern what is the will
of God”. It’s true, “always, after battles, the people took everything for
sacrifices to the Lord, also for their own benefit, also gems for the temple”.
And “it was customary, at the time of Jesus, for good Israelites to fast”. However,
the Pope explained, “there is another reality: there is the Holy Spirit who
leads us to the full truth”. And “this is why he needs open hearts, hearts that
are not obstinate in the sin of idolatry of themselves”, believing that what’s
“most important” is “what I think” and not “the surprise of the Holy Spirit”. The
Pope then remarked that this “is the message that the Church gives us today:
that which Jesus says so firmly: ‘New wine in new wineskins!’”. Because,
Francis reiterated, “even customs must be renewed in the newness of the Holy
Spirit, in the surprises of God”. Before continuing with the celebration,
Francis expressed the hope that “the Lord give us the grace of an open heart,
of a heart open to the voice of the Holy Spirit, which can discern what must
not change, because it is fundamental, from what has change in order to be able
to receive the newness of the Holy Spirit”….
(Vatican Radio) Cardinal Christopher Schoenborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, said on Monday that Pope Francis is informed about and following the situation of Richard Allen Masterson, a death row inmate in Texas who is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday.
“Richard has been waiting 12 years for his execution,” Cardinal Schoenborn said. “It is frightening: To be executed tomorrow.”
Cardinal Schoenborn was speaking during a press conference presenting the European Apostolic Congress on Mercy , taking place from 31 March to 4 April in Rome, as part of the Jubilee of Mercy.
The Cardinal spoke about the work done by the Sant’Egidio Community and others in showing the “merciful heart of Jesus” to those who have been condemned to death.
Masterson was convicted in the 2001 murder of Shane Darin Honeycutt.
(from Vatican Radio)…