(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis paid a surprise call on the officers and staff of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America on Wednesday. The Holy Father knocked on the door of the Commission’s offices shortly after 9 AM Rome Time Wednesday, saying, “I just thought I’d drop by,” and asking the ranking official on site, prof. Guzmàn Carriquiry, whether he, “had a few minutes to spare for a chat.”
After a half hour’s conversation Pope Francis greeted the office workers one-by-one, pausing for photographs – including a few selfies – and sharing some memories of his visits to the Commission when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
The Holy Father decided on the surprise visit after a dental appointment in the Vatican. Having been informed of the complicated security protocols involved in such an impromptu jaunt, Pope Francis responded, “Don’t worry: we’re in God’s hands.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers, Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, died overnight at the age of 67 after a long illness.
He was born in Kupienin, Poland, April 7, 1949; and was ordained priest on 25 May 1973.
Pope St. John Paul II appointed Zimowski bishop of the Diocese of Radom, Poland, on 28 March 2002; and he was appointed President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers by Pope Benedict XVI on 18 April 2009.
In 2014, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The halted Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and the ongoing Syrian crisis were among the topics touched on by the Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in statement Tuesday.
In his statement to the UN Security Council during an open debate on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question,” Archbishop Bernardito Auza reiterated Pope Francis’ denouncement of those responsible for the Syrian crisis, especially those who provide weapons to fighters.
“Pope Francis denounces in the strongest possible terms all those responsible, from whichever side of the conflict in Syria they may come, for the senseless slaughter of civilians,” Archbishop Auza said.
“The Pope also denounces those who supply substantial amounts of money and weaponry to the fighters who kill and maim the innocent population and destroy civilian institutions and infrastructure,” he added.
“One cannot but lament the duplicity of simultaneously talking peace while supplying arms to those who kill, on every side of the conflict.”
The presidency of the UN security council is currently presided over by a delegation of Japan.
See Archbishop Auza’s full statement below:
12 July 2016
Mr. President,
The Holy See commends the Presidency of Japan for bringing the difficult situation in the Middle East once more to the attention of the International Community, in light of the release of the Quartet’s July 1st “Report on the Middle East” and in the context of the continuing violence in Syria, the deadly sectarian violence in Iraq and the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Mr. President,
The Palestinian Question has remained without an answer that is satisfactory to both the Israelis and the Palestinians. Almost sixty-nine years after its adoption by the United Nations General Assembly, Resolution 181 remains only half-fulfilled. Decades of negotiations have failed to achieve the creation of a Palestinian State. The time is long overdue to put an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has become increasingly unacceptable as it becomes increasingly intractable.
My delegation would not miss this occasion to underline once again that, for the Holy See, the two-State solution holds the best promise. Durable peace will remain a distant dream and security will remain an illusion if Israel and Palestine do not agree to exist side-by-side reconciled and sovereign within mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders. Let the two States be created now, for the sake of the Israelis and Palestinians who, in the depths of their hearts, desire nothing greater than peace and security. It is time to act on the recommendations of the 1st July 2016 Report of the Quartet by bringing peace and security to the citizens of Israel and the State of Palestine and to the people of the world.
Mr. President,
The situation in Syria continues to be one of unspeakable suffering for the Syrian people who are killed, forced to survive under bombs or flee to less-ravaged areas. My delegation feels the duty to call anew the attention of this Council to the continued persecution of Christians, Yazidis and other ethnic and religious minority groups by non-State actors in parts of Syria and Iraq.
Pope Francis denounces in the strongest possible terms all those responsible, from whichever side of the conflict in Syria they may come, for the senseless slaughter of civilians.
The Pope also denounces those who supply substantial amounts of money and weaponry to the fighters who kill and maim the innocent population and destroy civilian institutions and infrastructure. One cannot but lament the duplicity of simultaneously talking peace while supplying arms to those who kill, on every side of the conflict. Pope Francis has asked: “How can you believe in someone who caresses you with the right hand and strikes you with the left hand?”
My delegation avails itself of this opportunity to plead once more to weapons-producing States strictly to limit the supply of arms to client States and to monitor their use. In particular, my delegation asks the International Community to stop the illegal supply of arms to non-state actors, who have been lately responsible for crimes against humanity and other forms of mass atrocities and egregious violations of human rights.
Statistics have clearly shown that it is the civilian population that is disproportionately victimized by ever more technologically sophisticated weapons. Remote-controlled assassinations without due process of law and the “collateral damage” to civilians by Lethal Autonomous Weapons System (LAWS) brings to the fore ethical and legal questions that merit careful review and perhaps even a challenge on the basis of international humanitarian law.
Mr. President,
The Holy See believes that peace processes do not depend solely on formal negotiations, no matter how indispensable these may be. As a cradle of great civilizations and the birthplace of the three main monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the Middle East has the cultural, intellectual and religious resources that make it a fertile ground for civil society and track II diplomacy, including faith-based “informal diplomacy”, to play their role in promoting the values of encounter and mutual acceptance, thereby equipping all citizens to become active protagonists in peacemaking and peacebuilding in the region.
Religions and believers, in particular, must prove themselves worthy of their rightful place in the whole process of pacification in the region. They must put an end to any form of mutual hatred that could lend credence to a “clash of civilizations.” My delegation believes that the more religion is manipulated to justify acts of terror and violence, the more religious leaders must be engaged in the overall effort to defeat the violence that attempts to hijack it for purposes antithetical to its nature. Spurious religious fervour must be countered by authentic religious instruction and by the example of true communities of faith. It is only then that faith-based “informal diplomacy” can fruitfully compliment the formal diplomacy of States and multilateral bodies.
Thank you, Mr. President.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a telegram of condolences to the local archbishop after Tuesday’s deadly train collision in southern Italy.
At least 25 people were killed and around 50 were wounded in the crash, some of them critically.
Listen to Ann Schneible’s report:
In Tuesday’s telegram addressed to Archbishop Francesco Cacucci of Bari-Bitonto, and signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Pope expressed “his warm and heartfelt participation in the suffering” of the families affected by the tragedy.
The Pope assured them of his “fervent prayer of intercession for those tragically killed and,” and prayed for the “swift healing of the wounded.”
Finally, Pope Francis bestowed his apostolic blessing, and entrusted all those affected by the tragedy to the “Maternal protection of the Virgin Mary.”
The crash occurred at around 11:30 in Southern Italy’s Puglia region, tearing apart three carriages and sending debris into the surrounding olive groves.
The two trains collided while on the same track connecting the small towns of Corato and Andria.
There was no immediate indication of the cause of the crash, but the government has promised a full and swift investigation.
Tuesday’s incident is Italy’s worst railway disaster in recent years.
The last major rail disaster in Italy was in 2009 when a freight train derailed the central Italian town Viareggio, killing more than 30 people living close to the tracks in the subsequent fire.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Bishop Miguel Guixot, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligiuos Dialogue, will meet senior officials of Egypt’s prestigious Al-Azhar University in Cairo Wednesday, 13 July. The visit comes at the express wish of Pope Francis following his historic meeting with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Prof. Ahmad Al-Tayyib in the Vatican 23 May 2016.
In a note, the Council for Interreligious Dialogue said Bishop Guixot will take part in a preliminary meeting together with the Holy See’s Apostolic Nuncio in Egypt, Archbishop Bruno Musarò and Dr. Mahmoud Hamdi Zakzouk, member of the Council of Senior Scholars of Al-Azhar University and the university’s Director of the Center for Dialogue, to explore avenues for the resumption of dialogue between Al-Azhar and the Pontifical Council.
In May, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Professor Ahmad Al-Tayyib, granted an exclusive interview to the Vatican media following his meeting with Pope Francis.
A note from the Vatican Press Office reported that in the interview, the Imam affirmed that his visit, the first paid to the Vatican by the highest representative of Al-Alzhar, was the result of an Al-Azhar initiative and an agreement between Al-Azhar and the Vatican to continue the holy mission of religions, which consists of “making human beings joyful everywhere”. He added that Al-Azhar has a commission for interreligious dialogue with the Vatican, which was suspended in specific circumstances, but now those circumstances no longer exist, the path of dialogue has resumed in the hope that it will be better than before.
“I am happy to be the first Sheikh of Al-Azhar to visit the Vatican and to sit alongside the Pope in an encounter of discussion and understanding”, emphasised Professor Ahmad Al-Tayyib, revealing that his first impression of the Holy Father was that “he is a man of peace, a man who follows the teaching of Christianity, which is a religion of love and peace, and following His Holiness we have seen that he is a man who respects other religions and shows consideration for their followers; he is man who also consecrates his life to serve the poor and the destitute, and who takes responsibility for people in general; he is an ascetic man, who has renounced the ephemeral pleasures of worldly life. All these are qualities that we share with him, and therefore we wish to encounter this man in order to work together for humanity in this vast field we have in common.”
With reference to the duties of the great religious authorities and religious leaders in today’s world, he affirmed that these responsibilities are heavy and grave at the same time, “because we are aware, as we said also to His Holiness, that all the philosophies and modern social ideologies that have taken the lead of humanity, far from religion and far from heaven, have failed to make man happy or to take him far from wars and bloodshed.” He remarked that the moment has arrived for the representatives of the divine religions to participate strongly and in a concrete way to give humanity a new direction, towards mercy and peace, so that humanity can avoid the great crisis we are suffering now. “Man without religion constitutes a danger to his fellow man, and I believe that people now, in the twenty-first century, have started to look around and to seek out wise guides to lead them in the right direction. All this has led us to this meeting and this discussion, and to the agreement to begin to take a step in the right direction.”
(from Vatican Radio)…