(Vatican Radio) At the Angelus on Sunday, Pope Francis reflected on the parable of the Good Samaritan.
This parable, the Pope said, in a simple, yet stimulating way, “indicates a style of life, in which the centre of gravity is not ourselves, but others.” Like the doctor of the law in the day’s Gospel, we might ask ourselves, “Who is my neighbour? Is it my friends, my parents, my fellow countrymen, my co-religionists?”
Jesus does not answer the question directly, but instead tells of the Good Samaritan, a man who did not observe the true religion, but who nonetheless helped the poor, abandoned victim of robbers – in contrast to the priest and the Levite who simply passed him by. This story, the Pope said, completely reverses our perspective. It is not up to us, he said, to try to categorize people, to see if they count as our neighbours. Rather, the decision to be, or not be a neighbour, depends on us. “It depends on me,” Pope Francis said, “it depends on me to be or not be a neighbour to the person I meet who has need of my help, even if he is a stranger, or even hostile.”
In the Gospel, Jesus tells the doctor of the law – and he tells us, too – to do as the Good Samaritan had done. We must have the attitude of the Good Samaritan to demonstrate our faith. The Pope quoted from the Apostle St James, reminding us that “faith without works is dead.” We should ask ourselves, the Pope said, if our faith is fruitful, if it produces good works, or if, on the other hand, it is sterile, “and so more dead than alive.”
We should ask ourselves this question often, Pope Francis continued, because it is precisely on this question that we will be judged at the end of our lives. The Lord, he said, will ask us, “Do you remember that time on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho? That man, who was half-dead, was me. Do you remember? That hungry child was me. Do you remember? That migrant who so many people wanted to chase away was me. Those grandparents, abandoned in rest homes, were me. Those sick people in the hospital, who no one went to find, were me.”
With that challenging reflection, Pope Francis concluded his remarks, calling on the Blessed Virgin “to help us to walk along the paths of generous love towards others, the path of the Good Samaritan.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has expressed his sadness following the death of Cardinal Silvano Piovanelli, Archbishop of Florence between 1983 and 2001.
In a telegramme to the current Archbishop of Florence, Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, the Pope says he shares in the grief of the Cardinal’s family and in that of the entire diocesan community.
Cardinal Piovanelli, aged 92, passed away following a long illness which he had tackled “with serenity and trustful abandonment in the will of the Lord”.
In the telegramme the Pope remembers “his dear brother who served the Gospel with joy and knowledge, loving the Church tenaciously”.
The Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, also expressed his condolences for the death of Cardinal Piovanelli describing him as a “point of reference for the faith and the life of the city of Florence”.
Born in Tuscany in Ronta of Mugello on February 21, 1924, already by age 11 Piovanelli was attending the Florence Seminary. He was ordained on July 13, 1947, and worked for 12 years as Vice-Rector of the Minor Seminary. In 1960, Piovanelli became the parish priest of Castelfiorentino, an area known for its anticlerical and atheist sentiments. He has been credited with considerable success in healing the fractures in the community. In 1979 Cardinal Benelli called Piovanelli to the Curia in Florence, initially as Pro-Vicar, and then as Vicar General. On May 28, 1982, Piovanelli was appointed Bishop of Tubune of Mauritania by Paul VI. The same year, after the death of Benelli, Piovanelli became Archbishop of Florence. John Paul II made him a cardinal during the Consistory of May 25, 1985.
Following the death of Cardinal Piovanelli, the College of Cardinals decreases in number to 212 of whom 112 are Cardinal Electors and 100 are Cardinal Non Electors.
(from Vatican Radio)…
Bulletin for 7/10/2016
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has approved a new ‘ Motu Proprio ’ which defines the relationship between the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See and the Secretariat for the Economy.
The ‘ Motu Proprio ’ that regards competencies in economic and financial matters spells out the clear and unequivocal distinction between control and vigilance, on the one hand, and administration of goods, on the other.
Please find below the official translation of the press release regarding the ‘Motu Proprio’ :
On 4 July 2016, the Holy Father approved a motu proprio that implements reform of the organisms engaged in control and vigilance as well as the administration of Holy See goods. The new legislative document is intended to continue on the path begun with the Motu Proprio “Fidelis dispensator et prudens” dated 24 February 2014, by which Pope Francis created three new organisms: the Council for the Economy, the Secretariat for the Economy and the Office of the Auditor General. As well known, the respective competencies of these organisms were subsequently specified in the Statutes of 22 February 2015. The Statutes in question were approved ad experimentum with the knowledge that the new system was to be built through subsequent verifications.
The document published today responds to the need to define further the relationship between the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See and the Secretariat for the Economy. The fundamental principle at the base of the reforms in this area, and in particular at the base of this Motu Proprio, is that of ensuring the clear and unequivocal distinction between control and vigilance, on the one hand, and administration of goods, on the other. Therefore, the Motu Proprio specifies the competencies pertaining to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See and better delineates the Secretariat for the Economy’s fundamental role of control and vigilance.
The ‘Motu Proprio’ can be found here.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a letter to the President of the Argentinian Episcopal Conference on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the country’s independence. In the letter he invites people in his homeland to “dare to dream”.
Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s report
On the 9th of July 1816 Argentina declared independence from its then ruler Spain. To mark this major event in the country’s history Pope Francis has sent a letter to the President of the Argentinian Episcopal Conference, José María Arancedo, in which he addresses those in authority and the Argentinian people on the occasion of his homeland’s bicentennial celebrations.
In the letter the Pope says he desires “that this celebration will make us stronger in the path taken by our ancestors two hundred years ago,” and invites the people of the country “not to sell the Motherland” and to resist “all forms of colonisation”.
In particular he draws attention to those who suffer the most in Argentinian society, such as the sick, those living in poverty, prisoners, those who are lonely, those who have no work, victims of trafficking, child victims of abuse and young people who are suffering from the scourge of drugs.
The Holy Father also looks to the elderly and to young Argentinians to chart the path forward for the country saying, “I would like to ask the elderly, who have a good memory of history, to look past this throwaway culture that has been forced upon us and dare to dream. We need their dreams, they are a fount of inspiration.”
He goes on to say, “I ask young people not to live a retired life in a bureaucratic quietism they are encouraged into by many opportunities that lack excitement and heroism”.
The Pope concludes by saying that, “only if our elderly dare to dream and our young imagine great things, can the Homeland be free. We need elderly people who dream and motivate young people, who in turn run forth armed with the creativity of imagination, inspired by these very dreams.”
(from Vatican Radio)…