(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis turned his attention to the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday during his Angelus for the Solemnity of the Assumption.
The eastern province has long been plagued by violence – often spilling over from conflicts in neighboring countries – and this weekend, another massacre killing at least 40 people.
“To the Queen of Peace, whom we contemplate today in heavenly glory, I want to entrust once again the anxieties and the sorrows of the people in many parts of the world are the innocent victims of persistent conflicts” – Pope Francis said – “which have for some time been perpetrated in shameful silence, without attracting even as much as our attention. Unfortunately, they are part of the too many innocent people who have no weight on world opinion.”
“My thoughts go to the people of North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who have been recently hit with fresh massacres,” – the Holy Father continued – “May Mary obtain for all people sentiments of compassion and understanding and the desire for peace and harmony!”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday spoke about the fire of the Holy Spirit, saying the Church doesn’t need bureaucrats but impassioned missionaries with this fire inside their hearts. He warned that without this fire, the Church risked becoming a cold or merely lukewarm Church, made up of cold and lukewarm Christians, and urged his listeners to reflect on their own attitudes. The Pope’s words came during his Angelus address to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
Listen to this report by Susy Hodges (includes clips of the Pope’s voice):
Quoting from Jesus’ words where he says “I have come to bring fire to the earth and how I wish it were blazing already!” Pope Francis said Christ wants the Holy Spirit “to set alight our hearts and make us capable of loving.” This fire, he explained, “has a creative strength that purifies and renews… it burns up every human misery, every egoism, every sin, it transforms us from within, it regenerates us.”
He explained that “if we open ourselves completely to the action of the Holy Spirit, He will give us the courage and the fervour to announce Jesus and his consoling message of mercy and salvation to everybody, navigating in the open seas without fear.” “But the fire begins in our hearts.”
In carrying out its mission in the world, the Pope stressed that the Church “needs the help of the Holy Spirit to not be held back through fear and calculation, to not get used to walking within safe boundaries.” Departing from his prepared text, he warned that these two attitudes lead the Church “to becoming an administrative or bureaucratic Church that never takes risks.”
Instead, he said, the “Apostolic courage that the Holy Spirt ignites in us like a fire helps us to surmount walls and barriers, it makes us creative and it spurs us to set forth, journeying along unexplored or uncomfortable roads, offering help to whoever we encounter.”
Now more than ever, the Pope continued, there’s a need for priests, consecrated people and lay Christians to feel compassion and reach out like good neighbours to others, “those who are suffering, the needy, the many human miseries and problems, the refugees.”
Pointing to the example of those priests, men and women religious and lay people who throughout the world announce the gospel with great love and faithfulness, sometimes at the cost of their own lives, Pope Francis said “their exemplary witness reminds us that the Church doesn’t need bureaucrats and diligent office workers but impassioned missionaries consumed by the ardour of bringing to all people the consoling words of Christ.”
This, he declared, “is the fire of the Holy Spirit. If the Church doesn’t receive this fire and doesn’t allow it to enter inside, it becomes a cold or merely lukewarm Church, incapable of giving life, because it is made up of cold and lukewarm Christians.” He urged his listeners to reflect on whether their hearts are capable of receiving this fire.
The Pope concluded his Angelus address by turning to the Blessed Virgin Mary and asking for her prayers to help warm our hearts with this divine fire. Noting that Sunday was the feast day of St. Maximilian Kolbe, the martyr of charity, he said the saint’s example teaches us to embrace “the fire of love for God and neighbour.”
In his brief address after the recitation of the Angelus, Pope Francis sent greetings to the many different groups of pilgrims present and urged his listeners “to make an effort to always forgive (others) and have a compassionate heart.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, called for prayers on Saturday for the people of Venezuela, who “find themselves in extreme social, political, and economic difficulties”.
He said these problems are “causing great suffering for that dear people”.
To that end, the Cardinal Secretary of State said, “let us pray that the protagonists of public life and all parts of society be wise and courageous in order to find peaceful solutions to the present crisis and that a sense of the common good, justice, solidarity, and love may abound in all!”
Cardinal Parolin was the Apostolic Nunzio to Venezuela from August 2009 until his nomination as Secretary of State in October 2013.
His prayers for the Venezuelan people came during his homily to close the 36th Tendopolis for Youth event held at the Sanctuary of St. Gabriele in the Italian province of Teramo.
(from Vatican Radio)…
Bulletin for 8/14/2016
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has given his support for the “Más por Menos” [More for Less] campaign taking place in Argentina on 10-11 September.
During those days, a collection will be made to help the less fortunate in the country.
In a message sent through the Secretary of State, the Holy Father encouraged the participants to “make great personal and communal efforts to reach out to the multitude of needy brothers and sisters who feel excluded from society, and to bring to the them the closeness and love of God.”
Pope Francis invited those involved to “be sensitive to the cry of anguish” from so many people who have been “marginalized and discarded,” and to help them.
“May Christ, the true merciful face of the Father, give them the experience of the joy of sharing their time, their treasure, and their lives with those whom God loves with a preferential love, the poor and homeless,” concluded the message.
(from Vatican Radio)…