(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received some 1 thousand pilgrims in the Vatican on Thursday – most of them German Lutherans – here in Rome as part of ecumenical preparations for the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Lutheran reformation. In his remarks to the gathering, the Pope encouraged his listeners to seek unity through charity, saying “In being of service to the most needy we experience already that we are united: it is the mercy of God that unites us.”
Pope Francis also spoke in his address about how Catholics and Lutherans are part of the same body of Christ.
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“The Apostle Paul tells us that, by virtue of our baptism, we all form the one Body of Christ. The different members, in fact, are one body.”
The Pope went on to say, “This is why we belong to each other and when one suffers, all suffer, when one rejoices, all rejoice (cf. 1 Cor 12.12 to 26). Let us continue with confidence on our ecumenical journey, because we know that, beyond the many open questions that still separate us, we are already united. What unites us is much more than what divides us.”
The common witness of suffering and service in the face of efforts to marginalize and even extirpate Christian faith from the fabric of society were common themes during remarks made by Lutheran Bishop Ilse Junkermann of Magdeburg, Parish President Joachim Liebig of the Lutheran Church in the Anhalt region of Germany, and Catholic Bishop Gerhard Feige, also of Magdeburg.
Please find the full text of the Holy Father’s remarks, below:
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Dear friends,
I am very happy to meet you on the occasion of your ecumenical pilgrimage, it started from the land of Luther, Germany, and ended here at the seat of the Bishop of Rome. I address a cordial greeting to the Bishops who have accompanied you and thank you for supporting this wonderful initiative.
We give thanks to God because today, we Lutherans and Catholics, are walking on the road that leads from conflict to communion. We have come together already an important part of the way. Along the way we experience mixed feelings: grief for the division that still exists between us, but also joy for fraternity already found. Your enthusiastic presence in such large numbers is a clear sign of this fraternity, and fills us with the hope that it will continue to increase mutual understanding.
The Apostle Paul tells us that, by virtue of our baptism, we all form the one Body of Christ. The different members, in fact, are one body. This is why we belong to each other and when one suffers, all suffer, when one rejoices, all rejoice (cf. 1 Cor 12.12 to 26). Let us continue with confidence on our ecumenical journey, because we know that, beyond the many open questions that still separate us, we are already united. What unites us is much more than what divides us!
At the end of this month, God willing, I will go to Lund, in Sweden, and together with the Lutheran World Federation, we will remember, after five centuries, beginning of Luther’s reform and thank the Lord for fifty years of official dialogue between Lutherans and Catholics. An essential part of this commemoration will turn our gaze towards the future, with a view to a common Christian witness in the world today, which so thirsts for God and His mercy. The witness that the world expects from us is mainly that of making visible the mercy that God has toward us through service to the poor, the sick, those who have left their homeland to seek a better future for themselves and for loved ones. In being of service to the most needy we experience already that we are united: it is the mercy of God that unites us.
Dear young people, I encourage you to be witnesses of mercy. While theologians carry on the dialogue in the doctrinal field, keep looking insistently for opportunities to encounter each other, to know each other better, to pray together and offer help to each other and to all those who are in need. Thus, free from prejudice and trusting only the Gospel of Jesus Christ, announcing peace and reconciliation, you will be the real protagonists of a new season of this journey, which, with God’s help, will lead to full communion. I assure you of my prayers – and you, please pray for me, for I need your prayers so much. Thank you!
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has made an urgent call for action to be taken against those who profit from the exploitation of child migrants.
In a strongly worded message released ahead of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees , the Pope has focused on the plight and the rights of the growing numbers of child migrants who are the most vulnerable in the hands of human traffickers.
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni:
Introducing his message with the words of the evangelists “whoever receives one such child in my name receives me”, Pope Francis says the Gospel also speaks of the responsibility and of the evil of those who work against mercy by harming young girls and boys whom today, he said “are led into prostitution or into the mire of pornography; who are enslaved as child labourers or soldiers; who are caught up in drug trafficking and other forms of criminality; who are forced to flee from conflict and persecution, risking isolation and abandonment”.
So, drawing attention to the reality of child migrants – especially the ones who are alone – the Pope
asks everyone to take care of the young, “who in a threefold way are defenceless: they are children, they are foreigners, and they have no means to protect themselves”.
And pointing that emigration is almost always caused by violence, poverty, environmental conditions, as well as the negative aspects of globalization, Pope Francis said “the unrestrained competition for quick and easy profit brings with it the cultivation of perverse scourges such as child trafficking, the exploitation and abuse of minors” whom he described as the most vulnerable as they are “invisible and voiceless” as their precarious situation deprives them of documentation, hiding them from the world’s eyes.
That’s why he said “migrant children easily end up at the lowest levels of human degradation, where illegality and violence destroy the future of too many innocents, while the network of child abuse is difficult to break up”.
The Pope’s message concludes with a powerful appeal to take action against those who profit from the exploitation of children with the adoption of adequate policies aimed at assistance and inclusion.
He urged leaders who implement the right of states to control migratory movement and to protect the common good of the nation to do so in conjunction with the duty to resolve and regularize the situation of child migrants, fully respecting their dignity and seeking to meet their needs.
And he making a heartfelt appeal for long-term solutions that must be sought and adopted, the Pope said it is absolutely necessary, therefore, to deal with the causes which trigger migrations in the countries of origin. This – he said – requires, as a first step, the commitment of the whole international community to eliminate the conflicts and violence that force people to flee.
And pointing out that development should promote “the good of boys and girls, who are humanity’s hope”. Francis addressed a word to each of us who walk alongside migrant children and young people: they need our help”.
Do not tire – he said – of courageously living the Gospel, which calls you to recognize and welcome the Lord Jesus among the smallest and most vulnerable.
Please find below the full text of Pope Francis’ message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees (15 January 2017) : Child Migrants, the Vulnerable and the Voiceless
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me” (Mk 9:37; cf. Mt 18:5; Lk 9:48; Jn 13:20). With these words, the Evangelists remind the Christian community of Jesus’ teaching, which both inspires and challenges. This phrase traces the sure path which leads to God; it begins with the smallest and, through the grace of our Saviour, it grows into the practice of welcoming others. To be welcoming is a necessary condition for making this journey a concrete reality: God made himself one of us. In Jesus God became a child, and the openness of faith to God, which nourishes hope, is expressed in loving proximity to the smallest and the weakest. Charity, faith and hope are all actively present in the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, as we have rediscovered during the recent Extraordinary Jubilee.
But the Evangelists reflect also on the responsibility of the one who works against mercy: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin: it is better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Mt 18:6; cf. Mk 9:42; Lk 17:2). How can we ignore this severe warning when we see the exploitation carried out by unscrupulous people? Such exploitation harms young girls and boys who are led into prostitution or into the mire of pornography; who are enslaved as child labourers or soldiers; who are caught up in drug trafficking and other forms of criminality; who are forced to flee from conflict and persecution, risking isolation and abandonment.
For this reason, on the occasion of the annual World Day of Migrants and Refugees, I feel compelled to draw attention to the reality of child migrants, especially the ones who are alone. In doing so I ask everyone to take care of the young, who in a threefold way are defenceless: they are children, they are foreigners, and they have no means to protect themselves. I ask everyone to help those who, for various reasons, are forced to live far from their homeland and are separated from their families.
Migration today is not a phenomenon limited to some areas of the planet. It affects all continents and is growing into a tragic situation of global proportions. Not only does this concern those looking for dignified work or better living conditions, but also men and women, the elderly and children, who are forced to leave their homes in the hope of finding safety, peace and security. Children are the first among those to pay the heavy toll of emigration, almost always caused by violence, poverty, environmental conditions, as well as the negative aspects of globalization. The unrestrained competition for quick and easy profit brings with it the cultivation of perverse scourges such as child trafficking, the exploitation and abuse of minors and, generally, the depriving of rights intrinsic to childhood as sanctioned by the International Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Childhood, given its fragile nature, has unique and inalienable needs. Above all else, there is the right to a healthy and secure family environment, where a child can grow under the guidance and example of a father and a mother; then there is the right and duty to receive adequate education, primarily in the family and also in the school, where children can grow as persons and agents of their own future and the future of their respective countries. Indeed, in many areas of the world, reading, writing and the most basic arithmetic is still the privilege of only a few. All children, furthermore, have the right to recreation; in a word, they have the right to be children.
And yet among migrants, children constitute the most vulnerable group, because as they face the life ahead of them, they are invisible and voiceless: their precarious situation deprives them of documentation, hiding them from the world’s eyes; the absence of adults to accompany them prevents their voices from being raised and heard. In this way, migrant children easily end up at the lowest levels of human degradation, where illegality and violence destroy the future of too many innocents, while the network of child abuse is difficult to break up.
How should we respond to this reality?
Firstly, we need to become aware that the phenomenon of migration is not unrelated to salvation history, but rather a part of that history. One of God’s commandments is connected to it: “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Ex 22:21); “Love the sojourner therefore; for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt” (Deut 10:19). This phenomenon constitutes a sign of the times , a sign which speaks of the providential work of God in history and in the human community, with a view to universal communion. While appreciating the issues, and often the suffering and tragedy of migration, as too the difficulties connected with the demands of offering a dignified welcome to these persons, the Church nevertheless encourages us to recognize God’s plan. She invites us to do this precisely amidst this phenomenon, with the certainty that no one is a stranger in the Christian community, which embraces “every nation, tribe, people and tongue” (Rev 7:9). Each person is precious; persons are more important than things, and the worth of an institution is measured by the way it treats the life and dignity of human beings, particularly when they are vulnerable, as in the case of child migrants.
Furthermore, we need to work towards protection, integration and long-term solutions .
We are primarily concerned with adopting every possible measure to guarantee the protection and safety of child migrants, because “these boys and girls often end up on the street abandoned to themselves and prey to unscrupulous exploiters who often transform them into the object of physical, moral and sexual violence” (Benedict XVI, Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, 2008).
Moreover, the dividing line between migration and trafficking can at times be very subtle. There are many factors which contribute to making migrants vulnerable, especially if they are children: poverty and the lack of means to survive – to which are added unrealistic expectations generated by the media; the low level of literacy; ignorance of the law, of the culture and frequently of the language of host countries. All of this renders children physically and psychologically dependent. But the most powerful force driving the exploitation and abuse of children is demand. If more rigorous and effective action is not taken against those who profit from such abuse, we will not be able to stop the multiple forms of slavery where children are the victims.
It is necessary, therefore, for immigrants to cooperate ever more closely with the communities that welcome them, for the good of their own children. We are deeply grateful to organizations and institutions, both ecclesial and civil, that commit time and resources to protect minors from various forms of abuse. It is important that evermore effective and incisive cooperation be implemented, based not only on the exchange of information, but also on the reinforcement of networks capable of assuring timely and specific intervention; and this, without underestimating the strength that ecclesial communities reveal especially when they are united in prayer and fraternal communion.
Secondly, we need to work for the integration of children and youngsters who are migrants. They depend totally on the adult community. Very often the scarcity of financial resources prevents the adoption of adequate policies aimed at assistance and inclusion. As a result, instead of favouring the social integration of child migrants, or programmes for safe and assisted repatriation, there is simply an attempt to curb the entrance of migrants, which in turn fosters illegal networks; or else immigrants are repatriated to their country of origin without any concern for their “best interests”.
The condition of child migrants is worsened when their status is not regularized or when they are recruited by criminal organizations. In such cases they are usually sent to detention centres. It is not unusual for them to be arrested, and because they have no money to pay the fine or for the return journey, they can be incarcerated for long periods, exposed to various kinds of abuse and violence. In these instances, the right of states to control migratory movement and to protect the common good of the nation must be seen in conjunction with the duty to resolve and regularize the situation of child migrants, fully respecting their dignity and seeking to meet their needs when they are alone, but also the needs of their parents, for the good of the entire family.
Of fundamental importance is the adoption of adequate national procedures and mutually agreed plans of cooperation between countries of origin and of destination, with the intention of eliminating the causes of the forced emigration of minors.
Thirdly, to all I address a heartfelt appeal that long-term solutions be sought and adopted. Since this is a complex phenomenon, the question of child migrants must be tackled at its source. Wars, human rights violations, corruption, poverty, environmental imbalance and disasters, are all causes of this problem. Children are the first to suffer, at times suffering torture and other physical violence, in addition to moral and psychological aggression, which almost always leave indelible scars.
It is absolutely necessary, therefore, to deal with the causes which trigger migrations in the countries of origin. This requires, as a first step, the commitment of the whole international community to eliminate the conflicts and violence that force people to flee. Furthermore, far-sighted perspectives are called for, capable of offering adequate programmes for areas struck by the worst injustice and instability, in order that access to authentic development can be guaranteed for all. This development should promote the good of boys and girls, who are humanity’s hope.
Lastly, I wish to address a word to you, who walk alongside migrant children and young people: they need your precious help. The Church too needs you and supports you in the generous service you offer. Do not tire of courageously living the Gospel, which calls you to recognize and welcome the Lord Jesus among the smallest and most vulnerable.
I entrust all child migrants, their families, their communities, and you who are close to them, to the protection of the Holy Family of Nazareth; may they watch over and accompany each one on their journey. With my prayers, I gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing.
From the Vatican, 8 September 2016
FRANCIS
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Christians always feel the need to be forgiven and are on their way to an encounter with God. Those were the words of Pope Francis Thursday morning at Mass at the Casa Santa Marta. The Pope painted a portrait of the good Christian who, he said, must always feel the blessing of the Lord and go on to do good.
Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s report
“The Christian is blessed by the Father, who is God” , Pope Francis said in his homily from St Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, contained in the first reading on Thursday. Focusing on the “traits of this blessing”, he noted that “the Christian is a” person chosen.
The Father chose us one by one, he loves us and gave us a name
God calls us one by one, “not as an oceanic crowd.” The Holy Father reiterated, “we have been chosen, expected by the Father:”
“Think of a couple, when expecting a baby: ‘How will it be? And how will he or she smile? And talk? ‘But I dare say that we, each of us, has been dreamed of by the Father as a father and a mother dreams of their awaited baby. And this gives you great security. The Father wanted you, not the mass of people, no, you, you, you. Each of us. And ‘the foundation, is the basis of our relationship with God. We speak of a Father who loves us, who chose us, who gave us a name. ”
It can also be noted, the Pope continued, when a Christian “does not feel chosen by the Father.” But when they feel they belong to a community, “it is like a fan of a football club.” “The fan – Pope Francis commented – is choosing the team and belongs to the football team.”
The true Christian always feels the need of God’s forgiveness
The Christian, therefore, “is chosen, he or she is a dream from God.” And when we live like this, the Pope added, “our hearts are filled with great consolation,” we do not feel “abandoned”. “The second part of the Christian blessing is feeling forgiven. “A man or woman who does not feel forgiven,” the Holy Father cautioned, is not fully “Christian”:
“We have all been forgiven with the price of the blood of Christ. But what I have been forgiven of ? It’s a memory and a reminder of the bad things you have done, not your friend, your neighbor, you. ‘What bad things have I done in life?’ The Lord has forgiven these things. Here, I am blessed, I am a Christian. That is, the first part: I am chosen, dreamed by God, with a name that God gave me, loved by God. Second part: forgiven by God. ”
The Christian is never still, but always on the way to do good
The third part, continued Pope Francis: the Christian “is a man and a woman walking towards fullness, towards an encounter with Christ who redeemed us”:
“A Christian cannot stand still. The Christian must always move forward, he must walk. The Christian who stands still is the Christian who received the talent and for fear of life, fear of losing, fear of their boss, out of fear or convenience, buried it. He is calm and spends his life going nowhere. The Christian is a man on a journey, a woman walking, who are always doing good, trying to do good and going forward. ”
This, summed up the Pope, is the Christian identity: “blessed, because they are chosen because they are forgiven and forging a path.” We, he concluded, ” are not anonymous, we are not proud”, so as not to have “need of forgiveness. “We are not still.” “May the Lord – in his invocation – be with us through the grace of the blessing he has given us, that is the blessing of our Christian identity.”
(from Vatican Radio)…