(Vatican Radio) At the end of the last Jubilee Audience of the soon-to-end Holy Year of Mercy , Pope Francis had a special greeting and a heartfelt “thank you” for the many volunteers who have offered an inestimable service to the Vatican and to pilgrims from across the globe.
To a group of about 600 Year of Mercy volunteers present in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday, the Pope said: “You have been fantastic! I thank you, who come from different countries, for your precious service that has allowed so many pilgrims to give life to this experience of faith in a positive way. In the course of these months I have noticed your discreet presence in the Square and I appreciate the dedication, patience and enthusiasm with which you have done your work. Thank you so much!”
Some 4000 volunteers have participated in the Extraordinary Jubilee, many of them Italian, but others from the United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Australia, Congo, India and Taiwan.
1800 of them were members of the Sovereign Order of Malta and provided medical assistance as well.
Each volunteer has given at least one week of his or her own time to assist the faithful providing information and offering to accompany the pilgrims to special entrances and gathering places set up at each of the Papal Basilicas, as well as helping them enter the Holy Doors and staying inside the Basilicas in prayer according to Vatican indications.
(from Vatican Radio)…
Bulletin for 11/13/2016
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a Message to the participants in the thirty-first international conference of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers. The theme of this year’s iteration of the annual conference is: Towards a Culture of Health that is Welcoming and Supportive: at the Service of People with Rare and Neglected Pathologies .
In his Message to participants, Pope Francis highlights three “cornerstones” of good care in a Catholic context: the primacy of the human person along with an integrated, integral awareness of the place of human being within the economy of creation and the duty to stewardship of the created order; the missionary and “outward-moving” character of the Church’s commitment to caring for the sick; the question of justice involved in assuring the necessary care to people suffering disease – especially rare disease – and without means to care for themselves or get the care they need.
“On these three cornerstones, which I believe can be shared by anybody who holds dear the eminent value of the human being,” writes Pope Francis, “one can identify realistic, courageous, generous and supportive solutions to addressing even more effectively, and to solving, the health-care emergency of ‘rare’ and ‘neglected’ diseases.”
The Holy Father goes on to write, “In the name of this love for man, for every man, above all for suffering man, I express to all of you, participants in the thirty-first international conference of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, the wish that you will have a renewed impetus and generous dedication towards sick people, as well as a tireless drive towards the greatest common good in the health-care field.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis held the last special Saturday audience for the Jubilee Year of Mercy this week, during which he stressed the need for inclusion, especially towards the poor, the weary, and the burdened.
By showing mercy, love, and forgiveness, the Holy Father said, the Church bears “faithful witness to God’s inclusive love.”
Below is the official English language synthesis of the Pope’s address, which he delivered in Italian:
Dear Brothers and Sisters: In this, the last of our special Saturday Audiences for the Holy Year of Mercy, I would like to stress the importance of inclusion . God’s mercy, which excludes no one, challenges us to be merciful and open to the needs of others, especially the poor and all those who are weary and burdened. We, who have experienced that love and mercy, have a part to play in his saving plan, which embraces all of history. In his mercy, God calls all men and women to become members of the body of Christ, which is the Church, and to work together, as one family, in building a world of justice, solidarity and peace. God reconciled mankind to himself by the sacrifice of his Son on the cross. He now sends us, his Church, to extend that merciful embrace to our brothers and sisters throughout the world. The arms of the great colonnade surrounding this Square symbolize that embrace. They remind us not only of the Church’s mission to the human family, but also of our own call to bear faithful witness to God’s inclusive love through the mercy, love and forgiveness we show to others.
(from Vatican Radio)…