(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis spoke on Thursday of the suffering of innocent victims caught up in the Syrian and Iraqi conflicts, saying that nothing can justify such terrible violence. His words came as he met with the head of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Gewargis III, who was making his first visit to the Vatican since being elected as Catholicos-Patriarch in September last year.
Listen to Philippa Hitchen’s report:
In his words to the new leader of this Church, which traces its roots back to the apostles Thomas and Bartholomew, the Pope appealed for an end to the conflicts in the Middle East which cause such great suffering to Christians and members of other religious or ethnic minorities.
Every day, the Pope said, Christians in these places “walk the way of the Cross”. They remind us that Jesus is always at the heart of our faith, even in our adversity, calling us to live out his message of love, reconciliation and forgiveness.
Blood of martyrs is seed of unity
Just as the blood of Christ, shed out of love, brought reconicilation and unity, the Pope said, so the blood of the martyrs is the seed of unity for all Christians.
Theological dialogue and practical partnerships
Pope Francis also spoke of the important progress in relations between Catholics and the Assyrian Church of the East, recalling especially the Common Christological Declaration signed by Pope John Paul II and by the previous Catholicos Mar Dinkha IV. He encouraged the work of the joint commission for theological dialogue between the two Churches, saying that partnering together though works of charity can also help to heal the wounds of the past.
Shared Christian witness
Unlike most other Churches that trace their origins to the first centuries of Christianity, the Assyrian Church of the East is not in communion with any other Christians of either the Eastern or Western traditions. Pope Francis concluded his remarks saying that the great evangelizers, saints and martyrs throughout history accompany us and urge us to open up new paths of communion and shared witness to the world.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met leading representatives of Caritas on Thursday and urged them to persevere in their fight against poverty and at the same time learn from the poor themselves. The participants at the audience in the Vatican included leading Caritas officials from across the world.
The Pope did not read his prepared remarks, instead handing out the text of his address and speaking off the cuff, followed by a question and answer session with those present.
In his prepared remarks the Pope noted that we are called to act against social exclusion of the weakest and strive for their integration. With our society dominated by the throw-away culture, we need to overcome that indifference and learn the art of solidarity.
Your mission, he went on, is to promote charity and justice in our world in the light of the gospel and the teaching of the Church by involving the poor as the true protagonists of their development.
Stressing it is possible to change things, the Pope said poverty, hunger, illnesses and oppression are not an inevitable misfortune and cannot be considered as permanent situations.
He urged the Caritas representatives to reject everything that humiliates humans and every form of exploitation that degrades people and expressed his joy over an upcoming campaign by Caritas on the subject of migration.
Turning to the issue of peace and reconciliation, Pope Francis urged the Caritas representatives to promote these issues and cooperate in their charitable work with other faith communities who put human dignity at the centre of their mission. In conclusion, he encouraged them both to fight against poverty and at the same time learn from the poor themselves, from their values and their sense of solidarity and sharing with each other.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence on Thursday morning – the liturgical memory of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, the devout queen who was a 3 rd Order Franciscan renowned for her solicitude to the needy.
In remarks following the Readings of the Day, Pope Francis addressed words to the gathered faithful that focused on the episode proclaimed from the Gospel according to St. Mark, in which Our Lord wept for the sins of Jerusalem. The Holy Father spoke especially of the stark contrast of God’s steadfast and faithful love for His people, and His people’s faithlessness – which is our faithlessness:
“That is what pains the heart of Jesus Christ, this story of infidelity, this story of not recognizing the caresses of God, the love of God, a God in love with you who is looking for you, and desirous of seeing you happy. Jesus saw in that moment [when, shortly before His passion, He wept over Jerusalem’s sinfulness] what awaited him as the Son – and He wept … ‘because they did not recognize the time of their visitation.’. This drama has not only happened in history and ended with Jesus. It is the drama of every day. It is even my drama. Can any of us really say, ‘I know how to recognize the hour in which I have been visited? does God visit me?’”
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The Pope went on to highlight the way that the Liturgy of two days ago – Tuesday – offered occasions to reflect on three moments of God’s visitation: correction, entering into dialogue with us, and “inviting himself into our home.” Pope Francis then asked the faithful to make an examination of conscience, to ask whether each one of us listens to the words of Jesus when He knocks on our door and says, “Amend your life!” Everyone in fact runs a risk:
“Each of us can fall into the same sin of the people of Israel, the same sin of Jerusalem, not recognizing the time in which we have been visited – and every day the Lord visits us, every day He is knocking at our door – but we must learn to recognize this, that we not end up in that so painful a situation: ‘The more I loved them, as I called them, the more they fled from me’. ‘But I am sure of things. I go to Mass, I’m sure …’. Do you make a daily examination of conscience on this? Did the Lord visit me today? Have I heard some call, some inspiration to follow Him more closely, to do a work of charity, to pray a little more? I do not know, so many things to which the Lord invites us every day to meet with us.”
It is central therefore to recognize when we are “visited” by Jesus, and to open ourselves to His love:
“Jesus wept not only for Jerusalem, but for all of us. He gives His life, that we might recognize his visitation. St. Augustine said a word, a very strong sentence: ‘I am afraid of God, of Jesus, when He passes!’ But why are you afraid? ‘I’m afraid I will not recognize it!’ If you’re not careful with your heart, you’ll never know if Jesus is visiting you or not. May the Lord give all of us the grace to recognize the times we have been visited, we are visited and shall be visited, so that we open the door to Jesus and so ensure that our heart is more enlarged by love, and that we might therefore serve the Lord Jesus in love.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday addressed the participants in a Vatican conference promoting business leaders as agents in social and economic inclusion, reflecting with them on three challenges of business: the proper use of money, honesty, and solidarity.
The conference carries the title: ‘ Business Leaders as Agents of Economic and Social Inclusion ’ and is hosted by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and UNIAPAC on 17-18 November.
Listen to Devin Watkins’ report:
Addressing business executives participating in the Vatican conference in his native Spanish, Pope Francis called on them to be aware of what he said are three challenges of doing business, namely, “the good use of money, honesty, and solidarity”.
Good use of money
The Holy Father said money is “one of the most difficult topics of moral perception” and repeated his characteristic phrase with emphasis: “money is the dung of the devil”.
He said the function of money is to serve and not govern.
“Money does not have a neutral value; rather, it acquires value according to the end and circumstances for which it is used. When one affirms the neutrality of money, they fall into its power. Businesses should not exist to make money, even if money serves to mediate its functioning. Businesses exist to serve.”
The Pope then denounced a “murky logic” of the market, in which “credit is more readily available and cheaper for those who possess more means and is more expensive and difficult to obtain for those who possess less, to the point of leaving the poorest fringes of a population in the hands of its creditors without scruples”. He said the same process occurs at the international level.
Honesty
Pope Francis then addressed the second challenge for business people: honesty.
“Corruption”, he said, “is the worst social plague.” He decried it as “the law of the jungle stripped of any social reason” and “an idol”.
The Holy Father went on to say “any attempt at corruption, active or passive, is to begin to adore the god of money”.
Referring to the Paul VI Hall in which the audience took place, Pope Francis said, “This room, this building is where the circus of the Roman Emperor Nero once stood, where St. Peter and many of the first Christians were martyred, exactly for having refused to adore idols.”
Solidarity
The third challenge of business, the Pope said, was solidarity, of which an important part is an element of gratuity.
“The just relationship between managers and workers,” he said, “should be respected and required by all parties. However, at the same time, a business is a community of work, in which all merit respect and fraternal appreciation from their superiors, colleagues, and subordinates.” A respect, he said, which should “extend also to the local community”.
The Holy Father also tied the theme of immigration and refugees into solidarity in business, reminding those business leaders present that many of their ancestors were themselves immigrants who started businesses of their own.
He invited them to collaborate “to create sources of dignified, stable, and abundant work, both in those places from which migrants originate and those in which they arrive… It is important to continue making immigration an important factor of development.”
Pope Francis concluded with a mention of the vocation of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10), the chief tax collector who climbed a tree to see Jesus pass by and was converted by his efforts.
“May this conference by like the Sycamore of Jericho – a tree upon which all can climb – so that, through the scientific discussion of the aspects of business activities, they may encounter the sight of Jesus and from here they may obtain efficacious orientations to make their business activities always promote the common good.”
(from Vatican Radio)…