(Vatican Radio) Members of the Presidency of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), were in Rome in mid-November for their customary visit to the various Dicasteries of the Roman Curia.
Conference President Bishop Douglas Crosby, O.M.I., of Hamilton; Vice-president Bishop Lionel Gendron, P.S.S., of Sain-Jean-Longueuil; and Msgr Frank Leo, Jr., C.S.S., the CCCB’s General Secretary were received in an audience with Pope Francis at the beginning of their stay in Rome. Later, the prelates met with members of different Dicasteries.
As their visit drew to a close, Bishop Crosby came to Vatican Radio to explain the annual visit.
Listen to the full interview of Bishop Douglas Crosby, O.M.I., of Hamilton, President of the CCCB, with Christopher Wells:
When the members of the Presidency meet with the various Dicasteries, Bishop Crosby said, they talk about “the state of the union,” “the state of the Church in Canada, and particularly relating to the Dicasteries were visiting.”
Among other issues discussed, Bishop Crosby mentioned concerns about the recently enacted laws in Canada permitting euthanasia and assisted suicide.
The Conference President also spoke of positive developments with regard to Dioceses in the northern part of Canada.
Overall, Bishop Crosby said the encounters with members of the Curia are “always very interesting,” giving both the Bishops and Curial officials a chance to get to know one another.
The CCCB Presidency’s annual visit to Rome concluded on Wednesday, just a few days before the solemn close of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Papua New Guinea ’s first ever Cardinal , Sir John Ribat , is preparing to receive the red hat from Pope Francis with the humbleness and simplicity that befit truly special people.
The news of the Archbishop of Port Moresby’s appointment spread like wildfire through the Pacific region where Ribat serves as the President of the Federation of Catholic Bishops of Oceania.
Visiting Vatican Radio just two days before the Consistory, Cardinal elect Ribat (who by the way was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II this year) said that although Papua New Guinea is geographically as far as you can get from the See of Peter, Pope Francis’ appointment makes him feel very close…
Listen to the interview :
“It gives me a great feeling of closeness, in the sense that when we have issues or things that need to be attended to we will have someone who will be our voice representing the Church in PNG, Solomon Islands and the neighbouring countries as well” Cardinal Ribat says.
Speaking with passion of the work he spearheads – as Chairman of the ecumenical movement in Papua New Guinea – to promote ecumenical dialogue in a region where a large percentage of the faithful belong to protestant denominations, the Cardinal said they too “share this feeling of closeness”.
Cardinal Ribat also talks about his personal, very deep, experience of dialogue and sharing with other communions as he comes from a family where many of his relatives are from the Methodist tradition.
He speaks of the pain both Catholics and Protestants have to live with as they cannot share Holy Communion during Mass but says that for the moment this is what they all have to live with as they push towards full Christian Unity, a pathway that leads to lasting peace and friendship especially at this moment in history which is seeing so many divisions and conflicts.
Cardinal Ribat concedes that perhaps his ecumenical commitment is one of the reasons Pope Francis chose him to be part of the College of Cardinals.
“While we are saying that the Catholic Church is the mother church, then we have to be true to our name and embrace all” he says.
Regarding other issues that he feels are particular challenges he is called to address, the Cardinal speaks of the relationship his Bishops’ Conference has with Muslims – who are a minority in his geographical area – but whom have been invited to share their concerns with representatives of other faiths in this very difficult time.
“To go this way together means the building of peace, the building of unity, and that extends to all aspects of our life”, so this relationship, he says, is something I really value.
Cardinal Ribat also speaks of the need to give the right kind of spiritual and moral guidance to the people of a small nation that are dealing with exploitation and human trafficking.
He says that possibly in a moment in which the Pacific region is suffering first-hand the devastating effects of climate change, with rising sea levels that force island populations to abandon their homes in search of new environment to settle down, the Cardinal thinks that the experience of the Church in PNG can provide a precious contribution to Pope Francis’ call to “care for our common home”.
He also links this issue to the current migration issue that is affecting the entire globe and calls on the United Nations to redefine refugees and consider those being deeply affected by climate change on a par with those fleeing persecution and conflict.
Commenting on the fact that Francis has “sort of broken the protocol” of the way Cardinals are appointed by reaching so far out to small countries across the globe (countries that are not seen as world players when it comes to taking significant decisions and making investments), Cardinal Ribat said this speaks not only of the Pope’s will to promote inclusion for all, but also shows how the Church today is shifting its focus from the center to the peripheries.
And he says, developed nations have much to learn from smaller, underdeveloped nations regarding lifestyle and the protection of the environment.
Asked what he is going to say to Pope Francis when he meets him for the first time, Cardinal Ribat said he brings the greetings and the invitation to visit Papua New Guinea not only from the Catholics of the nation, but of all of its inhabitants!
Sir Cardinal Ribat, is 59-years-old. He was ordained in the Congregation of the Sacred Heart Missionaries in 1985. He was appointed as the auxiliary Bishop of Bereina in PNG in 2000 and became the bishop there in 2002. He became Archbishop of Port Moresby in 2008.
Not only is he the first Cardinal from Papua New Guinea, his appointment marks a first for the religious order of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis appealed for God to grant believers the courage to embrace Christian poverty, saying people cannot forgive a priest who is attached to money. His remarks came during his Mass celebrated on Friday morning in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence.
Taking his inspiration from the day’s Gospel reading where Jesus drove out the traders from the temple, accusing them of transforming it into a den of thieves, the Pope’s homily was a reflection on the power and allure of money. He said Jesus’ action helps us to understand where the seed of the antichrist is contained, the seed of the enemy that ruins his Kingdom: attachment to money.
“Our Lord God, the house of our Lord God is a house of prayer. Our encounter with the Lord (is) with the God of love. And the money-lord that enters into the house of God, is constantly seeking to enter inside. And those people who were changing money or selling things, they were renting their places, right? – from the priests… the priests were renting out those places and then received money. This is the lord that can ruin our life and can lead us to end our life in a bad way, without happiness, without the joy of serving the true Lord who is the only one capable of giving us that true joy.”
Noting it’s a personal choice, Pope Francis then asked his listeners: “How is your attachment to money? Are you attached to money?”
“The people of God have a great flair for accepting, for canonizing as well as condemning – because the people of God are capable of condemning – for forgiving so many weaknesses, so many sins by priests but they cannot forgive two of them: attachment to money, because when they see a priest attached to money, they do not forgive him, and mistreating people, because when a priest mistreats the faithful: the people of God can’t accept this and they do not forgive him. The other things, the other weaknesses, the other sins ….. yes ok, it’s not right but the poor man is alone, it’s this…. And they seek to justify (his sins). But their condemnation is not as strong or as definitive: the people of God could understand this. Following the lord of money leads a priest to be the head of a firm or be a prince or we can go even higher…”
The Pope went on to recall the teraphims, the idols that Jacob’s wife Rachel kept hidden, as an example of this attachment to material goods.
“It’s sad to see a priest who’s at the end of his life, he’s in agony, he’s in a coma and his relatives are there like vultures, looking to see what they can take away. Let us grant this pleasure to the Lord, a true examination of our conscience. ‘Lord, are you my Lord or is it – like Rachel – these teraphims hidden in my heart, this idol of money?’ And be courageous: be courageous. Make a choice. Sufficient money like that of an honest worker, sufficient savings like those of an honest worker. But all these financial interests are not permissible, this is idolatry. May the Lord grant us all the grace of Christian poverty.”
“May the Lord,” concluded the Pope, “give us the grace of the poverty of working people, those who work and earn a fair wage and who do not seek any more.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Holy Door in St Peter’s Basilica will close this Sunday marking the end of the Jubilee of Mercy.
Over the past year dioceses around the world have organised initiatives and here in Rome there have been various Jubilee events including, the Jubilee for Prisoners, the disabled and the homeless.
The Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization was charged with organizing the Holy Year of Mercy and its English language official Fr Eugene Silva spoke to Lydia O’Kane about some of the highlights and its legacy.
Listen:
Fr Sylva says that as a priest, one of the most inspiring things about this Extraordinary Year has been, “the number of people who’ve returned home to the Sacrament of God’s mercy, to the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.” Another inspiration of this year for him has been the numbers of volunteers who have worked tirelessly to make the Jubilee a spiritual journey for pilgrims in Rome.
The closing Jubilee events in these last weeks included the Jubilee for prisoners, and the homeless which saw Pope Francis invite prisoners and those sleeping rough into St Peter’s Basilica to take part in Holy Mass. “Those last two events that we have had”, says Fr Eugene, “have resonated all around the world.” … He adds that, these people were able to serve at the Mass and the fullness of their dignity was so evident.
The Year of Mercy maybe coming to a close but Fr Sylva says that , “if we place it in the context of the whole process and pastoral plan of the New Evangelization, I think that this is an important step that we need to continue on in the path of the New Evangelization.”
Pope Francis, recalls Fr Eugene, called this Jubilee of Mercy because “of the world being riddled with such violence today, that in the face of such violence, we as Christians need to confront it with mercy and with love.”
The Extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy will close on Nov 20th, the Feast of Christ the King.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) On the 20th of November 2016 Pope Francis is set to close the ‘Holy Door’ of Saint Peter’s Basilica with its 16 bronze panels depicting the story of Jesus in his mercy seeking his lost sheep. A symbolic gesture to mark the end of the ‘Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy’ which began just under a year ago. One which represents the passage to salvation, the ‘Gateway to God’s Mercy’.
In this programme you can join Veronica Scarisbrick at the ‘Fonderia Artistica Marinelli’ where this ‘Holy Door’ was cast for the Jubilee Year of 1950.
Listen to Ferdinando Marinelli giving Veronica Scarisbrick a tour of the ‘Fonderia Artistica Marinelli’:
It was 1949, when on the eve of the Jubilee Year of 1950, the Pope of the time Pius XII, entrusted the creation of the masterpiece to Italian artist, Vico Consorti, selecting this foundry owned by Ferdinando Marinelli. His grandson, by the same name, invited Veronica Scarisbrick to visit the family foundry.
She met him in Florence at his window on the world, an enchanting gallery on the banks of the River Arno seething with a myriad of bronze statues from different eras. Among them the impressive ‘Giambologna Neptune’, who seems to greet you as you enter.
And it was by this towering statue that Ferdinando Marinelli greeted her, ready to drive across the Tuscan countryside to his foundry which lies on the way to Siena, Vico Consorti’s city.
She was eager to visit his foundry and aware it was not the one where the Holy Door was cast by his grandfather but another more recent one. She knew too that Ferdinando Marinelli was sure to treasure that age old rapport of his foundry with the Vatican despite the more modern outreach he now enjoys right across the world. No surprise as for centuries the Church and the world of art have enjoyed an extremely prolific love affair.
Click here to catch a glimpse of Veronica Scarisbrick’s tour at the foundry http://www.fonderiamarinelli.it/
(from Vatican Radio)…