Bulletin for 2/12/2017
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday spoke about the situations of “light and shadow” in the healthcare sector, thanking God for the “many healthcare professionals who live their work like a mission, with knowledge and conscience”.
The Holy Father’s words came in an address to the participants in a meeting promoted by the Charity and Health Commission of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) organized for the occasion of the 25th World Day for the Sick (11 February).
Listen to Devin Watkins’ report:
Pope Francis told the group of Italian healthcare professionals that there have been many social and cultural changes in the years since Pope St. John Paul II instituted the World Day of the Sick in 1992.
He said that today we see “a situation with lights and shadows”.
Regarding the “lights” in the field of healthcare, the Holy Father said, “Scientific research has certainly advanced and we are grateful for the precious results obtained for curing, if not defeating, some pathologies.”
He praised God for the missionary zeal of healthcare professionals who “are participants in the effusive love of the Creator God; with their hands they daily touch the suffering flesh of Christ”. He also expressed his joy for the numerous volunteers who seek “to relieve and humanize the long and difficult days of many sick and elderly people”.
Pope Francis went on to speak about the “shadows” in healthcare, which “risk endangering the experience of our sick brothers and sisters”.
“If there is a sector in which the throwaway culture makes most visible its painful consequences, it is exactly that of healthcare. When a sick person is not placed at the center and considered in their dignity, attitudes arise which can even lead to profiteering on other people’s misfortunes.”
The Pope made reference to his Message for the 25th World Day for the Sick , saying “In the first place is the inalienable dignity of every human person from the moment of conception until their last breath.”
He said monetary concerns should neither dictate political and administrative decisions, nor the selection of those who manage sanitary structures.
Pope Francis exhorted healthcare workers to “never hesitate even to rethink their works of charity in order to offer a sign of the mercy of God to the poorest who, in trust and hope, knock on the doors of your structures.”
Finally, the Pope said, “Sick people are precious members of the Church.”
“May they be strong in their weakness, ‘and receive the grace to fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the Church.’”
Those sufferings, he said, “are forever transfigured by love.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) In the weakness of temptation, which we all experience, the grace of Jesus helps us to not hide ourselves from the Lord, but to seek forgiveness in order to get up and go forward. That was Pope Francis’ message during the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta. The Holy Father was reflecting on the devil’s temptation both of Adam and Eve, in the first Reading, and of Jesus in the Gospel. With Satan, the Pope said, there is no dialogue, because dialogue with the devil ends in sin and corruption.
Listen to Christopher Wells’ report:
The devil uses dialogue to deceive
Temptations lead us to hide ourselves from the Lord, so that we remain with our “fault,” our “sin,” our “corruption.” Beginning with the first Reading, from the Book of Genesis, Pope Francis focused on the temptation of Adam and Eve, and then considered that of Jesus in the desert. The devil appears in the form of a serpent: he is “attractive,” and with his cunning he seeks “to deceive.” In this he is a specialist, he is “the father of lies,” “a liar.” So he knows how to deceive and how to “cheat” people. This is what he did with Eve: he made her “feel good,” the Pope explained, and so he began to dialogue with her; and, step by step, Satan led her where he wanted. With Jesus it is different; it ended badly for the devil, the Pope said. “He tries to dialogue” with Christ, because when the devil deceives a person he does so with dialogue.” He attempts to deceive Him, but Jesus does not give in. Then the devil is revealed for who he is. Jesus answers him, not with His own words, but with the Word of God, because “you can’t dialogue with the devil”; you’ll end up, like Adam and Eve, “naked”:
“The devil is a bad paymaster, he doesn’t pay well. He is a cheat! He promises you everything and leaves you naked. Jesus, too, ended up naked, but on the Cross, through obedience to the Father: this is a different path. The serpent, the devil is cunning: you can’t dialogue with the devil. We all know what temptations are, we all know, because we all have them. So many temptations! Of vanity, pride, greed, avarice… so many!”
Corruption begins in small things
Today, the Pope said, there is a lot of talk of corruption; and for this, too, we should ask for the Lord’s help:
“There are so many corrupt people, corrupt ‘big fish’ in the world, whose lives we read about in the papers. Perhaps they began with a small thing, I don’t know, maybe not adjusting the scales well. What was a kilo… no, let’s make it 900 grams, but that will seem like a kilo. Corruption begins in small things like this, with dialogue: ‘No, it’s not true that this fruit will harm you. Eat it, it’s good! It’s a little thing, no one will notice. Do it! Do it!’ And little by little, little by little, you fall into sin, you fall into corruption.”
In temptation, you don’t dialogue: you pray
The Church teaches us in this way, the Pope said, so we will not be deceived – not to say foolish – so that when we are tempted we have our “eyes open” and know to ask the Lord for help, “because we can’t do it on our own.” Adam and Eve hid themselves from the Lord; on the contrary, it takes the grace of Jesus in order to “turn and seek forgiveness”:
“In temptation, you don’t dialogue, you pray: ‘Help me, Lord, I am weak. I don’t want to hide from you.’ This is courage, this is winning. When you start to dialogue, you end up overcome, defeated. May the Lord give us that grace, and accompany us in this courage. And if we are deceived because of our weakness in temptation, may He grant us the courage to get up and go forward. It’s for this that Jesus came, for this.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Jesuit magazine La Civiltà Cattolica will publish the text of Pope Francis’ conversation with 140 Superiors General of male religious orders during the 88th General Assembly of the Union of Superiors General (USG) which took place on 25 November 2016.
An excerpt of this conversation was published on Thursday in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera .
“The Church must accompany the young in their journey towards maturity, and it is only with discernment and not abstractions that young people can discover their path in life and live a life open to God and the world, so I chose this theme to introduce discernment more forcefully into the life of the Church,” the Pope said when asked why the next General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops is on young people.
“You have to work with young people by doing things, working with the popular missions, social work, going every week to feed the homeless,” – the Holy Father continued – “Young people find the Lord in action. Then, after action they have to reflect. But reflection alone doesn’t help, because it is only ideas … ideas. So, two concepts: listening and movement. This is important. But not only training young people to listen, but first listening to them, the young people themselves. This is an important priority for the Church: listening to young people.”
He also spoke about the falling number of vocations in religious orders, saying it is “certainly linked to the demographic problem,” but added “it is also true that sometimes the pastoral vocation does not respond to the expectations of the young.”
He also expressed “worry” over some of the new religious institutes, remarking “some of them seem to represent a new approach, to express a great apostolic strength, attracting many, only then … to go bankrupt.”
He also said he was at peace with being Pope, and spoke about his election.
“There was talk in the General Congregations [the meetings among the Cardinals before the Conclave] of the Vatican’s problems, there was talk of reforms. Everyone wanted them,” – Pope Francis said – “There is corruption in the Vatican. But I’m at peace. If there is a problem, I write a note to St. Joseph and put it under a statue that I have in my room. It is a statue of St. Joseph sleeping. And now he sleeps on a mattress of notes! That’s why I sleep well: it is the grace of God.”
The Pope said he believes that everyone must seek to discover what the Lord has chosen for them.
“After all, losing peace does not help us to suffer at all,” – he explained – “The Superiors must learn to suffer, but to suffer like a father. And also to suffer with a great deal of humility. This is the path that can lead from the cross to peace. But never wash your hands of problems! Yes, in the Church there are Pontius Pilates who wash their hands to avoid discomfort. But a superior who washes his hands is not a father, and doesn’t help.”
When asked about the prophetic role of religious life, Pope Francis said it was important to be “radical in prophecy.”
“Being radical in the prophecy is the famous sine glossa, the rule sine glossa, the Gospel sine glossa,” – the Holy Father emphasized – “In other words, without tranquillisers! The Gospel should be taken without tranquillisers. This is what the Church Fathers did. It is in them that we should seek the radical nature of the prophecy. They remind us that we are called to come out of our comfort zones, forsake all that is worldly: in our way of life, but also in thinking up new ways forward for our Institutes.”
Pope Francis also spoke about the issue of sexual abuse by clergy and religious.
“On the subject of sexual abuse: it seems that half of those who commit abuse have themselves been victims of abuse,” – the Holy Father said – “Abuse is thus sowed in the future and this is devastating. If priests or religious are involved it is clear that the devil is at work, who ruins the work of Jesus through those who should proclaim him. But let’s be clear: this is a disease. If we are not convinced that this is a disease, we cannot solve the problem. So pay attention when receiving candidates for the religious life and ensure that they are sufficiently emotionally mature. For example: never accept in a religious community or diocese a candidate that has been rejected by another seminar or another institute without asking for very clear and detailed information on the reasons for their rejection.”
The full dialogue between Pope Francis and the Religious superiors will appear in La Civiltà Cattolica on Saturday. The excerpt published by Corriere della Sera on Thursday can be found in English here .
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) “Without women, there is no harmony in the world.” That was the message of Pope Francis in his homily at the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta. At the center of his reflection was creation of woman, as told in Genesis. Men and women are not equal; the one is not superior to the other. But it is the woman, and not the man, who brings that harmony which makes the world a beautiful place.
Pope Francis was continuing his reflections on creation, the subject of the Readings for the past few days, taken from the Book of Genesis. The Lord had formed every sort of animal, but the man did not find a companion in any of them; he was alone. Then the Lord took a rib and created woman, who the man recognized as “flesh of his flesh.” “But before seeing her,” the Pope said, “the man dreamed of her… In order to understand a woman, it is necessary first to dream of her.”
Without women, there is no harmony
“Often when we speak about women,” the Pope said, we think of them in a ‘functionalist’ manner. Instead, we should see women as bearers of a richness that men do not possess: women bring harmony to creation:
“When women are not there, harmony is missing. We might say: But this is a society with a strong masculine attitude, and this is the case, no? The woman is missing. ‘Yes, yes: the woman is there to wash the dishes, to do things…’ No, no, no! The woman is there to bring harmony. Without the woman there is no harmony. They are not equal; one is not superior to the other: no. It’s just that the man does not bring harmony. It’s her. It is she who brings that harmony that teaches us to caress, to love with tenderness; and who makes the world a beautiful place.”
Exploiting people is a crime, but exploiting women is worse: it destroys harmony
In his homily, the Pope considered three moments in Creation: the solitude of the man, the dream, and the destiny of both the man and the woman: to be “one flesh.” The Holy Father gave a concrete example: Once, during an audience, while he greeted the people, he asked a couple who were celebrating their 60 th wedding anniversary, “Which of you has had the most patience?”
“And they looked at me, they looked me in the eyes – I’ll never forget those eyes, eh? – then they turned and they told me, both together: ‘We are in love.’ After 60 years, this means ‘one flesh.’ And this is what the woman brings: the capacity to love one another. Harmony for the world. Often we hear: ‘No, it is necessary in this society, in this institution, that here there should be a woman because she does this, she does these things.’ No, no, no, no! Functionality is not the purpose of women. It is true that women should do things, to do things as we all do. The purpose of women is to make harmony, and without women there is no harmony in the world. Exploiting persons is a crime of ‘lèse-humanité’: it’s true. But exploiting a woman is even more serious: it is destroying the harmony that God has chosen to give to the world. It is to destroy.”
Exploiting a woman, then, is not only a crime: it amounts to “destroying harmony,” the Pope said, referring also to the day’s Gospel story of the Syrophoenician woman.
God has created woman so that we would all have a mother
Pope Francis concluded his reflection with a personal note:
This is the great gift of God: He has given us woman. And in the Gospel, we have heard what a woman is capable of, eh? She is courageous, that one, eh? She went forward with courage. But there is more, so much more. A woman is harmony, is poetry, is beauty. Without her the world would not be so beautiful, it would not be harmonious. And I like to think – but this is a personal thing – that God created women so that we would all have a mother.
(from Vatican Radio)…