(Vatican Radio) The Secretary for Relations with States in the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, is recently returned from an official visit to Japan. During his trip, Archbishop Gallagher met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and celebrated Mass in the city of Hiroshima.
In an exclusive interview with Vatican Radio on his return, the Secretary for Relations with States explained the visit was to return the favor of the visit of Japan’s Foreign Minister to the Vatican in 2016. “It was right to reciprocate [the visit],” he explained, “to build up this cooperation, which exists.”
Click below to hear the extended conversation between Alessandro Gisotti and the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher…
Archbishop Gallagher also reiterated the common commitment of the Holy See with Japan regarding the elimination of nuclear weapons. “They are – for very personal reasons – obviously working for a nuclear-free world,” he said, “but they do feel the nuclear powers have to be part of that debate,” he continued. “Unless we get the nuclear powers on board,” he continued, “nothing is going to change substantially.”
Archbishop Gallagher also spoke of the visit in the broader context of the Holy See’s diplomacy.
“I think the Holy Father wishes – in what he refers to as his ‘creative diplomacy’ – he wishes this to be an expression of the Church’s general service and mission,” Archbishop Gallagher said.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has asked for prayers for the Rohingya people in Myanmar who are persecuted and forced to flee from their homes.
He delivered his appeal during the weekly General Audience asking those present to join him in prayers “for our Rohingya brothers and sisters who are being chased from Myanmar and are fleeing from one place to another because no one wants them.”
“They are good people, they are not Christians, they are peaceful people, they are our brothers and sisters and for years they have been suffering, they are being tortured and killed, simply because they uphold their Muslim faith” he said.
And together with the some 7,000 people present in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican, he prayed the ‘Our Father’ for all exploited and humiliated migrants, and in a special way for the Rohingyas.
Pope Francis was marking the Feast day of Saint Josephine Bakita, herself a Sudanese slave who was freed and went on to become a Canossian religious sister in Italy. She was canonized in the year 2000.
Human rights groups have urged Myanmar’s government to back an independent international investigation into alleged abuses by security forces against members of the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority, including killings, the razing of homes and the reported systematic use of sexual violence.
The estimated 1 million Rohingya face official and social discrimination in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, also known as Burma. Most do not have citizenship and are regarded as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even when their families have lived in the country for generations. Violence in 2012 forced many to flee their homes, and more than 100,000 still live in squalid refugee camps.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis appealed to government leaders to be strong in the fight against the scourge of human trafficking .
Marking Wednesday’s ‘ International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking ’ marked annually on 8 February, and focusing this year on the trafficking of children and adolescents, the Pope had words of encouragement for all those who in different ways, help minors who have been enslaved and abused to be freed from this terrible oppression.
“I urge all those in government positions to combat this scourge with firmness, giving voice to our younger brothers and sisters who have been wounded in their dignity. All efforts must be made to eradicate this shameful and intolerable crime” he said.
He explained that the ‘International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking” falls on the feast day of Saint Josephine Bakita : “this enslaved, exploited and humiliated girl in Africa never lost hope” he said but persevered in her faith and ended up as a migrant in Europe where she heard the call of the Lord and became a nun. Let’s pray to Saint Josephine Bakita for all migrants and refugees who are exploited and suffer so much”.
The Pope also recalled the beatification on Tuesday in Japan of Justo Takayama Ukon , a Japanese lay person who died a martyr in Manila in 1615.
“Rather than bowing to compromise, he renounced honor and wealth, and accepted humiliation and exile. He remained faithful to Christ and to the Gospel” he said.
For this reason, the Pope said, “he represents an admirable example of strength in faith and dedication in charity.”
Pope Francis also mentioned the upcoming ‘ 25th World Day of the Sick ’ in memory of Our Lady of Lourdes. He said the main celebration will take place on Saturday in Lourdes and will be presided over by the Cardinal Secretary of State.
He concluded asking for prayers for all sick people, especially those are in grave condition and are alone, and also for those who care for them.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday encouraged the faithful to strive to be living signs of hope for the human family.
Speaking during the weekly General Audience, the Pope continued his catechesis on Christian hope, conceding that especially in times of darkness and difficulty , hope is no easy virtue.
Please find below the English synopsis of the Pope’s catechesis:
Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our continuing catechesis on Christian hope, we have seen that the virtue of hope is rooted in the Lord’s resurrection and its promise of our own. Christian hope is intensely personal yet also communitarian. Saint Paul frequently encourages the members of the early Church to sustain one another in hope, through mutual prayer and practical concern for those in need. This support must be given especially to the poor, the weak in faith, the suffering and those tempted to despair. Christian hope, necessarily linked to charity, needs to be “embodied” in a community of mutual support and loving concern. That body is the Church and its soul is the Holy Spirit. Our witness of hope in Christ’s promises is meant to expand and enrich the life of society as a whole. We know that, especially in times of darkness and difficulty, hope is no easy virtue. Yet the Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts teaches us to trust in the Lord’s provident care and to strive constantly, in our communities, to be living signs of hope for the entire human family.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Tuesday said that God created man in His image, made him lord of the earth, and gave him a woman at his side to love. The Pope’s words on these three gifts of God in Creation came during his homily at daily Mass in the Casa Santa Marta.
Listen to Devin Watkins’ report:
The Holy Father’s homily at Mass focused on the verses of Psalm 8: “Lord, what is man that you are mindful of him? Yet you have made him little less than a god, crowned him with glory and honor,” and on the Book of Genesis’ account of the Creation of man and woman.
God has given us the DNA of children, in His image
The Pope spoke about the first of three great gifts, which God gave humanity in creation.
“First of all, He gave us His ‘DNA’, that is, He made us children, created us in His image, in His image and likeness, like Him. And when one makes a child, he cannot take it back: the son is made, he exists. And whether or not he carries resembles the father, he is a son; he has received his identity. If the child is good, his father is proud of that son, right?, ‘Look at how good he is!’. And even if he is a little ugly, the father in any case says: ‘Isn’t he beautiful!’, because a father is like this. Always. And if the son is bad, the father justifies him, waiting for him … Jesus taught us how a father waits for his children. He gave us the identity of a child: to ‘man and woman’, we must add the identity of ‘child’. We ‘are like gods’, because we are children of God.”
The Earth is entrusted to humanity to preserve it through work
God’s second gift in Creation, Pope Francis said, is a ‘task’: God ‘gave us all the earth’, to ‘dominate’ and ‘subdue’, as the account in Genesis narrates. God therefore has given humanity a certain ‘royalty’, he added, because God does not want a ‘slave’ but ‘a lord, a king’, entrusted with a task:
“As [God] worked in Creation, He has given us work, the work of advancing Creation. Not to destroy it; but to make it grow, to care for it, to keep it and make it carry on. He gave everything. It’s funny, I sometimes think, ‘He did not give us money.’ We have everything. Who gave us money? I don’t know. Grandmothers have this saying that ‘the devil enters through the pocket’. This may be… God gave humanity all of Creation to preserve it and care for it: this is the gift. And finally, ‘God created mankind in His image, male and female He created them.'”
Love: God’s third gift in Creation
Pope Francis went on to explore the third and final gift, love, beginning with the love shared between a man and a woman.
“Male and female He created them. It is not good for the man to be alone. And He made his partner,” the Pope said. In love, God gives man love and a “dialogue of love”, which, the Holy Father said, must have been the first between man and woman.
The Pope concluded with a look at Creation, thanking God for these three gifts given in Creation.
“Let us thank God for these three gifts He has given us: an identity, a gift/duty, and love. And let us ask for the grace to preserve this identity of a child, to work with the gift He has given us and to advance this gift with our work, and the grace to learn to love ever more each day.”
(from Vatican Radio)…