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Month: July 2017

Pope Francis approves decrees for miracles, martyrdom

(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis on Friday authorized the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints to promulgate several decrees, after meeting with Cardinal Angelo Amato, the Congregation’s Prefect.
The Holy Father approved the following decrees:
– the miracle, attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God Anna Chrzanowska, Lay woman; who was born on October 7, 1902 in Warsaw (Poland) and died on April 29, 1973 in Krakow (Poland);
– the martyrdom of the Servant of God Jesús Emilio Jaramillo Monsalve, of the Institute for the Foreign Missions of Yarumal, Bishop of Arauca; who was killed in hatred of the Faith in 1989 near Fortul (Colombia);
– the martyrdom of the Servant of God Peter Ramírez Ramos, diocesan priest; who was killed in hatred of the Faith on April 10, 1948 in Armero (Colombia);
– the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Ismael Perdomo, Archbishop of Bogotá; born February 22, 1872 in El Gigante (Colombia) and died on June 3, 1950 in Bogotá (Colombia);
– the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Luigi Kosiba (born Peter), Lay professor of the Order of Friars Minor; born on June 29, 1855 in Libusza (Poland) and died on January 4, 1939 in Wieliczka (Poland);
– the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Paola of Jesus Gil Cano, Foundress of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Most Pure Conception; born February 2, 1849 in Vera (Spain) and died on January 18, 1913 in Murcia (Spain);
– the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Mary Elizabeth Mazza, Foundress of the Institute of the Little Apostle Sisters of Christian Schools; born January 21, 1886 in Martinengo (Italy) and died August 29, 1950 in Bergamo (Italy);
– the heroic virtues of the Servant of God, Mary Crucified of Divine Love (born Maria Gargani), Foundress of the Congregation of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart; born December 23, 1892 in Morra Irpino (today Morra De Sanctis, Italy) and died on 23 May 1973 in Naples (Italy).
(from Vatican Radio)…

Pope Francis to Merkel, G20 leaders: put people at centre

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a Message to the heads of the Group of 20 nations, who are gathered in Hamburg, Germany from July 7-8.
Addressed directly to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Message details four principles of action, which the Holy Father offers as guides for the building of fraternal, just and peaceful societies:  time is greater than space; unity prevails over conflict; realities are more important than ideas;  and  the whole is greater than the part .
Pope Francis expresses the hope that those four principles – drawn from his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii gaudium – might also serve as an aid to reflection for the Hamburg meeting and for the assessment of its outcome.
Click below to hear our full report

The Holy Father’s reflections touch on several pressing issues, including the ongoing migration crisis.
“In the minds and hearts of government leaders, and at every phase of the enactment of political measures, there is a need to give absolute priority to the poor, refugees, the suffering, evacuees and the excluded, without distinction of nation, race, religion or culture, and to reject armed conflicts,” Pope Francis writes.
The Holy Father also addresses the situation in South Sudan, the Lake Chad basin, the Horn of Africa and Yemen, where thirty million people are lacking the food and water needed to survive, writing, “A commitment to meet these situations with urgency and to provide immediate support to those peoples will be a sign of the seriousness and sincerity of the mid-term commitment to reforming the world economy and a guarantee of its sound development.”
Writing on the ever-present threat and reality of conflict in the world, the Holy Father recalls the upcoming hundredth anniversary of Pope Benedict XV’s Letter  to the Leaders of the Warring Peoples , asking that the world put an end to all these  “useless slaughters . [Emphasis in original] ”
“War,” Pope Francis writes, “is never a solution.”
Pope Francis goes on to write of the urgent need to overcome ideological divides.
“The fateful ideologies of the first half of the twentieth century have been replaced by new ideologies of absolute market autonomy and financial speculation,” he writes. 
Calling for a recovery of, “a sound and prudent pragmatism, guided by the primacy of the human being and the attempt to integrate and coordinate diverse and at times opposed realities, on the basis of respect for each and every citizen,” which was the hallmark of, “the significant political and economic achievements of the past century,” the Holy Father prays that the Hamburg Summit may be illumined by the example of those European and world leaders who consistently gave pride of place to dialogue and the quest of common solutions, especially Schuman, De Gasperi, Adenauer, and Monnet.
“Problems, Pope Francis goes on to write, “need to be resolved concretely and with due attention to their specificity, but such solutions, to be lasting, cannot neglect a broader vision.  They must likewise consider eventual repercussions on all countries and their citizens, while respecting the views and opinions of the latter.”
He then repeats the warning that Benedict XVI addressed to the G20 London Summit in 2009, to the effect that the states and individuals whose voices are weakest on the world political scene, are precisely the ones who suffer most from the harmful effects of economic crises for which they bear little or no responsibility, and that this  great majority, which in economic terms counts for only 10% of the whole, is the portion of humanity that has the greatest potential to contribute to the progress of everyone. 
“Consequently,” he writes, “there is need to make constant reference to the United Nations, its programmes and associated agencies, and regional organizations, to respect and honour international treaties, and to continue promoting a multilateral approach, so that solutions can be truly universal and lasting, for the benefit of all.”
(from Vatican Radio)…

Pope Francis blesses work of new Argentine radio station

(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis has sent an audio message to a new Argentinian radio station, which began broadcasting to Buenos Aires on Sunday, 2 July.
“Cristo de los villeros” Radio was founded by Fr. José María (“Pepe”) Di Paola, a friend and collaborator of Pope Francis when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
To those who labored to establish the Radio, Pope Francis offered his gratitude and support.
“Thanks for all the work you do; thanks for putting yourselves in play for good things, for communicating yourselves, and for building bridges instead of putting up walls. Thanks for not destroying yourselves with gossip but rather offering an outstretched hand. May you continue in this way”.
He went on to say that “this is how one builds a society of brothers and sisters”.
The Pope concluded his transmission by offering his blessing.
“May the Lord bless you, and please pray for me. I will pray for you, and I will do it from the heart. Go forward with enthusiasm!”
(from Vatican Radio)…

Remembering JoaquĆ­n Navarro-Valls

(Vatican Radio) The former Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Joaquín Navarro-Valls, passed away on Wednesday, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 80 years old.
Navarro trained as a medical doctor with a specialization in psychiatry, as well as in journalism, moving to Rome in the early 1970’s, becoming a foreign correspondent and eventually being elected president of the foreign press association in the city.
In 1984, he accepted an offer from Pope St. John Paul II to become the new head of the Press Office of the Holy See, a position he held until 2006.  
A statement on the website of Opus Dei, of which Navarro was a member, informs that a vigil is scheduled for Thursday, July 6, starting at 4pm in the sacristy of the basilica of the church of St. Eugene (Viale delle Belle Arti 10, Rome), and that Msgr. Mariano Fazio, Vicar General of the Prelature of Opus Dei, will celebrate a funeral Mass for him on Friday, July 7 at 11am Rome Time.
Click below to hear our conversation with Joaquín Navarro-Valls’ successor in the directorship of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi SJ, who remembers his predecessor as a multi-faceted man of many talents, highly professional, and capable of great warmth in his personal relations, who was also a man of deep faith and devotion to the Church…

(from Vatican Radio)…

Pope: ‘openness is necessary for a culture of encounter’

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a video message to the Congress of the Scholas Occurentes which concludes on Wednesday in Jerusalem. The Congress focused on the theme “ Between the University and the School, building peace through the culture of encounter .”
Christopher Wells reports on the Pope’s message: 

In his message, Pope Francis encouraged the participants, young and old, who had come from Israel, the Palestinian territories, and from other countries from across the globe. “I want to celebrate these days lived out there in Jerusalem,” he said, “because you yourselves, beginning from your differences, have achieved unity.”
The Holy Father praised them for seeing one another without prejudice; an attitude, he said, that is essential “because it produces an encounter.” This encounter, he said, gives our lives meaning and purpose.
 
And it is precisely because our lives have meaning that we feel the need to celebrate. Even more, this meaning leads us to a feeling, a sentiment, of gratitude. And it is this sentiment, the Pope said, that the Scholas has perceived to be of the essence of education, which opens us to the unknown, which frees us from prejudices that keep us from dreaming and seeking new paths. It is for this reason, he continued, “that we adults cannot take from our children and young people the capacity to dream, or to play—which is, in a certain sense, a waking dream.”
Pope Francis said the Congress in Jerusalem teaches us that we have a duty to hear young people, and to give them a context of hope so that their dreams might grow and be shared. Shared dreams can produce a “utopia” to strive after; and the utopia of the Scholas is to create a culture of encounter that allows people to arrive, not at uniformity, but at harmony.
 
The Pope concluded his address by thanking the adults for not closing themselves up in themselves; and for putting their learning at the service of listening. And he thanked the young people for committing themselves “to dreaming, to seeking meaning, to creating, to being grateful, to celebrating, to offering their minds, their hands, and their hearts in order to transform the culture of encounter into reality.”
 
 
 
 
(from Vatican Radio)…