Bulletins

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis addressed the participants in the World Congress on Child Dignity in the Digital World . Hosted by the  Pontifical Gregorian University  and its  Centre for Child Protection , the four-day event brought together different government and police representatives, software companies, religious leaders and medical experts specialized in the impact of on-line abuse. Below, please find the full text of Pope Francis’ prepared remarks, in their official English translation.  *********************************************** Your Eminences,
President of the Senate, Madame Minister,
Your Excellencies, Father Rector,
Distinguished Ambassadors and Civil Authorities,
Dear Professors, Ladies and Gentlemen,          I thank the Rector of the Gregorian University, Father Nuno da Silva Gonçalves, and the young lady representative of the youth for their kind and informative words of introduction to our meeting.  I am grateful to all of you for being here this morning and informing me of the results of your work.  Above all, I thank you for sharing your concerns and your commitment to confront together, for the sake of young people worldwide, a grave new problem felt in our time.  A problem that had not yet been studied and discussed by a broad spectrum of experts from various fields and areas of responsibility as you have done in these days: the problem of the effective protection of the dignity of minors in the digital world.          The acknowledgment and defense of the dignity of the human person is the origin and basis of every right social and political order, and the Church has recognized the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) as “a true milestone on the path of moral progress of humanity” (cf. JOHN PAUL II, Addresses to the United Nations Organization, 1979 and 1995).  So too, in the knowledge that children are among those most in need of care and protection, the Holy See received the Declaration on the Rights of the Child (1959) and adhered to the relative Convention (1990) and its two optional protocols (2001).  The dignity and rights of children must be protected by legal systems as priceless goods for the entire human family (cf. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church , Nos. 244-245).          While completely and firmly agreed on these principles, we must work together on their basis.  We need to do this decisively and with genuine passion, considering with tender affection all those children who come into this world every day and in every place.  They need our respect, but also our care and affection, so that they can grow and achieve all their rich potential.          Scripture tells us that man and woman are created by God in his own image.  Could any more forceful statement be made about our human dignity?  The Gospel speaks to us of the affection with which Jesus welcomes children; he takes them in his arms and blesses them (cf. Mk 10:16), because “it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs” ( Mt 19:14).  Jesus’ harshest words are reserved for those who give scandal to the little ones: “It were better for them to have a great millstone fastened around their neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” ( Mt 18:6).  It follows that we must work to protect the dignity of minors, gently yet firmly, opposing with all our might the throwaway culture nowadays that is everywhere apparent, to the detriment especially of the weak and the most vulnerable, such as minors.          We are living in a new world that, when we were young, we could hardly have imagined.  We define it by two simple words as a “digital world”, but it is the fruit of extraordinary achievements of science and technology.  In a few decades, it has changed the way we live and communicate.  Even now, it is in some sense changing our very way of thinking and of being, and profoundly influencing the perception of our possibilities and our identity.          If, on the one hand, we are filled with real wonder and admiration at the new and impressive horizons opening up before us, on the other, we can sense a certain concern and even apprehension when we consider how quickly this development has taken place, the new and unforeseen problems it sets before us, and the negative consequences it entails.  Those consequences are seldom willed, and yet are quite real.  We rightly wonder if we are capable of guiding the processes we ourselves have set in motion, whether they might be escaping our grasp, and whether we are doing enough to keep them in check.          This is the great existential question facing humanity today, in light of a global crisis at once environmental, social, economic, political, moral and spiritual.          As representatives of various scientific disciplines and the fields of digital communications, law and political life, you have come together precisely because you realize the gravity of these challenges linked to scientific and technical progress.  With great foresight, you have concentrated on what is probably the most crucial challenge for the future of the human family: the protection of young people’s dignity, their healthy development, their joy and their hope.          We know that minors are presently more than a quarter of the over 3 billion users of the internet; this means that over 800 million minors are navigating the internet. We know that within two years, in India alone, over 500 million persons will have access to the internet, and that half of these will be minors.  What do they find on the net?  And how are they regarded by those who exercise various kinds of influence over the net?          We have to keep our eyes open and not hide from an unpleasant truth that we would rather not see.  For that matter, surely we have realized sufficiently in recent years that concealing the reality of sexual abuse is a grave error and the source of many other evils?  So let us face reality, as you have done in these days.  We encounter extremely troubling things on the net, including the spread of ever more extreme pornography, since habitual use raises the threshold of stimulation; the increasing phenomenon of sexting between young men and women who use the social media; and the growth of online bullying, a true form of moral and physical attack on the dignity of other young people.  To this can be added sextortion ; the solicitation of minors for sexual purposes, now widely reported in the news; to say nothing of the grave and appalling crimes of online trafficking in persons, prostitution, and even the commissioning and live viewing of acts of rape and violence against minors in other parts of the world.  The net has its dark side (the “dark net”), where evil finds ever new, effective and pervasive ways to act and to expand.  The spread of printed pornography in the past was a relatively small phenomenon compared to the proliferation of pornography on the net.  You have addressed this clearly, based on solid research and documentation, and for this we are grateful.          Faced with these facts, we are naturally alarmed.  But, regrettably, we also remain bewildered.  As you know well, and are teaching us, what is distinctive about the net is precisely that it is worldwide; it covers the planet, breaking down every barrier, becoming ever more pervasive, reaching everywhere and to every kind of user, including children, due to mobile devices that are becoming smaller and easier to use.  As a result, today no one in the world, or any single national authority, feels capable of monitoring and adequately controlling the extent and the growth of these phenomena, themselves interconnected and linked to other grave problems associated with the net, such as illicit trafficking, economic and financial crimes, and international terrorism.  From an educational standpoint too, we feel bewildered, because the speed of its growth has left the older generation on the sidelines, rendering extremely difficult, if not impossible, intergenerational dialogue and a serene transmission of rules and wisdom acquired by years of life and experience.          But we must not let ourselves be overcome by fear, which is always a poor counsellor.  Nor let ourselves be paralyzed by the sense of powerlessness that overwhelms us before the difficulty of the task before us.  Rather, we are called to join forces, realizing that we need one another in order to seek and find the right means and approaches needed for effective responses.  We must be confident that “we can broaden our vision.  We have the freedom needed to limit and direct technology; we can put it at the service of another type of progress, one which is healthier, more human, more social, more integral” ( Laudato Si’ , 112).          For such a mobilization to be effective, I encourage you to oppose firmly certain potentially mistaken approaches.  I will limit myself to indicating three of these.          The first is to underestimate the harm done to minors by these phenomena.  The difficulty of countering them can lead us to be tempted to say: “Really, the situation is not so bad as all that…”   But the progress of neurobiology, psychology and psychiatry have brought to light the profound impact of violent and sexual images on the impressionable minds of children, the psychological problems that emerge as they grow older, the dependent behaviours and situations, and genuine enslavement that result from a steady diet of provocative or violent images.  These problems will surely have a serious and life-long effect on today’s children.          Here I would add an observation.  We rightly insist on the gravity of these problems for minors.  But we can also underestimate or overlook the extent that they are also problems for adults.  Determining the age of minority and majority is important for legal systems, but it is insufficient for dealing with other issues.  The spread of ever more extreme pornography and other improper uses of the net not only causes disorders, dependencies and grave harm among adults, but also has a real impact on the way we view love and relations between the sexes.  We would be seriously deluding ourselves were we to think that a society where an abnormal consumption of internet sex is rampant among adults could be capable of effectively protecting minors.          The second mistaken approach would be to think that automatic technical solutions, filters devised by ever more refined algorithms in order to identify and block the spread of abusive and harmful images, are sufficient to deal with these problems.  Certainly, such measures are necessary. Certainly, businesses that provide millions of people with social media and increasingly powerful, speedy and pervasive software should invest in this area a fair portion of their great profits.  But there is also an urgent need, as part of the process of technological growth itself, for all those involved to acknowledge and address the ethical concerns that this growth raises, in all its breadth and its various consequences.          Here we find ourselves having to reckon with a third potentially mistaken approach, which consists in an ideological and mythical vision of the net as a realm of unlimited freedom. Quite rightly, your meeting includes representatives of lawmakers and law enforcement agencies whose task is to provide for and to protect the common good and the good of individual persons.  The net has opened a vast new forum for free expression and the exchange of ideas and information.  This is certainly beneficial, but, as we have seen, it has also offered new means for engaging in heinous illicit activities, and, in the area with which we are concerned, for the abuse of minors and offences against their dignity, for the corruption of their minds and violence against their bodies.  This has nothing to do with the exercise of freedom; it has to do with crimes that need to be fought with intelligence and determination, through a broader cooperation among governments and law enforcement agencies on the global level, even as the net itself is now global.          You have been discussing all these matters and, in the “Declaration” you presented me, you have pointed out a variety of different ways to promote concrete cooperation among all concerned parties working to combat the great challenge of defending the dignity of minors in the digital world.  I firmly and enthusiastically support the commitments that you have undertaken.          These include raising awareness of the gravity of the problems, enacting suitable legislation, overseeing developments in technology, identifying victims and prosecuting those guilty of crimes.  They include assisting minors who have been affected and providing for their rehabilitation, assisting educators and families, and finding creative ways of training young people in the proper use of the internet in ways healthy for themselves and for other minors.  They also include fostering greater sensitivity and providing moral formation, as well as continuing scientific research in all the fields associated with this challenge.          Very appropriately, you have expressed the hope that religious leaders and communities of believers can also share in this common effort, drawing on their experience, their authority and their resources for education and for moral and spiritual formation.  In effect, only the light and the strength that come from God can enable us to face these new challenges.  As for the Catholic Church, I would assure you of her commitment and her readiness to help.  As all of us know, in recent years the Church has come to acknowledge her own failures in providing for the protection of children: extremely grave facts have come to light, for which we have to accept our responsibility before God, before the victims and before public opinion.  For this very reason, as a result of these painful experiences and the skills gained in the process of conversion and purification, the Church today feels especially bound to work strenuously and with foresight for the protection of minors and their dignity, not only within her own ranks, but in society as a whole and throughout the world.  She does not attempt to do this alone – for that is clearly not enough – but by offering her own effective and ready cooperation to all those individuals and groups in society that are committed to the same end.  In this sense, the Church adheres to the goal of putting an end to “the abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children” set by the United Nations in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Target 16.2).          On many occasions, and in many different countries, I gaze into the eyes of children, poor and rich, healthy and ill, joyful and suffering.  To see children looking us in the eye is an experience we have all had.  It touches our hearts and requires us to examine our consciences.  What are we doing to ensure that those children can continue smiling at us, with clear eyes and faces filled with trust and hope?  What are we doing to make sure that they are not robbed of this light, to ensure that those eyes will not be not darkened and corrupted by what they will find on the internet, which will soon be so integral and important a part of their daily lives?          Let us work together, then, so that we will always have the right, the courage and the joy to be able to look into the eyes of the children of our world. (from Vatican Radio)…

(Vatican Radio) ‘ The Declaration of Rome ’, the final document produced by participants at the World Congress hosted by the Pontifical Gregorian University on ‘ Child Dignity in the Digital World ’, issues an urgent call to action.  140 participants from all continents gathered in Rome from 3 to 6 October for the first world congress focused on addressing the dangers children and adolescents face on the internet. Put  together by a UK-based global alliance called ‘WePROTECT’ and by ‘Telefono Azzurro’, the first Italian helpline for children at risk, the congress drew delegates from countries across the world, including China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. Receiving participants at the event on Friday morning in the Vatican, Pope Francis was handed ‘The Declaration of Rome’ by a young girl “on behalf of millions of young people around the world who need information and far more protection from the risks of sexual and other forms of abuse on the internet”. “Using your own words, she said to the Pope, we believe that ‘A society can be judged by the way it treats its children’.” While technology, she continued, has changed our lives in so many positive ways, it is also being used in the growing exploitation of children, millions of whom are being abused and exploited all over the world.  Explaining that increasingly extreme and dehumanizing content is available at children’s fingertips, she said that some of the effects include cyberbullying, harassment and sextortion, while “online pornography is impacting the malleable minds of young children”. Highlighting the right of all children to be protected, she called for unity and collaboration in seeking in seeking “positive, empowering solutions for all”. One of the main points of the document is the need for technology companies and governments to innovate to better protect children. “This is a problem, she said, that cannot be solved by one nation or one company or one faith acting alone, it is a global problem that requires global solutions. It requires that we build awareness and that we mobilize action from every government, every faith, every company and every institution”. “In this era of the internet the world faces unprecedented challenges if it is to preserve the rights and dignity of children and protect them from abuse and exploitation.  These challenges require new thinking and approaches, heightened global awareness and inspired leadership.  For this reason this Declaration of Rome appeals to everyone to stand up for the protection of the dignity of children” she concluded. One of the participants at the Congress was Antoine Normand from Canada. Normand is the founder of BlueBear , a company that combats child pornography on the Internet thanks to the development of software which analyzes and categorizes image and video evidence files seized during child pornography investigations and that is used in collaboration with the Police. Normand was at the audience with the Pope and sums up the content of “The Rome Declaration.” Listen : 

Please find below the full text of “The Rome Declaration”: The Declaration of Rome  World Congress:  Child Dignity in the Digital World 6 October 2017 Pope Francis — “A society can be judged by the way it treats its children.” Every child’s life is unique, meaningful and precious and every child has a right to dignity and safety.  Yet today, global society is failing its children.  Millions of children are being abused and exploited in tragic and unspeakable ways, and on an unprecedented scale all over the world. Technology’s exponential advancement and integration into our everyday lives is not only changing what we do and how we do it, but who we are.  Much of the impact of these changes has been very positive.  However, we face the dark side of this new-found world, a world which is enabling a host of social ills that are harming the most vulnerable members of society.  While undoubtedly the Internet creates numerous benefits and opportunities in terms of social inclusion and educational attainment, today, content that is increasingly extreme and dehumanizing is available literally at children’s fingertips.  The proliferation of social media means insidious acts, such as cyberbullying, harassment and sextortion, are becoming commonplace.  Specifically, the range and scope of child sexual abuse and exploitation online is shocking.  Vast numbers of sexual abuse images of children and youth are available online and continue to grow unabated.  The detrimental impact of pornography on the malleable minds of young children is another significant online harm.  We embrace the vision of an internet accessible by all people.  However, we believe the constitution of this vision must recognize the unwavering value of protecting all children. The challenges are enormous, but our response must not be gloom and dismay.  We must work together to seek positive, empowering solutions for all.  We must ensure that all children have safe access to the internet to enhance their education, communications and connections.  Technology companies and government have shown leadership in this fight and must continue to innovate to better protect children.  We must also awaken families, neighbours, communities around the world and children themselves to the reality of the internet’s impact upon children. We already have potent global platforms in place and important global leaders making significant progress in fulfilling these aims.  The Centre for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University conducts international safe-guarding work in 30 countries on four continents.  The WePROTECT Global Alliance, launched by the United Kingdom, in partnership with the European Union and the United States, unites 70 nations, 23 technology companies and many international organizations in this fight.   The United Nations is leading a global effort to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal 16.2 to eradicate violence against children by 2030, particularly through the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children. This is a problem that cannot be solved by one nation or one company or one faith acting alone, it is a global problem that requires global solutions. It requires that we build awareness, and that we mobilize action from every government, every faith, every company and every institution.  This Declaration of Rome issues a call to action:     1 – To world leaders to undertake a global awareness campaign to educate and inform the people of the world about the severity and extent of the abuse and exploitation of the world’s children, and to urge them to demand action from national leaders.  2 – To leaders of the world’s great religions to inform and mobilize members of every faith to join in a global movement to protect the world’s children. 3 – To the parliaments of the world to improve their laws to better protect children and hold those accountable who abuse and exploit children. 4 – To leaders of technology companies to commit to the development and implementation of new tools and technologies to attack the proliferation of sex abuse images on the Internet, and to interdict the redistribution of the images of identified child victims.  5 – To world’s ministries of public health and the leaders of non-governmental organizations to expand the rescue of child victims and improve treatment programs for victims of abuse and sexual exploitation. 6 – To government agencies, civil society and law enforcement to work to improve the recognition and identification of child victims, and ensure help for the massive numbers of hidden victims of child abuse and sexual exploitation. 7 – To the world’s law enforcement organizations to expand regional and global cooperation in order to improve information sharing in investigations and increase collaborative efforts in addressing these crimes against children which cross national boundaries. 8 – To the world’s medical institutions to enhance training for medical professionals in recognizing the indicators of abuse and sexual exploitation, and improve the reporting and treatment of such abuse and sexual exploitation.  9 – To governments and private institutions to enhance resources available to psychiatric and other treatment professionals for expanded treatment and rehabilitation services for children who have been abused or exploited. 10 – To the leading authorities in public health to expand research into the health impacts resulting from the exposure of young children and adolescents to graphic, extreme internet pornography. 11 – To leaders of the world’s governments, legislative bodies, private industry and religious institutions to advocate for and implement techniques to deny access by children and youth to internet content suitable only for adults. 12 – To governments, private industry and religious institutions to undertake a global awareness campaign directed at children and youth to educate them and provide them with the tools necessary to use the internet safely and responsibly, and to avoid the harm being done to many of their peers. 13 – To governments, private industry and religious institutions to undertake a global awareness initiative to make citizens in every country more alert and aware regarding the abuse and sexual exploitation of children, and to encourage them to report such abuse or exploitation to appropriate authorities if they see it, know about it or suspect it.  In this era of the internet the world faces unprecedented challenges if it is to preserve the rights and dignity of children and protect them from abuse and exploitation.  These challenges require new thinking and approaches, heightened global awareness and inspired leadership.  For this reason this Declaration of Rome appeals to everyone to stand up for the protection of the dignity of children. Presented this 6 th day of October 2017 (from Vatican Radio)…

(Vatican Radio) One cannot be silent in the face of an “unscrupulous materialism” that marks the alliance between economy and technology, and that treats life as a resource to be exploited or discarded by power and profit.  “Unfortunately men, women and children the world over are experiencing the bitterness and pain of the “illusory promises” of this “technocratic materialism” , said Pope Francis on Thursday. 
He was speaking to the members of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV) at the start of their 2-day general assembly in Rome.  The Oct. 5-6 meeting is holding a workshop on the theme “Accompanying Life: New Responsibilities in the Technological Era.”
Technology against person and life
In the face of the effects of recent technological developments in life sciences and the power of biotechnologies that permit extensive manipulation of life, unthinkable until recently, Pope Francis urged for a behavior that is consistent with the dignity of the human person and of life and its meaning and value.  The Pope observed that contrary to the welfare promised by this “technocratic materialism” with the expansion of the market, what we are witnessing is widening territories of poverty, conflict, waste and abandonment , resentment and despair. ‎Instead, he said, authentic scientific and technological progress should inspire more humane policies.
In this regard, the Holy Father said, Christian faith and the Church’s rich tradition of enlightened minds can inspire today’s believers repair the “fracture between generations”  that interrupts the transmission of life .  The life of ‎fathers and mothers in advanced age wants to be honoured for what they have generously given, and not be discarded for what they don’t have any more, he said.
Neutralizing sexual differences is not a right
In this initiative, the Word of God sheds light on the origin of life and it destiny, the Pope said.  The narrative of creation should be read as God’s act of love that entrusts creation and history to the alliance between man and woman .  But neither of them can alone assume this responsibility, because they were created together in their blessed difference.  In this regard, the Pope said, recent effort to assert the dignity of a person by radically neutralizing sexual differences and the understanding of man and woman is not right. He said, the utopia of the “neuter”, ‎removes both the human dignity of the sexually different ‎constitution as well as the personal quality of the ‎”generative transmission of life”.
Generating and caring for life
The generative alliance of man and woman is a defence for the worldwide humanism of men and ‎women, ‎not a handicap, the Pope said warning, “if we reject this, our history will not be renewed.”  The passion for accompanying and caring for life, along the entire arch of its individual and social ‎history, calls for a revival of an ethos of compassion or tenderness for the generation and ‎regeneration of the human being in its distinction.‎  The Pope thus called for reviving sensitivity for the various stages of life, especially for children and the elderly in all their fragility, vulnerability and corruptibility.
 
(from Vatican Radio)…

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta on Thursday morning. In remarks to the faithful following the Readings of the Day, the Holy Father reflected on the importance of keeping tethered to our roots – especially our spiritual roots – and avoiding what he called “psychological self-exile”.
Click below to hear our report

Taking as his starting point the reading from the Book of Nehemiah , in which the prophet recounts Ezra ’s reading of the law to the whole assembly of the people before their re-entrance into the holy city, Jerusalem, after some seventy years of Babylonian captivity, Pope Francis recalled the nostalgic tears of Nehemiah – who was cup-bearer to the Persian king, Ataxerxes, at Babylon.
Then Pope Francis recalled the verse of Psalm 137, which says, “Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept: when we remembered Sion[.]”
The Pope also reflected on the “nostalgia of migrants,” those who are, “far from home and want to return.”
On the shores of Babylon – real and spiritual
After so many years of exile, the roots “had weakened” but were not lost. Recovering the roots “means recovering the [sense of] belonging of a people,” Pope Francis said. “Without roots,” he continued, “we cannot live: a people without roots or at risk of losing roots, is a sick people”:
“A person without roots, who has forgotten his roots, is sick. Finding, rediscovering their roots and taking the strength to go forward, the strength to flourish and, as the poet says, ‘the power to flourish because – he says – what the tree has borne in fruit comes from what he has buried.’ Just that relationship between the root and the good we can do.”
Along this journey of recovery, however, the Pope noted, there has been “so much resistance”:
“Resistance comes from those who prefer exile, and when there is no physical exile, psychological exile: self-exile from the community, from society, from those who prefer to be uprooted people, without roots. We must think of this psychological self-exile as a disease: it does so much harm. It takes away the roots. It takes away our belonging.”
Recovering the roots
The people, however, go forward, and achieve the day on which they are finally to rebuild their city. The people rally to “restore the roots,” that is to say, to hear the Word of God, which the scribe Ezra read – and the people were weeping once more, but this time their tears were not those shed on Babylonian shores: “It was the weeping of joy, the encounter with their roots, the encounter with their belonging [to God and to one another].” After reading, Nehemiah invites them to feast. This is the joy of those who have found their roots:
“The man and woman who find their roots, who are faithful to their membership, are a man and a woman in joy – joy – and this joy is their strength. From the weeping of sadness to tears of joy: from the weeping of weakness at being far from their roots, far from their people, to the cry of belonging; ‘I’m home’. I am at home.”
The courage to weep
The Pope went on to invite all those at Mass to read the whole of the eighth chapter of Nehemiah, from which the First Reading of the Day was drawn, and to ask whether they have not themselves “let fail the memory of the Lord,” and if they have, whether they are ready start a journey to recover their roots,  or whether they prefer to be closed in on themselves in the soul’s self-imposed exile. Finally, Pope Francis said that if you are “afraid of crying,” you will have, “fear of laughing,” because, after one weeps with sadness, there come tears of joy. We must therefore ask for the grace of the “repentant cry,” the weeping of those who are “sad for their sins,” but also for the weeping of joy, because the Lord “forgave us and has done in our lives what He did with his people.” 
(from Vatican Radio)…

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has urged leaders of the Chaldean Church  to be builders of unity, favouring dialogue and collaboration between all actors of Iraqi society.
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :

The Pope was addressing bishops in Rome for the Synod of the Chaldeans , taking place from 4 to 8 October . The Chaldean Church is headed by Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako, Archbishop of Baghdad.
Amongst the main topics of discussion are the Kurdish referendum and the return of Christian refugees in the Nineveh Plain.
A time of hope for the region
Noting that this meeting comes at a time of need and of hope for the region, Pope Francis said together with all Iraqis, religious leaders are called to face issues such as the forced migration of Christians, the reconstruction of villages, the return of many displaced people as well as liturgical and pastoral issues.
“This is an occasion for me, the Pope said, to send my greetings to the sorely tested faithful of the beloved Iraqi nation” and to share the hope that stems from the resumption of life and activity “in regions and cities that were subjected to painful and violent oppression”.
While a tragic page of history has been concluded, he said, there remains much to do.
Builders of unity
“I exhort you to work tirelessly as builders of unity” he said.
He spoke of the need for unity within the Chaldean Church and with pastors of other Churches, and of the need to favour dialogue and collaboration in a concerted effort to facilitate the return of the displaced and heal divisions and contrasts between brothers.
Commenting on a situation of uncertainty for the future, Francis talked of the need for a national reconciliation process and for a joint effort on the part of all components of society to work out solutions for the good of the entire nation.
Reflecting on the historical significance of the region as a land of ancient evangelization, of civilization, encounter and dialogue, he exhorted the bishops never to be discouraged in the face of inevitable difficulties, and he highlighted the importance of unity between Christians in the promotion of respectful relationships and interreligious dialogue.
Ecclesial and liturgical concerns
On a different note, the Pope gave directions to the bishops regarding the need for accompaniment and formation of priests and seminarians, whom, he said, must be well grounded in four different dimensions: the human one, the spiritual one, the pastoral one and the intellectual one.
He spoke of his concern for the theme of the Diaspora which, he said, must be ‘rethought’ taking into consideration the situations in which ecclesial communities find themselves, both from a numerical and a religious freedom point of view.
“Everything possible must be done in order to bring the aims of the Second Vatican Council into effect, facilitating pastoral care in those regions where Oriental communities are well established, and promoting communion and fraternity with Latin Rite communities  in order to provide the faithful with good witness and avoid protracting divisions and contrasts” he said.
Need for ecumenical and interreligious dialogue
Ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, he noted, must be rooted in Catholic unity and communion: “the Congregation for Oriental Churches will support you in this.”
Pope Francis concluded his speech expressing his hope that this Synod may provide a time of fruitful debate and fraternal reflection for the beloved Chaldean Church.
(from Vatican Radio)…