(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday evening addressed participants attending a meeting celebrating the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which was sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.
In his prepared remarks to those gathered the Pope said that, it is in the very nature of the Church to “guard” the deposit of faith and to “pursue” the Church’s path, so that the truth present in Jesus’ preaching of the Gospel may grow in fullness until the end of time.
Medicine of Mercy
He went on to say that, “with the joy born of Christian hope, and armed with the “medicine of mercy”, we approach the men and women of our time to help them discover the inexhaustible richness contained in the person of Jesus Christ.
The Pope described the Catechism as an important instrument adding that, it “presents the faithful with the perennial teaching of the Church so that they can grow in their understanding of the faith.”
Death Penalty
During his discourse, the Holy Father brought up the subject of the death penalty saying that it is a “subject that ought to find in the Catechism of the Catholic Church a more adequate and coherent treatment”…
Pope Francis went on to say that, “it must be clearly stated that the death penalty is an inhumane measure that, regardless of how it is carried out, abases human dignity.”
Concluding his remarks the Holy Father said that, “ the word of God cannot be moth-balled like some old blanket in an attempt to keep insects at bay! No. The word of God is a dynamic and living reality that develops and grows because it is aimed at a fulfilment that none can halt”, he said.
Before imparting his Apostolic Blessing on those present, the Pope underlined that, “doctrine cannot be preserved without allowing it to develop, nor can it be tied to an interpretation that is rigid and immutable without demeaning the working of the Holy Spirit.”
Please find the English language translation of Pope Francis’ prepared remarks below:
I offer a warm greeting to all of you and I thank Archbishop Fisichella for his kind words of introduction.
The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Apostolic Constitution Fidei Depositum, by which Saint John Paul II, thirty years after the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church, offers a significant opportunity for taking stock of the progress made in the meantime. It was the desire and will of Saint John XXIII to call the Council, not primarily to condemn error, but so that the Church could have an opportunity at last to present the beauty of her faith in Jesus Christ in language attuned to the times. “It is necessary,” the Pope stated in his opening address, “that the Church should never depart from the sacred patrimony of truth received from the Fathers. But at the same time she must ever look to the present, to the new conditions and new forms of life introduced into the modern world which have opened new avenues to the Catholic apostolate” (11 October 1962). “It is our duty,” he continued, “not only to guard this precious treasure, as if we were concerned only with antiquity, but to dedicate ourselves, with an earnest will and without fear, to that work which our era demands of us, thus pursuing the path which the Church has followed for twenty centuries” (ibid.).
It is in the very nature of the Church to “guard” the deposit of faith and to “pursue” the Church’s path, so that the truth present in Jesus’ preaching of the Gospel may grow in fullness until the end of time. This is a grace granted to the People of God, but it is also a task and a mission for which we are responsible, that of proclaiming to our contemporaries in a new and fuller way the perennial Good News. With the joy born of Christian hope, and armed with the “medicine of mercy” (ibid.), we approach the men and women of our time to help them discover the inexhaustible richness contained in the person of Jesus Christ.
In presenting the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Saint John Paul II stated that it should “take into account the doctrinal statements which down the centuries the Holy Spirit has made known to his Church. It should also help illumine with the light of faith the new situations and problems which had not yet emerged in the past” (Fidei Depositum, 3). The Catechism is thus an important instrument. It presents the faithful with the perennial teaching of the Church so that they can grow in their understanding of the faith. But it especially seeks to draw our contemporaries – with their new and varied problems – to the Church, as she seeks to present the faith as the meaningful answer to human existence at this moment of history. It is not enough to find a new language in which to articulate our perennial faith; it is also urgent, in the light of the new challenges and prospects facing humanity, that the Church be able to express the “new things” of Christ’s Gospel, that, albeit present in the word of God, have not yet come to light. This is the treasury of “things old and new” of which Jesus spoke when he invited his disciples to teach the newness that he had brought, without forsaking the old (cf. Mt 13:52).
One of the most beautiful pages in the Gospel of John is his account of the so-called “priestly prayer” of Jesus. Just before his passion and death, Jesus speaks to the Father of his obedience in having brought to fulfilment the mission entrusted to him. His words, a kind of hymn to love, also contain the request that the disciples be gathered and preserved in unity (cf. Jn 17:12-15). The words, “Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ” (Jn 17:3), represent the culmination of Jesus’s mission.
To know God, as we are well aware, is not in the first place an abstract exercise of human reason, but an irrepressible desire present in the heart of every person. This knowledge comes from love, for we have encountered the Son of God on our journey (cf. Lumen Fidei, 28). Jesus of Nazareth walks at our side and introduces us, by his words and the signs he performs, to the great mystery of the Father’s love. This knowledge is strengthened daily by faith’s certainty that we are loved and, for this reason, part of a meaningful plan. Those who love long to know better the beloved, and therein to discover the hidden richness that appears each day as something completely new.
For this reason, our Catechism unfolds in the light of love, as an experience of knowledge, trust, and abandonment to the mystery. In explaining its structure, the Catechism of the Catholic Church borrows a phrase from the Roman Catechism and proposes it as the key to its reading and application: “The whole concern of doctrine and its teaching must be directed to the love that never ends. Whether something is proposed for belief, for hope or for action, the love of our Lord must always be made accessible, so that anyone can see that all the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have no other objective than to arrive at love” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 25).
Along these same lines, I would like now to bring up a subject that ought to find in the Catechism of the Catholic Church a more adequate and coherent treatment in the light of these expressed aims. I am speaking of the death penalty. This issue cannot be reduced to a mere résumé of traditional teaching without taking into account not only the doctrine as it has developed in the teaching of recent Popes, but also the change in the awareness of the Christian people which rejects an attitude of complacency before a punishment deeply injurious of human dignity. It must be clearly stated that the death penalty is an inhumane measure that, regardless of how it is carried out, abases human dignity. It is per se contrary to the Gospel, because it entails the willful suppression of a human life that never ceases to be sacred in the eyes of its Creator and of which – ultimately – only God is the true judge and guarantor. No man, “not even a murderer, loses his personal dignity” (Letter to the President of the International Commission against the Death Penalty, 20 March 2015), because God is a Father who always awaits the return of his children who, knowing that they have made mistakes, ask for forgiveness and begin a new life. No one ought to be deprived not only of life, but also of the chance for a moral and existential redemption that in turn can benefit the community.
In past centuries, when means of defence were scarce and society had yet to develop and mature as it has, recourse to the death penalty appeared to be the logical consequence of the correct application of justice. Sadly, even in the Papal States recourse was had to this extreme and inhumane remedy that ignored the primacy of mercy over justice. Let us take responsibility for the past and recognize that the imposition of the death penalty was dictated by a mentality more legalistic than Christian. Concern for preserving power and material wealth led to an over-estimation of the value of the law and prevented a deeper understanding of the Gospel. Nowadays, however, were we to remain neutral before the new demands of upholding personal dignity, we would be even more guilty.
Here we are not in any way contradicting past teaching, for the defence of the dignity of human life from the first moment of conception to natural death has been taught by the Church consistently and authoritatively. Yet the harmonious development of doctrine demands that we cease to defend arguments that now appear clearly contrary to the new understanding of Christian truth. Indeed, as Saint Vincent of Lérins pointed out, “Some may say: Shall there be no progress of religion in Christ’s Church? Certainly; all possible progress. For who is there, so envious of men, so full of hatred to God, who would seek to forbid it?” (Commonitorium, 23.1; PL 50). It is necessary, therefore, to reaffirm that no matter how serious the crime that has been committed, the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and the dignity of the person.
“The Church, in her teaching, life and worship, perpetuates and hands on to all generations all that she herself is, all that she believes” (Dei Verbum, 8). The Council Fathers could not have found a finer and more synthetic way of expressing the nature and mission of the Church. Not only in “teaching”, but also in “life” and “worship”, are the faithful able to be God’s People. Through a series of verbs the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation expresses the dynamic nature of this process: “This Tradition develops […] grows […] and constantly moves forward toward the fullness of divine truth, until the words of God reach their complete fulfillment in her” (ibid.)
Tradition is a living reality and only a partial vision regards the “deposit of faith” as something static. The word of God cannot be moth-balled like some old blanket in an attempt to keep insects at bay! No. The word of God is a dynamic and living reality that develops and grows because it is aimed at a fulfilment that none can halt. This law of progress, in the happy formulation of Saint Vincent of Lérins, “consolidated by years, enlarged by time, refined by age” (Commonitorium, 23.9: PL 50), is a distinguishing mark of revealed truth as it is handed down by the Church, and in no way represents a change in doctrine.
Doctrine cannot be preserved without allowing it to develop, nor can it be tied to an interpretation that is rigid and immutable without demeaning the working of the Holy Spirit. “God, who in many and various ways spoke of old to our fathers” (Heb 1:1), “uninterruptedly converses with the bride of his beloved Son” (Dei Verbum, 8). We are called to make this voice our own by “reverently hearing the word of God” (ibid., 1), so that our life as a Church may progress with the same enthusiasm as in the beginning, towards those new horizons to which the Lord wishes to guide us.
I thank you for this meeting and for your work, and to all of you I cordially impart my blessing.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Cricket is not a sport normally associated with Argentina, but among the groups greeting Pope Francis at his general audience on Wednesday was a team of young cricketers from his native Buenos Aires .
Cricket Sin Fronteras (Cricket Without Borders) is a project that was begun almost a decade ago in the poorest parts of the capital, the ‘ villas miserias ’ where the Church is engaged in offering alternatives to the widespread violence and crime. Though few Argentinians were familiar with the sport, its popularity has grown and now hundreds of kids, both boys and girls, take part in the project.
This week a team of young players was invited to play against St Peter’s Cricket Club , set up under the auspices of the Pontifical Council for Culture and comprised mainly of seminarians studying for the priesthood here in Rome.
The cricketers attending the audience in St Peter’s Square had brought with them bats to be blessed, made by inmates from a local jail. The organisers insist that through the sport, youngsters learn values of respect, inclusion and teamwork that will enable them to build a brighter future. Among them is the team’s head coach, Hernan Fennell , who talked to Philippa Hitchen about how the project began:
Listen:
Fennell explains that the idea was proposed in 2009 to Fr Pepe [Di Paola], one of the best known Catholic priests working in the poorest areas of Buenos Aires. Among the founders of the project was Daniel Juarez, a longtime friend of Jorge Bergoglio, who was on hand in St Peter’s Square to tell him more about the initiative.
Example of inclusion
Pope Francis blessed the team and encouraged them to “keep it going, really, it’s an example [of inclusion] for all of us”.
Fennell explains that the project began with just four or five kids from the poorest part of town. As it became more popular, the team needed to find more coaches and it has recently been rolled out in state schools as well. Almost 800 boys and girls, aged between six and twenty, are now learning to play the sport
Teaching spirit of cricket
Among the major challenges, Fennell, goes on, it the difficulties of teaching ‘the spirit of cricket’ to those living in a football culture. If we can make that spirit better known, he says “it’ll be a huge win for us”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday continued his reflections on Christian hope, talking this week about the attitude of ‘attentive waiting’. His words came during his weekly General Audience in St Peter’s Square.
Listen to our report:
Pope Francis said just as Jesus tells his disciples to be like those who await the return of their master, with lamps alight, Christians must always be attentive, awaiting the Lord’s return.
Attentiveness requires patience
Every day is a new opportunity to be attentive to God, the pope continued, to welcome the day as his gift, and to live that day by offering our good works to him. Such attentiveness requires patience, he said, yet no night is so long, as to make us forget the joy that comes with dawn.
Future guided by God’s providence
As Christians, the pope concluded, we know that that no matter what we may suffer, life has its purpose and the merciful Lord will greet us at its end. Thus we can look upon history and our own lives with confidence and hope, he added, knowing that the future is not guided solely by the work of our hands, but by God’s providence.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday continued his catechesis on hope at his General Audience in St Peter’s Square.
Please find below the full English summary of his words
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
Today I wish to speak about that dimension of hope which we can call attentive waiting. Jesus tells his disciples to be like those who await the return of their master, with lamps alight (cf. Lk 12:35-36). As Christians, therefore, we are always attentive, awaiting the Lord’s return, when God will be all in all (cf. 1 Cor 15:28). Every day is a new opportunity to be attentive to God, to welcome the day as his gift, and to live that day by offering our good works to him. Such attentiveness requires patience, however, if we are not to lose sight of God’s grace when our days are monotonous, or our difficulties many. For no night is so long, as to make us forget the joy that comes with dawn.
As Christians, we know that Christ will return; that no matter what we may suffer, life has its purpose and deeper meaning, and that the merciful Lord will greet us at its end. Thus we can look upon history and our own lives with confidence and hope, knowing that the future is not guided solely by the work of our hands but by God’s providence. May we repeat everyday the words of the first disciples: “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20). And in our most difficult moments, may we hear the consoling response of Jesus: “Behold, I am coming soon” (Rev. 22:7).
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, especially those from England, Scotland, Demark, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Canada and the United States of America. In particular I greet those who will be celebrating World Sight Day tomorrow, and I assure all who are blind and visually impaired of my closeness and prayers. Upon you and your families, I invoke the grace of the Lord Jesus, that you may be steadfast in hope and trust in God’s providence in your lives. May God bless you all!
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Tuesday urged for a ” fruitful and harmonious cooperation ” among the bishops of the three ritual Churches of India, as they reach out to provide pastoral care to their respective faithful, spread out in various parts of the country. “In India itself, overlapping jurisdictions should no longer be problematic, for the Church has experienced them for some time, such as in Kerala,” the Pope wrote in a letter the Indian Bishops.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) is the apex body of the Catholic Church of India, that is composed of three ‘sui iuris’ Churches: the Latin rite and the two eastern rites – the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Churches, which claim their origin from St. Thomas the Apostle. Of the 172 dioceses in India, 132 belong to the Latin rite.
“In a world where large numbers of Christians are forced to migrate, overlapping jurisdictions have become customary and are increasingly effective tools for ensuring the pastoral care of the faithful while also ensuring full respect for their ecclesial traditions,” the Pope wrote. He thus authorized the Vatican Congregation for the Oriental Churches to erect two eparchies (dioceses) for the the Syro-Malabar Church and to extend the boundaries of two others.
Please find below the full text of Pope Francis letter to the bishops of India:
Letter of His Holiness Pope Francis to the Bishops of India
Dear Brother Bishops,
1. The remarkable varietas Ecclesiarum, the result of a long historical, cultural, spiritual and disciplinary development, constitutes a treasure of the Church, regina in vestitu deaurato circumdata variegate (cf. Ps 44 and Leo XIII, Orientalium Dignitas), who awaits her groom with the fidelity and patience of the wise virgin, equipped with an abundant supply of oil, so that the light of her lamp may enlighten all peoples in the long night of awaiting the Lord’s coming.
This variety of ecclesial life, which shines with great splendour throughout lands and nations, is also found in India. The Catholic Church in India has its origins in the preaching of the Apostle Thomas. It developed through contact with the Churches of Chaldean and Antiochian traditions and, from the sixteenth century onward, through the efforts of Latin missionaries. The history of Christianity in this great country thus led to three distinct sui iuris Churches, corresponding to ecclesial expressions of the same faith celebrated in different rites according to the three liturgical, spiritual, theological and disciplinary traditions. Although this situation has sometimes led to tensions in the course of history, today we can admire a Christian presence that is both rich and beautiful, complex and unique.
2. It is essential for the Catholic Church to reveal her face in all its beauty to the world, in the richness of her various traditions. For this reason the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, which celebrates its centenary year, having been established through the farsightedness of Pope Benedict XV in 1917, has encouraged, where necessary, the restoration of Eastern Catholic traditions, and ensured their protection, as well as respect for the dignity and rights of these ancient Churches.
3. The Second Vatican Council embraced this vision of the Church and reminded the faithful of the need to protect and preserve the treasure of the particular traditions of each Church. “Moreover, within the Church particular Churches hold a rightful place; these Churches retain their own traditions, without in any way opposing the primacy of the Chair of Peter, which presides over the whole assembly of charity (cf. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Rom., Praef.), and protects legitimate differences, while at the same time assuring that such differences do not hinder unity but rather contribute toward it” (Lumen Gentium, 13).
4. As Lumen Gentium teaches, it is for the Bishop of Rome to promote unity in the diversity of the Body of Christ. In this task, the Roman Pontiffs faithfully interpret and apply the voice of the Second Vatican Council, which expressed the ardent desire that the Oriental Churches, venerated for their antiquity, should “flourish and with new apostolic vigour execute the task entrusted to them” (Orientalium Ecclesiarum, 1). Their responsibility is not only to become ever more effective instruments of that “special duty of promoting the unity of all Christians, especially Eastern Christians” (Orientalium Ecclesiarum, 24), but also to promote their “equal dignity […] for they enjoy the same rights and are under the same obligations, also in respect of preaching the Gospel to the whole world” (Orientalium Ecclesiarum, 3).
Thirty years ago, my beloved predecessor Saint John Paul II wrote a Letter to the Bishops of India. Drawing on the Second Vatican Council, he sought to apply the conciliar teaching to the Indian context. In India, even after many centuries, Christians are only a small proportion of the population and, consequently, there is a particular need to demonstrate unity and to avoid any semblance of division. Saint John Paul II also stated that the need for unity and the preservation of diversity are not opposed to one another: “This need to be faithful to the traditions and patrimony of one’s own rite must not be interpreted as an interference with the Church’s task of ‘gathering into one the children of God who are scattered abroad’ (Jn 11:52) or with the mission of the Church to promote the communion of all people with the Redeemer” (Epistula ad Indiae Episcopos, 28 May 1987).
5. Five decades ago, when the Syro-Malabar Church expanded to some central and northern parts of India with “missionary eparchies”, it was generally thought by the Latin Bishops that there should be just one jurisdiction, that is, one bishop in a particular territory. These eparchies, created from Latin dioceses, today have exclusive jurisdiction over those territories, both of the Latin and Syro-Malabar faithful. However, both in the traditional territories of the Eastern Churches, as well as in the vast area of the so-called diaspora (where these faithful have long been established), a fruitful and harmonious cooperation between Catholic bishops of the different sui iuris Churches within the same territory has taken place. This cooperation not only offers an ecclesiological justification for such a solution, but also demonstrates its pastoral benefits. In a world where large numbers of Christians are forced to migrate, overlapping jurisdictions have become customary and are increasingly effective tools for ensuring the pastoral care of the faithful while also ensuring full respect for their ecclesial traditions.
6. In India itself, overlapping jurisdictions should no longer be problematic, for the Church has experienced them for some time, such as in Kerala. Saint John Paul II’s Letter authorized the erection of a Syro-Malabar eparchy in the Bombay-Pune region, which became the Eparchy of Kalyan. In 2012 the Syro-Malabar Eparchy of Faridabad was erected in the region of Delhi and its neighbouring states, while the boundaries of the Eparchy of Mandya were extended in 2015 to include the metropolitan area of Bangalore. In the same year, an Eparchy and an Apostolic Exarchate were erected for the Syro-Malankar faithful, so that by these ecclesiastical circumscriptions the Syro-Malankar Church could provide pastoral care for its faithful throughout the territory of India. All these developments show that, albeit not without problems, the presence of a number of bishops in the same area does not compromise the mission of the Church. On the contrary, these steps have given greater impetus to the local Churches for their pastoral and missionary efforts.
7. In 2011 my predecessor Benedict XVI wished to provide for the pastoral needs of the Syro-Malabar faithful throughout India, and I confirmed his intention following the plenary session of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches in 2013. Archbishop Raphael Thattil is currently the Apostolic Visitor for those Syro-Malabar faithful in India who live outside their own territory, and he has provided detailed reports to the Apostolic See. This issue has been examined in meetings at the highest levels of the Church. Following these steps, I believe the time is now right to complete this process.
I have therefore authorized the Congregation for the Oriental Churches to provide for the pastoral care of the Syro-Malabar faithful throughout India by the erection of two Eparchies and by the extension of the boundaries of the two already in existence.
I decree also that the new circumscriptions, as with those already in existence, be entrusted to the pastoral care of the Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly and to the Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church, according to the norms of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.
8. I hope that my decision will be welcomed with a generous and peaceful spirit, although it may be a source of apprehension for some, since many Syro-Malabars, deprived of pastoral care in their own rite, are at present fully involved in the life of the Latin Church. I am convinced, however, that all those involved will understand that there is no need for concern: the Church’s life should not be disrupted by such a provision. Indeed it must not be negatively interpreted as imposing upon the faithful a requirement to leave the communities which have welcomed them, sometimes for many generations, and to which they have contributed in various ways. It should rather be seen as an invitation as well as an opportunity for growth in faith and communion with their sui iuris Church, in order to preserve the precious heritage of their rite and to pass it on to future generations. There is already an instruction by the Congregation for the Oriental Churches to the Eparchy of Faridabad, which indicates that a member of the Syro-Malabar faithful, by virtue of the same law, is also a member of the Syro-Malabar parish where he or she is domiciled (Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, Can, 280 §1); yet at the same time, he or she can remain fully involved in the life and activities of the parish of the Latin Church. No dispensation is required from the law currently in force for the faithful to practice their faith serenely, and they may do this with the pastoral care of either Latin or Syro-Malabar pastors (cf. Prot. No. 197/2014, 28 January 2016).
9. The path of the Catholic Church in India cannot be that of isolation and separation, but rather of respect and cooperation. The presence of several bishops of the various sui iuris Churches in the same territory will surely offer an eloquent witness to a vibrant and marvellous communion. This is the vision of the Second Vatican Council, which I quote once again: “Between all the parts of the Church there remains a bond of close communion whereby they share spiritual riches, apostolic workers and temporal resources. For the members of the people of God are called to share these goods in common, and of each of the Churches the words of the Apostle hold good: ‘According to the gift that each has received, administer it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God’ (1 Pet 4:10)” (Lumen Gentium, 13). It is in this spirit that I urge all the beloved Churches in India to be generous and courageous as they witness to the Gospel in the spirit of fraternity and mutual love. For the Syro-Malabar Church, this continues the valued work of their priests and religious in the Latin context, and sustains their availability for those Syro-Malabar faithful who, although choosing to attend Latin parishes, may request some assistance from their Church of origin. The Latin rite Church can continue to generously offer hospitality to members of the Syro-Malabar communities who do not have church buildings of their own. The cooperation among all the sui iuris Churches should continue, for example in the area of retreats and seminars for clergy, Bible conferences, celebrations of common feast days and ecumenical endeavours. With the growth of spiritual friendship and mutual assistance, any tension or apprehension should be swiftly overcome. May this extension of the pastoral area of the Syro-Malabar Church in no way be perceived as a growth in power and domination, but as a call to deeper communion, which should never be perceived as uniformity. In the words of Saint Augustine, who sang the praises of the Trinity and of the wonderful communion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, I also ask you: dilatentur spatia caritatis (Sermon 69, PL 5, 440.441). May there be a growth in love, communion and service.
Dear brother Bishops, I commend all of you to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and I assure you of my closeness in prayer. To all of you, the Church and the faithful in India, I impart my Apostolic Blessing, and I ask that you pray for me.
From the Vatican, 9 October 2017
(from Vatican Radio)…