(Vatican Radio) Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, will act as the “Commissioner for participation of the Holy See” during the inauguration of the EXPO 2017 Exposition “Future Energy” in Astana, Kazakhstan on 8-11 June.
A press release from the Dicastery said the exposition “explores the theme of energy for the future, interpreted as an opportunity for the promotion of humanity and the improvement of the ‘common home’ on the basis of an equitable and sustainable use of natural resources”.
Cardinal Turkson will be accompanied at the event by the Apostolic Nuncio in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Archbishop Francis Assisi Chullikatt.
The statement says the Vatican’s exposition will develop four thematic areas: “The love of God as the origin of the creation of man and of the earth; energy as a tool placed in the hands of man, who has not always made adequate use of it; energy directed towards the development of the person and the care of the common home; and the strength of spirituality, with particular reference to prayer, the search for meaning, and interreligious dialogue.”
Please find below the full text of the press release:
From 8 to 11 June, Cardinal Peter K. A. Turkson, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, will visit Astana, Kazakhstan, as the “Commissioner for participation of the Holy See” at the inauguration of the EXPO 2017 Exposition, “Future Energy”.
The Holy See, which has participated in the Universal Expositions since 1851, will be present with its own pavilion, entitled “Energy for the Common Good: Caring for our Common Home”, realized with the contribution from the local Church. It explores the theme of energy for the future, interpreted as an opportunity for the promotion of humanity and the improvement of the “common home” on the basis of an equitable and sustainable use of natural resources.
The display structure of the Holy See, which makes use of digital installations and will enable visitors to be accompanied along photographic, artistic, cultural and spiritual itineraries, develops four thematic areas: the love of God as the origin of the creation of man and of the earth; energy as a tool placed in the hands of man, who has not always made adequate use of it; energy directed towards the development of the person and the care of the common home; and the strength of spirituality, with particular reference to prayer, the search for meaning, and interreligious dialogue.
The inauguration of EXPO 2017 will take place on 9 June, and that of the Holy See pavilion in the morning of the following day. Cardinal Turkson will be accompanied by His Excellency Msgr. Francis Assisi Chullikatt, apostolic nuncio in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and by representatives of the local Church. The Holy See National Day is scheduled to take place on 2 September.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has appealed for prayers and international participation in the “One Minute for Peace” initiative to be held Thursday, 8 June, at 1:00 PM Rome time.
He said the initiative represents “a short moment of prayer on the recurrence of the meeting in the Vatican between me, the mourned Israeli President Peres, and the Palestinian President Abbas”.
Their encounter took place in the Vatican Gardens on 8 June 2014, during which the three men prayed together for peace.
The Holy Father said, “In our days, there is a great need to pray – Christians, Jews, and Muslims – for peace.”
His appeal came at the conclusion of his Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis held his Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, continuing his catechesis on Christian hope.
He focused his remarks on Jesus’ Our Father prayer as presented in the Gospel of Luke (11:1-4) and on “The Fatherhood of God, wellspring of our Hope”.
Please find below the official English-language summary:
Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our continuing catechesis on Christian hope, we now consider the source of that hope in the fatherhood of God. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, he taught them to call God Our Father. Here we see the great religious revolution introduced by Christianity: taught by the Saviour’s command, we dare to speak to the transcendent and all-holy God as children speak, with complete trust, to a loving father. In the parable of the merciful father, who welcomes his prodigal son with supreme forgiveness, Jesus speaks to us of the Father’s unconditional love. In his Letters, Saint Paul twice repeats the original Aramaic word used by Jesus in his prayer: “Abba” (cf. Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6). As God’s adoptive sons and daughters in the Holy Spirit, we share in the intimate relationship between Jesus and the Father, and this is the basis of our sure hope in God’s saving help. Each day, as we pray the Lord’s Prayer, may we be confirmed in the knowledge that, in his merciful love, our heavenly Father will watch over us, respond to our petitions, and never abandon us.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Tuesday urged Christians to be truthful, warning them against the temptations of hypocrisy and flattery. His words came during the homily at morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta.
Hypocrisy – Pope Francis said – is not the language of Jesus, nor is it the language of Christians, in fact, he said, “the hypocrite is capable of destroying a community”.
The Pope explained that Jesus often uses the adjective “hypocrite” to describe the doctors of the law, because, as the etymology of the word illustrates, they claim to have higher standards or more noble beliefs than is the case, they proffer their opinions and issue judgements but in reality they are false.
And reflecting on the Gospel reading of the day, the Pope said “The hypocrite always uses language to flatter” just as some Pharisees and Herodians who tried to ensnare Jesus in his speech.
“Hypocrites – Francis said – always begin with adulation, “exaggerating the truth, feeding into one’s vanity” and he recalled the case of a priest he met a long time ago whom, he said, “drank-up all the flattery; that, he said, was his weakness”.
Jesus makes us see reality which is the opposite of hypocrisy and ideology
Flattery, the Pope said, is triggered by “bad intentions” as in the case of the doctors of the law in today’s liturgical reading. They put Jesus to the test, flattering him first and then asking him a question with the intention of making him fall into the wrong: “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”
“The hypocrite, Francis said, is two-faced, but Jesus knew their hypocrisy and said: ‘Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at.’ Jesus always responds to hypocrites and ideologists with reality: ‘this is the reality; everything else is either hypocrisy or ideology’. In this case he said: ‘bring me a coin’, and he answered with the wisdom of the Lord: ‘Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar – the reality was that the coin carried the image of Caesar – and to God what belongs to God’.”
The third aspect, the Pope continued “is that the language of hypocrisy is the language of deceit, it is the same language the serpent used with Eve.”
It begins with flattery, he said, and ends up destroying people: “it tears to pieces the personality and the soul of a person. It destroys communities”.
Hypocrisy destroys communities and hurts the Church
“Hypocrisy is so bad for the Church” the Pope said with a warning to all those Christians who fall into this sinful and destructful attitude.
“The hypocrite is capable of destroying a community. While speaking gently, he ruinously judges a person. He is a killer” he said.
Pope Francis concluded exhorting the faithful to remember that the only way to respond to flattery is with truth; the only way to respond to ideology is with reality.
“Let us ask the Lord to guard us from this vice, to help us be truthful, and if this is not possible to keep silent – but never to be a hypocrite” he said.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis will receive the Presidential Council of the Episcopal Conference of Venezuela in a private audience on Thursday.
The meeting was announced on Tuesday in a statement by the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Greg Burke.
The statement reads, “The encounter was requested by the Episcopal Conference itself, which desires to speak to the Pope about the situation in Venezuela.”
(from Vatican Radio)…