(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has urged all those involved in Catholic education to be builders of a more united and peaceful world.
In an address on Thursday morning to the Congregation for Catholic Education that is holding its Plenary Assembly, the Pope pointed out that institutes of education have meaning only in relation to the formation of the person.
Thus, he called on all educators to help young people to be builders of a more united and peaceful world.
And, the Pope reminded those present, more than others, Catholic institutions have a mission to offer horizons that are open to transcendence.
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :
“Gravissimum educationis” he recalled highlights the fact that education is at the service of an integral humanism and that the Church, as a mother and an educator, always looks to the younger generation from the perspective of an integral formation of the human person, both in view of his own ultimate goal, and for the good of society of which he is a member.
Pope Francis stressed the need for a culture of dialogue saying our world has become a global village in which each person belongs to humanity and shares in the hope for a better future for the whole family of nations.
Unfortunately, he said, there are many forms of violence, poverty, exploitation, discrimination, marginalization and restrictions on freedom that create a culture of waste.
“Within this context, Catholic educational institutions are called to be on the front line in practicing a grammar of dialogue” which, he said, is the basis of encounter and of the enhancement of cultural and religious diversity.
Dialogue, the Pope said, is constructive when it takes place in an authentic atmosphere of respect, esteem, sincere listening, without the need to blur or mitigate one’s identity.
So it is encouraging, he continued, to hope that the new generations, who are brought up to know how to engage in Christian dialogue, will leave school and university classrooms with the motivation to build bridges and find new answers to the many challenges of our time.
Referring to the methodology of St. Thomas, the Pope said that in a more specific sense, Catholic schools and universities are called to teach a method of intellectual dialogue which is aimed at revealing the truth.
Concluding, Pope Francis said “there is a final expectation that I would like to share with you: the contribution of education in sowing hope”.
“Man cannot live without hope and education generates hope. In fact, education gives birth, it helps grow, it’s part of the dynamics of giving life” he said.
A life that is born, he explained, is the most gushing source of hope; it reaches out in search of beauty, goodness, truth and communion with others for a common growth.
“I am convinced that young people today need above all to lead a life that builds the future” he said.
So educators, Francis pointed out, must listen to young people, something we are preparing to do at the next Synod of Bishops which is dedicated to them.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday met with a delegation from the Anti-Defamation League encouraging them to cultivate justice and foster accord and telling them “the fight against anti-Semitism can benefit from effective instruments, such as information and formation.”
Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s report
The Anti-Defamation League was founded in 1913 “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all,” and on Thursday just like his predecessors, Saint John Paul II and Benedict XVI, Pope Francis received a delegation from the organization, which has maintained relations with the Holy See since the Second Vatican Council.
Speaking to those gathered the Pope recalled his visit last year to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp saying, “there are no adequate words or thoughts in the face of such horrors of cruelty and sin; there is prayer, that God may have mercy and that such tragedies may never happen again.”
Denouncing anti-Semitism, in all its forms, the Holy Father reaffirmed that “the Catholic Church feels particularly obliged to do all that is possible with our Jewish friends to repel anti-Semitic tendencies”.
Today more than ever, Pope Francis continued, “the fight against anti-Semitism can benefit from effective instruments, such as information and formation.”
Faced with too much violence spreading throughout the world, the Pope underlined, “we are called to a greater nonviolence, which does not mean passivity, but active promotion of the good”, which he added, included the dignity of human life from conception to natural end.
The Holy Father encouraged the delegation sow the seeds of goodness by cultivating justice, fostering accord, and sustaining integration. Only in this way, he said, “may we gather the fruits of peace.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Pontifical Academy of Sciences has issued a statement following its summit on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism which was held in Rome this week. In it the participants resolve “to combat these crimes against humanity through comprehensive efforts that involve all stakeholders around the world.”
Below find the English language statement
In accordance with the Resolutions of the United Nations and the World Health Assembly, the 2015 Vatican Summit of mayors from the major cities of the world, the 2014 joint declaration of faith leaders against modern slavery, and the Magisterium of Pope Francis, who in June 2016, at the Judges’ Summit on Human Trafficking and Organized Crime, stated that organ trafficking and human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal are “true crimes against humanity [that] need to be recognized as such by all religious, political and social leaders, and by national and international legislation ,” we, the undersigned participants of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences Summit on Organ Trafficking, resolve to combat these crimes against humanity through comprehensive efforts that involve all stakeholders around the world.
Poverty, unemployment, and the lack of socioeconomic opportunities are factors that make persons vulnerable to organ trafficking and human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal. Destitute individuals are victimized in schemes of organ trafficking when induced to sell their organs in a desperate search for a better life. Similarly, desperate are the patients who are willing to pay large amounts and travel to foreign destinations as transplant tourists to obtain an organ that may keep them alive— oblivious of the short and long-term health consequences of commercial transplantation. Unscrupulous brokers and health care professionals make organ trafficking possible, disregarding the dignity of human beings. The operative procedures are performed in unauthorized facilities that clandestinely serve transplant tourists. But organ trafficking can also occur at legitimate facilities, in situations where individuals who are willing to sell their organs present themselves to transplant centers as a relative or altruistic friend of the recipient. The media have made an important contribution to public understanding in highlighting the plight of trafficked individuals by publishing their independent investigations of transplant-related crimes and corrupt healthcare professionals and unregulated facilities.
A number of international legal instruments define, condemn, and criminalize these practices, namely the United Nations Protocol against Trafficking in Persons (Palermo Protocol), the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings, and the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs. We support these documents, which assert that the transplant professionals who commit or abet these crimes should be held legally accountable whether the offenses take place domestically or abroad.
The legal instruments of the recent past are an important link to emerging innovative policy to combat social inequality. Trafficking in human beings for the purpose of organ removal and organ trafficking are contrary to the United Nations General Assembly 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as an issue of human rights and social justice because the poor are exploited for their organs and yet not able to receive a transplant if they suffer organ failure. Jeffrey Sachs has written that “Sustainable development argues that economic policy works best when it focuses simultaneously on three big issues: first, promoting economic growth and decent jobs; second, promoting social fairness to women, the poor, and minority groups; and third, promoting environmental sustainability” . Countries in conflict and without domestic stability can become the locations of transplant-related crimes.
Progress has been made by healthcare professionals aligned with the Declaration of Istanbul to curtail organ trafficking. Nevertheless, a number of destinations for transplant tourism remain around the world where appropriate legislation to curtail these crimes and protect the poor and vulnerable do not exist or are poorly enforced. These practices also persist because some states have failed in their responsibility to meet the need of their citizens to obtain an organ transplant.
Thus, aware of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Palermo Protocol on Human Trafficking, the Resolutions of the World Health Assembly (2004 and 2010), the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings, the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs, the Madrid Resolution on Organ Donation and Transplantation, and the Declaration of Istanbul, and as a result of the data on organ trafficking presented at this PAS Summit on Organ Trafficking, we the undersigned pledge our commitment to combat these illicit and immoral practices as a community of stakeholders fulfilling the directive of Pope Francis to combat human trafficking and organ trafficking in all their condemnable forms.
The following recommendations from the PAS Summit on Organ Trafficking are proposed to national, regional and municipal governments, ministries of health, to the judiciary, to the leaders of the major religions, to professional medical organizations, and to the general public for implementation around the world:
1. That all nations and all cultures recognize human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal and organ trafficking, which include
the use of organs from executed prisoners and payments to donors or the next of kin of deceased donors, as crimes that should be
condemned worldwide and legally prosecuted at the national and international level.
2. That religious leaders encourage ethical organ donation and condemn human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal and
organ trafficking.
3. That nations provide the resources to achieve self-sufficiency in organ donation at a national level—with regional cooperation as
appropriate—by reducing the need for transplants through preventive measures and improving access to national transplant
programs in an ethical and regulated manner.
4. That governments establish a legal framework that provides an explicit basis for the prevention and prosecution of transplantrelated crimes, and protects the victims, regardless of the location where the crimes may have been committed, for example by
becoming a Party to the Council of Europe Convention against Organ Trafficking.
5. That healthcare professionals perform an ethical and medical review of donors and recipients that takes account of their short- and
long-term outcomes.
6. That governments establish registries of all organ procurement and transplants performed within their jurisdiction as well as all
transplants involving their citizens and residents performed in another jurisdiction, and share appropriate data with international
databanks.
7. That governments develop a legal framework for healthcare and other professionals to communicate information about suspected
cases of transplant-related crimes, while respecting their professional obligations to patients.
8. That responsible authorities, with the support of the justice system, investigate transplants that are suspected of involving a crime
committed within their jurisdiction or committed by their citizens or residents in another jurisdiction.
9. That responsible authorities, insurance providers, and charities not cover the costs of transplant procedures that involve human
trafficking for the purpose of organ removal or organ trafficking.
10. That healthcare professional organizations involved in transplantation promote among their members awareness of, and
compliance with, legal instruments and international guidelines against organ trafficking and human trafficking for the purpose of
organ removal.
11. That the World Health Organization, the Council of Europe, United Nations agencies, including the United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime, and other international bodies cooperate in enabling a comprehensive collection of information on transplant-related
crimes, to yield a clearer understanding of their nature and scope and of the organization of the criminal networks involved.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday encouraged the faithful to strive to be living signs of hope for the entire human family.
Speaking during the weekly General Audience in the Paul VI Hall, the Pope continued his catechesis on Christian hope, conceding that especially in times of darkness and difficulty, hope is no easy virtue.
Quoting from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians he pointed out that Paul encourages the members of the early Church to sustain one another in hope through mutual prayer and practical concern for those in need.
“We must help one another, he said, in the many needs of everyday life, but also when we are in need of hope.” And he referred in particular to those who have the responsibility of providing pastoral guidance, whom he said, on the one hand have the force and the strength of a divine ministry, but on the other are in need of the respect, the comprehension and the support of all.
Underlining the fact that Christian hope is intensely personal yet also communitarian, the Pope said that help and support must be given especially to the poor, the weak in faith, the suffering and those tempted to despair.
He said that no one can learn to hope on their own, because Christian hope needs to be “embodied” in a community of mutual support and loving concern.
“He who hopes, the Pope said, hopes one day to hear these words: come to me my brother, come to me my sister, for the whole of eternity” he said.
Concluding that the body is the Church and its soul is the Holy Spirit, and conceding that especially in times of darkness and difficulty, hope is no easy virtue, Pope Francis said when the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts, it is He who 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) 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)…