(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a video-message to the General Assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB):
The full text of the Pope’s message can be found below:
Video Message of His Holiness Pope Francis
To the General Assembly of the USCCB
14-17 November 2016
Dear Brother Bishops,
I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak to you. Just a year ago, I was with you during my Pastoral Visit to the United States. There I was impressed by the vitality and diversity of the Catholic community. Throughout its history, the Church in your country has welcomed and integrated new waves of immigrants. In the rich variety of their languages and cultural traditions, they have shaped the changing face of the American Church.
In this context, I would commend the coming Fifth National Hispanic Pastoral Encuentro . The celebration of this Fifth Encuentro will begin in your Dioceses in this coming January and conclude with a national celebration in September 2018.
In continuity with its predecessors, the Encuentro seeks to acknowledge and value the specific gifts that Hispanic Catholics have offered, and continue to offer, to the Church in your country. But it is more than that. It is part of a greater process of renewal and missionary outreach, one to which all of your local Churches are called.
Our great challenge is to create a culture of encounter, which encourages individuals and groups to share the richness of their traditions and experiences, to break down walls and to build bridges. The Church in America, as elsewhere, is called to “go out” from its comfort zone and to be a leaven of communion. Communion among ourselves, with our fellow Christians, and with all who seek a future of hope.
We need to become ever more fully a community of missionary disciples, filled with love of the Lord Jesus and enthusiasm for the spread of the Gospel. The Christian community is meant to be a sign and prophecy of God’s plan for the entire human family. We are called to be bearers of good news for a society gripped by disconcerting social, cultural and spiritual shifts, and increasing polarization.
It is my hope that the Church in your country, at every level, will accompany the Encuentro with its own reflection and pastoral discernment. In a particular way, I ask you to consider how your local Churches can best respond to the growing presence, gifts and potential of the Hispanic community. Mindful of the contribution that the Hispanic community makes to the life of the nation, I pray that the Encuentro will bear fruit for the renewal of American society and for the Church’s apostolate in the United States.
With gratitude to all engaged in the preparation of the Fifth Encuentro , I assure you of my prayers for this important initiative of your Conference. Commending you, and the clergy, religious and lay faithful of your local Churches, to the prayers of Mary Immaculate, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of grace and peace in the Lord.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Tuesday sent a message to the ‘Reinventing Peace’ meeting organized by UNESCO, the UN’s cultural heritage arm, and the Focolari Movement.
The meeting celebrates the 20th anniversary of Chiara Lubich being awarded the UNESCO Peace Education Prize.
The Holy Father encouraged the meeting’s participants to “research and develop effective ways to ‘reinvent’ a peace which is the fruit of integral development for all and of an effective awareness of the universal community founded upon respect, listening, attention to the needs of each person, justice, dialogue, and sharing”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) ‘Pope Francis in His Own Words’ was the title of a new documentary screened in the Vatican on Tuesday that includes direct filmed testimony from the Pope about his family, his vocation and his vision of the Church. The 46-minute documentary includes video coverage of a series of key events where the Pope has spoken about himself over the past three years during his travels and his meetings with people. It also includes the history of his vocation to the priesthood, the role of his grandmother in his faith journey, the importance of forgiveness in his life and his dreams as a seminarian. In addition to covering the Pope’s in-flight press conferences, the documentary shows pictures of the house where Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born, the primary school he attended and the church where he discerned his vocation. One of the highlights of the documentary was Pope Francis’s pastoral visit to the U.S. where he addressed both houses of Congress and attended the World Meeting of Families.
The project was produced by the TV news agency Rome Reports that specializes in video news about the Pope and the Church and included collaboration from the Mideast Theological Forum of Chicago.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Tuesday urged the international community to act without delay in combating climate change. In a message to participants of the COP22 Climate Change meeting taking place in the Moroccan city of Marrakech, the Pope pointed out that all parties and stakeholders have a “serious ethical and moral responsibility to take action and implement last year’s Paris climate-change agreement. Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :
“The current situation of environmental degradation – Pope Francis said – which is strongly connected to the human, ethical and social degradation that we unfortunately experience daily, challenges us all, each of us with our own roles and competencies, and brings us together here with a renewed sense of awareness and responsibility”. Participants at the so-called COP22 Conference are being called to take the next step in the implementation of the Paris Agreement which saw world leaders pledge to make good on their promises for climate action and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Pope said that agreement represents “a significant acknowledgement of the fact that, when confronted with issues so complex as climate change, the individual and/or national action is no longer sufficient, but there is a need to implement a responsible collective response truly aimed at achieving ‘cooperation to build our common home”. He said we can and must direct our intelligence to guide technology, as well as to develop and limit our power, placing them ‘at the service of another type of progress, one that is more healthy, more human, more social and more integral’, and capable of placing the economy at the service of the human person, of building peace and justice, and of safeguarding the environment”. Pope Francis said that the Paris Agreement has traced a clear path along which the whole international community is called to commit itself, and that the COP22 represents a central stage in this path, which has an impact on all of humanity, particularly the poorest and future generations who are the most vulnerable to the worrisome impact of climate change, and reminds us of the serious ethical and moral responsibility we have to act promptly, in a way as free as possible from political and economic pressures, going beyond personal interests and behaviours”. (from Vatican Radio)…
On 15th November, Pope Francis greeted a large group of Dutch Pilgrims in St Peters Basilica. The group was made up of representatives of the Dutch Association of Catholic Organisations, who had come to Rome to take part in the Jubilee Year of Mercy.
The group was accompanied by the Archbishop of Utrecht, Cardinal Wilem Eijk. The Cardinal had originally asked for Pope to be the celebrant of a Mass for the group. Although that wasn’t possible, the Pope joined the group at the end of the ceremony and greeted them. Cardinal Eijk also took the opportunity to present the Pope with a new book entitled “A Welcoming Netherlands.” The book describes the works undertaken by many Catholic projects in the Netherlands, in response to the Pope calling the Year of Mercy. The Dutch Bishops Conference will also be distributing copies of the book to all Dutch parishes, as a witness and encouragement to mercy.
In his address, Pope Francis described the Year of Mercy as an opportunity to “enter even further into relationship with Jesus Christ, who is the face of the merciful Father.”
Speaking of the need to experience the Father’s mercy in Confession, the Pope reminded the group that “We never get used to this great mystery of God’s love. It is the source of our salvation. We all need divine mercy; it saves us, gives us life, and recreates us as true sons and daughters of God. And we experience the saving goodness of God in a special way in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. Confession is where you receive the gift of forgiveness and mercy of God. Here begins the transformation of each of us and the reform of the Church’s life.”
After calling on the group to be channels of mercy, in order to help quench mankind’s thirst for God, the Pope asked them all to pray for him.
(from Vatican Radio)…