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Bulletins

Pope’s concern for immigrants in ‘La Repubblica’ interview

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says his main concern, at this moment of political upheaval in the United States, is for the suffering of refugees and immigrants. In an interview with the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica , the Pope says he doesn’t judge individual politicians, but he wants to see how their policies may affect the poor and most marginalized people.
In the interview, Pope Francis notes that, alongside the refugees fleeing from poverty and conflicts, there are also many poor people suffering in rich countries too and they fear the arrival of these new immigrants. We must stop this vicious cycle, the Pope says, by breaking down the walls of inequality and building bridges to allow greater liberty and human rights for all. Inequality, he insists, is the greatest evil in the world today.
Speaking on Monday, ahead of Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the U.S. presidential elections, Pope Francis talked of his admiration for civil rights leader Martin Luther King, saying that love alone is capable of breaking the cycle of hatred and evil. Christians in the world today, he notes, number some two and a half billion people who must share their faith by following the example of Christ himself.
The Pope also mentions the many Christian martyrs who have died at the hands of so-called Islamic State terrorists, saying that wars of religion only occur when people put political power in the place of faith and mercy.
Finally, when questioned about opponents within the Catholic Church, the Pope replies that faith unites all, while individuals may see things from a variety of different perspectives. 
(from Vatican Radio)…

Details of Vatican’s 2016 Christmas tree and Nativity Scene

(Vatican Radio) This year’s Christmas tree and Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square will be inaugurated and lit up on December 9th and will highlight several issues such as care for the environment, the sick and migrants. A communique from the governing office of Vatican City said the 25 metre-high spruce tree for 2016 will come from the region of Trentino in northern Italy and when it’s cut down local school students will plant nearly 40 new spruce and larch seedlings in a nearby area to replace trees suffering from a parasite that had to be culled.
It said the tree will be adorned with handmade ornaments featuring drawings made by children undergoing treatment for cancer and other illnesses at several Italian hospitals.
Measuring 19 metres in width, this year’s giant Nativity scene will feature 17 statues dressed in traditional Maltese costumes as well as a replica of a traditional “Luzzu” Maltese boat.
In its communique, the Vatican City’s governing office said this boat not only represents tradition: fish and life but also, unfortunately the realities of migrants who in these same waters cross the sea on makeshift boats to Italy.
Pope Francis will receive in audience on December 9th shortly before the tree-lighting ceremony the designer of the Nativity scene, artist Manwel Grech, representatives from Trent and Malta as well as several children who designed the Christmas tree ornaments.  
The lit-up tree will remain in St. Peter’s Square until the feast of the Lord’s Baptism on January 8th. 
(from Vatican Radio)…

Christian unity plenary: what model of full communion?

(Vatican Radio) How is Pope Francis changing the Catholic Church’s relations with other Christians? How has the goal of the ecumenical movement altered over recent years? And what is the model of full communion as understood by the Catholic Church today? Those are just some of the questions being discussed at a plenary meeting of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity taking place in Rome this week.
On Thursday participants met with Pope Francis who stressed that striving for Christian unity is an essential requirement of faith for all believers and a personal priority of his own. During the meeting members are also exploring the concept of unity as understood in the Orthodox and Protestant Churches, as well as in the newer ‘free Church’ communities.
Among those taking part in the discussions is Dominican Father Robert Christian, a former professor at Rome’s Angelicum university and currently responsible for the formation of Dominicans in the Western United States. He’s also a member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission and a consultor with the Pontifical Council.
He told Philippa Hitchen more about the focus of the November 8th to 11th encounter…
Listen: 

Fr Robert talks about the nature of Christian unity as summarized in five words beginning with the letter ‘c’: creed, code, cult, communion and charity, but he points out that not all those in dialogue with the Catholic Church share that same idea of unity….
At the heart of ecumenical discussions, he says, is the understanding of the Petrine ministry and he notes that many other Christians “feel a frustration at not being able to speak with one voice” about the Word of God.
Since Pope John Paul II published his encyclical on Christian unity, ‘ Ut Unum Sint ’, he notes how many partners in dialogue have been trying to re-evaluate how the Petrine ministry can serve the whole Church, while not renouncing the uniqueness of that role.
Speaking of the way the decisions of Pope Francis and his predecessors have affected the ecumenical dialogues, Fr Robert points to the changes taking place within the Synod of Bishops, established during the Second Vatican Council. Pope Francis, he says, is moving towards giving “deliberative power” to the Synod, and discussions at the plenary are examining “models of synodality which would include the participation of those who are not bishops”.
Discussions about ethical and moral issues, he says, are secondary to the question of how such decisions are made, as the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission is currently exploring.
Regarding the goal of the ecumenical movement, he warns against “thinking we have gone as far as we can go”. Rather than just tolerating diversity, he says “we want diversity to be an expression of richness in unity, so we’ll keep working for that.
 
(from Vatican Radio)…

AB Jurkovi?: access to medicines must be guaranteed

(Vatican Radio) Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva spoke on Wednesday at the World Trade Organization (WTO) during a discussion on intellectual property rights.
The Vatican diplomat said access to health care must always be assured when discussing intellectual property.
“As we are all aware, health is a fundamental human right, essential for the exercise of  many other rights, and it is necessary for living a life in dignity,” – Archbishop Jurkovič said – “The realization of the right to health should be a fundamental goal of national policies and programmes, regardless of respective economic, social, cultural, religious or political  contexts. However, for millions of people around the world, the full enjoyment of the right to health remains an elusive goal, due, inter alia, to obstacles in access to high quality, affordable, and acceptable medicines. 
The full text of the statement is below
Statement by H.E. Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva
at the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Council, Geneva, 9 November 2016
Mr. President,
Since this is the first time  my  Delegation is taking  the floor during  the current session  of  the  TRIPs  Council,  allow  me  to  begin  by  congratulating  you  on  your assumption  of  the  Chair  and  by  assuring  you  of  the  full  support  of  the  Holy  See Delegation. The initiative of the UN Secretary General echoes the concern expressed by the Holy See  regarding  agreements on intellectual property and access to medicines and essential health care.  The achievement of a stronger balance between the  protection of  the right of  inventors, international human rights  law and public health objectives is clearly foreseen in Sustainable Development Goal  3:  to  Achieve Universal Health Coverage  (UHC).  This  is  a  unique  moment  in  history.  Ensuring  the  success  of  the SDGs,  including  an  end  to  the  epidemics  of  AIDS,  tuberculosis,  malaria  and neglected  tropical  diseases  and  combating  hepatitis,  water-borne  and  other communicable  diseases  will  require  global  solidarity  and  partnership,  especially  in times of diverse and demanding global challenges.
As  the  UN  Secretary-General  has  stated,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  and  the promising results from the Millennium Development Goals, millions have been left behind; consequently,  Member States have agreed on the Sustainable Development Goals targeting the year 2030. In the Encyclical Letter  Laudato sii  Pope Francis  recalls the troubling extent of exclusion in our world  “(…) there is little in the way of clear awareness of problems which  especially  affect  the  excluded.  Yet,  they  are  the  majority  of  the  planet’s population, billions of people (…)”. [49, 51]
 2. Our focus must  thus  remain strong and  we must remain unwavering  in our commitment to leave no one behind and to build a more sustainable world by 2030. Access  to  affordable  medicines  no  longer  represents  a  challenge  just  for  the Least Developed  and other developing  countries; it  has  also  become  an  increasingly urgent issue for developed  countries.  In particular,  States  find themselves unable to combat antimicrobial resistance. Moreover, developing countries are confronted with a  serious  lack  of  new  medicines,  even  as  public  health  budgets  are  constrained worldwide.
As  we  are  all  aware,  health  is  a  fundamental  human  right,  essential  for  the exercise  of  many  other  rights,  and  it  is  necessary  for  living  a  life  in  dignity.  The realization  of  the  right  to  health  should  be  a  fundamental  goal  of  national  policies and  programmes,  regardless  of  respective  economic,  social,  cultural,  religious  or political  contexts.  However,  for  millions  of  people  around  the  world,  the  full enjoyment of the right to health remains an elusive goal, due, inter alia, to obstacles in access  to  high  quality,  affordable,  and  acceptable  medicines.  This  constitutes  a challenge  to  the  flourishing  of  human  dignity,  which  represents  the  basis  of  all human  rights,  including  the  right  to  life,  health  and  integral  development  of  the human person.
Access to essential medicines, which  satisfy the priority health care needs of the population, is a key component of the right to health  (WHO definition available at:  http://www.who.int/medicines/services/essmedicines_def/en/).  Since  essential medicines must  be selected with due regard to  disease prevalence and public health relevance,  evidence  of  clinical  efficacy  and  safety,  and  comparative  costs  and  cost effectiveness,  they  should  be  available  at  prices  that  are  affordable  both  to individuals and local communities. Thus, if we are to put in place policies that reflect human dignity and a human rights approach we must  confront  and remove barriers, address  questions  of  affordability,  and  particularly,  temper  a  disproportionate  and exaggerated demand for profits.  Through  dialogue, which represents the best  way to confront the problems of our world and to seek solutions that are truly effective,  we can contribute towards the building of  a better  world and a better future for coming generations.  Three  helpful  principles  for  such  dialogue  are:  solidarity,  subsidiarity, and concern for the common good. Solidarity means we care about the concerns of others  as  much  as  our  own.  Subsidiarity  means  we  accept  others  as  equals,  allows them to speak for themselves, we listen, and we help them to participate if they need such help.
3. The  Report  of  the  High-Level  Panel  represents  a  point  of  departure  from which  we  could start to discuss remedies and  correct the misalignments and policy incoherencies between the individual and corporate rights of inventors, innovators or manufacturers  and  broader  human  rights.  This  will  facilitate  a  discussion  of  trade and health in the context of  the common good  and  emphasize  access to technologies as a right linked to health and life. Indeed, “underlying the principle of the  common good is respect for the human person as such, endowed with basic and inalienable rights  ordered  to  his  or  her  integral  development”  (Pope  Francis,  Encyclical  Letter, Laudato si par. 157).
As stated by Pope Francis: “Interdependence and the integration of economies should  not  bear  the  least  detriment  to  existing  systems  of  health  care  and  social security; instead, they should promote their creation and good functioning. Certain health  issues…require  urgent  political  attention,  above  and  beyond  all  other commercial or political interests.”(  Address of Pope Francis at the United Nations Office in Nairobi, 26 November 2015.)
Thank you, Mr. President.
(from Vatican Radio)…

New book features Bergoglio’s writings when Archb. of Buenos Aires

(Vatican Radio) A new book that explores the themes and the content of Pope Francis’ homilies and discourses from when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires was presented on Thursday in the Vatican.
Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Cardinal-elect Blase Cupich and the newly elected Superior General of the Jesuits, Fr Arturo Sosa, were present for the presentation together with man behind the book. 
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :

Jesuit father Antonio Spadaro , no newcomer to other editorial adventures that feature Pope Francis, is the man who collected the material that makes up the book and edited it giving life to the very first unabridged collection of the writings of Jorge Mario Bergoglio during the 14 years he was archbishop of Buenos Aires.
He explained that its very title which translates loosely into: “In your eyes are my words” speaks of Pope Francis’ need to look people in the eyes when he is talking to them.
Francis – he says – never sees a generic mass or crowd in front of him, nor is he capable of fixing his gaze on a piece of paper he may be reading from without relating personally to the people he is speaking to.
The volume, presented on Thursday at the Jesuit Curia in Rome, is a kind of an ‘opera omnia’ of Bergoglio’s episcopal ministry. Most appropriately, it also features an eye-to-eye conversation between the Pope and Fr. Spadaro about the main themes of Francis’ papacy and about how his personal gestures and choices – right from the very first days of his pontificate – have been molded and charged by his experience as a leader of the flock in Buenos Aires.   
(from Vatican Radio)…