(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ first engagement on Saturday afternoon in the Georgian capital was a meeting with priests, religious and seminarians in Tbilisi’s Church of the Assumption. In an off-the-cuff address to the gathering, the Pope warned against what he termed “a global war to destroy marriage” in contemporary society, saying the great enemy of marriage nowadays was “gender theory.”
In his wide-ranging address to priests, religious and seminarians gathered in Tbilisi’s Church of the Assumption, Pope Francis spoke about being strong in our faith, the threats facing the institution of marriage and warned about the dangers of proselytizing with our “Orthodox brothers.”
Picking up on the testimony offered by a group of Catholics, the Pope stressed the importance of being strong in our faith and passing it on to the next generation, noting that in many cases it is the grandparents who perform the valuable task of helping to transmit the faith to the young.
Turning next to the issue of marriage and the threats against it mentioned by one of the speakers, Pope Francis said that nowadays there is “a global war to destroy marriage,” saying the great enemy of marriage today is “gender theory.” This war, he explained, is not “being waged with weapons but with ideas,” describing them as ideological colonizations. He warned his listeners against them and said if a couple is arguing and facing problems in their marriage, they must make peace before the end of day. Don’t forget, said the Pope, that there are three golden expressions that can help keep a marriage afloat. These are “May I, thank you and sorry.”
The question of ecumenism and the problems it can pose, was another issue discussed by the Pope that had been mentioned earlier by one of the speakers. Pope Francis told his listeners never to argue with their Orthodox friends or neighbours and especially warned Catholics never to try “to convert them.” He described proselytism as “a big sin against ecumenism” and encouraged his audience to be on friendly terms with Orthodox believers, to perform works of charity together and never to condemn them or refuse to greet them on account of who they are.
Pope Francis concluded his address by touching on the dangers of worldliness, reminding that Jesus had “spoken out strongly” against this ever present danger facing believers. May the Lord free us from worldliness, he said, and keep us strong in the faith that “we received from our mothers and grandmothers.”
Listen to this report by Susy Hodges (includes clips of the Pope’s voice):
(from Vatican Radio)…
Bulletin for 10/02/2016
(Vatican Radio) In Tbilisi Saturday, Pope Francis offered words of consolation to Georgia’s small Catholic community and invited the faithful to be like little children who are so lovingly embraced by God.
Celebrating Mass at Tbilisi’s Mikheil Meskhi Stadium on day two of his pastoral visit to the country, Pope Francis spoke of the “importance of women” as one of the nation’s many treasures.
Quoting Saint Therese of the Child Jesus whose feast is celebrated on this day, the Pope said, “‘they love God in much larger numbers than men do.’” He noted the “great number of grandmothers and mothers who unceasingly defend and pass on the faith” in Georgia, whose female Saint Nino is credited with first evangelizing in the fourth century.
As a mother takes upon herself the burdens and weariness of her children, “ the Pope stressed, “so too does God take upon himself our sins and troubles” in his infinite love for us.
Keep the door of consolation open to Jesus
God, he said, is always ready to offer us consolation in times of need, “amid the turmoil we experience in life.” It “liberates us from evil, brings peace and increases our joy.”
But, he warned, we must leave the “doors of consolation” open to Jesus, through daily reading of the Gospel, silent prayers in adoration, confession and receiving the Eucharist.
When the door of our heart is closed, he said, we “get accustomed to pessimism” and “end up absorbed in our own sadness, in the depths of anguish, isolated.”
God best consoles us, he noted, “when we are united, in communion” and the Church is “the house of consolation” to which we should turn.
Pope Francis urged the faithful to offer to others the same consolation that they receive. “Even when enduring affliction and rejection,” he said, “a Christian is always called to bring hope to the hearts of those who have given up, to encourage the downhearted, to bring the light of Jesus…and his forgiveness.”
“Countless people suffer trials and injustice and live in anxiety,” he continued. And though God’s consolation cannot take away our problems, he said, it “gives us the power to love, to peacefully bear pain.”
Consolation: the Church’s urgent mission
Receiving and bringing God’s consolation, he stressed, is the Church’s “urgent” mission.
And in order to do this, he said, we must become, as Jesus tells us, like a little child. “For God is not known through grand ideas and extensive study,” he noted, “but rather through the littleness of a humble and trusting heart.” Likewise, prestige and earthly success mean little to God who wishes us to empty ourselves of such things. “A child has nothing to give and everything to receive,” the Pope went on: “the one who becomes like a little child is poor in self but rich in God.”
We are not the masters of our lives: live in simplicity like children
Children have much to teach us, he observed: they show us that God “accomplishes great things in those who put up no resistance to him, who are simple and sincere, without duplicity.”
The Pope reminded the faithful that we are all children of the Father: “not masters of our lives” or “autonomous and self-sufficient adults,” but children “who need love and forgiveness.”
In the same way, Christian communities who live the Gospel with this simplicity may be “poor in means” but “are rich in God.” And blessed are those “Shepherds,” the Pope said, “who do not ride the logic of worldly success, but follow the law of love: welcoming, listening, serving.” Blessed too, he observed, is the Church “who does not entrust herself to the criteria of functionalism and organizational efficiency, nor worries about her image.”
Again quoting St. Theresa, Pope Francis concluded his Homily by inviting the faithful to “bear with the faults of others” and delight in the “smallest acts of virtue we see them practice.” Charity, he said, “cannot remain hidden in the depths of our hearts.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) One of the highlights of the Holy Father’s first day in Georgia was his meeting with the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Ilia II, and with the Members of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
In his address during the meeting, Pope Francis focused on the love of Christ as a basis for building up the bonds of unity between the Catholic Church and the Georgian Orthodox Church.
In his address to the leaders of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Pope Francis recalled Patriarch Ilia’s visit to Rome in 1980, the first visit ever of a Georgian Patriarch to the Vatican. He also recalled the visit of Pope John Paul II to Georgia on the eve of the Jubilee Year of 2000.
Pope Francis’ visit to Georgia likewise comes during the celebration of a Jubilee, the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.
On the occasion of this new meeting, the Pope noted the ties that exist between the Georgian Church, founded on the preaching of St Andrew; and the Church of Rome, built on the foundation of the St Peter, Andrew’s brother. Addressing Ilia as “Dear Brother,” Pope Francis said, “let us allow the Lord Jesus to look upon us anew, let us once again experience the attraction of his call to leave everything that prevents us from proclaiming together his presence.”
The love of Christ as the basis of unity among Christians was the focus of the Pope’s reflection. “Truly, the love of the Lord raises us up,” Pope Francis said, “because it enables us to rise above the misunderstandings of the past, above the calculations of the present and fears for the future.”
The people of Georgia, he continued, have witnessed to “the greatness of this love” through the centuries – a love that has inspired “the immortal beauty” of Georgia’s cultural patrimony.
“I want to be a genuine friend to this land and its beloved people,” Pope Francis said, a people “who do not forget the good they have received and whose unique hospitality is intimately united to a way of living that is full of true hope, even though there is no shortage of difficulties.”
Pope Francis concluded his remarks by with an appeal to the “courageous heroes” of Georgia’s history, “who like St George, knew how to defeat evil.” May their intercession, he prayed, “May their intercession bring relief to the many Christians who even today suffer persecution and slander, and may they strengthen in us the noble aspiration to be fraternally united in proclaiming the Gospel of peace.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) In a video message to the people of Argentina, Pope Francis spoke of his regret at not being able to visit his homeland this year or in 2017, saying he already has planned trips to Asia and Africa next year.
Watch the Pope’s video message:
The Pope assured his compatriots that he continues to be an Argentinian who feels close to his people and revealed that he “still travels with an Argentine passport.” In the message which he described as a monologue but wished it were a chat, Pope Francis urged the people of Argentina to help promote “a culture of encounter” in which people can live “with dignity and express themselves peacefully without being insulted, condemned, attacked or cast to one side.”
Noting that this year there were two important events for the Church in Argentina, the beatification in August of Mama Antula (an 18th century Catholic laywoman) and the canonization in October of Cura Brochero (the 19th century Gaucho priest), the Pope said he very much wished he could have attended these two events but it was not possible. He said it was his love for his native Argentina that was prompting him to ask his fellow countrymen to place their nation on their shoulders – a nation that needs each of us to give of our best “to improve, grow and mature.” Only in this way, he went on, can we achieve “a culture of encounter” that is able to overcome “the throw-away culture” which is so prevalent in today’s world.
In additional to Argentina’s many natural riches, Pope Francis reminded his listeners that the nation’s greatest treasure was its people and urged them to walk alongside those who need assistance and help those who fall sick to recover.
The Pope concluded his message by saying like a school teacher of old he was giving his compatriots some homework during this Jubilee Year of Mercy. He then went on to list 7 works each of corporal and spiritual mercy and encouraged his listeners to try to perform these good deeds every day or every other day.
Listen to this report by Susy Hodges (that includes clips of the Pope’s voice reading his message):
(from Vatican Radio)…