(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received a group of some 230 participants for the World Meeting of the International Conference of Catholic Guiding on Friday. The Guides are in Rome from June 25 th -30 th , to explore the theme of living the joy of the Gospel as a Guide.
The international umbrella group for Catholic Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, ICCG, officially came into existence on the Feast of the Epiphany, 1965, in Rome, when twenty-one Girl Guide associations established the International Catholic Conference of Guiding, signing its Charter, its Statutes and approving its Internal Rules.
In remarks prepared for the occasion and delivered to the group in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican, Pope Francis thanked the Guides for choosing a theme rooted in and responding to his Apostolic exhortation, Evangelii gaudium , and praised the program of the Meeting. “It is a wonderful program,” he said. To proclaim to others, through the witness of our lives, that encountering Jesus makes us happy; that meeting Jesus frees us and heals us; that meeting Jesus opens us to others and encourages us to proclaim this especially to the poorest among us, to those who are farthest away, most lonely and abandoned.”
The Holy Father went on to encourage the participants in their work of recovering, nurturing and furthering the authentic vision of womanhood, in the Church and in the world. “Today it is very important that womanhood be properly appreciated,” he said. “Here, too,” he continued, “the role of educational associations like yours – that serve girls particularly – is absolutely crucial for the future.” In a world in which ideologies contrary to the nature and God’s plan for marriage and family, Pope Francis said, “It is therefore necessary to educate girls not only to the beauty and grandeur of their vocation as women, in a fair and differentiated relationship between man and woman, but also to take on important responsibilities in the Church and in society.” The Holy Father said that, in places where women are still in a position of inferiority, and even exploited and abused, Guides are certainly called to play a major role in the promotion and education of women.
Pope Francis concluded with an appeal to the Guides, calling on them to remain open to the chance that God might be calling them to religious life. “I ask you also not to forget the necessary and explicit openness of your pedagogy to the possibility of a life consecrated to the Lord, of which the movement of the Guides has been so fruitful in its history.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
Vatican City, 26 June 2015 (VIS) – Forty-six metropolitan archbishops have been nominated by the Holy Father to receive the pallium this year, imposed every 29 June, Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul Apostles, in the Vatican Basilica: Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, archbishop of Cologne, Germany Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, archbishop of Valencia, Spain Archbishop Julian Leow Beng Kim of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Archbishop Eduardo Eliseo Martin of Rosario, Argentina Archbishop Florentino Galang Lavarias of San Fernando, Philippines Archbishop Anthony Pappusamy of Madurai, India Archbishop Sevastianos Rossolatos of Athens, Greece Archbishop Thomas Aquino Manyo Maeda of Osaka, Japan Archbishop Carlos Osoro Sierra of Madrid, Spain Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, Ireland Archbishop Anthony Colin Fisher, O.P., of Sydney, Australia Archbishop Blase J. Cupich of Chicago, U.S.A. Archbishop Oscar Omar Aparicio Cespedes of Cochabamba, Bolivia Archbishop Jose Antonio Fernandez Hurtado of Durango, Mexico Archbishop Stane Zore, O.F.M., of Ljubljana, Slovenia Archbishop Djalwana Laurent Lompo of Niamey, Nigeria Archbishop Vincenzo Pelvi of Foggia-Bovino, Italy Archbishop Richard Daniel Alarcon Urrutia of Cuzco, Peru Archbishop Jean Mbarga of Yaounde, Cameroon Archbishop Edmundo Ponciano Valenzuela Mellid, S.D.B., of Asuncion, Paraguay Archbishop Beatus Kinyaiya, O.F.M. Cap., of Dodoma, Tanzania Archbishop Max Leroy Mesidor of Cap-Haitien, Haiti Archbishop Kieran O’Reilley, S.M.A., of Cashel, Ireland Archbishop Filomeno do Nascimento Vieira Dias of Luanda, Angola Archbishop Martin Musonde Kivuva of Mombasa, Kenya Archbishop Vicente Jimenez Zamora of Zaragoza, Spain Archbishop Benjamin Ndiaye of Dakar, Senegal Archbishop Jose Antonio Peruzzo of Curitiba, Brazil Archbishop Menghesteab Tesfamariam, M.C.C.J., of Asmara, Eritrea Archbishop Stefan Hesse of Hamburg, Germany Archbishop Juan Nsue Edjang Maye of Malabo, Equatorial Guinea Archbishop Yustinus Harjosusanto, M.S.F., of Samarinda, Indonesia Archbishop Freddy Antonio de Jesus Breton Martinez of Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic Archbishop Charles Jude Scicluna of Malta, Malta Archbishop David Macaire, O.P., of Fort-de-France, Martinique, France Archbishop Alojzij Cvikl. S.J., of Maribor, Slovenia Archbishop Fulop Kocsis of Hajdudorog for Catholics of Byzantine Rite, Hungary Archbishop John Charles Wester of Santa Fe, U.S.A. Archbishop Denis Grondin of Rimouski, Canada Archbishop Francescantonio Nole, O.F.M. Conv., of Cosenza-Bisignano, Italy Archbishop Celso Morga Iruzubieta of Merida-Badajoz, Spain Archbishop Gustavo Rodriguez Vega of Yucatan, Mexico Archbishop-elect Erio Castellucci of Modena-Nonantola, Italy Archbishop Heiner Koch of Berlin, Germany Archbishop Lionginas Virbalas, S.J., of Kaunas, Lithuania Archbishop Thomas Ignatius Macwan of Gandhinagar, India….
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received a group of some 230 participants for the World Meeting of the International Conference of Catholic Guiding on Friday. The Guides are in Rome from June 25th-30th, to explore the theme of living the joy of the Gospel as a Guide. The international umbrella group for Catholic Girl Guides and…
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(Vatican Radio) The Church can only become a true community if its members are willing to get their hands dirty and include the excluded. That was Pope Francis’ message during his homily at the Santa Marta Mass on Friday morning, as he reflected on the Gospel passage about Jesus healing the man with leprosy.
Listen to Philippa Hitchen’s report:
Pope Francis noted that the miracle, in St Matthew’s Gospel, of Jesus touching and healing the leper takes place in front of the doctors of the law who considered the man to be ‘unclean’. Leprosy, the Pope said, was like a life sentence, since curing a leper was thought to be as hard as raising someone from the dead. Lepers were excluded from society, yet Jesus stretches out his hand and shows us what it means to be close to such people.
We can’t be a community, we can’t make peace, and we can’t do good without being close to people, the Pope stressed. Jesus could have just said to the leper, ‘You are healed’, but instead he reaches out his hand and touches him, becoming ‘unclean’ himself. This is the mystery of Jesus, the Pope continued, that he takes upon himself our uncleanliness, our sin, our exclusion to become close to us.
The Gospel passage also notes that Jesus asks the cured man not to tell anyone, but to show himself to the priest and ‘offer the gift that Moses prescribed’ in the law as proof for them. Pope Francis explained that Jesus not only gets his hands dirty but he also instructs the man to go to the priest so that he could be included in the Church and in society again. Jesus never excludes anyone, the Pope said, but rather he excludes himself in order to include us sinners.
Finally Pope Francis noted the reactions of the people around Jesus, many of whom are amazed at his words and follow him. Others, he said, watch from a distance with hardened hearts to criticize and condemn him, while others would like to draw close to Jesus but lack the courage to do so. To these people, Jesus holds out his hand, as he holds it out to all of us, taking on our sins to become one of us. Do we know how to draw near to people, the Pope asked? Do we have the strength and courage to reach out and touch those who are excluded? This is the meaning of a Christian community and this is the question each one of us – priests, bishops, religious, all of us – must ask ourselves.
(from Vatican Radio)…
On Friday 26 June 2015, at the Vatican
Apostolic Palace, a Comprehensive Agreement was signed between the Holy See and
the State of Palestine. The accord follows on the Basic Agreement
which was signed between the Holy See and the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO) on 15 February 2000 and is the result of the negotiations undertaken by a
bilateral working commission over the past number of years. His Excellency Archbishop Paul R.
Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States, signed for the Holy See and His
Excellency Dr. Riad Al-Malki, Minister of Foreign Affairs, signed for the State
of Palestine. The following took part in the solemn act: For the Holy See: His Excellency
Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, Apostolic Delegate to Jerusalem and Palestine;
His Excellency Archbishop Antonio Franco, Apostolic Nuncio; His Beatitude Fouad
Twal, Patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins; Mgr. Antoine Camilleri, Under-Secretary
for the Holy See’s Relations with States; Rev. Fr. Lorenzo Lorusso, O.P.,
Under-Secretary of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches; Mgr. Alberto
Ortega, Official of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of
State; Mgr. Paolo Borgia, Official of the Section for General Affairs of the
Secretariat of State; and Rev. Fr. Oscar Marzo, O.F.M., member of the Custody
of the Holy Land and Official of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. For the State of Palestine: His Excellency
Dr. Ramzi Khoury, Advisor to the President, Deputy Head of the Presidential
Higher Committee on Church Affairs in Palestine; Ambassador Issa Kassissieh,
Representative of the State of Palestine to the Holy See; Ambassador Rawan Sulaiman,
Assistant Foreign Minister for Multilateral Affairs; Mrs. Vera Baboun, Mayor of
Bethlehem; Mr. Moussa Abu Hadeed, Mayor of Ramallah; Mr. Ammar Hijazi, Deputy
Assistant Foreign Minister for Multilateral Affairs; Mr. Azem Bishara, Legal
Advisor of the PLO; Mr. Ammar Nisnas, Counselor of the Diplomatic
Representation of the State of Palestine to the Holy See. The Agreement is comprised of a Preamble
and 32 Articles distributed in 8 Chapters. It deals with essential aspects of
the life and activity of the Catholic Church in the State of Palestine, while
reaffirming support for a negotiated and peaceful resolution of the situation
in the region. The Agreement shall come into force when both Parties
have notified each other in writing that the constitutional or internal
requirements for the coming into force of the Agreement have been met. Address given by
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States, on the
signing of the comprehensive agreement
between the State of Palestine and the Holy See Your
Excellency, I
would like, first and foremost, to welcome you and your Delegation to the
Secretariat of State, on the auspicious occasion of the signing of the
Comprehensive Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Palestine, which
marks an important step on the path of good relations which for some time have
happily existed between the Parties. This
present Agreement follows on from the Basic Agreement between the Holy See and
the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), which was signed on 15 February
2000. It is the result of the negotiations of a special Bilateral Commission
which has worked at various levels over recent years, with dedication and
competence, in a most cordial atmosphere. In
contrast with the earlier Agreement, the present one is being signed by the
Holy See and the State of Palestine; this is indicative of the progress made by
the Palestinian Authority in recent years, and above all of the level of
international support, which culminated in the Resolution of the General
Assembly of the United Nations of 29 November 2012, which recognized Palestine
as a non-member Observer State at the United Nations. In
this context, it is my hope that the present Agreement may in some way be a
stimulus to bringing a definitive end to the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, which continues to cause suffering for both Parties. I also hope that
the much desired two-State solution may become a reality as soon as possible.
The peace process can move forward only if it is directly negotiated between
the Parties, with the support of the international community. This certainly
requires courageous decisions, but it will also offer a major contribution to
peace and stability in the region. The
Comprehensive Agreement, while constituting an understanding between two
subjects of international law, basically concerns the life and activity of the
Church in Palestine. In this respect, I am pleased that juridical recognition
is clearly established and that guarantees have been given for the work of the
Catholic Church and her institutions. Catholics do not seek any privilege other
than continued cooperation with their fellow-citizens for the good of society.
I am also pleased to say that the local Church, which has been actively
involved in the negotiations, is satisfied with the goal attained and is happy
to see the strengthening of its good relations with the civil Authorities. In
the complex reality of the Middle East, where in some countries Christians have
even suffered persecution, this Agreement offers a good example of dialogue and
cooperation, and I earnestly hope that this may serve as a model for other Arab
and Muslim majority countries. With this in mind, I would like to emphasize the
importance of the chapter dedicated to freedom of religion and freedom of
conscience. To
conclude, may I once again reaffirm the Holy See’s particular solicitude for
the Middle East and for the Holy Land, and its joy at the Agreement that has
been reached, which I am hopeful will take effect without delay. Thank you!…