(Vatican Radio) The world of the Circus spreads “a culture of encounter” and those working in such travelling shows have a unique opportunity “to be Christ’s witnesses” to “even the most distant” of people: that’s what Pope Francis said Thursday to members of Italian circuses and travelling entertainment.
In a festive audience in the Vatican, Pope Francis greeted representatives of circus associations, employees of amusement parks and fairs, street performers, artists, designers and puppeteers, musicians and folk groups celebrating their Jubilee for Circus and Travelling Show People. The Pope told them their festiveness and joy “are distinctive signs of your identity, your profession and your life” and that this appointment “could not be overlooked” in the Jubilee of Mercy.
The 15-16 June Jubilee was sponsored and organized by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People in collaboration with the “Migrantes” Foundation of the Italian Episcopal Conference and the Migrantes Office of the Diocese of Rome.
“You are ‘artisans’ of festivities, of wonder, of beauty,” the Pope said, and “with these qualities, you enrich all world society, even with the aim of nurturing sentiments of hope and confidence. You do it through performances that have the ability to elevate the soul, to show the boldness of particularly challenging exercises, to fascinate with the wonder of beauty and to offer opportunities for healthy entertainment.”
Pope Francis thanked them for having, in this year of Mercy, “opened your shows to the most needy, the poor and the homeless, prisoners, and disadvantaged kids. This too is mercy: to sow beauty and joy in a world sometimes gloomy and sad.”
The Holy Father admitted that “the rhythms of your life and of your work” can often make it “difficult for you to be part of a parish community on a regular basis.” Nevertheless, he invited them “to take care of your faith. Take every opportunity to draw close to the Sacraments. Transmit to your children the love for God and neighbor.”
Concluding, Pope Francis said “the Church is concerned about the problems that accompany your traveling life, and wants to help eliminate prejudices” that can sometimes keep them “on the margins.” He called on churches and parishes to be attentive to the needs of travelling performers and all people on the move.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met on Thursday with members of the ROACO (Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches) Assembly which raises funds for Christians in the Eastern-rite Churches. Among those taking part in the meeting were the papal representatives from Jerusalem, Lebanon, Syria, Ukraine, Iraq and Jordan, as well as the new Franciscan Custos of the Holy Land, Fr Francesco Patton.
In his greetings to the group, Pope Francis thanked them for their work, in particular the task of helping to fund the restoration of the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the small shrine of Christ’s tomb at the heart of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
Noting that the restoration work in Bethlehem has unearthed the mosaic of a seventh angel in the nave of the Basilica, the Pope reflected on the way the face of our own communities can also be covered by ‘incrustations’ as a result of all our problems and sins. Yet all your work, the Pope said, must unfailingly be guided by the certainty that, beneath material and moral incrustations, and the tears and bloodshed caused by war, violence and persecution, there is a radiant face like that of the angel in the mosaic.
All of you, with your projects and your activities, the Pope said, are part of a “restoration” that will enable the face of the Church to reflect visibly the light of Christ the Word Incarnate. He is our peace, the Pope insisted, and he is knocking at the doors of our heart in the Middle East, as he does in India or in Ukraine, a country for which he recently called for a special collection to be taken among all European Churches in support of those suffering the effects of the conflict.
Pope Francis noted that the ROACO meeting, which has been taking place in Rome this week, has also been focused on the presence of the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Manlankara Churches in the territories of India outside Kerala where they are based. It is a sign of hope that, he said, that progress can be made in respect for the proper rights of each, without a spirit of division. Rather, he stressed, in all those parts of the world where Latin and Oriental Catholics live side-by-side, our Churches need the spiritual riches of East and West as a source from which coming generations can draw.
Finally, Pope Francis blessed the members of the group, asking for their prayers as he prepares for his pilgrimage next week to Armenia, a land of the East and the first country to adopt Christianity as its state religion.
Please find below the full text of Pope Francis’ address to the ROACO Assembly
Dear Friends,
I offer you a warm welcome and I thank Cardinal Sandri for his kind words of introduction. To each of you, and the communities from which you come, I offer a cordial greeting. I am grateful for the zeal that all of you have shown in carrying out the mission entrusted to you, and for your attention to the needs of our brothers and sisters in the East. Present at this meeting, too, are the Papal Representatives in Jerusalem, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Jordan, and Ukraine. They accompany the life of the Churches and peoples of those countries, demonstrating the closeness of the Pope and the Holy See not only through their contacts but also through gestures of concrete charity, in coordination with all the concerned offices of the Holy See.
I also greet with fraternal good wishes Father Francesco Patton, the successor of Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa as Custos of the Holy Land. I take this occasion to express my gratitude and appreciation to all the Friars Minor, who for centuries have maintained the holy places and shrines, also with the help of the yearly Good Friday Collection providently instituted by Blessed Paul VI. May the Lord bless you and grant you his peace! It is my hope that, with the generous help of so many people, including the contribution of the other Christian communities, the restoration of the Basilica of the Nativity and the aedicule of the Holy Sepulcher will be brought to conclusion.
I have been told that in the course of restoration work in Bethlehem, on one of the walls of the nave a seventh angel in mosaic has come to light, forming with the other six a sort of procession towards the place commemorating the mystery of the birth of the Word made flesh. This can lead us to reflect on how the face of our ecclesial communities can also be covered by “incrustations” as a result of various problems and sins. Yet your work must unfailingly be guided by the certainty that, beneath material and moral incrustations, and the tears and bloodshed caused by war, violence and persecution, beneath this apparently impenetrable cover there is a radiant face like that of the angel in the mosaic. All of you, with your projects and your activities, are part of a “restoration” that will enable the face of the Church to reflect visibly the light of Christ the Word Incarnate. He is our peace, and he is knocking at the doors of our heart in the Middle East, as he does in India and in Ukraine, a country for which I determined last April that an extraordinary collection should be taken up among the Churches of Europe.
Your reflection in these days centres on the presence of the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Manlankara Churches in the territories of India outside Kerala. It is a sign of hope that, following the indications set out by my Predecessors, progress can be made in respect for the proper rights of each, without a spirit of division, but rather fostering communion in witness to the one Saviour, Jesus Christ. That communion, in all those parts of the world where Latin and Oriental Catholics live side-by-side, needs the spiritual riches of East and West as a source from which coming generations of priests, men and women religious, and pastoral workers can draw. For, as Saint John Paul II observed: “The words of the West need the words of the East, so that God’s word may ever more clearly reveal its unfathomable riches. Our words will meet forever in the heavenly Jerusalem, but we ask and wish that this meeting be anticipated in the holy Church which is still on her way towards the fullness of the Kingdom” (Orientale Lumen, 28).
As I invoke upon all of you the Lord’s blessings, I ask for your prayers, for in a few days I will go on pilgrimage to a land of the East, Armenia, the first nation to welcome the Gospel of Jesus. I thank you most cordially. May Our Lady watch over you and accompany you. Thank you.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met several people following his weekly General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, including 26 year-old Lena Bröder – Miss Germany 2016 – who also happens to be a teacher of religion and home economics in Germany’s school system.
Bröder is also the author of a volume, Das Schöne in mir – Mit Glaube zum Erfolg – “The Beautiful in me: with faith to success” – due on bookshelves in Germany later this month.
German wire service reports quote Bröder as calling the meeting with Pope Francis, “moving,” and as saying that she told the Holy Father she would have him in her prayers.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, in audience on Wednesday morning. Following the meeting with the Holy Father, Rutte met with the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, and the Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher.
A communiqué from the Press Office of the Holy See states that the Pope and the Prime Minister held cordial discussions that ouched on the good bilateral relations between the Netherlands and the Holy See, and focused on questions of mutual interest such as the phenomenon of migration, as well as various issues of an international character.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis encouraged believers on Wednesday to open their eyes and hearts to God’s love for the poor and to the gift of healing that he offers to all who turn to him in faith.
His words came during the weekly General Audience in St. Peter’s square as he continued his catechesis for this Holy Year of Mercy.
The Pope reflected on Jesus’ miracle of restoring sight to a blind man on the way to Jericho as recounted in the Gospel of Luke.
He said that the blind man was sitting on the roadside begging and pointed out that, until not long ago, a person with disability had no choice but to live on charity.
“That blind man, Francis said, represents the many people who, even today, are marginalized because of a disadvantage,” be it physical or of other kind.
The Pope said the man is separated from the crowd that goes about its business as usual. “The street, which can be a place of encounter, for him is a place of solitude” he said.
He said the image of the marginalized person is especially sad against the backdrop provided by the splendid city of Jericho, and he pointed out that Jericho, the place where the people of Israel arrived in after the Exodus from Egypt represents the Promised Land.
The Pope recalled the words uttered by Moses on that occasion: “If one of your kindred is in need in any community in the land which the Lord is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor close your hand against your kin who is in need. For the land will never lack for needy persons; that is why I command you: “Open your hand freely to your poor and to your needy kin in your land”.
“How often do we feel annoyed when we see people in the streets who are sick or hungry? How often are we annoyed by the sight of refugees and migrants?” he said.
That’s why – Francis continued: “God’s Word teaches us that indifference and hostility make us blind and deaf, stopping us from seeing our brothers, preventing us from recognizing the Lord in them”.
Unlike the crowd, the Pope said, Jesus does not ignore the blind man or try to silence his cries. And he points out that when Jesus comes by “there is always liberation, there is always salvation”.
In the Gospel reading the blind man is the only one who recognizes Jesus who turns the eyes of all to the blind man, and, acknowledging his faith, restores his sight.
In this way, the Pope pointed out, Jesus takes the blind man away from the edge of the street and places him at the center of the attention of the crowd and of his disciples.
Thus, not only does the man, now healed, became a disciple of Jesus, but the crowd too now sees; their eyes are opened to the meaning of this encounter of mercy, and they give praise to God.
“Let us remember the times in which we have found ourselves in bad situations, even situations in which we sinned. It was Jesus who took us by the hand and removed us from the margins putting us on the road of salvation” the Pope said.
And he highlighted the fact that the Lord’s passage is an encounter of mercy that brings us together and permits us to recognize our brothers who are in need of help and consolation.
During this Jubilee of Mercy, Pope Francis concluded: “may we too open our eyes and hearts to God’s love for the poor and to the gift of healing that he offers to all who turn to him in faith”.
(from Vatican Radio)…