(Vatican Radio/VIS) Pope Francis has confirmed more members and substitutes for the Fourteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops , which will take place from October 4-25, 2015, under the theme “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in the contemporary world.” The following is a list of the…
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(Vatican Radio/VIS) A press conference was held in the Holy See Press Office on Wednesday to present the upcoming exhibition of the Holy Shroud of Turin (Turin, 19 April – 24 June 2015), on the occasion of the second centenary of the birth of St. John Bosco, which will be specially dedicated to the young and to those who suffer. The Pope will also make a pilgrimage to Turin from 21 to 22 June.
The speakers at the conference were the Archbishop of Turin, Cesare Nosaglia, Papal guardian of the Shroud; Elide Tisi, mayor of the city; Roberto Gottardo, president of the diocesan commission for the Shroud; and Rev. Luca Ramello, director of youth pastoral ministry for the diocese.
Archbishop Nosaglia explained that the Shroud represents, for the Universal Church, a point of reference of the first order for the life of the faith of many people and communities, who in this image recognise the signs of the Lord’s passion, of Jesus who “inspires our lives and challenges us to fully realise our deepest vocation. Therefore”, he added “the theme I have chosen for the next exhibition is ‘The Greatest Love’: the gift of salvation which is made visible in our response, the worship of God and service to our brothers”.
“The Pope’s trip, like the exhibition as a whole, is also intended to give thanks for ‘the Saint of youth’, and for the service that the Salesian family carries out in Turin and throughout the world in the fields of education, mission, sport and communication. … The world of youth is particularly involved in the Salesian mission, and during the Pope’s visit there will be a sort of mini Youth Day, a series of meetings, encounters, prayer, moments of celebration that help resume contact with the young. An extraordinary sign will be the presence of the Word Youth Day Cross, which will make a stop in Turin during its journey to Krakow”.
Another peculiarity of this exhibition is attention to the world of those who suffer, and therefore this year sick or disabled pilgrims and those who accompany them will be able to benefit from new hospitality structures based on the model of the ‘Accueil’ in Lourdes. It is also hoped that the Pilgrimage to the Shroud will offer an opportunity to partake in the sacrament of Reconciliation, as a “concrete sign of forgiveness” and, as on previous occasions, “in various places priests will hear the confessions of the faithful in all the world’s major languages”.
The Archbishop emphasised that the 2015 exhibition has been organised according to the criterion of austerity, in a period of severe economic and social crisis throughout the area, and he thanked those entities that have offered their cooperation to help limit costs as far as possible. He also announced that during the display of the Shroud, Beato Angelico’s celebrated “Lamentation over the Dead Christ” will be exhibited in the diocesan museum, on loan for the occasion from the city of Florence.
“As you are aware, visiting the Shroud is completely free. Traditionally many pilgrims at the leave a simple offering at the end of their journey, deposited with full discretion at the exit of the Cathedral and in the areas by the confessionals. On this occasion all the offerings will be given to the Pope when he is with us in Turin on June 21st. We will ask him to use them, naturally at his discretion, for a work, or a project to assist the poorest or neediest”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio/VIS) A press conference was held in the Holy See Press Office on Wednesday to present the upcoming exhibition of the Holy Shroud of Turin (Turin, 19 April – 24 June 2015), on the occasion of the second centenary of the birth of St. John Bosco, which will be specially dedicated to the young…
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(Vatican Radio) Among those greeting Pope Francis at the end of his general audience in St Peter’s Square was Mike Haines, whose brother, David, was murdered by a so-called Islamic State militant in September 2014. Since then, Mike has been working tirelessly to spread a message of interfaith cooperation and unity to combat violence and extremism.
Accompanying him to the Vatican on Wednesday to share this testimony was the wife of another British murder victim, Alan Henning, as well as a Muslim friend of the Haines family, London-based Imam Shahnawaz Haque. Philippa Hitchen met Mike and Shahnawaz just after the audience to find out more about their mission …
Listen here to Philippa’s report:
If you look up the story of David Haines’ kidnapping, you’ll see an all-too-familiar picture of a black clad executioner holding his pale faced victim in a bright orange suit, with a warning that he’ll be the next to die. It’s an image that has haunted Mike Haines, ever since the terrorists murdered US journalist Stephen Sotloff and David’s family knew they had little chance of ever seeing him alive again.
Yet it’s also the image that drives Mike forward with his mission of trying to end fear and hostility between people of different cultures and religions, knowing that it’s the best way he can honour the work that David was doing with refugees on the border between Turkey and Iraq.
That’s why he was here in the Vatican, fighting back the tears, as he told Pope Francis about the message he was bringing. Mike says he’d tried to prepare the right words, but when he saw the Pope arriving, his mind went blank. However, he continued, Pope Francis made him feel at ease, by saying that he was praying for the Haines family and praying for him to continue his work…
Recalling the day he found out his brother had been kidnapped, Mike says he received a phone call from the head of ACTED (Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development) for whom David had been working……his brother, Mike says, was doing what he was best at, going out and helping others… “it was his calling”. Following his capture, Mike adds, he knew that the chances of getting David out were not good so the family’s mantra was “to prepare for the worst and hope for the best”….
Though Mike finds it hard to talk about the tragedy his family has endured, he’s quite clear in his condemnation of those who try to blame the Muslim community for the terrorist atrocities. In fact one of the first things he did in the wake of David’s murder was to seek the advice of a Muslim scholar so he could quote a couple of verses from the Koran to show his solidarity with Britain’s Muslim communities. Islam, he says is about “understanding, tolerance, welcoming, it’s about giving strength” but like every religion, he continues, there are groups of people who take sentences of their holy books to give them justification for their actions and that is wrong….
In his mission to close the gap of fear and suspicion that the terrorists are trying to create, Mike is supported by his friend, psychotherapist and Muslim scholar Shahnawaz Haque who says it is “extremely disturbing, distressing and traumatic” when terrorists use the words of the Koran to justify their acts of unspeakable violence. He recalls that as a young child of Asian immigrants in the UK he suffered from prejudice and racist slurs in the streets and now, he says, it’s hard to imagine or understand the fear that people say they have of the Muslim community…
Shahnawaz Haque says the only way to combat the prejudice and fear is through education and interaction between ordinary people. He believes Pope Francis himself is modelling the true religious qualities of humility and compassion, as well as creating new opportunities for encounter and interfaith understanding between people of so many cultures and communities. “I pray that God assists him in the good work that he’s doing”, he says.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Among those greeting Pope Francis at the end of his general audience in St Peter’s Square was Mike Haines, whose brother, David, was murdered by a so-called Islamic State militant in September 2014. Since then, Mike has been working tirelessly to spread a message of interfaith cooperation and unity to combat violence and…
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