(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the participants in the plenary assembly of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life on Thursday in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. From the 25 th to the 29 th of November, the participants in the plenary session are gathered to reflect on the image of new wine in new wineskins, taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark (2:22), with a focus on fostering creative fidelity to their specific callings and to their particular charisms within the broad vocation to consecrated life.
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In remarks prepared for the occasion, Pope Francis said, “In the demanding task that brings you together – that of assessing the new wine and testing the quality of the skins which must contain it – may you be guided by the criteria of originality in evangelical choices, charismatic faithfulness, the primacy of service, attention to the smallest and most fragile, respect for the dignity of each person.”
The plenary session is also taking place with a view toward the Year for Consecrated Life, which officially opens this coming Sunday, Nov. 30 th , with the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of the new liturgical year. “We must not be afraid to leave the ‘old wineskins’, that is, to renew those habits and structures which, in the life of the Church and therefore also in the consecrated life, we recognize as no longer responsive to what God asks of us today in order to further His Kingdom in the world,” said Pope Francis, “structures that give us false protection and put a drag on the dynamism of charity; habits that distance us from the flock to which we are sent and prevent us from listening to the cry of those who await the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Reality can be ugly, but despite the suffering, corruption and indifference in today’s world as Christians we must hold our heads high in hope said Pope Francis at Mass Thursday morning in Casa Santa Marta.
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Basing his reflections on the Readings of the Day, Pope Francis spoke of the fate of the two cities of Babylon and Jerusalem. The Pope pointed out that both the First Reading from Revelation and the Gospel from St Luke Chapter 21, draw our attention to the end of this world.
He noted that they speak of the fall of two cities that refused to welcome the Lord and that drifted away from Him. These two cities fall for different reasons, he said. Babylon is the “symbol of evil, of sin” and “falls because of its corruption,” the city believed itself to be “the mistress of the world and of itself”. When ” sin accumulates – he warned – you lose the ability to react and you start to rot”. This also happens with “corrupt people, who do not have the strength to react”:
“Because corruption gives you some happiness, it gives you power and also makes you feel satisfied with yourself. But it leaves no room for the Lord, for conversion. The city is corrupt … this word ‘corruption’ says a lot to us today: not only economic corruption, but corruption with many different sins; the corruption of that pagan spirit, that worldly spirit. The worst [form of ] corruption is the spirit of worldliness!”.
This “corrupt culture”, he added, “makes you feel as if you were in Heaven, right here” but “within, the corrupt culture is a rotten culture”. Babylon is a symbol for “every society, every culture, every person who has distanced themselves from God, who has distanced themselves from love of neighbor, which eventually leads to rot”.
Jerusalem, however, Pope Francis said, “falls for another reason”. Jerusalem is the bride of the Lord, but is not aware of her Bridegroom’s visit, “she made the Lord weep”:
“Babylon falls because of its corruption; Jerusalem because of its distraction, its failing to welcome the Lord who comes to her rescue. She did not feel in need of salvation. She had the writings of the prophets, Moses, and this was enough. But sealed writings! She left no room for salvation: her door was closed to the Lord! The Lord was knocking at her door, but there was no willingness to receive Him, to listen, to be rescued by Him. And so she falls … ”
Pope Francis noted that these two examples, “make us ponder our own lives”: are we like “corrupt and self- sufficient Babylon” or “distracted” Jerusalem?
The Pope went on to stress that “the message of the Church in these days does not end with destruction: in both texts, there is a promise of hope”. Jesus urges us to lift up our heads, not to be “frightened by the pagans.” These, “have their time and we have to bear it with patience, as the Lord endured his Passion”:
“When we think of the end of time, with all of our sins, with our history, let us think of the banquet which will be freely offered us and let us lift up our heads. Do not give way to depression: Hope! Reality is ugly: there are many, many people, cities and people, so many people who are suffering; many wars, so much hatred, so much envy, so much spiritual worldliness and so much corruption. Yes, it’s true! All of this will fall! Let us ask the Lord for the grace to be prepared for the banquet that awaits us, always with our heads held high”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the participants in the plenary assembly of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life on Thursday in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. From the 25th to the 29th of November, the participants in the plenary session are gathered to reflect…
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(Vatican Radio) Breaking another record for papal trips, Pope Francis on Friday sets off on his second international journey this week, travelling to the Turkish cities of Ankara and Istanbul. Just three days after his trip to Strasbourg for meetings with the European Parliament and Council of Europe, the Pope takes off for Turkey at the invitation of both the government there and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the Orthodox world.
Francis is the fourth pope to travel to Turkey, following in the footsteps of his predecessors, Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, while Archbishop Angelo Roncalli is also remembered with great affection by the Turkish people, as he served as apostolic delegate there for nine years before being elected Pope John XXIII.
But what kind of reception is Pope Francis likely to receive in this country, often described as a bridge between East and West? What preparations have been taking place in a country where Christians number less than 1 percent of the population, divided into different Catholic and Orthodox rites and communities?
To find some answers to those questions, Philippa Hitchen spoke to Dominican Father Claudio Monge, who heads a Centre for Cultural and Interreligious Dialogue in Istanbul….
Listen:
Fr Claudio says the Catholic community is, as he puts it, joining “the journey of Pope Francis that was organized first of all by the Patriarch” who invited him to celebrate the feast of Saint Andrew with the Orthodox Church on November 30th. At the same time, he says the Catholic community will have “a special time”, albeit a very short meeting with the Pope on November 29th in the Latin Catholic Cathedral. Although it’s a short encounter, he says “we need really this presence ….. as a tiny minority in this country, this is very important for us.
Speaking about the Catholic community in Turkey, Fr Claudio continues, means not only a tiny minority but also of a community that is split in at least four major rites, Latin, Armenian, Syrian, and Chaldean, and it is not always easy to find a common way, even to experience a common Eucharist together…..
Asked how the role and place of the Catholic Church in Turkish society has changed since the previous visit of Pope Benedict in 2006, Fr Claudio says in a juridical sense, not much has changed. “I mean at that time and even today, we know very well the first biggest problem is that we don’t have juridical statues, he says, “we are really foreigners in this country, with no official rights”…… Although recently there was a process to reform the Constitution, he says, everything seems to have been put on hold because of the other urgent problems of the region, especially on the Iraqi border which takes the attention of the Turkish government….
Speaking of the difficulties within the Catholic Church, Fr Claudio says two bishops are very close to retirement age so there is a tendency “to wait for something new that will come in few months”. Furthermore he reiterates the fact that the Turkish Catholic Bishop’s conference is composed of churches of different rites, something which is a richness but at the same time “demands much more important organization” in order to share together daily or to work together on training and formation. This is a very big problem, he says, and the tendency is to be limited to normal Sunday liturgical life without any effort to create new ties and to think about new generations. Although the Latin Catholic Church struggles to keep young people in Turkey, there are still quite numerous Armenian or Syrian young people, but he says there is a growing distance between the generations, requiring a “renewal of deep faith” and “Christian engagement in the daily life”….
Asked what message he hopes the Pope can bring in this very complex context, Fr Claudio says it’s essential to remember that “our sources and the origin of the Christian message was based also in this (region) because in Anatolia, Asia Minor, as it was called at the time of the New Testament, Christianity was “a simple, fresh, testimony in a hard time, and never, never in these places Christians were majority”. Because of this, he says, “it is important, even in our weakness, to welcome Pope Francis ….we are actually a church that is a bit like a hospital of people that are weak, that need to be supported, need to be encouraged, but I think that the good news is still working here” ….
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Reaction continues around the world to Pope Francis’s wide-ranging discourses made to the European Parliament and the Council of Europe during his 4 hour visit to Strasbourg on Tuesday. In his two addresses, the Pope touched on many different issues, including human dignity, the need for Europe to rediscover its vigour and its core values, immigration, unemployment and solidarity. Bishop William Kenney is the spokesman on European affairs for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and gave Susy Hodges his personal reaction to the Pope’s remarks in Strasbourg. Listen to the full interview with Bishop Kenney:
Describing the Pope’s two speeches as “brilliant”, Bishop Kenney said he found them infused with “hope” despite the many problems that Europe is facing. Asked which parts of the addresses he was most struck by, the bishop singled out Pope Francis’ appeal for Europe to rediscover its “core values.” Some of the most-quoted remarks in the media following the papal visit to the European institutions focused on the Pope’s description of Europe as somewhat elderly and haggard, rather like a grandmother that has lost her vigour and fertility. Bishop Kenney said he agreed with those who see this as an “apt criticism” of some aspects of European society and but said that overall this was a “rallying” speech. (from Vatican Radio)…