(Vatican Radio) Human rights and Christian values in Europe and ecumenism and interfaith dialogue in Turkey top the Pope’s busy agenda next week as he prepares for his 5th and 6th pastoral visits abroad.
At a press conference on Monday morning, Father Federico Lombardi SJ, Director of the Vatican Press Office illustrated the Pope’s schedule for the last week in November which will take him to Strasbourg, seat of the European Parliament and Council of Europe, and only two days afterwards to Ankara and Istanbul in occasion of the festivity of Saint Andrew.
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :
Pointing out that the visit to Strasbourg is a visit to Europe’s top governing bodies and not to France, Father Lombardi said it will be the briefest apostolic journey a Pope has ever made.
For a total of 3 hours and 50 minutes, Pope Francis will address the Plenary Assembly, first of the European Parliament (EP) and then of the Council of Europe (CoE) as well as meet with their heads Martin Schultz and Thorbjorn Jagland and some of their closest collaborators.
Lombardi recalled that the last Pope to address the European Institutions in Strasbourg was Saint John Paul II in 1988. He pointed out that by addressing the Parliament’s 28 member nations and the 47 member states of the Council, Pope Francis is speaking to the heart of Europe and will invariably raise issues such as economic inequality, freedom of religion and a throwaway culture within a continent that is facing many challenges. He made it quite clear that it is only a “technical” touchdown on French soil, thus President Hollande will not be at the airport to meet him, whilst he will be meeting with key figures of the just started Italian Semester of the EU Council, Matteo Renzi and Jean-Claude Juncker. He explained Francis will arrive at the EP just in time to address the Session there and will be back on the plane for Rome before lunch!
Turkey also marks another record as it takes place only 2 days later. Father Lombardi said the main themes of this journey are ecumenical, of inter-faith dialogue and to encourage the small Turkish Catholic community in its faith.
Taking him to first to Ankara and then to Istanbul, Pope Francis will be received by State authorities and then by the president of Religious Affairs in the Diyanet.
On the following day, he will travel to Istanbul where he will visit significant landmarks such as the Blue Mosque, and the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit where he will celebrate Mass before participating in an ecumenical prayer and meeting in private with the Orthodox Patriarch, Bartholomew I.
Sunday 30 is the Feast day of St. Andrew, the Patron of the Eastern world and the Pope will preside over a divine liturgy in the patriarchal Church of St. George, impart an ecumenical blessing and sign a Joint Declaration with Bartholomew before departing. It can really be seen – Lombardi pointed out – as a continuation of his apostolic journey to the Holy Land last May, and it germinates in fertile soil that has already been tread upon by Popes Paul VIth, John Paul II, Benedict XVIth and well watered by John XXIIIrd who was Apostolic Nuncio to Turkey for 10 years before becoming Pope!
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The temptation that Christians face to be with Jesus without being with the poor and marginalized: this was the focus of Pope Francis’ remarks to the faithful following the readings of the day at Mass on Monday morning in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence in the Vatican.
Click below to hear our report
The Holy Father said that the temptation to ignore Christ when he appears to us in the poor and afflicted is one that faces the Church in every age. Pope Francis offered his reflections following the Gospel reading of the day, which recounted the episode of the Lord’s miraculous healing of the blind man on the road to Jericho – a type of figure prominent in the Gospel according to St Luke (18:35-43), from which the reading was taken. The blind man was a no-account in the eyes of the world, a man who, “desired only salvation,” who so greatly, “desired to be cured,” of his affliction that he shouted and shouted, until the wall of indifference collapsed and he was able to knock, “on the door of the Lord’s heart.” The circle of disciples wanted only to quiet him, to keep him from disturbing the Lord:
“This [person on the margins] could not reach the Lord, because this clique – with a the best of intentions, mind you – closed the door. This happens frequently, among us believers: when we have found the Lord, without our noticing it, we create this sort of ecclesiastical micro-climate . Not only the priests, the bishops, but the faithful, as well: ‘We’re the ones who are with the Lord,’ [we say to ourselves], though for all our looking on Him, we fail to see His needs. We do not look to the Lord who is hungry, who is thirsty, who is in prison, who is in hospital – to the Lord, who is in the marginalized – and being [so closed off, so sealed up], does great harm.”
Pope Francis went on to describe a second type of Christian – of whom there are a few – the kind of follower of Christ, who feels especially chosen. Such as these say and think things like, “Now we are the elect, we are with the Lord,” said Pope Francis, adding that they therefore want to keep “this little world” to and for themselves – to keep it away from anyone – even little children – who might “disturb the Lord,” and saying that such as these, “have abandoned their first love.”:
“When in the Church, the faithful, ministers, become a group like this … not ‘ecclesial’, but ‘ecclesiastical’, [enjoyng] the privilege of closeness to the Lord, they are tempted to forget their first love – a love so beautiful – one we all had when the Lord has called us, saved us, told us: ‘But I love you so much.’ This is a temptation all disciples have: to forget our first love, that is, to forget the [rough neighborhoods], where [we all came from], even though [we are now] ashamed of it.”
Then the Holy Father described the third group on the scene: the “simple folk” – the ones who praise God for the healing of the blind man. “How many times,” he asked, “do we find simple people, how many old ladies who can barely walk,” but who make the trip, “to pray at a one of Our Lady’s shrines.” He went on to say that such as these, “do not ask for privileges, but only for grace.” Such as these, he continued, are “the faithful people” who know how to “waste time with the Lord,” and, “to follow the Lord, without asking special privileges,” and who, above all else, remember the “Church on the margins,” comprised of children, of the sick, of the imprisoned:
“Let us ask the Lord for the grace that all of us who have received the grace of being called, never, never, never move away from this Church. Let us never enter into this micro-climate of the privileged ecclesiastical disciples, who turn away from the Church of God, which is suffering, asking for salvation, which calls for faith, which begs to hear God’s Word. Let us ask the grace to be faithful to God, without asking the Lord for privileges, which separate us from God’s people.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Human rights and Christian values in Europe and ecumenism and interfaith dialogue in Turkey top the Pope’s busy agenda next week as he prepares for his 5th and 6th pastoral visits abroad. At a press conference on Monday morning, Father Federico Lombardi SJ, Director of the Vatican Press Office illustrated the Pope’s schedule…
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(Vatican Radio) The temptation that Christians face to be with Jesus without being with the poor and marginalized: this was the focus of Pope Francis’ remarks to the faithful following the readings of the day at Mass on Monday morning in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence in the Vatican. Click below to hear…
Read more
(Vatican Radio) On Monday, Pope Francis addressed a Colloquium being held on the theme “The Complementarity of Man and Woman in Marriage.” The Holy Father began his address by dwelling on the word “complementarity”: “a precious word, with multiple meanings.” Although complementarity can refer “situations where one of two things adds to, completes, or fulfills…
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