(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met on Tuesday with participants in the World Meeting of Popular Movements which is holding a conference here in Rome to discuss problems facing the poor, the unemployed and those who’ve lost their land. The group chose to hold their three-day conference here because of Pope Francis’ particular attention to the…
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(Vatican Radio) In a private meeting with leaders of the inter-denominational Ark Community, Pope Francis said Christians should not wait for theologians to reach agreement, but should walk, pray and work together now. His words came during an October 10th encounter at the Casa Santa Marta with members of the community founded by Evangelical leader…
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(Vatican Radio) In a private meeting with leaders of the inter-denominational Ark Community, Pope Francis said Christians should not wait for theologians to reach agreement, but should walk, pray and work together now. His words came during an October 10th encounter at the Casa Santa Marta with members of the community founded by Evangelical leader Tony Palmer who was killed in a road accident last July. Palmer became friends with Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio when he worked in Buenos Aires as international ecumenical officer of the Communion of Episcopal Evangelical Churches, a growing movement of charismatic and evangelical Christians seeking reconciliation between their divided communities.
Philippa Hitchen reports:
In an i-phone recording of the meeting , published on the Ark Community website, Pope Francis thanks Palmer’s widow and the new leader of the community, Archbishop Robert Wise, for carrying forward the dream of walking together in communion. “We are sinning against Christ’s will” the Pope says, “because we continue to focus on our differences,” but “our shared baptism is more important than our differences.”
While the devil, the “father of lies” divides us, the Pope continues, we are called to preach the Gospel in every corner of the earth, with the certainty that He is with us. “We each have in our Churches excellent theologians,” the Pope says, “but we shouldn’t wait for them to reach agreement.”
The Pope goes on to talk about spiritual ecumenism where Christians are being persecuted and killed in the Middle East, Africa or elsewhere, not because they are Pentecostal, Lutheran, Anglican, Catholic or Orthodox but “because they believe in Jesus Christ.” He mentions also a Catholic priest and a Lutheran pastor who were killed on the same day by the Nazis for teaching the Catechism to children.
The Pope concludes his off-the-cuff remarks by recalling the vision of Tony Palmer to achieve his desire of walking together “so we can eat together at the banquet of the Lord.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Tuesday exhorted Christians to feel they are an integral part of the Church. Speaking during his homily at Mass in Casa Santa Marta, the Pope said that Jesus does not seek out man’s sins, but looks to his heart, and he invited all believers not to hover on the threshold of the Church, but to come right in.
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :
Jesus did the “work” 2000 years ago when he chose twelve pillars upon which to build His Church, and positioned himself as the basis and the corner stone.
Jesus, Pope Francis said, opened the doors of that Church to all, without distinction, because Christ is interested in loving and in healing the hearts of men, not in weighing up their sins.
Reflecting on the Gospel reading of the day that tells of the birth of the Church “built upon the foundation of the Apostles with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone” through whom the whole structure is held together, the Pope recalled the “actions” carried out by Jesus when he founded the Church: retiring in prayer, choosing his disciples and simultaneously welcoming and healing the crowd:
“Jesus prays, Jesus calls, Jesus chooses, Jesus sends his disciples out, Jesus heals the crowd. Inside this temple, this Jesus who is the corner stone does all this work: it is He who conducts the Church. As St Paul says, this Church is built on the foundations of the Apostles; he chose twelve of them. All of them sinners. Judas was not the one who sinned the most: I don’t know who sinned the most… Judas, poor man, is the one who closed himself to love and that is why he became a traitor. And they all ran away during the difficult time of the Passion and left Jesus alone. They are all sinners. But He chose”.
Jesus – Pope Francis said – wants us “inside” the Church. Not like guests or strangers, but with the “rights of a citizen”. We are not just passing through – he continued – it is where we have our roots. It is where our life is:
“We are citizens, fellow citizens of this Church. If we do not enter into this temple to be part of this building so that the Holy Spirit may live in us, we are not Church. We are on the threshold and look inside: “How lovely… yes this is beautiful…” Those Christians who do not go beyond the Church’s reception: they are there, at the door…’ Yes, I am Catholic, but not too Catholic…”
This is an attitude that has no sense in respect to the total love and mercy that Jesus has for every person. Proof of this is in Christ’s attitude towards Peter, who had been put at the head of the Church. Even though the first pillar was to betrays Jesus, Jesus responds with forgiveness, keeping it in its place:
“For Jesus, Peter’s sin was not important: he was looking at his heart. To be able to find this heart and heal it, he prayed. Jesus who prays and Jesus who heals. It is something he does for each of us. We cannot understand the Church without Jesus who prays and heals. May the Holy Spirit help us understand that this Church has its strength in Jesus’s prayer that can heal us all”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Holy See has told the United Nations a “central challenge” in development is “ensure that globalization benefits everyone,” and that the international community must “strengthen multilateralism” to help achieve this goal.
The Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, was speaking on Monday to the UN General Assembly meeting on Globalization and Interdependence.
“Given all these benefits and values of culture, we should not reduce it to the logic of market exchange,” he said. “On the one hand, economic activity follows the logic of scarcity, as greater scarcity demands greater supply. On the other hand, culture comes from the logic of abundance. When we say culture, we see beauty, and beauty, in its metaphysical definition, is nothing but a superabundance of what is true and good.”
The full text of Archbishop Auza’s intervention is below
Statement of H.E. Archbishop Bernardito Auza
Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations
at the Second Committee of the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
Agenda Item 21: Globalization and Interdependence
New York, October 27, 2014
Mr. Chair,
My delegation shares the view expressed in the Secretary General’s recent reports on this topic that the central challenge in the post-2015 development agenda is to ensure that globalization benefits everyone. My delegation equally shares the view that we need to strengthen multilateralism to help achieve this goal and manage the different risks and interlinked challenges associated with globalization.
The Secretary General’s reports highlight the enormous benefits globalization can provide but, equally, the widening inequalities globalization can bring about. When globalization brings people together as equal partners, it creates mutually beneficial results, a win-win partnership for all. If not, globalization breeds greater inequalities and marginalization, exploitation and injustice. Indeed, as with most human endeavors, globalization works for good or ill, depending on the underlying ethic and policies driving the process.
Mr. Chair,
My delegation wishes to underline two issues within the context of globalization and interdependence, namely the role of culture and the phenomenon of migration.
1. The Secretary General’s report on Culture and Sustainable Development informs us that culture is a prime mover in globalization and interdependence. Cultural tourism accounts for 40% of world’s fast growing tourism revenues. Moreover, its power to mobilize is not only measured in economic terms, but also in its intangible and non-monetized benefits: it widens our horizons and deepens our knowledge about peoples and places; it promotes mutual understanding among nations; it promotes greater social inclusiveness and rootedness; it encourages the preservation of cultural heritage and tradition; it fosters creativity and innovation; it drives the gentrification of inner cities; it promotes awareness on the need to protect natural wonders. In a word, culture is a prime vehicle to express and share our common humanity. It is critically important if authentic human flourishing is the ultimate goal of economic activity and development.
Thus, my delegation believes that given all these benefits and values of culture, we should not reduce it to the logic of market exchange. On the one hand, economic activity follows the logic of scarcity, as greater scarcity demands greater supply. On the other hand, culture comes from the logic of abundance. When we say culture, we see beauty, and beauty, in its metaphysical definition, is nothing but a superabundance of what is true and good. Culture is not meant to be privatized or to be exclusive, but rather to be shared and to enter into dialogue with the culture of others. A community’s culture is their gift to the global common good, for it is an expression of their humanity, and through culture we can enter into a real dialogue because it speaks to our common humanity.
2. One of the biggest challenges of globalization is migration. While individuals and peoples have been on the move since time immemorial, migration has become truly a phenomenon of our times, to the point that only a systematic and active cooperation between States and international organizations can be capable of regulating and managing migration movements effectively. The report of the Secretary General on International Migration and Development tells us of the many challenges that migratory movements pose to States and the international community as a whole. Indeed, the Holy See believes that it affects everyone, not only because of the extent of the phenomenon, but also because of the social, economic, political, cultural and religious problems it raises.
The Holy See would like to highlight the particularly troubling cases of human trafficking and contemporary forms of slavery spawned by migration. Statistics suggest that up to 27 million people are living in conditions of slavery across the globe, facing sexual exploitation, forced labor and the denial of their basic rights. An estimated two million women fall victim to sexual trafficking each year, and many, including children, are victims of organ trafficking. Much more numerous still are those working in sweatshops for long hours, very poorly paid and without social and legal protections.
These modern forms of slavery are the opposite of a globalization driven by the culture of encounter and the values of solidarity and justice. Pope Francis affirms that these forms of modern slavery are a crime against humanity and an open wound on the body of our contemporary society.
My delegation is fully aware of the complexities of migration, in particular in its legal aspects, or in cases of massive forced migration or displacements due to conflicts or catastrophes. However, over and above all other considerations, it is necessary always to see the human face of migration, to see the migrant as a fellow human being, endowed with the same human dignity and rights as ourselves. It is only then that we can respond to the globalization of migration with the globalization of solidarity and cooperation. Moreover, solidarity with migrants is not enough, if it is not accompanied by efforts towards bringing peace in conflict-ridden regions and a more equitable economic world order.
If globalization has shrunk the world into a village, we may as well become good neighbors.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
(from Vatican Radio)…