(Vatican Radio) At his General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis made a special appeal for prayer for Catholics in China. The Holy Father’s appeal comes ahead of Sunday’s feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians, celebrated throughout the world on May 24.
Chinese Catholics have a special devotion to Mary, Help of Christians, whose feast day is marked with special devotions and pilgrimages, especially to the National Marian Shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai.
In a letter to Chinese Catholics in 2007, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his hope that the liturgical feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians, might “become an occasion for the Catholics of the whole world to be united in prayer with the Church which is in China.”
In his appeal on Wednesday, Pope Francis noted that the statue at the Shrine of Sheshan depicts Mary holding the Child Jesus in the air with his arms outstretched “in a gesture of love and mercy.” He called on all Christians to “ask Mary to help Catholics in China to be ever more credible witnesses of this merciful love in the midst of their people, and to live spiritually united to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built.”
Below please find the English translation of Pope Francis’ appeal for prayer for Catholics in China:
On May 24, Catholics in China will be praying with devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians, at the Shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai. In the statue overlooking the Shrine, Mary is holding up her Son, presenting Him to the world with arms open in a gesture of love and mercy. May we, too, ask Mary to help Catholics in China to be ever more credible witnesses of this merciful love in the midst of their people, and to live spiritually united to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built.
Benedict XVI’s Prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan for the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China in 2008 can be found below:
Virgin Most Holy, Mother of the Incarnate Word and our Mother,
venerated in the Shrine of Sheshan under the title “Help of Christians”,
the entire Church in China looks to you with devout affection.
We come before you today to implore your protection.
Look upon the People of God and, with a mother’s care, guide them
along the paths of truth and love, so that they may always be
a leaven of harmonious coexistence among all citizens.
When you obediently said “yes” in the house of Nazareth,
you allowed God’s eternal Son to take flesh in your virginal womb
and thus to begin in history the work of our redemption.
You willingly and generously cooperated in that work,
allowing the sword of pain to pierce your soul,
until the supreme hour of the Cross, when you kept watch on Calvary,
standing beside your Son, who died that we might live.
From that moment, you became, in a new way,
the Mother of all those who receive your Son Jesus in faith
and choose to follow in his footsteps by taking up his Cross.
Mother of hope, in the darkness of Holy Saturday you journeyed
with unfailing trust towards the dawn of Easter.
Grant that your children may discern at all times,
even those that are darkest, the signs of God’s loving presence.
Our Lady of Sheshan, sustain all those in China,
who, amid their daily trials, continue to believe, to hope, to love.
May they never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the world,
and of the world to Jesus.
In the statue overlooking the Shrine you lift your Son on high,
offering him to the world with open arms in a gesture of love.
Help Catholics always to be credible witnesses to this love,
ever clinging to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built.
Mother of China and all Asia, pray for us, now and for ever. Amen!
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Milan’s International Exhibition Expo 2015 dedicated Tuesday May 19 th to the Catholic Church’s humanitarian and relief organization Caritas – invited for the first time ever – to be present on a par with states and governments, all of them celebrating Food for Life. Energy for the Planet . Vatican Radio’s Linda Bordoni is in Milan at Expo and sent us this report: When the powerful earthquake that devastated Nepal on April 25 rocked the land across the border in India where it wreaked damage and caused over 125 deaths, the farmers in the region did not complain: they are farmers. When extreme weather conditions rob them of their livelihood, they do not complain: they are farmers. When push comes to shove, they do what they have to: they are small-holder farmers. They feed their families and their communities; they protect indigenous seeds and they safeguard the environment. This was what the representative of Caritas India told Caritas members from across the globe gathered at the Milan Expo 2015 to celebrate Caritas Day – a joyous conclusion to the organization’s 6-day General Assembly. During an intense programme of power/point presentations, testimonies ,speeches and videos, outgoing Caritas President, Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga passed on the baton to newly elected President Cardinal Luis Tagle followed by appeals from Caritas leaders who in turn took to the stage calling for action at all levels to promote dignity and reject the misunderstanding that hunger is inevitable. Yes, because as it was pointed out again and again, over 800 million people still suffer from hunger in the world today, and as Pope Francis never tires of saying: hunger is a scandal. A scandal that Caritas does not turn away from as illustrated by Caritas representatives from countries as far apart as Malawi and Myanmar, Nicaragua and Italy, Canada and Australia, Peru and Philippines, all of whom passionately see their mission as much more than a job. And although much of the discussion focused on the need to promote sustainable agriculture, on the importance of implementing just land tenure and environmental policies, and on the importance of engaging governments and policy makers who must not be permitted to look away, the lessons that a Catholic dimension can contribute and the whole faith dimension of Caritas was never forgotten. Because, just as Pope Francis was extensively quoted providing inspiration for almost all the speeches of the day, his invitation to all Caritas members to go out into the world to serve others in the name of Christ was embraced and upheld by all those present, at least judging by the swells of applause that erupted each time the word love – CARITAS in Latin – was pronounced. Linda Bordoni (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said on Tuesday (May 19th) many people like the Rohingya of Myanmar or the Christians and Yazidis in Iraq have been forced to say farewell to their homes and the lives of all of us are marked by farewells of varying importance. He said each of us should reflect on our own final farewell from this life and what it means for Christians to entrust themselves to God. The Pope’s words came during his morning Mass at the Santa Marta residence.
Pope Francis’ homily was a reflection on how our lives are marked by saying goodbye or farewell, how we do it and the reasons why we do it. He took as his inspiration the day’s two gospel readings where Jesus bids farewell to the disciples before his Passion and death and where St Paul bids farewell before going to Jerusalem and weeps on the beach with those who have come to say goodbye to him.
He said our lives are made up of many farewells, small and big ones and with some of them there is a great deal of tears and suffering.
“Let’s think nowadays of those poor Rohingya from Myanmar. When they left their lands to flee from persecution, they didn’t know what would happen to them. And they’ve been in boats for months over there. They arrive in a town where people give them water and food and tell them to go away. That’s a farewell. In addition, this great existential farewell is taking place in our times. Think about the farewell for the Christians and Yazidis (in Iraq) who believe they can no longer return to their lands because they were chased out of their homes. This is happening now.”
The Pope said there are small farewells such as when a mother hugs her son who’s going off to fighting in a war and then there’s the final farewell for a person who is leaving this world and this theme of farewell is explored in art and in songs.
“I’m thinking of one, of the Italian “Alpini” regiment, when the captain bids farewell to his soldiers: the captain’s Will. I’m thinking of the great farewell, my great farewell, not when I must say ‘see you then,’ ‘see you later,’ ‘bye for now,’ but ‘farewell.’ These two readings use the word ‘addio’ (farewell in a final sense.) Paul entrusts everything of his to God and Jesus entrusts to God his disciples who remain on this earth. ‘They are not of this world but look after them.’ We only say ‘addio’ at a time of final farewells, be they of this life or be they our final farewell.”
Pope Francis went to say that each of us would do well to think of our final farewell or passing and examine our conscience, just like Jesus and St Paul did.
“What will I leave behind? Both St Paul and Jesus in these two readings carry out a kind of examination of conscience: ‘I’ve done this, this and this … And what have I done? It’s good for me to imagine myself at that moment. We don’t know when it will happen, but it will be that moment when expressions like ‘see you later,’ ‘see you soon,’ ‘see you tomorrow,’ ‘goodbye for now,’ will become ‘farewell.’ Am I prepared to entrust to God all that I have? To entrust myself to God? To say that word which is the word of the son entrusting himself to his Father.”
The Pope concluded his homily by praying that the Holy Spirit teaches us how to say farewell and truly entrust ourselves to God at the end of our life.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) A new guidebook to the Vatican entirely in Arabic is hitting bookshelves. Issued by the Vatican Publishing House (LEV), its English title reads, “The Vatican, its significance and its monuments.”
Listen to our report:
Written by Archbishop Edmond Farhat of Byblos, Lebanon, the guide is intended to offer the thousands of Arab tourists and pilgrims who visit Rome each year insight into the history, art and workings of the world’s smallest city-state. In addition to the Vatican’s artistic monuments and treasures – including St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums, the Vatican gardens and catacombs, the volume gives historical background and describes the activities of the various dicasteries and other offices of Vatican City State. It also illustrates its significance through the ages.
Archbishop Farhat has been a longtime diplomat for the Holy See. He is former Apostolic Nuncio to Austria, Turkmenistan, Slovenia, Turkey and Macedonia. His diplomatic career also took him to Libya, Tunisia and Algeria.
Presenting the volume at the Patristic Institute Augustinianum 20 May in Rome: Giuseppe Costa, Director of the Vatican Publishing House (LEV); Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches; Lebanon’s Ambassador to the Holy See, Georges El-Khoury ; Egypt’s Ambassador to the Holy See, Wafaa Bassim ; and Professor Onorato Bucci , from the Pontifical Lateran University.
(from Vatican Radio)…
Vatican City, 19 May 2015 (VIS) – “Our vocation is to listen when the Lord asks us: ‘Console my people’. Indeed, we are asked to console, to help, to encourage, without discrimination, all our brothers who are oppressed by the weight of their crosses, without ever tiring of working to lift them up again with the strength that comes only from God”, said Pope Francis yesterday afternoon to the bishops of the Italian Episcopal Conference, as he inaugurated the 68th assembly, to be held in the Vatican to analyse the reception of the Apostolic Exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium” (The Joy of the Gospel).
Proclaiming the Gospel today, a difficult moment in history, requires prelates to “go against the grain: or rather, to be joyful witnesses of the Risen Christ to transmit joy and hope to others”, said the Holy Father, who went on to illustrate the importance of the “ecclesial sensibility”, which means assuming the same sentiments as Christ, “sentiments of humility, compassion, concreteness and wisdom”.
A sensibility that also involves “not being timid … in denouncing and fighting against a widespread mentality of the public and private corruption that shamelessly impoverishes families, pensioners, honest workers and Christian communities, discarding the young, who are systematically deprived of any hope for their future, and above all marginalising the weak and the needy. It is an ecclesial sensibility that, as good pastors, makes us go forth towards the People of God to defend them from ideological colonisations that take away their identity and human dignity”.
This sensibility is also made tangible in pastoral decisions and in the elaboration of documents “where the abstract theoretical-doctrinal aspect must not prevail, as if our directions were intended not for our People or our country, but only for a few scholars or specialists – instead we must make the effort to translate them into concrete and comprehensible proposals”, emphasised Francis.
The strengthening of the essential role of the laity is another of the concrete applications of pastoral sensibility, since “laypeople with an authentic Christian formation should not need a bishop-guide … to assume their own responsibilities at all levels, political to social, economic to legislative. However, they do need a bishop-pastor”.
Finally, the ecclesial sensibility is revealed in a tangible way “in collegiality and in the communion between bishops and their priests; in the communion between bishops themselves; between dioceses which are materially and vocationally rich and those in difficulty; between the periphery and the centre; between episcopal conferences and the bishops, and the Successor of Peter”. He remarked, “in some parts of the world we see a widespread weakening of collegiality, both in pastoral planning and in the shared undertaking of economic and financial commitments. The habit of checking the reception of programmes and the implementation of projects is lacking. For example, conferences or events are organised which promote the usual voices, anaesthetising the Communities, approving choices, opinions and people, instead of allowing us to be transported towards the horizons where the Holy Spirit asks us to go”.
“Why do we let the religious institutes, monasteries and congregations age so much, almost to the point of no longer giving evangelical witness faithful to the founding charism? Why do we not try to regroup them before it is too late?”. This is a global problem that, as the Holy Father stated, indicates a lack of ecclesial sensibility.
“I will end here, after have presented to you a few examples of weakened ecclesial sensibility due to the need to continually face enormous global problems and the crisis that spares not even the Christian and ecclesial identity itself”, he concluded, asking the Lord to grant to all during the Jubilee Year of Mercy “the joy of rediscovering and making fruitful God’s mercy, with which we are all called to console every man and every woman of our time”….