Vatican City, 14 April 2015 (VIS) – A press conference was held this morning in the Holy See Press Office to present the Holy See Pavilion at “EXPO Milan” 2015, Italy, to be held from 1 May to 31 October this year, which will take as its theme: “Not by bread alone”. The Pavilion was promoted, constructed and organised by the Pontifical Council for Culture, the Italian Episcopal Conference, the diocese of Milan and the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”. The speakers at the conference were Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture and commissioner general for the Holy See for EXPO 2015; Msgr. Domenico Pompili, under-secretary of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) and Msgr. Luca Bressan, episcopal vicar for culture, charity, the mission and social action in the diocese of Milan. Cardinal Ravasi explained that “the presence of the Holy See Pavilion at EXPO Milan 2015 is not a novelty, considering that from the papacies of Pius IX to Benedict XVI the Holy See has taken part in international exhibitions to demonstrate the Church’s desire to make her voice heard and to offer her testimony regarding the delicate themes, relevant to the future, that are from time to time proposed by the Expositions, especially in recent decades. The cultural policy of the Holy See therefore remains coherent in confirming the importance of being present and taking part in debates on crucial matters regarding the ways in which we inhabit our planet and safeguard the future”. In particular, for EXPO 2015, the Holy See intends to guide visitors’ attention towards the symbolic relevance of nourishment and the potential for the anthropological development of the theme in all its breadth and complexity. The Holy See Pavilion will take as its title two short Biblical phrases: ‘Not by bread alone’ and ‘Give us today our daily bread’, which lead towards a broad and full rather than a reductive view of human needs, and to a concrete approach mindful of daily life, with its demands and emergencies”. Msgr. Domenico Pompili affirmed that “the intention of EXPO 2015 is to imagine another form of food justice, thereby providing the opportunity for world Countries to share ideas on how to improve food security. Its purpose is also to reconsider the role of science and research, crucial to the development of risk management technology. In the meantime, it is important to acknowledge the ongoing commitment of Italian churches to ensuring food to those in need. The participation of the Italian Episcopal Conference, alongside the Holy See and the diocese of Milan, thus represents a commitment that extends beyond the timeframe of Milan’s Universal Exhibition. Over 4,000,000 people in Italy (70 per cent of whom are Italian citizens) currently live below the poverty line while the number of the most deprived requiring food aid in Italy continues to rise. These people are supported in their primary needs by almost 15,000 territorial charitable structures. Through food parcels, soup kitchens or other more innovative forms of intervention, such structures offer support to the most needy”. Msgr. Luca Bressan commented that the Holy See Pavilion will offer to help tourists and citizens encounter “the mystical dimension, openness to God”. He added that the method to be followed will be that of posing problems and making suggestions to solve them, “used with success by Pope Francis, to show that the Church is not a sour schoolmistress but rather a sister who shares our path with lucidity and a vision of the future, a devoted mother able to show the ways and the resources of the future”. On 18 May, the Church’s presence at Expo Milan 2015 will be inaugurated with a show demonstrating that the relationship with food is the place in which man’s lack of harmony with Creation and with other human beings is made most tangible; “where, more than any other place, the throwaway culture is most glaringly evident”. The feast day of Corpus Christi will be celebrated during Expo Milan 2015, offering an opportunity to show to the world that “the nourishment and future of man and of Creation are protected and generated by this bread that is, in reality, the body and blood of Jesus Christ, Who died for us and rose again, God’s love made flesh. … We will be able to show how, in Jesus Christ, God makes us able to be in solidarity with all these hungers”. Expo will also serve to highlight that Christians cannot fail to be environmentally aware, since the consequences of consumerism and wastefulness that obscure the original role linked to food and the act of nourishing are clearly visible in “emergencies such as the waste of resources and the enormous inequalities in their distribution, … and in the phenomenon of pollution and the unchecked exploitation of the planet’s resources”. All this “is contrary to the Creator’s original plan and is the sign of a still very immature way of undertaking our task of inhabiting the planet like a garden able to nourish everyone”. Therefore, in the streets of Milan, in the abbeys that surround the city and in the “Sacri Monti” of the Alps, the feast day of Creation, a traditional event for Eastern Christians, will be celebrated and will become for the visitors of Expo Milan 2015 a form of “sentinel” for nature….
Vatican City, 14 April 2015 (VIS) – On 6 June the Pope will make an apostolic trip to Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. He will leave from Rome’s Fiumicino airport at 7.30 a.m., and will arrive at Sarajevo International Airport an hour later. A welcome ceremony will be held in the square adjacent to the presidential palace, during which he will meet with the presidency of the country and the local authorities, to whom he will address his greetings. At 11 a.m., in the Kosevo Stadium, he will celebrate Holy Mass, after which he will transfer to the apostolic nunciature where he will lunch with bishops. Following a short rest, at 4.20 p.m. he will meet with priests, men and women religious, and seminarians. An hour later he will participate in an ecumenical and interreligious meeting in the International Centre for Franciscan students. He will meet with young people at 8.30 in the “John Paul II” diocesan youth centre, and at around 8 p.m. will return to the airport to embark on his return flight for Rome, where he is expected to arrive at 9.20 p.m….
(Vatican Radio) The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis has included among members of Dicasteries of the Roman Curia the following Cardinals created in the public Consistory of 14 February 2015:
1) In the Council of Cardinals and Bishops of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State, His Eminence Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura;
2) in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, His Eminence Cardinal Ricardo Blazquez Perez, Archbishop of Valladolid (Spain);
3) in the Congregation for Oriental Churches, the Eminent Cardinals: Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, Archbishop of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia); Edoardo Menichelli, Archbishop of Ancona-Osimo (Italy);
4) in the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, His Eminence Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura;
5) in the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, His Eminence Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura;
6) in the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Eminent Cardinals: John Atcherley Dew, Archbishop of Wellington (New Zealand); Pierre Nguyen Van Nhon, Archbishop of Hanoi (Vietnam); Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij, Archbishop of Bangkok (Thailand); Arlindo Gomes Furtado, Bishop of Santiago de Cabo Verde (Cape Verde); Soane Patita Paini Mafi, Bishop of Tonga (Tonga);
7) in the Congregation for the Clergy, the Eminent Cardinals: Manuel José Macário do Nascimento Clemente, Patriarch of Lisbon (Portugal); Alberto Suarez Inda, Archbishop of Morelia (Mexico);
8) in the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, the Most Eminent Cardinals: Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon (Myanmar); Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet, Archbishop of Montevideo (Uruguay);
9) in the Congregation for Catholic Education, His Eminence Cardinal José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuan, Bishop of David (Panama);
10) in the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, His Eminence Cardinal John Atcherley Dew, Archbishop of Wellington (New Zealand);
11) in the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the Most Eminent Cardinals: Pierre Nguyen Van Nhon, Archbishop of Hanoi (Vietnam); Alberto Suarez Inda, Archbishop of Morelia (Mexico);
12) in the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum,” the Eminent Cardinals: Francesco Montenegro, Archbishop of Agrigento (Italy); Arlindo Gomes Furtado, Bishop of Santiago de Cabo Verde (Cape Verde); Soane Patita Paini Mafi, Bishop of Tonga (Tonga);
13) in the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People the Most Eminent Cardinals: Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, Archbishop of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia); Francesco Montenegro, Archbishop of Agrigento (Italy);
14) in the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Healthcare workers, His Eminence Cardinal Edoardo Menichelli, Archbishop of Ancona-Osimo (Italy);
15) in the Pontifical Council for Culture, the Eminent Cardinals: Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon (Myanmar); Ricardo Blazquez Perez, Archbishop of Valladolid (Spain); José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuan, Bishop of David (Panama);
16) in the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, the Eminent Cardinals: Manuel José Macário do Nascimento Clemente, Patriarch of Lisbon (Portugal); Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij, Archbishop of Bangkok (Thailand);
17) in the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, his Eminence Cardinal Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet, Archbishop of Montevideo (Uruguay).
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic life issued a final communiqué on Monday morning, announcing the release of the Concluding Message following the five-day International Congress for Formators under the sponsorship of the Congregation that concluded on Saturday.
The focus of the Congress was on forming the people who, in turn, are – or will be – responsible for the formation of people in religious life – and the theme of the Concluding Message followed the structure of the Beatitudes as proclaimed by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, and recounted in the Gospel according to St. Matthew (5:1-10).
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Signed by the Prefect of the Congregation, Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, the final Message included a list of twelve priorities for those responsible for forming formators, ranging from the need to cultivate an intense, personal life of prayer, to the importance of showing the joy of religious life – especially to young people, and the need to be fearless companions along the way of Christian life for all those under their care.
“Dear formators,” the Message concludes, “The Church loves you, appreciates you, and prays for you: without your service consecrated life could not exist.”
The Congress opened on April 7 th , and concluded on Saturday, April 11 th , with Pope Francis granting a special audience to the more than 12 hundred participants, in Paul VI Hall.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Church is a place of “openness” where people should say things with frankness. That’s what Pope Francis said at the morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican on Monday. The Pontiff added that only the Holy Spirit is able to change our attitude, the story of our lives, and to give us courage – just as the Apostles were inspired by Christ’s Resurrection.
“We cannot keep silent [about] what we have seen and heard,” Pope Francis said in his homily, alluding to the day’s First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles where Peter and John ask the Lord to enable them to speak freely and openly.
Speak frankly without fear
The Pontiff recalled that Peter and John, having performed a miracle, had been jailed and threatened by the priests not to speak in the name of Jesus. But they continue to do so and when they return to the others, they encourage them to proclaim the Word of God “with frankness.” They entreat the Lord “to take note of their threats” and enable His “servants” “to not flee” but to proclaim His Word “boldly.”
“And today too, the Church’s message is the message of the path of openness, the path of Christian courage,” the Pope said. “These two simple [men]- as the Bible says – with no education, had courage. A word that can be translated as ‘courage,’ ‘straightforwardness,’ ‘freedom to speak,’ ‘not being afraid to say things’ … It’s a word that has many meanings, in its original form. Parrésia, that frankness … and their fear gave way to ‘openness,’ to saying things with freedom. ”
Francis then reflected on the Gospel passage today that recounts the somewhat “mysterious” dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus,” regarding “second birth” and “having a new life, different from the first.”
Proclaiming Christ, without “advertising”
The Pope pointed out that in this story too, “on this journey of openness,” the “true protagonist” is “precisely the Holy Spirit”, “because He is the only one able to give us this grace of courage to proclaim Jesus Christ”:
“And this courage of proclamation is what distinguishes us from simple proselytism. We do not advertise, says Jesus Christ, to have more ‘members’ in our ‘spiritual society’, no? This is not necessary. There’s no need; it’s not Christian. What the Christian does is to announce with courage, and the proclamation of Jesus Christ causes, through the Holy Spirit, that astonishment that keeps us going. ”
The real protagonist of all this, the Pope resumed, is the Holy Spirit. When Jesus talks about being ‘born again,’ he said, He makes us understand that it is “the Spirit that changes us, that comes from anywhere, like the wind: we hear his voice.” And, he added, “only the Spirit is able to change our attitude”, to “change the story of our lives, to change our being.”
Courage, a grace that comes from the Holy Spirit
It is the Spirit, the Pope affirmed, which gives Peter and John, “these simple, uneducated men…this strength to proclaim Jesus Christ up until the final witness: martyrdom”:
“The path of Christian courage is a grace given by the Holy Spirit. There are so many paths that we can take that also give us a certain amount of courage. ‘But look at that brave decision he has taken! And look at this one: look how he laid out this plan well, organized things, [bravo]!’ This helps, but it is an instrument of something bigger: the Spirit. If there is no Spirit, we can do many things, much work, but it is not of any use.”
After Easter, added Francis, the Church “prepares us to receive the Holy Spirit.” In the “celebration of the mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus,” he prayed, may we remember “the whole history of salvation” and “ask for the grace to receive the Spirit to give us the true courage to announce Jesus Christ “.
(from Vatican Radio)…