Vatican City, 22 March 2015 (VIS) – The final stage of the Pope’s visit to Naples yesterday took place on the Caracciolo seafront promenade, where he met with the people of the city. The Holy Father again answered three questions. The first was posed by a young woman who wanted to know how to interpret God’s silence when faced with difficulties such as corruption, and how to respond to this with signs of hope.
“God, our God is a God of words, He is a God of gestures, and He is a God of silence. We know the God of words because in the Bible there are the words of God: God talks to us and seeks us. The God of gestures is the God around us. … And then there is the God of silence. Think of the great silences in the Bible: for instance, the silence in the heart of Abraham when he went to offer his son as a sacrifice. …. But God’s greatest silence was the Cross: Jesus heard his Father’s silence, to the point of defining it as abandonment. … And then there occurred God’s miracle, that word, that grandiose gesture of the Resurrection. Our God is also the God of silence, and there are silences of God’s that cannot be explained if you do not look to the Cross. For example, why do children suffer? Where is there a word from God to explain why children suffer? … I do not say that the silence of God can be ‘understood’, but we can draw nearer to God’s silences by looking upon the crucified Christ, Christ abandoned from the Mount of Olives unto the Cross. … But ‘God created us to be happy’. Yes, it is true. But very often He says nothing. And this is the truth. I cannot deceive you by saying, ‘No, have faith and all will go well, you will be happy, you will have good fortune, you will have money …’. No, our God also remains in silence. Remember: He is the God of words, the God of gestures, and the God of silences, and you have to unite these three things in your life. This is what I can say to you. I am sorry. I have no other ‘recipe’”.
The second question was from an elderly woman, aged 95, who thanked the Pope for his defence of old age, a gift that today’s society does not appreciate or discards, and commented that she had found a Christian community that showed her affection and gave her strength, and which had become like a family to her.
“You used a key word for our culture: ‘discard’. The elderly are discarded, because this society throws away what is no longer useful, what is ‘disposable’. Children are not useful, so why have them? … We discard children, and we discard the elderly, because we leave them by themselves. We elderly have ailments and problems, and we bring problems to others, and people discard us perhaps because of these ailments, because we are no longer useful. And then there is this habit of – excuse the expression – leaving people to die, and since we like using euphemisms, we use a technical word: euthanasia. But euthanasia is carried out not only by injection; there is also a hidden euthanasia, that of no longer giving medicine, of not offering cures, of making life sad, and so one dies, one expires. … But this path that you have found is the best medicine for a long life: closeness, friendship, tenderness. … Solitude is the most potent poison for the elderly. … Sons and daughters, I remind you of the fourth commandment. Are you affectionate with your parents? Do you embrace them, do you tell them you love them? … Examine your consciences. Affection is the best medicine for the elderly”.
Finally, a married couple asked the Pope how best to communicate the beauty of the family, through a pastoral ministry of outreach rather than defence.
“The family is in crisis: this is true, and it is not new”, answered Francis. “Young people do not want to get married, preferring instead to live together, easily and without compromises; then, if a child comes along, they marry out of necessity. … The crisis of the family is a social reality. Then there are the ideological colonisations of the family, modes and proposals from Europe and also from overseas. The error of the human mind that is gender theory creates a lot of confusion. … What can we do, faced with such active secularisation? What can we do with these ideological colonisations? What can be done with a culture that does not consider the family, in which people prefer not to marry? I do not have a recipe: the Church is aware of this and the Lord has inspired the convocation of a Synod on the family, on its many problems. … For example, there is the problem of preparation for marriage. Preparation is not a question of a course: became a married couple in eight lessons. … It is another thing entirely. It begins at home, with friends, with youth, during engagement. Engagement has lost the sacred meaning of respect. Today, normally, engagement and cohabitation are almost the same thing. Not always, as there are good examples. How can we prepare an engagement to mature? It is like fruit. If you do not gather it when it is ripe, it is not good. But all this is a crisis, and I ask you to pray a lot. I have no recipes for this, but the witness of love and the witness of how to resolve problems are important”.
At the end of the meeting, the Pope transferred to the maritime station of Naples in order to depart by helicopter. He arrived in Rome at 7 p.m….
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday warned against righteous hypocrisy and urged Christians to be merciful.
During his homily at morning Mass in the Casa Santa Marta, the Pope reflected on the Gospel readings of the day and on another Gospel passage pointing out that “where there is no mercy there is no justice”.
Referring to three women in the Bible, Pope Francis said they represent three allegorical figures of the Church.
The women he said are: Susanna – an innocent woman; an adulteress – a sinner; and a poor and needy widow.
They symbolize – the Pope said – the holy Church, the sinning Church and the needy Church.
They are all judged and ‘condemned’ by judges who are evil and corrupt.
Speaking of the Scribes and the Pharisees who took the adulteress before Jesus, Francis said their hearts were corrupted by rigidity: “they thought they were pure because they observed the law” (…) but they did not know mercy” he said.
“They were not saints, they were corrupt. Because this kind of rigidity leads one live a double life: on the one hand they were condemning these women, and on the other they were seeking them out for a bit of fun. The description used by Jesus for them is hypocrites: they had double standards.”
And the Pope referred to those within the Church who judge and condenn others, saying they too have double standards. “With such rigidity – he said – one cannot breathe”.
Then speaking of the two elders (judges) who tried to blackmail Susanna, the Pope said they were corrupted by depravation and had the vice of lust, a vice – he said – that becomes more ferocious and evil with age.
As regards the judge who was called upon by a poor widow to render a just decision against an adversary, the Pope said he was a judge who “neither feared God nor respected any human being”; he only cared about himself and was corrupted by the vice of greed for money and prestige.
All these judges – Pope Francis said – “the profiteer, the depraved and the rigid, did not know what the word mercy meant.”
“Corruption did not allow them to understand what mercy is, that one must be merciful. The Bible tells us that justice is to be found in mercy. The three women: the saint, the sinner and the needy, allegorical figures that represent the Church, suffer for lack of mercy. And God’s people today can find themselves before ‘judges’ who lack mercy, both in a civilian environment and in an ecclesiastical one. Where there is no mercy there is no justice. When God’s people come close asking for forgiveness, it often finds itself condemned by one of these judges”.
The people of God – Francis said – come across persons “who exploit and make the most of them; “who deprive their souls of oxygen, robbing them of hope”; “who punish penitent sinners for the very sins they conceal within themselves”. “This – the Pope said – is called lack of mercy”.
“I would just like to say one of the most beautiful passages contained in the Gospel. It never fails to move me: ‘Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No one, sir.’ ‘Neither do I condemn you’: one of the most beautiful passages because it is full of mercy.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says the lives of Christians must be coherent and express faith in action.
Speaking to the crowds gathered in a rainy St. Peter’s Square for the Sunday Angelus, the Pope invited all believers to always bear in mind the message of the Gospel, the image of the Crucified Lord, and the need to be witnesses of faith.
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :
Calling on Christians to express their faith in action, the Pope also turned to those who have yet to experience an encounter with Christ offering the gift of a pocket-sized Gospel in which “we can meet Jesus, listen to Him, and get to know Him”.
And commenting on the fact that 50 thousand copies of the Gospel were being distributed in the Square by 300 homeless people, the Pope said “this is a beautiful gesture” that Jesus approves: “those who are most needy are the ones who are giving us the Word of God”.
“Take it – he said – keep it in your pocket or in your handbag and read a passage a day. God’s word lights up our path. It will do you good!”
Reflecting on the reading for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the Pope said that John tells of a group of Greeks of Jewish faith who came to Jerusalem to celebrate a feast day and said to Philip “We would like to see Jesus”. Francis pointed out that there were many people in the Holy city including High Priests, political leaders as well as ordinary citizens and people like those “Greeks” who were curious to get to know Jesus and to learn of his life.
And repeating the words “We would like to see Jesus”, Pope Francis said that there are many amongst us who would like to see Jesus, who are in search of his life-giving message. To them – he said – “there are three things we can offer: the Gospel, the crucifix and our witness”.
In the Gospel – the Pope said – we can meet Jesus and listen to his words; through the crucifix we have the tangible sign of His love for us when he died on the cross to save us; in being witnesses to Christianity we can express our faith in simple gestures of fraternal charity.
After the recitation of the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis thanked the people of Naples for the warm welcome he received during his pastoral visit to the city on Saturday.
And noting that today we mark World Water Day, the Pope said water is the most essential element of life and that the future of humanity depends on our capacity to protect water and to adopt correct water utilization policies.
Calling on the international community to monitor water policies so that the waters of the planet be adequately protected Francis also pointed out that water is a common good and that it must be accessible to all.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says the lives of
Christians must be coherent and express faith in action. Speaking to the crowds gathered in a rainy St.
Peter’s Square for the Sunday Angelus, the Pope invited all believers to always
bear in mind the message of the Gospel, the image of the Crucified Lord, and the
need to be witnesses of faith. Calling on Christians to express their faith in
action, the Pope also turned to those who have yet to experience an encounter
with Christ offering the gift of a pocket-sized Gospel in which “we can meet
Jesus, listen to Him, and get to know Him”. And commenting on the fact that 50 thousand copies
of the Gospel were being distributed in the Square by 300 homeless people, the
Pope said “this is a beautiful gesture” that Jesus approves: “those who are most
needy are the ones who are giving us the Word of God”. “Take it – he said – keep it in your pocket or in
your handbag and read a passage a day. God’s word lights up our path. It will do
you good!” Reflecting on the reading for the Fifth Sunday of
Lent, the Pope said that John tells of a group of Greeks of Jewish faith who
came to Jerusalem to celebrate a feast day and said to Philip “We would like to
see Jesus”. Francis pointed out that there were many people in the Holy city
including High Priests, political leaders as well as ordinary citizens and
people like those “Greeks” who were curious to get to know Jesus and to learn of
his life. And repeating the words “We would like to see
Jesus”, Pope Francis said that there are many amongst us who would like to see
Jesus, who are in search of his life-giving message. To them – he said – “there
are three things we can offer: the Gospel, the crucifix and our witness”. In the Gospel – the Pope said – we can meet Jesus
and listen to his words; through the crucifix we have the tangible sign of His
love for us when he died on the cross to save us; in being witnesses to
Christianity we can express our faith in simple gestures of fraternal
charity. After the recitation of the Angelus prayer, Pope
Francis thanked the people of Naples for the warm welcome he received during his
pastoral visit to the city on Saturday. And noting that today we mark World Water Day, the
Pope said water is the most essential element of life and that the future of
humanity depends on our capacity to protect water and to adopt correct water
utilization policies. Calling on the international community to monitor
water policies so that the waters of the planet be adequately protected Francis
also pointed out that water is a common good and that it must be accessible to
all….
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis denounced a hidden euthanasia of elderly telling thousands of young people gathered on Naples waterfront that family affection is the best medicine for the elderly, solitude their worst poison.
Some 100 thousand young people gathered on Naples waterfront in what was Pope Francis’ last appointment on his busy one day pastoral visit to the southern Italian Campania region.
Greeted to cheers shouted in the local dialect on arriving on the stage the Pope took the microphone to encourage the crowd to shout the name of Jesus and proclaim their faith in Him and not that of the Pope.
Then in what has become the Pope’s preferred form of encounter, people were invited to pose questions for him to answer. As he responded to the first question on how to recognize God in today’s world, he apologized for reaming seated, confessing his tiredness after a hectic day.
“Our God is a God of words, gestures and silences”, he replied pointing to the parable of the Good Shepherd. He is a God who knows us better then we know ourselves, who speaks to us in the silence of our hearts. But God can’t speak to us if we are not silent, if we do not silently gaze at the Crucifix. We can draw near to the silence of God by contemplating Christ crucified abandoned.
God did create us to be happy, but that does not mean that everything in life will be perfect if we believe in Him. The Pope said one of the great silences of God regards why do children suffer. We can’t always understand the silence of God, so “we have to get closer to Christ on the cross”.
The second question, posed by an elderly women, was about the integration of the elderly into society today so they are not left alone or abandoned.
In his response Pope Francis roundly condemned the throw away culture of today with discards not only the elderly but also children and the unborn, which considers children useless and the affection of a cat or dog preferable.
He also clearly condemned a society which sees euthanasia as a solution to the ills of old age. However, not just ‘technical euthanasia’ administered with an injection, the Pope also spoke of a ‘hidden euthanasia’, when old people are denied medicine, food, the affection of their family. Solitude, said Pope Francis is the great poison of the old. And he urged all present with elderly parents to examine their conscience, and think of when was the last time they phoned or visited them.
The Third question regarded ideological attacks on family, to which Pope Francis replied “The family is in crisis. It’s true. But it’s not new. He said marriage and family life isn’t like learning a language – eight lessons and you’re fluent. It takes time. And must be well prepared. Above all he concluded it requires the witness of married couples, who can teach young people how to face and resolve problems together.
Taking his leave of the crowds as the sun set over the Bay of Naples, the Pope said that youth and elderly must remain united. The youth have the strength. The elderly have the memory and the wisdom.
“Today is the first day of Spring. Pray for young people. For their future. For hope”.
(from Vatican Radio)…