(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has expressed his grief for the death of Cardinal Jorge Maria Mejìa who died, aged 91, on Monday night.
In a telegramme of condolences addressed to the Cardinal’s brother, Alejandro Jaime Mejìa, the Pope says he is praying for the deceased, to whom he was bound by many years of friendship.
Cardinal Mejìa, who was Archivist Emeritus of the Vatican Secret Archives, died after a long illness. Pope Francis had visited him in hospital on the past November 16.
His funeral will be celebrated on Thursday, December 11 at 11.30 in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Please find below Vatican Radio’s translation of the Pope’s telegramme:
Grieved for the death of your brother, the dear Cardinal Jorge Maria, Archivist and Librarian Emeritus of the Vatican, who for many years served with faithfulness and professional zeal in different offices of the Roman Curia, I wish to convey to you my most heartfelt condolences. I assure you of my prayers of suffrage for him, to whom I was bound by a long-standing friendship, so that the Lord may concede peace to he who gave of himself in such a generous way to the Church.
With faith in the Pasqual mystery of the Risen Lord, who lights our way and fills us with hope, and the memory of a faithful shepherd dedicated to the mission of evangelization, I ask for divine consolation in these moments of sorrow, for yourself and for your dear ones who are grieving.
I impart my apostolic Blessing.
Francis
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has expressed his grief for the death of Cardinal Jorge Maria Mejìa who died, aged 91, on Monday night.
In a telegramme of condolences addressed to the Cardinal’s brother, Alejandro Jaime Mejìa, the Pope says he is praying for the deceased, to whom he was bound by many years of friendship.
Cardinal Mejìa, who was Archivist Emeritus of the Vatican Secret Archives, died after a long illness. Pope Francis had visited him in hospital on the past November 16.
His funeral will be celebrated on Thursday, December 11 at 11.30 in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Please find below Vatican Radio’s translation of the Pope’s telegramme:
Grieved for the death of your brother, the dear Cardinal Jorge Maria, Archivist and Librarian Emeritus of the Vatican, who for many years served with faithfulness and professional zeal in different offices of the Roman Curia, I wish to convey to you my most heartfelt condolences. I assure you of my prayers of suffrage for him, to whom I was bound by a long-standing friendship, so that the Lord may concede peace to he who gave of himself in such a generous way to the Church.
With faith in the Pasqual mystery of the Risen Lord, who lights our way and fills us with hope, and the memory of a faithful shepherd dedicated to the mission of evangelization, I ask for divine consolation in these moments of sorrow, for yourself and for your dear ones who are grieving.
I impart my apostolic Blessing.
Francis
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) One out of three young people in Europe has been the victim of cyber bullying – an alarming and relatively recent phenomenon that has families, schools, political leaders and the Church concerned. According to a 2013 European internet rights observatory study, 20,000 kids on the old Continent have suffered some form of harassment or abuse online.
The phenomenon was examined in a press conference Tuesday at the Vatican Press Hall.
Listen to this report by Tracey McClure:
Entitled “Stop threats on the internet,” the conference was organized by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Bureau International Catholique de L’Enfance, a France-based international Catholic network of organisations engaged in the promotion and protection of children’s rights. The network is promoting the online petition, “Stop threats on the Internet” which has collected more than ten thousand signatures.
President of the Council for Justice and Peace, Cardinal Peter Turkson, described cyberbullying and abuse of the internet as a “very worrying” trend.
In an interview with Vatican Radio, the Council’s Undersecretary, Flaminia Giovanelli describes cyberbullying as acts of “intimidation” – sometimes “for fun” which can include “sexual provocation” and cause “moral injury.”
According to the EU Commission, “Cyberbullying is repeated verbal or psychological harassment carried out by an individual or group against others. It can take many forms: mockery, insults, threats, rumors, gossip… disagreeable comments or slander. Interactive online services (e-mail, chat rooms, instant messaging) and mobile phones have given bullies new opportunities and ways in which they can abuse their victims.”
Giovanelli cites studies conducted by the London School of Economics’ EU Kids Online which show that 5% of young people between 5-16 years of age have declared they have been victims of online bullying. “It is quite a serious problem,” she stresses, which affects children at increasingly younger ages. “This is very worrying.”
Cyberbullying has led to dozens of child and teenage suicides and has a long-lasting impact on victims who survive. Surveys show that more than half of European children who’ve been bullied say they became depressed as a result; more than a third say they’ve harmed themselves or thought about suicide.
Asked how the Church can respond to cyberbullying, Giovanelli says “I think that the main task of the Church which is also the main task of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, is to inform, and to know what is happening, and to know that there are juridical instruments [that can be applied].” But “the fundamental aim,” of the Church, Giovanelli stresses, is “formation” – not just at the level of the individual and through schools but also “the education and formation of the family as a whole.”
Giovanelli describes use of the internet today as a “paradox.” Today, she says, social networks and the internet “can be very useful for the family,” keeping families connected in an increasingly globalized world where sons and daughters and other relatives may live far from home. “The social network is quite a [positive] way to maintain the familial relationships.”
On the flip side, she warns, the internet can also keep people at a distance. “When the parents are sick or whatever, or at the extreme times of their life, [they] can remain alone.”
“I think that we have the task to help people understand that [social media and the internet] are only [a] means [of communication] and are tools. But the human relationship needs to be maintained in another way,” Giovanelli adds.
The media can also play a positive role in raising awareness about the need to combat online bullying and harassament, Giovanelli says, “if they work for the good.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The joy of the Church is to be a mother, to go out and seek the lost sheep. That was the message of Pope Francis during Tuesday’s morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta. The Pope said that the Church does not need to have “a perfect organizational chart” if that would make her sorrowful and closed on herself, if that would make her “not a mother.” He then invited his listeners to be “joyful Christians,” with the “consolation of the tenderness of Jesus.”
Listen to Christopher Wells’ report:
“Open the doors to the consolation of the Lord.” In this passage, which served as the starting point for the Pope’s homily, Isaiah is speaking about the end of the tribulation of Israel after the Babylonian exile. “The people,” Pope Francis said, “have need of consolation. The very presence of the Lord consoles [them].” It is one consolation that is with them even in tribulation. And yet, he warned, “we usually flee from consolation; we have no confidence; we are more comfortable in our stuff, we are more comfortable even in our failures, in our sins.” This, he said, “is our country.” On the other hand, the Pope continued, “when the Spirit comes, consolation comes as well, and bears us to another state that we cannot control: this is precisely abandonment in the consolation of the Lord.”
Pope Francis emphasized that “the greatest consolation is that of mercy and forgiveness.” He then turned his thoughts to Ezekiel, chapter 16, when, after so many sins of the people, our Lord says, “I will never abandon you; I will give you more; this will be my revenge: consolation and pardon.” This, the Pope said, is our God.” For this reason, he said, “it is good to repeat: allow yourselves to be consoled by the Lord; He alone can console us.” And we should do so even if “we are used to ‘renting’ small consolations of our own making,” but that simply “doesn’t work.”
The Holy Father then spoke about the parable of the lost sheep, from the day’s Gospel:
“I ask myself, what is the consolation of the Church? Just as an individual is consoled when he feels the mercy and forgiveness of the Lord, the Church rejoices and is happy when she goes out of herself. In the Gospel, the pastor who goes out goes to seek the lost sheep – he could keep accounts like a good businessman. [He could say]: ‘Ninety-nine sheep, if I lose one, it’s no problem; the balance sheet – gains and losses. But it’s fine, we can get by.’ No, he has the heart of a shepherd, he goes out and searches for [the lost sheep] until he finds it, and then he rejoices, he is joyful.
“The joy of going out to seek the brothers and sisters who are far off: This is the joy of the Church. Here the Church becomes a mother, becomes fruitful”:
“When the Church does not do this, then the Church stops herself, is closed in on herself, even if she is well organized, has a perfect organizational chart, everything’s fine, everything’s tidy – but she lacks joy, she lacks peace, and so she becomes a disheartened Church, anxious, sad, a Church that seems more like a spinster than a mother, and this Church doesn’t work, it is a Church in a museum. The joy of the Church is to give birth; the joy of the Church is to go out of herself to give life; the joy of the Church is to go out to seek the sheep that are lost; the joy of the Church is precisely the tenderness of the shepherd, the tenderness of the mother.”
The end of the passage from Isaiah, he explained, again takes up this image: “Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs.” This, the Pope said, “is the joy of the Church, to go out of herself and to become fruitful.”
“May the Lord give us the grace of working, of being joyful Christians in the fruitfulness of Mother Church, and keep us from falling into the attitude of these sad Christians, impatient, disheartened, anxious, that have all the perfection in the Church, but do not have ‘children.’ May the Lord console us with the consolation of a Mother Church that goes out of herself and consoles us with the consolation of the tenderness of Jesus and His mercy in the forgiveness of our sins.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said on Monday “nuclear weapons are a global problem affecting all nations and impacting future generations and the planet that is our home.”
His words were read out at the Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons which was taking place in Vienna on December 8-9.
“Nuclear deterrence and the threat of mutually assured destruction cannot be the basis for an ethics of fraternity and peaceful coexistence among peoples and states,” writes Pope Francis. “Then youth of today and tomorrow deserve far more. They deserve a peaceful world order based on the unity of the human family, grounded on respect, cooperation, solidarity and compassion. Now is the time to counter the logic of fear with the ethics of responsibility, and so foster a climate of trust and sincere dialogue.”
The full text of the Message of Pope Francis is below
Message from Pope Francis
to His Excellency Mr Sebastian Kurz
Federal Minister For Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs
of the Republic of Austria
President of the Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons
I am pleased to greet you Mr President, and all the representatives from various nations and international organisations as well as civil society, who are participating in the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons.
Nuclear weapons are a global problem affecting all nations and impacting future generations and the planet that is our home. A global ethic is needed if we are to reduce the nuclear threat and work towards nuclear disarmament. Now, more than ever, technological, social and political interdependence urgently calls for an ethic of solidarity (cf John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 38), which encourages people to work together for a more secure world, and a future that is increasingly rooted in moral values and responsibility on a global scale.
The humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons are predictable and planetary. While the focus is often placed on nuclear weapons’ potential for mass killing, more attention must be given to the “unnecessary suffering” brought on by their use. Military codes and international law, among others, have long banned peoples from inflicting unnecessary suffering. If such suffering is banned in the waging of conventional war, then it should all the more be banned in nuclear conflict. There are those among us who are victims of these weapons; they warn us not to commit the same irreparable mistakes which have devastated populations and creation. I extend warm greetings to the Hibakusha , as well as other victims of nuclear weapons testing who are present at this meeting. I encourage them all to be prophetic voices, calling the human family to a deeper appreciation of beauty, love, cooperation and fraternity, while reminding the world of the risks of nuclear weapons which have the potential to destroy us and civilization.
Nuclear deterrence and the threat of mutually assured destruction cannot be the basis for an ethics of fraternity and peaceful coexistence among peoples and states. Then youth of today and tomorrow deserve far more. They deserve a peaceful world order based on the unity of the human family, grounded on respect, cooperation, solidarity and compassion. Now is the time to counter the logic of fear with the ethics of responsibility, and so foster a climate of trust and sincere dialogue.
Spending on nuclear weapons squanders the wealth of nations. To prioritise such spending is a mistake and a misallocation of resources which would be far better invested in the areas of integral human development, education, health and the fight against extreme poverty. When these resources are squandered, the poor and the weak living on the margins of society pay the price.
The desire for peace, security and stability is one of the deepest longings of the human heart. It is rooted in the Creator who makes all people members of the one human family. This desire can never be satisfied by military means alone, much less the possession of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. Peace cannot “be reduced solely to maintain a balance of power between enemies; nor is it brought about by dictatorship” (Gaudium et Spes, 78). Peace must be built on justice, socio-economic development, freedom, respect for fundamental human rights, the participation of all in public affairs and the building of trust between peoples. Pope Paul VI stated this succinctly in his Encyclical Populorum Progressio : “Development is the new name for peace” (76). It is incumbent on us to adopt concrete actions which promote peace and security, while remaining always aware of the limitation of short-sighted approaches to problems of national and international security. We must be profoundly committed to strengthening mutual trust, for only through such trust can true and lasting peace among nations be established (cf John XXIII, Pacem in Terris , 113).
In the context of this Conference, I wish to encourage sincere and open dialogue between parties internal to each nuclear state, between various nuclear states, and between nuclear states and non-nuclear states, This dialogue must be inclusive, involving international organisations, religious communities and civil society, and oriented towards the common good and not the protection of vested interests. “A world without nuclear weapons” is a goal shared by all nationals and echoed by world leaders, as well as the aspiration of millions of men and women. The future and the survival of the human family hinges on moving beyond this ideal and ensuring that it becomes a reality.
I am convinced that the desire for peace and fraternity planted deep in the human heart will bear fruit in concrete ways to ensure that nuclear weapons are banned once and for all, to the benefit of our common home. The security of our own future depends on guaranteeing the peaceful security of others, for if peace, security and stability are not established globally, they will not be enjoyed at all. Individually and collectively , we are responsible for the present and future well-being of our brothers and sisters. It is my great hope that this responsibility will inform our efforts in favour of nuclear disarmament, for a world without nuclear weapons is truly possibly.
From the Vatican 7 December 2014
Francis
(from Vatican Radio)…