(Vatican Radio) On Friday, Pope Francis met with a group of accountants and accounting experts, who are in Rome for their World Congress.
Listent to Christopher Wells’ report:
In his address to the group, the Holy Father drew attention to the question of employment. “From your professional observation,” he said, “you are well aware of the dramatic reality of so many people whose employment is precarious, or who have lost their jobs; of so many families that pay the consequences; of so many young people seeking their first job and dignified work.”
Pope Francis spoke about the “great temptation” to put self-interest ahead of the common good. He said every one – but especially people who work in the economic and financial sector – must “play a positive, constructive role,” drawing strength from prayer and from the Word of God so that they can do their own jobs well, and then go out and help others in their difficulties.
“Economy and finance are dimensions of human activity and can be occasions of encounter, of dialogue, of cooperation, of recognized rights and services rendered, of dignity affirmed in work,” the Pope said. However, the human person and human dignity must always be placed first, in contrast to attitudes that focus on profits. “When money becomes the end and the reason of every activity and initiative,” he said, “the utilitarian optic and the savage logic of profit, which does not respect persons, prevails, with the resulting widespread fall of the values of solidarity and respect for the human person.” He called on the accountants to “cultivate an ethics” of finance and the economy, and to foster solidarity as “an expression of care for others.”
Catholic social doctrine, Pope Francis said, teaches us that solidarity must work in harmony with the principle of subsidiarity in the service of human beings, and for the increase of justice “without which there can be no true and enduring peace.”
Below, please find the full text of Pope Francis’ address to accountants:
Dear accountants,
I offer you a warm welcome on the occasion of your World Congress, and I thank the President of the International Federation for her words of introduction. You have met to focus on a shared vision of the future, comparing the different experiences in your countries of origin. It is an important moment to address the problems affecting your profession today, to renew the understanding of the fact that it is also a service to the community. And, within your Congress, you desired to insert this moment, that recalls you to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as a perennial source of inspiration for personal and social renewal.
The current socio-economic climate poses, in a pressing manner, the question of work. The question of work: this is key. From your professional observation, you are well aware of the dramatic reality of so many people whose employment is precarious, or who have lost their jobs; of so many families that pay the consequences; of so many young people seeking their first job and dignified work. There are many of them, especially immigrants who, forced to work “under the table” [It: “in nero,” = unreported employment], lack the most elementary juridical and economic safeguards
In this context there is a great temptation to defend one’s own interests without being concerned with the common good, without paying too much attention to justice and legality. And so, everyone – especially those who are in a profession that deals with the proper functioning of the economic life of a country – are called to play a positive, constructive role in the day-to-day development of their own work, knowing that behind every identity card there is a story, there are many faces. In such work – which, as we said, requires the cooperation of everyone – the Christian professional every day draws, from prayer and from the Word of God, the strength first of all to do their own work well, with competence and wisdom; and then “to go beyond,” which means going to meet the person in difficulty; to exercise that creativity that allows you to find solutions for difficult situations; to value reasons of human dignity in the face of bureaucratic rigidity.
Economy and finance are dimensions of human activity and can be occasions of encounter, of dialogue, of cooperation, of recognized rights and services rendered, of dignity affirmed in work. But for this it is necessary to always place the human person, with his dignity, at the centre, in contrast to the dynamics that tend to approve everything and place money at the summit. When money becomes the end and the reason of every activity and of every initiative, the utilitarian optic and the savage logic of profit, which does not respect persons, prevails, with the resulting widespread fall of the values of solidarity and respect for the human person. Those who in various positions in the economy and in finance are called to make choices that favour the social and economic wellbeing humanity as a whole, offering to all the opportunity to realize their own proper development.
You accountants, in your work, place yourselves alongside businesses, but also families and individuals, offering your economic and financial counsel. I encourage you always to work responsibly, favouring relationships of loyalty, of justice, and, if possible, of fraternity; confronting with courage, above all, the problems of the weakest and the poorest members of society. It is not enough to give concrete answers to economic and material questions; you must encourage and cultivate an ethics of the economy, of finance, and of labour; you must keep alive the value of solidarity as a moral attitude, an expression of care for others in all their legitimate demands.
If we are to improve and hand on to future generations the environmental, economic, cultural, and social patrimony we have inherited, we are called to take up the responsibility to work for a globalization of solidarity: this word that risks being run out of the dictionary. “Solidarity.” Solidarity is a duty that springs from the same network of interconnections that are developed with globalization. And the social doctrine of the Church teaches us that the principle of solidarity is implemented in harmony with that of subsidiarity. Thanks to the effects of these two principles, processes should be at the service of human beings and of the increase of justice, without which there can be no true and enduring peace.
While I leave you with these simple points of reflection, I entrust each one of you and your work to the protection of the Virgin Mary. I bless you from the heart, and I ask you to pray for me. Thank you.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the President of the Republic of Peru, Ollanta Moisés Humala Tasso, in private audience Friday. The President then met – in the absence of the Cardinal Secretary of State – Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States.
During the cordial talks mention was made of the good relations between the Holy See and the Republic of Peru, with particular emphasis on the special role of Christianity in the formation of the country, as well as on the contribution that the Catholic Church has given and continues to provide in favor of human, social and cultural development of the population.
Finally, there was an exchange of views on the political and social situation in the region, with a focus on efforts to promote the integral development and environmental protection.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has commissioned three showers to be built for use by the homeless in the area under St. Peter’s colonnades. The showers will be installed in an existing lavatory block used by pilgrims and tourists and the building works are set to begin on November 17th. The initiative was inspired by the experience of the Pope’s almoner (almsgiver) Archbishop Konrad Krajewski and received the immediate blessing of the Pope.
Archbishop Krajewski recently meet a 50 year old homeless man from Sardinia named Franco on the streets of Rome and offered to buy him dinner because it was his birthday. The man declined his invitation explaining that he couldn’t go to the restaurant with him because he stank. Not deterred, Archbishop Krajewski took the homeless man out for a meal anyway at a Chinese restaurant. During dinner the man explained to the archbishop that homeless people in Rome could always find some food but what they really lacked was a place to wash.
In addition to the 3 showers that will be built by St. Peter’s Square, Archbishop Krajewski has already asked ten parishes in Rome to build showers for use by the homeless, with money donated by the Pope’s charity.
The archbishop says the aim of this project is to restore dignity to Rome’s homeless people. According to the Catholic charity Sant’Egidio there are an estimated 8,000 people living rough on the streets of the Italian capital.
Listen to this report by Susy Hodges:
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Schedule for the 2015 Apostolic Voyage of Pope Francis to Sri Lanka and the Philippines was released on Friday. Pope Francis will leave Rome on January 12, and return on January 19.
Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said at a press conference in Manila on Friday that Pope Francis is bringing the “joy of Gospel personally, to us, on the five special days in January that we have officially announced.”
But the bishops reiterated that the papal visit “carries a message of pastoral love, mercy and compassion” and it is “through the understanding and living out of this message that the grace will flow.”
The Apostolic Voyage of Pope Francis to Sri Lanka and the Philippines (12-19 January 2015)
Programme
Monday 12 January 2015
19:00 Departure from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport for Colombo
Tuesday 13 January 2015
09:00 Arrival at the International Airport in Colombo
Welcoming Ceremony(Speech by Pope Francis)
13:15 SPEECH TO THE BISHOPS OF SRI LANKA
At the Archdiocese of Colombo
17:00 COURTESY VISIT TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC
At the Presidential Residence
18:15 INTERRELIGIOUS MEETING at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall
(Speech by Pope Francis)
Wednesday 14 January 2015
08:30 Holy Mass and Canonization of Blessed Joseph Vaz at Galle Face Green in Colombo
(Homily by Pope Francis)
14:00 Transfer by helicopter to Madhu
15:30 MARIAN PRAYER at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary at Madhu
(Speech by Pope Francis)
16:45 Transfer by Helicopter to Colombo
Thursday 15 January 2015
08:15 Visit to the Chapel “Our Lady of Lanka” at Bolawalana
08:45 Departure Ceremony from the International Airport of Colombo
09:00 Departure by plane from Colombo to Manila
17:45 Arrival from Sri Lanka – Villamor Air Base, Manila
Motorcade to the Apostolic Nunciature – Taft Avenue, Manila
Friday, January 16, 2015
9:15 Welcome Ceremony – Malacañan Palace, Manila
10:15 Meeting with Civil Authorities and the Diplomatic Corps (Speech by Pope Francis)
Motorcade to the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (Manila Cathedral)
11:15 Mass with Bishops, Priests, and Religious – Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Manila (Homily by Pope Francis)
Motorcade to the Mall of Asia Arena, Pasay
17:30 Encounter with Families – Mall of Asia Arena, Pasay (Speech by Pope Francis)
Saturday, January 17, 2015
08:15 Departure for Archdiocese of Palo – Villamor Air Base
09:30 Arrival at Tacloban Airport
10:00 Holy Mass – Tacloban Airport (Homily by Pope Francis)
12:45 Lunch with the Poor and Survivors of Calamities at Gonzagahaus (Residence of the Archbishop of Palo) – Palo, Leyte
15:00 Blessing of the Pope Francis Center for the Poor – Palo, Leyte
15:30 Meeting with the Priests and Religious at Cathedral of Our Lord’s Transfiguration (Palo Cathedral) – Palo, Leyte (Speech by Pope Francis)
17:00 Departure for Manila
18:15 Arrival at Manila – Villamor Air Base
Sunday, January 18, 2015
09:45 Brief Meeting with the Religious Leaders
10:30 Encounter with the Youth – Pontifical University of Santo Tomas, España, Manila (Speech by Pope Francis)
Motorcade to Rizal Park, Manila
15:30 Concluding Mass, Rizal Park, Manila (Homily by Pope Francis)
Monday, January 19, 2015
09:45 Departure Ceremony at Villamor Air Base
10:00 Departure for Rome – Villamor Air Base
17:40 Arrival at Rome’s Ciampino Airport
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Actions speak louder than words, particularly in transmitting the faith to children and young people today, the so-called ‘digital natives’. If we want to help them experience “truth and love” then we adults must lead by example, said Pope Francis at morning Mass.
Emer McCarthy reports listen :
It was a very special celebration in the Santa Marta Chapel Friday, with the pews filled with children from a local Roman parish. After an initial awkwardness, the children overcame their shyness to engage in a lively question and answer session with the Holy Father. Looking out over them he said that it was like “looking at a promise, looking at the world to come”. Then Pope Francis asked the question: “what will we leave our future?”.
“Do we teach them what we heard in the First Reading: to walk in love and truth? Or do we teach them with words, and then allow our lives to go in another direction? But it is our responsibility to look out for these children! A Christian has to take care of children, little ones and pass on the faith, pass on what he lives, what is in his heart. We cannot ignore the little plants that grow”.
Pope Francis said that everything depends on our having the right attitude towards children. “What is my attitude?” he asked, “is it the attitude of brother, father, mother, sister, that helps them to grow or is it a detached [distant], “they grow up, I have my own life …?”.
“We all have a responsibility to give our very best and the very best that we have is our faith: give it to them, but give it by example! Words are pointless….in today’s world [obsessed with] images, where everyone has these cell phones words are pointless … Example! Example! What should I give them?”.
At this point of his homily, Pope Francis began asking the children why they were at Mass, giving rise to a spontaneous conversation. It took some time before one child took courage and admitted: ‘To see you…” to which Pope Francis replied “I also like to see you all”.
He then began questioning the children as to who had already received First Holy Communion, Confirmation, while pointing out to all of them that it is the Sacrament of Baptism that “opens the door to Christian life” and immediately after which “the journey of a lifetime begins”. The same journey described by the passage from the letter of St. John read out in the First Reading: “Walking in truth and love”. Later in that journey, he said, other Sacraments arrive such as marriage. But Pope Francis repeated, “it is important to know how to live this journey, to know how to live it like Jesus”:
“In these Sacraments – let me ask you a question – is prayer a sacrament? … Out loud now! … No! That’s right it is not! Prayer is not a sacrament, but we must pray. Do you know that you need to pray? Good, good … Yes! Pray to the Lord, pray to Jesus, pray to Our Lady, to help us in this journey of truth and love. Do you understand? You have come to see me, who said that? You. But also to see Jesus. Right? Or do we just leave Jesus out? (the children respond, ‘No!’). Now, Jesus is on the altar. And we will see Him, all of us! Jesus! Right now we have to ask Jesus to teach us to walk in truth and love. Will we all say it together? (all together) ‘Walking in truth and love’”.
(from Vatican Radio)…