Vatican City, 10 November 2014 (VIS) – The prelates of the Conference of Bishops of Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau were received in audience by the Holy Father this morning, at the end of their five-yearly “ad Limina” visit. In the written discourse that he handed to them at the end of the visit, the Pope writes that the bishops’ visit to the See of Peter is “an opportunity to strengthen the communion the particular Churches maintain with the Church of Rome and with her bishop. However, it is also an opportunity to strengthen the bonds of love between you … and to experience collegiality. This represents a great challenge for an episcopal conference that groups together the bishops of four countries – Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau – that are different in terms of language, geography, culture and history, but which nonetheless feel the need to be united and to support each other in their ministry”. “Among the challenges you face, there is that of rooting faith more deeply in hearts so that it is put into practice in life. This is particularly true in areas experiencing first evangelisation, but it also applies where the Gospel has been announced a long time ago, as faith is a gift that must always be strengthened and which is under threat in many ways nowadays, owing to other religious proposals that prove easier and more attractive from a moral point of view, and as a result of the phenomenon of the secularisation that affects African societies”. Therefore, “it is useful for laypeople to receive a solid doctrinal and spiritual formation, and continual support so that they are able to become witnesses of Christ in all areas of their lives, and to imbue society with the principles of the Gospel, avoiding the marginalisation of faith in public life. The pastoral care of families, as shown in the recent Synod of Bishops, must receive special attention since the family … is the place where the foundations of faith are laid, where the basic principles of community life are learned, and frequently where the priestly and religious vocations are nurtured – vocations your Churches need”. “Priestly formation is decisive for the future”, writes Francis. “Your countries experience very different situations, but the primacy of quality above quantity is always important. I invite you to be close to your priests, especially those who are young, to ensure that after their ordination they continue their formation, persevere in their life of prayer, and are able to count on a spiritual guide, so that they are able to meet the challenges presented to them: for some, this means a certain isolation, for others, material poverty and the lack of resources, or worldly attractions. Contact with other religions is an important issue in many of your dioceses where there is an Islamic majority, in terms of mutual relations between different communities. I believe that it is important for the clergy to receive a formation to establish a constructive dialogue with Muslims, a dialogue that is increasingly necessary for peaceful coexistence. If we all, believers in God, wish to contribute to reconciliation, justice and peace, we need to work together to prevent all forms of discrimination, intolerance and religious fundamentalism”. “More generally, it seems to me that it is important not to hesitate in occupying all the space that is yours in civil society. I know that you work tirelessly, in particular in Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, for peace and reconciliation, and for this I rejoice. I urge you to maintain good relations with the political authorities in order to promote the official acknowledgement of Church structures, which will be of great help in facilitating evangelisation. Some of you, such as the bishops of Cape Verde, already benefit from the existence of a framework agreement between the State and the Holy See. Even where the Church is in a minority, or is completely at the margins of civil life, she is appreciated and recognised for her important contribution in the fields of human development, healthcare and education. I thank you for what you achieve in your dioceses, often due to the efforts of many religious congregations and laypeople”. “Dear brothers”, the Pontiff concludes, “some of your Churches are small and fragile, but they are courageous and generous in the proclamation of faith and you are witnesses to their dynamism. I offer thanks to God for the wonders He performs through you, and likewise I thank again those who participate in our common task of evangelisation”….
(Vatican Radio) Every Christian, whatever his or her vocation, must be able to always forgive and never cause scandal, because “scandal destroys the faith”, said Pope Francis at Monday morning Mass in Casa Santa Marta.
Emer McCarthy reports listen :
The Pope was commenting on the Gospel of the Day in which Christ says to the Apostles “It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin”. Pope Francis said that Jesus chose to be blunt rather than polite to get the message through to the Apostles.
The Pope then divided his homily into three key words: scandal, forgiveness, faith. “Woe to those who scandalize,” says Christ, while in the passage from his letter to Titus, St. Paul gives precise directions on how a priest should conduct his life – he should not be violent, but sober – in a word “irreprehensible”, the antithesis of the scandal.
Pope Francis continued that this is also the case for every Christian. Scandal, he adds, “is to proclaim and profess a way of life – ‘I am a Christian’ – and then live like a pagan, who does not believe in anything”. This gives scandal “because there is no witness,” while “the faith is professed – Pope Francis reiterated – by the way you live your life”.
“When a Christian man or a Christian woman, who goes to church, is part of the parish, does not live in this way, they cause scandal. How often have we heard men and women say: ‘ I do not go to church because it is better to be honest at home and not go to church like that man or woman who then do this, this, this …’. Scandal destroys, it destroys the faith! And that is why Jesus is so strong: ‘Beware! Watch out! ‘. It would do us good to repeat this today: ‘ Be on your guard !’. All of us are capable of causing scandal”.
Instead, said Pope Francis, we should all know how to forgive, and forgive “forever” as Jesus invites us to do “seven times in a day” if those who have wronged us ask for it and have repented. Jesus, says Pope Francis, “exaggerates to make us understand the importance of forgiveness” because “a Christian who is not able to forgive causes scandal: he is not a Christian”.
” We have to forgive, because we have been forgiven. This is in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us about it there. Human logic is incapable of fathoming this. Human logic leads us not to forgive, to seek revenge; it leads to hate, division. How many families have broken up because unable to forgive, how many families! Children separated from their parents, husbands and wives who have grown distant form each other … It is so important to think about this: If I do not forgive I don’t, it appears, have the right to be forgiven and I do not understand what it means that God has forgiven me. This is the second word, forgiveness”.
So we understand, said Pope Francis, “why when the disciples heard this, they said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith'”.
“Without faith you cannot live without scandal and always forgiving. Only the light of faith, the faith that we have received: the faith of a merciful Father, a Son who gave His life for us, a Spirit that is within us and helps us grow, faith in the Church, faith in the people of God, baptized and holy. And this is a gift, faith is a gift. No one with books, going to conferences, can have faith. Faith is a gift of God that comes to you and this why the Apostles asked Jesus, ‘Increase our faith!’ “.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has expressed his “spiritual closeness” to the victims of a bus accident in Spain.
On Saturday, a bus carrying pilgrims home from a day trip to Madrid ran off the road and tumbled down a 15 meter dirt embankment. Fourteen people, including a young priest, were killed, and 38 others were injured. Twenty-three people remain hospitalized.
In the telegram of condolence, addressed to the Bishop of Cartagena, Pope Francis’ Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said the Holy Father was praying that God might “grant eternal rest to the deceased, total recovery to the injured, and comfort to those who mourn the loss of their loved ones.”
Below, please find the English translation of the telegram of condolence (original text in Spanish):
To his Excellency José Manuel Lorca Planes
Bishop of Cartagena [Spain]
Pope Francis, deeply saddened to learn of the serious traffic accident that occurred in Cieza, which has caused numerous deaths, including that of the young pastor of Bullas, Reverend Miguel Conesa Andujar, prays Your Excellency to kindly convey his spiritual closeness to all those affected in such unfortunate tragedy. In his prayer, His Holiness asks beseeches God to grant eternal rest to the deceased, total recovery to the injured, and comfort to those who mourn the loss of their loved ones.
In this time of great sadness and dismay, the Holy Father, while invoking upon the children of those noble lands the maternal protection of Mary most holy, encourages them to find in the faith the inspiration and strength of spirit to overcome these painful circumstances, and he willingly imparts upon them the comforting Apostolic Benediction as a sign of hope in the Risen Christ.
[Signed] Cardinal Pietro Parolin
Secretary of State of His Holiness
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) On Saturday Pope Francis appointed Liverpool native Archbishop Paul Gallagher to the post of Secretary for Relations with States, thus making him the first native English speaker to hold the position that is to all intents and purposes the Vatican’s Foreign Minister.
In an interview with Emer McCarthy, Archbishop Gallagher says he is “honored and humbled” that the Holy Father chose him, but at the same time “inevitably a little fearful” at taking on such major responsibilities.
Listen:
These responsibilities include overseeing the Second Section of the Secretariat, which has the specific duty of attending to matters which involve civil governments and international organisms. Archbishop Gallagher will work directly under the presidency of the Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Traditionally the Secretaries for Relations with States are chosen from the Holy See’s diplomatic corps, drawing from their experience as papal representatives to nations around the world.
In this, Archbishop Gallagher is uniquely placed. In a ministry that has spanned thirty years he has served in Nunciatures in Tanzania, Uruguay and the Philippines and as Nuncio to Burundi, Guatemala and most recently Australia.
In fact, Archbishop Gallagher credits the “many people I have worked with, the Nuncios who I served with years ago” as having inspired him in his life. “Obviously”, he says “when I went to Burundi in 2004 I followed Archbishop Michael Courtney who had been assassinated. To follow a man who had made the ultimate sacrifice that indeed was very significant”.
The Archbishop continued: “As you work around the world in the Nunciatures – whether it’s as a priest or a Nuncio – you see a microcosm of these problems that the world is facing [and that they] are inter-related. Certainly right now we have an enormous problem in terms of the development of peoples and societies, their aspirations, where they are going. We have a number of conflicts that are emerging because of poverty and under-development. The world is becoming increasingly polarized and therefore they feel that their ambitions are thwarted and this therefore leads people into desperate situations”.
Archbishop Gallagher has also served as an Observer at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, which Pope Francis is due to address next week . Moreover he has Curia experience, having worked in its Second Section, from 1995 to 2000 at the same time as the present Secretary of State Card. Parolin. “I also was very much encouraged by the many of the people I worked with in the Secretariat of State when I was there” he says. “You do get the occasional careerist, but I felt the majority of the people I was working with were very highly motivated indeed”.
All of these experiences he says have convinced him that the role of Papal Diplomat is “a valid ministry and contribution”. “I’m not sure that I go along with the idea that to be a papal diplomat is a vocation because I think that you have to jealously preserve your priestly vocation in the midst of this if you are going to do something really positive. But certainly it’s a calling within the Church that is extremely valid and can make a great contribution both to the Church in terms of communications, representations, explaining the local Church to Rome and explaining Rome to the local Church as I frequently say”.
This Archbishop Gallagher concludes is a question of building on the rich History of the Church in the diplomatic field: “My experience is that there is very little hostility towards the Holy See as an entity, rather they do see a value in it. We work to make a contribution that is obviously grounded in our faith but also in the experience and history of our Church”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) “Where there is a wall, there is closure of the heart. We need bridges, not walls!” Those were the Pope’s words on Sunday from the window of the Papal studio above St Peter’s Square where he recalled the Fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9 th 1989.
Following the recitation of the Angelus prayer and on the 25 th anniversary of this momentous event in history, Pope Francis described the wall as a symbol of the ideological division of Europe and the world which for so long had cut the city of Berlin in two.
Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s report
The Holy Father went on to say that “the fall happened suddenly, but it was made possible by the long and arduous efforts of many people who had fought for this, prayed and suffered, some even sacrificing their lives. “These include”, he added, “ a leading role played by Saint Pope John Paul II.
Pope Francis then prayed that, with God’s help, all men and women of good will would continue to spread a culture of encounter, with the aim of bringing down all the walls that still divide the world. He also prayed that there would be no more killing and persecution of the innocent and of those killed because of religious beliefs.
Before the Angelus the Pope remembered the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, saying, “it is the cathedral of Rome, the one that tradition calls “the mother of all the churches of the city and the world.”
Every time we celebrate the dedication of a church, the Pope stressed, we recall the essential truth that this material temple made of bricks is a sign of a Church that is alive and active, that of a “spiritual temple,”…
He added, “this spiritual edifice, the church community of men sanctified by the blood of Christ and by the Spirit of the Risen Lord asks each of us to be consistent with the gift of faith and take a journey of Christian witness.” This, the Pope said “is not easy.”
Pope Francis concluded that this feast invites us “to meditate on the communion of all the Churches,” and that this Christian community, by its similarity encourages us to strive so that mankind can overcome barriers of hostility and indifference to build bridges of understanding and dialogue, to make the world a whole family of peoples reconciled with each other, and fraternal solidarity.
(from Vatican Radio)…