The invitation of Pope Francis to priests and the religious (in Cuba and elsewhere) to give of themselves completely to the poor is actually a call of the Gospel.
News outlets said Pope Francis had “ditched” his prepared speech in Havana’s Cathedral of the Virgin Mary of Immaculate Conception to speak off-the-cuff. The Guardian called it Pope Francis going “unplugged.”
There is no surprise here. In 2013 when he met Jesuit students, teachers and parents from Jesuit schools in Italy and Albania he told them, “I prepared this address for you… but it is five pages long! Somewhat boring… Let’s do something else” and he went on to do just that. It is now to be expected that when Pope Francis thinks it appropriate, he will put aside his prepared remarks.
Whichever way you look at it, Pope Francis has a liberated way of being himself and speaking from the heart. When he does, he often leaves us with gems that can sometimes go unnoticed. He did precisely this in Havana when he spoke to seminarians, priests, religious men and women.
At the vespers, in Havana, Pope Francis told his congregation about a certain wise old priest who once told him about the dangers of priests and sisters accumulating too much wealth for themselves.
“When the spirit of wealth goes to the heart of a consecrated person, a priest, a Bishop, a Pope, when you begin to accumulate money to secure the future…When, for example, a religious congregation begins to raise (too much) money, God is so kind that he will send a disastrous bursar who will make a mess of the accounts. This blessing of God to his Church, disastrous bursars, help us to become ‘poor’ again and free (from too much wealth).”
No doubt many a Bishop or Mother Superior who have dealt with incompetent accountants or bad financial managers will not be too amused with Pope Francis’ statement. Yet Pope Francis is not encouraging bad financial practices. He is speaking of excessive attachment to money and worldly possessions that can lead any cleric or religious person to lose focus of the Gospel message as contained in the Beatitudes.
So what did Pope Francis mean when he told his Havana audience, “riches impoverish you, riches take away the best of what you have… that richness which is trust in God?”
There are many forms of poverty. In his earthly life, Jesus was no stranger to poverty. He understood the suffering that poor people experienced. It is for this reason that whenever he could, Jesus always tried to lighten the burden of the poor. To quote Pope Francis again when he spoke to Jesuit students back then, “Poverty in the world is a scandal. In a world where there is so much wealth, so many resources to feed everyone, it is unfathomable that there are so many hungry children, that there are so many children without an education, so many poor persons. Poverty today is a cry. We all have to think if we can become a little poorer, all of us have to do this. How can I become a little poorer in order to be more like Jesus, who was the poor Teacher?” said Pope Francis.
The invitation of Pope Francis to priests and the religious (in Cuba and elsewhere) to give of themselves completely to the poor is actually a call of the Gospel. In fact, it is a call for all who believe and follow Christ.
(Fr. Paul Samasumo, Vatican Radio)
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday travels from the Cuban capital, Havana, to visit Holguin and Santiago de Cuba on the eastern tip of the Caribbean island nation.
Both cities are closely linked to the famous statue of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, formally declared patroness of the Cuban people by Pope Benedict XV a century ago.
Philippa Hitchen reports on this second stage of the Pope’s pastoral visit to Cuba :
The city of Holguin is famed as the birthplace of Cuba’s revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and his brother Raul, who between them have ruled the country since 1959. It’s also known for its five-metre high cross on the hillside that looks out over the city , where Pope Francis will stop to pray after celebrating Mass in the main square.
It was not far from the city of Holguin that Christopher Columbus first landed in Cuba in 1492 and it was in the bay there that three local fishermen first saw Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, floating on the water in 1612.
The small wooden statue of Our Lady, wearing a gold mantle and holding the Infant Jesus in her left arm, is now housed in the shrine dedicated to her in the nearby city of Santiago de Cuba where the Pope will conclude his journey to the island nation.
Over the centuries many miracles have been attributed to Our Lady who’s seen as a powerful symbol of liberation during the struggle for independence from the Spanish and for the slaves, brought in to work the copper mines in the early 16th century. Descendants of those African slaves make up over 30 percent of Cuba’s population, yet they remain amongst the poorest inhabitants of the country.
Both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI came to pray at the shrine during their trips to Cuba and another famous visitor, author Ernest Hemingway, left his Nobel medal for Literature there as a sign of gratitude for the warm welcome he received from the people of Cuba.
Pope Francis will join the crowds of other pilgrims down the centuries who’ve come to pray before the statue of La Mambisa, as she’s popularly known. He’ll celebrate Mass there on Tuesday and rededicate the nation to her, before travelling on to Washington D.C. with the hopes of encouraging the ongoing ‘miracle’ of reconciliation between Cuba and the United States.
(from Vatican Radio)…
For the third time in less than 20 years a
pope is in Cuba: the first was John Paul II
in January 1998, then Benedict XVI in March 2012 and now
Francis, the first American Pontiff, takes his turn. With this journey he has
highlighted the connection between these two countries — Cuba and the United
States — which after half a century of bitter tensions and disputes have
finally, with the help of the Holy See, come closer together. Also thanks to
the impulse in their respective episcopates, of those who knew how to heed
Wojtyła’s words, which Bergoglio echoed upon his arrival in Havana on a hot and
humid afternoon: may Cuba open itself up to the world, and may the world open
itself up to Cuba. The
occasion for the visit is twofold, as the Pontiff recalled: the centenary of
the proclamation of the Virgin of Charity of Cobre as the Patroness of Cuba —
decided by Benedict XV at the request of the veterans of the war of
independence from the Spanish crown — and the 80th anniversary of uninterrupted
diplomatic relations between Cuba and the Holy See, which, significantly, the
Pope emphasized with an addition to his prepared text. He was welcomed by
President Raúl Castro, who was later also present at the Mass celebrated in the
capital. Bergoglio then addressed a greeting to Fidel Castro, whom he visited
privately shortly thereafter, and to “all those who, for various reasons, I
will not be able to meet”, he said. Mentioning
then Cuba’s natural vocation as a “point of encounter”, the Pope referred to
the process of normalization with the United States. The new course
courageously undertaken by the two countries is a matter of the utmost
importance in the international panorama. Bergoglio declared it “a sign of the
victory of the culture of encounter” and an “an example of reconciliation for
the entire world” — a world which “needs reconciliation in this climate of a
piecemeal third world war”. Speaking extemporaneously with journalists on the
flight to Havana, the Pontiff was once again persistent on the urgent need for
peace. The
same concern was reiterated after the large Mass in the Plaza de la
Revolución , when the Pope appealed for a definitive reconciliation a
lasting peace in Colombia, where decades of armed conflict — the longest currently
underway — has shed the blood of thousands. “Please, we do not have the right
to allow ourselves yet another failure on this path”, he implored, openly
supporting negotiations. The
Pontiff’s words came at the end of a celebration in which his homily was
inspired by the greatness of the second Gospel passage that had just been read:
one who wants to be great must serve others and not be served by others.
Serving in this context, he explained, means caring for those who are frail,
fighting for the dignity of our brothers and sisters, and looking to their
faces: “Service is never ideological, for we do not serve ideas, we serve
people” overlooked by plans which may be seductive. g.m.v….
(Vatican Radio) Perhaps the event which created most media interest during Pope Francis’s first full day in Cuba was his meeting with revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.
During a private encounter at the 89-year-old retired President’s home, the Pope and Castro discussed religion and world affairs.
The meeting took place just hours after the Pope at Mass urged Cubans to serve one another and not ideology. His message reaches out as their Communist-ruled country enters a new era of closer ties with the United States.
During the afternoon Pope Francis also went to the Palace of the Revolution, where he held private talks for about an hour with President Raul Castro, Fidel’s 84-year-old younger brother.
At the conclusion of the busy day packed with events of both pastoral and a political nature, Vatican Radio’s Sean Patrick Lovett spoke to Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Head of the Vatican Press Office about the meetings between the Pope and the Castro brothers.
Listen:
Sean Patrick Lovett recalls the fact that in 1988, when Mario Bergoglio was not yet even Archbishop of Buenos Aires “he wrote a little book called ‘Dialogues between John Paul II and Fidel Castro’.
One of his conclusions in that book, after comparing the discourses of the two men, was that they had failed to listen to one another: there was not sufficient dialogue in their encounters” he says.
And pointing to the fact that 17 years have passed since then, Sean Lovett asks Fr Lombardi whether he thinks there is a “new kind of listening happening between the Pope and Cuba?”
Lombardi says he thinks that Cuba understands very well that the Catholic Church and the Popes are the world’s moral authorities today, and that they take Cuba, its history and its people very seriously.
He says Cubans know that “they need a dialogue with the Popes”.
Lombardi points out that the presence of 3 Popes in 17 years on the Island and the help they have proffered in finding the way towards more openness is something really exceptional.
He says that history also shows how aware the Church has been regarding the importance of this land for the American continent.
“I think that the experience of important diplomats like that of Cardinal Parolin who knows very well the region – he was nuncio in Venezuela – allows the Church to understand well the significance of Cuba for the Latin American continent” he says.
Lombardi also points out that if Cuba finds the way to become more open, it could become a bridge between continents and peoples. This, he says, will also help reconciliation between other peoples and encourage reconciliation in nations like Venezuela, Colombia and so on.
“This is really important for this part of the world” he says.
He says the United States also understands very well the importance of a relationship with Cuba and points out that the process that is going on is a clear sign of this.
“Cuba, Lombardi says, is a very important point of encounter, as the Pope said yesterday, between North and South, between East and West”.
“I think the Castro brothers have understood very well that the Popes are great moral and religious authorities, that they are pastors that can give a contribution to the nation of invaluable importance” he says.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday urged young Cubans to follow a path of hope, built on solidarity and encounter with others. The Pope’s words came in a meeting with several thousand young students gathered at the Fr Felix Varela cultural centre in Havana at the end of his first full day in the Cuban capital. The centre, set up in 2011 by the local Archdiocese with the support of the Pontifical Council for Culture, offers courses in theology, philosophy, sociology, psychology and business administration. It also houses conferences, concerts, exhibitions and co-sponsors Havana’s Latin American film festival.
After listening to the Rector and a young student share their hopes for the future of their country, the Pope spoke off-the-cuff encouraging them to keep alive their dreams and to focus on the things that unite, rather than the things which divide them.
The Pope also spoke about the problem of youth unemployment and the need for young people to create a culture of encounter, urging the students to keep their hearts and minds open, rather than being closed in on themselves.
In his prepared text meanwhile, Pope Francis shared with the students three ways of finding the path of hope in their lives – firstly, by drawing on the memory of their spiritual and moral heritage. Secondly, by journeying together with others and thirdly by showing solidarity, without which, he said, “no country has a future”.
Please find below the prepared text of the Pope’s words to young people in Havana:
Meeting with Students at the Fr. Félix Varela Cultural Center, Havana
Sunday, 20 September 2015
Dear Friends,
I am very happy to be with you here in this Cultural Center which is so important for Cuban history. I thank God for this opportunity to meet so many young people who, by their work, studies and training, are dreaming of, and already making real, the future of Cuba.
I thank Leonardo for his words of welcome, and particularly because, although he could have spoken about so many other important and concrete things such as our difficulties, fears, and doubts – as real and human as they are – he spoke to us about hope. He talked to us about those dreams and aspirations so firmly planted in the heart of young Cubans, transcending all their differences in education, culture, beliefs or ideas. Thank you, Leonardo, because, when I look at all of you, the first thing that comes into my mind and heart, too, is the word “hope”. I cannot imagine a young person who is listless, without dreams or ideals, without a longing for something greater.
But what kind of hope does a young Cuban have at this moment of history? Nothing more or less than that of any other young person in any other part of the world. Because hope speaks to us of something deeply rooted in every human heart, independently of our concrete circumstances and historical conditioning. Hope speaks to us of a thirst, an aspiration, a longing for a life of fulfillment, a desire to achieve great things, things which fill our heart and lift our spirit to lofty realities like truth, goodness and beauty, justice and love. But it also involves taking risks. It means being ready not to be seduced by what is fleeting, by false promises of happiness, by immediate and selfish pleasures, by a life of mediocrity and self-centeredness, which only fills the heart with sadness and bitterness. No, hope is bold; it can look beyond personal convenience, the petty securities and compensations which limit our horizon, and can open us up to grand ideals which make life more beautiful and worthwhile. I would ask each one of you: What is it that shapes your life? What lies deep in your heart? Where do your hopes and aspirations lie? Are you ready to put yourself on the line for the sake of something even greater?
Perhaps you may say: “Yes, Father, I am strongly attracted to those ideals. I feel their call, their beauty, their light shining in my heart. But I feel too weak, I am not ready to decide to take the path of hope. The goal is lofty and my strength is all too little. It is better to be content with small things, less grand but more realistic, more within my reach”. I can understand that reaction; it is normal to feel weighed down by difficult and demanding things. But take care not to yield to the temptation of a disenchantment which paralyzes the intellect and the will, or that apathy which is a radical form of pessimism about the future. These attitudes end either in a flight from reality towards vain utopias, or else in selfish isolation and a cynicism deaf to the cry for justice, truth and humanity which rises up around us and within us.
But what are we to do? How do we find paths of hope in the situations in which we live? How do we make those hopes for fulfillment, authenticity, justice and truth, become a reality in our personal lives, in our country and our world? I think that there are three ideas which can help to keep our hope alive:
Hope is a path made of memory and discernment. Hope is the virtue which goes places. It isn’t simply a path we take for the pleasure of it, but it has an end, a goal which is practical and lights up our way. Hope is also nourished by memory; it looks not only to the future but also to the past and present. To keep moving forward in life, in addition to knowing where we want to go, we also need to know who we are and where we come from. Individuals or peoples who have no memory and erase their past risk losing their identity and destroying their future. So we need to remember who we are, and in what our spiritual and moral heritage consists. This, I believe, was the experience and the insight of that great Cuban, Father Félix Varela. Discernment is also needed, because it is essential to be open to reality and to be able to interpret it without fear or prejudice. Partial and ideological interpretations are useless; they only disfigure reality by trying to fit it into our preconceived schemas, and they always cause disappointment and despair. We need discernment and memory, because discernment is not blind; it is built on solid ethical and moral criteria which help us to see what is good and just.
Hope is a path taken with others. An African proverb says: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go with others”. Isolation and aloofness never generate hope; but closeness to others and encounter do. Left to ourselves, we will go nowhere. Nor by exclusion will we be able to build a future for anyone, even ourselves. A path of hope calls for a culture of encounter, dialogue, which can overcome conflict and sterile confrontation. To create that culture, it is vital to see different ways of thinking not in terms of risk, but of richness and growth. The world needs this culture of encounter. It needs young people who seek to know and love one another, to journey together in building a country like that which José Martí dreamed of: “With all, and for the good of all”.
Hope is a path of solidarity. The culture of encounter should naturally lead to a culture of solidarity. I was struck by what Leonardo said at the beginning, when he spoke of solidarity as a source of strength for overcoming all obstacles. Without solidarity, no country has a future. Beyond all other considerations or interests, there has to be concern for that person who may be my friend, my companion, but also someone who may think differently than I do, someone with his own ideas yet just as human and just as Cuban as I am. Simple tolerance is not enough; we have to go well beyond that, passing from a suspicious and defensive attitude to one of acceptance, cooperation, concrete service and effective assistance. Do not be afraid of solidarity, service and offering a helping hand, so that no one is excluded from the path.
This path of life is lit up by a higher hope: the hope born of our faith in Christ. He made himself our companion along the way. Not only does he encourage us, he also accompanies us; he is at our side and he extends a friendly hand to us. The Son of God, he wanted to become someone like us, to accompany us on our way. Faith in his presence, in his friendship and love, lights up all our hopes and dreams. With him at our side, we learn to discern what is real, to encounter and serve others, and to walk the path of solidarity.
Dear young people of Cuba, if God himself entered our history and became flesh in Jesus, if he shouldered our weakness and sin, then you need not be afraid of hope, or of the future, because God is on your side. He believes in you, and he hopes in you.
Dear friends, thank you for this meeting. May hope in Christ, your friend, always guide you along your path in life. And, please, remember to pray for me. May the Lord bless all of you.
(from Vatican Radio)…