The material and spiritual reconstruction of Haiti — devastated five years ago by an
earthquake — must rely on “three solid
pillars: the human person, ecclesial communion, and the local Church”. Pope
Francis recalled this on Saturday morning, 10 January, during an audience to
participants in a meeting organized in Rome by by the Pontifical Council Cor
Unum and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America on the anniversary of the
natural disaster. “Much has been done toward rebuilding the country in these
five years” the Pontiff said, while acknowledging that “much remains to be
done”. His wish is that “the Church in Haiti must become always more alive and
fruitful, to witness to Christ and to make its contribution to the development
of the nation”….
(Vatican Radio) The Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, has issued a message to the Catholic community of the city, in the wake of deadly terror attacks on the satirical journal, Charlie Hebdo , earlier in the week.
Gunmen with suspected ties to Islamic terrorism stormed the offices of the weekly on Wednesday morning, killing a dozen people, including a Muslim police officer, and crying vengeance for the insult to Islam done by the journal, which had published cartoons of Islamic figures.
Click below to hear our report
In a letter dated Saturday, January 10 th and appearing in the online pages of the Catholic daily La Croix , Cardinal Vingt-Trois says that the incident is, “a call to rediscover the fundamental values of [the French] republic,” including freedom of religion and freedom of conscience. “A cartoon, however distasteful, cannot be put on the same level as murder,” he writes. “Freedom of the press, whatever the cost,” continues the letter, “is the sign of a mature society.”
Cardinal Vingt-Trois is among a growing chorus of religious and civil leaders, who have condemned the attacks and recalled that, unless freedom of speech protects even that speech, which is offensive and outrageous, then it is meaningless – among them US President Barack Obama, who offered expressions of solidarity with France, his country’s oldest ally. “We grieve with you, we fight alongside you to uphold our values, the values that we share, the universal values that bind us together as friends and as allies,” he said.
The leaders of Germany, Britain, France and Italy announced plans to participate in a vigil in Paris on Sunday called to celebrate French unity in the wake of the violence.
Tensions have been mounting in France in recent times, with as many as 1 thousand 2 hundred of its citizens having left their homes to join Islamic forces fighting in Syria and in Iraq, even as France has emerged as a leader in the effort to counter the rise of Islamic militancy, sending troops to Africa and joining the United States in air combat missions targeting the Islamic State in Iraq.
(from Vatican Radio)…
If there is any place where the role of a bridge is most apt, it is in Sri Lanka, and it is the Church in the country. Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, made the observation in an interview to Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, Vatican Radio and Vatican television CTV, ahead of the visit of Pope Francis to Sri Lanka and the Philippines next week. After visiting the island nation, Jan. 13-15, the Holy Father will fly to the Philippines from where he will return to the Vatican, Jan. 19. The Sinhalese who are mostly Budddhist, make up over 74% of Sri Lanka’s over 21 million population; whereas the Tamils, who are largely Hindu, form some 13%. Catholics are a little over 1.5 million. Sri Lanka was wracked by a 26-year civil war between Tamil rebels and the predominantly Sinhalese government which ended in May 2009 with the defeat of the Tamils. Cardinal Parolin explained that the Catholic Church with members on both sides of the nation’s ethnic divide has the duty of bringing about national dialogue, reconciliation and collaboration. He observed that the island nation has a tradition of inter-religious harmony, but regretted that some extremist groups manipulate public opinion and create tension. He hoped that the nation’s authorities will be able to maintain the tradition of religious coexistence. He hoped the visit of Pope Francis will help the nation to look forward rather than reopen old wounds.
(from Vatican Radio)…
Vatican City, 9 January 2014 (VIS) – “The communion of the Church: memory and hope for Haiti five years after the earthquake” is the title of the conference beginning this morning in the Vatican. The event was organised by the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum” and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America in collaboration with the bishops of Haiti, and is a response to the Holy Father’s wish to maintain close attention to a country that continues to suffer the consequences of the earthquake, and to reiterate the Church’s closeness to the Haitian people during the reconstruction phase. It will above all offer the opportunity to present the balance of aid destined for the country and to analyse the results of the implementation of the projects carried out from 2010 to the present day.
In January 2010 the island of Haiti was afflicted by an earthquake, the epicentre of which was located near the capital, Port-au-Prince, causing the death of 230 thousand people and devastated the territory, destroying much of the infrastructure, thousands of homes, and all the hospitals on the island. According to Red Cross estimates, the disaster affected three million people.
The meeting is attended by representatives of the Holy See, the local Haitian church, and various episcopal conferences, workers from Catholic charitable organisations, religious congregations and various Holy See-accredited diplomatic representatives. The conference will begin at 9 a.m. in the St. Pius X building with greetings from Cardinal Marc Ouellet, P.S.S., president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and a report from Cardinal Robert Sarah who, as president of “Cor Unum” until the end of 2014, managed the Holy Father’s donations to the local Church of the island. During the morning session, there will be a debate on the material and spiritual reconstruction process and there will be interventions by Cardinal Chibly Langlois, bishop of Les Cayes and president of the Episcopal Conference of Haiti, Archbishop Thomas Gerald Wenski of Miami, U.S.A., Alberto Piatti, president of the AVSI (Association of Volunteers in International Service) Foundation, engaged in a charitable works on the island, and Eduardo Marques de Almeida, former representative of the Inter-American Development Bank in Haiti. At 11.30 a.m. the delegates present will be received in audience by Pope Francis.
In the afternoon, there will be presentations by those who work in the context of reconstruction, to enable an exchange of experiences regarding the issue of international cooperation and the priorities and criteria for future action. At the end of the meeting, Msgr. Giampietro Dal Toso, secretary of “Cor Unum”, will give an overview of the problems that still remain to be resolved.
The conference will end with a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin in the church of Santa Maria in Traspontina, at 6.30 p.m….
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said only the Holy Spirit has the power to open our hearts to God and his love and not thousands of spirituality, yoga or zen courses. His words came during his homily at morning Mass on Friday celebrated in the Santa Marta residence.
Listen to this report by Susy Hodges:
The Pope’s reflections came from the day’s gospel reading that recounted how the apostles were terrified when they saw Jesus walking on water. And the reason for their terror, he explained, is that their hearts were hardened.
“Mirror” men and women and religious narcissists
Pope Francis said a person’s heart can be made of stone for many reasons, such as, for example, a painful experience in one’s life. But as he went on to point out, another reason for hardened hearts is because people are closed in on themselves.
“Creating a world within one self, all closed in. Closed within oneself, in one’s community or parish, but always closed in. And this closure can revolve around so many things. But let’s think about pride, self-sufficiency, thinking I am better than others, and vanity too, right? There are ‘mirror-men and women’ (who are wedded to their own image in the mirror), who are closed in on themselves and are constantly looking at themselves, right? These religious narcissists, right? But they have a hardened heart because they are closed in on themselves, they are not open. And they seek to defend themselves with these walls that they have created around themselves.”
Hardened hearts because of insecurity and fear
The Pope said these hardened hearts in people can also arise from a problem of insecurity, such as those who barricade themselves behind the laws and rules, as though inside a prison, to feel safer and follow these rules to the letter,
“When a heart becomes hardened, it’s not free and if it’s not free it’s because that person isn’t capable of love, that was the fate of the Apostle John in the first Reading. A love that’s perfect banishes fear: in love there’s no fear, because fear is expecting a punishment and a person who’s afraid doesn’t have a perfect love. He or she is not free. They are constantly afraid that something painful or sad will occur, that will cause their life to go badly or will endanger their eternal salvation… What an (over-active) imagination, because he or she can’t love. A person who isn’t capable of loving is not free. And their heart was hardened because they hadn’t learnt how to love.”
The Spirit makes us free and docile not yoga or zen courses
Pope Francis concluded his homily by stressing that only the Holy Spirit can teach us how to love and free us from our hardened hearts.
“You can follow a thousand catechism courses, a thousand spirituality courses, a thousand yoga or zen courses and all these things. But none of this will be able to give you the freedom as a child (of God). Only the Holy Spirit can prompt your heart to say ‘Father.’ Only the Holy Spirit is capable of banishing, of breaking that hardness of heart and making it … soft? No, I don’t like that word, … ‘docile’. Docile towards the Lord. Docile when it comes to the freedom to love.”
(from Vatican Radio)…