(Vatican Radio) What is the main significance and chief highlights of Pope Francis’s three day pastoral visit to Turkey this week? And what message is he likely to bring to the Christian and Muslim communities during his time in Ankara and Istanbul? These were some of the questions Susy Hodges put to Vatican Radio’s correspondent Philippa Hitchen who is travelling with the Pope during his trip.
Listen to the full interview with Philippa Hitchen just before her departure for Turkey:
Philippa explained that Pope Francis is visiting Turkey after receiving invitations both from the Turkish government and from Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the Orthodox Church, who asked him to participate in celebrations marking the feast of St. Andrew, founder of the Eastern Church. She said because of these two separate invitations, the papal visit to Turkey has a two-fold significance.
“There’s a political dimension to it and there’s a religious dimension to it.”
One of the most keenly-awaited moments of the Pope’s visit will be his meeting with Bartholomew I and Philippa pointed out that this encounter comes against the backdrop of a “particularly good friendship” that has been struck up between the two leaders.
The political dimension to this visit, observed Philippa, comes from the Pope’s meetings with Turkey’s president and prime minister and with the nation’s Department of Religious Affairs which will give him a chance to address a message to “ the wider Muslim world.” She said Pope Francis is likely to use these meetings with Turkey’s political and Muslim representatives to stress once again his conviction that religion has never be used to justify violence.
“The Pope will say very clearly once again, I’m sure, that no believer, nobody who has any faith in God can ever carry out any acts of violence in the name of religion.” In this context, Philippa also noted how Turkey’s religious leaders have clearly condemned the violence being waged by the Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
When it comes to Turkey’s tiny Catholic community, Philippa said she expected the Pope to urge them to be “more united… to witness together … to tackle their problems together,” saying it will be “an important message of encouragement.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
Vatican City, 27 November 2014 (VIS) – The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff has published the following calendar of liturgical celebrations at which the Holy Father will preside in December 2014 and January 2015: DECEMBER Monday 8: Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At 4 p.m. in Piazza di Spagna, veneration of the image of Mary Immaculate. Friday 12: Feast of Blessed Virgin Mary of Guadalupe. At 6 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Holy Mass for Latin America. Sunday 14: “Gaudete Sunday” Third of Advent. At 4 p.m., pastoral visit to the Roman Parish of “San Giuseppe all’Aurelio”. Wednesday 24: Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord. At 9.30 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Holy Mass. Thursday 25: Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord. Central loggia of the Vatican Basilica, at 12 p.m., “Urbi et Orbi” blessing. Wednesday 31: Solemnity of Mary Most Holy, Mother of God. At 5 p.m. First Vespers and Te Deum, in Thanksgiving for the past year. JANUARY Thursday 1: Solemnity of Mary Most Holy, Mother of God. 48th World Peace Day. At 10 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Holy Mass. Tuesday 6: Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord. At 10 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Holy Mass. Sunday 11: Sunday after the Epiphany: Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. At 9.30 a.m. in the Sistine Chapel. Holy Mass and baptism of babies. Monday 12 to Monday 19: Apostolic trip in Sri Lanka and the Philippines. Sunday 25: Solemnity of the Conversion of St. Paul. At 5.30 in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, Vespers….
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has urged bishops and pastoral care workers to take up the challenge of bringing the Gospel into big cities with a profound change of attitude and renewed committment.
In a message to participants of the International Pastoral Congress on the World’s Big Cities, held in Barcelona this week, the Pope issued an encouragement to reflect creatively on the way they face the task of evangelization in great urban centers that are in increasing expansion, and in which everyone needs to feel the closeness and mercy of God.
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :
Delivering his message to a group of Cardinals and bishops from big cities across the world whom he received in audience on Thursday morning, Pope Francis began with a reflection on his own personal experience as Archbishop of the “populous and multicultural city of Buenos Aires” with its dense population of 13 million.
He said that together with the bishops of the 11 dioceses that make up that ecclesiastical region, he searched for new ways with which to open pathways into urban realities, taking stock of possible fears that sometimes “confuse” or even “paralyze” us.
The Pope recalled a chapter of his Apostolic Exhortation “Evangelii gaudium” in which he drew attention to urban pastoral care and its many challenges: “challenges” – he said – “in places to which God is calling us”.
Pope Francis focused on four of these challenges. He described them as “making a change in our pastoral mentality”; “dialogue with multiculturalism”; “religiousness of people”; and “the urban poor”.
Regarding the first of these challenges he said that in big cities we need new maps to help us reposition our thoughts and our attitudes. “We must not be disorientated” – he said – “because that would lead us to take the wrong road” as well as confuse the people of God that is looking for Life, Truth and the Sense.
He pointed out that our pastoral practice is based and rooted in times gone by: “We are no longer in that era. We are not in Christianity. Today we are not the only ones that produce culture, we are not the first nor the most listened to”. Thus, he said, we need a change in pastoral mentality. But he pointed out that we do not need “relativistic pastoral care” which would leave man alone and “emancipated from God’s hands: “This would not be pastoral care!” He said it would leave man in danger of treading a road of solitude and death.
And Pope Francis said we must have the courage to evangelize at a pastoral level with audacity and fearlessness, because that’s what men, women and families, as well as the various groups that live in cities expect from us. “We must work without shame or shyness as we announce Jesus Christ.
Regarding the dialogue with multiculturalism , Pope Francis pointed to a pastoral dialogue without relativisms, without compromising one’s Christian identity, but aiming to reach the heart of the other, of he who is different to us, and there “sow the seeds of the Gospel”.
Within this realm the Pope said we need a contemplative attitude that makes use of the contribution of diverse sciences to be able to understand the urban phenomenon. This will help us – he said – to get to know “the invisible cities: the groups or the human territories who find identity in symbols, idioms, rites and forms to tell the stories of life”.
In respect to the religiousness of people, Pope Francis said: “God lives in cities. We must go and look for him and remain where He is operating”. He said it is important to discover within the “religiosity of our people, the authentic religious under layer, which in many cases is Christian and Catholic”. He said we must not ignore or despise experiences of God that may be dispersed or mixed up: they ask to be “revealed and not constructed”.
Regarding the issue of religiosity Francis said it differs enormously in the five continents, and he pointed out that the Church in Latin America and in the Caribbean has recognized its strength that comes above all from poor majorities.
God – he said – continues to talk to us today through the poor. And he said large cities today are inhabited by numerous migrants and poor people who come from rural areas, from other continents, with other cultures. “They are pilgrims of life in search of ‘salvation’, who often find the force to go forward and to struggle thanks to a simple and profound experience of faith in God” the Pope said. So, it is a double challenge: to be hospitable towards the poor and towards migrants; and to give value to their faith. And Pope Francis expressed his belief that within the faith of these men and women there is enormous potential for evangelization in urban areas.
Finally, the Pope dedicated a passage to urban poor. He said that amongst its precious offers for life, in the folds of large cities there are many poor people, marginalized people, people who have been “thrown away”. The Church, he said: “cannot ignore their cry, nor can it be part of unjust systems” that try to render them invisible. And he spoke of cycles of new poverty that are excluding generations of families. Of economic, social, moral and spiritual poverty that exclude God’s children: “In cities, the future of the poor is even poorer” he said.
Concluding, Pope Francis proposed two pastoral nuclei: “Go out and facilitate” and “The Samaritan Church. To be there”.
Calling it a real “ecclesial transformation” the Pope said it’s all about going out and meeting God who lives in cities with the poor. Meeting, listening to, blessing, walking with the people; facilitating the encounter with the Lord are his rule of thumb.
He tells pastoral workers to render the Sacrament of Baptism accessible; to make sure churches are open and that administrative offices have opening hours that suit the needs of people who go to work; that the Catechesis be suitable in content and accessibility to the time limitations of people who live in big cities.
And he asked for witness. With the right kind of witness – the Pope said – we can reach the deepest nuclei, we can go where culture is born and sow the mustard seed in the heart of new cultures generated by urban reality.
It must be a concrete witness of mercy and tenderness and it must be present in the poorest and most peripheral existential realities. We must take care of the aged with significant actions and learn to work together with those who are already doing things in favour of the poor.
The big city – Pope Francis said – is a propitious space for ecumenical charitable pastoral work, and we have the responsibility of committing to service for the poor together with our brothers of other Churches.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday met with members of the Pauline Family, on the occasion of their 100 th anniversary, telling them that Christians have a duty to proclaim the Gospel without exception.
Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s report
One hundred years ago and against the background of the 1 st World War, Blessed James Alberione an Italian priest founded a number of Institutes between 1914 and 1959 which were known as the Pauline Family.
All are linked to one another by the same spirituality and by a profound bond of communion and use the media to proclaim the truth of the Gospel.
The Pauline Family is made up of five religious Congregations, a Lay Association and four Secular Institutes, including the Society of Saint Paul.
On the occasion of their centennial anniversary, Pope Francis received the Family on Thursday telling them that this milestone year offered them the opportunity to renew their commitment to live the faith and to communicate, particularly through publishing and multimedia tools typical of their charism.
In prepared remarks, the Pope stressed the importance of evangelization, telling those present that they must never forget that evangelization is essentially connected with the proclamation of the Gospel to those who do not know Jesus Christ or have always refused to know him.
He added that Christians have a duty to proclaim the Good News without exception.
As Catholics, the Pope said, we have this push to evangelize, and you as the Pauline Family, he continued, already have it in your blood, in your DNA by the fact that “your founder was inspired by the figure and the mission of the Apostle Paul.”
The Holy Father noted how Blessed James Alberione saw the proclamation of Christ and the Gospel to the masses as a most authentic love and necessary for men and women thirsty for truth and justice.
During his speech the Pope also called for renewal of love for the unity of the Church, even in the world of communication.
He said “All your work, apostolic zeal, must be full of this love for unity. Never encourage conflicts, never mimic those communication outlets that only seek the spectacle of the conflict and provoke scandal in souls. Always favour the unity of the Church, the Holy Father continued, the unity that Jesus asked from the Father as a gift for his bride. ”
The Pope concluded by saying that many are still waiting to know Jesus Christ and this urgent mission to evangelize requires continual personal and community conversion.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the participants in the plenary assembly of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life on Thursday in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. From the 25 th to the 29 th of November, the participants in the plenary session are gathered to reflect on the image of new wine in new wineskins, taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark (2:22), with a focus on fostering creative fidelity to their specific callings and to their particular charisms within the broad vocation to consecrated life.
Click below to hear our report
In remarks prepared for the occasion, Pope Francis said, “In the demanding task that brings you together – that of assessing the new wine and testing the quality of the skins which must contain it – may you be guided by the criteria of originality in evangelical choices, charismatic faithfulness, the primacy of service, attention to the smallest and most fragile, respect for the dignity of each person.”
The plenary session is also taking place with a view toward the Year for Consecrated Life, which officially opens this coming Sunday, Nov. 30 th , with the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of the new liturgical year. “We must not be afraid to leave the ‘old wineskins’, that is, to renew those habits and structures which, in the life of the Church and therefore also in the consecrated life, we recognize as no longer responsive to what God asks of us today in order to further His Kingdom in the world,” said Pope Francis, “structures that give us false protection and put a drag on the dynamism of charity; habits that distance us from the flock to which we are sent and prevent us from listening to the cry of those who await the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
(from Vatican Radio)…