L’O S S E RVATOR E ROMANO

Transcription

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L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
WEEKLY EDITION
IN ENGLISH
Unicuique suum
Forty-seventh year, number 45 (2370)
Non praevalebunt
Vatican City
Friday, 7 November 2014
To participants in a course organized by the Roman Rota
A matter of justice
Ten thousand dollars for an annulment?
In a brief greeting addressed to the
participants in a course on marriage
organized by the Roman Rota, Pope
Francis spoke of the need for
streamlining procedures “for reasons of
justice”. The Pontiff met with them
briefly on Wednesday morning, 5
November, in the Paul VI Hall. The
following is a translation of the Holy
Father’s address which was delivered
in Italian.
I have not prepared a speech, I
would like simply to greet you. In
the Extraordinary Synod, the procedures, the processes were discussed, and there is a concern for
streamlining the procedures for
reasons of justice. Justice, so they
may be just, and justice for the
people who are waiting, as His Excellency the Dean has just said.
Justice: how many people wait
years for a ruling. And for this reason, even before the Synod, I constituted a Commission to help prepare
various possibilities along this line:
a line of justice, and also of charity,
because there are so many people
who need a word from the Church
on their marital situation, for a ‘yes’
or a ‘no’, but that it be just. Some
procedures are so long or so onerous that they do not facilitate them,
and the people leave. For example,
take the Interdiocesan Tribunal of
Buenos Aires, I don’t recall but I
think, in the first instance, it has 15
dioceses; I believe the furthest is
240 km away…. One cannot, it is
impossible to imagine simple, common people going to the Tribunal:
they have to travel, they have to lose
work days, also the bonus … so
many things…. They say: “God understands me, and thus I go ahead,
with this weight on my soul”. And
Mother Church must do justice and
say: “Yes, it’s true, your marriage is
annulled — No, your marriage is valid”. But justice has to say it. This
way they can move forward without
this doubt, this darkness in their
spirit.
It is important to hold these
courses, and I sincerely thank the
Dean for what he has been doing.
And I also thank him because he
himself presides over this Commission to find guidance for streamlining procedures. Always forward. It is
the Mother Church who goes and
seeks out her children so as to do
justice. And we must also be very
careful that the procedures are not
in the context of business deals: and
I’m not speaking about something
out of the ordinary. There have even
been public scandals. I had to dismiss a person from the Tribunal,
some time ago, who said “10,000
dollars and I’ll handle the two procedures for you, civil and ecclesiastic”. Please, not this! In the Synod a
few proposals came up which dis-
cussed that they be gratis, we shall
have to see…. But when spiritual
and economic interests are handled
together, this is not God’s way!
Mother Church is so generous, that
justice may be given free of charge,
as we were absolved by Jesus Christ
freely. This is an important point:
two separate issues.
Thank you for coming to this
course: one has to study and has to
go forward and always seek the salus
animarum, which is not necessarily
found outside of justice, but rather,
with justice. Thank you very much,
and I ask you to please pray for me.
Thank you.
Land, a home
and work for all
Last to the world
but first to God
At the General Audience what it means to be a bishop
United in service
The Pope spoke about the role
of bishops at the General Audience on 5 November: This ministry “is not sought, not requested, not bought, but accepted in
obedience, not to elevate but to
lower oneself”. He also announced that he will visit Turin
on 21 June to venerate the Holy
Shroud and honour St John
Bosco on the bicentenary of his
birth.
To Popular Movements
Solemnity of All Saints
PAGE 8/9
To Charismatics
Breathing with the Spirit
PAGE 3
On resignation of diocesan bishops
and officials of the Roman Curia
PAGES 4
AND
5
With the publication of L’Osservatore Romano on 5 November, new
norms regarding the resignation of diocesan ordinaries and officials of
the Roman Curia came into effect. The Rescriptum reaffirming the
presentation and acceptance of letters of resignation were approved by
Pope Francis on 3 November. With it Francis resumes much of what
was in effect under Paul VI between 1966 and 1975 in response to the recommendations of the Council and what was later approved by the Codex iuris canonici of 1983 and by Pastor bonus of 1988.
PAGE 7
The art of ‘memento mori’
Death through art
C. LONGHURST
ON PAGE
10
Venerable Zacharias of St Theresa
Apostle of reconciliation
AUGUSTINE MULLO OR
ON PAGE
15
page 2
Friday, 7 November 2014, number 45
VATICAN BULLETIN
AUDIENCES
Friday, 31 October
Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria
Ferrer, SJ, titular Archbishop of
Thibica, Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Archbishop Martin Krebs, titular
Archbishop of Taborenta, Apostolic
Nuncio in New Zealand, Fiji, the
Cook Islands, Kiribati, Palau, Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia,
Vanuatu, Tonga; Apostolic Delegate
in the Pacific Ocean
Archbishop Sérgio da Rocha, Archbishop of Brasília, Brazil
H.E.
Mr
Bruno
Nève
de
Mévergnies, Ambassador of Belgium, for the presentation of his Letters of Credence
CHANGES
IN
EPISCOPATE
The Holy Father appointed Bishop
Jean Mbarga as Archbishop of
Yaoundé, Cameroon. Until now he
has been Bishop of Ebolowa,
Cameroon, and Apostolic Administrator of the said Archdiocese (31
O ct.).
Archbishop Mbarga, 58, was born
in Ebolmedzo, Cameroon. He was
ordained a priest on 5 December
1981. He was ordained a bishop on 5
December 2004, subsequent to his
appointment as titular Bishop of
Ebolowa and Apostolic Administrator of Yaoundé.
José Javier Travieso Martín, CMF, titular Bishop of Tubusuptu, as
Apostolic Vicar of San José del
The President
of the European
Parliament
Amazonas, Peru. Until now he has
been Auxiliary Bishop of Trujillo,
Peru (1 Nov.).
Bishop Travieso Martín, 62, was
born in Don Benito, Plasencia,
Spain. He was ordained a priest on
26 June 1976. He was ordained a
bishop on 25 March 2009, subsequent to his appointment as titular
Bishop of Tubusuptu.
The Holy Father accepted the resignation of Bishop Jesús Moliné Labarta of Chiclayo, Peru. It was
presented in accord with can. 401 § 1
of the Code of Canon Law (3 Nov.).
The Holy Father appointed Fr
Robert Francis Prevost, OSA, as
Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, at the same
time raising him to the dignity of
bishop and assigning him the titular
episcopal see of Sufar. Until now he
has been Director of formation at
the Convent of St Augustine, Chicago, and First Counsellor and Provincial Vicar of the Province of Our
Mother of Good Counsel (3 Nov.).
Bishop-elect Prevost, 59, was born
in Chicago, USA. He made his solemn vows on 29 August 1981. He
was ordained a priest on 19 June
1982. He holds a degree in canon
law and a licence in theology. He
has served in parish ministry in
Peru, and as chancellor for the Diocese of Chulucanas. In the States he
served as promoter of the vocations
apostolate and director of missions
in the Province of Chicago. On his
return to Peru, he served as director
and teacher of canon law at the St
Augustine Seminary in Trujillo; prefect and judge at the regional eccle-
siastical tribunal; member of the
College of Consultors in Trujillo.
He was elected Superior of the Order for the Province of Chicago, and
Prior General of the Augustinians.
The Holy Father accepted the resignation
of
Bishop
Matthias
Ssekamanya of Lugazi, Uganda. It
was presented in accord with can.
401 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law
(4 Nov.).
Christopher Kakooza as Bishop of
Lugazi. Until now he has been titular Bishop of Casae in Numidia and
Auxiliary of Kampala (4 Nov.).
Bishop Kakooza, 61, was born in
Lusaze, Uganda. He was ordained a
priest on 3 June 1983. He was ordained a bishop on 17 April 1999,
subsequent to his appointment as
titular Bishop of Casae in Numidia
and Auxiliary of Kampala.
The Holy Father appointed Fr Carlos Enrique Trinidad Gómez from
the clergy of Santiago de Guatemala, as Bishop of San Marcos,
Guatemala. Until now he has been
parish priest of La Immaculada Concepción, Villa Nueva, and episcopal
vicar for the south area of Santiago
de Guatemala (4 Nov.).
Bishop-elect Trinidad Gómez, 59,
was born in Guatemala City. He was
1984. He holds a licence in theology
and liturgy. He has served in parish
ministry and as: responsible for propaedeutic course at the Interdiocesan Major Seminary; treasurer and
rector of the Major Seminary; member of the College of Consultors;
The Ambassador of Belgium
presents his credentials
A little less than a month until the Pope’s
next visit to Strasbourg on 25 November, the
Holy Father received the President of the
European Parliament, Martin Schulz, in
audience on Thursday, 30 October.
H.E. Mr Bruno Nève
de Mévergnies, 63, was
born in Liegi. He is
married and has four
children. He holds a
law degree and a specialization in international law. In 1978 he
began his diplomatic
service and served as
attaché in Bonn (1979);
functionary
at
the
Ministry for Foreign On Friday morning, 31 October, Pope Francis received H.E. Mr
Affairs (1979–80); atBruno Nève de Mévergnies, Ambassador of Belgium, for the
taché
in
Kinshasa
presentation of Letters accrediting him to the Holy See
(1980–84); first secretary in Washington
(1984–88); first secretary to the Permanent Representation to the European
Union in Brussels (1988–89); secretary to Queen Fabiola (1989–96); minister counsellor in Bonn (1996–99). He served at the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs (1999–2002; 2006–09). He has also served as ambassador in Warsaw
(2002–06); ambassador in Cairo (2009–2012); deputy head of the Cabinet
of the King and Royal Family communications advisor (2012-2013). From
2012-2014 he served at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
GIOVANNI MARIA VIAN
WEEKLY EDITION
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delegate for the extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion.
Adolfo Armando Uriona, FDP, as
Bishop of the Diocese of Villa de la
Concepción del Río Cuarto, Argentina. Until now he has been Bishop
of Añatuya (4 Nov.).
Bishop Uriona, 59, was born in
Mar del Plata, Argentina. He made
his perpetual profession for the
Congregation of Don Orione and
was ordained a priest on 28 June
1980. He was ordained a bishop on
8 May 2004, subsequent to his appointment as Bishop of Añatuya.
The Holy Father accepted the resignation of Bishop Michael Patrick
Driscoll of Boise City, USA. It was
presented in accord with can. 401 § 1
of the Code of Canon Law (4 Nov.).
Peter Forsyth Christensen as Bishop
of Boise City, USA. Until now he has
been Bishop of Superior, USA (4
Nov.).
Bishop Christensen, 61, was born
in Pasadena, USA. He was ordained
a priest on 25 May 1985. He was ordained a bishop on 14 September
2007, subsequent to his appointed as
Bishop of Superior.
Milton Kenan Júnior as Bishop of
CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
‘Cor Unum’
mission in Syria
From 28 to 31 October the Secretary of the Pontifical Council Cor
Unum, Msgr Giampietro Dal
Toso, visited Damascus in order to
attend the meeting of the assembly of Catholic bishops in Syria. This was announced in a statement by the dicastery, which described how the prelate also met
with various institutions, especially
Catholic, that are currently involved in humanitarian aid activities in the country. In these meetings, special appreciation was expressed for the commitment of the
Holy Father and the Holy See to
supporting the Christian communities and the population as a
whole, who suffer as a result of
the conflict, and for encouraging
dialogue and reconciliation among
the various parties. Emphasis was
also placed on the important role
of Catholic aid organisms, who
benefit all of the Syrian population. Through the generous contribution of the international community, in the face of growing
need, this assistance will have to
be intensified in the future.
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number 45, Friday, 7 November 2014
page 3
At the General Audience the Pontiff speaks of Holy Mother Church as hierarchy
United in service
Accepting episcopal ministry is to lower oneself
The bishop’s is a ministry that “is not
sought, not requested, not bought, but
accepted in obedience, not to elevate
oneself but to lower oneself”. The Pope
said as much at the General Audience
in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday
morning, 5 November, stressing the
importance that bishops and the pope
express a true collegiality and seek to
be “ever better servants of the faithful,
better servants in the Church”. The
following is a translation of the Pope’s
catechesis which was delivered in
Italian.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Good morning,
We have listened to what the
Apostle Paul says to Bishop Tito.
How many virtues do we bishops
have? We heard everything, did we
not? It’s not easy, it’s not easy, because we are sinners. But we entrust
ourselves to your prayers, so that we
may at least come closer to these
things that the Apostle Paul advises
all bishops. Do you agree? Will you
pray for us?
We have already had the occasion
to stress, in preceding catecheses,
how the Holy Spirit is always
abundantly filling the Church with
his gifts. Now, by the power and
grace of His Spirit, Christ does not
fail to set up ministries in order to
build up Christian communities as
his Body. Among these ministries,
one can distinguish that of the episcopate. In the bishop, assisted by
priests and deacons, it is Christ himself who makes himself present and
who continues to care for his
Church, by ensuring his protection
and his guidance.
1. In the presence and in the ministry of the bishops, of the priests
and deacons, we can recognize the
true face of the Church: it is the
Hierarchical Holy Mother Church.
And truly, through these brothers
chosen by the Lord and consecrated
through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the Church exercises her motherhood: she gives birth to us in Baptism as Christians, giving us a new
birth in Christ; she watches over our
growth in the faith; she accompanies
us into the arms of the Father, to receive his forgiveness; she prepares
the Eucharistic table for us, where
she nourishes us with the Word of
God and the Body and Blood of Jesus; she invokes upon us the blessing of God and the power of his
Spirit, sustaining us throughout the
course of our life and enveloping us
with her tenderness and warmth, especially in those most delicate moments of trial, of suffering and of
death.
2. This motherhood of the
Church is expressed in particular in
the person of the bishop and in his
ministry. In fact, as Jesus chose the
Apostles and sent them out to proclaim the Gospel and to tend his
flock, so bishops, his successors, are
set at the head of Christian communities, as guarantors of the faith
and as living signs of the presence
of the Lord among them. We understand, then, that this is not a position of prestige, an honorary title.
The episcopate is not an honour, it’s
a service. This is how Jesus wanted
it. There should be no place in the
Church for a worldly mentality. The
worldly mentality says: “This man
took the ecclesiastical career path, he
became a bishop”. No, no, in the
Church there must be no place for
this mindset. The episcopate is a service, not an honour to boast about.
Being a bishop means keeping before one’s eyes the example of Jesus
who, as the Good Shepherd, came
not to be served, but to serve (cf.
Mt 20:28; Mk 10:45) and to give his
life for his sheep (cf. Jn 10:11). Holy
bishops — and there are many in the
history of the Church, many holy
bishops — show us that this ministry
is not sought, is not requested, is
not bought, but is accepted
in obedience, not in order
to elevate oneself, but to
lower oneself, as Jesus did
who “humbled himself and
became
obedient
unto
death, even death on a
cross” (Phil 2:8). It is sad
when one sees a man who
seeks this office and who
does so much just to get
there; and when he gets
there, he does not serve, he Marco da
struts around, he lives only
for his own vanity.
3. There is another precious element that deserves to be pointed
out. When Jesus chose and called
the Apostles, He did not think of
them as separate from one another,
each one on his own, but together,
because they were to stay with Him,
united, like a single family. Furthermore, bishops also constitute one
single College, gathered around the
Pope, who is the guardian and guarantor of this profound communion
that was so close to Jesus’ heart and
to his Apostles’ too. How beautiful
it is, then, when bishops, with the
Pope, express this collegiality and
always seek to be better servants to
the faithful, better servants in the
Church! We recently experienced it
in the Assembly of the Synod on the
Family. Just think of all the bishops
spread around the world who, despite living in widely different places,
cultures, sensibilities and traditions
— one bishop said to me the other
day that it takes him more than 30
hours by plane to come to Rome —
they each feel part of the other and
they become an expression of the intimate bond, in Christ, between
their communities. And in the common prayer of the Church, all bishops place themselves together in
listening to the Lord and to the
Holy Spirit, paying profound attention to man and to the signs of the
Faenza, “Study of the figure of a bishop” (16th c.)
times (cf. Pastoral Constitution
Gaudium et Spes, n. 4).
Dear friends, all this makes us understand that Christian communities
recognize in the bishop a great gift,
and are called to nourish a sincere
and profound communion with him,
beginning with the priests and deacons. No Church is healthy if the
faithful, the deacons and the priests
are not united to the bishop. This
Church, that is not united to the
bishop, is a sick Church. Jesus
wanted this union of all the faithful
with the bishop, including the deacons and priests. And this they do
aware that it is precisely in the bishop that the bond is made visible
with each Church, with the Apostles
and with all other communities,
united to their bishops and the Pope
in the one Church of the Lord Jesus,
that is our Hierarchical Holy Mother Church. Thank you.
SPECIAL
GREETINGS
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in
today’s Audience, including the various groups from England, Malta,
Denmark, Japan and the United
States of America. Upon all of you,
and your families, I invoke joy and
peace in the Lord Jesus. God bless
you all!
A warm welcome to Italian-speaking pilgrims! In this audience we
connected via the maxi screen with
our sick brothers and sisters because,
as there was a chance of rain, they
are in the Paul VI Hall. I greet especially Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia of
Turin as well as Mayor Piero
Fassino. I am delighted to announce
that, God willing, on 21 June I will
make a pilgrimage to Turin to venerate the Holy Shroud and to honour
St John Bosco, on the occasion of
the bicentenary of his birth.
Lastly, I turn my thoughts to
young people, to the sick and to newlyweds. Yesterday we celebrated the
memory of St Charles Borromeo, the
fearless Pastor of Milan. May his
spiritual vigour stimulate you, dear
young people, to take the faith seriously in your lives; may his faith in
Christ the Saviour sustain you, dear
sick people, in moments of great difficulty; and may his apostolic dedication remind you, dear newlyweds, of
the importance of Christian education in your family home.
page 4
Pope Francis met with participants in
the World Meeting of Popular
Movements sponsored by the Pontifical
Council for Justice and Peace and by
the Pontifical Academy of Social
Sciences. Among those present at the
audience on Tuesday morning, 28
October, in the Old Synod Hall in the
Vatican, were Bishop Sánchez Sorondo,
several prelates, and approximately 150
people from 80 countries, representing
the five continents. At the beginning,
Cardinal Turkson, President of the
Pontifical Council for Justice and
Peace, addressed a brief greeting to the
Pontiff, underlining that the purpose of
the meeting was “to strengthen the
network of popular organizations, to
promote reciprocal recognition and to
foster cooperation between them and the
local Churches” for the advancement
and protection “of the dignity and
rights of the human person”. The
following is a translation of the Holy
Father’s address which was delivered in
Spanish.
Good morning once again,
I am happy to be among you. I
shall also tell you in confidence that:
this is the first time I have come
down here, I have never come here
before. As I was saying, I am feeling
great joy and I welcome you warmly.
Thank you for accepting this invitation to discuss the many serious
social problems that afflict the world
of today, you who suffer inequality
and exclusion in the first person. I
thank Cardinal Turkson for his welcome, thank you, Your Eminence,
for your work and your words.
This meeting of Popular Movements is a sign, a great sign: you
have come to place before God, the
Church, peoples, a reality which is
often passed in silence. The poor are
not only suffering injustice but are
also fighting against it! They are not
content with false promises, excuses
or alibis. Neither are they waiting,
arms crossed, for NGO assistance, for
welfare planning or solutions that
never arrive or, should they arrive,
are handled in such a way to serve
either in order to anaesthetize or to
domesticate. This is rather dangerous. You feel that the poor are tired
of waiting and they want to act; they
are getting organized, studying,
working, making demands and,
above all, practicing that very special solidarity that exists among
those who are suffering, among the
poor, and whom our culture seems
to have forgotten, or rather, wants to
forget.
Solidarity is a word that is not always pleasing; I would say that a
few times we have transformed it into a bad word, it cannot be said; it
is a word that means much more
than a few sporadic acts of generosity. It is thinking and acting in terms
of the community, of the priority of
the life of all not of the appropriation of goods by a few. It is also
fighting against the structural causes
of poverty, inequality, unemployment, the lack of land and home,
the denial of social and labour
rights. It is facing up to the destructive effects of the dominion of
money: forced displacement, agonizing emigration, human trafficking,
drugs, war, violence and all of the
situations that many of you endure
and that all of us are called to
change. Solidarity, understood in its
deepest sense, is a way of making
Pope Francis meets with Popular Movements
Land, a home and employment
rights for all
history and this is what popular
movements are doing.
This meeting of ours does not
correspond to an ideology. You do
not work with ideas, you work with
realities like those I have mentioned
and many others that you have told
me about. You are on the ground,
working among the people. You associate with the neighbourhood, the
people, the struggle! It is my plan
that your voice, which is seldom
listened to, may be heard. Perhaps
because your cry disturbs, perhaps
because it is annoying, perhaps because one fears the change that you
are demanding, but without your
presence, without truly going out to
the peripheries, the good recommendations and proposals we often
hear about at international conferences remain in the realm of ideas.
The scandal of poverty cannot be
addressed by promoting strategies of
containment that only tranquillize
and transform the poor into tamed
and harmless people. How sad it is
to see that, behind supposedly altruistic acts, the other is reduced to
passivity, is denied, or worse still,
that business or personal aims are
hidden: Jesus would define this as
hypocritical. How beautiful it is
when instead we see more poor and
young people above all taking part
in popular movements. So yes, one
feels the wind of promise that revives hope in a better world. May
this wind turn into a whirlwind of
hope. This is my wish.
Our meeting responds to a more
concrete yearning, something that
any father, any mother, wants for
their children; a yearning that
should be within everyone’s reach,
but which today, sadly, we see increasingly receding from the majority of the population: land, home and
employment. It is curious, but if one
speaks about this, according to
some, the Pope is a communist.
They do not understand that love
for the poor is central to the Gospel.
Land, home and employment, which
you are fighting for, are sacred
rights. To demand this is not unusu-
al at all, it is the social doctrine of
the Church. I shall pause a bit on
each word because you have chosen
them as the motto for this meeting.
Land. At the beginning of Creation, God created man as guardian
of his work, entrusting him with the
task of cultivating it and protecting
it. I see that there are dozens of men
and women farmers here and I want
to congratulate them because they
protect the land, they cultivate it
and they do so in community. I am
concerned about the eradication of
so many brother and sister farmers
who are suffering on account of this
and not because of war or natural
disasters. Land and water grabbing,
deforestation, inadequate pesticides,
are a few of the evils that are tearing
man from his native land. This painful separation is not only physical
but also existential and spiritual, because the rural community and its
relationship with the land and its
particular lifestyle are threatened
with decline and even the danger of
extinction.
The other dimension of the
already global precess is hunger.
When financial speculation influences food prices, treating them as
any merchandise, millions of people
suffer and die of hunger. On the
other hand, tons of food are thrown
away. This constitutes a true scandal.
Hunger is criminal, food is an inalienable right. I know that some of
you are asking for agrarian reform to
resolve some of these problems and,
allow me to say that in certain countries, and here I am quoting the
Compendium of the Social Doctrine of
the Church, “agrarian reform therefore becomes a moral obligation
more than a political necessity” (n.
300).
I am not the only one to say this,
it is written in the Compendium of the
Social Doctrine of the Church. Please,
continue to fight for the dignity of
the rural family, for water, for life
and so that all can benefit from the
produce of the earth.
Second, Home. I have said it before and I repeat it: a home for
every family. It must never be forgotten that Jesus was born in a
stable because there was no room
for them at the inn, that his family
had to abandon their home and flee
to Egypt, persecuted by Herod.
Today there are many homeless families, either because they have never
had one or because they have lost it
for various reasons. Family and
home go hand in hand! A roof,
however, because it is a house, must
also have a community dimension:
the neighbourhood. And it is precisely in the neighbourhood that
one begins to build this great family
of humanity, starting with what is
even more paramount, from coexisting with neighbours. Today we live
in immense cities which are modern,
proud and even vain. Cities which
offer countless pleasures and wellbeing for a happy minority but
denies a home to thousands of our
neighbours and brothers, even children, and we call them, elegantly,
“people with no fixed abode”. It is
curious how euphemisms justify a
world of injustices. Words are not
said with exactitude, and reality is
expressed by a euphemism. A person, a person segregated, a person
cast aside, a person who is suffering
from poverty, from hunger, is a person without a fixed abode; an elegant expression, is it not? Always
check; I could be wrong in some
cases, but in general, behind a euphemism there is a crime.
We live in cities that build towers,
shopping centres, engage in real estate business but leave a section of
the people on the margins, in the
peripheries. How painful it is to
hear that poor settlements are marginalized or, even worse, they want
to eradicate them! Cruel are the images of forced displacement, of
cranes demolishing hovels, images
so similar to those of war. And this
is seen today.
You know that values which endure in working class neighbourhoods where many of you live, have
been forgotten in the wealthy areas.
These settlements are blessed with a
rich popular culture, there the public area is not merely a transit point
but an extension of one’s home, a
place where neighbourhood bonds
are generated.
How beautiful the cities are which
overcome unhealthy mistrust and
which integrate those who are different and make of this integration a
new factor of development! How
beautiful the cities are which, even
in their architectural design, are full
of spaces that connect, relate, promote recognition of the other! For
this reason, neither eradication nor
marginalization: it is essential to
promote urban integration! This
word must completely replace the
word eradication, now, but also
those projects that seek to give the
poor neighbourhoods a lift, to beau-
Mino Cerezo Barredo, “The Beatitudes” (detail)
tify the peripheries and “put
makeup” on social wounds instead
of treating them and fostering genuine and respectful integration. It is a
type of architectural façade, is it
not? And it goes in this direction.
Let us continue working so that all
families have a home and that all
neighbourhoods have an appropriate
infrastructure, such as: drainage systems, electricity, gas, paved roads,
and I continue: schools, hospitals,
first aid, sports clubs and all the
things that create bonds and unify,
access to healthcare — I already said
that — to education and to secure
tenure.
Third, Employment. There is no
worse form of material poverty — I
want to stress this — than that which
prevents one from earning one’s
bread and deprives one of the dignity of employment. Youth unemployment, the informality and the
lack of labour rights are not inevitable, they are the result of a previous social option, of an economic
system that places benefits before
man, if the benefit is economic, before humanity or before man, they
are the effects of a throwaway culture in which human beings themselves are considered consumer
goods which can be used and
thrown away.
Today added to the phenomena
of exploitation and oppression, there
is a new dimension with harsh,
graphic undertones of social injustice; those who fail to integrate
are excluded are rejected, like “refuse”. This is the throwaway culture,
and to this point I would like to
add something that I have not written down, but which now comes to
mind. This happens when money
and not man, the human being, is at
the centre of an economic system.
Yes, at the centre of every social or
economic system there must be the
person, the image of God, as the
universal denominator. When the
person is displaced and the god of
money arrives, it produces this inversion of values.
And to illustrate it graphically, I
recall a lesson from about the year
1200. A Jewish rabbi was explaining
to his faithful the story of the Tower
of Babel and he recounted that, in
order to build that Tower of Babel,
a great effort was required, bricks
needed to be made, and to make
bricks, it was necessary to make
mud, bring straw, then mix it with
the straw, then cut it into cubes,
then dry them, then bake them, and
when the bricks had been fired and
cooled, the were carried up to build
the tower.
If a brick fell — it was very costly,
with all that work — it was practically a national tragedy. The one who
dropped it was punished or dismissed, or I don’t know what they
did to him, but if a worker fell,
nothing happened. This happens
when people are at the service of
money; and a Jewish rabbi recounted this in the year 1200, explaining
these terrible things.
With regard to those thrown away,
let us also pay more attention to
what is happening in our society. I
am repeating things that I have said
and that are in Evangelii Gaudium.
Today children are disposed of,
since the birth rate in many countries on the earth has diminished; or
children are discarded due to lack of
food or are killed before being born;
children are thrown away.
The elderly are thrown away because they are not useful, they do
not produce; neither children nor
the elderly produce, thus, with more
or less sophisticated systems they are
gradually rejected, and now, since it
is necessary to recover a certain balance in this crisis, we are witnessing
a third very painful waste: the exclusion of young people. Millions of
young people — I will not say the
number because I do not know it
precisely and what I have read
seems somewhat exaggerated to me
— work excludes millions of young
people, through unemployment.
In Europe, and these statistics are
very clear, here in Italy, slightly over
40 percent of young people are unemployed; do you know what 40
percent of young people means, it
means an entire generation, cancelling out an entire generation in order to maintain balance. In another
country in Europe, it is more than
50 percent, and in that same country
of 50 percent, it is 60 percent in the
south. These figures clearly indicate
how many are excluded. The waste
of children, the waste of the elderly,
who do not produce, and we have to
sacrifice a generation of young
people, the waste of the young, in
order to maintain and re-balance a
system at the centre of which is the
god of money, and not the human
being.
Despite this throwaway culture,
this culture of exclusion, many of
you, redundant workers, a surplus
due to this system, have invented
your work with things that seemed
no longer useful, but you your
craftsmanship, which God gave you,
through your research, through your
solidarity, with your community
work, with your popular economy,
you have succeeded and you are succeeding.... And, allow me to say,
this, more than work, it is poetry!
Thank you.
Now every worker, whether or not
part of the formal system of paid
employment, has a right to appropriate remuneration, to social security and to retirement coverage. Here
are the cartoneros, recyclers, street
venders, tailors, artisans, fishermen,
farmers, masons, miners, workers in
recovered companies, members of
every type of cooperative and people
who exercise more common trades,
who are excluded from workers’
rights, who are denied the possibility
to have a trade union, who do not
have adequate and permanent revenue. Today I want to join my voice to
theirs and accompany them in their
struggle.
At this meeting you have also
spoken about Peace and Ecology. It is
logical: there can be no land, there
can be no home, there can be no
employment if we do not have peace
and if we destroy the planet. These
are such important issues that
peoples and their grassroots organizations cannot but address them.
They cannot remain solely in the
hands of political leaders. All
peoples of the earth, all men and
women of good will, all of us must
raise our voices in defence of these
two precious gifts: peace and nature.
Sister Mother Earth, as St Francis of
Assisi called her.
I said a short time ago, and I repeat it, that we are experiencing the
third world war, but piecemeal.
There are economic systems which
must make war in order to survive.
Thus, weapons are manufactured
and sold and, in this way, the economic budgets which sacrifice man
at the feet of the idol of money are
passed. And it does not consider the
children starving in refugee camps,
it does not consider the forced dis-
page 5
the members of Vía Campesina, the
Cartoneros Federation and the many
other brothers and sisters for the letter they sent me on this subject.
We speak about land, employment, the home. We talk about
working for peace and taking care of
nature. So why, then, are we accustomed to seeing that dignified employment is wiped out, so many
families are evicted, farmers are driven away, war is waged and nature is
misused? Because man, the human
being, has been removed from the
centre of this system and replaced
with something else. Because idolatrous worship is rendered to money.
Because indifference has become
globalized! Indifference is globalized: what do I care about what
happens to others so long as I can
defend what is mine? Because the
world has forgotten God, who is the
Father; it has become orphaned because it has set God aside. Some of
you have said: we can no longer
stand for this system. We must
change it, we must place human dignity at the centre again, and we
must build the alternative social
structures on that framework. It
must be done with courage, but also
with intelligence. With tenacity, but
without fanaticism. With passion,
but without violence. And everyone
together,
confronting
conflicts
without getting trapped within
them, always seeking to resolve tensions in order to reach a higher level
of unity, of peace and of justice. We
Christians have something very
beautiful, a line of action, a plan we
could call revolutionary. I strongly
recommend you read the
Beatitudes which are con“Creation is a gift, it’s a present, a
tained in Chapter 5 of St
Matthew and Chapter 6
magnificent endowment that God has
of St Luke (cf. Mt 5:3
given us so that we may care for it and and Lk 6:20), and to read
the passage in Matthew
use it for the benefit of all, and always
25. I said this to the
with respect and gratitude”
young people in Rio de
Janeiro, they have a plan
placements, it does not consider the of action in these two things.
destroyed homes, nor does it even
I know that there are people
consider the many lives torn apart. among you of different religions,
So much suffering, so much destruc- trades, ideas, cultures, countries and
tion, so much distress! Today, dear continents. Today, here, you are exsisters and dear brothers, in every ercising the culture of encounter, so
part of the earth, in every nation, in different from the xenophobia, from
every heart and in the popular the discrimination and from the inmovements, the cry for peace is tolerance that we see so often.
rising up: No more war!
Among the excluded this culture of
An economic system based on the encounter forms, where the whole
god of money also needs to plunder does not annul the individual. This
nature in order to sustain its own is why I like the image of the polyfrenzied pace of consumption. The hedron, a multi-faceted geometrical
devastating
effects
of
climate figure. The polyhedron reflects the
change, the loss of biodiversity, de- confluence of all the facets, which
forestation are already showing their retain their originality within it.
devastating effects in the great cata- Nothing is dissolved, nothing is desnothing
dominates,
strophes we see happening, and you troyed,
suffer the most, the humble, you everything integrates, all is integwho live near the coasts in precari- rated. Today you are also seeking a
ous dwellings or who are so finan- synthesis between the local and the
cially vulnerable, you stand to lose global. I know that you are working
everything in the case of natural dis- every day on close and concrete
aster. Brothers and sisters: Creation things on your territory, in your
is not a possession that we can dis- neighbourhood, in your workplace:
pose of as we please; and it is even I invite you to continue to seek this
less a possession of just the few. Cre- broader perspective; may your
ation is a gift, it’s a present, a mag- dreams fly high and embrace
nificent endowment that God has everything.
given us so that we may care for it
For this reason the proposal that
and use it for the benefit of all, and several of you spoke of to me seems
always with respect and gratitude. important to me: that these moveYou may know that I am preparing ments, these experiences of solidaran Encyclical on Ecology: you can ity which grow from below, from the
be certain that your concerns will subsoil of the planet, converge, befigure in it. I thank, and I would
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
like to take the opportunity to thank
page 6
Pope to celebrate Mass on 12 December in St Peter’s
The Feast of Virgin of Guadalupe
On 12 December, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pope Francis will preside at a Eucharistic
concelebration in St Peter’s Basilica in honour of
the Patroness of Latin America, entrusting to her
intercession evangelization and promoting humanity to the peoples of the continent, who will
invoke peace, justice and unity. This announcement was made by the Pontifical Commission for
Latin America, underlining that the day of Marian prayer will join together the centre of catholicity in the Basilica in Mexico City to all the
places which are devoted to the Virgin of Guadalupe from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.
The Mass will be begin at 6 pm, however at
4:45 pm there will be a procession of the flags of
all countries on the continent in tribute to the
Patroness, then the Rosary of Our Lady of
Guadalupe an Advent prayer will be recited, accompanied by traditional Latin American hymns.
The celebration will also include hymns from
Misa Criolla composed by the Argentine composer Ariel Ramírez. The performance will be directed by his son Facundo Ramírez, with his Argentine musical group, as well as the Roman
choir Musica Nuova.
It was exactly 50 years ago that Ariel Ramírez
presented Paul VI this piece which he had just
Fr Lombardi to
receive an
honorary degree
To celebrate its 25th anniversary,
the Faculty of Social Communications at the Salesian Pontifical
University, founded in 1989, organized a conference entitled “Rethinking Communication: Theories, Techniques, Teachings” which
will be held on 14-15 November in
Rome. The two-day conference
will examine the future of communications in the quickly evolving
world. On Friday, 14 November,
the Faculty will award Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Director
General of Vatican Radio and Director of the Holy See Press Office, an honorary degree in Social
Communications Science.
completed. Misa Criolla is a synthesis of sacred,
popular and folk music, which dates back to 1963.
Fascinated by gaucho and Creole music, Ramírez
strived to amalgamate both religious and folkloristic elements, communicating the joy of prayer of
a particular culture without indulging in exoticism but maintaining originality.
Benedict XVI also commemorated this feast
with a Eucharistic celebration in the Vatican Basilica. For his part, Pope Francis has always
demonstrated a deep devotion to Our Lady of
Guadalupe.
The Pontifical Commission for Latin America
has organized a day dedicated to Our Lady of
Guadalupe on 13 December, the day after the
Mass, in the auditorium of the Augustinianum.
This day will be dedicated to studying in depth
the apparitions and the meaning of the message
of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the history of the
peoples of America who are facing the challenges
of today’s world. Fr Eduardo Chàvez, Director of
the Graduate Institute of Guadalupano Studies
will open the meeting which will include videos,
hymns, conferences, dialogues, prayers. Various
superiors and officials from the Roman Curia , as
well as government officials, member of the diplomatic corps of various countries of the contin-
ent, priests, the men and women religious from
Latin America who are serving or studying in
Rome. Immigrants who have moved to Rome for
reasons of family or work will also attend the
meetings.
Mass attendance is not reserved only for Latin
Americans but is open to the public. Tickets may
be requested before-hand from the Prefecture of
the Pontifical Household. The celebration will be
broadcast in numerous countries in Latin
America.
It took 30 specialists 18 years
The Bible in Farsi
The first Bible translated into modern Persian (also known as Farsi)
was recently presented in London.
The Bible is the courageous project
and an extraordinary witness of
faith. The editors Elam Ministries
and Wycliffe Bible Translators
worked for 18 years on the Michaelian Project, named in honour of the
Presbyterian pastor Tateos Michaelian, President of the Council of Protestant Ministers in Iran and wellknown translator of numerous
Christian books in Persian, who was
killed in 1994.
The complete Bible (the New
Testament already came out in July
2003) is currently available in the
United Kingdom, Turkey, as well as
other countries. They hope to print
300,000 copies within the next three
years and thus reach many Iranian
Christians in their homeland and
abroad.
A very conservative estimate of
the number of Christians (both As-
Land, a home and employment rights for all
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
come more coordinated, meet each
other, as you have done in these
days. Be mindful, it is never good
to enclose the movement within a
rigid structure, this is why I said
meet each other; and it is even less
good to try to absorb it, to manage
it or to dominate it; free movements have their own dynamic, but
yes, we have to try to walk together.
We are in this hall, which is the
Old Synod Hall, now there is a
new one, and synod means precisely “to walk together”: may this
be a symbol of the process you
have started and which you are carrying forward!
Popular movements express the
urgent need to revitalize our democracies, so often diverted by count-
less factors. It is impossible to imagine a future for society without the
the great majorities participating in
key roles, and this pivotal role transcending the logical procedures of
formal democracy. The prospect of
a world of lasting peace and justice
calls us to overcome paternalistic
welfarism. It requires us to create
new forms of participation which
include popular movements and
give life to local, national and international government structures with
that torrent of moral energy that
comes from involving the excluded
in the construction of a common
future. And doing so with a constructive spirit, without resentment
and with love.
I wholeheartedly accompany you
on this journey. Let us say together
from the heart: no family without a
home, no farmer without land, no
worker without rights, no person
without the dignity that employment provides.
Dear brothers and sisters: continue your struggle, you do us all
good. It is like a blessing for humanity. I give you as a memento, as
a gift and with my blessing, some
rosary beads that were made by artisans, cartoneros and workers in the
popular economy of Latin America.
And in accompanying you, I
pray for you, I pray with you and I
would like to ask God the Father to
accompany you and to bless you, to
fill you with his love and to accompany you on the path, giving you
in abundance that strength which
keeps us standing: the power of
hope, the hope which does not disappoint. Thank you.
syrians and Armenians) in Iran hovers around 100,00, however, the generally-accepted estimate is about
370,000. While others even claim
there are double that number.
Whatever the current number,
Christians have dramatically increased since 1979 during the Islamic revolution when there were no
more than 500. Today, despite the
difficulties, it is a growing and vibrant community.
“When a country receives a new
translation of the Bible, the Church
is always strengthened”, explained
Sam Yeghnazar, founder and director of Elam on 29 September, underlining that “the Word of God is not
bound but remains eternal” and that
“no one can stop the Holy Spirit’s
action”. The Coordinator and Chief
Editor of the new Bible translation
Mehrdad Fatehi said: “This project
is like raising a child. It has been 18
years of hard work but worth it for
such an exciting day”. At the inauguration of the Bible Mr Fatehi applauded the work of the team of
more than 30 translators, exegetes
and specialists who examined every
single verse in order to ensure that
the text was faithful to the original
Hebrew and Greek.
Precision, clarity and elegance
were the principle criteria used for
this Bible, which contains for the
first time punctuation, headings, a
glossary of difficult words and cross
references. The last edition dated
back to more than a century ago
and modern Iranians found the text
difficult to understand. The new
Bible will also serve as the starting
point for its translations into the
various languages spoken in Iran.
(Giovanni Zavatta)
page 7
Pope Francis invites Charismatics to work for unity
Breathing with the Spirit
“When we inhale, by prayer, we receive
the fresh air of the Holy Spirit. When
exhaling this air, we announce Jesus
Christ risen by the same Spirit”. With
these words the Holy Father invited the
members of the Catholic Fraternity of
the Charismatic Renewal, on 31
October in the Paul VI Hall, to accept
with joyful recognition “the various gifts
which the Holy Spirit gives to each one
and the placing of these gifts at the
service of all members of the Church”.
The following is the English text of the
Pope’s address.
Welcome! I thank you for your
warm welcome and I greet you all
with affection. I know that the Catholic Fraternity has already met with
the executive and the council and
that this afternoon you will open the
16th International Conference with
our beloved Fr Raniero. You have
been kind enough to provide me
with a programme and I see that
each meeting begins with the words
which I addressed to the Charismatic Renewal on the occasion of our
meeting at the Olympic Stadium
last June.
I wish first of all to congratulate
each of you for having embarked
upon something which was expressed as a desire at that meeting.
For the last two months the Catholic
Fraternity and the ICCRS (International Catholic Charismatic Renewal
Services) have worked together and
shared office space in the Palazzo
San Calisto, “Noah’s Ark”. I am
aware that it may not have been
easy to make this decision and I
thank you sincerely for this witness
to unity and grace which you offer
to the entire world.
I would like now to reflect upon
some themes which I consider important. The first is unity in diversity. Uniformity is not Catholic, it
is not Christian. Rather, unity in diversity. Catholic unity is different
but it is one: this is curious! The
cause of diversity is also the cause of
unity: the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit does two things: he creates
unity in diversity. Unity does not
imply uniformity; it does not necessarily mean doing everything together or thinking in the same way. Nor
does it signify a loss of identity.
Unity in diversity is actually the opposite: it involves the joyful recognition and acceptance of the various
gifts which the Holy Spirit gives to
each one and the placing of these
gifts at the service of all members of
the Church. It means knowing how
to listen, to accept differences, and
having the freedom to think differently and express oneself with complete respect towards the other who
is my brother or sister. Do not be
afraid of differences! As I wrote in
Evangelii Gaudium: “Our model is
not the sphere, which is no greater
than its parts, where every point is
equidistant from the centre, and
there are no differences between
them. Instead, it is the polyhedron,
which reflects the convergence of all
its parts, each of which preserves its
distinctiveness” (n. 236), but they
form a unity.
I can see from the programme,
where the names of the Communities are mentioned, that at the introduction you have inserted the
phrase, “... to share the Baptism in
the Holy Spirit with the whole
Church”. The Church needs the
Holy Spirit, how could it be otherwise! Every Christian in his or her
life requires a
heart open to the
sanctifying action
of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit,
promised by the
Father, is he who
reveals
Jesus
Christ to us, who
gives us the possibility of saying:
Jesus!
Without
the Holy Spirit
we cannot say
this. The Holy
Spirit reveals Jesus Christ, he
leads us to a personal encounter
with him, and in
so doing, changes
our life. A question for you: is
this your experience? Share it with others! In order
to share this experience, you must
live it and witness to it!
The theme which you have chosen
for the Congress is “Praise and Worship for a New Evangelization”. Fr
Raniero, a masterful guide in the
ways of prayer, will speak on this
theme. Praise is the “breath” which
gives us life, because it is intimacy
with God, an intimacy that grows
through daily praise. Some time ago
I heard an example of this which
seems very appropriate: the way that
people breathe. Breathing is made
up of two stages: inhaling, the intake of air, and exhaling, the letting
out of this air. The spiritual life is
fed, nourished, by prayer and is expressed outwardly through mission:
inhaling — prayer — and then exhaling. When we inhale, by prayer, we
receive the fresh air of the Holy
Spirit. When exhaling this air, we
announce Jesus Christ risen by the
same Spirit. No one can live without
breathing. It is the same for the
Christian: without praise and mission there is no Christian life. Praise,
adoration are needed. When speaking of adoration, little is said. What
do we do when praying? We ask
something from God, we thank him,
we intercede. But adoration, adoring
God is part of a Christian’s breathing: praise and adoration.
The Charismatic Renewal has reminded the Church of the necessity
and importance of the prayer of
praise. When we speak of the prayer
of praise in the Church, Charismatics come to mind. When I spoke of
the prayer of praise during a homily
at Mass in Santa Marta, I said it is
not only the prayer of Charismatics
but of the entire Church! It is the
recognition of the Lordship of God
over us and over all creation expressed through dance, music and
song.
I would like to revisit with you a
few passages from that homily: “The
prayer of praise is a Christian prayer,
for all of us. In the Mass, every day,
when we sing the ‘Holy, Holy,
Holy’, this is a prayer of praise: we
praise God for his greatness because
he is great. And we address him
with beautiful words because it
pleases us to do this. The prayer of
praise bears fruit in us. Sarah
danced as she celebrated her fertility
— at the age of 90! This fruitfulness
gives praise to God. Men and women who praise the Lord, who pray
praising the Lord — and who are
happy to do so — rejoice in singing
the Sanctus at Mass and they bear
fruit. Let us consider how beautiful
it is to offer the prayer of praise to
God. This should be our prayer
and, as we offer it up to God, we
ought to say to ourselves, “Arise, O
heart, because you are standing before the King of Glory” (Holy Mass
at Domus Sanctae Marthae, 28 January 2014).
Together with the prayer of praise,
the prayer of intercession is, in these
days, a cry to the Father for our
Christian brothers and sisters who
are persecuted and murdered, and
for the cause of peace in our turbulent world. Praise the Lord at all
times, never cease to do so, praise
him more and more, unceasingly. I
have been told of Charismatic prayer groups in which they pray the
Rosary. Prayer to the Mother of
God must never be excluded, never!
But when you assemble for prayer,
praise the Lord!
I see that you have among you a
very dear friend, Pastor Giovanni
Traettino, whom I visited recently.
Catholic Fraternity, do not forget
your origins, do not forget that the
Charismatic Renewal is, by its very
nature, ecumenical. Blessed Paul VI
commented on this in the magnificent Apostolic Exhortation on evangelization which is highly relevant in
our own day: “The power of evangelization will find itself considerably diminished if those who proclaim the Gospel are divided among
themselves in all sorts of ways. Is
this not perhaps one of the great
sicknesses of evangelization today?
The Lord’s spiritual testament tells
Ambrogio Fumagalli
“Veni Sancte Spiritus” (1974)
us that unity among his followers is
not only the proof that we are his
but also the proof that he is sent by
the Father. It is the test of the credibility of Christians and of Christ
himself. Yes, the destiny of evangelization is certainly bound up with
the witness of unity given by the
Church. This is a source of responsibility and also of comfort” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, n. 77). These words
are of Blessed Paul VI.
Spiritual ecumenism is praying
and proclaiming together that Jesus
is Lord, and coming together to
help the poor in all their poverty.
This must be done while never forgetting in our day that the blood of
Jesus, poured out by many Christian
martyrs in various parts of the
world, calls us and compels us towards the goal of unity. For persecutors, we are not divided, we are
not Lutherans, Orthodox, Evangelicals, Catholics... No! We are one in
their eyes! For persecutors we are
Christians! They are not interested
in anything else. This is the ecumenism of blood that we experience
today.
Remember: seek the unity which
is the work of the Holy Spirit and
do not be afraid of diversity. The
breathing of Christians draws in the
new air of the Holy Spirit and then
exhales it upon the world: it is the
prayer of praise and missionary outreach. Share baptism in the Holy
Spirit with everyone in the Church.
Spiritual ecumenism and the ecumenism of blood. The unity of the
Body of Christ. Prepare the Bride
for the Bridegroom who comes! One
Bride only! All. (Rev 22:17).
Finally, in addition to my thanks,
I would especially like to mention
these young musicians from northern Brazil who have played at the
beginning; I hope they play a little
more. They have welcomed me with
much affection, singing “Long live
Jesus my Saviour”. I know that you
have prepared something else and so
I invite everyone to listen to them
before I say farewell. Thank you!
page 8/9
Pope Francis celebrates Mass for the Solemnity of All Saints at the Verano cemetery in Rome
Creation has been destroyed by man
“Man takes control of everything, he
believes he is God, he believes he is king”
and this destroys all of Creation. Pope
Francis underlined this in his homily at
Mass on Saturday afternoon, 1 November,
at the Verano cemetery in Rome for the
Solemnity of All Saints. Who pays for
this?, the Pontiff asked, “the young, the
poor, those who are discarded. And this is
not ancient history: it is happening today”.
The following is a translation of the Holy
Father’s homily which was given in
Italian.
When in the First Reading we heard
this voice of the Angel crying a loud to
the four Angels who were given power
to damage the earth and the sea, “Do
not harm earth or sea or the trees”
(Rev 7:3), this brought to mind a
phrase that is not here but in everyone’s heart: “men are far more capable
of doing this better than you”. We are
capable of destroying the earth far better than the Angels. And this is exactly
what we are doing, this is what we do:
destroy creation, destroy lives, destroy
cultures, destroy values, destroy hope.
How greatly we need the Lord’s
strength to seal us with his love and his
power to stop this mad race of destruction! Destroying what He has given us,
the most beautiful things that He has
done for us, so that we may carry them
forward, nurture them to bear fruit.
When I looked at the pictures in the
sacristy from 71 years ago [of the
bombing of the Verano on 19 July
1943], I thought, “This was so grave, so
painful. That is nothing in comparison
to what is happening today”. Man
takes control of everything, he believes
he is God, he believes he is king. And
wars, the wars that continue, they do
not exactly help to sow the seed of life
but to destroy. It is an industry of destruction. It is also a system, also of
life, that when things cannot be fixed
they are discarded: we discard children,
we discard the old, we discard unemployed youth. This devastation has created the culture of waste. We discard
people.... This is the first image that
came to my mind as I listened to this
Reading.
The second image, from the same
Reading: “A great multitude which no
man could number, from every nation,
The devastation
of yesterday and today
Tears, rubble, destruction. At the entrance to the Verano
cemetery in Rome, in an area which serves as a sacristy, hang
photographs of the bombing of San Lorenzo on 19 July 1943.
These images greeted Pope Francis who, for the second
consecutive year of his Pontificate, celebrated Mass in this
monumental cemetery on 1 November, the Solemnity of All
Saints, emulating a tradition of John Paul II from 1979 to
1993. Before Mass, the Holy Father took time to view the
photographs, silent and eloquent in their tragic black and
white, and referred to them later in his homily. As is
customary, the altar was placed at the cemetery’s entrance at
the top of an avenue leading to the Basilica of San Lorenzo,
where the remains of Pope Pius IX are entombed. At that
altar the Eucharist was celebrated using a chalice given to this
church by the same Pope Pius, and also on the Altar,
enshrined in two silver monstrances, were relics of St John
XXIII and St John Paul II. At the end of the Mass, the Pontiff
repeated the customary gestures of the funeral rite: ideally
addressed to all the deceased whose remains are in the
cemetery, he sprinkled holy water (commemorating Baptism)
and then incensed (honouring the bodies which were temples
of the Holy Spirit). Before leaving the presbytery, the Holy
Father tenderly caressed the statue of Our Lady which was
positioned at the side of the altar.
from all tribes and peoples and tongues yet appear what shall be” (1 Jn 3:2),
(7:9) The nations, the tribes.... Now it’s that is, hope. And this is the Lord’s
starting to get cold: those poor people, blessing that we still have: hope. Hope
who have to flee for their lives, from that He will have mercy on His people,
their homes, from their people, from pity on those who are in great tribulatheir villages, in the desert ... and they tion and compassion for the destroyers
live in tents, they feel the cold, without so that they will convert. And so, the
medicine, hungry ...
because the “man“How greatly we need the Lord’s strength to
god” has taken control
of Creation, of all that
seal us with his love and his power to stop this
good that God has
mad race of destruction! Destroying what He
done for us. But who
pays for this feast?
has given us, the most beautiful things that He
They do! The young,
has done for us, so that we may carry them
the poor, those people
who are discarded.
forward, nurture them to bear fruit.
And this is not ancient history: it is happening today. “But Father, it is far holiness of the Church goes on: with
away ...”. It is here too, everywhere. It these people, with us, that we will see
is happening today. I will continue: it God as He is. What should our attiseems that these people, these children tude be if we want to be part of this
who are hungry, sick, do not seem to multitude journeying to the Father, in
count, it’s as if they were of a different
species, as if they were not even human. And this multitude is before God
and asks, “Salvation, please! Peace,
please! Bread, please! Work, please!
Children and grandparents, please!
Young people with the dignity of being
able to work, please!”. Among these are
also those who are persecuted for their
faith; there “then one of the elders addressed me, saying, ‘who are these,
clothed in white, and when have they
come?’ ... ‘These are they who have
come out of great tribulation; they have
washed their robes and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb’” (7:1314). And today, without exaggeration,
today on the Feast of All Saints I
would like us to think of all these, the
unknown saints. Sinners like us, worse
off than us, destroyed. Of this multitude of people who are in great distress: most of the world is in tribulation. Most of the world is in tribula- this world of devastation, in this world
tion. And the Lord sanctifies this of war, in this world of tribulation?
people, sinners like us, but He sancti- Our attitude, as we heard in the Gosfies these people in tribulation.
pel, is the attitude of the Beatitudes.
Finally, there is a third image: God. That path alone will lead us to the enFirst was the devastation; second was counter with God. That path alone will
the victims; the third is God. In the save us from destruction, from destroySecond Reading we heard: “Beloved, ing the earth, Creation, morality, hiswe are God’s children now; it does not tory, family, everything. That path
alone. But it too will bring us through
bad things! It will bring us problems,
persecution. But that path alone will
take us forward. And so, these people
who are suffering so much today because of the selfishness of destroyers, of
our brothers destroyers, these people
struggle onwards with the Beatitudes,
with the hope of finding God, of coming face-to-face with the Lord in the
hope of becoming saints, at the moment of our final encounter with Him.
May the Lord help us and give us
the grace of this hope, but also the
grace of courage to emerge from all
this destruction, devastation, the relativism of life, the exclusion of others,
exclusion of values, exclusion of all
that the Lord has given us: the exclusion of peace. May he deliver us from
this, and give us the grace to walk in
the hope of finding ourselves one day
face-to-face with Him. And this hope,
brothers and sisters, does not disappoint!
At the Angelus on 1 November, the Holy Father invites prayer for Jerusalem, the Holy City dear to Jews, Christians and Muslims
Last to the world, but first to God
On Saturday, 1 November, before going to
the Verano cemetery in Rome, the Holy
Father prayed the Angelus with the
faithful in St Peter’s Square. There he
invited all to praise God “for the countless
host of saints from all ages: simple and
ordinary men and women, who were at
times ‘last’ for the world, but ‘first’ for
God”. The following is a translation of the
Holy Father’s address, which was
delivered in Italian.
Good morning!
The first two days of the the month of
November constitute for all of us an
intense moment of faith, prayer and reflection on the “last things” of life. In
fact in celebrating all the Saints and in
commemorating all the faithful depar-
ted, in the Liturgy, the pilgrim Church
on earth lives and expresses the spiritual bond which unites her to the Church
in heaven. Today we praise God for the
countless host of saints from all ages:
simple and ordinary men and women,
who were at times “last” for the world,
but “first” for God. At the same time
we remember our departed loved ones
by visiting the cemeteries: it is a source
of great consolation to think that they
are in the company of the Virgin Mary,
the apostles, the martyrs and all the
saints of Heaven!
Today’s Solemnity thus helps us to
consider a fundamental truth of the
Christian faith that we profess in the
“Creed”: the communion of saints. What
does this mean: the communion of
saints? It is the communion born from
faith which unites all those who belong
to Christ through Baptism. It is a spiritual union — we are all united! — that
is not broken by death, but continues
in the next life. Indeed, there is an unbreakable bond between us living in
this world and those who have crossed
the threshold of death. We, here on
earth, along with those who have
entered into eternity, form one great
family. This familiarity endures.
This wonderful communion, this
wondrous union between heaven and
earth takes place in the highest and
most intense way in the Liturgy, and
especially in the celebration of the
Eucharist, which expresses and fulfills
the most profound union between the
members of the Church. In the
Eucharist, we in fact encounter the living Jesus and His strength, and
through Him we enter into communion
with our brothers and sisters in the
faith: those who live with us here on
earth and those who have gone before
us into the next life, the unending life.
This reality fills us with joy: it is beautiful to have so many brothers and sisters in the faith who walk beside us,
supporting us with their help, and together we travel the same road toward
heaven. And it is comforting to know
that there are other brothers and sisters
who have already reached heaven, who
await us and pray for us, so that together in eternity we can contemplate
the glorious and merciful face of the
Father.
In the great assembly of saints, God
wanted to reserve the first place for the
Mother of Jesus. Mary is at the centre
of the communion of saints, as the singular custodian of the bond between
the universal Church and Christ, of the
bond of the family. She is Mother, She
is our Mother, our Mother. For those
who want to follow Jesus on the path
of the Gospel, she is a trusted guide
because she is the first disciple. She is
an attentive and caring Mother, to
whom we can entrust every desire and
difficulty.
Let us pray together the Queen of
All Saints, that she may help us to respond with generosity and faithfulness
to God, who calls us to be holy as He
is Holy (cf. Lev 19:2; Mt 5:48).
After the Angelus Pope Francis invited
those present in the Square to pray for
Jerusalem.
Dear brothers and sisters, today’s
liturgy speaks of the glory of Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem. I invite
you to pray that the Holy City, dear to
Jews, Christians and Muslims, which in
recent days has witnessed various tensions, may always be a sign and prelude of the peace which God desires
for the whole human family.
Today in Vitoria, Spain, martyr
Pedro Asúa Mendía has been beatified.
A humble and austere priest, he
preached the Gospel with the sanctity
of his life, catechesis and devotion to
the poor and needy. Arrested, tortured
and killed for having expressed his desire to remain faithful to the Lord and
to the Church, he is an admirable example of strength in the faith and witness of love for all of us.
This afternoon I will go to the Verano cemetery and will celebrate Mass
in suffrage for the deceased. In visiting
Rome’s main cemetery, I join in spirit
those who, in these days, are visiting
the graves of their dead in cemeteries
throughout the world.
In the joy of being part of the great
family of the Saints, I wish you all a
happy All Saints Day. Do not forget to
pray for me. Enjoy your lunch. Arrivederci!
page 10
On the art of ‘memento mori’
Remembering death through art
destruction and life’s end while the the believer’s mind. Of all memento
Victorian age took on new emphasis mori imagery no other symbol has
A powerful testimony to religion’s with focus on death as rebirth into had such universal impact than the
use of visual art is in remembering eternal life. In the latter visiting skull. Its visual features simultandeath. In fact one of the most per- cemeteries, tending graves, and pray- eously fascinate and repel. For obvisistent themes on the mind of the ing for dead won favour over the ous reasons this image is frequently
faithful is death because according presence of macabre pictorial im- incorporated into Christian paintto Christian belief the state of the agery such as skulls with inscriptions ings to engender eschatological
soul at the moment of death determ- and pictures warning against Satan themes often associated with hermits
ines its place in eternity. The visual lying in wait beneath each deathbed. or penitent saints contemplating
power of pictorial art is therefore a Moreover, in the Victorian era death. Caravaggio’s Saint Jerome is a
popular channel for this remem- memento mori art assumed a moral fine example as are the many paintbrance and one that gives rise to the purpose insofar as it served to pre- ings on the temptation of Saint Anart of memento mori (“remember that pare for a “happy death”, that is, to thony of the Desert.
While the skull is surely among
you will die”). This phrase is be- die prepared to meet the Creator
lieved to originate from an ancient and Judge of all or at least to die the most recognizable of memento
Roman tradition in which a servant naturally at peace in one’s sleep mori imagery other popular symbols
is assigned the task of walking be- knowing to have “fought the good are the hourglass, the angel of
death, Grim Reaper with scythe, and
hind a victorious general as he fight”.
the decaying corpse in a tomb. AssoRecent research in Christian epimarches in glory through town with
ciated with these are expressions like
the servant whispering in his ear: graphys shows that some of the
omnibus
instat”
(“death
“mors
finest
displays
of
threatens everyone”), “debitum naturmemento mori imagery
ae” (“debt of nature”), “ad patres”
are from early Christian (“to the fathers”), and “deficit omne
funerary art particularly quod nasciture” (“everything that is
sepulchral
inscriptions born passes away”), not to mention
on gravestones and loculi the popular “requiescat in pace”
from Roman catacombs. (“may he/she rest in peace”).
An ornately sculpted
Various pictorial scenes evolving
sepulchre in the Church out of remembering death revolve
of Santa Maria Antiqua, around other themes such as Black
Rome, is a fine example, Plague, Dance of the Skeletons and its
as is, of later proven- related motif Dance of Death beautiance, the Royal Mauso- fully painted in Bernt Notke’s Danse
leum at Frogmore, Eng- Macabre (1463-66), and the more
land, burial place of grisly personification of death as a
Queen Victoria and her skeleton wearing a black (sometimes
consort Prince Albert white) robe and reaping souls by
shown in the dormit in wielding a scythe. Other related
pace (“he/she sleeps in themes are Triumph of Death, a more
peace”) pose.
disturbing topic than Dance of Death
Other significant ex- due to depicting death as an instruamples of memento mori ment of chaos and destruction
art appear throughout whose
minions
sweep
over
Rome’s basilicas. At everything abolishing all in its path.
Santa Maria del Popolo The undisputed masterpiece of this
a Latin inscription on theme is Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s
William-Adolphe Bouguereau, “Day of the Dead” (1859)
the 1670s funeral monu- masterwork Triumph of Death (1562).
ment dedicated to archiIn fact imagery reminding of
“Respice post te! Hominem te esse tect Giovanni Battista Gisleni reads: death comprises some of the finest
memento! Memento mori!” (“Look be- “Neque hic vivus, neque illic mortuus” paintings ever made. Philippe de
hind you! Remember that you are (“Neither living here, nor dead Champaigne’s Vanitas (c. 1671) and
but a man! Remember that you will there”). Its symbol, a skull, in the Frans Hals’ Youth With a Skull (c.
die!”)
lower part of the monument alludes 1628) are painted precisely to recall
Historically the idea of memento to one of religion’s greatest interests death and remind viewers that judgmori developed with the growth of — death and the idea of afterlife and ment could come to anyone at any
Christianity and became popular in the soul’s immortality. This thought time. One of the finest paintings to
the Middle Ages due to emphasis on is undoubtedly in the forefront of capture the Victorian version of
eschatological realities probably as a
result of prevailing thought given
that the plague known as Black
Death descended upon Europe during that time. Various iconographic
symbols were created to remember
death and visual imagery on heaven,
hell, and hope for the soul’s salvation in the afterlife became widespread. In fact the notion of
memento mori took on a striking appeal for a painting’s subject matter.
It further became associated with a
genre of art which varies widely
though shares the same purpose —
to remind viewers of their own mortality.
In the history of memento mori art
medieval paintings share space with
those of the Victorian era insofar as
both epochs utilise a wide range of
images, objects and inscriptions to
remember death and commemorate
the souls of the dead. The difference
is that in the Middle Ages memento
Bernt Notke, “Danse Macabre”
mori imagery focused on death as
CHRISTOPHER EVAN LONGHURST
Funeral monument of Giovanni Battista Gisleni,
Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome
memento mori is William-Adolphe
Bouguereau’s Day of the Dead
(1859), a painting which focuses on
tending a gravesite to keep company
with the dead. The purpose of such
visitation is to encourage praying for
the souls of the departed so that
they in turn would hear the prayers
of the living directed towards them.
A theological truth underlies this
practice. If the living remember the
dead then the dead will remember
the living. This confidence evolves
out of Catholicism’s doctrine of
Communio sanctorum (Communion
of Saints), a belief espousing spiritual solidarity through the unity of the
faithful on earth, holy souls in purgatory and saints in heaven. Some
epitaphs even contain a request to
the dead in heaven to pray for the
living on earth: “Pete, or roga, ora,
pro nobis, pro parentibus, pro conjuge,
pro filiis, pro sorore” (“Pray for us;
pray for parents, for husband or
wife, for children, for sister”), and
the living’s supplications for new life
for the dead: “Refrigera; in Refrigcrio;
Spirit um tuum Deus refrigere; Deus
tibirefrigeret” (“Be refreshed; be at
rest; God refresh thy spirit; God refresh thee”).
Other epitaphs contain requests
from the dead for the living to pray
for them, for example, the tomb of
Abercius of Hieropolis in Phrygia
(late 2nd century) bears the inscription: “Let every friend who observes
this pray for me.” Roman catacombs
bear similar witness by other inscriptions such as “Mayst thou live
among the saints” (3rd century);
“May God refresh the soul of ...,”
and the most common “Peace be
with them”.
The allure of death for pictorial
art plays a pivotal role in religion.
At this injunction two great enterprises intimately connect — religion
and the arts, and in each enterprise
death is no longer seen as something
unpleasant to think about. On the
contrary, remembering death, especially for the faithful, is not a morbid reflection on the end of life but
cognizance of the moment of truth
and hope in the rewards of eternal
salvation.
Moreover,
through
memento mori imagery the viewer
meditates on one of the most absolute realities facing humanity and a
question which theology and philosophy still seek to answer: Is there
CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
page 11
Angelus on Sunday, 2 November
Not the last word
“Death does not have the last word on
human fate, for man is destined to a
life without limits, which has its roots
and its fulfillment in God”. Pope
Francis emphasized this as he
addressed the faithful gathered for the
Angelus on Sunday, 2 November, in St
Peter’s Square, as he recalled the
significance of remembering the faithful
departed. The following is a translation
of the address, which was delivered in
Italian.
Good morning,
Yesterday we celebrated the Solemnity of All Saints, and today the
liturgy invites us to commemorate
the faithful departed. These two recurrences are intimately linked to
each other, just as joy and tears find
a synthesis in Jesus Christ, who is
the foundation of our faith and our
hope. On the one hand, in fact, the
Church, a pilgrim in history, rejoices
through the intercession of the
Saints and the Blessed who support
her in the mission of proclaiming
the Gospel; on the other, she, like
Jesus, shares the tears of those who
suffer separation from loved ones,
and like Him and through Him
echoes the thanksgiving to the Fath-
er who has delivered us from the
dominion of sin and death.
Yesterday and today, many have
been visiting cemeteries, which, as
the word itself implies, is the “place
of rest”, as we wait for the final
awakening. It is lovely to think that
it will be Jesus himself to awaken
us. Jesus himself revealed that the
death of the body is like a sleep
from which He awakens us. With
this faith we pause — even spiritually
— at the graves of our loved ones, of
those who loved us and did us
good. But today we are called to remember everyone, even those who
no one remembers. We remember
the victims of war and violence; the
many “little ones” of the world,
crushed by hunger and poverty; we
remember the anonymous who rest
in the communal ossuary. We remember our brothers and sisters
killed because they were Christian;
and those who sacrificed their lives
to serve others. We especially entrust
to the Lord, those who have left us
during the past year.
Church Tradition has always
urged prayer for the deceased, in
particular by offering the Eucharistic
Celebration for them: it is the best
spiritual help that we can give to
their souls, particularly to those who
are the most forsaken. The foundation of prayer in suffrage lies in the
communion of the Mystical Body.
As the Second Vatican Council repeats, “fully conscious of this communion of the whole Mystical Body
of Jesus Christ, the pilgrim Church
from the very first ages of the Christian religion has cultivated with
great piety the memory of the dead”
(Lumen Gentium, n. 50).
Remembering the dead, caring for
their graves and prayers of suffrage,
are the testimony of confident hope,
rooted in the certainty that death
does not have the last word on human existence, for man is destined
to a life without limits, which has its
roots and its fulfillment in God. Let
us raise this prayer to God: “God of
infinite mercy, we entrust to your
immense goodness all those who
have left this world for eternity,
where you wait for all humanity, redeemed by the precious blood of
Christ your Son, who died as a
ransom for our sins. Look not, O
Lord, on our poverty, our suffering,
our human weakness, when we appear before you to be judged for joy
or for condemnation. Look upon us
with mercy, born of the tenderness
In suffrage for deceased cardinals and bishops
Before the empty tomb
During the celebration of suffrage in the Vatican Basilica
on Monday morning, 3 November, Pope Francis
remembered the cardinals, archbishops and bishops who
died in the last year. Between 11 November 2013 and 20
August 2014, ten cardinals passed away: Domenico
Bartolucci, Ricardo María Carles Gordó, José da Cruz
This celebration, thanks to the
Word of God, is totally illumined
by faith in the Resurrection. It is a
truth that had a long arduous journey through the Old Testament,
and which emerges in an explicit
way in the episode we have just
heard, the Collect for the expiatory
sacrifice for the deceased (2 Mac
12:43-46).
All Divine Revelation is the fruit
of the dialogue between God and
his people, and even faith in the
Resurrection is tied to this dialogue, which accompanies the journey of the People of God in history. It is not surprising that a mystery so great, so decisive, so superhuman as that of the Resurrection
required the whole journey, all the
time necessary, up to Jesus Christ.
He can say: “I am the resurrection
and the life” (Jn 11:25), because in
Him this mystery is not only revealed in its fullness, but takes
place, happens and becomes, for
the first time and forever, reality.
The Gospel we have heard, linking
— according to Mark’s version —
the account of the death of Jesus
and that of the empty tomb, represents the culmination of that entire
journey. The event of the Resurrection answers the long search of the
Policarpo, Emmanuel III Delly, Marco Cé, Duraisamy
Simon Lourdusamy, Bernard Agré, Francesco Marchisano,
Edward Bede Clancy, Edmund Casimir Szoka. From 30
October 2013 to 26 October 2014, 111 archbishops and
bishops also died. The following is a translation of the
Pope’s homily, which was delivered in Italian.
People of God, the search of every
man and of the whole of humanity.
Every one of us is invited to
enter into this event. We are called
first to stand before Jesus’ Cross,
like Mary, like the women, like the
centurion; to hear Jesus’ cry, and
his last breath, and finally the silence — that silence that lasts
throughout Holy Saturday. And
then we are called to go to the
tomb, to see the great stone rolled
away, to hear the proclamation:
“He has risen, he is not here” (Mk
16:6). The answer is there. The
foundation, the rock, is there. Not
in “persuasive discourses of wisCONTINUED ON PAGE 12
of your heart, and help us to walk in
the ways of complete purification.
Let none of your children be lost in
the eternal fire, where there can be
no repentance. We entrust to you, O
Lord, the souls of our beloved dead,
of those who have died without the
comfort of the sacraments, or who
have not had an opportunity to repent, even at the end of their lives.
May none of them be afraid to meet
You, after their earthly pilgrimage,
but may they always hope to be welcomed in the embrace of your infinite mercy. May our Sister, corporal
death find us always vigilant in
prayer and filled with the goodness
done in the course of our short or
long lives. Lord, may no earthly
thing ever separate us from You, but
may everyone and everything support us with a burning desire to rest
peacefully and eternally in You.
Amen” (Fr Antonio Rungi, Passionist, Prayer for the Dead).
With this faith in man’s supreme
destiny, we now turn to Our Lady,
who suffered the tragedy of Christ’s
death beneath the Cross and took
part in the joy of his Resurrection.
May She, the Gate of Heaven, help
us to understand more and more the
value of prayer in suffrage for the
souls of the dead. They are close to
us! May She support us on our
daily pilgrimage on earth and help
us to never lose sight of life’s ultimate goal which is Heaven. And
may we go forth with this hope that
never disappoints!
After the Angelus, the Pope said:
On Sunday afternoon, 2 November, the Pope led a prayer in suffrage for Pontiffs, afterwards he
paused in front of the sepulchre of the Prince of the Apostles. Then the Pope prayed in front of the
tombs of his Predecessors: John Paul I, Bl. Paul VI, Pius XII, Pius XI and Benedict XV.
Dear brothers and sisters, I greet the
families, parish groups, associations
and all the pilgrims from Rome,
from Italy and from so many parts
of the world. In particular, I greet
the faithful from the Diocese of
Seville, Spain, those from the Case
Finali in Cesena and the volunteers
from Oppeano and Granzette who
do clown therapy in the hospitals. I
see them there: continue to do this,
which does the sick such good. Let
us greet these good people!
I wish a happy Sunday to all, in
Christian remembrance of our dear
departed. Please, do not forget to
pray for me.
Have a good lunch. Arrivederci!
page 12
Morning Mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae
Thursday, 30 October
A beautiful struggle
The life of a Christian “is a military
life” and it takes “strength and courage” to “withstand” the Devil’s
temptations and to “proclaim” the
truth. This “is a beautiful battle” because “it gives us that joy the Lord
has prevailed within us”, that “great
happiness”. During Thursday’s Mass
at Santa Marta, reflecting on Paul’s
words in the Letter to the Ephesians
(6:10-20) and on his “military language”, Pope Francis referred to
what theologians call “spiritual warfare”, advising that “to pursue a
spiritual life, you have to fight”.
It takes “strength and courage”
the Pontiff explained, for it is not a
“simple confrontation” but a “continuous battle” with the “Prince of
D arkness”. It is this close confrontation, the Pope indicated, which is
referred to in the catechism in which
Raphael, “St Michael” (1504-1505)
‘Memento mori’
an afterlife and if so then in what
form?
Even though contemporary onlookers may interpret symbols in
memento mori imagery differently
than those of earlier centuries,
those symbols are ingrained into
Western culture as reminders of
death, and all great art which depicts this theme contains within
itself, by way of a strange and
natural antithesis, a refutation of
all that death means. Memento
mori is, therefore, an ideal theme
to remember death because it celebrates remembering that you will
die and this theme is, in fact, one
of the most popular in art and
one for which All Souls Day, 2
November, is named. While that
date commemorates the holy
souls of all the faithful departed,
pictorial art is one of the most effective channels through which
this commemoration is achieved.
Recalling a passage from Chapter
“they taught us that in Christian life
there are three enemies: the demon, nine of the Gospel of John, in which
the world and the flesh”. It’s about Jesus heals the young man whom
the everyday struggle with “greed, the Pharisees did not believe was
lust, gluttony, arrogance, pride, blind, Pope Francis pointed out that
envy”: all vices “which are the Jesus doesn’t ask the young man
“Are you glad? Are you happy?
wound of original sin”.
We could ask ourselves: “Is the Have you seen that I am good?”,
salvation that Jesus gives us free?”. but rather: “Do you believe in the
Yes, Francis answered, “but you Son of Man? Do you have faith?”.
have to protect it!”. And as Paul And every day, He asks us the same
writes, to do so we have to “put on inescapable question, because “if our
the whole armor of God” for “one faith is weak, the Devil will defeat
cannot think of a spiritual life, a us”.
The shield of faith not only “proChristian life” without “withstanding
temptations, without battling the tects us, but it also gives us life”.
And with this, Paul says, we are able
D evil”.
And to think, Francis stated, they “to quench all the flaming darts of
wanted us to believe “that the Devil the evil one”. The Devil, in fact,
was a myth, a figure, an idea, the “doesn’t cast flowers on us” but
idea of evil”. However, “the Devil “flaming, poisonous arrows”.
The armour of a Christian, the
exists and we have to fight against
him”. St Paul recalls it, “the Word Pope continued, also includes the
of God says it”, yet it seems that “helmet of salvation”, the “sword of
“we aren’t quite convinced” of this the Spirit” and prayer. St Paul advises: “Pray at all times”, and the
reality.
How is this “armour of God” Pontiff repeated: “Pray, pray”. One
made? The Apostle provides a few cannot “pursue a Christian life
details: “Stand, therefore, having without vigilance”.
This is why Christian life can be
girded your loins with truth”. Thus,
first of all, Truth is required because considered a military life. But, the
“the Devil is a liar, he is the father Pope stated, it is “a beautiful
struggle”, because it gives us “that
of liars”; then, Paul
joy that the Lord has prevailed withcontinues, one must
put on “the breastplate of righteousThe principal mission of the
ness”: indeed, the
Bishop of Rome exChurch is evangelization,
plained, “we cannot
bringing
the
Good News to everyone.
be
Christians
without continuously
(@Pontifex on 30 October)
working to be just”.
And also: “having
shod your feet with the equipment in us, with his freely given salvaof the gospel of peace”. In fact, “a tion”. Yet, Francis concluded, we are
Christian is a man or a woman of all “a bit lazy” and “we allow
peace” and if there isn’t “peace in ourselves to be led by vices, by certhe heart” then there’s something tain temptations”. But although “we
wrong: it’s peace that “gives you are sinners”, we mustn’t get discourstrength for the battle”.
aged “because the Lord is with us,
In the end, the Letter to the Eph- who has given us everything” and
esians reads: “above all taking the He will lead us “to even win today’s
shield of faith”. The Pontiff paused little pass”, our everyday battle.
on this detail: “One thing that
would really help us would be to ask
ourselves: “How is my faith? Do I
Friday, 31 October
believe or not? Or do I partly believe and partly not? Am I someThe law and the flesh
what worldly and somewhat a believer?” When we recite the Creed,
do we do so only in “words”? Are There are “two paths”, and it is Jewe aware, Francis asked, that sus himself, with his “gestures of
“without faith we can’t go forward, closeness”, who tells us which direcwe can’t safeguard the salvation of tion to take. One, indeed, is the
path of the “hypocrites”, who close
God?”.
Homily on 3 November
dom”, but in the living Word of
the Cross and of the Resurrection
of Jesus.
This is what the Apostle Paul
preaches: Jesus Christ crucified
and risen. If He has not risen, our
faith is empty and inconsistent.
But because he has risen indeed,
He is the Resurrection, so our faith
is full of the truth and eternal life.
Renewing the tradition, today
we offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice in
suffrage for our Brother Cardinals
and Bishops who have passed away
in the last 12 months. And our
prayer is enhanced by emotions,
memories, by gratitude for the witness of the people we knew, with
whom we shared service in the
Church. Many of their faces are
present to us; but all, each one of
them is looked upon by the Father
with his merciful love. And together with the gaze of our Heavenly
Father there is that of the Mother,
who intercedes for her children
whom she loves so much. Together
with the faithful whom they served
here on earth they are able to enjoy
the joy of the new Jerusalem.
doors by sticking to the “letter of
the law”. On the other, however, is
“the path of charity”, which passes
“from love to the true justice that is
within the law”. These were the
words of Pope Francis as he celebrated Mass at Santa Marta on Friday morning.
To present these two ways of living, the Pontiff referred to a passage
from the Gospel according to Luke
(14:1-6). One Sabbath, he recalled,
“Jesus was at the home of one of the
Pharisee leaders to dine with them;
and they were watching him to see
what he would do”. Most of all, the
Pope pointed out, “they were trying
to catch him in a mistake, even baiting him”.
At this point, a sick man enters
the scene. Jesus turns to the Pharisees and asks, “Is it lawful to heal
on the Sabbath?”, as if to say, “Is it
lawful to do good on the Sabbath?
Or shouldn’t I?”. Jesus’ question,
the Pope added, is “a simple question but, like all hypocrites, they
kept quiet, they didn’t say anything”. After all, Francis said, “they
always fell silent” when Jesus confronted them with the truth, they
“kept their mouths shut”; and although “they then talked behind his
back” and tried to bring him down.
Essentially, the Pontiff stated,
“these people were so attached to
the law that they forgot about
justice; so stuck to the law that they
forgot about love”. But “not only to
the law; they stuck to the words, to
the letter of the law”. This is why
“Jesus reproached them”, deploring
their attitude: “If you, before the
needs of your elderly parents, say:
‘Dear parents, I love you so much
but I can’t help you because I gave
everything to the temple’, which is
more important? The fourth commandment or the temple?”.
This very way “of living, attached
to the law, distanced them from love
and from justice: they were attentive
to the law, they disregarded justice;
they were attentive to the law, they
overlooked love”. Yet “they were the
models”. Jesus, however, “finds only
one word” for these people: “hypocrite”. One cannot go “around the
world seeking converts” and then
close “the door”. The Lord found
these were “closed men, men too attached to the law”, or rather, too attached “to the letter of the law”, because “the law is love”. These men
“always closed the doors of hope, of
love, of salvation”. They were “men
who only knew how to close”.
We must ask ourselves, “what is
the way to be faithful to the law
without overlooking justice, without
neglecting love”. The answer “is the
very way that comes from the opposite” side, Francis said, repeating
Paul’s words in the Letter to the
Philippians (1:1-11): “And it is my
prayer that your love may abound
more and more, with knowledge and
all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be
pure and blameless”.
It is indeed “the opposite path,
from love to integrity; from love to
discernment; from love to the law”.
Paul, in fact, prays “that your charity, your love, your works of charity
bring you to knowledge and to full
discernment”. This is precisely “the
knows how to suffer, He gave his
life for us”. Meanwhile, “the letter is
cold”.
See then, the “two paths”. The
first belongs to those who say: “I
stick to the letter of the law; you
can’t heal on the Sabbath; I can’t
help; I have to go home and I can’t
help this sick person”. The second is
that of those who commit to acting
in a way, as Paul writes, “that your
love may abound more and more,
with knowledge and full discernment”: this is “the path of charity,
from love to the true justice that is
within the law”. To help us are these
very “examples of Jesus’ closeness”,
which show us how to pass “from
love to the fulfillment of the law”,
without “ever slipping into hypocrisy”, because “a Christian hypocrite is too ugly”.
path that Jesus teaches us, the exact
opposite of that of the doctors of
the law”. And “this path, from love
to justice, leads to God”. Only “the
path that goes from love to knowledge and to discernment, to complete fulfillment, leads to holiness,
to salvation, to the encounter with
Jesus”.
“The other path”, however, “that
of sticking only to the law, to the
letter of the law, leads to closure,
leads to selfishness”. And it leads
“to the arrogance of considering
ourselves just”, to that so-called
“‘holiness’ of appearances”. Such
that “Jesus says to these people: you
like people to see you as men of
prayer, of fasting”. This is only for
appearances. And “this is why Jesus
said to the people: do what they say,
not what they do”, because “that
mustn’t be done”.
See then, “the two paths” that we
have before us. And with “small gestures”, Jesus makes us understand
which is the path that goes “from
love to full knowledge and to discernment”.
Luke presents one of these gestures in the Gospel passage from the
day’s liturgy: “Jesus had this man
before him, ill, and when the Pharisees didn’t answer, what did Jesus
do?”. According to the Evangelist,
“He took him by the hand and
healed him, and then He let him
go”. Thus, first “Jesus draws near:
closeness is the very proof” that we
are “on the true path”. Because that
is “the path that God has chosen in
order to save us: closeness. He drew
close to us, he made himself man”.
And indeed, “God’s flesh is the sign;
God’s flesh is the sign of true
justice. God who made himself a
man like one of us, and we who
must make ourselves like the others,
like the needy, like those who need
our help”.
Francis also pointed out how
“beautiful” is Jesus’ gesture of taking a sick person “by the hand”. He
also does this with “that young
man” who had died, “the widow’s
son, in Nain”; just as “He does with
the girl, the daughter of Jairus”; and
again with “the boy, the one who
had many demons, when He takes
him and He gives him to his father”.
Jesus always takes people “by the
hand, because He draws near”. And
“Jesus’ flesh, this closeness, is the
bridge that brings us close to God”.
This “is not the letter of the law”.
Only “in the flesh of Christ”, in fact,
does the law have “complete fulfillment”. Because “the flesh of Christ
Monday, 3 November
What is a bishop’s joy?
“A bishop’s feelings” or “a bishop’s
joy”. Pope Francis himself provided
the ideal title for the passage from
the reading from the Letter of St
Paul to the Philippians (2:1-4) on
Monday, 3 November. He also
warned about the rivalry and conceit
that undermine the life of the
Church, where it is instead necessary
to treasure the directions given by
Jesus and Paul: not to seek one’s
own interests but to humbly serve
others while asking for nothing in
return. This was the theme of the
Holy Father’s morning Mass at
Santa Marta.
Paul develops this practical advice, the Pontiff explained, in a text
which shows “his feelings toward the
Philippians: perhaps the Church of
the Philippians was the one he loved
the most”. And “he begins as if asking a favour”. Indeed, he writes: “if
there is any encouragement, any incentive of love, any participation in
the Spirit, any affection and sympathy”, in other words, “if you are
this way, do me this favour: complete my joy”.
Thus, Paul specifically asks the
Philippians to “complete the bishop’s joy”. And “what is the joy of a
bishop? What is the joy that Paul
asks of the Church of the Philippians?”. The answer is “to have the
same feeling with the same love, being in unanimous agreement”. See,
“Paul, as a pastor, knows that this is
the path of Jesus. And also that this
is the grace that Jesus, in prayer
after the Last Supper, asked of the
Father: unity, harmony; that the disciples would remain unanimous in
agreement with the same love and
the same feeling, that is, the harmony of the Church”.
“We all know”, Francis explained,
“that this harmony is a grace: the
Holy Spirit creates it, but we must,
for our part, do everything to help
the Holy Spirit in order to build this
harmony in the Church”; and also
“in order to help understand what
He asks of the Church”. The Spirit,
in fact, “gives advice, so to speak, in
a negative way, that is: ‘don’t do
this, don’t do that!’”. And “what
mustn’t the Philippians do?”. According to Paul: “Do nothing from
rivalry or conceit”. This is how,
Pope Francis noted, “we can see that
this isn’t only something of our
time”, but “it comes from long ago”.
Thus Paul recommends not to do
anything out of “rivalry”, and “not
to fight against one another”, or
even to show off, in order to give
the air of being better than others”.
The Bishop of Rome noted further
that so often “in our institutions, in
the Church, in the parishes, for example, in the colleges, we find
rivalry, showing off, conceit”. It is
like “two worms eating away at the
consistency of the Church, making
her weak: rivalry and conceit work
against this harmony, this concordance”.
To avoid falling into these temptations, “what does Paul advise?”. He
writes to the Philippians: “Each of
you, in all humility — what must you
do in humility? — consider others
superior to yourself”. Paul “feels
this”, such that “he qualifies himself
unworthy to be called an apostle”.
He defines himself “the least” and
thus “he also forcefully humbles
himself”. This is “his feeling: thinking that others are superior to him”.
Along the same line, Francis recalled the testimony of St Martino
de Porres, a humble Peruvian
Dominican Brother, whose liturgical
memorial falls on 3 November. “His
spirituality was in service because he
felt that all others, even the worst
sinners, were superior to him. He
truly felt this”. What’s more, “he
lived this way” and with such “humility” in a time very close to our
own.
Thus, the Pope indicated “a bishop’s joy is this unity of the Church:
humility without rivalry or conceit”.
And Paul then continues: “Let each
of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of
others”. It is thus necessary “to seek
good” for others, “to serve others”.
Because “this is the joy of a bishop
when he sees his Church like this:
the same feeling, the
same love, being in
unanimous
agreement”. And “this is
the air that Jesus
wants in the Church.
We can have different
opinions, okay! But
always in this air, this
atmosphere of humility, love, without scorning anyone”.
Paul’s clear recommendation is
“not to seek your own interest”
alone, but “also that of others”.
Therefore, he exhorts us not to “try
to take advantage for ourselves”,
looking out exclusively for our own
interests. And, Francis said, “it is
terrible when, in institutions of the
Church, of a diocese, we find in parishes people who seek their own interests, not service, not love”. And
Jesus, too, “tells us in the Gospel:
do not seek your own interests, do
not go down the path of even exchange, of quid pro quo”. In other
words, don’t say: “Yes, I did you
this favour, so you do this for me”.
Jesus recalls this in the Gospel of
Luke (14:12-14) with the parable that
tells of the dinner invitation to
“those who are unable to repay: this
is gratuity”.
“When in a Church”, the Pontiff
highlighted, “there is harmony, there
is unity, we don’t seek our own interests, this is the attitude of gratuity”. This way “I do good”, I don’t
“bargain with good”. There is also,
on the other hand, a “tendency toward utilitarianism”; however, “the
love which Paul asks for rejects util-
page 13
itarianism: do good, humble toward
others who in your heart your consider better than you”.
Francis recommended that we
think throughout the day about
“what my parish is like” or “what
my community is like”. And to ask
ourselves whether these organizations and all of our institutions have
“this spirit of feeling love, of unanimity, of harmony, without rivalry or
conceit”. Do they exist “with humility” and do we “think that others are
superior to us?”. Is “this spirit” truly
there or is there perhaps “something
to improve?”. So, he said, it’s good
to ask ourselves “today, how can I
improve this?”. And to follow St
Paul’s advice, “in order that the
bishop’s joy may be complete; in order that Jesus’ joy may be complete”.
Tuesday, 4 November
God’s gift is free
We shouldn’t be afraid of the gratuitousness of God which upsets the
order of human convenience and exchange. Pope Francis highlighted
this idea during his homily at Santa
Marta on Tuesday, 4 November. His
reflection was inspired by a passage
from the Gospel of Luke (14:15-24)
which follows the one in which Jesus explained that in God’s Law,
“quid pro quo doesn’t work” and in
order to make the concept understandable, he advised: “when you
give a feast, invite the poor, the
maimed, the lame, the blind, and
you will be blessed, because they
cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just”.
“When one of those who sat at
the table” with Jesus exclaimed in
response: “Blessed is he who shall
eat bread in the kingdom of God!”,
Being humble helps us share
the burdens of others.
(@Pontifex on 4 November)
in other words “This would be wonderful!”, Jesus replied with “the parable of the man who gave a great
banquet” and whose invitation was
rejected. The Pope thus sought to
explain the three responses given to
the host by as many guests : “Everyone likes to go to a party, they like
to be invited’ but there is something
here that these three didn’t like”.
The problem was: “invited to
what?”.
One in fact, boasting of having
recently bought a field, sets his wish
of “vanity”, of “pride”, of “power”
first, preferring to go and check on
his field, in order to “feel a little
powerful” rather than “sitting as one
of many at that lord’s table”. Another speaks about business — “I have
bought five yoke of oxen and I go
to examine them” — and thinks
more about his earnings than of going “to waste time with those
people”, thinking: “they will discuss
many things but I won’t be at the
centre, I’ll be one of many”. Last is
the man who offers the excuse of
having just gotten married. He
could also bring his wife to the banCONTINUED ON PAGE 14
page 14
Morning Mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae
quet but he wants “the attention for
himself”. In this case, selfishness
prevails. In the end, the Pontiff underlined, “all three have a preference
for themselves” and don’t want “to
share a party”. Because, in reality,
“they don’t know what a party is”.
The men in the parable — “who
are examples of so many” — always
show an “interest”, they seek an “exchange”, a “quid pro quo”. The Pope
explained: “If I were the guest, for
example, ‘Come, I have two or three
business friends coming from another country, we could do something
together’, without a doubt, no one
would have excused himself”. Indeed, “what frightens them is the
gratuitousness”, that “being one like
the others”. It is “selfishness”, the
desire “to be at the centre of
everything”. When one lives in this
dimension, when “one turns round
himself”, he ends up without horizons “because he himself is the horizon”. And so it is “difficult to hear
the voice of Jesus, the voice of
God”. And, Francis added, “behind
this attitude”, there is another thing,
even “more profound”: there is the
“fear of gratuitousness”. God’s gratuitousness, in fact, compared with
so many life experiences which have
caused us to suffer, “is so great that
it frightens us”.
Man is disoriented. The Pontiff
recalled that this attitude is similar
to that of the disciples on the road
from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They
said to each other: “we had hoped
that he was the one to redeem Israel”. And also: “the gift was so
great that we were disappointed.
And we are afraid”. The same thing
happened with the “most practical”
Thomas, who said to those who
spoke of the Risen Jesus: “D on’t
come with any stories”, because “if I
don’t see, don’t touch.... I once believed, and everything collapsed!
No. Never again!”.
Even Thomas “was afraid of
God’s gratuitousness”. In this regard, the Pope recalled a popular
saying: “When the offer is so great,
even the holy are suspicious”. In
other words, when a gift is too large,
it puts us on guard, because “gratuitousness is too much” for us. So, if
“God offers us such a banquet” we
think: “better not to get involved”,
better to be “with ourselves”. We are
indeed “more certain in our sins,
within our limits”, because nevertheless “we are at home”.
On the other hand, to go out
“from our home at God’s invitation,
to God’s house, with the others”, it
“frightens” us. And “all of us Chris-
tian”, the Bishop of Rome admonished, “have this fear hidden inside”,
but not very much. Too often, in
fact, we are Catholics but not too
Catholic, “confident in the Lord, but
not too much”. And this “not too
much”, in the end, “diminishes” us.
Pope Francis then considered, in
the Gospel parable, the attitude of
the host after the servant tells him of
the guests’ rejection. He is “angry,
because he has been scorned”. So he
“sends him to bring all those who
are outcast, the needy, the sick,
through the streets and the lanes of
the city; the poor, the maimed, the
blind, the lame”. And when the servant tells him there is still room in
the hall, he tells him: “Go out to the
highways and hedges, and compel
people to come in“, that my house
may be filled”. One verb, “compel
them”, which makes us think: “So
many times”, the Pope highlighted,
“the Lord has to do the same with
us”: with proof, so much proof”, He
“compels that heart, that spirit to
believe that there is gratuitousness”
in Him, that his gift “is free, that
salvation isn’t bought: it is a great
gift”. God’s love is, indeed, “the
greatest gift”.
Yet we, the Pontiff concluded, are
frightened and “we think that we
make holiness with things and in the
long run we become a little Pelagi-
an”. However, “salvation is free”,
even if we stubbornly argue: “I
don’t understand, Lord, tell me: this
celebration for everyone, who pays
for it? Do I have to pay for it?”. We
don’t realize that, as Paul recalls in
the Letter to the Philippians (2: 511), all of this “is free, because Jesus
Christ, despite being in the form of
God, did not retain the privilege,
but “emptied himself, taking on the
form of a servant. He humbled himself”. It is Jesus, the Pope recalled,
who “paid for the feast, with his humiliation until death, death on the
Cross”. This is the “great gratuitousness” of God.
“When we look at the Crucifix,
we say: ‘This is the entrance to the
celebration. Yes, Lord I’m a sinner, I
have many things, but I look at you
and I go to the Father’s feast. I
trust. I won’t be disappointed, because you have paid for everything”.
Thus “the Church asks us not to
fear the gratuitousness of God”, because it can seem “folly”. But Paul
says: “Christ’s Cross is folly for the
world: it cannot comprehend it. But
it is He who has paid so that for us
all is gratuitous”. We have only to
“open our heart, do from our part,
all that we can; but He will provide
the grand feast”.
VATICAN BULLETIN
Barretos, Brazil. Until now he has
been titular Bishop of Acque in Byzacena and Auxiliary of São Paulo (5
Nov.).
Bishop Júnior, 50, was born in
Taiúva, São Paulo, Brazil. He was
ordained a priest on 5 September
27 December 2009, subsequent to
his appointed as titular Bishop
Acque in Byzacena and Auxiliary of
São Paulo.
João José da Costa, O. Carm., as Coadjutor Bishop of Aracaju, Brazil.
Until now he has been Bishop of
Iguatu, Brazil (5 Nov.).
Bishop da Costa, 56, was born in
Lagarto, Brazil. He made his religious profession for the Carmelite
Order on 19 January 1986 and was
19 March 2009, subsequent to his
appointed as Bishop of Iguatu.
CONGREGATION FOR THE
CAUSES OF SAINTS
On 31 October, the Holy Father appointed the following as Consultors
to the Congregation for the Causes
of Saints. The said Congregation is
now composed of:
— Fr Bernard Ardura, O. Praem.,
President of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences;
— Msgr Alejandro Cifres Giménez, Archivist at the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith;
— Don Paolo Carlotti, SDB., Counsellor at the Apostolic Penitentiary;
— Fr Tomislav Mrkonjić, OFM.
Conv.,
Scriptor of the Secret
Archives of the Vatican;
— Fr Paul Murray, OP, Head of the
Institute for Spirituality at the Pontifical University of St Thomas
Aquinas in Rome;
— Fr Martin McKeever, CSSR,
Head of the Alfonsianum Academy;
— Fr Jordi-Agustí Piqué Collado,
OSB, Head of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute at the Pontifical
Atheneum of St Anselm in Rome;
— Fr Rocco Ronzani, OSA, Deputy
Head of the Patristic Institute “Augustinianum”;
— Fr Pablo Santiago Zambruno,
OP, Lecturer at the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas;
— Fr Raffaele Di Muro, OFM.
Conv., former Lecturer at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of St
Bonaventure;
— Prof.
Gabriele
Zaccagnini,
former Lecturer at the University of
Pisa;
— Prof. Angela Ales Bello, Ordinary member of the Pontifical
Academy of Theology.
CONGREGATION FOR DIVINE
WORSHIP AND THE DISCIPLINE
OF THE SACRAMENTS
The Holy Father appointed Fr Corrado Maggioni, SMM, as Undersecretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of
the Sacraments. Until now he has
been Office Head of the said Congregation (5 Nov.).
CARDINAL
TAKES
POSSESSION
On Saturday, 1 November, Cardinal
Javier Lozano Barragán, President
emeritus of the Pontifical Council
for the Pastoral Care of Health Care
Workers, took possession of the
Title of Santa Dorotea, Trastevere.
START
OF
MISSION
On 19 September, Archbishop Antonio Arcari, titular Archbishop of
Caeciri, began his mission as
Apostolic Nuncio in Costa Rica with
the presentation of his Letters of
Credence
to
H.E.
Mr
Luis
Guillermo Solís Rivera, President of
the Republic.
NECROLO GY
Bishop Peter Baptist Tadamaro
Ishigami, OFM Cap., Bishop emeritus
of Naha, Japan, at age 93 (25 Oct.).
Bishop Sofron Stefan Mudry, OSBM,
Bishop emeritus of Ivano-Frankivsk,
Stanislaviv for Ukraines, at age 90
(31 Oct.).
Msgr Fabijan Veraja dies
Serving the causes for saints
On 29 October, at the age of 91, Msgr Fabijan Veraja died near Rome.
Msgr Veraja served as undersecretary at the Congregation for the Causes
of Saints from 1981 to 1993. The Croatian prelate was born in Metković
on 20 January 1923. After his studies at the seminary of Spalato and at
the theological seminary of Djakovo, in 1945 he began studying at the
Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained a priest in Rome on 19
July 1947 and began serving as hospital chaplain in Bormio. In 1956 he
earned a degree in moral theology from the Gregorian. His thesis was on
the origins of the theological controversy of census contract in the 13th
century and was published in 1960. On 8 February 1961 he began working at the Congregation for Rites (which in 1969 became the Congregation for the Causes of Saints) as an aiutante di studio in the historic section. He had been there for 20 years when he was appointed undersecretary on 7 December 1981. In addition to managing the office for the
causes from various countries, he personally edited several historical positiones, including those of Nicolò Stenone, Peter Friedhofen and the historical inquisitio of Bartolo Longo. He also published various historic-juridic studies which made way for the 1983 reform in legislation for the
causes of the saints. He also wrote a commentary on the new legislation
(1983) and a book on the causes of canonization (1992). On 13 January
1993 he concluded his service as Undersecretary and John Paul II appointed him relator ad casum to the cause of the young Croatian Ivan Merz.
page 15
Venerable Zacharias of St Theresa
An apostle of reconciliation
work were a pure and transparent
concretization of the teachings of JeBorn in Abadiano, Spain in 1887, sus. His missionary path is a springprofessed as a Discalced Teresian board for the evangelizing mission
Carmelite in 1904 at Larrea, in the today.
The missionary personality of Fr
Province of Navarra, and ordained
priest in Rome in 1912, Fr Zacharias Zacharias is a mosaic of three essenof St Teresa was a missionary in In- tial dimensions: Christian, Carmelite
dia from 16 September 1912 until his and Indian. All these three elements
death there on 23 May 1957. The have creatively contributed to the
“positio” of his cause for canoniza- formation of a very deep and dytion was presented to the Sacred namic missionary consciousness and
Congregation in 2000 and this year spirit in Fr Zacharias. In him all the
(27 January 2014) Pope Francis ap- three essential moments of his
proved his heroic virtues and de- earthly pilgrimage — call, consecraclared him venerable. The person of tion and mission — were coordinated
Fr Zacharias is extra-ordinary, as a and integrated through his personal
Christian, a Carmelite, a priest, a intimate relationship to Christ and
missionary, a theologian, a teacher, a faithful commitment to his dream,
formator, a scholar in Indian philo- the kingdom of God. He came all
sophy and spirituality, a social work- the way from Spain to India in 1912
er and a lover of the poor. His life as a missionary and everything he
in India was spent for the formation did here in India up to his death in
of priests especially as part of com- 1957, on various levels, as professor,
formator, vice rector, writer,
preacher, social worker, organizer, spiritual father, consultor, apologist, vocation
promoter, chaplain, founder,
delegate superior, and so on,
The Carmelite Manjummel Province in
are multifarious expressions
India is celebrating Fr Zacharias. At the
of his missionary spirit and
beginning of the year Pope Francis
zeal. It flowed from his condeclared him Venerable. Thus, a Mass will
scious living of Christian exbe celebrated in his honour on Sunday
istence, Carmelite consecraafternoon, 9 November, at the monastery
tion and Indian identity.
of Discalced Carmelites in Kerala, also
Fr Zacharias was a defendrecalling the anniversary of his birth on 5
er of the faith. He was catNovember. The chief concelebrants are to
egorically
uncompromising
include, among others: H.B. Cardinal
with regard to the basic tenOswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay;
ets of Christian faith, above
H.B. Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, Major
all, Christo-centrism. This atArchbishop of the Syro-Malankara Church
titude is revealed both in his
and CBCI President; H.B. Cardinal George
life and in his teachings. Two
Alencherry, Major Archbishop of the Syrobooks are relevant here
Malanbar Church; and Archbishop Francis
namely, Synopsis of Lectures
Kallarakal of Verapoly. The author of this
on Dogmatic Theology (1941)
article will deliver the homily at Mass, and
and Christianity Vindicated
after a celebration of Zacharias’ life and
(1944). The Christocentrism
work will be held. On this occasion, the
was beautifully reflected in
Carmelite Province will also celebrate the
his life through the attitudes
fifth centenary of their founder, St Teresa
of love, selflessness, service,
of Avila.
hard work, humility, obedience, poverty, compassion,
fatherly concern, tolerance
munity of St Joseph’s Pontifical and endurance in suffering. The
Seminary of Alwaye, one of the apologetic speeches he has given on
largest seminaries in the world, for different occasions especially in rethe promotion of missionary voca- sponse to “The Supremacy of Pope”
tions and activities especially identi- written by K.N. Daniel and Parur
fying himself with the cultural val- Conferences in reply to the atheistic
ues of India, for the affirmation of views which were prevailing over the
true faith through conferences and lives of many believers in Parur, crewritings especially in the context of ating confusion and skepticism in
ideological confusions created by their minds and the famous rejointer
Marxism and atheism and for the to the book of Diwan Sir C.P.
involvement in social and pastoral Ramaswamy namely “World Reliissues outside the seminary. Fr gions: A Study in Synthesis” pubZacharias lived three essential as- lished as Christianity Vindicated are
pects of his existence uncomprom- outstanding and exquisite testimonisingly to the full: by call he was a ies of the Christian experience and
Christian, by consecration he was a Christocentric life of Fr Zacharias.
Discalced Teresian Carmelite and by He believed and esteemed all these
as missionary activities.
mission he was an Indian.
Fr Zacharias, a linguist, had
As the Church is celebrating the
Golden Jubilee of “Ad Gentes” of mastered Sanskrit language and thus
Second Vatican Council this year, it had easily found access to the most
is very relevant to remember that the important door to Indian cultural
missionary path pioneered by Fr heritage namely the ancient Indian
Zacharias was an authentic foreshad- Scriptures. Delving deep into the
owing of the Second Vatican Concil- spiritual and philosophical traditions
iar teaching and the revolutionary of India, both as a Professor of Innew path opened up in the Church dian philosophy and as a spiritual
thereafter. His missionary life and person, he was never satisfied with a
AUGUSTINE MULLO OR,
O CD*
Mass in thanksgiving
superficial or mediocre
knowledge, but insisted
on a thorough and complete knowledge. He
had thus become an authority on the subject. It
is pertinent to remember
at this juncture that the
major part of the writings of Fr Zacharias covers the themes concerning Indian philosophy,
Hindu spirituality and
Indian
culture
with
around 7 books and
more than 30 scientific
articles.
The Carmelite charism contains missionary
spirit as its essential dimension coming from
the
experience
and
teaching of St Teresa
and continues through the history of
the order. The present O CD constitutions synthesize this spirit in the following words: “the evangelization of
the world, so intimately part of the
very nature of the Church, in as
much as it is to be accomplished
primarily through love and prayer,
has always been a priority in our
O rder’s apostolic work. Our Holy
Mother St Teresa passed on to the
Order the ardent missionary zeal
that burned within her heart and it
was her wish that her friars should
also undertake missionary activity.
This missionary zeal should be faithfully fostered, all should have the
missions very much at heart, and vocations to the missions should be
encouraged throughout the Order”.
Vocation to Teresian Discalced
Carmel is incomparably unique and
uniquely rich because it embraces
and integrates in the heart of the
one who responds to it daringly and
enjoys it unsparingly, the drops of
essences of all the diverse vocations
in the Church, both contemplative
and active. A Carmelite heart is full
of stillness of pure contemplation, of
listening empathetic silence, of the
dew of compassionate love, of alert
sensitivity to the other, of soft delicacy of one’s conscience, of conscious
attention to the pulse of nature, of
penetrating reason that delves into
the depths, of enchanting poetic
feelings, of healing and soothing
sincere words and of dynamic positive energy for transformative actions.
In the life style of Fr Zacharias we
have a beautiful reflection of Jesus
who climbs the mountain to go to
the Father with people in his heart
and descends the hill to go to
people with God in his heart. In the
unique personality of Fr Zacharias
we have the fidelity of an authentic
son of St Teresa of Jesus and the devotion of a true disciple of St John
of the Cross.
In fact, Fr Zacharias is the formator who instilled in the hearts of seminarians a burning zeal for mission
work which in turn ignited first in
some of them, later in many of them
the desire to go as missionaries to
North India, and even to Latin
America and Africa. In this process
of awakening and nourishing the
missionary consciousness of Kerala
clergy, he was sharing his Carmelite
missionary charism which had found
a very fertile ground in his life and
had blossomed fully and fruitified
plentifully. This fruitfulness offshooted in concrete decisions to establish the “Mission Circle” to facilitate the deepening of mission spirit
among the seminarians, “Malabar
Mission Seminary” that organized
the formation of missionary priests,
“St Joseph’s Mission Home” that
channelized the surplus vocations in
the dioceses of Kerala to the mission
dioceses, “Malabar Missionary Union” for nurturing mission spirit
among the diocesan clergy and to
publish
“Preshithakeralam”,
the
magazine that served as a news bulletin among the missionaries and as
a bond of unity and “Katholikakudumbam” to promote the proper
study of correct Christian doctrine.
The unique and charismatic personality of Fr Zacharias challenges
and inspires us in the context of
inter-religiosity and inter-culturality,
understood and misunderstood, interpreted and misinterpreted, being
the very context of our missionary
life and task not only in India and
Asia but in all the continents. He
was convinced about his Christian
faith and therefore he was open to
religions and cultures. He knew
deeply the tenets of Christianity and
therefore he could learn from religions and cultures. He had depthlevel experience of religiosity that
became personal spirituality and
therefore he could dialogue with religions and cultures. He authentically lived his faith and therefore he
could daringly proclaim it. The
more Fr Zacharias lived his Christianity, the more interreligious and
intercultural he became. The more
interreligious and intercultural Fr
Zacharias was, the more Christian he
became. And thus he became an authentic missionary in whom openness to diversity and fidelity to universality were harmoniously blended.
* Definitor General of the Order of
Discalced Carmelites, Rome
page 16
Patriarch Bartholomew on the Pope’s visit to the Phanar
A never-ending journey
“An important sign of mutual devotion between the Orthodox and
Catholic Churches”. It was in this
way that the Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew described Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Istanbul, Turkey at the end of November for the
Feast of St Andrew. Speaking to a
group of Austrian journalists recently received at the Phanar, the
Archbishop of Constantinople, according to Vatican Radio, pointed
out that there will be no “fanfare”
rather the “declaration will be
signed at a meeting which constitutes an important step in the relations between the two Churches”.
The nearly 1,000 year-old separation
“cannot be overcome overnight. Less
than 60 years ago they were considered as enemies rather than as
brothers. But many positive things
have happened in recent decades.
Of course, now we need substantial
progress”, said the Orthodox Patriarch.
Bartholomew also described the
work of the 13th Plenary Session of
the Joint International Commission
for Theological Dialogue between
the Catholic Church and Orthodox
Church which was held 15-23
September in Amman, Jordan,
speaking openly on various points,
especially on the issue of primacy
(and therefore on the role of the
Bishop of Rome in the universal
Church). At the moment, he said,
divergences of opinion are still insurmountable, especially within the
Orthodox world. In contrast, the
Archbishop of Constantinople recalled
the
excellent
relations
between himself and Pope Francis,
The Phanar in Istanbul, Turkey
beginning with the celebration in
March 2013, which marked the start
of his petrine ministry: “It was the
first time since 1054 that an ecumenical patriarch participated in a ceremony of a beginning of the pontificate”, he explained. The friendship
was furthered strengthened last May
during the Pope’s pilgrimage to the
Holy Land and then on 8 May
when Bartholomew came to the Vatican for the invocation for peace
with the President of Israel, Shimon
Peres, and the Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas. “I did not hesitate for a second” to accept the invitation, he said.
The Patriarch also confirmed the
schedule of the Pope’s visit to Turkey from 28-30 November, especially
the events on Saturday, 29 November, when the Pope will go to the
Hagia Sophia Museum and the Sul-
L’Osservatore Romano bids farewell
to its Vice-Editor
“Thank you for the
seven years we have
spent together and I
hope you continue to
contribute responsibly
and professionally to
the future of the newspaper”. With these
simple, warm words
Carlo Di Cicco, ViceEditor of L’Osservatore
Romano, said farewell
to the newspaper on
Friday morning, 31 October.
The newspaper employees gathered to say
goodbye to Di Cicco, who left
L’Osservatore Romano on 1 November, after seven years of service, for
reasons of age. Present at the
farewell gathering from the Secretariat of State were Sr Toribia Rosa
Flores Ruiz, Sr Maria Grzesiuk and
Msgr Carlo Maria Polvani, Head of
the Information and Documentation Office. Also present from the
Vatican Press-Editrice L’Osservatore
Romano were Fr Marek Kaczmarczyk, Sales Manager, and Antonio
Pacella, Head of the Management
O ffice.
The Editor-in-Chief of L’Osservatore Romano thanked Di Cicco on
behalf of the whole newspaper, emphasizing the constant transformation of the newspaper and he conferred to him a plaque of the Order
of St Gregory the Great from Pope
Francis. The Vice-Editor gave a
brief and cordial address to his coworkers, recalling a truth that has
guided him in his more than 40
years of journalism: “Even if in our
work we use words as a service, we
must remember that we are at the
service of the Word”.
tan Ahmet Mosque. The Holy Father will celebrate Mass in the Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Spirit and
then with Bartholomew will lead an
ecumenical prayer in the Patriarchal
Church of St George, where a
private meeting between the Pope
and the Patriarch will take place.
Then on Sunday, 30 November, the
Feast of St Andrew the Apostle, a
divine liturgy at the Patriarchal
Church of St George and an ecumenical blessing, and the signing of
the joint declaration are scheduled.
As reported by Vatican Radio, the
Archbishop of Constantinople, who
met with the Austrian journalists,
underlined that following in the
footsteps of Paul VI (in July 1967),
John Paul II in November 1979 and
Benedict XVI in November 2006
came to the Bosphorus. “The last
two, and now Francis, made these
visits a short time after the beginning of their pontificate”. They are
“a clear sign”, Bartholomew said, referring to the joint traditional celebration on 30 November and to the
good relations between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.
The two Churches, he observed,
are in dialogue: “a dialogue of love
and charity. A dialogue that isn’t
vague idealism but a true path
which, even if at times full of difficulties, it does not stop, because
love is in charge. Thus our intrapersonal relationships represent an essential dimension to our approach.
If, in recent decades, the theological
dialogue has been moving forward
slowly; but according to God’s time,
it is moving quickly”. And now “joy
is great for the upcoming embrace
which we will have here, in this historic see of the Ecumenical Patriarch
with our beloved brother, His Holiness Pope Francis for the Feast of St
Andrew this 30 November”.
Fifth anniversary of Anglicanorum coetibus
God’s whole Church
On 4 November 2009 — with the
Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus —
Benedict XVI gave his consent for
the establishment of a personal ordinariate for Anglicans who have
entered into full communion with
the Catholic Church. This constitution concerned more than 8,000
faithful in the United Kingdom, the
United States of America and Australia.
For the anniversary of the document the Pope emeritus
wrote a brief letter — published on the Catholic
Herald website — to the
Friends of the Ordinariate
of Our Lady of Walsingham, the first of the three
ordinariates which came
out of the Apostolic Constitution. Established on
15 January 2011, Our Lady
of Walsingham gathers
2,500 former Anglicans
from England, Wales and
Scotland. Then in 2012,
the Apostolic See also recognized The Chair of
Saint Peter on 1 January
for the more than 4,550
faithful in the USA, and
on 15 June Our Lady of
the Southern Cross was
established for 1,000 Australians.
Responding to a letter
sent to him by President
Nicolas Ollivant, Pope
Benedict was glad to hear
about their progress and
about how the main church of the
Ordinariate is the historic chapel of
the Bavarian embassy in London
which “serves such an important
role in the whole Church of God”.
Dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption and Saint Gregory and
located on Warwick Street, in Soho.
The Bavarian chapel was sacked
during the anti-Catholic revolts of
1780, known as the Gordon Riots.
Our Lady of Walsingham

L’O S S E RVATOR E ROMANO

Transcription

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