POPE VISITS MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY, REAFFIRMS VALUE OF SOLIDARITY

Vatican City, 22 May 2013 (VIS) – “My presence here this afternoon represents, first of all, a heartfelt 'thank you' to the Missionaries of Charity founded by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, who have worked here for 25 years, with many volunteers, for the many people who are in need of assistance. Thank you! All of you make the Church's love for the poor visible … and with your daily service you are—as the Psalm says—'You open wide your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing'. … How many people have you fed in these years; how many wounded, above all wounded spiritually, have you cared for!”

With these words Pope Francis addressed the missionaries, volunteers, and residents in the Gift of Mary Hospitality House located within Vatican City, just outside St. Peter's Square. He visited the community yesterday, Tuesday 21 May, at around 5:30pm in the afternoon, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Blessed John Paul II's placing the house under the care of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The Pope was welcomed by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, vicar general of His Holiness for Vatican City, and the Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, Sr. Mary Prema Pierick, M.C., and the sisters placed a garland of flowers around the pontiff's neck, in a gesture from Hindu tradition. The house accommodates around 25 women and feeds around 60 people on a daily basis.

In his brief speech to the community, the Pope focused on three words: house, gift, and Mary.

“This structure, built and inaugurated by Blessed John Paul II,” he said, “… is a 'home'. And when we say 'home', we mean a place of welcome … where you can feel good, re-find yourself, feel part of … a community. Even more profoundly, 'home' is a word with a typically familial flavour that recalls the warmth, affection, and love that can be felt in a family. A 'home' thus represents the most precious human wealth, that of encounter, that of the relationships between persons of different ages, cultures, and histories, but who live together and who, together, help one another to grow. … And that is what this house has sought to be for 25 years! At the border between the Vatican and Italy, it is a powerful reminder to all of us—to the Church, to the city of Rome—to always be more of a family, a 'home' in which we are open to welcome, to attention, and to fraternity.”

“Then there is a second very important word, 'gift', which qualifies this house and defines it typical identity. … I mean that this house gives welcome, material and spiritual support to you, dear guests, coming from various parts of the world. But you also are a gift for this house and for the Church. You tell us that loving God and our neighbour is not something abstract but profoundly concrete. It means seeing in every person the face of the Lord to serve and serving him concretely. … Here is lived a an open hospitality, regardless of one's nationality or religion, according to Jesus' teaching: 'Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.' We must recover the entire sense of gift, of gratuity and solidarity. A savage capitalism has taught the logic of profit at any cost, give in order to get, exploitation without looking at persons …. and we see the results in the crisis we are living through! This house is a place that teaches charity, a 'school' of charity, that teaches us to go out to every person, not for profit, but out of love.”

“Finally, there is one more feature of this house: it is qualified as a gift 'of Mary'. … Mary is an example and an inspiration for those who live in this house, and for all of us, to live charity towards our neighbour, not out of a type of social duty, but starting from God's love, from God's charity. … Mary is the one who leads us to Jesus and who teaches us how to go out from Jesus … For us Christians, love for one's neighbour is born from the love of God and is the clearest expression of it. Here you seek to love your neighbour, but also to let yourselves be loved by them. These two attitudes go hand in hand. There cannot be one without the other.”

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Statement of Pope on Oklahoma Tornados

Vatican City, 22 May 2013 (VIS) – Yesterday afternoon, the Holy Father sent a message, through Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B., to Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, for the tornado that devastated the city and suburbs, causing numerous victims and wounded on Monday, 20 May.

“The Holy Father,” reads the text, “has followed with deep concern the aftermath of the devastating tornado which has struck Oklahoma and he asks you convey to the entire community the assurance of his solidarity and closeness in prayer. Conscious of the tragic loss of life and the immensity of the work of rebuilding that lies ahead, he asks Almighty God to grant eternal rest to the departed, comfort to the afflicted, and strength and hope to the homeless and the injured. In a particular way he commends to the Father of mercies the many young children among the victims and their grieving families. Upon the local civil and religious leaders, and upon all involved in the relief efforts, His Holiness invokes the Risen Lord’s gifts of consolation, strength, and perseverance in every good.”

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SANTA MARTHA MASS: PATH OF FAITH DOES NOT ALIENATE

Vatican City, 26 April 2013 (VIS) – The journey of faith is not alienating, it is a preparation for arriving at our final destiny. These were the Pope's words during today's homily of the Mass he celebrated this morning at the Domus Sanctae Marthae. In attendance were employees of the Vatican Typography, the labour office of the Apostolic See (ULSA), and members of Corps of the Gendarmerie.

Pope Francis commented on Jesus' words to his disciples in today's Gospel: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” “Jesus' words are truly beautiful. At the moment of his farewell, Jesus speaks to his disciples, but from the heart. He knows that his disciples are sad … and He begins to speak of what? About heaven, about their final homeland. 'Have faith [in God] and also in me? … Using the image of an engineer, of an architect telling them what He is going to do: 'I am going to prepare you a place, in my Father's house there are many dwelling places.' And Jesus goes to prepare a place for us.”

Preparing a place means “preparing our possibility to enjoy, … our possibility to see, to fell, to understand the beauty of what awaits us, of that homeland towards which we walk. All of Christian life is Jesus' labour, the Holy Spirit's, to prepare us a place, to prepare our eyes to be able to see … our hearing to be able to hear the beautiful things, the beautiful words. Above all, to prepare our hearts … to love, to love more.”

Along our lives' path, the pontiff repeated, the Lord prepares our hearts “with trials, with consolations, with tribulations, with good things. The entire journey of our lives is a path of preparation. Sometimes the Lord has to do it quickly, like He did with the Good Thief. There were just a few minutes to prepare him and He did it. But it generally happens that way in our lives, doesn't it? Letting him prepare our hearts, our eyes, our hearing to arrive at this homeland. Because that is our homeland.”

But some would say “that all these thoughts are an alienation, that we are alienated, that this is life, the concrete, and beyond it you don't know what might be. … But Jesus tells us that it is not thus. He tells us: 'Have faith in me as well.' What I am telling you is the truth: I am not tricking you; I am not deceiving you.”

“Preparing oneself for heaven,” the Bishop of Rome finished, “is beginning to greet him from afar. This is not an alienation. This is the truth. This is letting Jesus prepare our hearts, our eyes, for that great beauty. It is the path of beauty, the path of our return to the homeland. May God grant us the hope, courage, and humility to let the Lord prepare us a place!”

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ALLIANZ AWARDS FR. FEDERICO LOMBARDI AS COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR

Vatican City, 18 April 2013 (VIS) – The German multinational financial services company Allianz Group, present in over 70 countries and with over 78 million clients worldwide, has awarded the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., as their Communicator of the Year.

The prize was awarded this morning during a meeting of the company's communications directors who meet once a year in a European capital to analyse themes and strategies tied to the world of communications with the assistance of experts in the field.

Among the reasons for this year's award, Allianz notes that Fr. Lombardi “represents the key to understanding and interpreting the Holy See with great refinement and experience, without seeking to make himself the protagonist.” The text of the award adds that the Press Office Director has always been “at the service of information, from both the side of the one who has it as well as that of the one who seeks it.”

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POPE FRANCIS SHARES SORROW OF PLAZA DE MAYO MOTHERS

Vatican City, 18 April 2013 (VIS) - “The Holy Father shares your sorrow, and that of the many mothers and families who have and are suffering the tragic loss of their loved ones at this moment in Argentina's history.” These are the words that the Pope addressed to Hebe de Bonafini, president of the Association of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, in a letter dated 10 April and signed by Msgr. Antoine Camilleri, under-secretary for the Holy See’s Relations with States.

The Bishop of Rome thus responded to the letter that Hebe de Bonafini sent to him this past 21 March, gladdened by Cardinal Bergoglio's commitment in the “slums” of Buenos Aires and asking him to join with “all those in this unjust world who are fighting for an end to poverty.”

The Pope, writes Msgr. Camilleri, expresses his gratitude for the letter and responds to “your kindness, asking God for the strength for the fight, in the ministry that he has just accepted, for the eradication of poverty in the world, so that the suffering of so many who are in need might cease. His Holiness appreciates and highly esteems those who are close to the most disadvantaged and who make the effort to assist them, understand them, and meet their aspirations. In his prayers, he also asks that those responsible for the common good be enlightened so that they might fight the scourge of poverty with effective, equable, and caring means.”

The letter concludes with the Pope's blessing “as a sign of hope and support, at the same time asking the favour that they pray for and have prayers said for him.”

The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo is an association of Argentinian mothers created in 1977 to denounce the disappearance of their children during the time of the Military Junta that controlled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. Since 1977 they have assembled every Thursday in the Plaza de Mayo in front of the Casa Rosada (the “Pink House”, seat of the Argentinian government) to protest for the crimes committed during that era and to keep alive the memory of the desaparecidos.

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CHRIST IS OUR ADVOCATE, AWAITING AND DEFENDING US

Vatican City, 17 April 2013 (VIS) – The meaning of the Ascension, the event culminating Jesus' earthly life, was the central theme of Pope Francis' catechesis during the Wednesday general audience, celebrated in St. Peter's Square and attended by over 50,000 people.

“In the Creed,” noted the pontiff, “we confess our faith in Christ who 'ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father'. … What does this mean for our lives? While he 'ascends' to [Jerusalem], where his 'exodus' from this life will take place, Jesus already sees the goal, Heaven, but he knows well that the path that will take him back to the Father's glory passes through the Cross, through obedience to the divine plan of love for humanity. … We also must be clear, in our Christian lives, that entering into God's glory demands daily fidelity to his will, even when it requires sacrifice, when it sometimes requires us to change our plans.”

The Pope explained the Ascension in light of St. Luke's Gospel, which gives a short version of it. “Jesus led his disciples 'as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven'. .. This is the first important point: Jesus is the only and eternal Priest who, by his passion, has traversed death and the grave and is risen and ascended into Heaven. He is with God the Father, where he always intercedes in our favour. As St. John affirms in his First Letter: He is our Advocate.”

He then added: “How wonderful it is to hear this! When someone is called in front of a judge or goes to court, the first he does is look for a lawyer to defend him. We've got one who always defends us, who defends us from the devil's snares, defends us from ourselves, from our sins! Dear brothers and sisters, we have this Advocate. Let us not be afraid to go to him and ask forgiveness, to ask for blessing, to ask for mercy. He always forgives us. He is our Advocate. He defends us always. Never forget this!”

“Jesus' Ascension into Heaven thus allows us to know this reality that is so consoling on our journey: in Christ, true God and true man, our humanity has been brought to God. He has opened the way. He is like the leader of a mountain climbing party that is roped together. He has reached the summit and pulls us to himself, leading us to God. If we entrust our lives to him, if we let ourselves be guided by him, we are certain of being in safe hands.”

St. Luke mentions that the Apostles, after seeing Jesus ascend into Heaven, return to Jerusalem 'with great joy'. This seems a little strange to us,” the Pope said. “Usually, when we are separated from our family members, from our friends, definitively, and especially when caused by death, we are naturally sad because … we can no longer enjoy … their presence. Instead, the Evangelist emphasizes the Apostles' profound joy. Why? Precisely because, with the gaze of faith, they understand that, even if they gone from view, Jesus remains always with them. He does not abandon them and, in the Father's glory, He sustains them, guides them, and intercedes for them.”

The Evangelist also tells of the Ascension at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles “to underline that this event is like the link that connects and unites Jesus' earthly life to that of the Church.” He also mentions that, after a cloud takes him from sight of the Apostles, they remain looking at the sky until two men dressed in white garments invite them not to stay fixed there, looked at the sky, but “to nourish their lives and witness with the certainty that Jesus will return in the same way they saw him ascend to Heaven. It is an invitation to step forth from the contemplation of Jesus' Lordship and to receive from him the strength to carry forth and witness to the Gospel in their everyday lives: to contemplate and to act, 'ora et labora', St. Benedict teaches, are both necessary in our Christian life.”

“The Ascension,” Francis concluded, “doesn't indicate Jesus' absence, but rather it tells us that He is living among us in a new way. He is no longer in a particular place in the world as He was before the Ascension. Now He is in the Lordship of God, present in every space and time, close to each of us. In our lives we are never alone: we have this Advocate who awaits us and defends us. We are never alone. The crucified and risen Lord guides us. With us there are many brothers and sisters who, in their family life and their work, in their problems and difficulties, in their joys and hopes, daily live the faith and bring, together with us, the Lordship of God's love to the world. In Jesus Christ, risen and ascended into Heaven, we have an Advocate.”

At the end of his catechesis, the Pope greeted, among others, the prelates of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and Polish pilgrims from the Shrine of St. Andrew Bobola—one of the Patron Saints of Poland, a Jesuit and martyr—in Warsaw who had come to Rome for the 75th anniversary of the saint's canonization. “He gave his life for the faith, the reconciliation of his brothers, and the unity of the Church. May his intercession before God bring the gift of unity and peace to the Church,” the Holy Father exclaimed.

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INTERNATIONAL FAMILY CENTRE IN NAZARETH: SIGN OF ENCOURAGEMENT FOR FAMILIES AROUND THE WORLD

Vatican City, 12 April 2013 (VIS) – This morning in the Press Office of the Holy See, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, and Dr. Salvatore Martinez, national president of Renewal in the Holy Spirit, presented the Vatican Foundation “International Family Centre in Nazareth”, which will be erected on the outskirts of that city above the hill that dominates the city centre and the Basilica of the Annunciation. The press conference also included Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, auxiliary of Jerusalem of the Latins and patriarchal vicar for Israel in Nazareth.

Archbishop Paglia briefly outlined the history of the Centre's creation, noting that it was John Paul II, who wanted to be remembered as “the Pope of the family”, who, as a result of the World Encounter of Families in Rio de Janeiro in 1997, announced the idea of an International Centre for the Family in Nazareth. On the way to the Jubilee Year 2000, Pope John Paul II considered the construction of this centre as a sign of encouragement for families around the world.” However, realization of the idea was delayed until 2009, shortly before Pope Benedict XVI's pastoral visit of the Holy Land, when “the Secretary of State and Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family at the time, decided to recover the initiative and checked if the ecclesial movement Renewal in the Holy Spirit was available to undertake the project.”

After long negotiations with the ecclesiastical, civil, and political authorities in Israel an executive plan was approved. In 2012, during the World Encounter of Families in Milan, the “International Family Centre in Nazareth” was presented as a “working sign” of the Pontifical Council for the Family. In October of that same year, Benedict XVI gave “proper legal form to the project, ordering the erection of the Vatican Foundation “International Family Centre in Nazareth” with public and civil Vatican juridical personality, as well as the the 'ad experimentum' approval of its Statute.” The Foundation was officially established this past 18 January, and is based at the Pontifical Council for the Family and presided over by Dr. Salvatore Martinez, national president of Renewal in the Holy Spirit.

Referring to the project's deep feeling, Archbishop Paglia noted Benedict XVI's words during the blessing of the Centre's first stone on Mount Precipice in Nazareth in 2009: “We pray that this will promote strong family life in this region, will offer support and assistance to families everywhere, and encourage them in their irreplaceable mission to society.”

He continued, outlining the tasks that the International Centre will perform. “It will be a centre for spirituality of the family, for formation in parental and familiar life, of pastoral care for for workers, of preparation for the new evangelization, and activities founded in the ecclesial and social subjectivity of the family. It will be a permanent observatory of study on family ministry in the world, especially in the Holy Land and the Middle East. … And it will be a material support to families in need, especially in the Holy Land, through international fund raising projects.”

“There are places,” the archbishop concluded, “endowed with an extraordinary evocative and symbolic strength. Nazareth is one of those. It is the place where Jesus grew up, where his house was, … his family. … It is a land—today even more than at his time—full of tension and pain. But perhaps precisely because of this, it is a land that more than any other claims the right to peace and universal brotherhood. … Christian families can become co-authors of this dream.”

For his part, Dr. Martinez expressed the desire that it “become a privileged place for spreading the 'Gospel of the Family', a 'showcase' of all the beautiful, the good, the true, and the just that the family offers and witnesses to in the world.” He also noted that the Centre, built upon property held by the Holy See as neighbouring property, will be divided into two buildings on a one hectare area. Once fully operational it will consist of a 500 seat auditorium, a diocesan pastoral centre, meeting and study rooms, a 500 seat church, lodging for a residential community, a 100 room hotel with restaurant designed to accommodate families, a play area and outdoor children's entertainment areas, and exterior passages, car parks, and leisure areas. The total cost of the work will be approximately 12 million euro and the property will always belong to the Holy See.

Dr. Martinez announced the launch of the “Portal of the Family”. “It is a unique proposition in the international scene. It was created with the aim of ensuring all families, under a 'horizontal subsidiarity' and in the name of a 'gift economy', with a wide range of free services to support the choices and needs that grandparents, parents, and children encounter everyday in their life journeys. … The portal, initially only online in Italian, is intended to have analogous realisations in the world's other countries and languages … In it, doctors, psychologists, economists, lawyers, educators, and priests will interact with families.”

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