SUMMARY:
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HONDURAS: CONTINUED EFFORTS FOR RECONCILATION AND THE COMMON GOOD
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VISIT OF THE PRESIDENT OF HUNGARY: SOCIAL AND ETHICAL REPERCUSSIONS
OF THE ECONOMIC CRISIS AND COMMITMENT TO PEACE
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FRANCIS: NO HUMAN LIFE IS MORE VALUABLE THAN ANOTHER
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INTERVIEW WITH POPE FRANCIS IN JESUIT MAGAZINES
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CHARTER OF THE RIGHTS OF THE FAMILY: CURRENT AND VALID, 30 YEARS ON
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
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HONDURAS:
CONTINUED EFFORTS FOR RECONCILATION AND THE COMMON GOOD
Vatican
City, 20 September 2013 (VIS) – This morning in the Vatican
Apostolic Palace, Pope Francis received in audience Porfirio Lobo
Sosa, president of the Republic of Honduras, who subsequently went on
to meet with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B.,
accompanied by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations
with States.
During
the course of the cordial discussions, satisfaction was expressed for
the good relations between Honduras and the Holy See, and for the
gift of a statue of Nuestra Senora de Suyapa, national patron,
offered to the Pontiff by the Head of State and displayed in the
Vatican Gardens. Emphasis was given to the Church's valuable
contribution within the country, especially in the fields of
education and healthcare, as well as in charitable works to combat
poverty and organised crime.
The
discussions then turned to themes of an ethical nature such as the
defence of human life and the family, and the importance of
continuing efforts in favour of reconciliation and the common good.
VISIT
OF THE PRESIDENT OF HUNGARY: SOCIAL AND ETHICAL REPERCUSSIONS OF THE
ECONOMIC CRISIS AND COMMITMENT TO PEACE
Vatican
City, 20 September 2013 (VIS) – This morning in the Vatican
Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father Francesco received in audience
János Áder, president of Hungary, who subsequently went on to meet
with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B.,
accompanied by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations
with States.
During
the cordial discussions, in which Hungary’s long Christian
tradition was emphasised, satisfaction was expressed for the good
relations between the Parties and the fruitful collaboration between
the Catholic Church and the State, also upheld by current Agreements.
The
discussions then turned to the international situation, especially
the persistent consequences in Europe of the international economic
crisis, as well as the need to confront related ethical and social
matters. In this context, mention was made of the Hungarian
government’s commitment in favour of life and the family.
Finally,
the Parties considered matters of common interest such as the
protection of Creation and the commitment to peace and religious
freedom, paying particular attention to the situation in Syria and
the problems faced by Christians in the Middle East, and expressing
their hope that the path of dialogue and negotiation may be pursued
with decision, in order to bring about a rapid end to the conflict.
FRANCIS:
NO HUMAN LIFE IS MORE VALUABLE THAN ANOTHER
Vatican
City, 20 September 2013 (VIS) – Today the Pope met with members of
the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations and
Catholic gynaecologists, and spoke of the current paradoxical
situation of the medical profession. “On the one hand we see
progress in the field of medicine, thanks to the work of scientists
who passionately and unreservedly dedicate themselves to the search
for new cures. On the other hand, however, we also encounter the risk
that doctors lose sight of their identity in the service of life”.
He referred to the Encyclical Caritas in Veritate to explain that
this paradoxical situation is seen also in the fact that, “while
new rights are attributed to or indeed almost presumed by the
individual, life is not always protected as the primary value and the
primordial right of every human being. The ultimate aim of medicine
remains the defence and promotion of life”. Faced with this
contradictory situation, the Pope renewed the Church's appeal to the
conscience of all healthcare professionals and volunteers, especially
gynaecologists. “Yours is a singular vocation and mission, which
necessitates study, conscience and humanity”, he said.
Again,
Francis spoke of the “throwaway culture” that leads to the
elimination of human beings, especially those who are physically and
socially weakest. “Our response to this mentality is a 'yes' to
life, decisive and without hesitation. 'The first right of the human
person is his life. He has other goods and some are precious, but
this one is fundamental – the condition for all the others'”.
Reiterating
that in recent times, human life in its entirety has become a
priority for the Magisterium of the Church, the Pope emphasised that
“goods have a price and can be sold, but people have dignity, they
are worth more than goods and have no price”.
Francis
asked those present to “bear witness to and disseminate this
'culture of life' … remind all, through actions and words, that in
all its phases and at any age, life is always sacred and always of
quality. And not as a matter of faith, but of reason and science!
There is no human life more sacred than another, just as there exists
no human life qualitatively more meaningful than another”.
INTERVIEW
WITH POPE FRANCIS IN JESUIT MAGAZINES
Vatican
City, 20 September 2013 (VIS) – Pope Francis has granted a lengthy
interview, published in the Italian Jesuit magazine “La Civilta
Cattolica” and simultaneously in another sixteen magazines linked
to the Society of Jesus throughout the world. The interview was the
result of three private meetings and more than six hours of
discussion between the Pope and the editor of “La Civilta
Cattolica”, Fr. Antonio Spadaro, during the month of August at the
Santa Marta guesthouse.
In
the interview, more than thirty pages long, the Pope talks frankly
about himself, his artistic and literary tastes (Dostoyevski and
Holderlin, Borges and Cervantes, Caravaggio and Chagall, but also
Fellini's “La Strada”, Rossellini, “Babette's Feast”, Mozart,
and Wagner's “Tetralogy”), and his experience in the Society of
Jesus and as archbishop of Buenos Aires. He defines himself as “a
sinner. This is the most accurate definition. It is not a figure of
speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner.”
Referring
to his period as Provincial in the Society of Jesus, he says, “My
authoritarian and quick manner of making decisions led me to have
serious problems and to be accused of being ultraconservative”.
However, as archbishop this experience helped him to understand the
importance of listening to the viewpoints of others. “I believe
that consultation is very important. The consistories, the synods
are, for example, important places to make real and active this
consultation. We must, however, give them a less rigid form”.
He
also talks about how his Jesuit training, and the process of
discernment in particular, have enabled him to better face his
ministry. “For example, many think that changes and reforms can
take place in a short time. I believe that we always need time to lay
the foundations for real, effective change. … The wisdom of
discernment redeems the necessary ambiguity of life and helps us find
the most appropriate means, which do not always coincide with what
looks great and strong.”
For
the Pope, the Church nowadays is most in need of “the ability to
heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs
nearness, proximity. I see the church as a field hospital after
battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has
high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to
heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the
wounds, heal the wounds. ... And you have to start from the ground
up. The church sometimes has locked itself up in small things, in
small-minded rules. The most important thing is the first
proclamation: Jesus Christ has saved you! … Instead of being just a
church that welcomes and receives by keeping the doors open, let us
try also to be a church that finds new roads, that is able to step
outside itself and go to those who do not attend Mass, to those who
have quit or are indifferent”.
With
reference to complex questions such as homosexuality or the situation
of divorced and remarried Catholics, he insists on the need to
“always consider the person. Here we enter into the mystery of the
human being. In life, God accompanies persons, and we must accompany
them, starting from their situation. It is necessary to accompany
them with mercy”.
The
Pope added that “The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are
not all equivalent” and “The church’s pastoral ministry cannot
be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of
doctrines to be imposed insistently. … We have to find a new
balance. … The proposal of the Gospel must be more simple,
profound, radiant. It is from this proposition that the moral
consequences then flow”.
Reflecting
on the role of women in the Church, he reiterated that “the
feminine genius is needed wherever we make important decisions. The
challenge today is this: to think about the specific place of women
also in those places where the authority of the church is exercised
for various areas of the church”.
Another
theme considered during the interview was the importance of the
Vatican Council II as “a re-reading of the Gospel in light of
contemporary culture,” says the Pope. “Vatican II produced a
renewal movement that simply comes from the same Gospel. Its fruits
are enormous. Just recall the liturgy. The work of liturgical reform
has been a service to the people as a re-reading of the Gospel from a
concrete historical situation. Yes, there are hermeneutics of
continuity and discontinuity, but one thing is clear: the dynamic of
reading the Gospel, actualising its message for today – which was
typical of Vatican II – is absolutely irreversible”.
In
the final passages of the interview, Francis spoke of the “temptation
to seek God in the past or in a possible future”, and remarked that
“God is certainly in the past because we can see the footprints.
And God is also in the future as a promise. But the ‘concrete’
God, so to speak, is today. For this reason, complaining never helps
us find God. The complaints of today about how ‘barbaric’ the
world is – these complaints sometimes end up giving birth within
the Church to desires to establish order in the sense of pure
conservation, as a defence. No: God is to be encountered in the world
of today”.
The
full text of the interview can be found the online editions of
American Magazine ( www.americanmagazine.org) and the UK-based
Thinking Faith ( www.thinkingfaith.org).
CHARTER
OF THE RIGHTS OF THE FAMILY: CURRENT AND VALID, 30 YEARS ON
Vatican
City, 20 September 2013 (VIS) – This morning a press conference was
held in the Holy See Press Office, with the participation of
Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for
the Family, Helen Alvare, professor of law, and Francesco D'Agostino,
an Italian jurist, to present the international work-conference on
“The Rights of the Family and the Challenges of the Contemporary
World”, scheduled to take place from 19 to 21 September.
In
his address, Archbishop Paglia described the family as the subject of
rights which are strictly related to the rights of the individual;
“indeed, the family is a communion of persons, and its
self-realisation depends to a significant degree on the correct
application of the rights of those who compose this unit. Some of
these rights are directly related to the family, such as the right of
parents to responsible procreation and the education of their
offspring; other rights, instead, relate to the nuclear family only
indirectly”.
The
archbishop emphasised that the Charter of the Rights of the Family,
thirty years after its publication, is unfortunately still a
“little-known document”, despite being “a prophetic appeal in
favour of the institution of the family, which should be respected
and defended from all forms of usurpation”. He added that the
Pontifical Council wished to convene an international conference,
linked to the Association of Italian Catholic Jurists, to “return
to the inspiration for these principles. It is true that we find
ourselves in a new cultural context that questions the institution of
the family even more radically than in the past. But the validity of
the principles gathered and ordered in the Charter stands firm to
this day”.
OTHER
PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican
City, 20 September 2013 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father:
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appointed Bishop Donald J. Kettler as bishop of Saint Cloud (area
31,730, population 559,865, Catholics 142,042, priests 216, permanent
deacons 52, religious 637), U.S.A. Bishop Kettler, previously bishop
of Fairbanks, U.S.A., was born in Minneapolis, U.S.A., in 1944, was
ordained to the priesthood in 1970, and received episcopal ordination
in 2002. He succeeds Bishop John F. Kinney, whose resignation from
the pastoral care of the same diocese, upon having reached the age
limit, was accepted by Holy Father.
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appointed Archbishop Roger Lawrence Schwietz, O.M.I., of Anchorage,
U.S.A., as apostolic administrator “sede vacante et ad nutum
Sanctae Sedis” of Fairbanks (U.S.A.).
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accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of
Wewak, Papua New Guinea, presented by Bishop Anthony Joseph Burgess
upon having reached the age limit, appointing Archbishop Stephen
Joseph Reichert , O.F.M. Cap. of Madang as apostolic administrator
“sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis” of Wewak.
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