SUMMARY:
-
THE POPE TO THE UNITED NATIONS EXECUTIVE BOARD: CHALLENGE ALL FORMS
OF INJUSTICE
-
TO THE PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES: EVANGELISATION MUST START WITH
THE LEAST AMONG US
-
BISHOPS OF ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA: YOUR EFFORTS TO ALLEVIATE THE
SUFFERING OF YOUR PEOPLE BEAR WITNESS TO GOD'S LOVE
-
ABDUCTION OF SCHOOLGIRLS IN NIGERIA: A HORRIBLE FORM OF VIOLENCE TO
BE STRONGLY CONDEMNED
-
CARDINAL TAURAN IN JORDAN
-
AUDIENCES
______________________________________
THE
POPE TO THE UNITED NATIONS EXECUTIVE BOARD: CHALLENGE ALL FORMS OF
INJUSTICE
Vatican
City, 9 May 2014 (VIS) – This morning Pope Francis received in
audience the secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon,
and the leading executive officers of the agencies, funds and
programmes of the United Nations and specialised organisations,
gathered in Rome for the biannual meeting for strategic coordination
of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board.
In
his address, the Pontiff thanked the those who are primarily
responsible for the international system, “for the great efforts
being made to ensure world peace, respect for human dignity, the
protection of persons, especially the poorest and most vulnerable,
and harmonious economic and social development”. He also
congratulated them on the results of the Millennium Development
Goals, especially in terms of education and the decrease in extreme
poverty, adding however, that “it must be kept in mind that the
world’s peoples deserve and expect even greater results” since
“an important part of humanity does not share in the benefits of
progress and is in fact relegated to the status of second-class
citizens”.
Therefore,
future sustainable development goals must be “formulated and
carried out with generosity and courage, so that they can have a real
impact on the structural causes of poverty and hunger, attain more
substantial results in protecting the environment, ensure dignified
and productive labour for all, and provide appropriate protection for
the family, which is an essential element in sustainable human and
social development. Specifically, this involves challenging all forms
of injustice and resisting the 'economy of exclusion', the 'throwaway
culture' and the 'culture of death' which nowadays sadly risk
becoming passively accepted”.
The
Holy Father explained that the spirit that should be “at the
beginning and end of all political and economic activity” may be
found in “the encounter between Jesus Christ and the rich tax
collector Zacchaeus, as a result of which Zacchaeus made a radical
decision of sharing and justice, because his conscience had been
awakened by the gaze of Jesus. The gaze, often silent, of that part
of the human family which is cast off, left behind, ought to awaken
the conscience of political and economic agents and lead them to
generous and courageous decisions with immediate results, like the
decision of Zacchaeus. … Today, in concrete terms, an awareness of
the dignity of each of our brothers and sisters whose life is sacred
and inviolable from conception to natural death must lead us to share
with complete freedom the goods which God’s providence has placed
in our hands, material goods but also intellectual and spiritual
ones, and to give back generously and lavishly whatever we may have
earlier unjustly refused to others”.
“The
account of Jesus and Zacchaeus teaches us that above and beyond
economic and social systems and theories, there will always be a need
to promote generous, effective and practical openness to the needs of
others”, he continued. “Jesus does not ask Zacchaeus to change
jobs nor does he condemn his financial activity; he simply inspires
him to put everything, freely yet immediately and indisputably, at
the service of others. Consequently, I do not hesitate to state, as
did my predecessors, that equitable economic and social progress can
only be attained by joining scientific and technical abilities with
an unfailing commitment to solidarity accompanied by a generous and
disinterested spirit of gratuitousness at every level. A contribution
to this equitable development will also be made both by international
activity aimed at the integral human development of all the world’s
peoples and by the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by
the State, as well as indispensable cooperation between the private
sector and civil society”.
“Consequently”,
the Holy Father concluded, “while encouraging you in your
continuing efforts to coordinate the activity of the international
agencies, which represents a service to all humanity, I urge you to
work together in promoting a true, worldwide ethical mobilisation
which, beyond all differences of religious or political convictions,
will spread and put into practice a shared ideal of fraternity and
solidarity, especially with regard to the poorest and those most
excluded”.
TO
THE PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES: EVANGELISATION MUST START WITH THE
LEAST AMONG US
Vatican
City, 9 May 2014 (VIS) – Missionary action is the paradigm for all
works of the Church, said the Holy Father this morning, in his
address to the participants in the meeting of the Pontifical Mission
Societies, which is being held in Rome this week.
The
Pope mentioned that with his apostolic exhortation “Evangelii
gaudium” he intended to encourage the faithful to begin a new,
evangelical era. “Evangelisation in this time of great social
transformations, necessitates a missionary, outreach Church, capable
of discernment in order to measure up to different cultures and
visions of man. For a world in transformation, there is a need for a
Church that is renewed and transformed by contemplation and personal
contact with Christ, by the power of the Spirit. … It is He Who
gives us the strength to undertake the missionary path and the joy of
proclamation, so that the light of Christ may illuminate those who
still do not know Him or have denied Him. This takes the courage to
go forth to 'reach all the peripheries in need of the light of the
Gospel'. We cannot be held back by our weaknesses or our sins, nor by
the many obstacles to the witness and proclamation of the Gospel”.
He
went on to affirm that the Church, “missionary by nature, has as
her fundamental prerogative the service of charity to all”; and
that “fraternity and solidarity are natural to her life and her
mission in and for the world”. Evangelisation “must reach out to
all, beginning with the least among us, the poor, those whose backs
are bent by the weight and weariness of life. In so doing the Church
continues the mission of Christ Himself”.
The
Church is “the population of the beatitudes, the house of the poor,
of the afflicted, of the excluded and the persecuted, of those who
hunger and thirst for justice”, he continued, emphasising that the
representatives of the Pontifical Mission Societies are called upon
to work so that ecclesial communities may know how to “welcome the
poor with preferential love, keeping the doors of the Church open so
that all may enter and find refuge”.
The
Pontifical Mission Societies are “the special tool that focuses on
and takes special care of the 'missio ad gentes', and the Pope urges
the members to “promote missionary co-responsibility”, as there
is a great need for priests, consecrated persons and lay faithful
who, “seized by Christ's love, are set ablaze with passion for the
Kingdom of God and willing to set out on the path of evangelisation”.
BISHOPS
OF ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA: YOUR EFFORTS TO ALLEVIATE THE SUFFERING OF
YOUR PEOPLE BEAR WITNESS TO GOD'S LOVE
Vatican
City, 9 May 2014 (VIS) – “Your visit provides an opportunity for
us to reflect together on the life of the Church in Ethiopia and
Eritrea and to discuss the joys and challenges which you face daily”,
writes the Pope in his text addressed to the prelates of the Bishops'
Conference of the two countries, at the end of their “ad limina”
visit. “Though you are from different countries and belong to
different rites, each with its own particular richness, your mission
in service of Christ and his Church is the same: to proclaim the
Gospel and to build up the faithful in holiness, unity and charity.
When that mission is exercised in collaboration and mutual support,
the Church, united in the Spirit, breathes with the two lungs of East
and West and burns with love for Christ”.
Pope
Francis comments that in our times, “we require again this
missionary spirit to announce the saving message of new life in
Christ to all of society, not only to those who do not know him, but
also to the faithful, so they may hear once more the freshness of the
Gospel and be encouraged to find ever new and creative ways to live
and celebrate their faith”.
He
encourages the prelates to be “good and generous fathers to your
priests, present to them and attentive to their human and spiritual
needs, and their ongoing formation in the priesthood”. He
continued, “If they are to be holy and effective heralds of the
Gospel, it is essential that they themselves be constantly
evangelised anew. This should first take place in the seminary
through integral human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral
formation.”
He
also mentions the support of the “many men and women religious who,
for many generations, have generously cooperated in building up your
local communities, reflecting the merciful face of Christ and
assisting your Churches in living out the Gospel”. The Holy Father
asks the bishops to “encourage and support their continued efforts
to serve the spiritual and material needs of the people of Ethiopia
and Eritrea today”.
The
Holy Father emphasises that “the work of evangelisation is not
reserved to the clergy or religious, but is the competence of all the
Christian faithful”, and it is therefore “important to continue
to identify and prepare qualified lay leaders to assist in forming
the faithful and thus make present 'the fragrance of Christ’s
closeness and his personal gaze'”.
“Many
years of conflict and continuing tensions, in addition to widespread
poverty and drought conditions, have brought great suffering to the
people” he continues, thanking the bishops for the “generous
social programmes which, inspired by the Gospel, you provide in
collaboration with various religious, charitable and governmental
agencies, aimed at alleviating this suffering”. He mentions, in
particular, “the many children you serve who experience hunger and
who have been orphaned because of violence and poverty” and “the
young people who like so many of their friends and family would
otherwise flee their homeland in search of greater opportunities, and
risk losing their lives during dangerous journeys”, as well as “the
many elderly who could so easily be forgotten in the midst of such
hardships”.
“Your
efforts on their behalf, which give such a powerful witness to the
love of God in your midst, are an extraordinary grace for the people.
In your loving concern for the poor and downtrodden, may you continue
to seek new opportunities to cooperate with civil authorities in
advancing the common good”, he concludes.
ABDUCTION
OF SCHOOLGIRLS IN NIGERIA: A HORRIBLE FORM OF VIOLENCE TO BE STRONGLY
CONDEMNED
Vatican
City, 9 May 2014 (VIS) – Yesterday, in a statement to journalists,
the director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi,
S.J., declared that the kidnapping in Nigeria of a large number of
schoolgirls by Boko Haram terrorists is yet another of the “horrible
forms of violence long typical of this group”.
He
continued, “The denial of any respect for the lives and dignity of
the human person, even the most innocent, vulnerable and defenceless,
calls for the strongest condemnation and elicits the most heartfelt
compassion for the victims, as well as horror at the physical and
spiritual suffering and the incredible humiliation inflicted upon
them. We add our voice to the many appeals for their liberation and
their restoration to a normal condition of life. We hope and pray
that Nigeria, thanks to the commitment of all those who are able to
help, may find a way to end a situation of conflict and hateful
terrorism which is a source of incalculable suffering”.
CARDINAL
TAURAN IN JORDAN
Vatican
City, 9 May 2014 (VIS) – Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of
the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, accompanied by
the secretary of the same dicastery, Fr. Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot,
will travel to Amman, Jordan on 12 May to participate in a seminar on
religion and violence at the Petra University of Amman, intended to
promote interreligious dialogue. The Cardinal will speak during the
section dedicated to religion. On 13 and 14 May the Holy See
delegation will take part in the third conference organised by the
Pontifical Council in collaboration with the Royal Institute for
Interfaith Studies, “Meeting Current Challenges Through Education”.
The work will begin with discourses from His Royal Highness the
Prince El Hassan Bin Talal and Cardinal Tauran, and will conclude
with a joint declaration.
AUDIENCES
Vatican
City, 9 May 2014 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father received in
audience:
-
Eight prelates of the Bishops' Conference of Ethiopia and Eritrea on
their “ad limina” visit:
Bishop
Angelo Moreschi, S.D.B., apostolic vicar of Gambella;
Bishop
Woldetensae Ghebreghiorghis, O.F.M. Cap., apostolic vicar of Harar;
Bishop
Woldeghiorghis Matheos, apostolic vicar of Hosanna;
Bishop
Markos Gebremedhin, C.M., apostolic vicar of Jimma-Bonga;
Bishop
Abraham Desta, apostolic vicar of Meki;
Bishop
Varghese Thottamkara, C.M., apostolic vicar of Nekemte;
Bishop
Tsegaye Keneni Derera, apostolic vicar of Soddo;
Fr.
Angelo Antonini, O.F.M. Cap., apostolic prefect of Robe.
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Archbishop Jose Luis Escobar Alas of San Salvador, president of the
Episcopal Conference of El Salvador, and entourage.
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