SUMMARY:
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The communion born of faith is not interrupted by death
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All Saints' Day: a multitude of unknown and suffering saints
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Commemoration of the departed faithful: pray for those the world has
forgotten
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The Pope celebrates Mass for the cardinals and bishops departed
during the last year
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The Holy See at the United Nations advocates a peaceful use of space
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Other Pontifical Acts
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The
communion born of faith is not interrupted by death
Vatican
City, 1 November 2014 (VIS) – “The first two days of November
represent for all of us an intense moment of faith, prayer and
reflection on the 'last things' in our lives. Indeed, celebrating all
the Saints and commemorating all the departed faithful, the earthly
pilgrim Church lives and expresses in the liturgy the spiritual bond
that unites her with the heavenly Church”, explained the Holy
Father to the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square to pray the
Angelus.
“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. It is the communion that comes from faith and unites all
those who belong to Christ by Baptism. It is a spiritual union that
is not broken by death, but continues in the next life. In fact 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
beautiful communion between heaven and earth achieves its highest and
most intense manifestation in the Liturgy, and especially in the
celebration of the Eucharist, which expresses and fulfils the deepest
union between the members of the Church. In the Eucharist, we
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, life without end. This reality of communion fills us with
joy: it is good to have so many brothers and sisters in the faith who
walk alongside us, supporting us with their help and together we
travel the same road toward heaven. And it is comforting to know that
we have other brothers and sisters who have already reached heaven
ahead of us and who pray for us, so that together in eternity we can
contemplate the glorious and merciful face of the Father”.
Finally,
the Pope emphasised that in the great assembly of the saints, “God
has reserved the first place for the Mother of Jesus. Mary is at the
centre of the communion of saints, as a unique custodian of the bond
between the universal Church and Christ, the bond of th family. …
For those who want to follow Jesus on the path of the Gospel, she is
a safe guide because she is the first disciple, an attentive and
caring Mother, to whom we can entrust every desire and difficulty”.
After
the Angelus prayer, Francis commented that this Sunday's liturgy
refers to the glory of the heavenly Jerusalem, and invited the
faithful to pray that the “The Holy City, dear to Jews, Christians
and Muslims, that in these days bears witness to different tensions,
may increasingly be the sign and harbinger of the peace that God
wishes for all the human family”.
He
also recalled that today in Vitoria, Spain, the martyr Pedro Asúa
Mendía is 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 a
wonderful example of strength in the faith and witness of charity for
us”.
All
Saints' Day: a multitude of unknown and suffering saints
Vatican
City, 2 November 2014 (VIS) – Yesterday, 1 November, Pope Francis
presided at the mass for the Solemnity of All Saints at the ceremony
of Verano, attended by numerous Roman faithful. During the
celebration the relics of Saints John XXIII and John Paul II, the two
recently canonised popes, were displayed for veneration, and at the
end of the ceremony the Holy Father blessed the tombs.
Commenting
on the reading from the Book of Revelation, Francis spoke in his
homily on the devastation of creation by humanity and the many
suffering peoples whose only hope is placed in God. “Do not harm
the land or the sea or the trees”, cried the Angel to the four
Angels who were to devastate the earth and the sea and to destroy
everything, and the Pope affirmed that “We are capable of
devastating the Earth more fully than the Angels. And this is what we
are doing. We devastate Creation … we devastate life, we devastate
culture, we devastate values, we ravage hope. And how we are in need
of the Lord's strength, to seal us with his love and his strength, to
stop this mad race of destruction! The destruction of what He gave
us, of the most beautiful things that He made for us, for us to
nurture, to make them grow and bear fruit. Man has appropriated
everything, believing himself to be God, believing himself to be
king. And wars: wars continue, and as a system it is not exactly
helping to sow the seeds of life, but is instead destroying it. It is
an industry of destruction. And it is also a system in which that
which cannot be fixed is discarded; children are discarded, the
elderly are discarded, the young unemployed are discarded … entire
populations are discarded”.
In
the same passage St. John speaks about an immense and uncountable
crowd, including every nation, tribe, people and language, an
uncountable multitude that the Pope associated with the poor who, “to
save their lives, have to flee their homes … and live in tents,
suffering the cold, without medicine, hungry, because the 'god-man'
has appropriated Creation, all that is good that God made for us. …
And this is not ancient history – it is happening today. … It is
as if these people, these hungry and sick children, did not count; as
if they were of another species, as if they were not human. And this
multitude stands before God and begs: 'Salvation, please! Peace,
please! Bread, please! Work, please! … And among these persecuted
people, there are also those who are persecuted for their faith”.
The
Pope compared this multitude to the crowd dressed in white who
washing their robes in the blood of the Lamb, as narrated in the Book
of Revelation, and affirmed: “Today, on All Saints' Day, I would
like us to think of all of them, all of these unknown saints, … all
these people who suffer great tribulation. Most of the world
experiences this tribulation. And the Lord sanctifies these people,
sinners like us, but sanctifies them with tribulation”.
The
third image the Pope evoked was that of God, or rather, hope. “And
this is the Lord's blessing, that we still have: hope. The hope that
He will take pity on His people, that he will take pity on those in
their great tribulation, that He will take pity on the destroyers, so
that they convert. … What must our attitude be, if we want to
become part of this people who walk the path towards the Father, in
this world of devastation, in this world of wars, in this world of
tribulation? Our attitude, we have heard in the Gospel, is that of
the Beatitudes. Only that path can lead us to the encounter with God.
Only that path can save us from destruction, from the devastation of
the land, of Creation, of morals, of history, of the family, of
everything. Only that road: but it will not be easy. It will bring
problems and persecution. But it is the only route that will take us
forward”.
“May
the Lord help us and give us the grace of this hope, but also the
grace of the courage to leave behind all that is destruction,
devastation, relativism of life, exclusion of others, exclusion of
values, exclusion of all that the Lord has given us: the exclusion of
peace. May He free us from this and give us the grace to walk with
the hope of finding ourselves face-to-face with Him one day. And this
hope, brothers and sisters, does not disappoint”.
Commemoration
of the departed faithful: pray for those the world has forgotten
Vatican
City, 2 November 2014 (VIS) – The Solemnity of All Saints and the
commemoration of all the Faithful Departed, 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”, said Pope
Francis to the faithful gathered to pray the Angelus in St. Peter's
Square today.
On
the one hand, in fact, the Church, a pilgrim in history, rejoices
through the intercession of the saints and blessed who support her in
the mission of proclaiming the Gospel; on the other, she, like Jesus,
shares the tears of those who suffer the separation from loved ones,
and like Him and through Him echoes thanks to the Father who has
delivered us from the dominion of sin and death.
Today,
when we remember our dear departed, many people visit the cemetery
which, as its name itself implies, is a “place of rest”, where we
await the final awakening. “Jesus himself revealed that the death
of the body is like a sleep from which he awakens us”, explained
the Holy Father. “With this faith we stop – also spiritually –
at the graves of our loved ones. ... 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,
oppressed by hunger and poverty. We remember the nameless who rest in
common graves. We remember our brothers and sisters killed because
they are Christians; and those who sacrificed their lives to serve
others”.
“Church
tradition has always urged prayer for the dead, in particular by
offering the celebration of the Eucharist for them: it is the best
spiritual help that we can give to their souls, particularly to the
most abandoned ones. The foundation of prayers of remembrance is
found in the communion of the Mystical Body. Remembering the dead,
caring for their tombs and prayers of suffrage are testimony to
confident hope, rooted in the certainty that death does not have the
last word on human destiny, as humanity is destined for a life
without end, that has its root and its fulfilment in God”, said
Francis, who concluded the Angelus with a prayer for the departed by
the Passionist Antonio Rungi:
“God
of infinite mercy, we entrust to Your immense goodness all those who
have left this world for eternity, where you await all humanity,
redeemed by the precious blood of Christ Your Son, who died to save
us from our sins. Look not Lord, at our poverty, misery and human
weaknesses when we present ourselves before You to be judged in
happiness or condemned. Gaze upon us with pity, born of Your tender
heart and help us to walk the path of purification. May none of your
children be lost to the eternal fires of hell, where repentance is no
more. We entrust to You Lord, the souls of our beloved departed, of
those who died without the comfort of the Sacraments or who did not
have the opportunity to repent, not even at the end of their life.
May no one fear the encounter with You at the end of their earthly
pilgrimage, in the hope of being welcomed within the embrace of your
infinite mercy. May sister death find us in prayerful vigilance, and
full of all the good we have done during our existence, be it long or
short. Lord, may nothing distance us from you on this earth, may
everything and everyone support us in our ardent hope to serenely and
eternally rest in You. Amen”.
The
Pope celebrates Mass for the cardinals and bishops departed during
the last year
Vatican
City, 3 November 2014 (VIS) – Following tradition, this morning the
Holy Fther celebrated Mass in the Vatican Basilica in memory of all
the cardinals and bishops deceased during the last twelve months,
whom he remembered with gratitude, and recalling their service to the
Church. “This celebration, thanks to the Word of God, is completely
illuminated by faith in the Resurrection”, he affirmed.
“All
divine revelation is the fruit of the dialogue between God and His
peole, and also faith in the Resurrection is linked to this dialogue,
which accompanies the people of God in history. It is not surprising
that such a mystery as great, decisive and superhuman as the
Resurrection had to come all the way up to Jesus Christ. He was able
to say “I am the resurrection and the life”, as in Him this
mystery is not only fully revealed, but also put into effect,
becoming reality for the first time and definitively. … Every one
of us is invited to enter into this event. We are called first to
stay before Jesus' cross, to hear the cry of Jesus, his last breath,
and finally that silence that lasts the whole of Holy Saturday. And
then we are called to His tomb, to see that the great stone has been
set aside, to hear the announcement: 'He has risen! He is not here'.
And herein lies the answer. Here there is the foundation, the rock.
Not in 'persuasive and knowing discourse, but in the living word of
the Cross and of Jesus' resurrection.
“This
is what the apostle Paul preached: Jesus Christ, crucified and
resurrected. If He had not risen again, our faith would be empty and
inconsistent. But since He rose again, or rather, He is the
Resurrection, our faith is full of truth and eternal life”.
The
Holy See at the United Nations advocates a peaceful use of space
Vatican
City, 3 November 2014 (VIS) – “For a peaceful use of space” was
the theme of the intervention by Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Holy See
Permanent Observer at the United Nations, during the session of the
Special Political and Decolonisation Committee which took place on 17
October and focused on “International cooperation in the peaceful
uses of outer space”.
“Since
the earliest days of human history, humanity has looked to the sky
with wonder, longing to understand celestial realities and their
meaning in relation to humanity itself”, observed the nuncio.
“Because of the fundamental questions it has always raised, the
exploration of the universe has also deepened the understanding of
faith and its rapport with science. The Holy See believes that faith
is capable of both expanding and enriching the horizons of reason;
thus, it rejoices in the marvellous progress of science, seeing it
both as a product of the enormous God-given potential of the human
mind and as manifestation of the vastness and richness of creation”.
“Our
responsibility is to ensure that the fruits of these advances also
benefit the poor around the world”, he continued. “My delegation
is fully aware of the constraints to a universal access to the
beneficial uses of outer space, considering the huge investments put
into explorations and questions related to intellectual property,
patents, etc. However, in a time when outer space has become a huge
economic asset and hosts information and communications technologies,
States must work together to ensure that these benefits do not become
yet another cause of increasing economic and social inequalities, but
rather a shared resource for the common good of the entire global
community. Vital to promoting this common good is ensuring the
peaceful use of outer space. To this end, the ongoing discussion on
the development of an International Code of Conduct for Outer Space
Activities represents a positive step toward furthering a fairer and
safer use of outer space. It would undoubtedly help toward preventing
an arms race in outer space and, consequently, toward averting a new,
grave threat to international peace and security”.
The
archbishop went on to emphasise the importance of using outer space
for an ever greater understanding of our planet. “Satellites
monitor the health of oceans and forests. They provide data on water
cycles, climate patterns and other atmospheric phenomena. We trust
that this knowledge can convince us to change lifestyles and
practices detrimental to our environment. If we do not work together,
there will be no winners, only losers”.
“The
Holy See wishes to highlight the use of satellites in the diffusion
of knowledge and the elimination of illiteracy”, he concluded.
“Indeed, satellites can reach not only those places where
illiteracy is a thing of the past, but also those where many still
cannot read or write, especially in far-flung areas. However, care
must be taken that this outer space technology does not become an
instrument of dominion and a vehicle to impose certain cultures and
values on others”.
Other
Pontifical Acts
Vatican
City, 3 November 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has accepted the
resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Chiclayo, Peru,
presented by Bishop Jesus Moline Labarta upon reaching the age limit.
He has appointed Rev. Fr. Robert Francis Prevost, O.S.A., as
apostolic administrator of the same diocese. The bishop-elect was
born in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. in 1955, gave his solemn vows in
1981 and was ordained a priest in 1982. He holds a degree in canon
law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum),
Rome, and has served in a number of pastoral roles, including
chancellor of the diocese of Chulucanas, Peru; promoter of vocational
pastoral care and director of missions of his Order in the Province
of Chicago, U.S.A.; director of the seminary of his Order in
Trujillo, Peru, and prior general of the Augustinian Province of
Chicago. He is currently director of formation in the Convent of St.
Augustine in Chicago and provincial vicar of the Province Our Lady of
Good Counsel.
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