SUMMARY:
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THE CHURCH IN THE SERVICE OF SICK ELDERLY PEOPLE
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CARDINAL TAURAN AT KAICIID: RELIGIONS MUST AVOID ENGENDERING A SPIRIT
OF SUPERIORITY OR EXCLUSION
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THE CATACOMBS OF PRISCILLA RESTORED AND ON GOOGLE MAPS
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
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THE
CHURCH IN THE SERVICE OF SICK ELDERLY PEOPLE
Vatican
City, 19 November 2013 (VIS) – “The Church at the Service of Sick
Elderly People: Care for People with Neurodegenerative Pathologies”
is the theme of the 28th International Conference of the Pontifical
Council for Health Care Workers (Health Care Pastoral) scheduled to
take place in the Vatican's New Synod Hall from 21 to 23 November. In
a press conference held in the Holy See Press Office this morning,
the initiative was presented by Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski,
president of the dicastery, accompanied by by Msgr. Jean-Marie
Mupendawatu and Fr. Augusto Chendi, M.I., respectively secretary and
under-secretary of the same dicastery, along with Dr. Gabriella
Salvini Porro, president of the Alzheimer Federation, Italy, and Dr.
Gabriele Carbone, head of the Dementia Centre – Alzheimer Unit,
Italian Hospital Group, Guidonia, Italy.
“The
four cardinal points” of the conference are “in-depth study,
dialogue and exchange of experiences, reflection and prayer, with the
aim of improving health care as far as possible, in the form of
pastoral service to the sick and suffering”, explained Archbishop
Zimowski. The work of the conference “will be inaugurated with a
Holy Mass at the Chair of St. Peter, and will culminate on Saturday
23 November in an encounter of reflection and prayer prior to the
audience with Pope Francis. ... There will be almost 700
participants, including researchers, doctors, ecclesial and
health-care workers, professionals and volunteers, all engaged in the
care of elderly people, and they come from over 57 countries, in all
five continents”.
“This
year's theme was chosen, bearing in mind its current and future
importance, the needs to which it gives rise in terms of pastoral
care, and the importance, as Pope Francis has reaffirmed on numerous
occasions, of promoting a more inclusive society, in which even the
weakest sectors of the population may be fully integrated, respected
and valued”. The archbishop went on to explain that nowadays the
various forms of senile dementia – of which Alzheimer's is the most
widespread, diagnosed in over fifty percent of recorded cases – is
on the increase, affecting 35 million people worldwide at a rate of
7,700,000 new cases each year. “According to these estimates”, he
continued, “by 2030 the number of cases could exceed 65 million.
The impact of such pathologies is enormous: on the person directly
affected, but also on the family, the community and, more
extensively, at a social and national level. Therefore in many
states, institutional efforts are decisive, but as the work of this
Conference will demonstrate, an indispensable contribution is to be
made by those close to the patient, as well as parishes, communities,
ad hoc religious and lay structures, non-governmental associations
and entities: all of which not infrequently 'make all the difference'
in the care of elderly sick people”.
“However,
there is still much to be done. As the last International Day of
Older Persons highlighted, those who are no longer young risk
neglect, even on the part of the ecclesial community. … There are
many opportunities for helping the elderly to spend their free time
intelligently, and many proposals for helping them to be useful. But
evangelisation is another thing entirely. Evangelising old age means
discovering its innate and original possibilities, its true meanings,
its intrinsic values … It is, first and foremost, a question of
meanings, not of things or activities. Through solidarity between the
young and the elderly, it can be seen how the Church is effectively
the family of all generations. … When life becomes frail, in old
age, it never loses its value and its dignity: everyone is wanted and
loved by God, everyone is important and necessary”.
The
Conference will consider the following themes: “The epidemiology
and health-care policy of neurodegenerative illnesses: the silent
epidemic of the third millennium”; “Research and treatment:
current and future utility”; “The elderly person with
neurodegenerative illnesses”; “Neurodegenerative illnesses and
places of care: between the hospital and the local area”;
“Preventive actions and potential advantages of technological
progress”; “The theological and pastoral perspective” and “The
action of the Church”.
CARDINAL
TAURAN AT KAICIID: RELIGIONS MUST AVOID ENGENDERING A SPIRIT OF
SUPERIORITY OR EXCLUSION
Vatican
City, 19 November 2013 (VIS) – Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran,
president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, gave
an address at today's inaugural session of the King Abdullah bin
Abdulaziz Centre for Inter-religious and Inter-cultural Dialogue
(KAICIID). The centre is an independent organisation based in Vienna
and founded by Saudi Arabia, Austria and Spain, to which the Holy See
adheres in the role of Founding Observer.
The
Conference, which ends today, is intended to raise awareness among
younger generations to enable them to have an objective, honest and
accurate image of one another. From this perspective, three related
themes will be considered over the next three years. In 2013, the
theme “The Image of the Other” focuses on education, with the
presence in Vienna of a number of education ministers from all over
the world; next year's forum will be dedicated to means of
communication and finally, in 2015, the Internet will be the focus of
attention.
The
cardinal, in his English-language presentation, underlines that
“interreligious dialogue teaches us to be careful not to present
the religion of the other in a bad light in schools, universities,
the mass media and, in particular, in religious discourse; not to
demean the religious convictions of others, especially when they are
not present; and to consider diversity – ethical, cultural, vision
of the world – as a richness, not as a threat”.
He
continued, “What is at the centre of our concern is the human
person, man and woman. The human person is the object of the
attention of political and religious leaders. Each one of us is a
citizen and a believer. All of us belong to the same human family. It
means that we share the same dignity, we are confronted by the same
problems, we enjoy the same rights and we are called to accomplish
the same duties”.
He
concluded by repeating that one of the tasks of the KAICIID must be
the promotion of “'the intelligence of the heart', which inspires
us to respect what God is accomplishing in every human being and at
the same time to respect the mystery that every human person
represents. What we have to avoid absolutely is that religions
engender fear, attitudes of exclusion of or superiority in people”.
The Centre may therefore “become a place where we can … better
know each other and share all our abilities in order to make this
world more secure and enlightened, with all its inhabitants living in
a spirit of respect and friendship”.
THE
CATACOMBS OF PRISCILLA RESTORED AND ON GOOGLE MAPS
Vatican
City, 19 November 2013 (VIS) – At 4 p.m. today, in the Basilica of
San Silvestro at the catacombs of Priscilla, the Pontifical
Commission for Sacred Archaeology will present the results of the
work carried out there during the last five years. The speakers at
the presentation will be Fr. Ciro Benedettini C.P., vice director of
the Holy See Press Office; Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of
the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology (PCAS); Msgr.
Giovanni Carrù, secretary of the same Commission, Fabrizio Bisconti,
superintendent; Giorgia Abeltino, head of public policy at Google;
and Barbara Mazzei and Raffaella Giuliani, both members of PCAS.
During
the last five years, archaeological excavation works have been
carried out, along with the conservational restoration of the
paintings inside the catacombs and the renovation and reorganisation
of one of the most evocative spaces, the basilica in which Pope
Silvestro was buried. Of particular note is the restoration of the
cubiculum of Lazzarus, in the subterranean cemetery close to the
papal basilica, which was the last in a long series of conservational
procedures carried out in the cemetery of Priscilla.
The
basilica of San Silvestro is composed of two spaces, one dedicated to
worship and the other used in the past as a deposit for ancient
sculptural material unearthed during the excavations. These include
over 700 fragments of sarcophagi, meticulously restored, from the
necropolises which during the late imperial age extended along this
part of the Via Salaria Nova. The result is an important body of
late-ancient funerary sculptural works, arranged and presented to the
public as a museum exhibit.
This
valuable example of sculptural heritage may be viewed on-line at the
site mupris.net; the complex of the catacombs of Priscilla may now
also be admired in the program Google Maps, in the dedicated section
“Views Priscilla”.
OTHER
PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican
City, 19 November 2013 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father:
-
appointed Msgr. Michael F. Olson as bishop of Fort Worth (area
62,007, population 3,287,000, Catholics 710,000, priests 129,
permanent deacons 109, religious 151), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was
born in Park Ridge, U.S.A. in 1966 and was ordained a priest in 1994.
He holds a doctorate in moral theology from the Alphonsianum Academy,
Rome, and has served in a number of pastoral and academic roles,
including lecturer at the St. Louis University Medical School,
formator at the St. Mary seminary, professor at St. Thomas
University, Houston, priest in the parish of St. Peter the Apostle in
Fort Worth, and vicar general of Fort Worth. He is currently diocesan
consultor and rector of the Holy Trinity seminary in Irving.
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appointed Bishop Mariano Crociata, secretary general of the Italian
Episcopal Conference, as bishop of Latina-Terracina-Sezze-Priverno,
(area 1,371, population 326,758, Catholics 320,223, priests 146,
permanent deacons 16, religious 238), Italy. Bishop Crociata was born
in Castelvetrano, Italy in 1953, was ordained to the priesthood in
1979, and received episcopal ordination in 2007.
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