SUMMARY:
-
GENERAL AUDIENCE: CONFESSION IS FOR THE COURAGEOUS
-
APPEAL FOR AN END TO THE VIOLENCE IN UKRAINE
-
THE POPE: PRAY FOR THE PETRINE MINISTRY ON THE FEAST OF THE CHAIR OF
ST. PETER
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THE COUNCIL OF CARDINALS WILL CONTINUE TO MEET IN COMING MONTHS
-
CONSISTORY AND COURTESY VISITS OF NEW CARDINALS
-
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
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GENERAL
AUDIENCE: CONFESSION IS FOR THE COURAGEOUS
Vatican
City, 19 February 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father dedicated his
catechesis at this Wednesday's general audience to the Sacrament of
penance. After touring St. Peter's Square in an open car, greeting
the thousands of faithful who applauded as he passed, the Pope
explained that “the forgiveness of our sins is not something we can
offer to ourselves; it is not the result of our efforts, but rather a
gift from the Holy Spirit, which fills us from the wellspring of
mercy and grace that surges endlessly from the open heart of Christ,
crucified and risen again. … It reminds us that it is only by
allowing ourselves to be reconciled through the Lord Jesus with the
Father and with our brothers that we may truly be at peace”.
Pope
Francis explained that the celebration of this Sacrament has
transformed from its previously public nature to the private and
reserved form of Confession. However, “this should not lead to the
loss of the ecclesiastical matrix, which constitutes its living
context. Indeed, the Christian community is the place in which the
presence of the Spirit is felt, which renews hearts in God's love and
brings all brothers together as one, in Jesus Christ”. He
continued, “For this reason, it is not enough to ask for the Lord's
forgiveness in our own minds and hearts, but rather it is also
necessary to humbly and trustfully confess our sins to a minister of
the Church”.
The
Bishop of Rome emphasised that the priest does not only represent
God, but rather the community as a whole, and that anyone who seeks
to confess only to God should remember that our sins are also
committed against our brothers and against the Church, which is why
it is necessary to ask forgiveness from them too, and to be ashamed
for what we have done. “Shame can be good”, he affirmed; “It is
good for us to have a certain amount of shame, because to be ashamed
can be healthy. When someone has no shame, in my country we describe
them as “sin verguenza”, shameless. Shame can be good as it can
make us humble, and the priest receives this confession with love and
tenderness, and forgives in the name of God. Also from a human point
of view, to unburden oneself, it is good to speak with a brother and
to tell the priest those things which lie so heavily upon our hearts.
And one feels unburdened before God, with the Church, and with a
brother. Do not be afraid of Confession!”
The
Pontiff went on to ask those present when they last confessed, and
strongly urged them not to overlook Confession. “If a long time has
passed, do not waste another day, go, the priest will be good. It is
Jesus who is there, and Jesus is better than a priest, Jesus will
receive you, he will receive you with love. Be courageous and go to
Confession! … Every time we confess, God embraces us, God
celebrates! Let us go ahead on this path. May God bless you!”
APPEAL
FOR AN END TO THE VIOLENCE IN UKRAINE
Vatican
City, 19 February 2014 (VIS) – Following today's catechesis, Pope
Francis launched an appeal for an end to the violence in Ukraine, in
whose capital Kiev there have been clashes between the forces of
order and anti-government demonstrators, causing twenty-five deaths
last night. “It is with concern that I follow the events in Kiev
during these days. I assure the Ukrainian people of my closeness and
pray for the victims of the violence, for their families, and for the
injured. I urge all parties to cease every form of violence and to
pursue harmony and peace throughout the country”.
THE
POPE: PRAY FOR THE PETRINE MINISTRY ON THE FEAST OF THE CHAIR OF ST.
PETER
Vatican
City, 19 February 2014 (VIS) – In his greetings in various
languages, the Pope reminded the Polish pilgrims present at today's
general audience that next Saturday will be the Feast of the Chair of
St. Peter the Apostle, “a day of special communion for believers
with Peter's Successor and with the Holy See”. “I give thanks to
you all for your prayers for my Petrine ministry, and for the witness
of life given in Christ for the edification of the ecclesial
community.
He
also greeted the participants in the symposium “Sacrosanctum
Concilium, gratitude and commitment, for a great movement of
ecclesial communion”, accompanied by Cardinal Antonio Canizares
Llovera, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of the Sacraments, and those attending the Plenary
Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, which is celebrating the
twentieth anniversary of its foundation; he encouraged them to
“continue in their valuable work in the service of the Gospel of
life”.
THE
COUNCIL OF CARDINALS WILL CONTINUE TO MEET IN COMING MONTHS
Vatican
City, 19 February 2014 (VIS) – The Council of the eight cardinals
continued its work yesterday afternoon, in a meeting dedicated to the
examination of the information presented to the cardinals yesterday
and on Monday by the Commission for Reference on the the Organisation
of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See (COSEA) and
the Commission for Reference on the Institute for Works of Religion
(IOR), reported Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., director of the Holy See
Press Office, in the third of this week's daily briefings for
journalists.
“The
cardinals have worked intensively, they have taken a number of
questions into consideration, and have formulated proposals to be
presented to the Holy Father in various fields, those of economic and
administrative structures, which relate to what we refer to as the
economic and financial dicasteries, and on the IOR, which is a far
more specific theme. It will then be up to the Holy Father to follow
or to modify these proposals, but the Council has completed its task.
This morning the dates of the next meetings were set: from 28 to 30
April, shortly after the canonisation of John XXIII and John Paul II,
and from 1 to 4 July. It is also confirmed that the cardinals have in
no way completed their reviews of the different dicasteries of the
Holy See.
“This
afternoon, the representatives of the Commissions which have reported
to the Council of Cardinals – the so-called C8 – will do the same
with the Council of Fifteen, or rather the cardinals who oversee the
financial statement of the Holy See and the Governorate of Vatican
City State. The C8 cardinals will also attend the meeting, to take
place in the Sala Bologna of the Apostolic Palace, which is able to
accommodate a large group. It will be a very brief presentation, of
about fifteen minutes for each Commission, of what has been treated
more exhaustively during these days. These presentations will be
given by the three members of the COSEA who attended Monday's
meeting, whereas the Commission for Reference on the IOR will be
represented by Cardinal Raffaele Farina S.D:B., and the coordinator,
Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta de Chinchetru. The C15 will hold its
ordinary meetings next Monday and Tuesday, to discuss the matters
within its remit. Finally, we can say that this morning and this
afternoon's meetings are for communication, information and
co-ordination”.
“Tomorrow
the extraordinary consistory for the family will begin, in which
according to the calculations of the dean, Cardinal Angelo Sodano,
around 185 prelates will participate”, continued Fr. Lombardi. Some
are unable to come to Rome for health reasons or due to the excessive
duration of the journey. Work will begin at 9.30 a.m. with greetings
from Cardinal Sodano, and will continue with an address from the Holy
Father. However, we do not know if the Holy Father's address will be
open to journalists or if the prelates would prefer to continue
behind closed doors following the greetings from the Cardinal Dean.
This will be followed by a lengthy address by Cardinal Kasper, which
will be reserved to the participants in the consistory; it will not
therefore be published in full. We do not yet know whether other
Cardinals will have the opportunity to take the floor, considering
the length of Cardinal Kasper's presentation. Other interventions are
planned during the consistory but in no particular order”.
Finally,
the director of the Press Office informed the journalists of the
locations for the courtesy visits to the new cardinals, most of which
will take place in the Paul VI Hall or the Apostolic Palace.
CONSISTORY
AND COURTESY VISITS OF NEW CARDINALS
Vatican
City, 19 February 2014 (VIS) – In St. Peter's Basilica at 11 a.m.
on Saturday 22 February Pope Francis will celebrate an ordinary
public consistory for the creation of eighteen new cardinals during
which he will impose the biretta, consign the ring and assign them
their title or diaconate, according to a communique released today by
the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.
The
same afternoon, from 4.30 to 6.30 p.m., the new cardinals will
receive all those who wish to pay them a courtesy visit, in the
following locations in the Paul VI Hall and Apostolic Palace:
Atrium
of the Paul VI Hall: Cardinals Vincent Gerard Nichols, LeopoldoJose
Brenes Solorzano, Gerald Cyprien Lacroix, I.S.P.X., Jean-Pierre
Kutwa, Fernando Sebastian Aguilar, C.M.F. and Kelvin Edward Felix.
Paul
VI Hall: Cardinals Andrew Yeom Soo-Jung, Ricardo Ezzati Andrello,
S.D.B., Philippe Nakellentuba Ouedraogo, Orlando B. Quevedo, O.M.I.,
Chibly Langlois, Orani Joao Tempesta, O. Cist., Gualtiero Bassetti
and Mario Aurelio Poli.
Sala
Regia of the Apostolic Palace: Cardinals Pietro Parolin and Lorenzo
Baldisseri.
Sala
Ducale of the Apostolic Palace: Cardinals Gerhard Ludwig Muller and
Beniamino Stella.
On
Sunday 23 February, at 10 a.m. in the Vatican basilica, the Holy
Father will preside at a concelebrated Mass with the new cardinals.
OTHER
PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican
City, 19 February 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has:
-
appointed Msgr. Marcony Vinicius Ferreira as auxiliary of the
archdiocese of Brasilia (area 5,814, population 2,267,000, Catholics
1,555,000, priests 312, permanent deacons 71, religious 639), Brazil.
The bishop-elect was born in Brasilia, Brazil in 1964 and was
ordained a priest in 1988. He specialised in liturgical theology at
the St. Anselm Pontifical Athenaeum and the Pontifical University of
the Holy Cross, Rome. He has served in a number of pastoral roles,
including: priest of the parish of “Nossa Senhora do Rosario de
Fatima” and of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Brasilia;
archiepiscopal pastoral coordinator; member of the presbyteral
council and the council of consultors; episcopal vicar for the
vicariate “Centro”, and secretary general and coordinator of the
liturgical team of the 16th National Eucharistic Congress in 2010. He
is currently vicar general for the archdiocese of Brasilia.
-
confirmed Cardinal Leonardo Sandri as prefect of the Congregation for
the Oriental Churches and Msgr. Cyril Vasil as secretary of the same
dicastery.
-
renewed as members of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches His
Beatitude Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak, patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts;
and His Beatitude Louis Raphael I Sako, patriach of Babylon of the
Chaldeans;
-
nominated the following members of the Congregation for the Oriental
Churches: Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar general of His Holiness
for the diocese of Rome; Archbishop William Charles Skurla of
Pittsburgh of the Byzantines; Archbishop Pietro Parolin, secretary of
State; Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller, bishop emeritus of
Regensburg, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith; Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster; Archbishop Mario
Aurelio Poli of Buenos Aires; Archbishop Joseph Edward Kurtz of
Louisville; Archbishop Walmor Oliveira de Azevedo of Belo Horizonte;
Archbishop Denis James Hart of Melbourne; Bishop Joseph Werth of
Transfiguration of Novosibirsk.
-
confirmed the following members Congregation for the Oriental
Churches for a further five years: Cardinal Christoph Schonborn;
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran; His Beatitude Fouad Twal, patriarch of
Jerusalem; Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel of Addis Abeba;
Archbishop Piero Marini; Archbishop Jan Babjak, metropolitan of
Presov; Bishop Antoine Audo, S.J.; and the following members for the
remainder of their respective mandates: Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone,
S.D.B., Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, Cardinal Angelo Scola, Cardinal
Marc Ouellet, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco,
Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan, Cardinal
William Joseph Levada, Cardinal Francesco Monterisi, Cardinal Kurt
Koch, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Cardinal Edwin Frederick O'Brien, and
Bishop Peter Burcher of Reykjavik.
-
nominated the following consultors of the Congregation for the
Oriental Churches: Bishop Dimitrios Salachas, Pr. Massimo Pampaloni,
S.J., Fr. Philippe Luisier, S.J., Pr. Michael Kuchera, S.J., Pr.
Lorenzo Lorusso, O.P., Pr. Georges Ruyssen, S.J., Pr. Thomas Pott,
O.S.B., Sac. Pablo Gefaell, Fr. G. Ronald Roberson, C.S.P., Msgr.
Paul Pallath, Fr. Adam Konstanc, O.P., Msgr. Guido Marini, Sac.
George Gallaro.
-
confirmed the following consultors of the Congregation for the
Oriental Churches: Msgr. Christo Proykov, Hanna G. Alwan, Borys
Gudziak, Fr. Michel Van Parys, O.S.B., Msgr. Michel Berger, Msgr.
Osvaldo Raineri, Pr. Archim. Jan Sergiusz Gajek, M.I.C., Msgr. Natale
Loda, Archpriest Vasyl Hovera.
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