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SUMMARY:
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EXTRAORDINARY CONSISTORY ON THE FAMILY BEGINS
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POPE FRANCIS TO THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY FOR LIFE: WHAT IS A MAN WORTH?
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CONSISTORY: THE BEAUTY OF THE FAMILY AND ITS PROBLEMS, FACED WITH
REALISM AND IN DEPTH
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
______________________________________
EXTRAORDINARY
CONSISTORY ON THE FAMILY BEGINS
Vatican
City, 20 February 2014 (VIS) – “It is the first time that the
entire College of Cardinals gathers around you, pleased to accept
your invitation to participate in an extraordinary consistory”,
said Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals to Pope
Francis, in this morning's opening address for the extraordinary
consistory on the family, held in the New Synod Hall. The consistory
will conclude tomorrow afternoon.
Cardinal
Sodano, mentioning those cardinals who were unable to travel to Rome
for reasons of advanced age or health, affirmed that they all
“assured their spiritual closeness and we feel they are present all
the same … and send them a brotherly greeting from this Hall”.
To
face a pastoral challenge as important as that of the family, both in
this consistory and later in the next Synod, “the Pastors of the
Church”, he continued, wish to assure the Pope
that
there will be no scarcity of that help that Pope Paul VI said he
expected from the bishops following Vatican Council II, in the hope
that he would never lack “the consolation of their presence, the
help of their wisdom and experience, the support of their counsel,
and the voice of their authority".
“Holy
Father”, he concluded, “you will certainly not lack the support
of the Cardinal Fathers, who wish to face with a vision of faith and
hope this complex period in human history”.
Pope
Francis then greeted those presence and gave thanks with them to the
Lord “who grants us these days of encounter and work together. We
especially welcome those brothers who on Saturday will be created
cardinals, and accompany them with prayer and fraternal affection. I
give thanks to Cardinal Sodano for his words”.
“In
these days we will reflect, in particular, on the family, which is
the fundamental cell of human society. Since the beginning the
Creator gave His blessing to man and woman in order that they be
fecund and multiply on earth; and thus is the family represented on
earth as the reflection of the Triune God”.
“In
our reflection we will always keep in mind the beauty of the family
and of marriage, athe greatness of this facet of human life, so
simple and at the same time so rich, made up of joys and hopes,
strife and suffering, like all of life. We will seek to deepen the
theology of the family and the pastoral ministry that we must
undertake in these current conditions. We will do so in depth and
without falling into trap of “case studies”, as this would
inevitably lead to a lowering of the level of our work. The family
nowadays is regarded with disdain and maltreated, and what we ask for
is recognition of how beautiful, true and good it is to form a
family, to be a family today; how indispensable this is for the life
of the world, for the future of humanity. We are asked to make
evident God's luminous plan on the family and to help married couples
experience this with joy in their existence, accompanying them in
many difficulties, with a pastoral ministry that is intelligent,
courageous and full of love”.
Following
his greetings, the Holy Father invited Cardinal Walter Kasper,
president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian
Unity, to read the introductory presentation for the consistory.
POPE
FRANCIS TO THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY FOR LIFE: WHAT IS A MAN WORTH?
Vatican
City, 20 February 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has sent a message
to the participants in the General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy
for Life, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of its
institution. The Academy, whose aim is to study, inform and educate
on the main problems of biomedicine and law, relating to the
promotion and defence of life, especially with regard to Christian
morality and the Magisterium of the Church, dedicated its assembly to
the theme of “ageing and disability”.
The
Pope commented in his message that it was a very current theme, dear
to the Church. “In our society there is a tyrannical dominance of
an economic logic that excludes and at times kills, and of which
nowadays we find many victims, starting with the elderly”. He
affirmed that we see the existence of a “throwaway” culture, in
which those who are excluded are not only exploited but also rejected
and cast aside.
In
the face of this discrimination, Pope Francis considered the
anthropological question of the value of man and of what may be the
basis of this value. “Health is without doubt an important value,
but it does not determine the value of a person. Furthermore, health
is not by itself a guarantee of happiness, which may indeed by
experienced even by those in a precarious state of health”.
Therefore, he added, “poor health and disability are never a good
reason to exclude or, worse, eliminate a person; and the most serious
deprivation that the elderly suffer is not the weakening of the body
or the consequent disability, but rather abandonment, exclusion, and
a lack of love”.
“The
teacher of welcome and solidarity is, instead, the family: it is in
the bosom of the family that education draws in a substantial fashion
upon relationships of solidarity; in the family it is possible to
learn that the loss of health is not a reason to discriminate against
certain human lives; the family teaches us not to fall prey to
individualism and to balance 'I' with 'we'. It is there that 'taking
care' of one another becomes the foundation of human existence and a
moral attitude to promote, through the values of commitment and
solidarity”.
The
Pope emphasised the importance of listening to the young and the old
whenever we wish to understand the signs of the times, and commented
that “a society is truly welcoming to life when it recognises its
value also in old age, in disability, in serious illness, and even
when it at its close; when it teaches that the call to human
realisation does not exclude suffering but instead teaches to see in
the sick and suffering a gift to the entire community, a presence
that calls for solidarity and responsibility”. Pope Francis
concluded by blessing the work the Academy performs, which he
described as the diffusion of the “Gospel of Life” - a task that
is “often tiresome as it means going against the grain, but always
precious”.
CONSISTORY:
THE BEAUTY OF THE FAMILY AND ITS PROBLEMS, FACED WITH REALISM AND IN
DEPTH
Vatican
City, 20 February 2014 (VIS) – The director of the Holy See Press
Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., gave a briefing for journalists
at midday today on the progress of the extraordinary consistory for
the family which opened this morning in the New Synod Hall and in
which around 150 cardinals participated.
“After
the Pope's address, the cardinals sent an affectionate greeting to
Archbishop Loris Capovilla, one of the new cardinals to be created by
the Holy Father in next Saturday's consistory, who for reasons of age
and health was not able to travel to Rome, but who is present in the
spirit of this encounter”, he explained.
The
introductory presentation by Cardinal Kasper, which will not be
published as it was intended for use within the context of the
meeting by participants only – occupied almost the entire morning,
with the exception of the last ten minutes in which a few comments
were made. However, this afternoon and tomorrow morning will be
dedicated to comment and discussion.
The
text of the president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity is “in harmony” with the words spoken
today by Pope Francis. The focus was very coherent with that of the
Holy Father: facing, with realism and in depth, all that is beautiful
about the family without eluding its problems. However, the issue is
approached from an extremely positive point of view: rediscovering
and proclaiming the Gospel of the family according to God's plan,
with all its beauty, as truth also convinces through beauty. Another
central point of Kasper's address was the concept of the family as a
small domestic church, and the idea according to which in the family
the Church encounters reality and thus constitutes a path towards the
future; the family can be a privileged route to evangelisation.
Cardinal Kasper spoke about this “domestic church” in a broad
sense, referring not only to the nuclear family, but also by
extension to communities, parish groups etc.
From
a formal point of view, Fr. Lombardi mentioned that Cardinal Kasper's
document does not claim to address all themes related to the family,
nor does it attempt to anticipate the next Synod, but is rather a
form of “opening”. Its introduction was dedicated to the
rediscovery of the Gospel of the family, originating from the family
in the order of creation, the vision of the family in Genesis and in
God's plan. The second part focused on the structures of sin within
the family: problems, tensions between men and women, body and
spirit, the alienation of the suffering of women and mothers, etc.
Finally, it explored the issue of the family in the Christian order
of redemption, referring to texts from the Gospel and the New
Testament relating to the family, such as the Letter to the
Ephesians. It also considered marriage as a Sacrament, and its
sanctifying grace.
The
cardinal also referred to the question of remarried divorcees,
considering the theme in depth and in a structured, nuanced fashion.
He reiterated that in this area it is necessary to bring together
pastoral care with the inseparable duo of faith and the words of
Jesus, and an understanding of divine mercy. The cardinal referred to
Pope emeritus Benedict XVI's work on this issue, when he asked if,
beyond rigour and laxity, the Sacrament of penance could perhaps
offer the path to accommodating difficult situations. He also
recalled Pope Francis' address to the prelates of the Roman Rota at
the beginning of this year, in which he spoke about the validity of
marriage, when he affirmed that the legal and pastoral dimensions are
not in opposition.
Fr.
Lombardi concluded by emphasising that the Cardinal accorded great
importance to the “law of gradualness”, or rather the advancement
towards new forms in exploring in depth the mystery of redemption in
Christ, and in understanding the Gospel law of truth.
OTHER
PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican
City, 20 February 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has:
-
appointed Fr. Damiano Giulio Guzzetti, M.C.C.J., as bishop of Moroto
(area 14,857, population 470,000, Catholics 229,368, priests 35,
religious 109), Uganda. The bishop-elect was born in Turate, Italy in
1959, gave his solemn vows in 1989, and was ordained a priest in
1989. He has served in a number of pastoral roles, including parish
vicar in “Namalu” and “Naoi”, and priest of the parish of
“Matanynella”, in the diocese of Moroto; member of the provincial
council of the Congregation of Comboni Missionaries in Uganda,
formator of postulants in his Congregation in Uganda, and bursar and
lecturer at the Queen of Apostle Philosophy Centre in Jinja, Uganda.
He succeeds Bishop Henry Apaloryamam Ssentongo, whose resignation,
upon having reached the age limit, was accepted by the Holy Father.
-
appointed Msgr. Olivier Leborgne as bishop of Amiens (area 6,277,
population 586,200, Catholics 503,200, priests 88, permanent deacons
16, religious 197), France. The bishop-elect was born in Nantes,
France in 1963 and was ordained a priest in 1991. He has served in a
number of pastoral roles, including parish vicar in
Elancourt-Maurepas, priest of the parish “St. Bernadette” in
Versailles, and episcopal vicar for formation. Since 2004 he has held
the role of vicar general of the diocese of Versailles.
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appointed Msgr. Carl Allan Kemme as bishop of Wichita (area 51,955,
population 994,000, Catholics 126,800, priests 123, permanent deacons
4, religious 259), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Effingham,
Illinois in 1960 and was ordained a priest in 1986. He has served in
a number of pastoral roles, including priest of the parish of “St.
Mary” in Brussels, “St. Joseph” in Meppen and the “Holy
Family Parish” in Decatur, parish administrator of “Our Lady of
the Holy Spirit” in Mt. Zion, vicar forane in the Decatur deanery,
priest-moderator of the “St. James Parish” in Decatur, priest in
the “St. Peter Parish” in Petersburg and the “St. John Vianney
Parish” in Sherman, and diocesan administrator. He has served as
vicar general and moderator of the Curia since 2010. In 2002 he was
named Prelate of Honour of His Holiness.
-
appointed Msgr. Peter Baldacchino as auxiliary of the archdiocese of
Miami (area 12,836, population 4,369,000, Catholics 874,000, priests
379, permanent deacons 161, religious 399), U.S.A. The bishop-elect
was born in Sliema, Malta in 1960 and and was ordained a priest in
1996. He holds a Master of Divinity from Seton Hall University, South
Orange, U.S.A., and has served in the following pastoral roles: vicar
of the parish of “Our Lady of Mount Carmel” in Ridgewood,
chancellor of the “Missio sui iuris” of Turks and Caicos, and
priest of the parish of “Our Lady of Divine Providence” on the
island of Providenciales. In 2002 he was named Chaplain of His
Holiness.
-
appointed Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical
Council for the Laity, as special envoy to the celebration of the
650th anniversary of the consecration of the Cathedral of Krakow, to
be held on 28 March 2014.
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