SUMMARY:
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The Pope receives the bishops of Cote d'Ivoire: the role of the
Church can be crucial in rebuilding your country
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Francis to bishops: men able to cultivate God's fields
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Audiences
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Other Pontifical Acts
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The
Pope receives the bishops of Cote d'Ivoire: the role of the Church
can be crucial in rebuilding your country
Vatican
City, 2014 (VIS) – The bishops of Cote d'Ivoire were received by
the Holy Father this morning, at the end of their five-yearly “ad
Limina” visit, and the written discourse he handed to them
emphasised the need for dialogue and brotherhood among prelates and
their priests, along with the successful inculturation of faith.
“The
fraternal communion that unites the bishops of a nation around Christ
is essential for the growth of the Church as well as for the progress
of society as as whole”, he writes. “This is especially true in a
country that has suffered serious divisions and is in need of your
witness and your firm commitment to rebuilding fraternity. Let us not
be robbed of the ideal of brotherly love! By really being brothers,
open to dialogue and mutual trust, listening to all – even when
there are differences and contradictions – and making space for
everyone, especially the youngest among you, you will provide a new
missionary impulse and will truly transform society, so that it is
more consistent with the Gospel ideal”.
“Therefore”,
he continued, “I can only encourage you to take on the role that is
yours in the task of national reconciliation, setting aside any
personal involvement in political disputes at the expense of the
common good. However, it is important to maintain constructive
relations with the authorities within the country, as well as with
the various components of society, so as to spread the true
evangelical spirit of dialogue and collaboration. The role of the
Church – which is valued and listened to – can be crucial. … I
urge you to continue in your dialogue with Muslims, so as to
discourage any drift towards violence or any incorrect religious
interpretation of the conflict you have experienced”.
“Of
course, you are not alone in facing the enormous task of
evangelisation and the conversion of hearts: you have the support of
the clergy, generous and motivated, and whose numbers continue to
grow”, he remarks. “However, to avoid difficulties and
shortcomings that some priests encounter, the best approach is
without doubt to ensure the quality of formation, both initial and
permanent, the encouragement of a priestly fraternity that overcomes
ethnic divisions and, in particular, the closeness and attention
that, like loving and caring fathers, you must give to each one of
them. Use, wherever possible, gentleness, persuasion and
encouragement to awaken pastoral zeal, rather than immediate
sanctions or severity. I urge you to visit your priests often in
order to listen to them and get to know them better. The formation of
a fraternal, united 'presbyterium' around the bishop is necessary for
a priest to remain attached to his own diocese and to prioritise its
needs, rather than giving in to the temptation to leave it, to the
detriment of the people of God who need his ministry”.
The
Pope offers warm thanks to the consecrated persons for “the
considerable task they take on, along with laypersons working
alongside them, in the sectors of education, health and development.
Their work is appreciated by all and is absolutely indispensable in
view of the intimate connection between evangelisation and human
development”: He also invites the bishops to ensure their pastoral
closeness to all the lay faithful, but especially families, “who
are more fragile nowadays, both on account of the secularisation of
Ivorian society and the movement of the population and divisions
caused by the conflict, as well as by less morally demanding
temptations that arise all around them”. The Pontiff also draws
attention to the elderly as, “despite the traditional African
mentality that reserves a special veneration for them, many now find
themselves alone and abandoned, due to the 'throwaway' culture that
has appeared in your societies. However, their participation is
essential for the equilibrium of the people and the education of the
young”.
Francis
concludes by expressing his joy and gratitude for the great work of
evangelisation that is being carried out in Cote d'Ivoire. “However”,
he warns, “faith remains fragile and the wind does not blow in its
favour. Often, as the recent conflicts have unfortunately shown,
ethnic particularism overrides evangelical fraternity, and many
baptised persons, tired or disillusioned, drift away from the light
of truth in search of easier solutions, whereas others simply do not
put the demands of faith into practice in their lives. Undoubtedly
the key for the future is found partly in ensuring the Word of God is
more deeply rooted in people's hearts. It is certainly also necessary
to enter into deeper dialogue with cultural, religious and
traditional reality in order to achieve a true inculturation of our
faith, unambiguously rejected what is contrary to it while welcoming
and nurturing what is good. I therefore encourage you to continue
ceaselessly in your work of evangelisation. In this way, the Church
in Cote d'Ivoire can face the challenges of the future with
serenity”.
Francis
to bishops: men able to cultivate God's fields
Vatican
City, 2014 (VIS) – This morning the Holy Father received in
audience the bishops appointed during the last year, who are
participating in the congress organised by the Congregation for
Bishops and the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. Francis
commented that he was happy to meet them and said that they were “the
fruit of the arduous work and tireless prayer of the Church who, when
she chooses her pastors, recalls that entire night the Lord spent on
the mount, in the presence of the Father, before naming those He
wanted to stay with him and to go forth into the world”.
The
Pope asked them now that they have overcome their initial fears and
excitement of their consecration, never to take for granted the
ministry entrusted to them, never to lose their wonder before God's
plan nor the awe of walking aware of His presence and the presence of
the Church who is, first and foremost, His. He also reminded them of
“the inseparable bond between the stable presence of the bishop and
the growth of the flock”. “When the pastor is missing or
unavailable, pastoral care and the salvation of souls is at risk. In
fact, in the pastors Christ gives to the Church, He shows His love
for His bride and gives His life for her”.
He
continued, “we do not need superficially happy bishops; it is
necessary to dig deeper to discover what the Spirit continues to
inspire in your Bride. You are not fixed-term bishops, who always
need to change address, like medicines that lose their power to cure,
or like those insipid foodstuffs that have to be thrown away because
they have lost their usefulness. It is important not to block the
curative force that springs from within the gift you have received,
and this defends you from the temptation to come and go aimlessly,
because no wind is favourable to he who does not know where he is
going. And we have learned where we are going: we are always going
towards Jesus”. He added, “in this way, your watch over your
flock will never fail to encounter the flame of the Risen Christ”.
“I
also beg you not to fall prey to the temptation to change the people.
Love the people that God has given you, even when they have committed
grave sins, without tiring of turning to the Lord for forgiveness and
a new beginning, even at the cost of having to cancel your false
images of the divine face or the fantasies you have nurtured of how
to ensure their communion with God”. The Church, he added, is to
offer “welcome to all without discrimination, offering the firmness
of the authority that enables growth and the gentleness of paternity
that generates. Do not fall prey the temptation to sacrifice your
freedom by surrounding yourself with courts, networks or choirs of
assent, as the Church and the world always have the right to hear
from the lips of bishops the Gospel that sets them free”.
Pope
Francis advised the bishops to imitate Moses' patience in leading his
people, as “nothing is more important than introducing people to
God!”. He therefore urged them to begin with the young and the
elderly, “because the first are our wings, and the second are our
roots. Wings and roots without which we do not know what we are, much
less where we are going”. He added that he saw the bishops as
sentinels, able to awaken their Churches; “men able to cultivate
and ripen God's fields and pastors able to restore unity. “Do not
waste energy in conflict and disagreement, but rather use it to build
and to love”, he concluded, wishing them “fruitfulness, patience,
humility and much prayer”.
Audiences
Vatican
City, 18 September 2014 (VIS) – Today the Holy Father received in
audience fourteen prelates from the Episcopal Conference of the Cote
d'Ivoire on their “ad Limina” visit:
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Cardinal Jean Pierre Kutwa, archbishop of Abidjan;
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Bishop Alexis Touabli Youlo of Agboville;
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Bishop Raymond Ahoua, F.D.P., of Grand-Bassam;
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Archbishop Paul-Simeon Ahouanan Djro, O.F.M., of Bouake;
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Bishop Ziri Boniface Gbaya of Abengourou;
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Bishop Marcellin Yao Kouadio of Yamoussoukro;
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Archbishop Joseph Ake Yapo of Gagnoa;
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Bishop Maurice Konan Kouassi of Daloa;
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Bishop Gaspard Beby Gneba of Man;
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Bishop Jean-Jacques Koffi Oi Koffi of San Pedro-en-Cote d'Ivoire;
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Archbishop Marie-Daniel Dadiet of Korhogo;
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Bishop Ignace Bessi Dogbo of Katiola;
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Bishop Antoine Kone of Odienne;
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Bishop Jean Salomon Lezoutie, coadjutor of Yopougon.
Other
Pontifical Acts
Vatican
City, 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed Bishop Anthony
Colin Fisher of Parramatta, Australia, as metropolitan archbishop of
Sydney (area 1,264, population 2,482,000, Catholics 664,000, priests
484, permanent deacons 3, religious 1,537), Australia.
You
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