SUMMARY:
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Francis on World Food Day: to defeat hunger it is necessary to change
the paradigm of aid and development policies
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Pope's message to the Italian Catholic University Federation
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Benedict XVI to attend the beatification of Paul VI
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Audiences
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Francis
on World Food Day: to defeat hunger it is necessary to change the
paradigm of aid and development policies
Vatican
City, 17 October 2014 (VIS) – World Food Day, held on 16 October,
was instituted in 1979 by the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) in order to raise public awareness and strengthen
solidarity in the fight against hunger, malnutrition and poverty. To
mark the occasion, the Holy Father sent a message to the director
general of the FAO, Jose Graziano da Silva, extensive extracts of
which are published below.
“Again
this year, World Food Day echoes the cries of our many brothers and
sisters who, in many parts of the world, do not have enough to eat
each day. … Despite the progress that is being achieved in many
countries, recent data continue to indicate a troubling situation,
contributed to by the general reduction of public development aid”.
“The
theme proposed by the FAO for this year's World Food Day – 'Family
farming: feeding the world, caring for the earth' – highlights the
need to begin with people, as individuals or in groups, to propose
new forms and methods of management for different aspects of
nutrition. Specifically, it is necessary to give greater
acknowledgement of the role of the rural family, and to develop its
full potential. ... Indeed, the family promotes dialogue between
generations and provides the foundation for a true social
integration, aside from representing that hoped-for synergy between
agricultural work and sustainability; who, more than the rural
family, is concerned with preserving nature for generations to come?
And who, more than the rural family, has at heart cohesion between
people and social groups?”
“Defending
rural communities from the serious threats posed by human action or
natural disasters must not merely be a strategy but rather a form of
permanent action aimed at promoting their participation in
decision-making, at making appropriate technologies available, and
extending their use, always with respect for the natural environment.
Acting in this way can alter the methods of international cooperation
and aid for the hungry and malnourished. Never more than in this
moment has the world needed unity between people and among nations to
overcome the divisions that exist and the conflicts in progress, and
above all to seek concrete ways out of a crisis that is global, but
the burden of which falls mostly on the poor. … Think of the men
and women, of every age and condition, who are victims of bloody
conflicts and their consequent destruction and misery, the lack of
housing, medical care and education, who lose every hope of a
dignified life. We have an obligation towards these people, of
solidarity and sharing”.
“To
defeat hunger, it is not enough to meet the needs of those who are
unfortunate or to help through aid and donations those who live in
situations of emergency. It is necessary, instead, to change the
paradigm of aid and development policies … It is also necessary to
change how we understand work, economic aims and activity, food
production and the protection of the environment. This is perhaps the
only possibility for constructing an authentic future of peace,
threatened nowadays by insecurity in relation to food”.
“The
Catholic Church, on her part, while pursuing her charitable
activities in the different continents, remains available to offer,
enlighten and accompany both the elaboration of policies and their
concrete implementation, aware that faith becomes visible by putting
into practice God's plan for the human family and for the world
through that profound and real fraternity that is not exclusive to
Christians, but that includes all peoples”.
Pope's
message to the Italian Catholic University Federation
Vatican
City, 17 October 2014 (VIS) – Pope Francis has sent a message to
the Italian Catholic University Federation (FUCI), which is preparing
to hold an extraordinary national conference in Arezzo, Italy,
devoted to Pope Paul VI, who was the Central Assistant of the
institution from 1925 and 1933, and who will be proclaimed blessed
next Sunday.
The
Holy Father assures the participants of his spiritual closeness and
accompanies them in their work with three words, the first of which
is “studium”. “The essence of university life is found in
study, in the effort and patience of thought that reveals the
importance to humanity of truth, goodness and beauty. ... Do not be
satisfied with partial truths or reassuring illusions, but welcome an
increasingly full comprehension of reality in your study. Doing this
requires the humility to listen, and a far-sighted vision”.
The
second word is “research”, which along with dialogue is at the
basis of the FUCI's study method. The Pope continues, “The FUCI
must always experience the humility of research, that attitude of
silently accepting the unknown, the other, and of showing openness
and willingness to walk alongside all those who are inspired by a
restless yearning for the Truth, believers and non-believers,
outsiders and marginalised. Research challenges itself continually,
becoming an encounter with mystery and opening up to faith: research
makes the encounter between faith, reason and science possible,
enabling a harmonious dialogue between them. … By this method of
research it is possible to attain an ambitious objective: to repair
the fracture between the Gospel and contemporary life through the
style of cultural mediation, an itinerant mediation that, without
denying cultural differences – instead, recognising their value –
becomes the focus of positive planning”.
The
third and final word is “frontier”. “The university is a
frontier that awaits you, a periphery where the existential poverty
of humanity can be received and cured. Poverty in relations, in human
growth, tend to fill minds without leading to the creation of a
shared plan for society, a common aim, sincere fraternity. Always be
sure to encounter the other, to be receptive to the 'scent' of the
people of today, to be imbued with their joys and hopes, their
sadness and their anguish. Do not set up barriers that, intended to
defend the frontier, preclude an encounter with the Lord. … In
today's culture, in particular, we need to stand alongside everyone.
You will be able to overcome the clash between peoples only if you
succeed in nurturing a culture of encounter and fraternity”.
Benedict
XVI to attend the beatification of Paul VI
Vatican
City, 17 October 2014 (VIS) – Benedict XVI will attend the
beatification of Paul VI in St. Peter's Square this Sunday, according
to the director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi,
S.J. The Pope emeritus was made a cardinal by the new blessed, and
the ceremony will be attended by another two cardinals created by the
pontiff, author of “Populorum Progressio”: Paulo Evaristo Arns,
archbishop emeritus of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and William Wakefield Baum,
major penitentiary emeritus.
A
press conference was held this morning in the Holy See Press Office
to present the figure of the new blessed and his relevance to the
contemporary Church. The speakers were Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re,
prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Bishops; Fr. Pierantonio
Lanzoni, episcopal delegate for the promotion of the memory of Paul
VI in the diocese of Brescia, where the pontiff was born in the town
of Concesio in 1897; Fr. Antonio Marrazzo, C.SS.R., postulator of the
cause for beatification and Fr. Davide Milani, spokesperson for the
diocese of Milan, where Cardinal Montini was archbishop between 1954
and 1963. This afternoon, Cardinal Paul Poupard, president emeritus
of the Pontifical Council for Culture and Fr. Angelo Maffeis,
president of the Paul VI Institute in Brescia, will speak on Vatican
Radio, accompanied by Fausto Montini, Paul VI's nephew.
Thousands
of pilgrims will attend the beatification and the events linked to
it, the first of which will take place tomorrow, Saturday 18, in the
Roman Basilica of the Twelve Apostles, when Cardinal Angelo Scola,
current archbishop of Milan, will preside at Vespers. At 10.30 a.m.
on Sunday, in St. Peter's Square, the mass of beatification will be
celebrated by Pope Francis and at 9.30 a.m. on Monday 20, in the
Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, Cardinal Angelo Scola will
celebrate a mass of thanksgiving for the faithful of the dioceses of
Milan and Brescia.
Audiences
Vatican
City, 17 October 2014 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father received in
audience:
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Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, president of the Department for
External Ecclesiastical Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow;
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Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops;
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His Beatitude Louis Raphael I Sako, Patriarch of Babylon of the
Chaldeans;
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Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect emeritus of the Congregation
of the Causes of Saints.
You
can find more information at: www.visnews.org
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