SUMMARY:
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Audience with Prime Minister of Grenada: Catholic Churh's
Crontribution in Responding to Challenges Facing the Country
-
Pope to Association of Penal Law: Corruption is Greater Evil than Sin
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Audiences
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Other Pontifical Acts
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Audience
with Prime Minister of Grenada: Catholic Churh's Crontribution in
Responding to Challenges Facing the Country
Vatican
City, 23 October 2014 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican Apostolic
Palace, the Holy Father received the Prime Minister of Grenada, Keith
Mitchell, who subsequently met with Cardinal Secretary of State
Pietro Parolin, accompanied by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti,
secretary for Relations with States.
In
the course of the cordial conversations, the parties focused on the
good relations existing between the Holy See and Grenada, as well as
the important contribution made by the Catholic Church in the
educational, social, and charitable spheres, to meet the challenges
of the country, especially with regard to youth. In this regard, the
need for cooperation between all of the social services, in order to
promote the common good and the development of the country, was
affirmed.
Pope
to Association of Penal Law: Corruption is Greater Evil than Sin
Vatican
City, 23 October 2014 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received
delegates from the International Association of Penal Law (AIDP),
addressing them with a speech focusing on the issues in their subject
area that have recourse to the Church in her mission of
evangelization and the promotion of the human person.
The
Pope began by recalling the need for legal and political methods that
are not characterized by the mythological ?scapegoat? logic, that is,
of an individual unjustly accused of the misfortunes that befall a
community and then chosen to be sacrificed. It is also necessary to
refute the belief that legal sanctions carry benefit, which requires
the implementation of inclusive economic and social policies. He
reiterated the primacy of the life and dignity of the human person,
reaffirming the absolute condemnation of the death penalty, the use
of which is rejected by Christians. In this context he also talked
about the so-called extrajudicial executions, that is, the
deliberated killing of individuals by some states or their agents
that are presented as the unintended consequence of the reasonable,
necessary, and proportionate use of force to implement the law. He
emphasized that the death penalty is used in totalitarian regimes as
?an instrument of suppression of political dissent or of persecution
of religious or cultural minorities?.
He
then spoke of the conditions of prisoners, including prisoners who
have not been convicted and those convicted without a trial, stating
that pretrial detention, when used improperly, is another modern form
of unlawful punishment that is hidden behind legality. He also
referred to the deplorable prison condition in much of the world,
sometimes due to lack of infrastructure while other instances are the
result of ?the arbitrary exercise of ruthless power over detainees?.
Pope Francis also spoke about torture and other inhuman and degrading
treatment, stating that, in the world today, torture is used not only
as a means to achieve a particular purpose, such as a confession or
an accusation?practices that are characteristic of a doctrine of
national security?but also adds to the evil of detention. Criminal
code itself bears responsibility for having allowed, in certain
cases, the legitimacy of torture under certain conditions, opening
the way for further abuse.
The
Pope did not forget the application of criminal sanctions against
children and the elderly, condemning its use in both cases. He also
recalled some forms of crime that seriously damage the dignity of the
human person as well as the common good, including human trafficking,
slavery?recognized as a crime against humanity as well as a war crime
in both international law and under many nations? laws?the abject
poverty in which more than a billion people live, and corruption.
?The scandalous accumulation of global wealth is possible because of
the connivance of those with strong powers who are responsible for
public affairs. Corruption is a process of death ? more evil than
sin. An evil that, instead of being forgiven, must be cured.?
?Caution
in the application of penal codes,? he concluded, ?must be the
overarching principle of legal systems ? and respect for human
dignity must not only act to limit the arbitrariness and excesses of
government agents but as the guiding criterion for prosecuting and
punishing behaviors that represent the most serious attacks on the
dignity and integrity of the human person.?
Audiences
Vatican
City, 23 October 2014 (VIS) - This morning, the Holy Father received
in separate audiences:
-
Archbishop Luigi Ventura, apostolic nuncio to France,
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Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the
Evangelisation of Peoples,
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Bishop Nunzio Galantino, secretary general of the Italian Episcopal
Conference.
Other
Pontifical Acts
Vatican
City, 23 October 2014 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father appointed Abbot
Donato Ogliari, O.S.B., as abbot of the territorial abbey of
Montecassino, Italy. He formerly served as abbot of the Santa Maria
della Scala Monastery in Noci, Italy. The Holy Father has, at the
same time, applied the Motu Proprio ?Ecclesia Catholica? to the Abbey
of Montecassino with a subsequent reduction of its territory,
providing that: the territory on which stand the Abbey Church and
Monastery belongs to the new territorial configuration of the
ecclesiastical jurisdiction ?Territorial Abbey of Montecassino?,
effective immediately. The 53 parishes with their faithful, secular
and religious clergy, religious communities, and semiarians pass to
the pastoral care of the Diocese of Sora-Aquino-Pontecorvo, which
will now be named Sora-Cassino-Aquino-Pontecorvo.
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