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L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
WEEKLY EDITION
IN ENGLISH
Unicuique suum
Forty-eighth year, number 5 (2381)
Non praevalebunt
Vatican City
Friday, 30 January 2015
At the General Audience the Pope says children need fathers
Orphans in the family
At the General Audience on Wednesday, 28 January, Pope Francis resumed his
catecheses on the family, which had been interrupted by his trip to Sri Lanka
and the Philippines. The Pontiff spoke to the faithful gathered in the Paul VI
Hall about the grave effects on a child’s life when his or her father is absent.
The following is a translation of the Pope’s catechesis which was given in Italian.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Good morning!
Let us resume the series of catecheses on the family. Today we
shall take the word “father” as our
guide. It is a term dearer than any
other to us Christians because it is
the name by which Jesus taught us
to call God: father. The meaning of
this name took on new depth from
the very way Jesus used it to turn to
God and to manifest his special relationship with Him. The blessed
mystery of God’s intimacy, Father,
Son and Spirit revealed by Jesus, is
the heart of our Christian faith.
“Father” is a term familiar to
everyone, a universal word. It indicates a fundamental relationship, the
reality of which is as old as human
history. Today, however, one has
reached the point of claiming that
our society is a “society without
fathers”. In other words, particularly
in Western culture, the father figure
would be symbolically absent,
paled, removed. At first, this was
perceived as a liberation: liberation
from the father-master, from the
father as the representative of the
law that is imposed from without,
from the father as the censor of his
children’s
happiness
and
the
obstacle to the emancipation and
autonomy of young people. At
times in some homes authoritarianism reigned in the past, in some
cases even oppression: parents who
treated their children like servants,
not respecting their individual needs
for growth; fathers who did not help
them to start out on their journey
with freedom — and it is not easy to
bring up a child in freedom —; fathers who did not help them assume
their own responsibilities to build
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
An ecumenism
of blood
PAGE 8/9
CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
Letter to cardinals who will be created on 14 February
Called to a new service
The following is a translation of the
letter Pope Francis sent to each of the
20 cardinals whom he will create at
the Consistory on 14 February.
World Communications Day
Family shows us how
PAGE 4
Holocaust Remembrance Day
The cry
of Auschwitz
Dear Brother,
PAGE 7
Today your nomination as Cardinal
of Holy Roman Church was made
public. I send you my greetings
along with an assurance of my
prayers. I ask the Lord to accompany you in this new service, which
is a service of help, support and
special closeness to the person of
the Pope and for the good of the
Church.
The cardinalate is indeed a vocation, precisely ordered to the exercise of this dimension of service.
The Lord, through the Church,
calls you yet again to serve; and it
will do you good to repeat in prayer the expression that Jesus himself
suggested to his disciples in order
to remain humble: “Say, ‘We are
unworthy servants’”, and this, not
as a formula of good upbringing
but truthful after your work, “when
you have done all that is commanded you” (Lk 17:10).
Keeping oneself humble in service is not easy if one views the cardinalate as an award, like the culmination of a career, a dignity of
power or of superior distinction.
Hence, your daily commitment to
warding off these considerations,
and especially in order to remember that being a Cardinal signifies
being incardinated in the Diocese
of Rome in order to bear witness to
the Resurrection of the Lord totally,
even to pouring out your blood if
necessary.
Many will rejoice at your new
vocation and, as good Christians,
they will celebrate it (indeed it is
proper for a Christian to rejoice
and to know how to celebrate). Accept it with humility. Only, do it in
a way that, during these celebrations, the spirit of worldliness does
not creep in, the spirit that confuses more than grappa when fasting, disorienting and separating
one from the Cross of Christ. We
will see each other, then, on 14 February. Prepare yourself with prayer
and a little penance. May you experience great peace and joy. And,
please, I ask you not to forget to
pray for me.
May Jesus bless you and the
Holy Virgin protect you.
Fraternally,
From the Vatican, 4 January 2015
To the Pontifical Institute of Arabic
and Islamic Studies
Dialogue begins with
encounter
PAGE 14
To the Roman Rota
New details about his life
Law is for salvation
St Francis rediscovered
PAGE 5
SILVIA GUIDI
ON PAGE
16
L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
page 2
Friday, 30 January 2015, number 5
VATICAN BULLETIN
AUDIENCES
Thursday, 22 January
Hon. Mr Ignazio Marino, Mayor of
Rome
Friday, 23 January
Cardinal Angelo Amato, SDB, Prefect
of the Congregation for the Causes
of Saints
Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, titular Archbishop of Voghenza, President of the Pontifical Council for the
Promotion of the New Evangelization
Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata, titular
Archbishop of Doclea
Cardinal George Pell, Prefect of the
Secretariat for the Economy
Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller,
Prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith
Msgr Pio Vito Pinto, Dean of the
Tribunal of the Roman Rota
The College of the Prelate Auditors
of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota
L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
WEEKLY EDITION
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IN ENGLISH
Non praevalebunt
Cardinal Marc Ouellet, PSS, Prefect
of the Congregation for Bishops
Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa, Italy, President of
the Italian Episcopal Conference
Ms Maria de los Angeles Marechal
Monday, 26 January
Cardinal Lluís Martínez Sistach,
Archbishop of Barcelona, Spain
Bishop emeritus Francesco Micciché
of Trapani, Italy
Spain on 8 February 1875 and died
in San Sebastián on 17 January
1954;
— the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Teresa Gardi, layperson of the Third Order of St Francis, born in Imola, Italy on 22 October 1769 and died there on 1
January 1837;
— the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Luis De Trelles y Nogerol, layman and founder of the
Nocturnal Adoration Society in
Spain, born in Viveiro, Spain on
20 August 1819 and died in
Zamora on 1 July 1891;
— the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Elizabeth Maria Satoko Kitahara, laywoman, born in
Tokyo, Japan on 22 August 1929
and died there on 23 January 1958;
— the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Virginia Blanco Tardío,
laywoman,
born
in
Cochabamba, Bolivia on 18 April
1916 and died there on 23 July
1990.
Fr Alejandro Moral Antón, OSA, Prior General of the Order of St Augustine
NEW ARCHDIO CESE
The Holy Father has formally unified the Metropolitan See of Cashel
with the former Diocese of Emly.
The new Archdiocese will be called
Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly,
Ireland. The Holy Father appointed
Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly, SMA, as
the first Archbishop. Until now he
has been Archbishop of Cashel and
Apostolic Administrator of Emly (26
Jan.).
Archbishop O’Reilly, 62, was born
in Cork, Ireland. He was ordained a
priest on 17 June 1978. He was ordained a bishop on 29 August 2010,
subsequent to his appointment as
Bishop of Killaloe. On 22 November 2014 he was appointed Archbishop of Cashel.
Francis meets with a delegation from
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
On Monday, 26 January, the eve of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Pope Francis welcomed a delegation from the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem to the Vatican.
GIOVANNI MARIA VIAN
Editor-in-Chief
Giuseppe Fiorentino
Assistant Editor
Mary M. Nolan
Vatican City
[email protected]
www.osservatoreromano.va
Saturday, 24 January
Bishop emeritus Gastone Simoni of
Prato, Italy
Promulgation of Decrees
On Thursday afternoon Pope
Francis received Cardinal Angelo
Amato, SDB, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints,
in a private audience during which
the Holy Father authorized the
Congregation to promulgate the
following decrees:
— a miracle attributed to the
Venerable Servant of God Maria
Teresa Casini, foundress of the Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart of
Jesus, born in Frascati, Italy on 27
October 1864 and died in Grottaferrata on 3 April 1937;
— the martyrdom of the Servants
of God Fidelia (in the world:
Dolores Oller Angelats) and two
companions, professed religious of
the Institute of Sisters of St Joseph
of Gerona, killed in hatred of the
faith in Spain between 26 and 29
August 1936 during the Spanish
civil war;
— the martyrdom of the Servants
of God Pio Heredia Zubia and 17
companions of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance
(Trappists) and of the Congregation of St Bernard, killed in hatred
of the faith in 1936 during the
Spanish civil war;
— the martyrdom of the Servant
of God Tshimangadzo Samuel Benedict Daswa (in the world:
Bakali), layperson, killed in hatred
of the faith on 2 February 1990 in
Mbahe, South Africa;
— the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Ladislao Bukowiński,
diocesan priest, born in Berdyczów,
Ukraine on 22 December 1904 and
died in Karagandà, Kazakhstan on
3 December 1974;
— the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Aloysius Schwartz,
diocesan priest and founder of the
Sisters of Mary of Banneux and
the Brothers of Christ, born in
Washington, D.C., USA on 18
September 1930 and died in Manila, the Philippines on 16 March
1992;
— the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Cointa Jáuregui Osés,
professed nun of the Company of
Mary Our Lady, born in Falces,
H.E. Ms Maja Marija Lovrencic
Svetek, Ambassador of Slovenia, on
a farewell visit
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CHANGES
IN
EPISCOPATE
The Holy Father accepted the resignation of Bishop Jean-Marie Le Vert
of Quimper, France. It was presented in accord with can. 401 § 2 of
the Code of Canon Law (22 Jan.).
The Holy Father accepted the resignation of Bishop Valter Župan of
Krk, Croatia. It was presented in accord with can. 401 § 1 of the Code
of Canon Law (24 Jan.).
The Holy Father appointed Fr Ivica
Petanjak, OFM, Cap., as Bishop of
Krk, Croatia. Until now he has been
Custodian of the Franciscan Monastery in Osijek (24 Jan.).
Bishop-elect Petanjak, 51, was
born in Drenje, Croatia. He made
his perpetual profession for the Order of Capuchin Friars on 4 October 1988 and was ordained a priest
on 24 June 1990. He holds a doctorate in theology and in church history. He has served in parish ministry and as: assistant master of seminarians; hospital chaplain; master of
clerics and postulants; provincial
minister for two terms.
The Holy Father appointed Fr
Stefan Heße, as Archbishop of
Hamburg, Germany. Until now he
has been Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cologne and Canon of
the Metropolitan Chapter (26 Jan.).
Archbishop-elect Heße, 48, was
born in Cologne, Germany. He
holds a doctorate in dogmatic theology. He was ordained a priest on 17
June 1993. He has served in parish
ministry and as: vice-rector of the
Archdiocesan Albertinum College;
head of the division “personal soul
care”; as canon of the Metropolitan
Chapter; vicar general; diocesan administrator while the See was vacant.
Statutes of the
modified
IOR
The Institute for the Works of Religion announced that on 10 January
Pope Francis — with the Rescriptum
ex audientia SS.mi, presented to the
president of the Supervisory Commission of Cardinals of the IOR —
declared that the Statute of the IOR
has been modified in order to increase the number of the members
of the Supervisory Commission of
Cardinals and of the Superintendence Council of the IOR from five to
six. The Rescriptum will be published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis.
The president of the Supervisory
Commission of Cardinals also formalized the appointment of a nonvoting secretary general to the Superintendence Council of the IOR.
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L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
number 5, Friday, 30 January 2015
page 3
Orphans in the family
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
their future and that of society.
This, certainly, is not a good approach; but, as often happens, one
goes from one extreme to the other.
In our day, the problem no longer
seems to be the invasive presence of
the father so much as his absence,
his inaction. Fathers are sometimes
so concentrated on themselves and
on their work and at times on their
career that they even forget about
the family. And they leave the little
ones and the young ones to themselves. As Bishop of Buenos Aires I
sensed the feeling of orphanhood
that children are experiencing today,
and I often asked fathers if they
played with their children, if they
had the courage and love to spend
time with their kids. And the answer
was negative in most cases: “But I
can’t, because I have so much
work...”. And the father was absent
from the little child growing up, he
did not play with him, no, he did
not waste time with him.
Now, on this common journey of
reflection on the family, I would like
to say to all Christian communities
that we must be more attentive: the
absent father figure in the life of
little ones and young people causes
gaps and wounds that may even be
very serious. And, in effect, delinquency among children and adoles-
cents can be largely
attributed
to
this
lack, to the shortage
of examples and authoritative guidance
in their everyday life,
a shortage of closeness, a shortage of
love from the father.
And the feeling of
orphanhood that so
many young people
live with is more profound than we think.
They are orphaned
in the family, because
the father is often absent, also physically, from the home, but above all
because, when they are present, they
do not behave like fathers. They do
not converse with their children.
They do not fulfill their role as educators. They do not set their children a good example with their
words, principles, values, those rules
of life which they need like bread.
The educative quality of the time
the father spends raising the child is
all the more necessary when he is
forced to stay away from home because of work. Sometimes it seems
that fathers don’t know what their
role in the family is or how to raise
their children. So, in doubt, they abstain, they retreat and neglect their
responsibilities,
perhaps
taking
refuge in the unlikely relationship as
“equals” with their children. It’s true
that you have to be a “companion”
to your child, but without forgetting
that you are the father! If you behave only as a peer to your child, it
will do him/her no good.
And we also see this problem in
the civil community. The civil community with its institutions, has a
certain — let’s call it paternal — responsibility towards young people, a
responsibility that at times is neglected or poorly exercised. It too often leaves them orphaned and does
not offer them a true perspective.
Young people are thus deprived of
safe paths to follow, of teachers to
trust in, of ideals to warm their
hearts, of values and of hopes to
sustain them daily. They become
filled perhaps with idols but their
hearts are robbed; they are obliged
to dream of amusement and pleasure
but they are not given work; they
become deluded by the god of
money, and they are denied true
wealth.
And so it would do everyone
good, fathers and children, to listen
again to the promise that Jesus
made to his disciples: “I will not
leave you orphans” (cf. Jn 14:18). He
is, indeed, the Way to follow, the
Teacher to listen to, the Hope that
the world can change, that love conquers hatred, that there can be a future of brotherhood and peace for
all. One of you might say to me:
“But Father, today you were too
negative. You only spoke about the
absent father, what happens when
fathers are not close to their children.... “It’s true, I wanted to stress
this, because next Wednesday I am
going to continue this catechesis by
highlighting the beauty of father-
GREETINGS
In Jerusalem
from 24 January to 1 February
The Pope’s tweet for the March for Life
The March on Washington
SPECIAL
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors attending today’s
Audience, including the various student groups from England and the
United States of America. Upon you
and your families I cordially invoke
the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus. God bless you all!
I address a special thought to the
young people, to the sick and to newlyweds. Today we are celebrating the
memorial of St Thomas Aquinas,
Doctor of the Church. May his dedication to study, foster in you, dear
young people, a commitment to understand and a desire to serve the
Gospel; may his faith show you,
dear sick people, to turn to the Lord
also in times of trial; may his mildness show you, dear newlyweds, the
manner of relating between spouses
within the family.
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Defending life and the family
“Every Life is a Gift”. With this tweet in English and
Spanish, Pope Francis sent a sign of his virtual participation in the March for Life, which was held
Thursday, 22 January, in Washington, D.C. The
March is an annual meeting which has been held for
40 years, following the Supreme Court’s decision, Roe
v. Wade, to legalize abortion.
hood. That is why I chose to start
from the darkness, in order to reach
the light. May the Lord help us understand these things better .
On the eve of the March Cardinal Sean Patrick
O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, celebrated Mass in
the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. In his homily, the Cardinal first underlined
clearly that every Christian must “build a better
world” and become “the defense attorney for the innocent unborn and the vulnerable elderly and all
those whose right to life is threatened”. Looking at
the numbers, statistics and studies, the Cardinal forcefully denounced “myths” espoused by American
politicians. According to them, abortion is a women’s
issue, something most Americans are in favour of, especially young people. On the contrary, he said, studies have shown that “women have been consistently
more pro-life than men” and often they are forced to
make certain decisions because of the irresponsibility
of men or for the sake of men’s convenience. In fact,
the Cardinal continued, there is a net presence of
those who choose life and many include young
people. Also on Thursday, 22 January, an international congress of associations, movements and groups for
the family was held in Rome, organized by the Pontifical Council for the Family. The conference, entitled
“Re-reading Together the Extraordinary Synod”, had
250 participants from 40 countries.
In the holy city the traditional Week
of Prayer for Christian Unity began a
little late — Saturday, 24 January, and
will conclude Sunday, 1 February. The
prayers and common celebrations during the nine days are being held in
different places of worship of various
Christian denominations around the
city. The dates would have coincided
with the Week in the northern hemisphere (18-25 January), but the Armenian Church celebrated Christmas
on 19 January. So, the Week in Jerusalem was postponed.
The Bible passage of Christ meeting the Samaritan woman, chosen by
the National Council of the Christian
Churches of Brazil as the inspiration
for reflection, “invites us to try water
from a different well”, according to
the Patriarchate of Jerusalem for
Latins’ website. “‘Give me to drink’
implies an ethical action that recognises the need for one another in living out the Church’s mission. It compels us to change our attitude, to
commit ourselves to seek unity in the
midst of our diversity, through our
openness to a variety of forms of
prayer and Christian spirituality”.
On Saturday, 24 January, the week
opened at 5:30 pm with the Orthodox
office of the apodeipnon (compline) at
the Basilica of the Resurrection (Holy
Sepulchre). The following days included stops in the Anglican Cathedral of St George, the Armenian
Cathedral of St James, the Lutheran
Church of the Redeemer, the Basilica
of the Agony, the Room of the Last
Supper, the Syrian Orthodox Church
of St Mark, the Ethiopian Orthodox
Church. The concluding celebration
will be held in the Greek Catholic
Church of the Annunciation at 5 pm
on 1 February.
L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
page 4
Friday, 30 January 2015, number 5
The Pope’s Message for World Communications Day
The family shows us how
The family is the central theme of Pope
Francis’ message for World
Communications Day, which will be
celebrated on 17 May 2015. The
following is the English text of the
Holy Father’s message.
Communicating the Family:
A Privileged Place of Encounter
with the Gift of Love
The family is a subject of profound
reflection by the Church and of a
process involving two Synods: the
recent extraordinary assembly and
the ordinary assembly scheduled for
next October. So I thought it appropriate that the theme for the next
World Communications Day should
have the family as its point of reference. After all, it is in the context of
the family that we first learn how to
communicate. Focusing on this context can help to make our communication more authentic and humane, while helping us to view the
family in a new perspective.
We can draw inspiration from the
Gospel passage which relates the visit of Mary to Elizabeth (Lk 1:39-56).
“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s
greeting, the infant leaped in her
womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the
Holy Spirit cried out in a loud voice
and said, ‘Most blessed are you
among women, and blessed is the
fruit of your womb’” (vv. 41-42).
This episode first shows us how
communication is a dialogue intertwined with the language of the body.
The first response to Mary’s greeting
is given by the child, who leaps for
joy in the womb of Elizabeth. Joy at
meeting others, which is something
we learn even before being born, is,
in one sense, the archetype and symbol of every other form of communication. The womb which hosts us
is the first “school” of communication, a place of listening and physical contact where we begin to familiarize ourselves with the outside
world within a protected environment, with the reassuring sound of
the mother’s heartbeat. This encounter between two persons, so intimately related while still distinct
from each other, an encounter so full
of promise, is our first experience of
communication. It is an experience
which we all share, since each of us
was born of a mother.
Even after we have come into the
world, in some sense we are still in a
“womb”, which is the family. A womb
made up of various interrelated persons: the family is “where we learn to
live with others despite our differences” (Evangelii Gaudium, n. 66).
Notwithstanding the differences of
gender and age between them, fam-
ily members accept one another because there is a bond between them.
The wider the range of these relationships and the greater the differences of age, the richer will be our
living environment. It is this bond
which is at the root of language,
which in turn strengthens the bond.
We do not create our language; we
can use it because we have received
it. It is in the family that we learn to
speak our “mother tongue”, the language of those who have gone before us. (cf. 2 Mac 7:25,27). In the
family we realize that others have
preceded us, they made it possible
for us to exist and in our turn to
generate life and to do something
good and beautiful. We can give because we have received. This virtuous circle is at the heart of the family’s ability to communicate among
its members and with others. More
generally, it is the model for all communication.
The experience of this relationship which “precedes” us enables the
family to become the setting in
which the most basic form of communication, which is prayer, is handed
down. When parents put their newborn children to sleep, they frequently entrust them to God, asking
that he watch over them. When the
children are a little older, parents
help them to recite some simple
prayers, thinking with affection of
other people, such as grandparents,
relatives, the sick and suffering, and
all those in need of God’s help. It
was in our families that the majority
of us learned the religious dimension
of communication, which in the case
of Christianity is permeated with
love, the love that God bestows
upon us and which we then offer to
others.
In the family, we learn to embrace
and support one another, to discern
the meaning of facial expressions
and moments of silence, to laugh
and cry together with people who
did not choose one other yet are so
important to each other. This greatly
helps us to understand the meaning
of communication as recognizing and
creating closeness. When we lessen
distances by growing closer and accepting one another, we experience
gratitude and joy. Mary’s greeting
and the stirring of her child are a
blessing for Elizabeth; they are followed by the beautiful canticle of
the Magnificat, in which Mary
praises God’s loving plan for her
and for her people. A “yes” spoken
with faith can have effects that go
well beyond ourselves and our place
in the world. To “visit” is to open
doors, not remaining closed in our
little world, but rather going out to
others. So too the family comes alive
as it reaches beyond itself; families
who do so communicate their message of life and communion, giving
comfort and hope to more fragile
families, and thus build up the
Church herself, which is the family
of families.
More than anywhere else, the
family is where we daily experience
our own limits and those of others,
the problems great and small entailed in living peacefully with others. A perfect family does not exist.
We should not be fearful of imperfections,
weakness or even conflict, but rather learn
how to deal with them
constructively. The family, where we keep loving one another despite
our limits and sins, thus
becomes a school of forgiveness. Forgiveness is
itself a process of communication. When contrition is expressed and accepted, it becomes possible to restore and rebuild the communication which broke down. A
child who has learned in the family
to listen to others, to speak respectfully and to express his or her view
without negating that of others, will
be a force for dialogue and reconciliation in society.
When it comes to the challenges
of communication, families who have
children with one or more disabilities
have much to teach us. A motor,
sensory or mental limitation can be a
reason for closing in on ourselves,
but it can also become, thanks to
the love of parents, siblings, and
friends, an incentive to openness, sharing and ready communication with all.
It can also help schools, parishes
and associations to become more
welcoming and inclusive of everyone.
In a world where people often
curse, use foul language, speak
badly of others, sow discord and
poison our human environment by
gossip, the family can teach us to
understand communication as a blessing. In situations apparently dominated by hatred and violence, where
families are separated by stone walls
or the no less impenetrable walls of
prejudice and resentment, where
there seem to be good reasons for
saying “enough is enough”, it is only
by blessing rather than cursing, by
visiting rather than repelling, and by
accepting rather than fighting, that
we can break the spiral of evil, show
that goodness is always possible,
and educate our children to fellowship.
Today the modern media, which
are an essential part of life for young
people in particular, can be both a
help and a hindrance to communication in and between families. The
media can be a hindrance if they become a way to avoid listening to
others, to evade physical contact, to
fill up every moment of silence and
rest, so that we forget that “silence is
an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in
content cannot exist.” (Benedict XVI,
Message for the 46th World Communications Day). The media can help
communication when they enable
people to share their stories, to stay
in contact with distant friends, to
thank others or to seek their forgiveness, and to open the door to new
encounters. By growing daily in our
awareness of the vital importance of
encountering others, these “new possibilities”, we will employ technology wisely, rather than letting
ourselves be dominated by it. Here
too, parents are the primary educat-
ors, but they cannot be left to their
own devices. The Christian community is called to help them in
teaching children how to live in a
media environment in a way consonant with the dignity of the human
person and service of the common
good.
The great challenge facing us
today is to learn once again how to
talk to one another, not simply how
to generate and consume information. The latter is a tendency which
our important and influential modern communications media can encourage. Information is important,
but it is not enough. All too often
things get simplified, different positions and viewpoints are pitted
against one another, and people are
invited to take sides, rather than to
see things as a whole.
The family, in conclusion, is not a
subject of debate or a terrain for
ideological skirmishes. Rather, it is
an environment in which we learn to
communicate in an experience of
closeness, a setting where communication takes place, a “communicating community”. The family is a community which provides help, which
celebrates life and is fruitful. Once
we realize this, we will once more be
able to see how the family continues
to be a rich human resource, as opposed to a problem or an institution
in crisis. At times the media can tend
to present the family as a kind of
abstract model which has to be accepted or rejected, defended or attacked, rather than as a living reality.
Or else a grounds for ideological
clashes rather than as a setting
where we can all learn what it means
to communicate in a love received
and returned. Relating our experiences means realizing that our lives
are bound together as a single reality, that our voices are many, and
that each is unique.
Families should be seen as a resource rather than as a problem for
society. Families at their best actively
communicate by their witness the
beauty and the richness of the relationship between man and woman,
and between parents and children.
We are not fighting to defend the
past. Rather, with patience and trust,
we are working to build a better future for the world in which we live.
From the Vatican, 23 January 2015
Vigil of the Memorial
of St Francis de Sales
L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
number 5, Friday, 30 January 2015
page 5
Pope Francis receives the Roman Rota for the beginning of the judicial year
The law is for salvation
The function of law is directed to the
salvation of people and should not be
closed in a “juridical bottleneck”. The
Pope recalled this to the Roman Rota,
whom he received in audience on
Friday morning, 23 January, in the
Clementine Hall, on the occasion of the
beginning of the judicial year. The
following is a translation of the Holy
Father’s address which was given in
Italian.
Dear Judges, Officials, Advocates
and Collaborators of the Apostolic
Tribunal of the Roman Rota,
I cordially greet you, beginning with
the College of Prelate Auditors and
its Dean, Msgr Pio Vito Pinto,
whom I thank for the words with
which he opened our meeting. I
wish you all the best for this judicial
year which we inaugurate today.
On this occasion I would like to
reflect on the human and cultural
context surrounding the formulation of
the marriage intention. Society’s crisis
of values is certainly not a recent
phenomenon. Blessed Paul VI, addressing the Roman Rota 40 years
ago, already disparaged the illness of
modern man, who “sometimes [is]
wounded by a systematic relativism”,
which “disposes him to make the
easiest choices of the situation, demagogy, fashion, passion, pleasure,
selfishness, so that externally he tries
to impugn the ‘majesty of the law’,
and internally he replaces, almost
without noticing, the rule of moral
conscience with the caprice of psychological conscience” (Address, 31
January 1974; AAS 66 [1974], p. 87;
ORE, 21 February 1974, p. 3). Effectively, abandoning a perspective of
faith gives rise to a false understanding of marriage, and this is not
without consequence in the matura-
tion of an individual’s will for marriage.
Of course, the Lord in his goodness has granted that the Church
may rejoice in the many, many families who, upheld and sustained by a
sincere faith, in the daily hardships
and joy, live out the goodness of
marriage. The goods of marriage are
taken up with sincerity at the moment of the celebration of marriage,
and they are pursued with faithfulness and tenacity. Yet the Church is
well aware of the suffering of many
family nuclei that fall apart, leaving
To those working in local tribunals on the causes of marriage nullity
A certain and swift process
On Saturday, 24 January, Pope Francis received the participants attending an
international conference organized by the Faculty of Canon Law of the Pontifical
Gregorian University on the 10th anniversary of the publication of the
Instruction ‘Dignitas connubii’ on the treatment of the causes of marriage
nullity in diocesan and interdiocesan tribunals. The following is a translation of
the Holy Father’s address which was delivered in Italian.
Dear Brothers,
I extend my cordial greetings to all
of you who are participating in the
international congress on the 10th
anniversary of the publication of
the Instruction Dignitas connubii on
the treatment of the causes of marriage nullity in diocesan and interdiocesan tribunals. I greet the Fathers of the Faculty of Canon Law of
the Pontifical Gregorian University
who organized the congress with
the sponsorship of the Pontifical
Council for Legislative Texts and
the Consociato internationalis studio
iuris canonici promovendo. I greet all
of you who have come from local
Churches in various parts of the
world and have actively participated and shared the experiences of
your local tribunals. Your large
number and qualifications are of
great consolation: it seems to me to
be a generous response to the solicitations that every authentic ministry of the Church’s tribunals receives for the good of souls.
Such widespread participation in
this meeting is an indication of the
importance of the Instruction Dignitas connubii, which is not meant
for the specialists of the law, but
rather for those who work in the
local tribunals. It is in fact a mod-
est but useful vademecum that truly
takes the ministers of the tribunals
by hand through the unfolding of a
process that seeks to be simultaneously certain and swift. It is a certain undertaking inasmuch as it
marks and explains with clarity the
substance of the process itself, thus
the moral certainty: it requires that
on the whole there be no shred of
prudent, positive doubt of error,
even if the mere possibility of the
contrary cannot be utterly excluded
(cf. Dignitas connubii, art. 247 § 2).
It is a swift undertaking inasmuch
as — and common experience
teaches us this — he who knows the
road well travels and moves quicker. Knowledge, and I might add
custom, in conjunction with this
Instruction will also be able to help
the ministers of tribunals in the future to shorten the procedural
stage, which the spouses themselves
perceive as long and arduous. Thus
far there has not been an examination of all the resources that the Instruction has made available for an
expedited process, one stripped of
all formalism as an end in and of
itself. Nor can further legislative
acts with the same scope be ruled
out for the future.
Among the moments of solicitude manifested in the Instruction
Dignitas connubii, I have already
seized the opportunity to mention
the proper and primary contribution of the defender of the bond in
the marriage process (cf. Address to
Participants in the Plenary Assembly
of the Supreme Tribunal of the
Apostolic Signatura, 8 November
2013, AAS 105 [2013], pp. 1152–1153).
The presence of the defender of the
bond and the faithful fulfillment of
his or her task does not condition
the judge. Rather, it allows for and
facilitates the impartiality of his
judgment insofar as the judge is
faced with arguments both in favour of and contrary to a declaration of nullity of a marriage.
To Mary Most Holy, Seat of
Wisdom, I entrust your continued
work and reflection on what the
Lord wants today for the good of
souls, which he has obtained with
his blood. Upon you and your
daily responsibilities I invoke the
light of the Holy Spirit and impart
to all my blessing and please pray
for me.
a trail of broken affective relations,
endeavours and shared expectations.
The judge is called to undertake judicial review when there is doubt regarding the validity of a marriage so
as to ascertain whether there is
something defective at the origin of
the consent — both directly as a defect of valid intention, as well as by
a grave deficit in the understanding
of marriage itself to such an extent
that this is what dictates one’s will
(cf. can. 1099). Indeed, at the root
of the crisis of marriage is often a
crisis of knowledge enlightened by
faith — that is, knowledge informed
by the adhesion to God and his
design of love realized in Jesus
Christ.
Pastoral experience teaches us that
today there is a great number of the
faithful in irregular situations, on
whose personal stories the diffusion
of a worldly mentality has had a
hefty influence. There exists in fact a
kind of spiritual worldliness “which
hides behind the appearance of
piety and even love for the Church”
(Ap. Ex. Evangelii gaudium, n. 93),
which leads to the pursuit of personal well-being instead of the glory of
the Lord. One of the fruits of such
an attitude is “a purely subjective
faith whose only interest is a certain
experience or a set of ideas and bits
of information which are meant to
console and enlighten, but which ultimately keep one imprisoned in his
or her own thoughts and feelings”
(ibid., 94). It is clear that for the one
who bends under this attitude the
faith will always be deprived of its
value as a normative force of orientation. This leaves the door open for
compromises with one’s own egoism
and the pressures of the current
mentality, a mentality that has become dominant by way of the mass
media.
For this reason the judge, in deliberating the validity of expressed
consent, must keep in mind the context of value and faith — or the absence or lack thereof — in which the
intention to marry is formed. Indeed, the lack of knowledge of the
contents of the faith might lead to
what the Code calls determinant error
of the will (cf. can. 1099). This circumstance can no longer be considered exceptional as in the past,
given the frequent prevalence of
worldly thinking imposed on the
magisterium of the Church. Such error threatens not only the stability of
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
page 6
Final statement of the Bishops in support of the Church in the Holy Land
Bridges, not walls
“Fostering
more
interaction
between Israelis and Palestinians”
because “peace will only come
when all parties respect the fact
that the Holy Land is sacred to
three faiths and home to two
peoples”. This was the call in the
final statement of the annual meeting of the Holy Land Coordination
which included bishops from
Europe, North America and South
Africa. The meeting began on
Monday, 11 January and concluded
in Jerusalem with a Mass at the
Holy Sepulchre on Thursday, 15.
Gaza, Hebron, Bethlehem and
the Israeli city of Sderot, hit by
missiles from the Gaza Strip during
the military campaign in July, were
stops on this pilgrimage. It was a
visit to the existential peripheries of
the Holy Land, where conditions
have been increasingly difficult due
to the climate of conflict and political instability. The bishops’ goal is
to more effectively support the
work of justice and peace in their
respective countries: that same
peace which local and international
politicicans have not succeeded in
realizing after so many years of
diplomacy.
In the statement, entitled: “Human Dignity as Basis of Peace”, the
bishops denounced “the tragic consequences of the failure” of such attempts to advance peace. “The ongoing conflict assaults the dignity
of both Palestinians and Israelis,
but in a particular way our commitment to the poor calls us to lift
up the suffering people in Gaza,”
where tens of thousands of families
lack adequate shelter. “In the latest
freezing weather, at least two infants died of exposure”.
The bishops affirm that “hope is
alive in Gaza” despite the blockage
which “dramatically impedes rebuilding and contributes to desperation that undermines Israelis’ legitimate hope for security”. The
bishops of the Holy Land Coordination wrote: “We saw families resolutely rebuilding their lives. We witnessed a small Christian community that has enormous faith.
We admired the tenacity of many
volunteers”.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
marriage, its exclusivity and fruitfulness, but also the ordering of
marriage to the good of the other.
It threatens the conjugal love that
is the “vital principle” of consent,
the mutual giving in order to build
a lifetime of consortium. “Marriage
now tends to be viewed as a form
of mere emotional satisfaction that
can be constructed in any way or
Faith and mathematics
On 7 January the Lord called Andrew P. Whitman to Him. At 88years-old Whitman was a Jesuit
priest of the Province of New Orleans, Louisiana. Born in Detroit on
28 February 1926, he earned a degree in engineering before entering
the Society of Jesus in 1951. After
studying philosophy and theology,
he earned a degree in mathematics
in 1961. He was ordained a priest in 1963
and, on concluding
his spiritual formation,
he began teaching
mathematics.
After
teaching at various Jesuit universities in
North America, he
was called to the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de
Janeiro in 1974. After
a sabbatical in 1983 at
the Vatican Observatory, he began teaching
Agreement between
Holy See and
Republic of Serbia
The Republic of Serbia and the Holy
See, with the respective Verbal Notes
of 17 December 2014 and of 12 January 2015, announced the fulfillment
of all requirements are provided for
by the internal regulations of the two
Parties for the entry into force of the
Agreement between the Holy See and the
Republic of Serbia on collaboration in
higher education, signed on 27 June
2014 in Belgrade. The Agreement,
therefore, entered into force on 12
January 2015, in accordance with Article 7.
The Agreement provides that the
Parties will foster collaboration in the
field of higher education teaching
and promote direct contact among
the pertinent institutions. These institutions are committed to standardizing issues concerning the mutual recognition of academic and public
documents certifying the achievement
of higher education. In order to implement this Agreement, the two
Parties will sign additional protocols
in the future which will define the
concrete activities, as well as their organizational and financial applications.
The law is for salvation
Remembering Andy Whitman
JOSÉ G. FUNES
They expressed their strong reserve regarding “the building of the
proposed wall in the Cremisan Valley” since it would lead to a loss of
land and livelihood for many
Christian families. “After the failed
negotiations and ensuing violence
of 2014, we urge public officials to
be creative, to take new approaches, to build bridges, not
walls”.
Friday, 30 January 2015, number 5
mathematics at the College of the
Holy Cross, USA. In 1996 he became
a permanent member of the Vatican
Observatory community as a scientific researcher.
Andy, as he was known, cofounded the Clavius Group in 1963,
which consisted of both lay and religious mathematicians of various
institutions and departments who
met every summer to participate in
seminars on current topics and to
form a faith community. In 2010, as his
health deteriorated, he
returned to Louisiana,
where he continued as
much as possible to
write on Lie algebra.
This humble priest
was awarded the Sancta Crux Pro Ecclesia et
Pontifice by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011 in
recognition of his service to the Vatican
Observatory.
modified at will” (Ap. Ex. Evangelii
gaudium, n. 66). This pushes married persons into a kind of mental
reservation regarding the very permanence of their union, its exclusivity, which is undermined whenever the loved one no longer sees his
or her own expectations of emotional well-being fulfilled.
I would therefore like to exhort
you all to grow in and cultivate
passion for the task of your ministry, which is to tend to the unity
of jurisprudence in the Church.
There is so much pastoral work for
the good of so many couples, so
many children, who are all too often victims in these matters! Here,
too, there is a need for pastoral conversion of the ecclesiastical structures (cf. ibid., 27) in order to offer
the opus iustitiae to all those who
turn to the Church to shed light on
their respective conjugal situations.
This, then, is your difficult mission, as also shared by the judges
of every diocese: do not close the
salvation of people inside a juridical bottleneck. The function of law
is directed toward the salus animarum on the condition that — and
avoiding the sophisms that are far
removed from the living flesh and
blood of people who are in difficulty — it might help to establish
the truth in the moment of consent:
whether a person was faithful to
Christ or instead to the lying
paradigm of the world. To this effect Blessed Paul VI stated: “If the
Church is a divine plan, Ecclesia de
Trinitate, her institutions, although
perfectible, must be established in
order to communicate divine grace
and to foster, according to the gifts
and mission of each one, the good
of the faithful, the essential purpose
of the Church. This social purpose,
the salvation of souls, the salus animarum, remains the supreme aim of
institutions, of the law, of the statutes” (Address to the participants
in the Second International Congress on Canon Law, 17 September
1973; Communicationes 5 [1973], p.
126; ore, 4 October 1973, p. 3).
Once again it is helpful to recall
what is prescribed in the Instruction Dignitas connubii in n. 113 —
which is consonant with Canon
1490 of the Code of Canon Law —
regarding the presence of competent persons in all ecclesiastical
tribunals in order that counsel may
be solicited with respect to the possibility of introducing a cause, or
case, of matrimonial nullity. There
is likewise a need for permanent
advocates, financed by the tribunals
themselves, who exercise this office
of counsel. In strongly encouraging
every tribunal to incorporate these
figures — to favour the real access
of all the faithful to the Church’s
justice — I would like to emphasize
the fact that a substantial number
of causes at the Roman Rota are
represented gratuitously when those
who, on account of the crippling
economic conditions in which they
find themselves, are not in a position to procure a lawyer. I would
like to underline that the Sacraments are freely given; the Sacraments give us grace; a matrimonial
process touches upon the Sacrament of marriage. How I would
like all processes to be free!
Dear brothers, I once again extend to each of you my gratitude
for the good you do for the People
of God as ministers of justice. I invoke divine assistance upon your
work and whole-heartedly impart
the Apostolic Blessing.
number 5, Friday, 30 January 2015
L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
page 7
Roman convents opened to Jews during the occupation
An order from the top
GRAZIA LOPARCO
In reconstructing the map of the religious houses of Rome which hid
Jews and other fugitives during the
city’s occupation, it was known that
the Canadian Adorers of the Most
Precious Blood, on Via Francesco
Domenico Guerrazzi, had hidden 80
Jews. Period.
Further research on the subject
was unproductive, as in many other
cases wherein the relocation of religious houses obscured the direct
traceability of sources for scholars. It
proved even more difficult if one
sought it in the houses where the
events of 1943-44 took place. Indeed,
the convent attached to the Church
of the Most Precious Blood on the
Janiculum hill was inaugurated in
1925, housing the Adorers of the
Most Precious Blood of Our Lord
Jesus Christ; however, in 1971 the sisters withdrew. Their Generalate is
now in Saint-Hyacinthe, in the
Province of Québec, Canada. Today,
Via Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi
on Rome’s Monte Verde is the site
of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME).
On 18 May 2009 a letter was sent
to Benedict XVI by Sr Micheline
Proulx, Superior General of the Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood,
through the Apostolic Nuncio. It
shed light on the matter and added
an unexpected piece to a composite
mosaic.
The Superior affirms that on 21
November
1941,
through
the
Apostolic Visitor, Pius XII gave approval for the convent in Rome to
accept boarders, including some
Jews. The authorization also included hosting certain people inside
the cloister, in order to provide
greater security.
On 10 January 1944, according to
the convent’s annals, a Vatican emissary warned the Superior that all the
Jews of Rome were being hunted by
the Germans. Out of prudence the
message had to be communicated to
the boarders. They were asked to
leave the convent as soon as possible, which they did, returning the
following day after learning that the
convent had been exempt from the
search. What secured the protection
was the fact that the building had
been declared “Vatican property” by
the official document signed by the
governor of Vatican City and by the
German commander, and forwarded
to the Superior on 18 October 1943.
The sisters felt tremendous gratitude
towards Pius XII and to Cardinal
Marmaggi, his mediator with them.
During this period of hospitality
the nuns cared for Jews as well as
other people seeking shelter. They
often risked their own lives to procure food and whatever comforts
were possible in the difficult circumstances of war and the shortage of
rooms, at times accommodating up
to 100 people contemporaneously.
The Superior adds that the
Foundress, Mother Catherine-Aurélie of the Precious Blood (Aurélie
Caouette) would certainly have acted in the same manner, just to respond the the Pope’s wishes. Also
according to the annals, on 11 May
1942 the Apostolic Visitator inspected had been keen to inspect the improvements
to
the
boarders’ rooms, and
was satisfied with all the
work. And thus ends the
information sent by the
Superior General in
2009.
The above-mentioned
data, when compared
with previously established
information,
prove completely reliable. Of the 220 religious houses — 170 of
which were run by women — ascertained to
have harboured Jews, it
is known that some responded spontaneously
to the emergency, others waited for
directions from ecclesiastical authorities, and many had the declaration
provided by the Vatican in October
1943. In cloistered convents, by the
nature of the institution and in accordance with the canonical regulations in force, it would have been
legally impossible to take the initiative, by anticipating the permission
of the Pope, perhaps of his vicar,
certainly of the Apostolic Visitator
who was in direct contact with the
convents. Comparable practices are
confirmed by the information available with regard to similar institutions.
Regarding the Cistercian monastery of Santa Susanna, on 3 June
2014 L’Osservatore Romano published
the testimony of Renato Astrologo,
who was hidden with his grandmother Emma Piperno, his father
Giuseppe, his mother Valeria De
Nola, his two older brothers and his
younger sister Fiorella. Initially, the
Cistercians accepted female family
members, who entered the monastery on Via XX September on 24 October 1943, from the Clarissan Missionaries on Via Vicenza. Then, in
late January 1944, Renato arrived
with his father and older brothers,
Angelo and Alberto. In those
months, the Astrologos were unaware of the presence of the other
fugitives, but in fact, the nuns of
Santa Susanna were hiding a total of
42 people. Contact with the Superior was mediated by Fr Libero
Raganella, of the Josephites of
Murialdo, who recalled that it was
precisely an “order from the top”
which opened the doors of the
cloister. Other news has been pub-
lished recently from the diary of Sr
Francesca Teresa di Candeloro, of
the Augustinian Oblates on Via
Garibaldi. The diary states that the
Pope’s express wish was not obligatory, as Fabio Isman recalled in Il
Messaggero on 17 October 2014. Other sources reveal that the same nuns
had already obtained Pope Pius XII’s
permission to shelter a Jewish family
with an elderly husband and a sick
wife. The permission had come on 1
October 1943, through the Substitute of the Secretariat of State, Archbishop Montini, who had entrusted
his response to Archbishop Traglia,
the Vice-Regent, (Actes et documents
du Saint Siége, volume IX, edited by
Pierre Blet, Robert A. Graham, Angelo Martini, Burkhart Schneider).
An example of the normal routine of
institutional channels entrusted with
information, directives, responses.
Other cases are well known.
Papal tweet on International Holocaust Remembrance Day
The cry of Auschwitz
“Auschwitz cries out with the pain
of immense suffering and pleads
for a future of respect, peace and
encounter among peoples”. With
this tweet, Pope Francis joined in
International Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the
victims of the Holocaust.
On 27 January 1945 the Nazi
concentration camp of AuschwitzBirkenau was liberated by Soviet
troops. Seventy years later a solemn ceremony was held in the
Survivors walk past a watch tower after paying tribute to fallen comrades at the “death wall”,
an execution spot in the former Auschwitz concentration camp in Oswiecim, Poland, on the 70th
anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp (AFP)
camp, which included a number of
survivors as well as 38 delegations
from around the world and 15
heads of state. At the ceremony
Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, Archbishop of Krakow, spoke, underlining that “the most important aspect of this anniversary is still being able to listen to those who experienced those horrible days, and
to make the cry of the victims
heard”.
“As long as the survivors are still
with us”, continued the Cardinal
during the Mass he celebrated with
the Apostolic Nuncio in Poland,
Archbishop Celestino Migliore, at
the Centre for Dialogue and Prayer”, “we must make their voices
heard. And we must help the
world to listen to their words because the time is coming when the
memory will be handed down only
through documents, books, films
and interviews. The younger generation must know what happened in
order to set their lives accordingly”. In fact Halina Birenbaum
(85, born in Warsaw), Kazimierz
Albin (93, born in Krakow) and
Roman Kent (86, born in Lodz)
recalled the horrors of Nazism for
the world during the ceremony
which was held outside in the
snow.
L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
number 5, Friday, 30 January 2015
page 8/9
Remembering today’s martyrs at Vespers for the close of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
An ecumenism of blood
Pope Francis closed the Week of Prayer
for Christian Unity by celebrating Second
Vespers on Sunday, 25 January, in the
Basilica of St Paul Outside-the-Walls. In
his homily, he recalled “the martyrs of
today”, who are “persecuted and killed
because they are Christians” regardless of
their denomination. The following is the
English text of the Pope’s homily.
The Pope’s Angelus with children of Catholic Action at the close of the month of peace
God also thirsts
On his way from Judea to Galilee,
Jesus passes through Samaria. He has
no problem dealing with Samaritans,
who were considered by the Jews to be
heretics, schismatics, others. His attitude helps us to realize that encounter
with those who are different than
ourselves can make us grow.
Appeal for dialogue and an end to hostility in Ukraine
At the Angelus in St Peter’s Square on
Sunday, 25 January, the Pope spoke
about the Week of Prayer for Christian
Unity. The following is a translation of
his reflection which was given in Italian.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Good morning,
The Gospel today presents to us the
beginning of Jesus’ preaching ministry
in Galilee. St Mark stresses that Jesus
began to preach “after John [the
Baptist] was arrested” (1:14). Precisely
at the moment in which the prophetic
voice of the Baptist, who proclaimed
the coming of the Kingdom of God,
was silenced by Herod, Jesus begins
to travel the roads of his land to bring
to all, especially the poor, “the gospel
of God” (cf. ibid.). The proclamation
of Jesus is like that of John, with the
essential difference that Jesus no
longer points to another who must
come: Jesus is Himself the fulfilment
of those promises; He Himself is the
“good news” to believe in, to receive
and to communicate to all men and
women of every time that they too
may entrust their life to Him. Jesus
Christ in his person is the Word living
and working in history: whoever hears
and follows Him may enter the Kingdom of God.
Jesus is the fulfilment of divine
promises for He is the One who gives
to man the Holy Spirit, the “living
water” that quenches our restless
heart, thirsting for life, love, freedom
and peace: thirsting for God. How often do we feel, or have we felt that
thirst in our hearts! He Himself revealed it to the Samaritan woman,
whom he met at Jacob’s well to whom
he says: “Give me a drink” (Jn 4:7).
These very words of Christ, addressed
to the Samaritan, have constituted the
theme of this year’s Week of Prayer
for Christian Unity which is concluding today. This evening, with the
faithful of the Diocese of Rome and
with the Representatives of different
Churches and ecclesial communities,
we will gather together in the Basilica
of St Paul Outside-the-Walls to pray
intensely that the Lord may strengthen
our commitment to bring about the
full unity of all Christians. That Christians remain divided is a very bad
thing! Jesus wants us to be united:
one body. Our sins, history, have divided us and that is why we must pray
that the same Holy Spirit unite us
anew.
God, in becoming man, made our
thirst his own, a thirst not only for
water itself, but especially for a full
life, a life free from the slavery of evil
and death. At the same time by his
Incarnation God placed his own thirst
— because God too thirsts — in the
heart of a man: Jesus of Nazareth.
God thirsts for us, for our hearts, for
our love, and placed this thirst in the
heart of Jesus. Therefore, human and
divine thirst meet in Christ’s heart.
And His disciples’ desire for unity is
part of this thirst. We find it expressed
in the prayer raised to the Father before the Passion: “That they may all
be one” (Jn 17:21). That is what Jesus
wanted: the unity of all! The devil —
we know — is the father of division,
the one who always divides, always
makes war, does so much evil.
May Jesus’ thirst become ever more
our own thirst! Let us continue, therefore to pray and commit ourselves to
the full unity of the disciples of
Christ, in the certainty that He Himself is at our side and sustains us by
the power of his Spirit so that we may
bring this goal closer. And let us entrust this our prayer to the motherly
intercession of the Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ and Mother of the
Church, that she may unite us all like
a good mother.
After the Angelus the Holy Father said:
I am following with deep concern
the escalation of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, which continues to claim
many victims in the civilian population. As I assure you of my prayer for
all who suffer, I renew a heartfelt appeal that dialogue may be resumed
and an end be put to all hostilities.
Now let’s continue with some companions [two children from Catholic
Action of Rome join the Pope].
Dear brothers and sisters, today is
the World Leprosy Day. I express my
closeness to all the people who suffer
from this contagion, as well as to
those who care for them, and to those
who struggle to remove the causes of
the disease, that is, to say, living conditions unworthy of man. Let us renew our commitment of solidarity to
these brothers and sisters!
I greet with affection all of you,
dear pilgrims who have come from
different parishes in Italy and other
countries, as well as associations and
school groups.
In particular, I greet the Filipino
community of Rome. Dearest friends,
the Filipino people are marvellous for
their strong and joyful faith. May the
Lord always sustain you who live far
from your homeland. Thank you for
your witness! And thank you for all
the good you do for us, because you
spread the faith among us, you bear a
beautiful witness of faith. Thank you
very much!
Now, I would like to address the
boys and girls of Catholic Action of
Rome. Dear children, this year too,
accompanied by the Cardinal Vicar
and by Bishop Mansueto [Bianchi],
you have come in great numbers at
the end of your “Caravan of Peace”. I
thank you, and encourage you to proceed with joy on the Christian path,
bearing to all people the peace of Jesus. Now let us listen to the message
that your friends here beside me will
read....
At the end of the message hundreds of
balloons symbolizing peace were released.
Here are the balloons that stand for
‘peace’.
Thank you, children! To everyone I
wish a good Sunday and a good
lunch. And please, please do not forget to pray for me. Arrivederci!
Weary from his journey, Jesus does
not hesitate to ask the Samaritan woman for something to drink. His thirst,
as we know, is much more than physical: it is also a thirst for encounter, a desire to enter into dialogue with that
woman and to invite her to make a
journey of interior conversion. Jesus is
patient, respectful of the person before
him, and gradually reveals himself to
her. His example encourages us to seek
a serene encounter with others. To understand one another, and to grow in
charity and truth, we need to pause, to
accept and listen to one another. In
this way, we already begin to experience unity. Unity grows along the way;
it never stands still. Unity happens
when we walk together.
The woman of Sychar asks Jesus
about the place where God is truly
worshiped. Jesus does not side with the
mountain or the temple, but goes deeper. He goes to the heart of the matter,
breaking down every wall of division.
He speaks instead of the meaning of
true worship: “God is spirit, and those
who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (Jn 4:24). So many past
controversies between Christians can be
overcome when we put aside all polemical or apologetic approaches, and seek
instead to grasp more fully what unites
us, namely, our call to
share in the mystery
of the Father’s love revealed to us by the
Son through the Holy
Spirit. Christian unity
— we are convinced —
will not be the fruit of
subtle theoretical discussions in which each
party tries to convince
the other of the
soundness of their
opinions. When the
Son of Man comes, he
will find us still discussing! We need to
realize that, to plumb
the depths of the mystery of God, we need
one another, we need
to encounter one another and to challenge one another under the guidance of the Holy Spirit,
who harmonizes diversities, overcomes
conflicts, reconciles differences.
Gradually the Samaritan woman
comes to realize that the one who has
asked her for a drink is able to slake
her own thirst. Jesus in effect tells her
that he is the source of living water
which can satisfy her thirst for ever (cf.
Jn 4:13-14). Our human existence is
marked by boundless aspirations: we
seek truth, we thirst for love, justice
and freedom. These desires can only be
partially satisfied, for from the depths
Relations with the Anglican Communion and World Methodist Council
In constant dialogue
ANTHONY CURRER*
When he was installed as Archbishop
of Canterbury, Justin Welby met with
all of his 37 fellow Primates and committed himself to visit each of them in
their own provinces within his first 18
months. Given his high profile interventions in the political and social life
of his own country, and his various
ecumenical visits, this was a demanding
commitment which was brought to
completion, on schedule, when Archbishop Justin visited his neighbouring
Primate, the Most Rev. David Chillingworth, of the Scottish Episcopal
Church, in November of this year. This
extraordinary personal effort puts flesh
on the idea that the Archbishop of
Canterbury is the first of four Instruments of Unity that bind the Anglican
Communion together, the others being
the Lambeth Conference, the Primates’
Meeting, and the Anglican Consultative Council. Archbishop Welby’s
worldwide tour can be seen as a ministry in service of the Communion, a
ministry of unity.
The Communion is under very significant strain and in the wake of the
completion of the Archbishop’s visits
something of this strain has become
clear. In a December interview with The
Times of London the Archbishop said, “I
think, realistically, we’ve got to say that
despite all efforts there is a possibility
that we will not hold together, or not
hold together for a while”. Archbishop
Welby has also made clear that the
next Lambeth Conference will not be
CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
Icon of St Thomas Becket
of our being we are prompted to seek
“something more”, something capable
of fully quenching our thirst. The response to these aspirations is given by
God in Jesus Christ, in his paschal
mystery. From the pierced side of Jesus
there flowed blood and water (cf. Jn
19:34). He is the brimming fount of the
water of the Holy Spirit, “the love of
God poured into our hearts (Rom 5:5)
on the day of our baptism. By the
working of the Holy Spirit, we have
become one in Christ, sons in the Son,
true worshipers of the Father. This
mystery of love is the deepest ground
of the unity which binds all Christians
and is much greater than their historical divisions. To the extent that we
humbly advance towards the Lord,
then, we also draw nearer to one another.
Her encounter with Jesus made the
Samaritan women a missionary. Having
received a greater and more important
gift than mere water from a well, she
leaves her jar behind (cf. Jn 4:28) and
runs back to tell her townspeople that
she has met the Christ (cf. Jn 4:29).
Her encounter with Jesus restored
meaning and joy to her life, and she
felt the desire to share this with others.
Today there are so many men and women around us who are weary and
thirsting, and who ask us Christians to
give them something to drink. It is a
request which we cannot evade. In the
call to be evangelizers, all the Churches
and Ecclesial Communities discover a
privileged setting for closer cooperation. For this to be effective, we need
to stop being self-enclosed, exclusive,
and bent on imposing a uniformity
based on merely human calculations
(cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 131). Our
shared commitment to proclaiming the
Gospel enables us to overcome proselytism and competition in all their
forms. All of us are at the service of the
one Gospel!
In this moment of prayer for unity, I
would also like to remember our martyrs, the martyrs of today. They are witnesses to Jesus Christ, and they are
persecuted and killed because they are
Christians. Those who persecute them
make no distinction between the religious communities to which they belong. They are Christians and for that
they are persecuted. This, brothers and
sisters, is the ecumenism of blood.
Mindful of this testimony given by
our martyrs today, and with this joyful
certainty, I offer a cordial and fraternal
greeting to His Eminence Metropolitan
Gennadios, the representative of the
Ecumenical Patriarch, to His Grace
David Moxon, the personal representative in Rome of the Archbishop of
Canterbury, and to all the representatives of the various Churches and Ecclesial Communions gathered here to celebrate the Feast of the Conversion of
St Paul. I am also pleased to greet the
members of the Joint Commission for
Theological Dialogue between the
Catholic Church and the Orthodox
Churches, and I offer them my best
wishes for the fruitfulness of the plenary session to be held in these coming
days. I also greet the students from the
Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, and the
young recipients of study grants from
by the Committee for Cultural Collaboration with the Orthodox Churches,
centred in the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian
Unity.
Also present today are men
and women religious from
various Churches and Ecclesial
Communities who have taken
part in an ecumenical meeting
organized by the Congregation
for Institutes of Consecrated
Life and for Societies of
Apostolic Life, in conjunction
with the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity, to
mark the Year for Consecrated
Life. Religious life, as prophetic sign of the world to come, is
called to offer in our time a witness to
that communion in Christ which transcends all differences and finds expression in concrete gestures of acceptance
and dialogue. The pursuit of Christian
unity cannot be the sole prerogative of
individuals or religious communities
particularly concerned with this issue.
A shared knowledge of the different
traditions of consecrated life, and a
fruitful exchange of experiences, can
prove beneficial for the vitality of all
forms of religious life in the different
Churches and Ecclesial Communities.
Dear brothers and sisters, today all
of us who thirst for peace and fraternity trustingly implore from our heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ our
one priest and mediator, and through
the intercession of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, the Apostle Paul and all the
Saints, the gift of full communion
between all Christians, so that “the sacred mystery of the unity of the Church”
(Unitatis Redintegratio, 2) may shine
forth as the sign and instrument of reconciliation for the whole world.
Amen.
To the Ecumenical Colloquium of Men and Women Religious
The invisible monastery
On Saturday, 24 January, Pope Francis spoke to those attending the Ecumenical
Colloquium of Men and Women Religious, held by the Congregation for Institutes of
Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. He recalled three characteristics that
must accompany the quest for Christian unity: “there is no unity without conversion”;
“there is no unity without prayer”; and “there is no unity without holiness of life”.
The following is a translation of the Pope’s address, which was given in Italian.
Your Eminences,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I extend my cordial welcome to you
and I thank Cardinal Braz de Aviz
for the words he addressed to me on
everyone’s behalf. I am happy that
this initiative has brought together
men and women religious of different
Churches and Ecclesial Communities,
whom I greet warmly. It is especially
meaningful that your meeting is taking place during the Week of Prayer
for Christian Unity; each year it reminds us that spiritual ecumenism is
“the soul of the ecumenical movement”, as highlighted by the Conciliar
Decree Unitatis Redintegratio, whose
50th anniversary we recently celebrated (cf. n. 8).
I would like to share with you a
few thoughts on the importance of
the consecrated life to Christian unity.
The will to reestablish the unity of
all Christians is naturally present in
all Churches and is the concern of the
clergy and lay people alike (cf. ibid.,
n. 5). Religious life, which is rooted
in the will of Christ and in the common tradition of the undivided
Church, undoubtedly has a particular
vocation in promoting this unity. Indeed,
it is not incidental that countless pioneers of ecumenism were consecrated
men and women. To this day, various
religious communities are deeply ded-
icated to this objective and are privileged places of encounter among
Christians of different traditions. In
this context, I would also like to mention the ecumenical communities,
such as those of Taizé and of Bose,
both of which are present at this Colloquium. The quest for union with
God and for unity within the fraternal
community concerns religious life and
thus, in an exemplary way, achieves
the prayer of the Lord “that they may
all be one” (Jn 17:21).
Your encounter is taking place at
the Patristic Institute Augustinianum.
The Rule of St Augustine begins with
the following, particularly relevant affirmation: “The main purpose for
your having come together is to live
harmoniously in your house, intent
upon God in oneness of mind and
heart” (I:3). Religious life shows us
precisely that this unity is not the result of our efforts: unity is a gift of the
Holy Spirit, Who creates unity from
diversity. It also shows us that this
unity can be achieved only if we walk
together, if we follow the path of fraternity in love, in service, in mutual
acceptance.
There is no unity without conversion.
Religious life reminds us that at the
centre of every quest for unity, and
thus of every ecumenical effort, there
CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
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L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
Friday, 30 January 2015, number 5
Anglican Communion and World Methodist Council
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8
held in 2018. The Lambeth Conference is another of the four instruments of unity and since 1867 has
generally been held every ten years,
the only exceptions being due to the
two World Wars.
Significantly Archbishop Welby
has maintained since his very first
meeting with the Primates at his instalment his intention that they
should discern the future of the
Lambeth Conference together. He
has invited the Primates to consider
when and how they wish to meet,
and indicated that it will now be for
the Primates, as a body, to call the
next Lambeth Conference. There is
an important shift taking place here.
That it will now be the Primates’
Meeting that calls the Lambeth
Conference, makes this a collegial
act of the Primates who represent
the 38 Provinces of the global Communion, rather than the prerogative
of the Archbishop of Canterbury
alone.
Archbishop Welby does not hide,
however, from the real tensions that
exist in the Communion and that
threaten the Communion’s future integrity. The last Lambeth Conference of 2008 was overshadowed by
the fact that a quarter of the bishops
did not attend, and dissent focussed
principally on the issue of homosexuality, and particularly the Episcopal Church’s decision to elect
Gene Robinson, a homosexual man
who is openly in a relationship, as
Bishop of New Hampshire. These
same issues continue to prove divisive, and the fragmentation of
Anglicanism in North America
threatens to draw lines of division
across the global Communion.
In the United States the Episcopal Church (TEC), with approximately 2 million members, remains the
Anglican Province recognised by the
Archbishop of Canterbury and the
Anglican Communion Office with
whom the Pontifical Council remains in official dialogue. However,
its actions have incurred sanction.
The 2004 Windsor Report and the
subsequent Primates’ meeting in
Dromantine,
Northern
Ireland,
called for a moratorium on further
ordinations of actively homosexual
bishops and same-sex blessings
(then sanctioned an Anglican diocese in Canada) and asked the Episcopal Church and the Anglican
Church of Canada to temporarily
withdraw from the Anglican Consultative Council. When the agreed
moratorium was broken in 2010 with
the consecration of Mary Douglas
Glasspool as suffragan bishop in the
Diocese of Los Angeles, Archbishop
Rowan Williams issued a rebuke to
the Episcopal Church and barred it
from taking part in international
ecumenical dialogues.
It is particularly Robinson’s and
Glasspool’s episcopal consecrations
that have resulted in a number of
groups breaking away from the Episcopal Church though other issues
have also played a part. Perhaps the
best known of these in the Catholic
world is the Personal Ordinariate of
the Chair of St Peter, established on
1 January 2012 following the publication of Anglicanorum Coetibus,
which has an estimated 7,000 members, about 30 priests and 36 communities under the leadership of
Mgsr Geoffrey Steenson. This represents those former Episcopalians
who were most “Catholic” in sensibility and theology. However, a significantly larger reality is the Anglican
Church of North America (ACNA).
Even before the consecration of
Gene Robinson a number of Episcopalians unhappy with the progressive agenda pursued by the Episcopal
Church had put themselves under
the
jurisdiction
of
Anglican
Provinces in South America, Africa
and Asia. Born of several of these
groups which had ceded from the
Episcopal Church and the Anglican
Church of Canada, ACNA is now approximately 110,000 strong with 29
dioceses and 983 congregations.
Theologically ACNA is predominantly
evangelical Protestant rather than
Catholic. It identifies seven essential
elements as characteristic of Anglic-
op of Stockport, following the vote
of the General Synod in July to admit women to the episcopate.
Moreover, the Church of England is
engaged in a two-year listening process aimed at healing divisions and
formulating teaching on the question of human sexuality. Here, as in
other parts of the Communion, there
are concerted calls for the blessing
of same-sex relationships and the acceptance of openly homosexual
clergy.
While the stresses on the Communion are considerable, as Archbishop
Welby’s candid assessment of the
situation indicates, it remains to be
seen how far the Archbishop’s ministry of reconciliation can bring healing to the divisions. The Primates’
Meeting he proposes and the next
Lambeth Conference which this
meeting will convoke, will be key
moments in this process. Addressing
the Church of England Synod in
November, Archbishop Welby said
Pope Francis with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, on 14 June 2013
an belief which emphasise the Bible
and the 1562 Thirty-Nine Articles
“taken in their literal and grammatical sense”. Most of its dioceses ordain women, though not to the episcopate. ACNA’S evangelical identity is
reflected in the support that they
have received. While the Archbishop
of Canterbury has said unequivocally that ACNA IS not part of the
Anglican Communion, the Anglican
provinces of Nigeria, Uganda and
Sudan have all declared themselves
to be in full communion with ACNA
and in impaired communion with
the Episcopal Church. These three
provinces account for more than 30
million out of a worldwide Anglican
population of 85 million. Ecclesiologically this is a confusing situation:
ACNA’s bishops are ordained by bishops in good standing who remain
fully part of the Anglican Communion, while ACNA itself is not recognised as part of the Anglican Communion by the four instruments of
unity and the Anglican Communion
O ffice.
Issues and fault-lines which are
most marked in the North American
context run throughout the rest of
the Anglican Communion which is
why evangelical Anglicans in North
America have built alliances with
Anglicans from Asia, Africa and
South America. The Church of England, in December 2014, named its
first female bishop, the Rev. Libby
Lane, who will be ordained as Bish-
that, although the Communion is
fragile, it is also flourishing and that
the only strategy to face its difficulties is one of prayer and “growing
closer to God in Jesus Christ”.
Given the current strains within
the Anglican Communion over ethical questions, and in the context of
the two Synods on the Family, the
theme of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International dialogue (ARCIC)
is particularly apposite. ARCIC is examining the relationship between
the local and the universal in the ecclesial discernment of ethical teaching. While recognising that the two
Communions are in very different
places with regard to ethical teaching, nonetheless we do face common
ecclesiological challenges in formulating this teaching in Communions
with a truly global reach. ARCIC,
now in its third phase, is building
upon the work of the previous commissions, and indeed is preparing
for publication the collected documents of ARCIC II. However, by adopting the methodology of Receptive Ecumenism, commission members are looking to see what each
partner can learn from the other. In
particular the commission is looking
to compare structures and ministries
that operate at local, regional and
universal levels. A drafting committee will meet early in 2015 to work
on this ecclesiological part of the
mandate.
2014 has been an important year
for the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity
and Mission (IARCCUM). This Commission’s purpose is to promote the
reception of the work of ARCIC as
well as the work of regional Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogues. A
steering group chaired by Bishop
Donald Bolen, Roman Catholic
Bishop of Saskatoon, and Bishop
David Hamid, Anglican Assistant
Bishop of Europe, and with representation from the Pontifical Council
for Promoting Christian Unity and
the Anglican Communion Office,
meets monthly by telephone conference. Over the last year this group
has identified pairs of bishops in different parts of the world with significant Anglican and Catholic populations, and through these pairings
IARCCUM can both learn of local initiatives and promote best ecumenical
practice. Key to this task has been
the establishment of the IARCCUM
website (iaccum.org) which, as well
as publishing ARCIC’s agreed statements, contains a wealth of archival
material and documents from national dialogues. The website was
formally launched in June 2014 by
Archbishop Welby and Bishop Brian
Farrell, Secretary of the Pontifical
Council for Promoting Christian
Unity.
On a visit to Canada Archbishop
Justin Welby described Christian
unity as a goal that must be “our
burning desire”. In pursuing unity
he emphasised the importance of
dialogue at a “passionate theological
level” while at the same time developing a closer relationship in acting
together in the service of the world’s
poor. Of a piece with the Archbishop’s exercise of a ministry of unity
ad intra, as discussed above, is his
commitment to building ecumenical
relationships, and 2014 has been an
important year in this regard.
Archbishop Justin Welby’s first
ecumenical visit of 2014 was to Patriarch Bartholomew on 14 January at
which the Archbishop praised his
host as “an example of peace and reconciliation,” ecumenically, politically and environmentally, going on
to say that such a ministry of reconciliation is “very dear to my heart”
and “one of my key priorities”.
However, the Archbishop has also
been keen to develop ecumenical relations closer to home and in particular with Cardinal Vincent Nichols,
the Archbishop of Westminster, with
whom he meets regularly. Perhaps
their most high profile joint venture
this year was the Lenten campaign
“Listen to God: Hear the Poor”.
The campaign involved a number of
high profile visits to Catholic and
Anglican projects such as the London Catholic Worker community,
where they met and prayed with
refugees and asylum-seekers. The
week long initiative also involved a
series of videos on the Archbishop
of Canterbury’s website introduced
by Cardinal Vincent Nichols.
Archbishop Welby made two visits to Rome this year. During the
first of these in June the Archbishop
met with a number of communities
across Rome: the Anglican comCONTINUED ON PAGE 11
number 5, Friday, 30 January 2015
L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
The invisible monastery
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is first and foremost a conversion of heart, which involves
asking for and granting forgiveness. It consists, for the most
part, in a conversion of our
own gaze: trying to see each
other in God, and also being
able to see ourselves from the
other’s point of view: namely, it
presents a twofold challenge
linked to the quest for unity,
both within the religious communities and among the Chris“Magnificat” (The Church of Reconciliation, Taizé)
tians belonging to different traditions.
There is no unity without prayer. ward unity. The Conciliar Decree
Religious life is a school of prayer. Unitatis Redintegratio highlights this
The ecumenical commitment re- with incisive words: all “the faithful
sponds, firstly, to the prayer of the should remember they promote uniLord Jesus himself, and is based on among Christians better, that inprimarily in prayer. One of the ecu- deed they live it better, when they
menical pioneers and a great pro- try to live holier lives according to
moter of the Octave for Unity, Fr the Gospel. For the closer their uniPaul Couturier, utilized an image on with the Father, the Word, and
which well illustrates the link the Spirit, the more deeply and easbetween ecumenism and religious ily will they be able to grow in mulife: he compared all those who tual brotherly love” (n. 7).
pray for unity, and the ecumenical
Dear brothers and sisters, in exmovement in general, to an “invis- pressing my gratitude to you for the
ible monastery” which reunites witness that, with your life, you
Christians of different Churches, bear to the Gospel, and for the serfrom various countries and contin- vice you offer to the cause of unity,
ents. Dear brothers and sisters, you I pray that the Lord bless your
are the leaders of this “invisible ministry abundantly and inspire you
monastery”: I encourage you to to work tirelessly for peace and repray for Christian unity and to ex- conciliation among all the Churches
press this prayer in your daily beha- and Christian communities. I ask
viour and actions.
you to please pray for me and I
There is no unity without holiness of bless you wholeheartedly. Let us ask
life. Religious life helps us to be the Lord to bless us, praying, each
aware of the call addressed to all in his own language, the Lord’s
the baptized: the call to holiness of Prayer. [Our Father...].
May the Lord bless us all.
life, which is the only true way to-
To an ecumenical delegation of the Lutheran Church of Finland
The need
for a shared witness
“A shared Christian witness is very much needed in the face of the mistrust,
insecurity, persecution, pain and suffering experienced so widely in today’s
world”: Pope Francis said this on Thursday, 22 January, to an ecumenical
delegation of the Lutheran Church of Finland, who have come to Rome on their
annual pilgrimage on the Feast of their patron St Henrik, also coinciding with
the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The following is the Pope’s English text.
Dear Bishops,
Dear Friends,
It is with joy that I welcome you,
on the occasion of your annual ecumenical pilgrimage to Rome to celebrate the feast of St Henrik, the
patron of your country. This annual
event has proven to be a truly spiritual and ecumenical meeting
between Catholics and Lutherans, a
tradition dating back 30 years.
Anglican Communion and World Methodist Council
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10
munities of All Saints, and St
Paul’s within the Walls; the Camaldolese community of San Gregorio
in Celio; the Sant’Egidio Community and the community of
Chemin Neuf. The Archbishop met
Pope Francis on Monday, 16 June.
In his address, Pope Francis cited
the Lord’s question to his disciples,
“What were you arguing about on
the way?” (Mk 9:33), saying that,
like the disciples, we too must be
ashamed of our arguing, and of the
distance between the Lord’s call
and our meagre response. Responding, Archbishop Welby praised
Pope Francis’ “remarkable witness
of care for the poor and suffering
of the world” and for his “passion
for
reconciliation”.
Archbishop
Welby also described Pope Francis’
Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii
Gaudium, as “inspirational for all
Christians”. In a gesture which
foreshadowed Pope Francis’s meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew in
November, at the conclusion of the
audience Pope Francis bowed and
asked Archbishop Justin to pray for
him. Archbishop Welby then received the Holy Father’s blessing.
Archbishop Welby returned to
Rome on 2 December 2014 as a signatory to a Declaration of the
Global Freedom Network against
human trafficking and modern day
slavery. At the gathering of global
faith leaders the Archbishop stated
their shared aim: “We gather to affirm a shared deep commitment for
the liberation of those humiliated,
abused and enslaved.” The issue of
human trafficking was raised at
Archbishop Welby’s first meeting
with Pope Francis in June 2013 and
since then the establishment of the
Global Freedom Network is the
fruit of a remarkable Catholic and
Anglican collaboration. This work
is headed by Bishop Marcello
Sanchez Sorondo of the Pontifical
Academy of Social Sciences; Archbishop Sir David Moxon, of the
Anglican Centre in Rome and the
Archbishop of Canterbury’s Official
representative to the Holy See; and
the Anglican philanthropist, Mr
Andrew Forest. It reflects the
shared desire of Pope Francis and
Archbishop Welby that our ecumenical engagement is both a theological one, and, as the Archbishop
has said, a “closer relationship of
action”.
The dialogue between the Catholic Church and the World Methodist Communion continues in an
atmosphere of great friendship and
a desire for mutual enrichment.
The focus of our current dialogue
page 11
is Holiness and so touches on doctrinal questions ranging from creation and human anthropology to
eschatology. The Commission met
in Assisi in October 2014 and will
draft its report in 2015 in order to
present this to the World Methodist Council in 2016.
In Rome, Rev. Kenneth Howcroft left his ministry at Ponte
Sant’Angelo Methodist Church in
order to take up the role of President of the British Methodist Conference. Rev. Howcroft has been a
great friend of the Pontifical Council and a helpful liaison in our relations with the World Methodist
Council. His replacement is Rev.
Dr Tim Macquibban who is a
member of both the World Methodist Council and the European
Methodist Council, bodies which
recognise his role as Director of the
newly created Methodist Ecumenical Office in Rome. Dr Macqibban
and his wife Angela hosted a reception for members of the MethodistRoman
Catholic
International
Commission in October on the day
of his formal welcome and induction to his new role. We anticipate
great future collaboration.
*Official of the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity
St Pope John Paul II addressed
the members of the first Finnish
ecumenical delegation which had
come to Rome 30 years ago in these
words: “The fact that you come
here together is itself a witness to
the importance of efforts for unity.
The fact that you pray together is a
witness to our belief that only
through the grace of God can that
unity be achieved. The fact that
you recite the Creed together is a
witness to the one common faith of
the whole of Christianity”. At that
time, the first important steps had
already been taken on a common
ecumenical journey towards full,
visible unity of Christians. In these
intervening years much has been
done and, I am certain, will continue to be done in Finland to make
“the partial communion existing
between Christians grow toward full
communion in truth and charity”
(John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint, 14).
Your visit comes within the Week
of Prayer for Christian Unity. This
year our reflection is based on
Christ’s words to the Samaritan woman at the well: “Give me a drink”
(Jn 4:1-42). We are reminded that
the source of all grace is the Lord
himself, and that his gifts transform
those who receive them, making
them witnesses to the true life that
is in him alone (cf. Jn 4:39). As the
Gospel tells us, many Samaritans
believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony. As you, Bishop
Vikstrom, have said, there is so
much that Catholics and Lutherans
can do together to bear witness to
God’s mercy in our societies. A
shared Christian witness is very
much needed in the face of the mistrust, insecurity, persecution, pain
and suffering experienced so widely
in today’s world.
Robert Wilhelm Ekman,
“Bishop Henrik” (1850)
L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
page 12
Friday, 30 January 2015, number 5
Morning Mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae
Thursday, 22 January
He who intercedes
on our behalf
Jesus saves and Jesus intercedes: these
are the two key words to understanding the essential point that is
most important for our life. This is
the truth of faith that Pope Francis
reaffirmed in the Mass at Santa
Marta on Thursday morning.
Present at the celebration were
representatives of Rome’s Slovak
community. Welcoming them at the
beginning of Mass, the Pontiff expressed closeness to the “courageous
Slovak Church, which at this moment, at this time, is fighting to defend the family. Continue with courage!”.
Meditating on the ministry of Jesus, the Pope turned to the day’s
Gospel passage (Mk 3:1-12), noting
the repetition of the word “multitude”. The passage tells us, he explained, that “the People of God
find hope in Jesus because his way
of acting, of teaching, touches the
heart, reaches the heart because it
has the power of the Word of God”.
And that “the people feel this and
see that promises are fulfilled in Jesus, that in Jesus there is hope”.
After all, Francis added, the
“people were rather bored with the
way of teaching the faith by the
doctors of the law of that time, who
loaded them down with many commandments, many precepts, but did
not reach the people’s heart”. This is
why, “when they see and hear Jesus,
his proposals, the Beatitudes, they
feel something moving inside — it’s
the Holy Spirit that causes this —
and they go to look for Jesus”.
But Mark the Evangelist, according to Francis, “wants to explain
why so many people come to Jesus”.
The Gospel tells us that “He speaks
with authority, He doesn’t speak like
the scribes, the Pharisees, the doctors of the law”. Then “Jesus heals
people” who, in any case, are “in
search of self goodness”. After all,
the Pontiff acknowledged, “we are
never able to follow God with purity
of intention from the start”, as they
are instead “partly for us, partly for
God, and the path is for purifying
this intention”. Thus, “the people
go, seeking God, but also seeking
health, healing”. And for this reason
“they threw themselves at Him, to
touch Him, so that power would
come out and heal them”.
“Jesus is like this”, Francis explained. “And this is a moment
which recurs in Jesus’ life”.
However, “there is something more
important behind this”. In fact,
what is truly “most important is not
that Jesus heals”, which is also “a
sign of another healing”. Nor that
“Jesus utters words that reach the
heart”, even though “this helps us to
go on God’s path”.
To better comprehend “what is
most important in Jesus’ ministry”,
Francis returned to the message of
the First Reading (Heb 7:25; 8:6),
where, he indicated two fundamental
words: “Brothers, Christ ‘is able for
all time to save’, in a perfect way,
‘those who draw near to God
through him, since he always lives to
make intercession for them”. Thus,
he said, “Jesus saves and Jesus intercedes. These are the two key words”.
Yes, the Pope repeated, “Jesus
saves!”. And “these healings, these
words that reach the heart are the
sign and the beginning of salvation”. They are “the way to salvation
for many who begin to go to hear
Jesus or to ask for healing and then
turn to Him and feel salvation. See
then, Francis said, the more important thing is not that Jesus heals and
teaches, but that He saves. For “He
is the Saviour and we are saved
through Him”. This is “more important” and it “is the strength of
our faith”.
The second key word is “intercede”. Indeed, the Pope recalled,
“Jesus has gone to the Father and
from there He still intercedes, every
day, at all times for us”. And “this is
something current: Jesus before the
Father, who offers his life, the redemption, showing the Father his
wounds, the price of salvation”. And
like this, “every day Jesus intercedes”. This is why “when we, for
one reason or another,” feel “a little
down, let’s remember that it is He
who prays for us, intercedes for us
continuously”. However, he noted,
Confession is not a judgement nor is
it like going to the dry cleaners who
remove the stain of sins. It is the encounter with a Father who always
forgives, forgives all, forgets the
faults of the past and then even celebrates. And it is the embrace of
God’s reconciliation that the Pope
spoke about on Friday morning,
during Mass at Santa Marta, where
representatives of Rome’s Filipino
community were present. They
gathered closely around him to relive the joy of the recent pastoral
journey.
“God reconciled the world to
himself in Christ and entrusted to us
the message of reconciliation” (cf. 2
Cor 5:19). Francis chose this point of
departure for his meditation. “It is
beautiful, this work of God: to reconcile”, the Pope remarked, pointing out the task that God entrusts to
“we often forget this”. But Jesus did
not “go to heaven, send us the Holy
Spirit, end of story! No! Presently,
every moment, Jesus intercedes”.
In this regard, Francis suggested
that we pray with these simple
words: “‘Lord Jesus, have mercy on
me’. Intercede for me”. It’s important, he continued, “to turn to the
Lord asking for this intercession”.
The crucial point is what the author
of the Letter to the Hebrews writes,
reminding us that we have “such a
grand high priest, one who is seated
at the right hand of the throne of
the Majesty in heaven”. This is “the
crucial point: that there, we have an
intercessor”. And the Pope said not
to forget “that the Lord is the intercessor: the saviour and the intercessor”, adding that “it will do us
good to remember this”.
In conclusion, the Pontiff continued, “the multitude seek Jesus”,
trailing “that scent of hope of the
People of God who await the Messiah, and they try to find in Him
health, truth, salvation, for He is the
saviour and as saviour He still
today, at this moment, intercedes for
us”. Francis ended with the hope
“that our Christian life may be ever
more confident that we have been
saved, that we have a saviour, Jesus,
us: “to make reconciliation, to always reconcile”.
There is no doubt, he said, that “a
Christian is a man or woman of reconciliation, not of division”. After
all, “the father of division is the devil”. God himself gives “this example
of reconciling the world, the
people”. He was referring to what
we heard in the First Reading from
the Letter to the Hebrews (8:6-13),
particularly to “that most beautiful
promise: ‘I will establish a new covenant’”.
A question so decisive, said the
Bishop of Rome, that “covenant is
mentioned five times in this passage”. Indeed “it is God who reconciles, creating a new relationship
with us, a new covenant”. And “to
do this He sends Jesus; the God
who reconciles is the God who forgives”.
The passage from the Letter to
the Hebrews, Francis continued,
“ends with that beautiful promise:
“and I remember their sins no
more”. He is “the God who forgives:
our God forgives, reconciles, establishes the new covenant and forgives”. But “how does God forgive?
First of all, God always forgives! He
never tires of forgiving. It is we who
tire of asking forgiveness. But He
at the right hand of the Father, who
intercedes. May the Lord, the Holy
Spirit, enable us to understand these
things.
Friday, 23 January
When God forgets
never tires of forgiving”. Indeed,
“when Peter asks Jesus: how often
shall I forgive, seven times?”, he received an eloquent reply: “not seven
times, but seventy times seven” (cf.
Mt 18:21-22). In other words, “always”, because “this is how God forgives: always”. Therefore, “if you
have lived a life of many sins, many
bad things, but at the end, contritely
ask for forgiveness, He forgives you
straight away. He always forgives”.
However, Pope Francis recognized, “we do not have this certainty
in our heart and many times we are
doubtful”, wondering whether God
will forgive. In reality, he recalled,
“we need only repent and ask for
forgiveness: nothing more! It costs
us nothing! Christ paid for us and
He always forgives”.
Another important thing the
Pontiff wanted to reinforce is that
not only does God “always forgive”,
but He also forgives “all: there is no
sin that He would not forgive”. Perhaps, the Pope explained, someone
could say: “I don’t go to confession
because I have done so many bad
things, so many of those things for
which I will not be forgiven...”.
However “it isn’t true”, Francis emphasized, because “if you go contritely”, then God “forgives all”.
And “many times He doesn’t let you
speak: you start asking for forgiveness and He makes you feel that joy
of forgiveness before you have finished saying everything”. It is just
“as it happened with that son who,
after squandering all the money of
his inheritance with an immoral
life”, and then “he repented” and
prepared a speech to present to his
father. However, “when he arrived
the father didn’t let him speak, he
embraced him: because he forgives
all. He embraced him”.
And then, “there is another thing
God does when He forgives: He celebrates”. And this, the Pontiff indicated, “is not imagined, Jesus says it:
‘There will be a feast in heaven
when a sinner goes to the Father’”.
Truly, “God celebrates”. Thus,
“when we feel our heart heavy with
sins, we can say: let’s go to the Lord
to give Him joy, so that He may forgive us and celebrate”. God works
in this way: “He always celebrates
because He reconciles”.
Continuing his meditation on the
Letter to the Hebrews, the Pope
proposed the final words again.
They
suggest,
he
explained,
“something beautiful about the way
God forgives: God forgets”. Scripture also puts it in other words:
“Your sins shall be cast into the sea,
and though they are red like blood,
they shall become white as a lamb”
(cf. Mic 7:19; Is 1:18).
Hence, God forgets, and “if one
of us goes to the Lord” and says:
“Do you remember, in that year I
did something bad?”, He answers:
“No, no, no. I don’t remember”. Because “once He forgives He no
longer remembers, He forgets”,
while “so often, with others, we
‘keep a record’: this one did this, another one once did that....”. But
God doesn’t do this: “He forgives
and forgets”. However, Francis
asked himself, “if He forgets, who
am I to remember the sins of others?”. Thus, the Father “forgets, al-
number 5, Friday, 30 January 2015
ways forgives, forgives all, celebrates
when He forgives, and He forgets,
because He wants to reconcile, He
wants to encounter us”.
In the light of this reflection the
Pope recalled that “when one of us
— a priest, a bishop — goes to confess, he must always think: am I
ready to forgive all? Am I always
ready to forgive all? Am I ready to
rejoice and celebrate? Am I ready to
forget that person’s sins?”. Because,
“if you aren’t ready, it’s better that
you don’t enter the confessional that
day: that someone else go, because
you don’t have the heart of God to
forgive”. Indeed, “in confession, it’s
true, there’s a judgement, because
the priest judges”, saying: “you’ve
done harm here, you did...”.
However, the Pope explained, “it is
more than a judgement: it’s an encounter, an encounter with the good
God who always forgives, who forgives all, who knows how to celebrate when He forgives, and who forgets your sins when He forgives
you”. And “we priests need to have
this attitude”, of encounter. Otherwise, “so often confessions seem to
be a practice, a formality”, where
everything appears “mechanical”.
But like this, the Pontiff asked,
where is “the encounter with the
Lord who reconciles, embraces you
and celebrates? This is our God”,
who is “so good”.
The Pontiff pointed out the importance of teaching children how
to make a good confession, reminding them that “going to confession
isn’t like going to the dry cleaner to
have a stain removed”: confession “is
going to encounter the Father who
reconciles, who forgives and who
celebrates”.
In conclusion Francis recommended that we “think of this covenant
that the Lord makes each time that
we ask for forgiveness”. And also to
think “of our Father who always reconciles: God who reconciled the
world to himself in Christ and entrusted to us the message of reconciliation”, in the hope that “the Lord
may give us grace of being content
today to have a Father who always
forgives, who forgives all, who celebrates when He forgives and who forgets our history of sin!”.
Monday, 26 January
We owe it all to women
There is no timidity or shame in being Christians, for faith is “a spirit
of power and love and self-control”.
L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
This was Pope Francis’ teaching
from the liturgical commemoration
of Sts Titus and Timothy, disciples
of the Apostle of the peoples.
Celebrating Mass at Santa Marta
on Monday morning, the Pontiff
paused particularly on the First
Reading, taken from the Second
Letter of Paul to Timothy (1:1-8).
He emphasized that the Christian
faith gives us “the power to live,
when we rekindle this gift of God.
It gives us love, it gives us charity”,
in order “to render the faith fruitful.
And it gives us the spirit of self-control: that is, knowing that we are not
able to do all that we want” since
“on our journey we must go onward
and look for the ways, the means to
carry it forward”.
At the beginning of the homily,
the Pope pointed out that Bishops
Timothy and Titus are like sons to
Paul, who “loves both of them very
much”. The Apostle speaks of
Timothy’s “sincere faith” (2 Tim
1:5), in other words, “a noble faith”.
Moreover, according to Francis, the
original text could be translated as a
“faith without hypocrisy”, a “faith in
the true sense”. Basically, “like a
good wine which, after many years,
is ‘up front’, noble”.
The Pontiff then recalled that
Paul also reveals the origin of
Timothy’s faith. He received it, in
fact, from his grandmother Lois and
from his mother Eunice. Because,
Pope Francis remarked, it is “the
mothers, the grandmothers who pass
down the faith”.
On this point, Francis clarified
that “it’s one thing to pass down the
faith and another thing to teach the
truths of the faith”. Indeed “faith is
a gift. Faith cannot be studied. We
study the truths of the faith in order
to understand it better, but faith is
never reached by studying. Faith is a
gift of the Holy Spirit, it’s a gift,
which goes beyond any preparation”. Regarding this aspect the
Pope noted that Timothy was a
young bishop, for in the First Reading Paul says to him: “Let no one
despise your youth” (1 Tim 4:12). It
is likely “that someone, seeing how
young he was”, would scorn him,
posing arguments such as: “This
youngster who comes to command
here...”. But, Francis continued, “the
Holy Spirit chose him”. And thus,
“this young bishop” hears Paul say:
“remember where your faith comes
from, who gave it to you, the Holy
Spirit, through your mother and
grandmother”.
Pope Francis then recalled “the
beautiful work of mothers and
grandmothers, the beautiful service
of those women who act as mothers
and the women in the family — she
might even be a housekeeper, maybe
an aunt — in passing on the faith”.
Then returning to the sincerity of
Timothy’s faith praised by Paul, the
Pontiff noted that the theme of safeguarding the depositum fidei returns
in both the First and Second Letters: “Guard the faith. The faith is
to be guarded”, he said, emphasizing the words of the Apostle: “Beloved Timothy, guard what has been
entrusted to you. Avoid the godless
chatter, the empty worldly chatter”
(cf. 1 Tim 6:20).
The Bishop of Rome underscored
above all the expression: “guard
what has been entrusted to you” and
he recalled that “this is our duty. We
have all received the gift of faith.
We must guard it, at least that it not
be watered down, that it continue to
be strong with the power of the
Holy Spirit who gave it to us”.
In this regard, Paul recommended
to “rekindle the gift of God” (2 Tim
1:6). After all, Francis said, “if we
don’t take care, every day, to rekindle this gift of God which is the
faith”, it “weakens, it becomes
watered downs, and ends up being a
culture: ‘Yes, yes, I’m a Christian,
yes...’, only a culture. Or a gnosis,
an awareness: ‘Yes, I know all the
matters of the faith well, I know the
catechism well”. But, the Pope
asked, “how do you live your faith?
This is the importance of rekindling
this gift every day: to keep it alive”.
Then came a warning against “the
spirit of timidity and shame”. Indeed, “for God did not give us a
spirit of timidity. The spirit of timidity goes against the gift of faith, it
doesn’t allow it to grow, to go forward, to become great”. And shame
is the sin of those who say: “Yes, I
have faith, but I cover it up, so it
isn’t plainly seen...”. It is, the
Pontiff stated, “like that ‘rosewater’
faith, as our forebears would say. Because I’m ashamed to live it boldly”.
But, he emphasized, “this is not
faith”.
Building on these premises the
Pope thought that “it would be a
good assignment today for all of us
to take up this Second Letter of
Paul to Timothy and read it. It’s
really short, it’s easy to read, but it’s
so beautiful. An elderly bishop’s advice to a young bishop; he advises
him to lead his Church forward:
such as guarding the deposit [of
faith], such as remembering that
faith is a gift, that was given to me
by the Holy Spirit through my
mother, my grandmother, and so
many women who have helped”.
But why, Francis asked, “is it
primarily women who pass on the
faith”? The answer is found once
again in the testimony of the
Blessed Virgin: “Simply because the
one who brought us Jesus is a woman. It is the way that Jesus chose.
He wanted to have a mother: even
the gift of faith passes through women”, as it passed “to Jesus through
Mary”.
The Pope thus arrived at his concluding exhortation: “Think about
this and if you are able, read this
most beautiful Second Letter to
Timothy. And let us ask the Lord
for the grace to have sincere faith, a
faith which is not negotiated according to the opportunities that are
page 13
presented. A faith which I try every
day to rekindle, or at least which I
ask the Holy Spirit to rekindle, and
which thus bears great fruit”. He
then invited us to take home “this
advice from Paul to Timothy: ‘O
Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you’, in other words,
guard this gift”.
Tuesday, 27 January
The food of Jesus
Pray for the desire to follow God’s
will, to know God’s will and, once
you know it, to go forth with God’s
will. Pope Francis recommended this
threefold prayer during Mass at
Santa Marta on Tuesday morning.
The Pontiff began his reflection
from the day’s Collect prayer which
asked that the Lord: “Guide us to
act according to Your will, so that
we may bear the fruit of good
works”. He placed particular emphasis on the phrase “according to
Your will”, he explained, because
today “this word, ‘will’, the will of
God, permeates both of the Readings and even the Responsorial
Psalm of the liturgy”.
It is first seen in the First Reading, taken from the Letter to the
Hebrews (10:1-10), which “explains
the ancient sacrifices and shows that
they are not capable of absolving us.
They don’t have the power to give
us justice, to forgive sins. They are
only a prayer that the people offer
year after year, a request for forgiveness. But they do not absolve, they
have no power”.
It returns a second time with “the
prophecy” of Psalm 40, in which St
Paul refers to Christ in order to explain “how the path of justice
began”. Indeed, the Pope highlighted, “Jesus said, when he entered
the world: ‘Sacrifices and offerings
thou hast not desired’ (Heb 10:5),
because they are temporary...”. Not
useless, but temporary. He continued: “‘but a body hast thou prepared for me; in burnt offerings and
sin offerings thou hast taken no
pleasure. Then I said, Lo, I have
come to do thy will, O God’” (Heb
10:5-7). And “this act of Christ, of
coming into the world to do the will
of God, is what absolves us, He is
the sacrifice: the true sacrifice that,
once and for all time, has absolved
us”.
Thus, “Jesus comes to do God’s
will and begins in a powerful manner, as He ends, on the cross”. Indeed, He began his earthly journey
by “humbling himself”, as Paul
writes to the Philippians (2:8): He
“emptied himself. He humbled himself, taking the form of a servant,
and became obedient unto death on
the cross” (cf. 2:7-8). As a result, the
Pontiff continued, “obedience to
God’s will is the way of Jesus, who
says: “I come to do the will of
God”. And it is also “the path of
holiness, of the Christian, for it was
the very path of our absolution: that
God, God’s plan be realized, that
the salvation of God be done”. It is
the contrary of what happened in
the earthly paradise, “with Adam’s
disobedience”. It was that disobedience, Francis specified, which
“brought evil to all mankind”.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 15
L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
page 14
Friday, 30 January 2015, number 5
The most effective antidote to violence is accepting difference
Dialogue begins with encounter
“Dialogue begins with encounter”.
These were the Pope’s words on
Saturday morning, 24 January, to
those taking part in the meeting for the
50th anniversary of the opening of the
Pontifical Institute of Arabic and
Islamic Studies (PISAI) in Rome. The
following is a translation of the Pope’s
address which was delivered in Italian.
Your Eminences,
Brothers and Sisters,
I am pleased to welcome you at the
conclusion of the conference organized to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the
Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies in Rome. I thank Cardinal Grocholewski for the words he
addressed to me on behalf of all,
and Cardinal Tauran for his attendance.
In recent years, despite some misunderstandings and difficulties, progress has been made in interreligious
dialogue, and also with the Islamic
faithful. Listening is essential for this.
It is not only a necessary condition in
a process of mutual comprehension
and peaceful coexistence, but is also
a pedagogical duty in order to be able
to “acknowledge the values of others, appreciate the concerns underlying their demands and shed light on
shared beliefs” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, n. 253). The
basis of all this is the necessity of an
adequate formation in order that, secure in one’s own identity, it is possible to grow in mutual understanding.
One needs to pay attention to
avoid falling into the snare of a facile
syncretism which would ultimately be
an empty harbinger of a valueless totalitarianism (ibid., nn. 251, 253). A
soft and accommodating approach,
“which says ‘yes’ to everything in order to avoid problems” (ibid., n.
251), ends up being “a way of de-
ceiving others and denying them the
good which we have been given to
share generously with others” (ibid.).
This invites us, firstly, to return to
the basics.
When we approach a person who
professes his religion with conviction, his testimony and thoughts ask
us and lead us to question our own
spirituality. Dialogue, thus, begins
with encounter. The first knowledge
of the other is born from it. Indeed,
if one begins from the premise of
the common affiliation in human
The only possible interlocutors
ZOUHIR LOUASSINI
Many years ago at a meeting on
dialogue between Muslims and
Christians,
organized
by
the
mosque in Madrid, I had an experience which made me understand
the difficulty of starting a true dialogue between the religions. At the
conference there was a young religious man, an imam from a small
mosque in a Spanish town, who
told me that he had received support from Catholic nuns to construct his place of worship and also
that the Church had lent a hand to
the area’s small Muslim community.
A third person who was there with
us, a bit provocatively, said with a
smile: “So they are not infidels!”.
Irritated, the imam replied: “They
are always infidels and their only
salvation is in converting to Islam!”. And he went off to the meeting room to attend the scheduled
debate on religious dialogue.
In time I learned that one dialogues not only with those who
want to dialogue but also with
those who, in effect, are available to
do so. Dialogue between religions
cannot, in fact, consist solely in
meeting at conferences to talk
about the weather, about food; and
much less be limited to extolling
the merits of one’s faith. Dialogue
needs sincerity, esteem between the
interlocutors, and, above all, a true
understanding of the other.
Back in 1967 in France, historian
and sociologist Abdalla Laroui
published L’idéologie arabe contemporaine: essai critique, with an introduction by Maxime Rodinson. It is
one of the most useful books for an
understanding of the Arab situation
and its evolution. Perceptively identified in this work is the common
denominator which played a fundamental role in the processing and
expression of all ideologies in the
Arab world: its relationship with
the West. For a century, in fact, Arabs do none other than define
themselves in relation to the western world and its values.
In Laroui’s view, his research
generated three types of ideologies,
or better, three “types of Arab”.
The first type is the “liberal”: he is
a political man, convinced that the
underdevelopment of the Arab
world is the result of many centuries of obscurantism under the Ottoman domination. The solution, in
his opinion, is found in the philosophy of Enlightenment and in the
defence of liberal democracy.
The “technophile” is the second
type: these individuals think that
the secret to the power of the West
is neither political freedom nor parliament. Instead, the explanation
for this world domination would be
found in technology and would lie
in the applied sciences.
Last is the “cleric”, the religious
man, who has maintained steadfast
opposition between East and West
in the context of the relationship
between Christianity and Islam;
this third type of Arab tries to show
that Islam was and will remain superior to Christianity.
Thus, three types. For the first
two the West is able to offer models to follow; for the third, however,
outside his world there is only a
threat against which he needs to react. For various reasons, difficult to
summarize in a short article, it is
the last type which culturally dominates in the Arab world today.
The third type epitomizes a very
complex reality, which is devoid of
true religious institutions which
guide decisions. Those who have a
minimum of influence are incapable
of going out of the mental, ideological and political frameworks belonging to other epochs. At the
same time, those who have modernized their approach to the issue are
completely isolated.
This is the situation in the Arab
world today. Extremist organizations like the Islamic State, a group
which does not exceed 20,000
people, are no more than the tip of
the iceberg. If one wants to begin
to melt this enormous block of ice,
it would be fair and appropriate to
start from the fact that moderate
Muslims, although muted, are the
vast majority. They are the only
possible interlocutors for a dialogue
based on understanding, on respect
and on mutual esteem.
nature, one can go beyond prejudices and fallacies and begin to understand the other according to a
new perspective.
The history of the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies has
gone in this very direction. It is not
limited to accepting superficial statements, giving rise to stereotypes and
preconceptions. Academic work, the
fruit of daily effort, seeks to investigate sources, fill in the gaps, analyze
etymology, propose a hermeneutics
of dialogue and, through a scientific
approach inspired by astonishment
and wonder, is able to avoid losing
the bearings of mutual respect and
reciprocal
esteem.
With
these
premises, one tip-toes toward the
other without stirring up the dust
that clouds one’s vision.
The 50 years of PISAI in Rome —
after its birth and first steps in
Tunisia, thanks to the great work of
Missionaries in Africa — show how
much the Universal Church, in the
climate of Post-Conciliar renewal,
has understood the impending need
for an institute dedicated explicitly to
research and the formation of those who
promote dialogue with Muslims. Perhaps there has never been a greater
need, since the most effective antidote to violence is teaching the discovery and acceptance of difference
as richness and fruitfulness.
This task is not simple, but is
born and grows out of a strong
sense of responsibility. MuslimChristian dialogue requires, in a particular way, patience and humility
along with extensive study, because
approximation and improvisation
can be counterproductive, or can
even cause discomfort and embarrassment. A lasting and continuous
commitment is needed in order not
to be caught unprepared in various
situations and in different contexts.
For this reason, there is need for a
specific preparation, not limited by
sociological analysis, but having the
characteristics of a journey among
members of religions who, although
in different ways, refer to the spiritual paternity of Abraham. Culture
and education are in no way secondary to a true process of approaching
the other which respects in each person “his life, his physical integrity,
his dignity and the rights deriving
from that dignity, his reputation, his
property, his ethnic and cultural
identity, his ideas and his political
choices” (Message for the End of Ramadan, 10 July 2013).
This Institute is very precious
among the academic institutions of
the Holy See, and still needs to become better known. My desire is
that it increasingly become a point
of reference for the formation of
Christians who work in the field of interreligious dialogue, under the auspices of the Congregation for Catholic Education and in close cooperation with the Pontifical Council for
Interreligious Dialogue. On the
journey of exploring truth, toward
the full respect of the person and of
CONTINUED ON PAGE 15
number 5, Friday, 30 January 2015
L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
page 15
To the Inspectorate for Public Security at the Vatican
Careful guardians
On Thursday, 22 January, Pope Francis received the Inspectorate for Public Security at the Vatican in
the Clementine Hall. The Force is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. The officers and agents are
called, the Pope said, to guard and oversee the “places that have great importance for the faith and the
life of millions of pilgrims. May each of them feel helped and guarded by your presence and your
attention”. The following is a translation of the Holy Father’s address which was given in Italian.
Inspector in Chief,
Mr Prefect,
Mr Commissioner,
Dear Officers and Agents,
I am pleased to welcome you on the
occasion of the exchange of good
wishes for the New Year, which
marks the 70th anniversary of your
service. This traditional meeting
gives me the opportunity to extend
a personal greeting to you and to
express my grateful appreciation for
the work you carry out daily with
professionalism and dedication.
My greeting and my wishes go
first to Dr Maria Rosaria Maiorino,
whom I thank for the kind words
she addressed to me on behalf of all.
I cordially greet the members of the
Inspectorate for Public Security at
the Vatican, as well as other managers and officials of the State Police Force and Chaplains led by the
National Coordinator. I assure you
of my special remembrance in prayer
for your colleague Alessandro, who
recently passed away, whose wife
and son who are here I embrace
with affection.
We have just started a new year,
and many are our expectations and
our hopes. On the horizon we also
see darkness and dangers that worry
humanity. As Christians we are
called not to lose heart and not to
be discouraged. Our hope rests on
an unshakable rock: the love of
God, revealed and given to us in
Christ Jesus, our Lord. Let us remember the comforting words of the
Apostle
Paul:
“Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ?
Shall tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or peril, or the sword?... In all these
things we are more than conquerors
thanks to Him who loved us” (Rom
8:35, 37).
Dear officers and agents, in the
light of this firm hope, your work
takes on a different meaning, which
involves human and Christian values. For you, in fact, have the duty
to guard and oversee places that
have great importance for the faith
and the life of millions of pilgrims.
Morning Mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13
In essence, “sins are also acts of
not obeying God, of not doing
God’s will. However, the Lord
teaches us that this is the path,
there is no other”. A path which
“begins with Jesus, in heaven, in
the will of obeying the Father” and
on “the earth, it begins with Our
Lady”, at the moment in which she
says to the angel: “let it be done to
me as you say (cf. Lk 1:38). And
with that ‘yes’ to God, the Lord
began his journey among us”.
The Pope continued to highlight
the importance for Jesus of “doing
God’s will”. It is evidenced in the
encounter with the Samaritan woman, when “in that southern region, in the heat of that desert
Interlocutors
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14
his dignity, may the PISAI instill
a fruitful collaboration with the
other Pontifical Universities,
with study and research centres,
both Christian and Muslim,
scattered throughout the world.
On the happy occasion of this
Jubilee I wish the PISAI community may never betray its
primary purpose of listening and
dialogue, founded on distinct
identities, on the passionate, patient and vigorous search for
truth and beauty, sown by the
Creator in the heart of every
man and woman and truly visible in every authentic religious
expression. I ask you to please
pray for me and I wholeheartedly wish you all blessing.
zone”, when the disciples said to
Him: “Rabbi, eat”, he answered:
“No: ‘My food is to do the will of
the Father’” (cf. Jn 4:31-34). In this
manner He made them understand
that for Him, God’s will “was like
food, that which gave Him
strength, that which enabled Him
to go on”. He later explained to
the disciples: “I have come into the
world to do the will of him who
sent me, to fulfil a work of obedience” (cf. Jn 6:38).
Yet, the Bishop of Rome observed, even for Jesus, it wasn’t
easy. “The devil, in the temptation
in the wilderness, showed Him other paths”, but they were not the
will of the Father and thus, “He rejected them”. The same thing happens “when Jesus is not understood
and they leave Him; many disciples
leave because they do not understand what God’s will is”, but Jesus
continues to do his will. It is a fidelity which also returns in the
words: “Father, Thy will be done”,
which He spoke “before the judgement”, when He was praying that
evening in the garden, asking God
to take away “this cup, this cross.
He suffers”, the Pope said. “Jesus
suffers so much. Yet, He says: Thy
will be done”.
This “is the food of Jesus, and is
also the Christian path. He who
has led us on the path of our life,
and doing God’s will is not easy,
for every day so many options are
presented to us on a platter: do
this, it’s good, it’s not bad”. We
should instead ask ourselves: “Is it
God’s will? How am I doing in fulfilling God’s will?”. Thus, he
offered some practical advice: “First
of all ask for grace, pray and ask
for the grace of the desire to do
God’s will. This is a grace”.
Next, we must ask ourselves:
“Do I pray that the Lord give me
the desire to do his will? Or do I
look for compromises, because I’m
afraid of God’s will?”. Additionally,
he added, we must “pray to know
God’s will about me and about my
life, about the decision that I have
to make now, about how to manage
things”. Thus, in summary, “a prayer to want to do God’s will and a
prayer to know God’s will. And
when I know God’s will”, then
there is a third prayer: “to fulfil it.
To fulfil that will, which is not
mine but his”.
Francis knows that all this “isn’t
easy” and recalled the narrative of
the wealthy youth in the Gospels of
Matthew (19:16-22) and Mark
(10:17-22): “that really good boy,
whom the Gospel says that Jesus
loved because he was just. Jesus
proposed something else to him
but he didn’t have the courage”.
This is why, “when the Father,
when Jesus asks something of us”
we need to ask ourselves: “Is this
his will?”. Of course “they are difficult things, and we are not capable,
with our strength, of accepting
what the Lord tells us”. But we can
find help by praying: “Lord, give
me the courage to go forth according to the Father’s will”.
The Pope concluded by quoting
a passage from the Gospel of Mark
(3:34-35), asking the Lord to “give
all of us the grace that one day He
may say of us what He said of that
group, of that crowd who followed
Him, those who were seated around
Him: ‘Here are my mother and my
brethren! Whoever does the will of
God is my brother and sister and
mother’. Doing God’s will makes
us part of Jesus’ family. It makes us
mother, father, sister, brother”. He
then asked that “the Lord give us
the grace of this familiarity” with
Him; a familiarity which “means
actually doing God’s will”.
Many people who come to visit the
heart of Christian Rome often turn
to you. May each of them feel
helped and guarded by your presence and your attention. Yes, dear
brothers and sisters, we are all called
to be guardians of our neighbour.
The Lord will call us to account for
the responsibilities entrusted to us,
for the good or ill that we have
done to our neighbour.
Let us entreat the maternal protection of the Virgin Mother at the
beginning of this new year. We entrust to her every concern and hope,
so that in all circumstances of life
we can love, rejoice and live in the
faith of the Son of God who became
man for us.
I ask you to please pray for me
and I bless you from my heart.
Thank you.
Jesus of Nazareth
in Arabic
The third volume of Joseph
Ratzinger’s trilogy, The Infancy Narratives of Jesus of Nazareth (Jounieh,
Imprimerie des Pères Paulistes,
2014), has been published in Arabic.
The book, translated by Nabil elKhoury, is dedicated “to His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of
St Mark, Primate of the Coptic Orthodox Church, to the Orthodox
Patriarchs of the East, to Cardinal
Béchara Boutros Raï, Patriarch of
Antioch and of All East for the Maronite Catholic Church and to Catholic Patriarchs of the East”.
L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
page 16
Friday, 30 January 2015, number 5
A conversation with Jacques Dalarun on his discovery which reveals new details on the life of the Poverello of Assisi
St Francis
rediscovered
SILVIA GUIDI
New aspects are now emerging on
St Francis’ life. More than mere
fragments or indirect quotes from
contemporary works, these details
are from the second oldest volume
on the life of the Saint from Assisi,
which was unknown until today.
Located in a private library collection, it was found in a seemingly insignificant manuscript, absent from
library catalogues. The tiny codex
(12 x 8 cm) is at the centre of a historiographical issue — both vast and
complex — which, since the first half
of the 13th century, has continued
unsolved. The search for biographical evidence inconsistent with the
Poverello’s official biography (the
Legenda, by Bonaventure, approved
in 1263) has been both a cross and a
blessing for generations of Medieval.
Overlooked for many years, the
book landed in our hands unscathed, perhaps for its seeming
plainness: it is a small Franciscan codex both “humble and poor,
without decorations or miniatures”,
explained Jacques Dalarun, who
made the discovery. From Paris, the
Medieval scholar told our newspaper about his gripping search which
turned into a surprising paleographic detective story.
How did you find the manuscript?
Thanks to an email from my colleague Sean Field, who teaches at
the University of Vermont and who
— I’d like to point out — is happily
married. He isn’t a Franciscan friar,
as I read in the press over the last
few days! Knowing that I have long
been studying biographical information on Francis, Sean told me that a
manuscript was coming up for auction that might be of interest to me.
Thanks also to the careful and insightful work of Laura Light, the
scholar who prepared the description of the manuscript for the American auction house which placed it
on the market last year. I had been
looking for this text for seven years.
In the course of my research I had
found fragments and traces of it in
various places and all signs led to
the existence of a kind of an intermediary text by Tommaso da
Celano, after the first draft of the
Legenda and before Vita which, we
know, was composed under the
Generalate of Brother Elias. Finding
this text was a very, very valuable
confirmation, and it clearly brings
great joy. Let’s say that this discovery was like rain on parched land.
that it could be an important piece
of the unfinished puzzle. At that
point, I was concerned about ensuring its availability to scholars, were
it to be bought privately, this
wouldn’t have been automatically
guaranteed. Thus I went to the head
of the Manuscript Department of
the National Library of France who,
after negotiating with the auction
house, bought the book. In the
meantime, since last September, I
have been able to study the text in
greater depth and prepare the Latin
edition and the French translation.
Translations into Italian and English
have also begun. The news was released to the French press on 16
January. It wouldn’t have been appropriate to make the announcement
before, in order to avoid interference
with the ongoing negotiations. Also
I wanted to have a precise idea of its
chronological position and the content of the manuscript.
Pietro Lorenzetti, “St Francis receives the stigmata”
(c. 1310-1319, Assisi, Lower Basilica of St Francis)
but didn’t truly understand it. It is
an extensive text: the Latin edition
is about 60 pages long. Many comments which were in the first version
What aspects of the text did you find have been eliminated, and there are
interesting?
some new points. There was far
It is a summary, written between more emphasis on the reality of the
1232 and 1239, of the first version of experience of poverty, of experiri
the Legenda, considered too long by paupertatem, not in a symbolic, allegits contemporaries. In addition new orical or strictly spiritual sense, but
elements have been added and, after in a real way. It meant wearing the
a careful reading, it becomes clear same clothes and eating the same
that the author’s reflection becomes food as the poor. The theme of
increasingly deeper over time, espe- brotherhood with all of creation is
cially on the theme of poverty and also deepened. At the beginning
love for creatures. Tommaso da Tommaso spoke about this as
Celano was a very profound man something to be admired, as strange
and he never stopped reflecting on and amazing, but largely outside of
the teaching of Francis. In a certain his own experience. It’s well written,
sense, we could say that with the but distant. On rewriting it, he repassage of time, the biographer dis- flects on the fact that brotherhood
covers... he hadn’t truly understood with creation is not only among huFrancis’ message: he wrote about it man beings but also with beings
without reason: it is an
anti-identity
discourse.
What seemed to be an
We are different but we
are brothers because we
insignificant manuscript, hidden
all descend from the pain a private library, was instead
ternity of the Creator.
full of details about the life of
Therefore, I do not agree
with those who say:
St Francis which until now have
“Francis loved nature”.
been unknown
That’s a pagan concept.
Is there one point which especially
struck you?
An episode which we already
knew about but which is told differently than the so-called legenda trium
sociorum. What we can read now is
probably the older and more authentic version. It speaks about Francis’
journey to Rome, but not as the pilgrimage of an already converted person, who had embraced religious
life. In this case, it describes the
journey of a merchant on business,
who is shocked by the poverty of
the beggars he sees near St Peter’s.
He asks himself whether he could
live such an experience. It is far
from the sugarcoated version that
was
subsequently
disseminated:
Francis, already a friar, bending over
the suffering of those he encounters
on the road. The contrast is much
stronger here, it isn’t a gradual
change but a real shock. Tommaso
also adds other specific and concrete
details. He explains that Francis
mended the holes in his tunic using
the threads of tree bark and grasses
which he found in the field, just like
those who had absolutely nothing,
not even a needle to sew with.
What remains to be understood....
When did you realize that the Latin
text on your computer screen wasn’t a
13th-century Umbrian florilegium on
the life of Francis but an unknown
work by Tommaso da Celano?
By deciphering the prologue.
There were images of the manuscript
on the website — not of the highest
quality but still legible, albeit with a
bit of difficulty. Laura Light’s description of the codex quoted my research, pointing to the possibility
Francis loved his brothers, men and
animals alike, because all are children of the same Creator.
Last page of the recently-discovered document
(copyright of Les Enluminures/Bibliothèque nationale de France)
The mystery is just beginning.
Who had this book in his pocket?
For whom was it written? Probably a
friar minor near Assisi. Who might
have been aware of these texts? Perhaps Brother Leone. Keeping in
mind that the Vita is only 15 folios,
one eighth of the volume, the
manuscript also contains Francis’
Admonitions, in addition to many
other things. There is still much to
be
understood.
Interestingly
enough, this testimony has resurfaced from the past in a historic moment which is witnessing both vast
economic expansion and large pockets of poverty like that of the 13th
century. It is a fine gift from the first
Francis to the present Pope, who is
currently writing an encyclical on
love for creation.