Monday, November 24, 2008

BEATIFICATIONS IN JAPAN AND CUBA, UKRAINIAN FAMINE

VATICAN CITY, 23 NOV 2008 (VIS) - After praying the Angelus, the Pope recalled the fact that tomorrow, 24 November, "the beatification will take place of 188 Japanese martyrs, both men and women, killed during the first half of the seventeenth century. On this occasion, so important for the Catholic community of Japan, I give assurances", he said, "of my spiritual closeness".

  Benedict XVI then went on to mention the fact that, on 29 November, Br. Jose Olallo Valdes of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God will be proclaimed a blessed in Cuba. "To his celestial protection", he said, "I entrust the Cuban people, especially the sick and healthcare workers". Speaking Spanish, the Pope directed a special greeting to Cuban pastors and faithful who will participate in the beatification ceremony at Camaguey, expressing the hope that "the intercession of the new blessed may help the Church in her evangelising mission, and bring renewed apostolic vitality to all Cubans who glory in being disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ".

  The Holy Father also directed particular greetings to Ukrainian pilgrims. "Over these days", he said, "we are commemorating the 75th anniversary of the 'Holodomor' - the great famine - which between 1932 and 1933 caused millions of deaths in Ukraine and in other regions of the Soviet Union during communist rule.

  "In the fervent hope that no political system may ever again, in the name of an ideology, deny human beings their rights, freedom and dignity", he added, "I give assurances of my prayers for all the innocent victims of that immense tragedy and call upon the Holy Mother of God to help nations continue along the path of reconciliation, and build the present and the future in mutual respect and in the sincere search for peace".
ANG/BLESSEDS JAPAN CUBA UKRAINE/...            VIS 20081124 (310)


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