Vatican City, 30 April 2015 (VIS) –
This morning a press conference was held in the Holy See Press Office
to present the concert organised to support the Pope's charitable
work, which will take place on 14 May, solemnity of the Ascension, at
6 p.m. in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall. The concert, to be conducted by
Maestro Daniel Oren and performed by the Philarmonic Orchestra of
Salerno, Italy and the choir of the diocese of Rome led by Msgr.
Marco Frisina, is sponsored by the Papal Almoner, the Pontifical
Council for Culture, the Pontifical Council for Promoting New
Evangelisation, and the St. Matthew Foundation, in memory of Cardinal
Van-Thuan, and unites culture with charitable concerns. For the
occasion, the donations gathered will be entirely devolved to the
office of the Apostolic Almoner, the dicastery responsible for the
Pope's charity.
The protagonists of the event are the
most needy, the poor and sick, who will occupy the front rows and
have been invited through charitable and voluntary associations: the
Great Priory of Rome and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the
Circle of St. Peter, diocesan Caritas, the Sant'Egidio Community and
the Centro Astalli, which assists migrants and refugees, the
Daughters of Charity and other associations present in the diocese of
Rome. The event will also be attended by detainees from the Rebibbia
prison and various inhabitants of camps for nomadic peoples. Elderly
people, families and young people from the Roman parishes have also
been invited, especially those from the quarters afflicted by
material and spiritual difficulties.
An invitation is required to attend the
concert. These are entirely free and may be obtained online before 8
May by compiling the form on the website of the Choir of the Diocese
of Rome, at
http://www.corodiocesidiroma.com/concerto-aula-paolo-vi.html.
During the press conference, Msgr.
Diego Ravelli, head of the office of the Apostolic Almoner, explained
that this will be a concert not only “with” the poor but rather
“for” the poor, as the donations made by the sponsors and all
those who wish to offer an economic contribution will be destined for
Pope Francis' charitable works. This task is entrusted to the
Apostolic Almoner, whose mission is explained below, and which
receives every day a great number of letters from needy people and
families, a number that has increased along with the economic crisis,
rising unemployment and the phenomenon of immigration. All these
letters are authenticated by parish priests and other ecclesiastical
authorities, to whom as guarantors the economic assistance will be
given, to be devolved to the people concerned, “as it is important
for the Pope's concrete gesture to be integrated with the solidarity
of the local Church and Christian parish community”.
“Aid will be modest as it is hoped it
will reach the largest possible number of people”, he continued.
“The Almoner's Office also supports associations devoted to
alleviating the suffering of different groups of people in
difficulties, such as the homeless, political refugees, prisoners,
overseas university students, hospital inpatients, the elderly,
single mothers and orphaned or abandoned children. Similarly, again
with modest subsidies, it also intervenes outside Italy, especially
in the poorest countries, to support initiatives of a charitable
nature promoted by bishops and diocesan or religious priests.
Particular attention is also given to cloistered women religious, who
often lack sufficient economic resources for everyday needs or to
face extraordinary or unexpected maintenance work on community
buildings”.
“In total, the sum that the Apostolic
Almoner distributed in 2014 exceeded one and a half million Euros”,
said Msgr. Rivelli, who went on to remark that when Pope Francis
appointed Archbishop Konrad Krajewski in 2013 he instructed him to
reach out to the poor, not to wait for them to ask for help, and to
“leave his desk to go in search of them beyond the office walls”.
“All this is possible thanks to the
charity fund available to the Almoner, made up of donations from
private individuals and groups or bodies, or collections organised
for the purpose, and offers directly from the hands of the Holy
Father, who receives contributions for his charity during the general
audiences and from meetings with pilgrims. The majority of the funds,
however, come from the faculty, delegated to the Almoner by Pope Leo
XIII, to grant apostolic blessings in the form of documents on
parchment to the faithful who request them for certain occasions”.
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