HOLY FATHER'S VIDEO MESSAGE TO CLIMATE CHANGE SUMMIT

VATICAN CITY, 24 SEP 2009 (VIS) - Made public today was a transcription of the Pope's video message to participants in the UN summit on climate change, which was held in New York on 22 September.

  "I wish to reflect today upon the relationship between the Creator and ourselves as guardians of His creation", says Benedict XVI speaking English. "In so doing I also wish to offer my support to leaders of governments and international agencies who are meeting at the United Nations to discuss the urgent issue of climate change.

  "The Earth is indeed a precious gift of the Creator Who, in designing its intrinsic order, has given us guidelines that assist us as stewards of His creation. Precisely from within this framework, the Church considers that matters concerning the environment and its protection are intimately linked with integral human development. In my recent Encyclical, 'Caritas in Veritate', I referred to such questions recalling the 'pressing moral need for renewed solidarity' not only between countries but also between individuals, since the natural environment is given by God to everyone, and so our use of it entails a personal responsibility towards humanity as a whole, particularly towards the poor and towards future generations.

  "How important it is then, that the international community and individual governments send the right signals to their citizens and succeed in countering harmful ways of treating the environment! The economic and social costs of using up shared resources must be recognised with transparency and borne by those who incur them, and not by other peoples or future generations. The protection of the environment, and the safeguarding of resources and of the climate, oblige all leaders to act jointly, respecting the law and promoting solidarity with the weakest regions of the world. Together we can build an integral human development beneficial for all peoples, present and future, a development inspired by the values of charity in truth. For this to happen it is essential that the current model of global development be transformed through a greater, and shared, acceptance of responsibility for creation: this is demanded not only by environmental factors, but also by the scandal of hunger and human misery".

  The Holy Father concluded by inviting participants in the UN summit "to enter into their discussions constructively and with generous courage. Indeed, we are all called to exercise responsible stewardship of creation, to use resources in such a way that every individual and community can live with dignity, and to develop 'that covenant between human beings and the environment, which should mirror the creative love of God'".
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, 24 SEP 2009 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences six prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, on their "ad limina" visit:

    - Bishop Joao Jose da Costa O. Carm. of Iguatu

    - Bishop Antonio Roberto Cavuto O.F.M. Cap. of Itapipoca.

    - Bishop Jose Haring O.F.M. of Limoeiro do Norte.

    - Bishop Angelo Pignoli of Quixada.

    - Bishop Francisco Javier Hernandez Arnedo O.A.R. of Tiangua.

    - Fr. Raimundo Nonato Timbo de Paiva, diocesan administrator of Sobral.

  This evening, the Holy Father is scheduled to receive in separate audiences three prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, on their "ad limina" visit:

    - Archbishop Sergio da Rocha of Teresina

    - Bishop Ramon Lopez Carrozas O. de M. of Bom Jesus do Gurgeia.

    - Bishop Eduardo Zielski of Campo Maior.
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 24 SEP 2009 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Archbishop Luciano Suriani, apostolic nuncio, as delegate for pontifical deputations.
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ANSELM: THEOLOGIAN AND DEFENDER OF CHURCH FREEDOM

VATICAN CITY, 23 SEP 2009 VIS - St. Anselm, one of the most outstanding figures of the Middle Ages, was the subject of the Holy Father's catechesis during his general audience, held this morning in the Paul VI Hall.

  St. Anselm of Canterbury, also known as Anselm of Aosta and Anselm of Bec, was born in the Italian town of Aosta in 1033. The eldest child of a noble family, his mother gave him a careful human and Christian education. During his youth he went through a period of moral dissipation and excess during which he abandoned his studies. He then travelled to France in search of new experiences and eventually reached the abbey of Bec, drawn there by the fame of its prior, Lanfranco of Pavia. There, at the age of 27, he embraced the monastic life.

  Three years later Lanfranco was appointed as abbot of Caen and Anselm became the prior of Bec. In his new role he "revealed gifts as a sophisticated teacher. He did not care for authoritarian methods and, likening young people to saplings which develop best if not closed in a greenhouse, he granted then a 'healthy' measure of freedom. He was very demanding with himself and others in monastic observance, but rather than imposing discipline he sought to make people follow it by persuasion", the Pope explained.

  When Lanfranco of Pavia was appointed as archbishop of Canterbury, England, he asked Anselm to help him in educating the monks and in dealings with the ecclesial community, which was facing difficult circumstances in the wake of the Norman invasions. On Lanfranco's death in 1093, Anselm succeeded him as archbishop immediately entering "into an energetic struggle for the freedom of the Church and courageously supporting the independence of spiritual from temporal power. He defended the Church from undue interference by the political authorities, especially King William Rufus and Henry I". His faithfulness to the Pope caused him to be exiled in 1103.

  Anselm died on 21 April 1109 having dedicated the last years of his life "to the moral formation of the clergy and intellectual research into theological questions", whence Christian tradition has bestowed upon him the title of "Doctor Magnificus", said the Holy Father. He went on: "The clarity and logical rigour of Anselm's ideas always sought 'to raise the mind to the contemplation of God'. He made it clear that anyone who intends to study theology must not rely only upon his own intelligence but must also cultivate a profound experience of faith".

  "In St. Anselm's view, then, a theologian's work is divided into threes stages: faith, God's gratuitous gift to be welcomed with humility; experience, which consists in incarnating the Word of God into daily life; and true knowledge, which is never the fruit of sterile reasoning but of contemplative intuition".

  "May the love for truth and the constant thirst for God which characterized St. Anselm's life be a stimulus for all Christians tirelessly to seek an ever more intimate union with Christ", said the Pope, and he concluded: "May the courageous zeal which distinguished his pastoral work and which sometimes brought misunderstandings, bitterness and even exile, be an encouragement for pastors, consecrated people and all the faithful to love the Church of Christ, ... never abandoning or betraying her".
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RENEWAL OF THE BOARD OF SUPERINTENDENCE OF THE IOR

VATICAN CITY, 23 SEP 2009 (VIS) - The Commission of Cardinals which oversees the activities of the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), chaired by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B., has renewed the membership of the Board of Superintendence of the Institute.

  According to an English-language communique made public today, "after accepting the resignations presented by Angelo Caloia, president of the Board of Superintendence, and the other members of the board, the Commission of Cardinals expressed its deep gratitude to them for their generous service and, in accordance with the Statutes, appointed the following as members of the Board of Superintendence of the IOR": Carl A. Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, U.S.A.; Giovanni De Censi, president of the "Credito Valtellinese", Italy; Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, president of the "Santander Consumer Bank", Italy; Ronaldo Hermann Schmitz, Germany; Manuel Soto Serrano Spain.

  "In addition, in accordance with the statutory norms, the Commission of Cardinals, on the proposal of the Board of Superintendence of the IOR, appointed Ettore Gotti Tedeschi as the new president of the Board of Superintendence and Ronaldo Hermann Schmitz as vice president.

  "Finally, the Commission of Cardinals expressed its best wishes to the new Board of Superintendence, to Msgr. Piero Pioppo, prelate of the Institute, to Paolo Cipriani, director general, and to Massimo Tulli, vice director general, for their work in the service of the IOR".
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