BEETHOVEN FOR YEAR OF FAITH

Vatican City, 24 June 2013 (VIS) – At 5:30pm Saturday afternoon in the Paul VI Audience Hall, a concert sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization as part of the Year of Faith was given. After Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of that dicastery, greeted those present on behalf of the Holy Father, who couldn't attend because of an “urgent task that cannot be put off but must be dealt with at the present moment”, he read the Pope's words of thanks to the organizers, singers, choir, and orchestra. Then the Italian Symphonic Orchestra of the RAI, conducted by Juraj Valcuha, performed Beethoven's Symphony no. 9 in D minor op.125, accompanied by the Choir of the National Academy of St Cecilia.

SPECIAL ENVOYS OF THE HOLY FATHER

Vatican City, 22 June 2013 (VIS) – Made public today was the letter from the Pope, written in Latin and dated 10 May, in which he appoints Cardinal Josip Bozanic, archbishop of Zagreb, Croatia, as his special envoy to the 1150th anniversary of the arrival of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Czech territory, which will take place in Velehrad, Czech Republic, on 5 July 2013.

The mission that will accompany the cardinal is composed of Msgr. Tomas Holub of the Diocese of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, secretary general of the Czech Bishops' Conference, and Fr. Ladislao Nosek, S.J., vicar of the Parish of St. Stephen in Prague, Czech Republic, and chaplain of several Czech Catholic schools.

Also issued today was a letter, likewise written in Latin and dated 10 May, appointing Cardinal Franc Rode, C.M., prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, as his special envoy to the 1150th anniversary of the arrival of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Slovakian territory, which will take place in Nitra, Slovak Republic, on 5 July 2013.

The mission that will accompany the cardinal is composed of Msgr. Vladimir Stahovec of the Diocese of Roznava, Slovakia, currently rector of the Pontifical College of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Rome, Italy, and Don Martin Kramara, of the Diocese of Zilina, Slovakia, chaplain of the Diocese of Rome for the Pastoral Care of Resident Slovakians.

Finally, the letter of the Holy Father, dated 25 May, was also made public, in which he appointed Cardinal Francesco Monterisi, archpriest emeritus of the Saint Paul Outside-the-Walls Basilica, as special envoy to the closing celebration of the sixth centenary of the discovery of the statue of Santa Maria della Libera to be held in the shrine of Cercemaggiore, Campobasso, Italy on 2 July of this year.

AUDIENCES

Vatican City, 24 June 2013 (VIS) – This morning, the Holy Father received Cardinal Marc Ouellet, P.S.S., prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

This afternoon he is scheduled to receive Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don, archbishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

On Saturday, 22 June, the Holy Father received:

   - His Most Eminent Highness Fra' Matthew Festing, prince and grand master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, accompanied by an entourage,

   - Her excellency Mrs. Neda Rosandic Saric, former Croatian ambassador to Argentina, and

   - Fr. Francois-Xavier Dumortier, S.J., rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, Italy.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 24 June 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father appointed Fr. Mario Leon Dorado, O.M.I., as apostolic prefect of Western Sahara. Fr. Leon Dorado is currently administrator of the same Apostolic Prefecture.

On Saturday, 22 June, the Holy Father:

  - appointed Fr. Bernard Taiji Katsuya as bishop of Sapporo (area 83,452, population 5,518,088, Catholics 17,619 , priests 56, religious 308), Japan. The bishop-elect was born in Muroran-Hokkaido, Japan in 1955 and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Sapporo in 1986. Since ordination he has served in several pastoral and academic roles, most recently, since 2008, as director of the District of Sapporo and, since 2012, as substitute pastor of Tsukisamu.

  - accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, USA, presented by Bishop John Charles Dunne, upon having reached the age limit.

FRANCIS: LOOK FOR PASTORS NOT PRINCES FOR EPISCOPACY

Vatican City, 21 June 2013 (VIS) – This morning in the Clementine Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, as part of the Year of Faith, the Holy Father received the pontifical representatives. After an introduction by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B., the Holy Father addressed the nuncios with “simple thoughts” and informal words “close to his heart” regarding what he called some “existential” aspects of the labour they carry out.

“Your lives,” the Pope said, “are nomadic. Every three or four years … you change your place, move from one continent to another, one country to another, one reality of Church to another, often very different one. You always have your suitcase in hand. … This entails … mortification, the sacrifice of stripping yourselves of things, friends, ties, and always beginning anew. This isn't easy.”

Francis recalled the words that, then-substitute of the Secretariat of State, Msgr. Montini, used on 25 April 1951 to describe the figure of the pontifical representative: “one who is truly aware of bearing Christ with him”. With this, the Pope clarified that “the goods and perspectives of this world end up disappointing, they push and are never satisfied. The Lord is the good that does not disappoint.”

The Pope didn't forget to mention that this “nomadic” life holds the danger, even for men of the Church, to give in to what he called—using an expression from the theologian Henri de Lubac—“spiritual worldliness”. “Giving in to the spirit of the world, which leads one to act for personal realization and not for the glory of God in that kind of 'bourgeoisie of spirit and life' that urges one to get comfortable, to seek a calm and easy life.”

“We are shepherds and we must never forget this! Dear pontifical representatives, you are Christ's presence, you are a priestly presence, as pastors. … Always do everything with profound love! Even in dealing with the civil authorities and colleagues: always seek the good, the good in everyone, the good of the Church, and of every person.”

The Holy Father wanted to conclude his address by highlighting one of the principal and most delicate tasks of the representatives, to look for episcopal appointments: “be attentive,” he told them, “that the candidates are Pastors who are close to the people, fathers and brothers; that they are gentle, patient, and merciful; that they love poverty, interior poverty as freedom for the Lord and exterior poverty as simplicity and austerity of life; that they don't have the mindset of 'princes'. Be attentive that they aren't ambitious, that they don't seek the episcopate—'volentes nolumus'—and that they are spouses of a Church without constantly seeking another. That they are capable of 'keeping an eye on' the flock that will be entrusted to them, that is, of caring for everything that keeps it united; of being 'vigilant' over it; of being attentive to dangers that threaten it; but above all that they are capable of 'keeping an eye over' the flock; of keeping watch; of tending hope, that there is sun and light in their hearts; of sustaining with love and patience the plans that God has for his people.”