CHURCH, HOME AND SCHOOL OF COMMUNION

Vatican City, 27 February 2014 (VIS) – This morning in the Sala Clementina of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father received in audience the bishops who are friends of the Focolare Movement, who have held a meeting during recent days on the theme of “Mutual love among Christ's disciples”. The Pope stated that as bishops, they are “called upon to bring to these meetings the broad range of the Church, and to ensure that all they receive is put to the benefit of the entire Church”.

“Today's society has a great need for the testimony of a style of life, from which their transpires the novelty offered to us by Lord Jesus: brothers who care for each other in spite of their differences of character, origins, or age”, he continued. “This testimony gives rise to the wish to be involved in the great trajectory of communion that is the Church”.

In conclusion, Pope Francis recalled the words of John Paul II in the Apostolic Letter “Novo Millennio Ineunte”: “'To make the Church the home and the school of communion' is truly fundamental for the efficacy of every commitment to evangelisation, inasmuch as it reveals the deepest yearning of the Father: that all His sons live as brothers; and it reveals the will of Christ, that 'that all of them may be one'; and it reveals the dynamism of the Holy Spirit, its free and liberating force of attraction. Cultivating the spirituality of communion also contributes to making us more able to walk the path of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue”.

LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS PRESIDED BY POPE FRANCIS: MARCH-APRIL 2014

Vatican City, 27 February 2014 (VIS) – The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff has made public the calendar of celebrations that are due to be presided over by the Holy Father Francis in March and April 2014:

MARCH

- Wednesday 5, Ash Wednesday. At 4:30 p.m. in the Basilica of Sant'Anselmo: "statio" and penitential procession. At 5:00 p.m. in the Basilica of Santa Sabina: blessing and imposition of ashes.

- Sunday 9, first Sunday of Lent. Ariccia: beginning of the spiritual exercises of the Roman Curia.

- Friday 14, conclusion of the spiritual exercises of the Roman Curia.

- Sunday 16, 4 p.m., pastoral visit to the Roman parish of “Santa Maria dell'Orazione.

- Friday 28, 17 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica: penitential liturgy.

APRIL

- Sunday 6, 4 p.m., pastoral visit to a Roman parish.

- Sunday 13, Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Lord. At 9:30 a.m. in St. Peter's Square: blessing of palms, procession, and Mass in the Papal Chapel.

- Sunday 17, Holy Thursday. At 9.30 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica: Chrism Mass.

- Friday 18, Good Friday. At 5:00 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica: celebration of the Lord's Passion. At 9:15pm at the Colosseum: Via Crucis.

- Saturday, 19, Holy Saturday. At 8:30 p.m. in the Papal Chapel of the Vatican Basilica: Easter vigil.

- Sunday 20, Easter Sunday. At 10:15am in St. Peter's Square, Papal Chapel: Mass. At midday, from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica: "Urbi et Orbi" blessing.

- Sunday 27, second Sunday of Easter (or Divine Mercy Sunday). At 10 a.m., St. Peter's Square, Papal Chapel: Mass and canonisation of Blesseds Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II.

The Pope will preside over the “in Coena Domini” Mass on the afternoon of Holy Thursday but, like last year and in previous years in Buenos Aires, he will select a situation of a special nature from a pastoral point of view, which will be communicated when appropriate. There will not, therefore, be a celebration in a Basilica or the possibility of participation by a large number of faithful; the Prefecture of the Papal Household will not distribute tickets for any such celebration.

THE HOLY SEE WILL PARTICIPATE WITH A PAVILION AT EXPO MILAN 2015

Vatican City, 27 February 2014 (VIS) – This morning in the Holy See Press Office the protocol was presented for the participation of the Holy See at Expo Milan 2015. The general theme of the event will be “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”.

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, Commissioner General for the Holy See for Expo Milan 2015, and Giuseppe Sala, Sole Commissioner Delegate of the Italian Government for Expo Milan 2015, signed the Protocol this morning in the Sala Regia of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, and spoke at the press conference.

Expo Milan 2015 will begin on 1 May 2015 and will continue until 31 October; 140 countries will participate with their respective pavilions. The theme of the Holy See's pavilion will be “Not by bread alone”, and aims to “highlight, above all, the inner, religious and cultural dimension that affects both the person and his relationships at all levels. Inner nourishment is just as necessary as that which responds to more immediate needs”.

From the universal value of sharing and solidarity to the protection of the Earth's resources that must not be squandered or plundered, the Holy See's pavilion will promote profound reflection on the concept of “nourishment”, and will do so by presenting four areas.

The first is a garden to preserve, which relates to the protection of Creation, with all its resources, a gift given by the Creator to all humanity, and a patrimony that must not be wasted, plundered or destroyed. The second will be food to share; the Gospel account of the multiplication of bread will provide the guiding image and will underline the universal value of sharing and solidarity, expressed in the Christian context of the many institutions that have implemented this commandment of brotherly love. The third is a meal that educates, and emphasizes that education is fundamental for forming young generations in the context of a culture of human relations focused on the essentials and not on consumerist waste (of both goods and human beings); and the fourth is bread that makes God present in the world, based on the typically religious and Christian dimension of the Eucharist, the Word and Bread of life, the source and culmination of all Christian existence.

AUDIENCES

Vatican City, 27 February 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father today received in audience twelve prelates from the Spanish Episcopal Conference, on their “ad limina” visit:

- Archbishop Ricardo Blazquez Perez of Valladolid;

- Bishop Jesus Garcia Burillo of Avila;

- Bishop Cecilio Raul Berzosa Martinez of Cuidad Rodrigo;

- Bishop Carlos Lopez Hernandez of Salamanca;

- Bishop Angel Rubio Castro of Segovia;

- Bishop Gregorio Martinez Sacristan of Zamora;

- Archbishop Manuel Urena Pastor of Zaragoza;

- Bishop Alfonso Milian Sorribas of Barbastro-Monzon;

- Bishop Julian Ruiz Martorell of Huesca;

- Bishop Eusebio Hernandez Sola of Tarazona;

- Bishop Carlos Manuel Escribano Subias of Teruel y Albarracin; and

- Bishop Jose Sanchez Gonzalez, emeritus of Siguenza-Guadalajara.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 27 February 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has:

- appointed Msgr. Marco Arnolfo as metropolitan archbishop of Vercelli (area 1,658, population 183,680, Catholics 178,160, priests 101, permanent deacons 13, religious 301), Italy. The bishop-elect was born in Cavallermaggiore, Italy in 1952 and was ordained a priest in 1978. He holds a degree in physics. and specialised in pastoral theology at the Pontifical Salesian University, Turin, Italy. He has served in a number of pastoral roles, including vicar in the parishes of “Santa Maria della Scala di Chieri” and “Santi Pietro e Paolo a Santena” in Turin, rector of the minor seminary of Turin, and priest of the parish of “San Giovanni Battista ad Orbassano”, Turin. He is currently territorial episcopal vicar of the West District of the same city, and member of the presbyteral council. In 2010 he was named Chaplain of His Holiness. He succeeds Archbishop Enrico Masseroni, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese, upon having reached the age limit, was accepted by the Holy Father.

- appointed Msgr. Rosario Gisana as bishop of Piazza Armerina (area 2,003, population 223,200, Catholics 215,200, priests 134, permanent deacons 9, religious 183), Italy. The bishop-elect was born in Modica, Italy in 1959 and was ordained a priest in 1986. He holds a licentiate in biblical sciences from the Pontifical Biblical Institute, and a licentiate in theology and patristic sciences and a doctorate in patristics from the "Augustinianum" Patristic Institute in Rome. He has served in a number of pastoral roles, including rector of the bishop's seminary of Noto, Italy, and member of the diocesan presbyiteral council, canon of the Cathedral chapter, lecturer in biblical sciences at the “San Paolo” Theological Study of Catania and the “G. Blandini” Institute of Religious Sciences in Noto, and member of the college of consultors and the commission for the clergy. He is currently episcopal vicar for pastoral ministry, director of the diocesan catechistic office and vice rector of the Cathedral Church of San Nicolo di Noto. He is also a lecturer in biblical exegesis and patristics and vice principal of the “San Paolo” Theological Study of Catania.