TO ITALIAN BISHOPS: ACCOMPANY YOUR PROCLAMATION WITH THE ELOQUENCE OF GESTURES

Vatican City, 20 May 2014 (VIS) – Yesterday afternoon Pope Francis inaugurated the 66th assembly of Italian bishops, in which they will discuss proposals to amend the Statute and Regulation of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), as well as the “Guide to proclamation and catechesis in Italy”. They will also consider the theme “Christian education and missionarity in the light of the Apostolic exhortation 'Evangelii gaudium'”. It is the first time that a pontiff has presided at an assembly of the CEI.

Francis structured his discourse in three points, directing it at pastors of a Church that is the community of the Resurrected, that is the body of the Lord, and that anticipates and promises the Kingdom. He began by telling the bishops: “The people look to us. They look to us for help in grasping the singularity of their daily lives in God's providential plan”; and emphasised that “faith is the living memory of an encounter nurtured by the fire of the Word that shapes the ministry and anoints the people. … Without constant prayer, the Pastor is exposed to the danger of being ashamed of the Gospel, and ends up defusing the scandal of the Cross in worldly 'wisdom'”.

“The temptations, which aim to obscure the primacy of God and His Christ, are legion in the life of the Pastor: they range from lukewarmness, which leads to mediocrity … which dodges renunciation and sacrifice; then there is the temptation to haste in pastoral ministry, along with that sloth that leads to intolerance, almost as if everything were a burden. … There is a temptation to grow accustomed to sadness, cancelling out every expectation and creativity, leaving us unsatisfied and therefore incapable of entering into the lives of our people and understanding them in the light of Easter morning”.

To combat these temptations, the Pope urges the Italian bishops never to cease to seek the Lord, because “He is the principle and foundation that envelops our weaknesses with mercy, transforming and renewing everything; we are called to offer He Who is most precious to our people, so as not to leave them at the mercy of a society of indifference, indeed desperation. … If we want to follow him, there is no other path. Following it with Him, we discover that we are a people, to the point of recognising with wonder and gratitude that all is grace, even the difficulties and contradictions of human life, if these are lived with a heart open to the Lord”.

Proceeding to speak of pastors of the Church as the body of the Lord, he remarked that the Church is the “other grace for which we must feel profoundly indebted. … Unity is a gift and responsibility, and its sacrament shapes our mission. … The lack of communion is the greatest scandal”, and “as Pastors, we must seek refuge from temptations that otherwise disfigure us; … the hardness of he who judges without being involved, and the laxity of those who acquiesce without taking responsibility for the other. … the ambition that generates 'currents', sectarianism … and then, the tendency to seek the lost security of the past, and the claims of those who wish to defend unity by denying diversity, thus humiliating the gifts with which God continues to keep His Church young and beautiful”.

“In relation to these temptations, ecclesial experience is the most effective antidote. It emanates from the sole Eucharist, whose cohesive strength generates fraternity, the ability to accept, forgive and walk together”. The Holy Father urged the bishops to love people and communities with generous and total dedication” and to trust that “the holy people of God has the pulse to find the right roads. Accompany with breadth the growth of lay coresponsibility. ... With their insight and help, you will be able to avoid remaining attached to a pastoral of conversation – indeed, generic, dispersed, fragmented and of limited influence – and will instead adopt a form of pastoral care that focuses on the essential”.

In relation to the third point, “Pastors of a Church that anticipates and promises the Kingdom”, he commented that “serving the Kingdom means living a life decentred from oneself, striving for the encounter that is the path for truly rediscovering what we are: proclaimers of the truth of Christ and His mercy. ... With this clarity, brothers, may your proclamation be cadenced by the eloquence of gestures. ... And, among the 'places' in which your presence seems to me to be most necessary and meaningful ... there is, first and foremost, the family. Nowadays, the domestic community is strongly penalised by a culture that privileges individual rights and transmits a logic of the temporary. Promote the life of the unborn child as well as that of the elderly. ... And do not forget to tend, with the compassion of the Samaritan, to those who are emotionally wounded and whose plans for life are compromised”.

Another space that the bishops must not desert is the “waiting room crowded with the unemployed ... where the drama of those who do not know how to bring bread home to the table encounters that of those who are not able to keep their businesses afloat. It is an historic emergency, that appeals to the social responsibility of all: as Church, let us not give in to catastrophism and resignation, instead supporting with every form of creative solidarity the efforts of those who, without work, feel deprived even of their dignity. ... Finally, there is the welcoming embrace to migrants: they flee intolerance, persecution, a bleak future. May no-one turn their gaze away! ... And, more generally, in the difficult situations that so many of our contemporaries, may they find you attentive and participatory, ready to re-examine the current model of development that exploits creation, sacrifices people at the altar of profit and creates new forms of marginalisation and exclusion”.

“Reach out towards whoever asks to reason for the hope that is in you; welcome their culture, offer them respectfully the memory of faith and the company of the Church, the signs of brotherhood, gratitude and solidarity, that anticipate in man's days the reflections of a Sunday without end”.

THE POPE IS PROFOUNDLY SADDENED BY TRAFFIC ACCIDENT IN FUNDACION, COLOMBIA

Vatican City, 20 May 2014 (VIS) – Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin today sent a telegram on behalf of the Pope to Bishop Ugo Eugenio Puccini Banfi of Santa Marta, Colombia, for the serious accident which occurred on Sunday in Fundacion, in which 33 young children lost their lives, burned inside a bus.

The Pope, “profoundly saddened, expresses his closeness and affection to all those affected by this regrettable event”, and “offers fervent prayers to God for the eternal repose of the souls of the departed. United with those who weep for this tragedy, he wishes to convey his heartfelt condolences to the relatives of the deceased and his consolation to the survivors, along with his hope that they make a swift and full recovery”.

CELEBRATE THE WORLD CUP 2014 FOR A DIGNIFIED LIFE FOR ALL

Vatican City, 20 May 2014 (VIS) – This morning a press conference was held in the Holy See Press Office to present the Talitha Kum International Network of Consecrated Life against Human Trafficking campaign for the Brazil World Cup 2014: “Play for life, against trafficking”. The speakers were Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Kenneth Francis Hackett, the United States' ambassador to the Holy See, Sister Carmen Sammut, MSOLA, president of the International Union of Superior Generals, Sister Estrella Castalone, F.M.A., coordinator of Talitha Kum, and Sister Gabriella Bottani, M.C.C.J., coordinator of the network Um Grito pela Vida, Brazil.

“This campaign shows the between consecrated life and the sentiments of our Holy Father regarding this crime, that he himself has defined as a wound on the body of contemporary humanity, a wound in Christ's flesh”, said Cardinal Braz de Aviz. Sister Carmen Sammut emphasised that unfortunately “this crime is present everywhere, for the profits from it are enormous. Prevention of this type of human trafficking entails reducing the demands for sexual services. In order for this to happen, public opinion needs to be alerted”.

Recalling the Holy Father's remark that it is impossible to remain indifferent in the knowledge that there are human beings trafficked like goods, Sister Gabriella Bottani pointed out that, according to official statistics, this serious crime affects around 21 million people around the world and that, with a better understanding of the phenomenon and its causes, methods of encouraging it to be reported to the authorities can be found. “We must forcefully combat the code of silence and fear surrounding this serious violation of human dignity”. The message of this campaign is a concrete and positive proposal for life: “A dignified and free life for all”. It is hoped that the World Cup in Brazil may offer a positive space for the promotion of the culture of rights and life, denouncing all forms of exploitation that devalue and reduce it to the status of a commodity and raising awareness among populations regarding the possible risks and how to intervene by reporting transgressions to the authorities.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 20 May 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed Bishop Ralph Heskett, C.S.S.R., of Gibraltar, Great Britain, as bishop of Hallam (area 1,030, population 1,569,000, Catholics 60,188, priests 61, permanent deacons 14, religious 56), England. He succeeds Bishop John Anthony Rawsthorne, whose resignation from the same diocese, upon reaching the age limit, was accepted by the Holy Father.

TO THE BISHOPS OF MEXICO: PROMOTE ENCOUNTER THROUGH DIALOGUE AGAINST VIOLENCE

Vatican City, 19 May 2014 (VIS) – This morning Pope Francis received the bishops of the Mexican Episcopal Conference, in Rome in these days for their five-yearly “ad limina” visit. At the end of the meeting, the Holy Father handed them the text of his planned address, extensive extracts of which are published below, in which he emphasised that fidelity to Jesus Christ must be lived as committed solidarity with the people and their needs.

Before delivering the text, the bishop of Rome emphasised that, despite the serious problems it faces, the Church in Mexico is “consolidated on strong pillars”, and he urged the bishops always to be faithful to the “dual transcendence”: the first in prayer with the Lord, and the second with closeness to the people.

“In recent years, the celebration of the bicentennial of Mexican independence and the centenary of the Mexican Revolution have offered a useful occasion for joining forces in favour of social peace and just, free and democratic co-existence. My predecessor Benedict XVI urged you 'not to let yourselves be intimidated by the powers of evil, but to be valiant and to work to ensure that the sap of your Christian roots may nourish your present and your future'. At the present moment, the many forms of violence that afflict Mexican society, especially the young, call for a renewed appeal to promote this spirit of harmony through the culture of encounter, dialogue and peace. … It is certainly not for pastors to offer technical solutions or to adopt policy measures that are outside the scope of their pastoral ministry; however, they must be tireless in their proclamation, to all, of the Good News: that God, in his mercy, made Himself a man and made Himself poor, that he wanted to suffer with those who suffer in order to save them. Fidelity to Jesus Christ must be lived as committed solidarity and closeness to the people and their needs, offering Gospel values from within”.

“I am aware of your work for those most in need … for those who work in subhuman conditions, … migrants in search of better living conditions, farmers. … I know of your concern for the victims of drug trafficking and for the most vulnerable social groups, and your commitment to the defence of human rights and the full development of the individual. All this, which is an expression of the 'intimate connection' between the Gospel and the search for the good of others contributes, without doubt, to the credibility of the Church and gives relevance to the voice of her pastors”.

He went on to emphasise that “the mission of the Church can not do without with the laity. ... I encourage you to promote their secular responsibility and provide them with adequate training to make visible the public dimension of faith. In order to achieve this, the social doctrine of the Church is a valuable tool that can help Christians in their daily struggle to build a more just and united world. ... In this way, the difficulties that may arise in the transmission of Christian faith between generations can also be overcome. The young see with their own eyes the living witnesses of faith, that truly embody in their life what they profess with their lips. Furthermore, they then spontaneously generate new processes of the evangelisation of culture. ... In this regard, the potential of popular piety constitutes an 'indispensable starting point in deepening the faith of the people and in bringing it to maturity'.”

The family is the “basic cell of society and the first centre for evangelisation. ... I urge you to intensify your pastoral care of the family – certainly, the value that is dearest to your people – so that, faced with the dehumanising culture of death, it may become a promoter of the culture of respect for life in all its phases, from conception to natural death”.

After reminding the prelates of the importance of their proximity to priests and consecrated persons, and the care that must be offered to their formation and to future vocations, the bishop of Rome fondly recalled that in their pastoral plans they had taken on board the Aparecida guidelines, the seventh anniversary of which falls in these days, emphasising the importance of the permanent continental mission, “placing all the pastoral mission of the Church in a missionary mode, and calling upon all of us to grow in parrhesia. ... In this way”, he concluded, “we can bear witness to Christ in life even among the most distant, and reach out of ourselves to work with enthusiasm in the task that has been entrusted to us, keeping our arms lifted in prayer”.