A MODERN ECONOMY RESPECTFUL OF THE RIGHTS OF THE WEAKEST

VATICAN CITY, 13 JUN 2009 (VIS) - At midday today the Holy Father received members of the "Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice" Foundation, at the end of their annual general meeting.

  This year, said the Pope, "our meeting has particular significance and importance in the light of the situation that all humankind is currently experiencing. In fact, the financial and economic crisis which has hit industrialised, emerging and developing States clearly indicates the need to reconsider certain economic-financial paradigms that have dominated over the last few years".

  The Holy Father praised the efforts made by the Foundation "to identify what values and rules the economic world should follow in order to implement a new development model, one more attentive to the needs of solidarity and more respectful of human dignity".

  He made particular reference to the Foundation's examination of "the interdependence between institutions, society and the market on the basis of the idea (in keeping with John Paul II's Encyclical 'Centesimus Annus') that the market economy - understood as 'an economic system which recognises the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity in the economic sector' - may be recognised as a means to achieve social and economic progress only if oriented towards the common good".

  Yet such a view, warned Benedict XVI, "must be accompanied by another reflection: that freedom in the economic sector must be 'circumscribed within a strong juridical framework which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality", a responsible freedom 'the core of which is ethical and religious'".

  The Pope then expressed to his audience the hope that their work, "drawing inspiration from the eternal principles of the Gospel, may lead to a vision of the modern economy respectful of the needs and rights of the weakest.

  "As you know", he added in conclusion, "my Encyclical dedicated to the vast area of the economy and work will soon be published. It will highlight what, for us as Christians, are the objectives that need to be pursued and what values to be tirelessly promoted and defended in order to create a truly free and united form of human coexistence".
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CARDINAL GLEMP, SPECIAL ENVOY TO MILLENNIUM OF ST. BRUNO

VATICAN CITY, 13 JUN 2009 (VIS) - Made public today was the Letter in which the Holy Father appoints Cardinal Jozef Glemp, archbishop emeritus of Warsaw, Poland, as his special envoy to celebrations marking the thousandth anniversary of the death of St. Bruno, due to take place in Lomza and Gizyko, Poland, from 19 to 21 June. The Letter, written in Latin, bears the date of 4 February.

  Likewise made public today were the names of the mission that will accompany the cardinal, they are: Msgr. Zygmunt Zukowski, canon of the cathedral chapter of Lomza, and Msgr. Edmund Szczepan Lagod, canon dean of the chapter of the co-cathedral of Goldapia and professor at the Higher Catholic Institute of the diocese of Elk.
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CORPUS CHRISTI: EVIDENCE THAT GOD IS LOVE

VATICAN CITY, 14 JUN 2009 (VIS) - At midday today, before praying the Angelus with thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square, the Pope dedicated some remarks to the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, which is being celebrated today in various countries and "in which the Sacrament of the Lord's Body is borne in solemn procession".

  At the heart of this feast, the Pope explained, "is the sign of the bread, fruit of the earth and the heavens. Hence the Eucharistic bread is the visible sign of He in Whom heavens and earth, God and man, were joined and made one".

  "The Solemnity of Corpus Christi is intimately associated with Easter and with Pentecost: its premise is the death and resurrection of Jesus and the effusion of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore it is directly linked to the Feast of the Blessed Trinity, which was celebrated last Sunday. Only because God Himself is a 'God of relation' is it possible to have a relationship with Him; and only because He is love can He love and be loved. Thus Corpus Christi is an expression of God, it is evidence that God is love. In a unique way this feast speaks to us of divine love, of what it is and what it does".

  "Love transforms all things", said Benedict XVI, "and hence we can understand why, at the heart of today's Feast of Corpus Christi, lies the mystery of transubstantiation, the sign of Jesus-Charity that transforms the world. By looking at Him and adoring Him, we are saying: yes, love exists, and because it exists things can change for the better and we may hope.

  "It is the hope that arises from the love of Christ that gives us the strength to live and to face up to difficulties", the Holy Father added. "That is why we sing as we carry the Blessed Sacrament in procession; we sing and we praise God Who revealed Himself by hiding Himself in the sign of the broken bread. We all need this Bread because the journey towards freedom, justice and peace is long and tiring".

  He then called upon the faithful to imagine "with how much faith and love the Virgin must have received and adored the Blessed Eucharist in her heart. For her, each time was like reliving the entire mystery of her Son Jesus, from conception to resurrection". Then, after recalling how John Paul II had described Mary as "Eucharistic woman", Pope Benedict concluded by encouraging people to learn from her "to renew our communion with the Body of Christ, in order to love one another as He loved us".
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STRATEGIES TO REDUCE WORLD HUNGER

VATICAN CITY, 14 JUN 2009 (VIS) - After praying the Angelus at midday today, the Pope recalled how from 24 to 26 June a "United Nations conference will be held in New York on the economic and financial crisis and its impact on development".

  He went on: "My hope is that participants in the conference, and those responsible for public affairs and the future of the planet, will be touched by the spirit of wisdom and human solidarity, that the current crisis may be transformed into an opportunity favouring increased attention to the dignity of all human beings and promoting a fair distribution of decision-making power and resources, with particular attention to the unfortunately ever growing numbers of poor people.

  "Today", the Pope added, "when Italy and many other nations celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi, the 'Bread of life', ... I wish to make special mention of the hundreds of millions of people who suffer hunger. This is an absolutely unacceptable situation which, despite the efforts of recent decades, fails to improve. My hope, then, is that, on the occasion of the forthcoming U.N. conference and within international institutions, provisions be adopted, shared by the entire international community, and strategic choices be made, though sometimes difficult to accept, in order to ensure that everyone, in the present and in the future, has the food necessary for a dignified life".

  Benedict XVI concluded his remarks by recalling that next Friday, Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and "day of priestly sanctification", the Year for Priests will begin. "I called this Year", he said, "to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the saintly 'Cure of Ars'. To your prayers I entrust this new spiritual initiative which will follow the Pauline Year that is now drawing to a close. May this new Jubilee be an appropriate occasion to enhance the value and importance of the priestly mission and to ask the Lord to give His Church many holy priests".
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, 15 JUN 2009 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

 - A delegation of Austrian bishops led by Cardinal Christoph Schonborn O.P., archbishop of Vienna.

 - Two prelates from the Episcopal Conference of Venezuela on their "ad limina" visit:

    - Bishop Gustavo Garcia Naranjo of Guarenas.

    - Bishop Jesus Alfonso Guerrero Contreras O.F.M. Cap., apostolic vicar of Caroni.

 - Pekka Ojanen, ambassador of Finland, on his farewell visit.

  On Saturday 13 June he received in separate audiences:

 - Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops.

 - Three prelates from the Episcopal Conference of Venezuela on their "ad limina" visit:

    - Bishop Mario del Valle Moronta Rodriguez of San Cristobal de Venezuela.

    - Bishop Freddy Jesus Fuenmayor Suarez of Los Teques, apostolic administrator of Maracay.

    - Bishop Joaquin Jose Moron Hidalgo of Acarigua-Araure.
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