HOLY FATHER RECEIVES PRESIDENT OF CROATIA

VATICAN CITY, 12 NOV 2009 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office published the following communique at midday today:

  "This morning Stjepan Mesic, president of the Republic of Croatia, was received in audience by the Holy Father Benedict XVI. The president subsequently went on to meet Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. who was accompanied by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States.

  "During the cordial discussions, attention focused on the situation in the region, the principal challenges it is facing, and the factors that favour its stability and promote peace.

  "The ancient and living Catholic tradition of Croatia was also mentioned, as was the importance of respecting this identity and of promoting the common good through constructive dialogue between the government authorities and the episcopate, and with all components of society".
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ANNIVERSARY OF LUMSA: INTEGRATING KNOWLEDGE AND VALUES

VATICAN CITY, 12 NOV 2009 (VIS) - Rome's LUMSA University (Libera Universita Maria Santissma Assunta) this year celebrates the seventieth anniversary of its foundation by Servant of God Luigia Tincani. For the occasion, the Holy Father this morning received 7000 members of the institution led by the rector Giuseppe Dalla Torre and accompanied by Renato Schifani, president of the Italian Senate.

  In his address to them the Holy Father recalled how LUMSA "began its activities in the climate of commitment to education aroused by Pius XI's Encyclical 'Divini illius Magistri'. Your university came into being, then, with a well-defined Catholic identity, also with the encouragement of the Holy See with which it maintains very close ties", he told his audience.

  "As the cultural and legislative situation in Italy and Europe was undergoing a profound evolution", the Pope went on, "LUMSA continued to grow while maintaining a dual focus: remaining faithful to the original idea of Mother Tincani and, at the same time, responding to the new challenges of society.

  "The modern context is, in fact, characterised by a worrying educational emergency in which the task of those called to teach assumes particular importance" the Holy Father added. This is because "any profession can become an occasion to bear witness to values that were absorbed during the academic period, and to translate them into practice".

  Benedict XVI recalled that "the profound economic crisis which has spread throughout the world, and the causes that lie at is origins, have highlighted the need for more decisive and courageous investment in the field of knowledge and education, as a way to respond to the many ongoing challenges and to prepare the young generations to construct a better future".

  "In a complex social and cultural panorama, Catholic universities are called to act with the Christian inspiration of individuals and of the university community as a whole, with incessant academic reflection, illuminated by faith and scientific research; with faithfulness to the Christian message as it is presented by the Church; with an institutional commitment to the service of the People of God".

  LUMSA, the Holy Father proceeded, "is a Catholic university which has this Christian inspiration as a specific element of its identity. As its 'Magna Charta' reads, it aims to undertake academic activity oriented towards the search for truth, in a dialogue between faith and reason, in an ideal attempt to integrate knowledge and values".

  "Today, as yesterday, the university needs true masters capable of transmitting, alongside academic information and knowledge, rigorous research methods and profound motivations", said the Holy Father. And he concluded by calling on the students to keep their "hearts and minds open to the truth" in order to become "builders of a more just and united society".
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, 12 NOV 2009 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences two prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, on their "ad limina" visit:

    - Archbishop Eduardo Benes de Sales Rodrigues of Sorocaba.

    - Bishop Luiz Demetrio Valentini of Jales.

  Yesterday the Holy Father received in audience Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes, president of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum".
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DEFENDING EUROPE'S RICH CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS HERITAGE

VATICAN CITY, 11 NOV 2009 (VIS) - In his Wednesday general audience, held this morning in the Paul VI Hall, the Pope focused his remarks on the Order of Cluny, "a monastic movement which had great importance during the Middle Ages", and which "renewed the observance of the Rule of St. Benedict", he said.

  The Cluniac Order, the Pope explained, "sought to guarantee the central place that the liturgy must occupy in Christian life". It promoted sacred music, architecture and art, "and improved the liturgical calendar ... because the monks of Cluny were convicted that this meant participating in the liturgy of heaven".

  "At the beginning of the twelfth century, the time of its greatest expansion, it had almost 1200 monasteries. ... Soon a fame of sanctity enveloped the monastery of Cluny, and many other monastic communities decided to follow its customs. ... Cluny's success was assured above all by its exalted spirituality".

  "The monastery of Cluny and its dependent communities", the Pope went on, "were placed directly under the jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff. This begot a special bond with the See of Peter and, thanks precisely to the protection and encouragement of the Popes, the ideals of purity and faithfulness, which the Cluniac reform set itself to pursue, were able to spread rapidly. Furthermore, the abbots were elected with no interference from the civil authorities".

  Benedict XVI highlighted how "the Cluniac reform had positive effects not only on the purification and revitalisation of monastic life, but also on the life of the universal Church". It "was, indeed, a stimulus to resist two grave evils afflicting the Church in that period: simony - that is, the acquisition of pastoral office by payment - and the immorality of the secular clergy". In this context the Pope also pointed out that "the fruits were not lacking: the celibacy of priests again became respected and practiced, and more transparent procedures were introduced into the process of assigning ecclesiastical office".

  He also explained how the monks of Cluny looked after the needy and concerned themselves with education and culture. The Order promoted "the so-called 'truces of God' and the 'peace of God'. In a period deeply marked by violence and the spirit of vendetta, the 'truces of God' ensured long periods of non-belligerence on specific religious feasts and on certain days of the week. The 'peace of God' called, under pain of canonical censure, for defenceless people in holy sites to be respected".

  Cluny, said Benedict XVI, "emphasised the primacy of the wealth of the spirit; it maintained the tendency towards the things of God, the primacy of God; it inspired and supported initiatives and institutions for the promotion of human values; it educated people in a spirit of peace".

  And he concluded: "Let us pray that all those people who have true humanism and the future of Europe to heart many know how to rediscover, appreciate and defend the rich cultural and religious heritage of those centuries".
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APPEAL TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FOR SRI LANKA

VATICAN CITY, 11 NOV 2009 (VIS) - At the end of today's general audience, the Pope remarked upon the current situation in Sri Lanka, six months after the end of the conflict that bloodied the country.

  "We note with satisfaction the efforts being made by the authorities over recent weeks, to facilitate the return home of people displaced by the war. I strongly encourage an acceleration in this process and ask all citizens to work towards rapid pacification in full respect for human rights, and towards a just political solution to the challenges still facing the country.

  "I trust, moreover, that the international community will strive to meet the humanitarian and economic needs of Sri Lanka, and I raise my prayers to Our Lady of Madhu, that she may continue to watch over that beloved land".
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