PAPAL MESSAGE FOR THE ELECTION OF THE NEW HEAD OF THE COPTIC ORTHODOX CHURCH

Vatican City,  (VIS) - The Holy Father has sent a message to the new head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, His Holiness Abna Tawadros. He has been chosen as the new Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of Mark, replacing His Holiness Shenouda III, who died in March.

In his English-language message Benedict XVI speaks of his joy at hearing the news of the election. "I am confident", he writes, "that, like your renowned predecessor Pope Shenouda III, you will be a genuine spiritual father for your people and an effective partner with all your fellow-citizens in building the new Egypt in peace and harmony, serving the common good and the good of the entire Middle East. In these challenging times it is important for all Christians to bear witness to the love and fellowship that binds them together, mindful of the prayer offered by our Lord at the Last Supper: that all may be one, so that the world may believe".

BENEDICT XVI'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR NOVEMBER

Vatican City,  (VIS) - Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for November is: "That bishops, priests, and all ministers of the Gospel may bear courageous witness of fidelity to the crucified and risen Lord".

His mission intention is: "That the pilgrim Church on earth may shine as a light to the nations".

ANGELUS: THE DUAL COMMANDMENT TO LOVE

Vatican City, 4 November 2012 (VIS) - At midday today Benedict XVI appeared at the window of his study to pray the Angelus with faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square.

The Pope commented on today's Gospel, which presents the teaching of Jesus on the “greatest commandment”, the commandment to love. This, he said, has two facets: love for God and love for neighbour. “The saints, all of whom we have recently celebrated on a single feast day, are precisely those who, trusting in the grace of God, endeavour to live according to this fundamental law. In effect, the commandment to love is put into practice fully by those who live in a profound relationship with God, just as children become capable of love beginning with a good relationship with their parents. ... Love is not a command – it is a gift, something which God enables us to know and experience, in order that like a seed, it might germinate and grow within us too, and develop within our lives”.

If the love of God lays down deep roots within a person, “he is able to love even those who do not merit it, just as God loves us. A father and a mother do not love their children only when they deserve it: they love them always, even though they let them know when they make mistakes. From God we learn to wish well, and never ill, upon others. We learn to look upon others not only with our own eyes, but also with the gaze of God, which is the gaze of Jesus Christ, ... which looks beyond appearances to man's deepest expectations: the desire to be listened to, to receive attention; in short, the desire for love. But this occurs also in reverse: by opening myself to others, accepting and reaching out to them, ... I open also myself to knowledge of God, to the knowledge that He exists and is good”.

Love for God and love for neighbour are “inseparable and have a reciprocal relationship. Jesus invented neither the one nor the other, but showed that they are, fundamentally, a single commandment. He did so not only through words, but above all by example: the very Person of Jesus Himself and His mystery incarnate the unity of love for God and neighbour, like the two arms of the Cross, vertical and horizontal. In the Eucharist He gives us this dual love, in giving Himself to us as, nourished by this bread, we love each other just as He loved us”.

CHRISTIANS' FIRM HOPE IN THE RESURRECTION

Vatican City, 3 November 2012 (VIS) – This morning in St. Peter's Basilica the Holy Father presided at Mass for the souls of cardinals and bishops who died during the course of last year. The Pope recalled, in particular, Cardinals John Patrick Foley, Anthony Bevilacqua, Jose Sanchez, Ignace Moussa Daoud, Luis Aponte Martinez, Rodolfo Quezeda Toruno, Eugenio de Araujo Sales, Paul Shan Kuo-Hsi, Carlo Maria Martini and Fortunato Baldelli.

Extracts from his homily are given below:

“Burial places constitute a sort of assembly, where the living can encounter the deceased and consolidate the ties of a communion which death was not able to break. And here in Rome, in those unique cemeteries, the catacombs, we are aware as in no other place of the profound links with ancient Christianity, which we experience as close to us.

“When we enter the Roman catacombs – or the cemeteries of our cities and towns – it is as if we cross an intangible threshold and enter into communication with those whose past is there, a past made up of joy and pain, defeat and hope. This occurs because death concerns humanity today exactly as it did then; and even if many things from the past have become foreign to us, death has remained the same”.

“But how can we Christians respond to the question of death? We respond with our faith in God, with a firm hope based on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thus death opens the way to life, eternal life, which is not infinite repetition of the present, but something completely new. Faith tells us that the true immortality to which we aspire is not an idea, a concept, but rather a relationship of full communion with the living God: it means abiding in His hands, in His love, and in Him becoming at one with all our brothers and sisters whom He created and redeemed. ... This is life which reaches fullness in God; a life that we can now only glimpse just as we catch sight of a clear sky through the fog”.

“The pastors we remember today served the Church with faith and love, at times facing difficult challenges in order to ensure the flock entrusted to their care received the necessary care and attention. In the variety of their respective gifts and tasks, they showed perseverance and vigilance, wisdom and zealous dedication to the Kingdom of God, offering a valuable contribution in the period following Vatican Council II, a time of renewal throughout the Church”.

The Eucharistic banquet they attended, first as the faithful and then, daily, as ministers, foretells most eloquently what the Lord promised in the Sermon on the Mount: the possession of the Kingdom of Heaven, participation in the banquet of the heavenly Jerusalem. Let us pray that this might be accomplished for everyone. Our prayer is nourished by the firm hope that 'does not disappoint', because it is guaranteed by Christ Who chose to experience death in order to triumph over it through the prodigious event of the Resurrection”.

CARDINAL MURPHY-O'CONNOR, SPECIAL ENVOY TO DHAKA

Vatican City, 3 November 2012 (VIS) – Made public today was the letter – written in Latin and dated 12 October – in which the Holy Father appoints Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, archbishop emeritus of Westminster, England as his special envoy to celebrations marking the 125th anniversary of the archdiocese of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and the fourth centenary of the evangelisation of the Bengal territory, which will be celebrated on 9 and 10 November.

The cardinal will be accompanied by a mission composed of Fr. Abel B. Rozarios and Fr. Adam Pereira C.S.C.