THE POPE: CHRISTMAS TREE, SIGN AND REMINDER OF DIVINE LIGHT

Vatican City, 13 December 2013 (VIS) – “An 'international' fir tree” was how the Holy Father defined the Christmas tree which will adorn St. Peter's Square during the festive season. Originating from close to the border between Germany and the Czech Republic, it will be lit this afternoon.

The large fir tree and other smaller trees destined for other locations within Vatican City were donated by the community of Waldmunchen, Germany, located just eighteen kilometres from the border with the Czech Republic. In his address to members of the community whom he received in audience today, Pope Francis spoke about the “spiritual closeness and friendship that unites all of Germany, and particularly Bavaria, with the Holy See, following the Christian tradition that has rendered fruitful the culture, literature and art of this nation, and of Europe as a whole”.

The tree will be admired by many Romans, pilgrims and tourists who attend St. Peter's Square during the period of Advent, in which “there resounds in every place the joyful proclamation of the angel to the shepherds of Bethlehem … who were surrounded by a great light. Even today, Jesus continues to dissipate the shadows of error and sin, to bring to humanity the joy of the brilliant divine light, of which the Christmas tree is a sign and a memory. May we let ourselves be surrounded by the light of truth, so that the joy of the gospel may fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus”.

The Holy Father wished a happy Christmas to the representatives of the community of Waldmunchen, as well as their families and compatriots, and asked them to pray for him.

ARCHBISHOP PAROLIN GREETS THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS

Vatican City, 13 December 2013 (VIS) – This morning in the Vatican Apostolic Palace Archbishop Pietro Parolin, secretary of State, met with the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, greeting again the ambassadors he has already met during his service in the Secretariat of State, and introducing himself to those he had not yet met.

After thanking the Diplomatic Corps for their congratulations upon his nomination as secretary of State, and extending his Christmas and New Year greetings, the archbishop gave an address in French, extensive extracts of which are published below:

“In a time in which many parts of the world are faced with numerous forms of violence and the persistence of social inequality, I would like to renew before you the guarantee of my willingness to collaborate in the search for peace and respect for the dignity of every human being”.

“We must show that peace is possible, that it is not a utopia … but rather a real asset that comes from God, and which we are able to contribute to building through personal and joint commitment. … For this, it is necessary to work together for the establishment of a true culture of peace, courageously responding to the challenges that imperil the authentic co-existence of people and populations. To do this, we answer to one of the deepest aspirations of man, the aspiration to well-being. Is the mission of diplomats not that of working for a better world, for the establishment or strengthening of ever-more fraternal relations?”

“As Pope Francis has expressed many times, the human being - every man and every woman living in our world - is created to experience joy and seeks … true joy. Certainly, in the many circumstances encountered along the way, that joy is often obscured. It is not always apparent. However, it is present in the good that is done every day, in the beauty of nature, of people, of events … It is also found in progress towards peace and towards mutual understanding between peoples, fragile and limited though this may seem. It is the joy of encounter and exchange, of dialogue and reconciliation”.

“This is the humanity that we seek to build together! A humanity that it a true family, a humanity in which dialogue prevails over war for the resolution of disagreements, a humanity in which the strength of the powerful compensates for the frailty of the weak, and where the force of the weak compensates for the fragility of the powerful”.

“We know that many of today's men and women are in need, along their path, of encounter with profoundly human and brotherly people able to give them hope for the future. Pope Francis wants Christians to be these people, and hopes that the Church will proclaim, witness and bring joy, as he repeated in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, which can ideally be read in conjunction with the letter that he addressed to his faithful as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, at the opening of the Year of Faith. From the beginning, it speaks of a Church whose doors are open, a symbol of light, friendship, joy, freedom and trust. To conclude the Year of Faith, in a letter addressed to the universal Church, Pope Francis repeated his wish for a Church that is less concerned with strengthening her confines, instead seeking encounter and communicating the joy of the Gospel”.

“For Christians, this joy is fundamental to the person of Jesus, whose birth we celebrate a few days from now. May joy and peace help your people to grow and advance towards a better future!”.

AUDIENCES

Vatican City, 13 December 2013 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in audience:

- Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

- Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary general for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and entourage.

- Bishop David Douglas Crosby of Hamilton, Canada, vice president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Canada, with Bishop Lionel Gendron of Saint-Jean-Longueuil, vice president, and Msgr. Patrick Powers, secretary general.

- Ettore Bernabei, honorary president of “Lux Vide”.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 13 December 2013 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father:

- appointed Archbishop Augustine Kasujja, apostolic nuncio in Nigeria, as permanent observer at the Economic Community of the Western African States (ECOWAS / CEDEAO).

- appointed Bishop Jose Francisco Gonzalez Gonzalez as bishop of Campeche (area 55,858, population 802,000, Catholics 647,000, priests 108, permanent deacons 3, religious 217), Mexico. Bishop Gonzalez Gonzalez, previously auxiliary of Guadalajara, Mexico, was born in Yahualica, Mexico in 1966, was ordained to the priesthood in 1995, and received episcopal ordination in 2008.

- accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, presented by Bishop Murphy Nicholas Xavier Pakiam, upon having reached the age limit.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING IS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY, SAYS POPE TO NEW DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATIVES

Vatican City, 12 December 2013 (VIS) – Trafficking in human beings, a real form of slavery which affects all countries, including the most developed, was the theme chosen by Pope Francis in his address to sixteen new non-resident ambassadors and one diplomatic representative to the Holy See. These were the ambassadors to Algeria (Boudejamaa Delmi), Iceland (Martin Eyjolfsson), Denmark (Lars Vissing), Lesotho (Lineo Lydia Khechane Ntoane), Sierra Leone (Ibrahim Sorie), Cape Verde (Emanuel Antero Garcia da Veiga), Burundi (Edouard Bizimana), Malta (George Gregory Buttigieg), Sweden (Lars-Hjalmar Wide), Pakistan (Aman Rashid), Zambia (Paul William Lumbi), Norway (Thomas Hauff), Kuwait (Bader Saleh Al-Tunaib), Burkina Faso (Yemdaogo Eric Tiare), Uganda (Marcel R. Tibaleka) and Jordan (Makram Mustafa Al Queisi) and the diplomatic representative of Palestine (Isa Jamil Kassissieh).

The Holy Father spoke about the numerous initiatives undertaken by the international community to promote peace, dialogue, cultural relations, politics and economics, as well as aid to populations affected by difficulties of various types, and went on to consider the question of trafficking in human beings which “affects the most vulnerable people in society: women, children, the disabled, the poorest and those who come from situations of family or social disintegration”.

In these persons, in a special way, Christians recognise the face of Jesus, who identified with the smallest and the neediest among us. Others, who do not refer to a religious faith, in the name of our common humanity share our compassion for their suffering and the commitment to free them and to tend to their wounds. Together we can and must take action to free the victims of human trafficking and to put an end to this horrible trade”.

Francis commented that there are millions of victims of forced labour, of the trade in persons for the purposes of manpower or for sexual exploitation, and exclaimed, “this cannot continue; it constitutes a grave violation of the human rights of the victims and an offence to their dignity, as well as a defeat for the global community. All persons of good will, whether they profess a religion or not, cannot allow these women, these men and these children to be treated as objects, deceived, violated, often repeatedly sold, for various purposes, and at the end either killed or ruined physically and mentally, to end up discarded and abandoned. It is shameful”.

“The trafficking of persons is a crime against humanity. … It is necessary to accept our common responsibility, and demonstrate more decisive political will to be victorious on this front. Responsibility towards those who have fallen victim to trafficking, to protect their rights, to ensure their safety and that of their families, and to prevent the corrupt and criminals from eluding justice and having the last word. Adequate legislative action in the countries of origin, transit and arrival, also in order to facilitate the regularity of migration, may reduce the problem”.

“Governments and the international community, who are the first to be responsible for preventing and impeding this phenomenon, have not failed to take measures at various levels to block it and to protect and assist the victims of this crime, not infrequently linked to trade in drugs, arms, the transportation of illegal immigrants and the mafia. Unfortunately, we cannot deny the involvement, at times, of public officials and members of peace missions”.

However, to effectively combat this scourge, it is necessary for action to extend to the fields of culture and communication, and for us to examine our consciences, asking ourselves “how many times do we accept that a human being is considered as an object, displayed to sell a product or to satisfy immoral desires? The human person must never be bought and sold like merchandise. Whoever uses and exploits human beings, even indirectly, becomes complicit in their oppression”.

“I wanted to share with you my reflections on a social wound of our times, because I believe in the value and the strength of concerted commitment in combating it”, the Pope explained. “Therefore, I exhort the international community to adopt an even more unanimous and effective strategy against human trafficking, so that in every part of the world, men and women may no longer be used as a means to an end, and that their inviolable dignity may always be respected”.