THE PSALMS: THE BOOK OF PRAYER PAR EXCELLENCE

VATICAN CITY, 22 JUN 2011 (VIS) - Benedict XVI dedicated his catechesis during this morning's general audience to what he described as "the book of prayer par excellence, the Book of Psalms". The audience was held in St. Peter's Square in the presence of 10,000 people.

  The 150 Psalms of the Book of Psalms "express all human experience", said the Pope. "All the truth of the believer comes together in those prayers, which first the People of Israel and later the Church adopted as a special way to mediate their relationship with the one God, and as an adequate response to His having revealed Himself in history".

  "Despite the many forms of expression they contain", the Psalms "can be divided into two broad categories: ... supplication associated with lamentation, and praise. These two dimensions are related, almost indivisible, because supplication is animated by the certainty that God will respond, and this opens the way to praise and thanksgiving; while praise and thanksgiving arise from the experience of salvation received, which presupposes the need for help expressed in the supplication. ... Thus, in the prayer of the Psalms, supplication and praise intertwine and fuse together in a single song which celebrates the eternal grace of the Lord as He bows down to our frailty".

  "The Psalms teach us to pray", the Holy Father explained. "In them, the Word of God becomes the word of prayer. ... People who pray the Psalms speak to God with the words of God, addressing Him with the words He Himself taught us. ... Through these words it is also possible to know and accept the criteria of His actions, to approach the mystery of His thoughts and His ways, so as to grow and develop in faith and love".

  "By teaching us to pray", the Pope went on, "the Psalms also teach us that at times of desolation, even in moments of suffering, the presence of God is a source of wonder and consolation. We may weep, plead and seek intercession, ... but in the awareness that we are advancing towards the light, where praise will be unending".

  "Equally important and significant are the manner and frequency in which the words of the Psalms appear in the New Testament, where they assume and underline that prophetic significance suggested by the link of the Book of Psalms with the messianic figure of David. In His earthly life the Lord Jesus prayed with the Psalms, and in Him they reach definitive fulfilment and reveal their fullest and deepest meaning. The prayers of the Book of Psalms, with which we speak to God, speak to us of Him, they speak of the Son, image of the invisible God Who fully reveals the Father's face to us. Thus Christians, by praying the Psalms, pray to the Father in Christ and with Christ, seeing those songs in a new perspective which has its ultimate interpretation in the Paschal Mystery".

  Having completed his catechesis and delivered greetings in various languages, the Pope recalled the fact that tomorrow is the Feast of Corpus Christi. He invited everyone in Rome, residents and pilgrims alike, to participate in the Mass he will celebrate at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the basilica of St. John Lateran, and in the subsequent procession along Via Merulana to the basilica of St. Mary Major. "I invite you", he said, "to join this act of profound faith towards the Eucharist, which represents the most precious treasure of the Church and of humankind".
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 22 JUN 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

 - His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, major archbishop of Kyiv-Halyc, Ukraine, as a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

 - Bishop Daniel Kozelinski Netto, auxiliary of the eparchy of Sao Joao Batista in Curitiba of the Ukrainians, Brazil, as apostolic administrator "sede vacante" of the eparchy of Santa Maria del Patrocinio in Buenos Aires of the Ukrainians, (Catholics 160,000, priests 17, permanent deacons 1, religious 95), Argentina.
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POPE TO VISIT ANCONA FOR CLOSE OF EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS

VATICAN CITY, 21 JUN 2011 (VIS) - This morning in the Holy See Press Office a press conference was held to present the twenty-fifth Italian Eucharistic Congress, due to be held in the city of Ancona from 3 to 11 September on the theme: "Lord, to whom shall we go? The Eucharist for daily life".

  Participating in today's conference were Archbishop Edoardo Menichelli of Ancona-Osimo; Vittorio Sozzi, head of the Cultural Project of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI); Giovanni Morello, president of the academic committee for exhibitions during the congress, and Fr. Ivan Maffeis, vice director of the CEI national office for social communications.

  Benedict XVI will make a pastoral visit to Ancona on 11 September, where at 10 a.m. he is due to preside at a concelebration of the Eucharist at the city's shipyard to mark the close of the congress. During the afternoon he will meet with families and clergy in the basilica of San Cyriacus, then address a group of young couples in the Piazza del Plebiscito before returning to the Vatican.

  Vittorio Sozzi explained how the congress has been divided into five thematic areas: affections, fragility, work and rest, tradition, citizenship. "The celebration of the National Eucharistic Congress", he said, "may be seen as an important occasion for the public reaffirmation of faith in the Eucharist, the Sacrament of salvation and communion".

  The celebration of the twenty-fifth Italian Eucharistic Congress will also involve a series of cultural events, including an exhibition entitled "At the Table of The Lord: Masterpieces of European art from Raphael to Tiepolo", which will be held at the city's Mole Vanvitelliana from 2 September 2011 to 8 January 2012.

  The exhibition will include a series of Italian and European works from the fifteenth century on. The theme is that of the Last Supper, as interpreted by artists from two different perspectives: the institution of the Eucharist and the communion of the Apostles. The event, which is being organised by the Italian Ministry for Culture and the Vatican Museums, will also include a section on liturgical vessels from the Marches, especially gifts made by Popes over the course of the centuries to the various churches in that region of Italy.

  Another exhibition taking place within the ambit of the congress is entitled "Signs of the Eucharist" and has been organised with contributions from all dioceses in the Marches. It is based on the premise that the church is first and foremost a place for celebrating Mass, the liturgy of which is structured around the main Sacrament of the Eucharist. The practice of this liturgical rite requires a certain number of objects associated with the altar of the Eucharist, and the exhibition seeks to illustrate and describe these objects, which are an expression of popular religiosity, as well as of the splendour of the Church and her relationship with the local area.

  A third cultural initiative taking place in the context of the Italian Eucharistic Congress has as its title: "I must stay at your house today: The Eucharist, the grace of an unexpected encounter". It is an itinerant exhibition which, starting from the Gospel episode of Jesus' meeting with Zaccheus, illustrates the human need for the Eucharist.
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DEVELOPING THE LEGACY OF FAITH LEFT BY OUR ANCESTORS

VATICAN CITY, 19 JUN 2011 (VIS) - This morning Benedict XVI travelled by helicopter from the Vatican to the Republic of San Marino where, at 10 a.m., he presided at Mass in the Serravalle Stadium.

  Beginning his homily, the Holy Father affirmed that today's feast of the Blessed Trinity is "the feast of God, of the very centre of our faith. ... The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one, because God is love and love is the ultimate life-giving power. The unity created by love is greater than purely physical unity", he said.

  Commenting on today's reading from the Gospel of St. John - "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" - the Pope explained that "the world is full of evil, selfishness and wickedness, and God could come to judge this world, to destroy evil and punish the wicked. However, in fact, He shows that He loves the world, that He loves man despite his sins; and He sent what was most precious to Him, His only-begotten Son. Indeed, not only did He send Him, but made of Him a gift to the world".

  "Faith in this Trinitarian God has also characterised the Church of San Marino-Montefeltro through the course of her long and glorious history", Pope Benedict went on. "The evangelisation of this land is attributed to Sts. Marinus and Leo who, in the middle of the third century, are said to have come to Rimini from Dalmatia. ... With their faith in the God Who revealed Himself in Jesus Christ, they brought new perspectives and new values to this locality, leading to the birth of a culture and civilisation founded on the human person, made in God's image and hence possessor of rights that have precedence over any human legislation".

  Benedict XVI highlighted how, "apart from the faith, we must also recall the absolute faithfulness to the Bishop of Rome, to whom this Church has always shown devotion and affection". In the same context he also mentioned the attention shown by the Church in San Marino "towards the great tradition of the Oriental Church, and her profound devotion for the Virgin Mary".

  Turning to address the faithful, the Pope said: "You are called to carry this precious legacy forward at one of the most decisive moments of history", in the face of "profound and rapid cultural, social, economic and political transformations which have opened new horizons and altered mentalities, customs and sensibilities".

  "An insidious temptation has led to the belief that man's richness lies not in faith but in his personal and social power, his intelligence, his culture and his ability to manipulate reality scientifically, technologically and socially. Thus, even in these lands, faith and Christian values are beginning to be substituted with a supposed wealth which, in the final analysis, shows itself to be inconsistent and incapable of bearing the weight of that great promise of truth, goodness and beauty which for centuries your forebears identified with the experience of the faith".

  The Holy Father also referred to "the crisis many families have to face", a crisis "aggravated by the widespread psychological and spiritual frailty of spouses, and the fatigue experienced by many educators as they seek continuity for young people who are conditioned by many forms insecurity, first and foremost as regards their social role and employment possibilities".

  "I exhort all the faithful to be a leaven in the world", the Pope concluded. "In both San Marino and Montefeltro, show yourselves to be Christians, present, active and coherent. May priests and religious always live in cordial and effective ecclesial communion, helping and listening to their diocesan pastor. I appeal to families and young people to open their hearts and respond readily to the Lord's call. We will never repent of having been generous with God! I ask you lay men and women to commit yourselves actively in the community so that, alongside your specific civic, political, social and cultural tasks, you may find time for the life of faith, the pastoral life".
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THE POPE CALLS FOR REFUGEES TO BE WELCOMED

VATICAN CITY, 19 JUN 2011 (VIS) - Following this morning's Mass and before praying the Angelus, the Pope thanked everyone who had helped prepare and organise his visit to San Marino.

  After the Marian prayer he mentioned the beatification today in the French town of Dax of Sr. Marguerite Rutan, a professed sister of the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity. The blessed lived in the second half of the eighteenth century and had worked in the hospital of Dax. During the persecutions that followed the French Revolution "she was condemned to death for her Catholic faith and her faithfulness to the Church", said Benedict XVI, highlighting also how Sr. Marguerite had been "a shining witness of Christ's love for the poor".

  Finally the Holy Father recalled the fact that tomorrow marks World Refugee Day, which this year coincides with the sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of the international convention safeguarding people who suffer persecution and are forced to flee their country. "I invite the civil authorities and all people of good will to ensure refugees are welcomed and given dignified living conditions as they await the chance to return freely and safely to their own countries", he concluded.

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