EUCHARISTIC ADORATION AND EVANGELIUM VITAE DAY: KEY YEAR OF FAITH EVENTS

Vatican City, 28 May 2013 VIS – This morning, in the Holy See Press Office, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, together with Archbishop Jose Octavio Ruiz Arenas and Msgr. Graham Bell, respectively secretary and undersecretary of the same dicastery, presented two major events of the Year of Faith: a worldwide Eucharistic Adoration and the Day Celebrating the Evangelium Vitae.

The first of these events, the Worldwide Eucharistic Adoration, will be broadcast from St. Peter’s Basilica next Sunday, 2 June from 5:00pm-6:00pm local time. Its theme is: “One Lord, One Faith”, which was chosen to testify to the deep unity that characterizes it. “It will be an event,” Archbishop Fisichella explained, “occurring for the first time in the history of the Church, which is why we can describe it as ‘historical’. The cathedrals of the world will be synchronized with Rome and will, for an hour, be in communion with the Pope in Eucharistic adoration. There has been an incredible response to this initiative, going beyond the cathedrals and involving episcopal conferences, parishes, lay associations, and religious congregations, especially cloistered ones.”

From the Cook Islands to Chile, Burkina Faso, Taiwan, Iraq, Bangladesh, the United States, and the Philippines, the dioceses will be synchronized with St. Peter’s and will pray for the intentions proposed by the Pope. The first is: “For the Church spread throughout the world and united today in the adoration of the Most Holy Eucharist as a sign of unity. May the Lord make her ever more obedient to hearing his Word in order to stand before the world ‘ever more beautiful, without stain or blemish, but holy and blameless.’ That through her faithful announcement, the Word that saves may still resonate as the bearer of mercy and may increase love to give full meaning to pain and suffering, giving back joy and serenity.”

Pope Francis’ second intention is: “For those around the world who still suffer slavery and who are victims of war, human trafficking, drug running, and slave labour. For the children and women who are suffering from every type of violence. May their silent scream for help be heard by a vigilant Church so that, gazing upon the crucified Christ, she may not forget the many brothers and sisters who are left at the mercy of violence. Also, for all those who find themselves in economically precarious situations, above all for the unemployed, the elderly, migrants, the homeless, prisoners, and those who experience marginalization. That the Church’s prayer and its active nearness give them comfort and assistance in hope and strength and courage in defending human dignity.”

The Day Celebrating the Evangelium Vitae, entitled “Believing May They Have Life”, will take place from 15 to 16 June. ”We have given it this name to testify to the grand theme that revolves around the Church’s commitment to the promotion, respect, and dignity of human life,” said Archbishop Fisichella. “Pope Francis will preside at Sunday Mass at 10:30am with the entire ‘people of life’ to address his message and to show his care to them as well as to all the ill who will be present at the celebration. Like the other events, it will follow the traditional pattern of the Year of Faith: pilgrimages to St. Peter’s tomb will take place on Saturday afternoon, from 2:00pm until 5:00pm, while at the same time those who wish may go to confession and adore the Blessed Sacrament. There will also be catechesis for the various language groups in several churches around Rome on Saturday morning.”

In the evening of that same day, Saturday 15 June, starting at 8:30pm, “a silent, candle-lit procession will be held along Via della Conciliazione in order to call attention to the theme of human life and its intangible value. It will conclude in St. Peter’s Square where several meaningful testimonials will be given. … Already, groups from the United States, Germany, Japan, Hungary, Romania, Spain, France, Canada, New Zealand, Argentina, Britain, Belgium, Slovakia, Costa Rica, Portugal, and Australia have registered their participation. There will also be families, representatives from episcopal conferences, dioceses, parishes, religious orders, seminaries, humanitarian and health organizations like the Order of Malta, ecclesial movements, associations like Unitalsi and the Red Cross, and pro-life groups as well as many people interested in the promotion and defense of life who aren’t affiliated with a particular association or religion.”

DEFENDING RIGHTS OF CHRISTIANS IN EUROPEAN SOCIETIES

Vatican City, 28 May 2013 VIS – Bishop Mario Toso, S.D.B., secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, delivered an address at the Conference on Tolerance and Non-Discrimination (Including Human Rights Youth Education) in Tirana, Albania, on 21 May. The conference was organized by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The second plenary session dealt with the issue of combating intolerance and discrimination against Christians and members of other religions.

“At the last High-Level Conference on tolerance and non-discrimination, held three years ago in Astana,” the prelate said, “the participating States committed, among other things, to counter prejudice, discrimination, intolerance, and violence against Christians and members of other religions, including minority religions, which continue to be present in the OSCE region. They were also called to address the denial of rights, exclusion, and marginalization of Christians and members of other religions in our societies. Unfortunately, examples of intolerance and discrimination against Christians have not diminished but rather increased in various parts of the OSCE region despite a number of meetings and conferences on the subject organized also by the OSCE and Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).”

“It is regretful, therefore, to note that across the OSCE region a sharp dividing line has been drawn between religious belief and religious practice, so that Christians are frequently reminded in public discourse (and increasingly even in the courts), that they can believe whatever they like in their own homes or heads, and largely worship as they wish in their own private churches, but they simply cannot act on those beliefs in public. This is a only deliberate twisting and limiting of what religious freedom actually means, and it is not the freedom that was enshrined in international documents, including those of the OSCE beginning with the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, stretching through the 1989 Final Vienna Document and the 1990 Copenhagen Document, and including the 2010 Astana Summit Commemorative Declaration.”

“Participating OSCE States,” Bishop Toso emphasized, “must therefore guarantee that intolerance and discrimination against Christians is ended, enabling Christians to speak freely on issues that the government or others may find disagreeable and act on their consciences in the workplace and elsewhere. Discrimination against Christians – even where they are a majority – must be faced as a serious threat to the whole of society and therefore should be fought, as it is done, and rightly so, in the case of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 28 May 2013 VIS – Today the Holy Father:

- appointed Bishop Rodolfo Cetoloni, O.F.M., as bishop of the Diocese of Grosseto (area 1,239, population 134,340, Catholics 124,936, priests 73, permanent deacons 5, religious 50), Italy. Bishop Cetoloni was previously bishop of Montepulciano-Chiusi-Pienza, Italy.

- appointed Fr. Jorge Estrada Solorzano as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Mexico (area 1,429, population 8,997,000, Catholics 8,038,000, priests 1,789, permanent deacons 146, religious 7,211), Mexico. The bishop-elect was born in Mexico City in 1961 and was ordained a priest in 1995. Since 2008 he has been the director of the Assistance Centre for Priests. He was previously pastor of St. Peter the Apostle parish in the Archdiocese of Mexico.

- accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Mexico presented by Bishop Francisco Clavel Gil, upon having reached the age limit.

FRANCIS: REALITY IS UNDERSTOOD BETTER FROM PERIPHERY

Vatican City, 26 May 2013 (VIS) – “We understand reality better not from the center, but from the outskirts”, Pope Francis said to the thousands of persons awaiting him this morning at the Roman parish of Sts. Elizabeth and Zechariah in the Prima Porta neighbourhood on the northern outskirts of the city. Upon arriving, the Holy Father, who was accompanied by Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar general of the Diocese of Rome, and Auxiliary Bishop Guerino Di Tora, greeted the families with children who had been baptized during the year and also heard several confessions. Also with the Pope were his two secretaries, one of whom, one of whom, Msgr. Alfred Xuereb, was celebrating the 29th anniversary of his ordination. The pontiff noted the happy occasion and asked for an applause for Msgr. Xuereb.

At 9:30am, in the square in front of the church, after being welcomed by the parish pastor, Don Benoni Ambarus, he presided at Mass, during which he administered the Sacrament of the Eucharist to 16 children and gave communion to another 28 children who had made First Communion in the past few weeks.

In his homily, warm and conversational in tone, interspersed with questions from and answers to the children present, the Pope recalled Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth, observing that, as soon as the Virgin heard the news that her cousin was also pregnant, Mary--the Gospel says—“set out in haste”, without waiting or thinking that Elizabeth “will probably have friends who will help her.” “It’s beautiful to think this about the Virgin, our Mother, who sets out in haste because she has this within her: helping. She goes to help, not to boast and say to her cousin: ‘Listen, I’m in charge now because I am the mother of God!’ No she didn’t do that. She went to help! And Our Lady is always like that. She is our Mother, who always comes in haste when we need help. It would be nice to add to the litanies of Our Lady one that says ‘Our Lady who sets out in haste, pray for us!’ … Because she always sets out in haste, she doesn’t forget her children. And when her children are in difficulty, when they are in need and call upon her, she sets out in haste. And this gives us a security, the certainty of always having our mother near, always at our side. … Our Lady who always comes for us quickly.”

“Our Lady also helps us to understand God well … to understand Jesus’ life,” the pontiff continued, beginning a conversation with the children.

“I ask you, children: Who knows who God is? Raise your hands, tell me. Okay! Creator of the earth. And how many Gods are there? One? But they told me that there are three: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! … They are three in one, three persons in one. And what does the Father do? The Father is the origin: the Father, who created all things, who created us. What does the Son do? … He loves us? And what else? He brings the Word of God! Jesus came to teach us God’s Word. And what else? What did Jesus do on earth? He saved us! Jesus came to give his life for us. The Father creates the world; Jesus saves us. And the Holy Spirit, what does He do? He loves us!”

“Now all the children together: the Father creates everything, He creates the world. Jesus saves us; and the Holy Spirit? He loves us! And this is the Christian life: talking with the Father, talking with the Son, and talking with the Holy Spirit. Jesus saved us, but He also walks with us in life. … And how does He walk? What does He do when He walks with us in life? This is hard. The one who answers it wins the trophy! What does Jesus do when He walks with us? … First of all He helps us. He guides us! Very good! He walks with us, helps us, guides us, and teaches us how to go forward. Jesus also gives us the strength to walk. … When it’s difficult, right? And even with our homework! … He gives us strength. How does Jesus give us strength? … In Communion He gives us strength, He helps us exactly by giving us strength. … But when you say ‘He gives us Communion’, does a piece of bread give you so much strength? … It looks like bread! But it’s not really bread. What is it? It Jesus’ body. Jesus comes into our hearts.”

“Well, let’s all think about this, all of us. The Father gave us life; Jesus gave us salvation. He accompanies us, guides us, supports us, and teaches us. And the Holy Spirit? What does the Holy Spirit give us? He loves us! He gives us love. Let us think about God like this and ask Our Lady, Our Lady who is our Mother, who is always quick to help us, to teach us to understand how God is: how the Father is, how the Son is, and how the Holy Spirit is.”

After Mass, the Pope greeted the parish pastors and returned to the Vatican to pray the Angelus.

ANGELUS: WE ARE NOT SLAVES TO THE MAFIA

Vatican City, 26 May 2013 (VIS) – At noon today, the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, the Holy Father appeared at the window of his study to pray the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square.

“Every year, the light of Easter renews in us the joy and wonder of the faith,” Pope Francis said. “We recognize that God is not something vague. Our God is not some smoke. He is concrete; not an abstraction but having a name: ‘God is love.’ Not some sentimental or affective love, but the love of the Father who is the origin of all life; the love of the Son who dies upon the cross and rises again; the love of the Spirit, who renews humanity and the world. Understanding that God is love does us much good, because it teaches us to love, to give ourselves to others as Jesus gave himself to us and walks with us.”

“The Most Holy Trinity is not a product of human reasoning. It is the face with which God revealed himself, not from a cathedra on high, but walking with humanity. It is Jesus who revealed the Father to us and who promised us the Holy Spirit … who teaches us everything that we don’t know, who guides us from within, who gives us good ideas and good inspiration.”

At the end of the Marian prayer, the Pope recalled Don Giuseppe Puglisi, priest and martyr, who was killed by the mafia in 1993 and proclaimed a blessed yesterday, Saturday 25 May.

“Don Puglisi,” he continued, “was an exemplary priest, especially dedicated to pastoral work with young people. Teaching them according to the Gospel, he snatched them away from a life of crime. For this [the mafia] tried to defeat him by killing him. In fact, however, he is the one who won, with the Risen Christ. I think of the many sufferings of the men and women, and even of children, who are exploited by the different mafias, who exploit them by forcing them into work that makes them slaves, with prostitution, and with many societal pressures. The mafias are behind this exploitation and slavery.”

“Let us pray to the Lord,” the Holy Father asked, “to convert the hearts of these people. They cannot do this! Brothers and sisters, they cannot make us slaves! We must pray to the Lord! Let us … praise God for Don Giuseppe Puglisi’s shining witness and let us treasure his example!”