The Pope announces the institution of a new dicastery

Vatican City, 23 October 2015 (VIS) – Yesterday afternoon, at the beginning of the afternoon Synod Congregation, the Holy Father made the following announcement.

“I have decided to establish a new dicastery with competency for the Laity, Family and Life, that will replace the Pontifical Council for the Laity and the Pontifical Council for the Family. The Pontifical Academy for Life will be joined to the new dicastery.

To this end, I have constituted a special commission that will prepare a text delineating canonically the competences of the new dicastery. The text will be presented for discussion by the Council of Cardinals at their next meeting in December”.

Bishop Jan Vokal reminds the Synod of St. John Paul II's invitation to mercy

Vatican City, 23 October 2015 (VIS) – An appeal for mercy concluded the Czech bishop Jan Vokal's brief reflection with which he opened the General Congregation of the Synod of Bishops on the family this morning.

Bishop Vokal quoted the prophet Amos: “He who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is His thought, Who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth – the Lord, the God of hosts, is His name”.

“From time to time we need to pause, to raise our eyes to heaven, and to remember that we are not the masters of the world and of life. We need to contemplate the sky, the mountains, the sea; to feel the strength of the wind, the voice of the great waters … as St. John Paul II, whose liturgical memory we celebrated just yesterday, loved to do. We need to feel small – as indeed we are – in the great universe that God has created and continues to create and give life to at every instant”.

“Living increasingly among artificial things, made by ourselves, gradually changes our perception of reality and of ourselves. Without realising, we forget where we are and who we are; we lose the sense of our true dimension. At times we feel omnipotent, but we are not; at times we feel impotent, but we are not”.

“As the prophet Amos reminds us, we are like a blade of grass, it is true, but our heart is capable of the infinite. We are 'almost nothing', it is true, but we can ask 'why?', and feel within ourselves a mysterious bond, at times painful, with He Who created the world, the sun, the moon, the stars”.

“Among all the creatures – who, in their way, are more humble and obedient to the Creator than we are – we humans are the only ones who recognise, and at times feel, that this omnipotence of God's, His incomprehensible greatness, is love, and that it is a merciful, tender, compassionate love, like that of a mother for her small and fragile children. We are the only ones to intuit that all of creation moans and suffers as if in the pangs of childbirth”.

St. John Paul II left us the legacy of his prophecy that this is the time of mercy. He gave the Second Sunday of Easter the name of Divine Mercy, and passed away precisely on the eve of this Sunday. May he continue to intercede for us, so that we become ever more merciful, just as our heavenly Father is merciful”.

Pope's message to international congress on Fr. Matteo Ricci

Vatican City, October 2015 (VIS) – Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin has sent a telegram on behalf of the Holy Father Francis to the bishop of Macerata, Nazzareno Marconi, on the occasion of the international congress on the Jesuit Fr. Matteo Ricci, organised by the University of Macerata, Italy, and the Confucius Institute (founded by the “Hanban” Office of the Chinese Ministry of Education, for teaching the Chinese language and culture), and held from 21 to 23 October.

In his text, the Pope expresses his appreciation for the initiative, intended to facilitate detailed study of the missionary work and cultural activity carried out by Fr. Ricci, born in Macerata and a “friend of the dear Chinese people”. The Holy Father also hopes that “the memory of such a zealous man of the Church, attentive to social changes and committed to interweaving relations between the European and Chinese cultures, may reaffirm the importance of dialogue between cultures and religions in a climate of mutual respect and with a view to the common good”.

The congress “New perspectives in the study of Fr. Matteo Ricci”, an initiative suggested by the president of Hanban and Chinese deputy minister of education Xu Lin during his official visit to the Confucius Institute of Macerata in 2013, is one of the most important on the figure of the Italian Jesuit who lived from 1552 to 1610.

Three themes will be considered, regarding little known aspects of the life and activity of Fr. Matteo Ricci. The first relates to work carried out in private and public archives in China on unpublished documents in Chinese regarding Matteo Ricci and his interlocutors, especially his Chinese correspondence.

Secondly, the conference will propose new models of analysis of Ricci's work, studying hitherto little explored themes or works that have not been adequately understood. In particular, there will be two presentations on Michele Ruggeri and Matteo Ricci's Portuguese-Chinese dictionary, as well as analyses using the tools of linguistics, semiology, rhetoric and intercultural comparativism. There will also be a discussion on the importance of cartography in the experience of Ricci and the Jesuits in China, Japan and Korea.

The third theme regards Europe's reflection on itself in the light of the image of Chinese civilisation transmitted by Ricci, the Jesuits and other religious orders, especially in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The reactions of the European Enlightenment to the image of China will be considered, along with the repercussions of Chinese philosophy for Jesuits in the history of European philosophy and finally, the relationship between Ricci's quotation and interpretations of the Analects of Confucius and the first translations of the work by the Jesuits.

El Papa escribe al congreso internacional sobre Matteo Ricci, organizado por la Universidad de Macerata y el Instituto Confucio

Ciudad del Vaticano, 22 de octubre de 2015 (Vis).-El Santo Padre, a través del Secretario de Estado, el cardenal Pietro Parolin, ha enviado un telegrama al obispo de Macerata, Nazzareno Marconi, con motivo del congreso internacional sobre el jesuita Matteo Ricci organizado por la universidad de esa localidad italiana en colaboración con el Instituto Confucio -la institución creada por la Oficina ''Hanban'' del Ministerio de Educación de China para la difusión de la lengua y la cultura chinas-. del 21 al 23 de octubre.

En el texto el Papa expresa su aprecio por la iniciativa encaminada a profundizar la obra misionera y la actividad cultural del religioso, natural de Macerata, y ''amigo del querido pueblo chino''. El Pontífice manifiesta además el deseo de que el recuerdo de un ''hombre tan entregado a la Iglesia, atento a los cambios sociales y comprometido en tejer relaciones entre la cultura europea y la china, reafirme la importancia del diálogo entre las culturas y las religiones en el respeto mutuo y con la perspectiva del bien común''.

El congreso ''Nuevas perspectivas en los estudios sobre el Padre Matteo Ricci'' es uno de los más importantes sobre la figura del jesuita italiano (1552-1610) y, además del patrocinio de Hanban, cuenta con el del viceministro de Educación de China Xu Lin que lanzó la idea durante su visita al Instituto Confucio de Macerata en 2013.

Los temas tratados serán tres y atañen a aspectos todavía poco conocidos de la vida y la actividad del Padre Matteo Ricci. El primero es el de la investigación sobre el terreno, es decir en los archivos públicos y privados y en las bibliotecas de China, de documentos inéditos en lengua china relativos al jesuita y a sus interlocutores, en particular su correspondencia.

En segundo lugar, el congreso se propone experimentar nuevos modelos de análisis de las obras de Ricci, analizando temas poco explorados u obras cuya comprensión resultaba difícil. En particular se presentarán dos intervenciones sobre el diccionario portugués-chino, de Michele Ruggeri y Matteo Ricci, además de diversos análisis sobre lingüística, semiología, retórica y comparativismo intercultural. También se hablará de la importancia de la cartografía en la experiencia de Ricci y de los jesuitas en China, Japón y Corea.

Por último se abordará la reflexión que Europa efectuó sobre sí misma a la luz de la imagen de la civilización china transmitida por Matteo Ricci, los jesuitas y otras órdenes religiosas en particular en los siglos XVII y XVIII. Se examinarán las reacciones del Iluminismo europeo a la imagen de China y se tratará de las repercusiones de la filosofía china recogida por los jesuitas en la historia de la filosofía europea para profundizar, por último, en la relación entre las citas e interpretaciones de Ricci de los Diálogos de Confucio y las tres primeras traducciones de la obra a cargo de los jesuitas.

Fidelity to the promise, a work of art

Vatican City, 21 October 2015 (VIS) – This morning Pope Francis held his usual Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Square. In his catechesis, in which he revisited the theme of the family, he reflected on faithfulness and the promise of love between a man and a woman, on which the family is based, and which implies the promise to welcome and educate children, to care for elderly parents and the weakest members of the family, and to help each other to develop their own qualities and to accept their limitations.

“A family that closes up on itself is a contradiction, a mortification of the promise that brought it to life”, he said. “Never forget that the identity of the family is always a promise that extends and expands to all the family, and also to all humanity. … Love, like friendship, owes its strength and beauty to the fact that it generates a bond without curbing freedom. Love is free, the promise of the family is free, and this is its beauty. Without freedom there is no friendship, without freedom there is no love, without freedom there is no marriage. So, freedom and fidelity are not opposed to each other; on the contrary, they support each other, in terms of both interpersonal and social relationships. Indeed, think of the damage caused, in the civilisation of global communication, by the inflation of promises not kept, in various fields, and the indulgence for infidelity to the word given and to commitments made”.

“Being faithful to promises is a true work of art by humanity”, added Pope Francis. “No relationship of love – no friendship, no form of caring for another person, no joy of the common good – reaches the height of our desire and our hope, if it does not arrive at the point of inhabiting this miracle of the soul. And I use the word 'miracle', because the strength and persuasiveness of fidelity, in spite of everything, can only enchant and surprise us. … No school can teach the truth of love, if the family does not do so. No law can imposed the beauty or legacy of this treasure of human dignity, if the personal bond between love and generation does not inscribe it in our flesh”.

“Our fidelity to our promises is always entrusted to the grace and mercy of God. Love for the human family, in good times and bad, is a point of honour for the Church. May God enable us always to be worthy of this promise”.