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Pope’s Summer Schedule by ZENIT Staff
The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff has published the following calendar of liturgical celebrations at which the Holy Father will preside in the months of June to September 2016:
JUNE:
Friday 3, Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: at 9.30 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, Holy Mass, Jubilee of priests.
Sunday 5, 10th Sunday of Ordinary Time: at 10.30 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, Holy Mass and canonization of Blesseds Slanislaus of Jesus Mary and Mary Elisabeth Hesselblad.
Sunday 12, 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time: at 10.30 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, Holy Mass, Jubilee of the sick and disabled.
Monday 20: at 10 a.m. in the Consistory Hall, consistory for causes of canonization.
Friday 24 to Sunday 26: apostolic trip to Armenia.
Wednesday 29, Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul: at 9.30 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Holy Mass and blessing of the pallia for the new metropolitan archbishops.
JULY:
Wednesday 27: apostolic trip to Poland on the occasion of the 31st World Youth Day.
SEPTEMBER:
Sunday 4, 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time: at 10.30 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, Holy Mass and canonization of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Friday of Mercy: Pope Francis Visits, Snacks With Severly Disabled by Deborah Castellano Lubov
As part of his Jubilee festivities, Pope Francis has met with the severely disabled, prayed and snacked with them.
According to a statement released by the Holy See Press Office, Pope Francis visited the “Chicco” community as part of the Jubilee Year’s “Fridays of Mercy,” at 5:00 p.m. Friday.
This marked the fifth sign of mercy made by Pope Francis in the course of the Jubilee: In January, he visited the rest home for the elderly and the sick in a vegetative state; in February, the community of drug addicts of Catelgandolfo; in March, the ‘Cara’ hospitality center for refugees at Castelnuovo di Porto; and in April, the Island of Lesbos to meet with refugees.
‘Chicco’ is an association that belongs to the great family of L’Arche, founded by Jean Vanier in 1964. It is present in more than 30 countries in five continents and, together with the “Faith and Light” Association, is dedicated to the weakest and most marginalized persons of society. The “Grain” community was the first to be established in Italy. Founded in 1981, today, it houses 18 persons with severe mental disabilities. A second structure is in Bologna and a third might be opened shortly in Sardinia.
The aim of these “family homes” is to receive individuals with serious disabilities to make them feel accepted and protagonists of their life and of that of those dedicated to them. L’Arche’s supporting idea is to “praise imperfection,” namely to make the public aware that no one can be discriminated against for any form of disability.
According to the statement, the Pope wished to give a further sign against the disposable culture, and stressed, “One cannot be deprived of love, joy and dignity just because one has a mental disability,” and, “No one can discriminate in virtue of preconceptions that marginalize and lock up families and associations in solitude.”
With this visit, the Holy Father expressed one of the most salient traits of his Pontificate: attention to the simplest and weakest. In bringing them his tenderness and affection, he wished to give a concrete sign of how the Year of Mercy can be lived.
To the community which survives on donations and subsidies, Francis made a personal contribution of pasta, fruits, cherries and peaches which were welcomed with the joy and applause of residents.
The Holy Father sat at table to have a snack with the disabled and the volunteers, and listened to the simple words of Nadia, Salvatore, Vittorio, Paolo, Maria Grazia, Danilo … sharing this family moment with joy and simplicity.
Moreover, he was also able to visit the most severely disabled, expressing signs of profound affection and tenderness, in particular, to Amando and Fabio, who were the first to be received.
L’Arche’s founder believed that the disabled need to develop a life made up also of manual effort, according to each one’s capacity. Given this, Pope Francis went to the handicraft laboratory, where small objects of craftsmanship are created daily, which express the creativity and imagination of the community members.
Finally, before leaving around 6:30 p.m., Pope Francis prayed with them in the small chapel, holding hands, and embraced all.
According to official data of the Holy Year on May 12, so far, more than 7 million (7,133,256) people have participated in Rome’s Jubilee events.
Summary of Jubilee Audience: On Piety by ZENIT Staff
On Saturday, Pope Francis held the sixth of his “Jubilee audiences” — a general audience that during this Year of Mercy will be held one Saturday a month.
Here is the English-language summary of his address:
* * *
Speaker:
Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our continuing catechesis for this Holy Year of Mercy, we now consider piety, which is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. When we hear this word, we think of a certain religiosity or devotion, but its meaning is much richer; like our word “pity”, it has to do with compassion, with mercy. In the Gospels, Jesus is attentive to people’s plea for mercy. He is sensitive to their needs, and he responds with sympathy and love. He encourages them to trust in him and his word, and he works his miracles of healing. We are called to imitate the Lord’s “piety” towards those who cry out to him by rising above our indifference and isolation, and becoming more concerned for the needs of all our brothers and sisters. Mary, Mother of mercy, is the icon of this loving concern and our model of “piety”. May she obtain for us the grace to live this Year of Mercy by growing in compassion and by imitating the infinite “piety” of Jesus her Son.
Speaker:
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from England and the Philippines. In the joy of the Risen Lord, I invoke upon you and your families the loving mercy of God our Father. May the Lord bless you all![Original text: English]
Pope Names New Bishop in the United States by Deborah Castellano Lubov
Pope Francis has appointed a new bishop in the United States. The Holy See announced Thursday that the Pope appointed Fr. David Austin Konderla as bishop of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
He succeeds Bishop Edward J. Slattery, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.
Born in Bryan, Texas in 1960, David Austin Konderla would go on to study at the University of Dallas and St. Mary’s seminary in Houston. He was ordained a priest in 1995.
Bishop-elect Konderla served in a number of pastoral roles in the diocese of Austin, including parish vicar, director of priestly vocations, member of the personnel board, and member of the presbyteral council.
Prior to his appointment, he was serving as parish priest at the St. Mary Catholic Centre at the University of Texas A&M at College Station, and as diocesan consultant.
The American diocese of Tulsa comprises an area of some 68,394 kilometers. Out of a population of some 1,790,000, some 65,658 are Catholic. They are served by some 107 priests, 76 permanent deacons, and 126 religious.
Our Lady of Fatima Visits Rome’s St. John Lateran by Sergio Mora
On Friday, May 13th, the pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima visited Saint John Lateran, Rome’s Cathedral, accompanied by the relics of Blesseds Lucia and Francisco, two of the little shepherds to whom the Virgin Mary entrusted her message.
Monsignor Liberio Andreatta, head of the Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, who presided over the event and the Holy Mass, recalled that the motto of this pilgrimage is “Mary, Testimony of God’s Mercy.” He mentioned that as Pope Francis’ Bull indicates, “a pilgrimage is a peculiar sign of the Holy Year,” because “life is a pilgrimage, and the human being is a pilgrim who follows the path to the established end.”
“Therefore, each one must undertake a pilgrimage in keeping with his strength to arrive at the Holy Door of Rome or of another place, and it must be a symbol of his conversion, entrusting himself to God’s mercy, and the Pontiff hoped that we would be merciful with others as the Father is with us.”
It was a celebration organized in the context of the 12th National Day of the Pilgrim, in this Jubilee of Mercy. Due to poor weather threats, the procession did not take place from the church of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, but was held in Rome’s Cathedral.
The procession with the pilgrim statue, which came from Portugal for the event, toured the square in front of the basilica and entered the latter accompanied in procession by several hundred pilgrims, while Marian prayers were recited.
Thus, the public was able to enter through the Holy Door of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, which is the See of the Bishop of Rome, while the image entered through the main door. Then, the Holy Mass was celebrated.
Fr. Lombardi Comments on Pope’s Remarks About Female Deacons by ZENIT Staff
According to Vatican Radio, the Director of the Holy See’s Press office, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, said Pope Francis did not say in his remarks to the Heads of female religious orders and congregations that he intends to introduce the ordination of women and even less the ordination of women as priests.
Father Lombardi’s statement followed the Pope’s widely-reported remarks that he wants to set up a Commission to study the question of female deacons.
Pope Francis’ remarks on deaconesses came during a question and answer session on Thursday with some 900 heads of female religious orders and congregations who form part of the International Union of Superiors General.
During the hour and a half long conversation about the mission and ministry of women in religious life, the Pope responded to several delicate questions, including one where he was asked what prevents the Church from including women among the permanent deacons, just like during the early Church. In his reply, the Pope said understanding about the role of female deacons in the early Church remained unclear and agreed with the sisters that it would be useful to set up a Commission to study the question.
Father Lombardi described the encounter between the Pope and the female religious as a “beautiful conversation” that was very “encouraging” about women and in particular about consecrated women in the life of the Church, including their role in important positions within the dicasteries where ordination is not implied.
Discussing the Pope’s much reported remark about setting up a commission to study the question of female deacons, Father Lombardi said this was an issue that has been talked about within the Church in the past and arises from the fact that in the early Church there were women described as deaconesses who carried out certain tasks within the Christian community.
The Holy See Press Office director said “we need to be honest” when looking at the Pope’s remarks about being willing to set up a commission, to look again at this issue with greater clarity.
“The Pope did not say he intends to introduce the ordination of female deacons and even less did he talk about the ordination of women as priests.”
“In actual fact, the Pope made clear in his preaching during the course of the Eucharistic celebration that he was not considering this (question) at all.”
The Vatican spokesman also said it was wrong to reduce all the many important things said by the Pope during his meeting with the religious sisters to this one question.
Jubilee Audience: On Piety by ZENIT Staff
Here is a ZENIT translation of the Pope’s address during Saturday’s Jubilee Audience:
__
THE HOLY FATHER’S CATECHESIS
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! The day doesn’t seem to be very good [it was raining], but you are courageous and you came with the rain. Thank you! This audience is being held in two places: the sick are in Paul VI Hall, because of the rain. They are more comfortable there and they are following us on a giant screen. And we are here. We are united with them, and I suggest that you greet them with an applause. It’s not easy to applaud with an umbrella in hand!
Among the many aspects of mercy, there is one that consists in feeling compassion or being moved in face of those who are in need of love. Pietas – piety – is a concept that was present in the Greco-Roman world, where, however, it indicated an act of submission to superiors: first of all the devotion owed to the gods, then the respect of children for their parents, especially the elderly. Today, instead, we must be careful not to identify piety with that rather defused pietism, which is only a superficial emotion and offends the other’s dignity. In the same way, this piety is not to be confused either with the compassion we feel for the animals that live with us, and remaining indifferent in face of the sufferings of brothers. How often do we see people attached to cats ands dogs, who then leave their neighbor without helping him, the woman neighbor who is in need … This is not right.
The piety we wish to talk about is a manifestation of God’s mercy. It is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit that the Lord offers to His disciples to make them “docile in obeying divine inspirations” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1830). Reported in the Gospels so many times is the spontaneous cry that sick, possessed, poor and afflicted persons addressed to Jesus: “Have mercy” (cf. Mark 10:47-48); Matthew 15:22; 17:15). Jesus responded to all of them with a look of mercy and the comfort of His presence. In these invocations of help or requests for mercy, each one expressed also his/her faith in Jesus, calling Him “Teacher,” Son of David” and “Lord.” They intuited that there was something extraordinary in Him, which could help them to come out of the sad conditions in which they found themselves. They perceived in Him the very love of God. And even if the crowd thronged about Him, Jesus was aware of those invocations of mercy and He was moved, especially when He saw persons suffering and wounded in their dignity, as in the case of the woman with the hemorrhage. He called them to have faith in Him and in His Word (cf. John 6:48-55). For Jesus to feel mercy was equivalent to sharing in the sadness of the one He met but at the same time working personally to transform it into joy.
We are also called to cultivate in ourselves an attitude of mercy in face of so many situations of life, shaking off the indifference that impedes our recognizing the needs of brothers around us and freeing ourselves from the slavery of material well-being (cf. 1 Timothy 6:3-8).
Let us look at the example of the Virgin Mary, who looks after each one of her children and is, for us believers, the icon of mercy. Dante Alighieri expressed it in the prayer to Our Lady placed at the climax of the Paradiso: “”In thee is tenderness, in thee is pity, in the munificence, in thee united whatever in created being is of excellence” (XXX, 19-21). Thank you[Original text: Italian] [Translation by ZENIT]
Greeting in Italian
I express a cordial welcome to the Italian-speaking pilgrims. I am happy to greet the Sons of the Immaculate Conception on the occasion of their General Chapter; the Community of the Ukrainian Pontifical College of Saint Josaphat and the participants in the course of formation of the Salesian University. I greet the Chianti League with the Bishop, Monsignor Giovannetti; the Italian Federation of Popular Traditions; the members of the Jubilee of businessmen and business- women; the Catholic Forum for long-distance adoptions, and the members of UNITALSI. I hope that, with the crossing of the Holy Door, the Jubilee of Mercy is an occasion to manifest to brothers the very mercy of God the Father, who always consoles us in difficulties.
I greet the young people, the sick and the newlyweds. Today is the feast of Saint Matthias, the Apostle who was the last to enter the Twelve. May his spiritual vigor stimulate you, dear young people, especially the students of the Sacred Heart and Paul VI of Rome, to be coherent with your faith; may his abandoning of self, to the Risen Christ, sustain you; Dear sick, in the moments of greatest difficulty; and may his missionary dedication remind you, dear newlyweds, that love is the irreplaceable foundation of the family.[Original text: Italian] [Translation by ZENIT]
Pope’s Address to Italian Bishops’ Conference by ZENIT Staff
Here is a ZENIT translation of the prepared text of Pope Francis’ address Monday afternoon in the Vatican to the Italian Bishops’ Conference (C.E.I.) meeting, for their 69th general assembly, May 16-19:
* * *
Dear Brothers,
Making me particularly happy to open this assembly with you is the theme you have placed as thread of the works – The Renewal of the Clergy –, in the desire to support formation throughout the different stages of life.
Pentecost, which we just celebrated, puts your target in the right light. In fact, the Holy Spirit remains the protagonist of the history of the Church: it is the Spirit that abides in fullness in the person of Jesus and introduces us to the mystery of the living God; it is the Spirit that animated the generous response of the Virgin Mary and of the Saints; it is the Spirit that works in believers and in men of peace, and arouses the generous availability and evangelizing joy of so many priests. We know that, without the Holy Spirit, there is no possibility of a good life, or of reform. Let us pray and commit ourselves to guard His strength, so that “the world of our time is able to receive the Good News […] from ministers of the Gospel whose life radiates fervour” (Paul VI, Apostolic ExhortationEvangelii Nuntiandi, 80).
I do not wish to offer you this evening a systematic reflection on the figure of the priest. Rather, let us try to reverse the prospect and to put ourselves <in an attitude>of listening. Let us come close, almost on tiptoes, to one of the many parish priests that spend themselves in our communities; let us have the face of one of them pass before the eyes of our heart and let us ask ourselves with simplicity: what makes life tasty? For whom and for what does he commit his service? What is the ultimate reason for his self-giving?
I hope that these questions can rest within you in silence, in tranquil prayer, in a frank and fraternal dialogue: the answers that will flower will help you to single out the formative proposals on which to invest with courage.
What, therefore, gives flavour to the life of “our” presbyter? The cultural context is very different from that which moved his first steps in the ministry. In Italy also, so many traditions, habits and visions of life have been affected by a profound change of time.
We, who often find ourselves deploring this time with a bitter and accusatory tone, must also perceive the hardness: how many people we meet in our ministry who are anxious because of the lack of references to look at. How many wounded relations <there are>! In a world in which each one thinks himself the measure of everything, there is no longer room for a brother.
In this background, the life of our presbyter becomes eloquent, because it is different, alternative. Like Moses, he is one who has come close to the fire and allowed the flames to burn his ambitions for a career and power. He has also burnt the temptation to interpret himself as a “devotee,” who takes refuge in a religious introspection that has very little of the spiritual.
Our priest is barefooted in respect to a land that persists in believing and considering itself holy. He is not scandalized by the frailties that shake the human spirit, aware that he himself is a cured paralytic; he is removed from the coldness of the rigorist, as well as from the superficiality of one who wants to show himself accommodating to a good market. Instead, he accepts to take charge of the other, feeling himself participant and responsible for his destiny.
With the oil of hope and consolation, he makes himself a neighbour to everyone, careful to share with them abandonment and suffering. Having accepted not to dispose of himself, he does not have an agenda to defend, but every morning gives his time to the Lord, to allow himself to meet and encounter people. So our priest is not a bureaucrat or an anonymous functionary of an institution; he is not consecrated to a white-collar role, or moved by criteria of efficiency.
He knows that Love is everything. He does not seek earthly assurances or honorific titles, which lead to trust in man; in the ministry itself he does not ask anything that goes against a real need, nor is he concerned to bind to himself the persons entrusted to him. His simple and essential lifestyle, always available, makes him credible to the eyes of the people and brings him close to the humble, in a pastoral charity that makes him free and solidaristic. A servant of life, he walks with the heart and the step of the poor; he is rendered rich by their frequentation. He is a man of peace and reconciliation, a sign and instrument of God’s tenderness, careful to spread goodness with the same passion with which others look after their own interests.
Our presbyter’s secret – you know it well! – lies in that burning bush that marks existence with fire, it conquers and conforms it to that of Jesus Christ, the definitive truth of his life. He guards his relationship with Him, rendering foreign the spiritual worldliness that corrupts, as well as any compromise or meanness. It is friendship with his Lord that leads him to embrace the daily reality with the confidence of one who believes that what is impossible for man is not so for God.
So it also becomes more immediate to address the other questions with which we began. To whom does our presbyter commit his service? Perhaps the question should be specified. In fact, before asking ourselves about the recipients of his service, we must acknowledge that the presbyter is such in the measure in which he feels himself a participant of the Church, of a concrete community whose path he shares. The faithful people of God from which he was drawn, the family in which he is involved, the home to which he is sent. This common belonging, which flows from Baptism, is the breath that frees one from self-reference that isolates and imprisons: “When your boat begins to put roots in the immobility of the pier – recalled Dom Helder Camara – go into the deep!: Leave! And, first of all, not because you have a mission to fulfill, but because structurally you are a missionary: in the encounter with Jesus you experienced the fullness of life and, therefore, you desired with your whole being that others recognize themselves in Him and are able to protect his friendship, nourish themselves from His word and celebrate Him in the community.
Thus, one who lives for the Gospel enters a virtuous sharing: the Pastor is converted and confirmed by the simple faith of the holy people of God, with which he works and in whose heart he lives. This belonging is the salt of the presbyter’s life; he is such that his distinctive trait is communion, lived with the laity in relations that are able to appreciate the participation of each one. In this time that is poor in social friendship, our first task is to build community; the attitude to relation is, therefore, a decisive criterion of vocational discernment.
In the same way, it is vital for a priest to find himself again in the Cenacle of the Presbytery. This experience — when not lived in an occasional manner — free of narcissisms and clerical jealousies, makes esteem, mutual support and benevolence grow; it fosters not only a sacramental or juridical but a fraternal and concrete communion. In the presbyters walking together, different in age and sensitivity, a perfume of prophecy spreads that astonishes and fascinates. Communion is truly one of the names of Mercy.
In our reflection on the renewal of the clergy there is also the chapter regarding the management of the structures and economic goods: in an evangelical view, avoid falling into a pastoral of conservation, which hinders openness to the enduring novelty of the Spirit. Maintain only what can serve the experience of faith and charity of the people of God.
Finally, we are asked what is the ultimate reason of our presbyter’s dedication. How much sadness those have who in life are always somewhat in the middle, with their foot raised! They calculate, weigh, do not risk anything out of fear of getting lost … They are the most unhappy! Instead, our presbyter, with his limitations, is one who plays to the end: in concrete conditions in which life and ministry have placed him, he offers himself gratuitously, with humility and joy., even when no one seems to notice him, even when he intuits that, humanly, perhaps no one will thank him enough for his unbounded dedication.
However — he knows — he could not do differently: he loves the earth, which he recognizes visited every morning by God’s presence. He is a man of Easter, of the look turned to the Kingdom, towards the one who feels that human history is walking, despite the delays, the obscurities and the contradictions. The Kingdom – the vision that Jesus has of man – is his joy, the horizon that enables him to relativize the rest, to dissolve worries and anxieties, to remain free of illusions and pessimism; to protect peace in his heart and spread it with his gestures, his words, his attitudes.
* *
See delineated, dear Brothers, the triple belonging that constitutes us: belonging to the Lord, to the Church, to the Kingdom. This treasure in earthen vessels is protected and promoted! Be thoroughly aware of this responsibility; take good care of time with patience and the willingness of hands and heart. With you, I pray to the Holy Virgin so that her intercession will keep you hospitable and faithful. Together with your presbyters may you be able to bring the course to the end, the service that has been entrusted to you and with which you participate in the mystery of Mother Church.[Original text: Italian] [Translation by ZENIT]
Cardinal Turkson’s Address at 2nd Vatican Meeting on Pediatric Aids by ZENIT Staff
Here is the text of Cardinal Peter Turkson’s address Monday in the Vatican’s Casina Pio IV during the Vatican’s second meeting of Directors of Pharmaceutical and Diagnostic Industries for children living with HIV organized by Caritas Internationalis, May 11-15. Below is the address of the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace:
***
Second Meeting of
Directors of Pharmaceutical and Diagnostic Industries
for children living with HIV:
Consultation on “Fast-Tracking Paediatric HIV Diagnosis and Treatment” (to improve access to early diagnosis and effective treatment)
Your Eminence John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria,
Dr. P.D. Parirenyatwa, Minister of Health of Zimbabwe.
Dr. Luiz Loures, Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS,
Dr Bernard Bossiky, Deputy Executive Secretary of the National AIDS Council, Democratic Republic of Congo,
Ms. Sandra Thurman, Chief Strategist, Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, United States of America,
Dr. Gottfried Hirnschall, Director of the HIV/AIDS Programme of the World Health Organization,
Rev. Canon Flora Winfield, Representative of the Anglican Communion to the United Nations,
Representatives from the private sector, including pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies, people living with HIV,
Staff of World Health Organization and UNAIDS,
Representatives of religious and non-governmental organizations responding to HIV
It is my pleasure to welcome all of you in the name of the Holy Father. Pope Francis appreciates your important undertaking and extends his prayerful best wishes. On behalf of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, too, I welcome you to Casina Pio IV, the historic home of the Pontifical Academies, and also in the name of the Holy Father who extends his prayerful best wishes to your important undertaking.
The goal of this gathering is well served by the active involvement of national governments, U.N. bodies, religious groups and leaders, the private sector, including pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies, and people living with HIV. Why are we gathered here today? Simply put, our goal is to improve access to HIV treatment for children. Jesus is reported by two of the evangelists to have said “Suffer the little children to come unto me” (Mt 19:14, Lk 18:16) – he did not say ‘let the children suffer’. In order to reduce the suffering of children due to AIDS, I believe this meeting should focus on three objectives:
WHY: We should firmly state the foundations for this work – the underlying values, ethical imperatives and indeed spirituality that are the point of departure for faith-based organizations engaged in providing diagnosis and treatment for children living with HIV and in supporting their families and other caregivers.
WHAT: Our task is to create an ambitious fast-track road-map or strategy to scale up effective treatment for children living with HIV. This plan of action will be launched at the high-level meeting in New York next month. It will include a model project for broad collaboration in selected high-burden countries.
WHO: We must begin to form the coalition of partners, mirroring the inclusive representation of today’s meeting and seriously committed to following the map and implementing the strategy.
This meeting builds on your discussions last month on early diagnosis and treatment of children, so we expect real progress. You already want to collaborate on improving access to life-saving medicines for children threatened by the HIV virus. Now it is the moment to add practical and effective measures to those earlier commitments.
I hope especially for a focus on the seriously affected countries where little progress has been made to stop the transmission of the virus to children, and where national efforts have not sufficiently addressed the obstacles to accessing treatment in local communities.
This reflects the sad reality that health care is not a right for all. The testimonies of religious Sisters, Priests, and Brothers, and lay volunteers with whom I speak, confirm that health care is still a privilege only for a few who can afford it, in different parts of the world and especially in many regions of Africa. Access to health care, treatment, and medicines still remains a ‘dream’ for too many.[1] “Certain health issues, like the elimination of malaria and tuberculosis, treatment of so-called orphan diseases, and neglected sectors of tropical medicine, require urgent political attention, above and beyond all other commercial or political interests.”[2] How clearly this draws us back to our foundations: as Pope Francis said to the previous meeting, “there is no human life that is qualitatively more significant than another.”[3]
What is needed is sincere and open dialogue, with responsible cooperation on the part of all: political authorities, the scientific community, the business world and civil society. Positive examples are not lacking; they demonstrate that a genuine cooperation between politics, science and business can achieve significant results.[4]
Your coming together in this Academy of reflection and dialogue signifies your dedication to the wellbeing and the future of children who face the threat of a serious illness but still have the hope and the will to live. May your efforts make it possible for some of those children to contribute to the advancement of science and of the common good, as you are doing at the present time. May God bless you, inspire you, and strengthen your resolve in your pilgrimage for the good of the human family.
[1]http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/speeches/2016/may/documents/papa-francesco_20160507_medici-africa-cuamm.html
[2]http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/november/documents/papa-francesco_20151126_kenya-unon.html
[3] Statement of 14 April 2016 for meeting on “The Encyclical Letter Laudato si’ and other teachings of Pope Francis: An Ethical Basis for Efforts to Fast-Track a more effective Global AIDS Response
[4] Ibid.[Original Text: English] [Courtesy of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace]
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