Pope Emphasizes Universal Right to Health Care by ZENIT Staff
Pope Francis says that health “is not a consumer good, but rather a universal right, and therefore access to healthcare services cannot be a privilege.”
The Pope said this Saturday morning when he received in audience 9,000 members of the organisation “Doctors with Africa” (CUAMM – Collegio Universitario Aspiranti e Medici Missionari) who work to protect the of health of African populations and to draw up and implement wide-ranging development projects.
CUAMM is the acronym for the original Italian name of the organization which was the first NGO in the field of healthcare to be officially recognized in Italy: University College for Aspiring Missionary Doctors, founded in 1950 in the Diocese of Padua by Dr. Francesco Canova, a missionary physician in Jordan, and Bishop Girolamo Bortignon.
Under the leadership of Don Luigi Mazzucato, who headed the organization for more than 50 years, CUAMM gained its current position as the leading Italian organization engaged in Sub-Saharan Africa, operating in 7 African countries (Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda) where it delivers medical aid and expertise with its international and local teams.
“Healthcare, especially at the most basic level, is indeed denied in many parts of the world and many regions of Africa,” the Pontiff lamented. “It is not a right for all, but rather it is still a privilege reserved to the few, to those who can afford it. Access to healthcare services, treatment and medicines remains a mirage. The poorest are unable to pay and are excluded from hospital services, even the most essential primary care. Your generous activity in support of a capillary network of services, able to answer the needs of the populations, is therefore important.”
The countries where CUAMM is active are “the geographical peripheries in which the Lord sends you to be good Samaritans, to reach out to the poor Lazarus, through the door that leads from the first to the third world. This is your ‘holy door’!” exclaimed Francis, noting that CUAMM works with the most vulnerable sectors of the population, including mothers, ensuring safe and dignified childbirth, and newborns, as in Africa many women continue to die in childbirth, and many children do not survive beyond the first month of life as a result of malnutrition and epidemics. “You are able to be an expression of the mother Church, who stoops to be the weakest and cares for them.”
He went on to indicate that authentic and lasting development processes must have a long-term outlook, “with the logic of sowing trustfully and patiently awaiting fruit,” as Africa “is in need of patient and constant, tenacious and competent accompaniment,” and interventions require “serious work planning, research and innovation, and impose the duty of transparency towards donors and in relation to public opinion.”
“You are doctors ‘with’ Africa and not ‘for’ Africa,” Francis stated. “You are called to involve the African people in the process of growth, walking with them, sharing difficulties and joys, suffering and enthusiasm. The people are the architects of their own development, the first to take responsibility. I know that you face daily challenges with gratuitousness and disinterested help, without proselytism or occupation of spaces. Rather, you do so by collaborating with the Churches and local governments, according to the logic of participation and sharing of commitments and mutual responsibilities. I urge you to maintain your special approach to local realities, helping them to grow and leaving them once they are able to continue by themselves, from the perspective of development and sustainability. It is the logic of the seed, that disappears and dies to bring lasting fruit.”
Finally, he emphasised that following the teachings of its founders, witnesses of a evangelically fruitful missionary approach based on closeness, CUAMM carries out its work with courage, as the expression of a Church that is not a “super clinic for VIPs” but rather a “field hospital.” A Church with a great heart, close to the many wounded and humiliated of history, in the service of the poorest.”
Pope’s Morning Homily: For Too Many Christians, Holy Spirit Is a Stranger by ZENIT Staff
Pope Francis says it is the Holy Spirit that moves the Church but for many Christians today, the Holy Spirit is a stranger. Speaking on Monday morning during Mass at the Casa Santa Marta the Pope urged believers to allow themselves to be propelled by the Holy Spirit whom, he said, shows us the way to freedom. He also had a special greeting for the Vincentian Sisters of Charity who work at the Casa Santa Marta and who are marking the feast day of their founder: St. Louise de Marillac.
Drawing inspiration from the reading of the day which recounts the dialogue between Paul and the first disciples in Ephesus, Pope Francis recalled that the disciples told Paul that they had “not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit”.
This is something, he said, that happens today as well as many who believe in Jesus do not know the Holy Spirit. Many, he said, say they have “learnt through Catechism” that the Holy Spirit is “in the Trinity” but they do not know anything more and they wonder what the Spirit does:
“The Holy Spirit is the one who moves the Church, he said, the one who works in the Church and in our hearts” making each Christian unique and yet, together with other Christians, a unit. The Holy Spirit, the Pope continued, opens the doors and invites us to bear witness to Jesus.
“At the beginning of Mass we heard the words: ‘you will receive the Holy Spirit and you will be my witnesses in the world’. The Holy Spirit is the one who moves us to praise God, to pray the Lord, the one who is within us and teaches us to see the Father and to call him ‘Father’. The Holy Spirit frees us from this ‘orphan-like’ condition which the spirit of the world wants to put us in” he said.
Pope Francis said the Holy Spirit is “the protagonist of the living Church” and he warned against the danger of not living up to this mission of the Holy Spirit thereby reducing faith to “morals and ethics”.
It is not enough, he said, to just respect the Commandments and do “nothing more”. Christian life, Francis reiterated, “is not just an ethical life: it is an encounter with Jesus Christ.” And it is thanks to the Holy Spirit that this encounter takes place:
“But we keep the Holy Spirit as a ‘luxury prisoner’ in our hearts: we do not allow the Spirit to push us forward, to move us. The Sprit does everything, knows everything, reminds us what Jesus said, can explain all about Jesus. There is only one thing the Holy Spirit can’t do: make us ‘parlour’ Christians (…) The Holy Spirit cannot make us ‘virtual’ Christians who are not virtuous. The Holy Spirit makes real Christians. The Spirit takes life as it is and prophetically reads the signs of the times pushing us forward (…), the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity,” he said.
Pope Francis urged all faithful this week to reflect on the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives and to ask ourselves whether we have the courage to go out into the world bearing witness to Jesus. And inviting us to prepare for the upcoming Feast of Pentecost, the Pope said we must think of the Holy Spirit who is within our hearts and ask for the grace of obedience and docility to the Spirit:
“This is what we must do this week: think of the Sprit and talk to Him”.[This report is from Vatican Radio]
Readings provided by the US bishops’ conference:
Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter
Lectionary: 297
Reading 1 ACTS 19:1-8
While Apollos was in Corinth,
Paul traveled through the interior of the country
and down to Ephesus where he found some disciples.
He said to them,
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”
They answered him,
“We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
He said, “How were you baptized?”
They replied, “With the baptism of John.”
Paul then said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance,
telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him,
that is, in Jesus.”
When they heard this,
they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul laid his hands on them,
the Holy Spirit came upon them,
and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
Altogether there were about twelve men.
He entered the synagogue, and for three months debated boldly
with persuasive arguments about the Kingdom of God.
Responsorial Psalm PS 68:2-3AB, 4-5ACD, 6-7AB
R. (33a) Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
God arises; his enemies are scattered,
and those who hate him flee before him.
As smoke is driven away, so are they driven;
as wax melts before the fire.
R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
But the just rejoice and exult before God;
they are glad and rejoice.
Sing to God, chant praise to his name;
whose name is the LORD.
R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The father of orphans and the defender of widows
is God in his holy dwelling.
God gives a home to the forsaken;
he leads forth prisoners to prosperity.
R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia COL 3:1
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If then you were raised with Christ,
seek what is above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel JN 16:29-33
The disciples said to Jesus,
“Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech.
Now we realize that you know everything
and that you do not need to have anyone question you.
Because of this we believe that you came from God.”
Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now?
Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived
when each of you will be scattered to his own home
and you will leave me alone.
But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
I have told you this so that you might have peace in me.
In the world you will have trouble,
but take courage, I have conquered the world.”
Pope to Swiss Guard: Here at Heart of Christianity, Deepen Your Friendship With Jesus by ZENIT Staff
Pope Francis on Saturday recommended to the new Swiss Guards to grow in faith, experience the universality of the Church and live in fraternity.
He said this in an address as he received the new recruits and their families in audience. The swearing-in ceremony was Friday; it is held annually on May 6 to commemorate the death of 147 Swiss soldiers who fell defending the Pope during the Sack of Rome (1527).
“It is good to see that young people like you dedicate several years of your lives to the Church, and in particular to Peter’s Successor,” he said.
Related: Meet one of the new recruits.
To grow in faith, the Swiss Guards are called upon to live their work “as a mission that the Lord Himself entrusts to you,” the Holy Father affirmed; “to make the most of the time you spend here in Rome, in the heart of Christianity, as an opportunity to deepen your friendship with Jesus and to journey towards the aim of every true Christian life: holiness.”
The Pope then invited the new members of the Corps to nurture their spirit through prayer and by listening to the Word of God, to participate devotedly in Holy Mass and to cultivate filial devotion to the Virgin Mary, to carry out their special mission, working every day “acriter et fidelity,” bravely and faithfully.
“The tombs of the Apostles and the See of the Bishop of Rome are a crossroads for the journeys of pilgrims from all over the world. You therefore have the opportunity to touch with your hands the maternity of the Church who welcomes, in her own unity, the diversity of many peoples. You are able to encounter people of different languages, traditions and cultures, but who feel that they are brothers by virtue of their common faith in Jesus Christ.”
It is also important to experience fraternity, helping each other in daily tasks and mutually enriching one another, always remembering that “it is better to give than to receive.”
“By assuming this attitude, it will be easier to face with diligence and perseverance the tasks, large and small, of your daily service, giving witness to kindness and a spirit of welcome, selflessness and humanity towards all others.”
“Dear Guards, I hope that you may live your days intensely, steadfast in faith and generous in charity towards the people you meet,” Pope Francis concluded.
Pope Praying for Canadians, Especially Children, Who’ve Lost Homes in Wildfire by ZENIT Staff
Pope Francis has sent his prayers and assurance of closeness to all those affected by the fire raging in the northern Canadian region of Alberta.
A letter sent by Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, on behalf of the Pope says “the Holy Father is saddened by the destruction and suffering caused by the fires raging in the Fort McMurray area.”
Some 100,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in the area that has been devastated by a fire that has destroyed 1,600 buildings.
The letter to local bishops said “the Pope is praying for all the displaced people – especially children – who have lost their homes.”
An estimate of 20% of Fort McMurray homes have been burnt to the ground in the fire that started on May 1 and spread across 1,000 square kilometers.
But it could be months before the fire is fully brought under control. Officials warned only significant rainfall could fully halt its spread.[See full report at Vatican Radio]
Christian-Muslim Dialogue Group Offers 8 Joint Proposals by ZENIT Staff
The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies of Amman, Jordan, held their fourth colloquium in Rome last week.
The theme chosen was “Shared values in social and political life: Christian and Muslim perspectives.”
The theme was studied through three subthemes:
“Citizens and believers: Christian and Muslim perspectives”,
“Our shared values and respective particularities”
“Reaching out for the needy and the vulnerable: a common concern for Christians and Muslims”.
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran presided over the Catholic delegation, and His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the institute headed the Muslim delegation. Both delegations were received by Pope Francis on Wednesday 4 May.
At the end of the colloquium, the participants proposed the following:
1. We share beliefs and moral values. Our commonalities are much more than our particularities, and they constitute a solid basis for peacefully and fruitfully living together, also with persons of good will who do not profess a particular religion.
2. We believe in the humanising and civilising role of our religions, when their followers adhere to their principles of worshipping God and loving and caring for the other.
3. We believe that God bestowed upon every person dignity and inalienable rights. They are His gifts that should be recognised, guaranteed and protected by law.
4. We pledge our solidarity with our brothers and sisters in humanity who are in any kind of need regardless of their ethnic, religious or cultural background.
5. Our help to the poor and the needy should be offered out of compassion and for the sake of God’s favour. It should never be used to proselytise.
6. We believe that the youth represent not only the future of humanity. They are also an important part of its present. They have the right to proper education that prepares them to be good citizens respectful of diversity.
7. Our world, our “common home”, is going through many complicated crises and needs the steady efforts of its inhabitants to make it a suitable place where we can live together peacefully, sharing the resources of the universe, mindful of future generations.
8. We express our proximity and solidarity with all those who suffer, especially from violence and armed conflict. Respect for international law, dialogue, justice, mercy, compassion are values and adequate means to achieve peace and harmony.
Report on Vatileaks Trial by ZENIT Staff
On Saturday, a further hearing was held in the ongoing trial for the dissemination of reserved information and documents in Vatican City State Tribunal, according to information provided by the director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J.
The hearing was convoked for 9.30 a.m., and began with a slight delay. It was attended by the members of the Tribunal (Professors Giuseppe Dalla Torre, Piero Antonio Bonnet, Paolo Papanti-Pelletier and Venerando Marano), the Promoter of Justice (Professors Gian Pietro Milano and Roberto Zannotti), and all the defendants, Ángel Lucio Vallejo Balda, Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui, Nicola Maio, Emiliano Fittipaldi and Gianluigi Nuzzi with their respective legal representatives Emanuela Bellardini, Laura Sgrò, Rita Claudia Baffioni, Lucia Teresa Musso and Roberto Palombi.
The hearing was dedicated fully to the further examination of witnesses. Five “external” witnesses – those not employed by the Vatican – had been summoned, of whom three were present, request in the defence of Nuzzi. The hearing was therefore dedicated to the examination of Paolo Mieli, a renowned journalist, and two Venetian booksellers, Marco Bernardi and Paola Brazzale. Those who were not present, despite having received a court summons, will be summoned again for a subsequent hearing, as in one case a lawyer and in another the Promoter of Justice did not consider it appropriate to renounce their testimony. Following the interrogation of each witness, the report of the examination was read and approved.
The hearing ended at approximately 11.15 a.m. The next hearings will take place on Saturday, 14 May at 9.30 a.m., Monday 16 at 15.30 p.m. and Tuesday 17 at 10.30 a.m., and will be dedicated to further examination of witnesses.
President of Swiss Confederation Visits Pope by ZENIT Staff
On Saturday, the Pope received in audience Johann Schneider-Ammann, president of the Swiss Confederation, who subsequently met with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for Relations with States.
According to a statement from the Vatican, “The cordial discussions offered the opportunity to affirm the good relations between the Holy See and Switzerland, with particular acknowledgement of the faithful and professional service rendered by the Pontifical Swiss Guard. Appreciation was expressed for the positive contribution the Church makes in different fields in the country, in an atmosphere of serene collaboration. Mention was made of the professional education of young people, which plays an effective role in access to the world of work.
“Special attention was reserved to the theme of migration and policies of reception and integration, in the current European context. The parties then discussed the conflicts in the Middle East and the situation of sub-Saharan countries, revealing the need to strengthen efforts in favour of security and peace.”
On Friday, the Swiss Guard had their annual swearing-in ceremony and on Saturday, the new recruits and their families were received in audience by the Pope.
See report on the Pope’s address to the Guard here: https://zenit.org/articles/pope-to-swiss-guard-here-at-heart-of-christianity-deepen-your-friendship-with-jesus/
Pope’s Address to St. Peter’s Circle by ZENIT
Here is a ZENIT translation of the address Pope Francis gave today to the Members of Saint Peter’s Circle.
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Dear Members of Saint Peter’s Circle!
I greet you all affectionately and I thank your General President, Duke Leopold Torlonia, for his kind words. I express to each one of you my appreciation for what you do every day at the service of the weakest bands of the population of our city. Your Association, inserted in the ecclesial reality of the Diocese of Rome, is an expression of an “outgoing” Church: a Church that journeys to seek, visit, meet, hear, share and stay with the poorest persons. Each one of you is asked, not simply to go to encounter the neediest, but to go taking Jesus. It is the going of disciples, of friends of the Lord; it is about sharing His Word, that of the Gospel, of repeating His gestures of forgiveness, of love, of gift, of not seeking one’s own prestige, but the good of others.
You have before you the example of Our Lady, to whom we pray with particular devotion in this month of May. Like her, do not tire of “leaving,” of going in haste to meet and take God’s visit (cf.Luke 1:39). She carries God’s visit because she is in profound communion with Him. “Blessed is she who has believed” (Luke 1:45), Elizabeth says to her. Mary is the icon of faith. Only in faith is Jesus brought and not oneself. In this Holy Year of Mercy, while we make an effort to follow the way of the works of mercy, we are called to be renewed in the faith. To take the Lord’s visit to all those suffering in body and in spirit we must cultivate faith, that faith that is born from listening to the Word of God and seeks profound communion with Jesus.
I encourage you to continue in your witness of the Gospel of charity, to be increasingly a sign and instrument of God’s tenderness to every person, especially the most fragile and discarded.
I thank you also for Saint Peter’s Pence, which you collect in all the churches as a sign of your participation in the solicitude of the Bishop of Rome for the poverty of this city. May your meritorious charitable activity be sustained by prayer, to draw from Christ’s heart the love to give to brothers.
I entrust you, your families and your apostolic commitment to the protection of the Holy Virgin,Salus Populi Romani, and to the intercession of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. I ask you to sustain my ministry above all with prayer and I bless you from my heart.
[Original text: Italian]
[Translation by ZENIT]
Address by President of Nigerian Bishops to President Buhari by ZENIT Staff
Earlier this month, the bishop of Nigeria met with the president, Muhammadu Buhari.
Here is the address given on the occasion by Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, president of the Nigerian episcopal conference.
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Your Excellency,
On behalf of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), we the Archbishops and members of the Administrative Board, the highest decision making body of our Conference are here in person to congratulate you our President on your election as the leader of our great country and to express our solidarity and willingness to collaborate with you and with your administration in which we see hope for a greater Nigeria.
We recall with great delight your speech in February 2015 as a presidential candidate to us, the Catholic Bishops, which had the theme: “One Nation Bound in Freedom, Peace, Unity and Love”, in which you re-affirmed your commitment towards ensuring that Nigeria remains a multi-religious state where every individual is free to practice his or her religion of choice.
1: CHURCH-STATE COLLABORATION IN THE RECONSTRUCTION OF POST BOKO HARAM NIGERIA.
We commend your efforts in the fight against Boko Haram and against corruption. We encourage that justice be done according to the rule of law, with no sacred cows to be spared. These two monsters which you are tackling pretty well have threatened to destabilize Nigeria and to cripple our national growth and development. Although many people have been killed, many others rendered homeless and are without adequate means of livelihood, we commend you for being quite successful so far in repelling the insurgence from decimating Nigeria by halting its further advance.
Our Conference, using our Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria , CCFN, and our Justice, Peace and Development Commission (JDPC) have been doing what is within our limits to bring relief to the displaced persons. Notably, the Catholic Bishops of Maiduguri and Yola as well as Bishops in other parts of the country have hosted large numbers of Internally Displaced Persons. The CBCN sent a delegation to Cameroun with substantial relief materials to give succor to thousands of Nigerians taking refuge there. Some of our priests are currently residing there with the refugees to give them hope and spiritual/pastoral support. We hope your government and our Conference will continue to collaborate in respect of caring for the displaced persons. So we ask that whatever measures are being put in place by the government for rehabilitation and reconstruction we who have been involved from the beginning will be brought on board to share the concrete experience we have of what these our brothers and sisters have been going through. We believe that picking up the pieces of the havoc by Boko Haram will require that all hands be on deck. We would like a wider discussion on the issue of our partnership with State Governments in matters of the rehabilitation of the displaced persons and the reconstruction of their communities.
2: FARMERS/HERDSMEN CONFLICTS AND KILLINGS IN ALMOST ALL ZONES OF OUR COUNTRY.
The Agatu killings, the Nimbo killings and many other killings in Benue, Taraba, Nassarawa, Ondo, Edo, Delta and elsewhere should be seriously investigated, with the perpetrators unmasked and decisively dealt with. Our people cannot continue to live in perpetual fear of attacks by fellow Nigerians with criminal intent. Happily, we understand that you have ordered some investigations into the Agatu and Nimbo killings. For a more permanent peace between herdsmen and farmers in our country, some streamlining is necessary for the good of the cattle rearers in the North and for the welfare of farmers in the South and elsewhere in Nigeria.
Cattle ranches should be created in states known for cattle breeding, with adequate water and fodder provided and nurtured. Farmland for root crops and other plants should be protected for their specific products in states known for such. This will reduce or eliminate clashes stemming from trespassing. We certainly need these two sectors to supplement our near-total dependence on oil. But the fact that armed attacks and wanton killings have become a national threat, it should be declared an insurgency and treated as such, with the aim of dislodging the insurgents from occupied communities by the security/military operatives.
3: CHURCH/STATE PARTNERSHIP IN EDUCATION.
We believe that the national and State Governments have a duty, and in some cases have actually committed themselves by law, to fund the education of all children, from Primary 1 to JSS 3. In fact this is in the Federal New Policy on Education, under the 6-3-3-4 scheme. We wish to humbly remind your administration what you owe to all children, not only those in public schools. We are also demanding that children under our care who are citizens of our great country, in our faith- based institutions should enjoy similar privileges and not suffer any form of deprivation or discrimination because they happen to be in institutions run by faith-based organizations. There was a time when a healthy relationship existed between government and faith-based organizations in running schools and health institutions. Today, all sorts of levies are slammed on our institutions and the children. Instead of supporting faith-based institutions as is done in other countries, we experience what seems to suggest that mission schools are some sort of unhealthy competitors and the students are less Nigerian than those in public schools. As a way of improving holistic education we plead with the government to generously co-fund education/ health care of faith-based organizations while insisting that high standards be maintained. The government support for non-state actors should be increased against the background that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) require broad partnerships and the government alone cannot achieve the vision of the SDGs.
Our Catholic schools are more than private schools in the conventional sense; they are ‘Mission Schools’. The schools were not founded as profit-oriented establishments even if beneficiaries have to pay for services for the provision of quality education and the development of the institutions. Moreover, Catholic Mission Schools are not discriminatory. In addition, some children and wards of parents and guardians who cannot afford such quality education that the Mission schools render are also enrolled at the expense of the Church.
4: FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND THE DIFFICULTY OF GETTING LAND APPROVAL FOR CHRISTIAN RELGIOUS PURPOSES IN SOME PARTS OF THE NORTH
Your Excellency, we still recall in your speech, your firm commitment towards ensuring the right of Nigerians to their religious beliefs, which includes and not limited to, the right to erect places of worship. We bring to your notice that sad enough, Christians are still unable to erect places of worship in Federal Universities in the northern states. After forty years, Usman Dan Fodio and Bayero Universities, for example, have out-rightly denied Christians access to lands already allocated in the plans for the erection of Churches, in spite of there being so many mosques built by the university authorities. Similarly, it is such a herculean task for Christians to obtain certificates of occupancy to build Churches in some northern States. We urge you to kindly encourage State governments to kindly enforce the freedom of religion enshrined in our Constitution.
5: THE ECONOMIC SITUATION: OUR PEOPLE ARE GROANING.
The harsh economic situation in which our people are living presently is being felt everywhere. In many States, workers are worrying about their monthly salaries, many pensioners are crying for many months for unpaid pensions, while so many self-employed and non-employed persons and family dependents are groaning for their daily meal. As we thank you for the bail-out funds to cushion this hardship in various States, we urge you to ensure that these monies are used mainly to take care of salaries, pensions and their basic human needs.
6: CONCLUSION: OUR PATRIOTIC ASPIRATIONS AND COMMITMENT
Your Excellency, we are genuinely concerned about turning our country around and committed to helping this government make this happen. The issues mentioned above are nagging areas of concern for us as leaders of the Catholic Church. What we say applies to the Christian community in general. National stability and cohesion remain sore points against the backdrop of the indiscriminate loss of human lives in Nigeria. Life which is sacred is being taken at the whims and caprices of criminals or religiously confused or misguided individuals and groups. It is no good news for us and for our national image that people are kidnapped or killed without the slightest compunction.
Your Excellency, please be assured of our fervent prayers as you and your team struggle to overcome the multi-dimensional challenges facing us in the country. With God all things are possible. We remain optimistic that things can only get better. We are aware that to eat an omelet the egg must first be broken. We pray that the current economic hardships being faced by Nigerians due to the decline in oil prices and based on the desire to reposition things is temporary and hopefully, Nigerians will soon smile, based on the repeated assurances from you. We wish you a happy, peaceful and fruitful tenure and once again, please always count on our support for the common good of our country.
Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama
Catholic Archbishop of Jos
President, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria
May 2, 2016
Text was obtained by Aid to the Church in Need-USA
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Aid to the Church in Need is an international Catholic charity under the guidance of the Holy See, providing assistance to the suffering and persecuted Church in more than 140 countries. www.churchinneed.org (USA); www.acnuk.org (UK); www.aidtochurch.org (AUS); www.acnireland.org (IRL); www.acn-aed-ca.org (CAN) www.acnmalta.org (Malta)
Administrators Appointed for Byzantine, Chaldean Catholic Eparchies in USA by ZENIT Staff
Pope Francis named Archbishop William Skurla of the Byzantine Archeparchy of Pittsburg, as apostolic administrator of the Byzantine Eparchy of Parma, Ohio, and accepted the resignation of Bishop John Kudrick.
Pope Francis also accepted the resignation of Bishop Sarhad Y. Jammo, 75, from the pastoral governance of the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle, San Diego, California, and appointed Bishop Shlemon Warduni, auxiliary bishop of the Patriarchate of Babylon, as the apostolic administrator of the eparchy.
The appointments were publicized in Washington, May 7, by Msgr. Walter Erbì, chargé d’ affaires of the Nunciature of the United States.
Both, the Byzantine Eparchy of Parma and the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle, are now sede vacante until new bishops are appointed.
Eparchial Bishop Named for Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix by ZENIT Staff
Pope Francis has appointed the Most Reverend John Pazak, C.Ss.R., as Eparchial Bishop of the Holy Mary of Protection Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix, Arizona.
The Eparchy serves mainly the Ruthenian Catholics of western United States. At the time of his appointment, Bishop Pazak was the Eparchial Bishop of the Eparchy for Catholic Slovaks of the Byzantine Rite in Canada, which has its See in the Toronto region. The Holy Father has also appointed Bishop Pazak asApostolic Administrator “sede vacante” of the Eparchy for Catholic Slovaks of the Byzantine Rite in Canada — that is, while the See in Toronto is vacant.
Born on August 13, 1946, in Gary, Indiana, Bishop Pazak has been a member of the Redemptorists since 1965 and was ordained a priest in 1972. He has served in a number of pastoral roles in both Canada and the United States. In December 1, 2000, Saint John Paul II appointed him Eparchial Bishop of the Eparchy for Catholic Slovaks of the Byzantine Rite in Canada. As a member of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), Bishop Pazak has served on the former Commission for Social Communications of the English Sector (2001-2005), the former Commission for Christian Education of the English Sector (2005-2008), the Catholic and Anglican Bishops’ Dialogue (2008-2016), and the Commission for Justice and Peace since 2014. In October 2015, he was the CCCB delegate to the Santa Martha Group’s Third Conference on Human Trafficking, which was held in Spain.
The Holy Mary of Protection Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix has 19 parishes and missions, with a Catholic population of 2,254 served by 29 diocesan priests, one priest who is member of an institute of consecrated life, eight permanent deacons, and nine religious Sisters and Brothers.
Pope’s Address to Swiss Guard by ZENIT Staff
Here is a ZENIT translation of the Pope’s address Saturday to the new recruits of the Swiss Guard, and their families.
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Lord Commander,
Reverend Chaplain,
Dear Guards,
Dear Relatives and Friends of the Papal Swiss Guards
On the day after your celebration, I am happy to meet with you and to celebrate with you, also to express my appreciation and my gratitude for your service, your availability and your fidelity to the Holy See. A particular greeting goes to the recruits and to their relatives, as well as to the representatives of the Swiss Authorities present here. It is good to see young men, like you, who dedicate some years of their life to the Church, specifically to the Successor of Peter: it is a unique occasion to grow in the faith, to experience the universality of the Church, and to have an experience of fraternity.
To grow in the faith. You are called to live your work as a mission that the Lord Himself entrusts to you; to receive the time you spend here at Rome, in the heart of Christianity, as an opportunity to deepen your friendship with Jesus and to walk towards the aim of every true Christian life: holiness. Therefore, I invite you to nourish your spirit with prayer and listening of the Word of God; to participate with devotion in Holy Mass and to cultivate a filial devotion to the Virgin Mary, and thus fulfil your special mission, working every day “acritier et fideliter,” with courage and with fidelity.
To experience the universality of the Church. The Tombs of the Apostles and the See of the Bishop of Rome are the crossroads of pilgrims that come from all over the world. Thus you have the possibility to touch with the hand the maternity of the Church, which gathers in herself, in her unity, the diversity of so many peoples. You can encounter persons of different languages, traditions and cultures, but who regard themselves brothers because they share in common faith in Jesus Christ. It will do you good to discover their Christian testimony and to offer them, in turn, a serene and joyous evangelical witness.
To have an experience of fraternity. This is also important: to be attentive to one another, to support one another in your daily work and to be enriched mutually, remembering always that “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Know how to appreciate community life, the sharing of happy and of more difficult moments, paying attention to those among you who are in difficulty and sometimes are in need of a smile and of a gesture of encouragement and friendship. By assuming this attitude, you will also be favored in addressing with diligence and perseverance the small and big tasks of your daily service, witnessing kindness and a spirit of hospitality, altruism and humanity to all.
Dear Guards, I hope that you will live your days intensely, firm in the faith and generous in charity to the persons you meet. May our Mother Mary help you, whom we honor in a special way in the month of May, to experience increasingly every day that profound communion with God, which for us believers begins on earth and will be full in Heaven. In fact, we are called, as Saint Paul reminds us, to be “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19). I entrust you, your families, your friends and all those who have come to Rome, on the occasion of the oath taking, to the intercession of Our Lady, of your Patrons, Saint Martin and Saint Sebastian. I ask you, please, to pray for me, and I impart to you my heartfelt Apostolic Blessing.[Original text: Italian]
[Translation by ZENIT]
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