Recalling His Grandmother’s Carnival Biscuits, Pope Francis Explains Hypocrisy... from ZENIT of Roswell, Georgia, United States for Friday, 14 October 2016

Recalling His Grandmother’s Carnival Biscuits, Pope Francis Explains Hypocrisy... from ZENIT of Roswell, Georgia, United States for Friday, 14 October 2016
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Recalling His Grandmother’s Carnival Biscuits, Pope Francis Explains Hypocrisy by Deborah Castellano Lubov

Pope Francis has used his grandmother’s Carnival biscuits to make faithful better understand hypocrisy, in the way she used to explain it to him and his siblings as children.
During his morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta today, Francis drew his inspiration from today’s readings which show how dangerous being hypocritical can be, warning Christians against the Pharisees’ leaven, reported Vatican Radio.
Recalling there exists good leaven and bad leaven, Francis stressed that while the good builds up the Kingdom of God, the latter only creates its appearance.
While good leaven “always rises and grows in a consistent and substantial manner” and “becomes a good bread, a good pastry,” bad leaven, he cautioned, does not grow well.
“I remember that for Carnival, when we were children,” Francis recalled, “our grandmother made biscuits and it was a very thin, thin, thin pastry that she made. Afterwards, she placed it in the oil and that pastry swelled and swelled and when we began to eat it, it was empty. And our grandmother told us that in the dialect they were called lies – ‘these are like lies: they seem big but there’s nothing inside them, there’s nothing true there, there’s nothing of substance.’”
“And Jesus tells us,” the Pope continued, “‘Beware of bad leaven, that of the Pharisees.’ And what is that? It’s hypocrisy. Be on your guard against the Pharisees’ leaven which is hypocrisy.”
Hypocrisy, the Holy Father pointed out, is when we invoke God with our lips, but our hearts are distant from Him.
Spiritual Schizophrenia
“Hypocrisy is an internal division. We say one thing and we do another. It’s a kind of spiritual schizophrenia,” the Holy Father said. “In addition, hypocrisy is a dissembler: they seem good and polite but they have a dagger behind their backs, right?”
“Look at Herod: terrified inside but how politely he received the Magi! And then when he was bidding them farewell, he told them: ‘Go on your way and then come back and tell me where this child can be found so that I can go and worship him!’ To kill him! He’s a two-faced hypocrite, a pretender. Jesus when speaking to the doctors of the law, said: these say this and don’t do it:’ this is another type of hypocrisy.”
Francis called this phenomenon of people saying things and thinking that’s enough, without substance behind the words, “existential nominalism.” The Pope stressed, “Things must be done not just said.”
“In addition,” he added, “the hypocrite is unable to accuse him or herself: they never find a stain on themselves, they accuse others.Think about the splinter and the log right? And it’s in this way that we can describe that leaven which is hypocrisy.”
The Holy Father encouraged Christians to examine their consciences to understand “whether they are growing with good or bad leaven” by asking themselves:
“With what spirit am I doing things?
With what spirit am I praying? With what spirit do I turn to others? With a spirit that builds? Or with a spirit that becomes air?”
Imitate Children
Francis highlighted that the important thing is to truthful, and not to lie nor deceive others.
“How truthful children are when they confess their sins!” the Pontiff pointed out. “Children never ever tell a lie during confession; they never talk about abstract things. ‘I’ve done this, I’ve done that, I’ve done……’ Concrete things. Children talk about concrete things when they are in front of God and in front of other people.”
“Why is that?” he urged those present to consider. “It’s because they have good leaven, leaven that makes them grow like the Kingdom of God grows. May the Lord give all of us the Holy Spirit and the grace of that lucidity to discern with which leaven I am growing, with which leaven I am behaving. ”
Pope Francis concluded, urging all faithful to recognize whether they are being loyal, transparent people, or ‘hypocrites,’ and encouraged them imitate childlike truthfulness.
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Leader of US Bishops Makes Statement on Election by ZENIT Staff

As the US presidential election is only days away and the political climate is increasingly ugly, the leader of the US bishops’ conference released a statement on Thursday:
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At this important time in our nation’s history, I encourage all of us to take a moment to reflect on one of the founding principles of our republic – the freedom of religion. It ensures the right of faith communities to preserve the integrity of their beliefs and proper self-governance. There have been recent reports that some may have sought to interfere in the internal life of the Church for short-term political gain. If true, this is troubling both for the well-being of faith communities and the good of our country.
In our faith and our Church, Christ has given us a precious gift. As Catholics, we hold onto our beliefs because they come to us from Jesus, not a consensus forged by contemporary norms. The Gospel is offered for all people for all times. It invites us to love our neighbor and live in peace with one another. For this reason, the truth of Christ is never outdated or inaccessible. The Gospel serves the common good, not political agendas.
I encourage my fellow Catholic brothers and sisters, and all people of good will, to be good stewards of the precious rights we have inherited as citizens of this country. We also expect public officials to respect the rights of people to live their faith without interference from the state. When faith communities lose this right, the very idea of what it means to be an American is lost.
Politicians, their staffs and volunteers should reflect our best aspirations as citizens. Too much of our current political discourse has demeaned women and marginalized people of faith. This must change. True to the best hopes of our founding fathers, we are confident that we can and will do better as a nation.
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On his Oct. 2 return flight from Georgia and Azerbaijan, Pope Francis commented on the US presidential race. He said:
You are asking me a question about what you describe as a difficult choice, because in your view there are difficulties with both one and the other. During an election campaign, I never say a word. The people are sovereign, and all I will say is this: study the proposals well, pray, and choose in conscience!
Now, I will set the issue aside and speak about something theoretical, rather than speaking about the concrete problem. When a country has two, three or four candidates who are unsatisfactory, it means that the political life of that country is perhaps overly “politicized” but lacking in a political culture. One of the tasks of the Church and of higher education is to teach people to develop a political culture.
There are countries – I am thinking of Latin America – that are excessively politicized but lack a political culture. People belong to one party or another party or even a third, but for emotional reasons, without thinking clearly about the fundamentals, the proposals.
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Pope Francis’ Message for World Food Day by ZENIT Staff

On the occasion of the World Food Day, this Sunday Oct. 16, which this year has as theme: “The Climate Is Changing,” Pope Francis sent to the Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the following Vatican-provided message:
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To Professor José Graziano da Silva
Director General of the FAO
Illustrious Sir,
1. The fact that the FAO has chosen to devote today’s World Food Day to the theme “Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too”, leads us to consider the struggle against hunger as an even more difficult objective to attain in the presence of a complex phenomenon such as climate change. With regard to facing the challenges that nature poses to man, and that man poses to nature (cf. Enc. Laudato si’, 25), I would like to submit some reflections to the consideration of the FAO, its Member States and those who participate in its activity.
What is the cause of the current climate change? We must question our individual and collective responsibilities, without resorting to the facile sophistry that hides behind statistical data or conflicting predictions. This does not mean abandoning the scientific data we need more than ever, but rather going beyond merely interpreting the phenomenon or recording its many effects.
Our condition as people who are necessarily in relation to one another, and our responsibility as the guardians of creation and its order, require us to retrace the causes of the current changes and to go to their root. First and foremost, we must admit that the many negative effects on the climate derive from the daily behaviour of people, communities, populations and States. If we are aware of this, a mere evaluation in ethical and moral terms is not sufficient. It is necessary to act politically and therefore to make the necessary decisions, to discourage or promote certain behaviours and lifestyles, for the sake of the new generations and those to come. Only in this way can we preserve the planet.
The responses to be put into effect must be suitably planned, and cannot be the fruit of emotion or fleeting motives. It is important to plan them. In this task, an essential role is played by the institutions called upon to work together, inasmuch as the action of individuals, while necessary, becomes effective only if framed in a network made up of people, public and private bodies, and national and international apparatuses. This network, however, cannot remain anonymous; this network is fraternity, and must act on the basis of its fundamental solidarity.
2. Those who are engaged in work in the fields, in farming, in small-scale fishing, or in the forests, or those who live in rural areas in direct contact with the effects of climate change, are aware that if the climate changes, their life changes too. Their daily lives are affected by difficult or at times dramatic situations, the future becomes increasingly uncertain and in this way the thought of abandoning homes and loved ones begins to arise. There is a prevalent sense of abandonment, the feeling of being abandoned by institutions, deprived of possible technical contributions or even of just consideration on the part of all those of us who benefit from their work.
From the wisdom of rural communities we can learn a style of life that can help defend us from the logic of consumerism and production at any cost, a logic that, cloaked in good justifications, such as the increasing population, is in reality aimed solely at the increase of profit. In the sector in which the FAO works, there is a growing number of people who believe they are omnipotent, or able to ignore the cycles of the seasons and to improperly modify the various animal and plant species, leading to the loss of variety that, if it exists in nature, has and must have its role. Producing qualities that may give excellent results in the laboratory may be advantageous for some, but have ruinous effects for others. And the principle of caution is not enough, as very often it is limited to not allowing something to be done, whereas there is a need to act in a balanced and honest way. Genetic selection of a quality of plant may produce impressive results in terms of yield, but have we considered the terrain that loses its productive capacity, farmers who no longer have pasture for their livestock, and water resources that become unusable? And above all, do we ask if and to what extent we contribute to altering the climate?
Not precaution, then, but wisdom: what peasants, fisherman and farmers conserve in memory handed down through the generations and which is now derided and forgotten by a model of production that is entirely to the advantage of a limited group and a tiny portion of the world population. Let us remember that it is a model which, despite all its science, allows around eight hundred million people to continue to go hungry.
3. The issue is directly reflected in the emergencies that intergovernmental institutions such as the FAO are called upon to confront and manage on a daily basis, well aware that climate changes do not belong exclusively to the sphere of meteorology. How can we forget that climate contributes to making human mobility unstoppable? The most recent data tell us that there is increasing migration for climatic reasons, swelling the numbers of that convoy of the least, the excluded, those who are denied a role in the great human family. A role that cannot be granted by a State or by a status, but which belongs to every human being by virtue of being a person, with his or her dignity and rights.
It is not enough to be upset or moved by those who, at every latitude, ask for their daily bread. Decisions and action are needed. Very often, also as the Catholic Church, we have reiterated that the level of world production is sufficient to ensure food for all, provided that distribution is equitable. But can we still continue along this line, if market logic follows other routes, to the point of making food products a commodity like any other, to use produce increasingly for non-food uses, or to destroy food for the simple fact that there is excess in relation to profit and not to need? Indeed, we know that the mechanism of distribution remains theoretical if the hungry do not have effective access to foodstuffs, and if they continue to depend upon more or less conditional external support, if the correct relationship is not established between need and consumption, and not least, if waste is not eliminated and food loss is not reduced.
We are all required to cooperate in this change of course: political decision-makers, producers, those who work the land, fisheries and forests, and every citizen. Certainly, each one with his or her different responsibilities, but all in the same role of constructors of an internal order within nations and an international order that no longer permits that development be the prerogative of the few, nor that the goods of creation be the patrimony of the powerful. There is no lack of possibilities or positive examples and good practices that make available to us the experiences that can be followed, shared and spread.
4. The wish to act cannot depend upon the advantages that may derive from it, but is instead a requirement linked to the needs that are manifest in the lives of people and of the entire human family. Material and spiritual needs, but in any case real, not the fruit of the decisions of the few, of the fashions of the moment or models of life that make the person an object, human life a tool, even for experimentation, and the production of food a mere economic affair, to which it is possible to sacrifice even the food that is available, destined by its nature to ensure that every person may have a sufficient quantity of healthy food every day.
We are now close to the new phase that in Marrakech will call all States Parties to the Convention on climate change to give effect to these commitments. I echo the desire of many in expressing my hope that the objectives outlined by the Paris Agreement do not remain simply as good words, but rather that they are transformed into courageous decisions able to make solidarity not only a virtue but also a working model in economics, and fraternity no longer an aspiration but a criterion for domestic and international governance.
These, Mr. Director General, are some reflections I wish to extend to you at this moment, in which there are concerns, trepidations and tensions caused also by the climate question which is increasingly present in our daily lives and has an impact on the living conditions of so many of our brothers and sisters, including the most vulnerable and marginalised. May the Almighty bless your efforts in the service of humanity as a whole.
From Vatican City, 14 October 2016
FRANCIS[Original text: Spanish] [Vatican-provided working translation]
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Better Not to Be a Lukewarm Catholic or a Lukewarm Lutheran, Pope Says by Luca Marcolivio

An “ecumenical pilgrimage” brought Lutherans from the place of the 1517 schism to the See of Peter, in the heart of the Catholic Church, from which they have been separated for half a millennium.
A few months from the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and three weeks from his historic trip to Sweden, Pope Francis received Thursday in the Vatican the representatives of the German Lutheran Church, after having done the same last week with the English Anglicans, having also an ecumenical celebration of Vespers with their Primate, Justin Welby, at Saint Gregory al Celio.
The meeting was something for which to “thank God,” because now “we are walking on the path that goes from conflict to communion,” stressed the Holy Father during the audience granted to the Lutheran pilgrims in Paul VI Hall.
“We have already gone together over an important stretch of the road,” he continued. Along the way we have experienced contrasting sentiments: grief for the division that still exists between us, but also joy for the fraternity already rediscovered.
Francis expressed his satisfaction with the “very numerous and enthusiastic presence” of Lutherans in the Vatican, received as “an evident sign of this fraternity,” that “fills us with hope that mutual understanding might continue to grow.”
As Saint Paul recalls, “in virtue of our Baptism, we all form the one Body of Christ. In fact, the different members form only one body,” hence “we belong to one another and when one suffers, all suffer, when one rejoices, all rejoice (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:12-26),” recalled the Pontiff.
“We can continue our ecumenical path with confidence, because we know that, beyond the many questions that still separate us, we are already united,” added the Pope, re-launching the ecumenical “motto” put forward for the first time by Saint John XXIII: “What unites us is much more than what divides us!”
Then the Holy Father recalled the purpose of his planned trip to Lund, in Sweden, on October 31-November 1: to “remember, after five centuries of the beginning of Luther’s Reformation” and to thank the Lord “for fifty years of official dialogue between Lutherans and Catholics.”
In reality, he explained, an “essential part of this commemoration will be the turning of our gaze to the future in view of a common Christian witness to today’s world, which has so much thirst for God and His mercy.”
From all Christians, without distinctions, the world expects a “testimony” that renders “visible the mercy that God has in our relations through the service to the poorest, the sick, to those who have abandoned their land to seek a better future for themselves and for their dear ones.”
It is, in fact, “ in putting oneself at the service of the neediest” that “we experience our being already united”: it is, therefore, “God’s mercy that unites us,” affirmed the Pope.
The Bishop of Rome requested young people in particular to be “witnesses of mercy.”
“While theologians carry forward the dialogue in the doctrinal field, you must continue to seek with insistence occasions to meet one another, to get to know one another better, to pray together and to offer your help to one another and to all those who are in need,” he said to them.
By way of conclusion to his address, the Pontiff exhorted the Lutherans to be “free of all prejudice” and to trust “only the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” in order to become “protagonists of a new stage of this journey that, with God’s help, will lead to full communion.”
Responding to questions from the pilgrims, Pope Francis confirmed one of his strong convictions: proselytism is the “worst poison against ecumenism.”
He then stressed that “Ecclesia semper reformanda,” the Church is always subject to reforms, although, in the course of history, many of these were not very “happy,” and often “mistaken” or “exaggerated.” In any case, he added, “the most important reformers in the Church were the Saints,” many of whom, maybe, were not “theologians” but “humble people,” “with their soul bathed by the Gospel.”
To the question of one who asked him what he appreciated most of the Lutheran church, he answered: “I like Lutherans who truly follow the faith of Jesus Christ,” while “I don’t like lukewarm Catholics and lukewarm Lutherans.”
It is “hypocritical,” the Pope then said, “to defend Christianity in the West” and “throw out a refugee, a famished person, one who is in need of help.”
While hypocrisy is “the sin that Jesus condemns the most,” a true Christian always imitates the Good Samaritan, and gets his pointers from the Beatitudes.
The Holy Father posed the last provoking question to himself: “who is better between Evangelicals and Catholics?” And the answer – in German – was: “Besser sind alle zusammen. Vielen Dank!” or <they are> “better if they are all together. Thank you very much!”
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Pope Sends $100,000 to Haiti Relief Efforts by ZENIT Staff

Pope Francis, through the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, has established that a first contribution of $100,000 dollars will be donated to the relief effort in Haiti in the wake of Hurricane Matthew.
The Pontifical Council Cor Unum is the panel that oversees the Church’s charitable works.
Hurricane Matthew claimed as many as 1,000 victims in Haiti, one of the world’s poorest countries, which has still not recovered from the earthquake of 2010.
The Vatican’s donation, which will be disbursed in collaboration with the apostolic nunciature through the local Church in those dioceses most affected by the calamity, will be used to support aid works in favour of flood victims, and is intended as a first and immediate concrete expression of the sentiments of spiritual closeness and paternal encouragement of the Supreme Pontiff with regard to the afflicted persons and territories.
The contribution will be inserted within the aid network that was immediately activated throughout the Catholic Church and which has involved various episcopal conferences and a number of charitable organisations.
Caritas Haiti, in connection with Caritas Internationalis, immediately launched an emergency appeal to help 2,700 families (13,500 people) for the purchase and distribution of food kits, hygiene kits and the activation of programmes to advise and raise awareness among the population on the prevention of infectious illnesses.
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Pope’s Telegram for Death of King of Thailand by ZENIT Staff

Below is a ZENIT translation of the telegram of condolences Pope Francis sent upon learning of the death of the King of Thailand, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej:
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His Excellency Prayut Chan-o-cha
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand
I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and I extend my heartfelt condolences to the Members of the Royal Family and to all the people of the Kingdom at this sorrowful time. I pray that, as a fitting tribute to the late King’s legacy of wisdom, strength and fidelity, all Thais may work together to further the path of peace, and I willingly invoke upon all who mourn his passing the consolation of divine blessings.
Franciscus PP.[Original text: English] [Vatican-provided text]
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Archbishop Martin Considers Where Journey of ‘Safeguarding’ Has Taken Church in Ireland by ZENIT Staff

Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, the Primate of All Ireland, gave the following opening address at the National Board’s Safeguarding Conference in Tullamore, Co Offaly.
The archbishop considers how far the Church in Ireland has come in the effort to safeguard children from sexual abuse. He also addresses the difficult question of abusers and the challenges faced by those falsely accused.
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Introduction
Friends, this conference provides all of us with an opportunity to reflect on where the journey of ‘safeguarding’ in the Church has taken us. I am honoured – especially as a previous National Board member – to give the opening address. I encourage you to participate fully in this important event: by listening carefully to the presentations, by engaging in the discussions and feedback, and by offering your suggestions about how we might build upon the progress that we have already made.
National Board for Safeguarding
It is now twenty years since the publication in 1996 of the so-called ‘green book’: Child Sexual Abuse: Framework for a Church Response. Ten years later, at their ad limina visit in 2006, Pope Benedict XVI set out for the Irish Bishops the principles by which to guide our efforts in safeguarding. He said:
“In your continuing efforts to deal effectively with this problem, it is important to establish the truth of what happened in the past, to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent it from occurring again, to ensure the principles of justice are fully respected and, above all, to bring healing to the victims and all those affected by these egregious crimes‘.
Shortly after this the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland began its work in preliminary mode, although it was not formally incorporated until 2008. The Board has helped to bring us a long way. Still, we recognise that when it comes to safeguarding we can never say we have arrived at the point where our work is done. We continue to learn from best practice which is always evolving; we remain open to new ways of going about our work, to learning from our mistakes, and to identifying and responding to new challenges and emerging risks. In short, we avoid complacency.
When it comes to the protection of our little ones, and those who are most vulnerable, we want only the best, knowing that they are special in the eyes of God. Jesus said (Mark 9:37): “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”
Today, I want to thank Mr John Morgan (Chairman) and the members of the National Board who continue to help us identify, develop and disseminate best practice in the field. I thank Mrs Teresa Devlin and the staff of the National Office for the huge amount of work that has gone into the production and ‘roll-out’ of the revised Standards and Guidance materials during the past year. Of course the implementation of the Standards will take substantial commitment and effort from all of us, but great credit is due to all those who contributed their time and expertise in refining the materials and ensuring their compliance with developments in the statutory sector – north and south.
Safeguarding volunteers in parishes
An occasion like this also provides me with an opportunity to say thanks to you – the people who help to translate the words and aspirations on the pages of our safeguarding manuals into action and change on the ground. Risk to children, young people and the vulnerable is minimised when there is a pervasive ‘culture’ of safeguarding with everyone playing their part at every level of Church life. You represent the many hundreds of volunteers who care enough about children and their Church to become involved in this essential task. As designated persons, training facilitators, local and diocesan safeguarding representatives and Committee members, you are exercising your baptismal calling by bringing your gifts and expertise to the service of your local parish, diocese, religious community or congregation. It is your active commitment and vigilance, with the support of clear standards in Safeguarding and Guidance materials, which helps to maintain an environment that is as safe as possible for our children and young people.
Jubilee Year of Mercy and the Synod on the Family
We are in the Jubilee Year of Mercy, and Pope Francis is encouraging all of us to become more actively involved in the work of mercy. I see the work of safeguarding as a prophetic work of mercy in the Church today. This time last year I had the privilege of being present with Pope Francis at the Synod on the Family. Delegates from all over the world shared with us their experiences of real threats to children and the vulnerable. We heard about dangers to children due to forced migration of families, and about young people getting caught up in international networks of human trafficking. Other delegates spoke to us of the exploitation of children in prostitution or as cheap labour, as child soldiers or for organ trafficking.
We have seen for ourselves shocking scenes of little children being handed from choppy waters into the arms of rescuers, or washed up like discarded dolls on the seashore. I found it very disturbing during the summer to read that more than 600 unaccompanied children wander around the Calais refugee camp, clearly in a situation of great risk.
The risks are not always far away from us. We have learned to our shame that abuse of young people too often occurs in the very places where one might have thought they would be most safe and cared for, including, sadly, in their homes, schools, and parish communities.
Let us remain alert to potential risk situations here in Ireland with our increased rates of homelessness, forced home repossessions and alarming levels of violence in the home. We cannot ignore the bleak solution for children and their parents who are spending long periods in direct provision centres for asylum seekers in this country. Consider also the new challenges presented by social media, easily accessible pornography on the internet and the vulnerability of young people to those who would entrap or deceive them.
Let no one say the work of safeguarding is done. It remains an essential outreach of mercy towards the marginalised, the neglected and those most at risk. You are at the vanguard of this important work of mercy, witnessing prophetically from within the Church to the need for society always to be on the alert for danger and exploitation.
2016 Conference
This year’s conference will include a particular focus on two new standards to guide our safeguarding work: ‘Care of the Complainant’ and ‘Care of the Respondent’.
Pope Francis, by establishing and fully backing the work of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, has placed the healing of victims of abuse firmly within the work of the Gospel of Mercy. He sees outreach to those who have suffered abuse, and their families, as “an expression of the compassion of Jesus”. He has encouraged us to meet with victims and their loved ones, to listen to those who have suffered so greatly and to ask their forgiveness.
This essential work is not easy for victims and survivors and it is challenging for all of us in the Church. And mistakes have been made. I have at times failed to realise how easily my own words and approach can unintentionally come across as hurtful or defensive to those who have been betrayed and let down by Church leaders or other personnel in the past. As I said at our first National Conference last year, I am humbled by the resilience and fortitude of those who come forward to share their painful memories. There are deep emotions involved and sensitive listening is needed so that the Church’s response, both during and after any investigation, is compassionate, merciful, pastoral, proper and just.
Responding to survivors is particularly challenging and sensitive when it comes to issues of redress and compensation. These issues also need to be approached with openness, respecting the right to justice for survivors, respondents and all concerned.
A few years ago it would have been very difficult for us to address the issue of pastoral care for respondents at a Church safeguarding conference. Even today it is important for us not to deflect from the immense hurt and trauma of complainants by considering care for those who are accused of abuse. The work of mercy, however, compels us to reflect on the impact of accusations on those accused, on their family members and their communities.
For those falsely accused it can be very difficult for them to overcome the mistrust and suspicion that sometimes accompanies lengthy criminal, civil and canonical processes. Despite a lot of media attention and speculation, bishops and religious superiors are often unable to clarify publicly the precise status of the investigation and the details surrounding it. No two cases are identical. Even when criminal, civil or canonical processes are concluded, risk assessments by professionals may indicate continued grounds for concern or intervention. Still, having regard to all the particularities of a given case, Church authorities must remain open to constructive criticism about the implementation of our procedures. There remains much work to be done in this regard and I trust that the new standard and associated guidance will assist us with this effort.
Regarding priests and religious who are found guilty of the sexual abuse of minors, Pope Benedict XVI had strong words to say in his letter to the Catholics of Ireland in 2010:
“You betrayed the trust that was placed in you…you must answer for it before Almighty God and before properly constituted tribunals. You have brought shame and dishonour upon your confreres; you violated the sanctity of the sacrament of Holy Orders… ”
He went on:
“I urge you to examine your conscience, take responsibility for the sins you have committed, and humbly express your sorrow…Openly acknowledge your guilt, submit yourselves to the demands of justice, but do not despair of God’s mercy”.
The Church’s response to those found guilty is one of the most delicate and controversial issues in safeguarding. In a society which demonises and clamours for permanent exclusion of such offenders one wonders how to strike the balance between mercy and justice, seeking redemption for the offender while always being careful not to compound the lifelong trauma of survivors. Whilst we must be mindful of the view that when offenders are ostracised and cut off from support there is a greater danger of reoffending, it is widely recognised now that those found guilty of sexual abuse of minors cannot minister again as priests. As Pope John Paul II said in 2002: ‘There is no place in the priesthood for those who would harm the young’.
Towards Healing and Towards Peace
I wish to avail of this opportunity to acknowledge the vital work of the Church’s ‘Towards Healing‘ initiative which aims to provide outreach to survivors of abuse in a professional and timely manner. As well as contributing to safeguarding by reporting appropriately to the civil authorities on behalf of clients, Towards Healing has, over the past five years, provided more than 150,000 face-to-face counselling sessions and taken nearly 120,000 helpline calls. Its advocacy service has supported almost 800 clients and it continues to develop a raft of listening, referral, mediation and restorative justice services for individuals, groups or families.
Towards Healing is truly the work of mercy, as is ‘Towards Peace’, the Church’s spiritual support service for survivors who wish to avail of it. We must always remember that abuse not only damages lives, past and present, but it is also, as Pope Francis has said, “toxic” to faith and hope in God.
One of the painful legacies of the traumatic chapter of abuse in the Church is that individuals and families who were once at the heart of parish life, helping as altar servers, volunteers or helpers, often highly supportive of their local priests, had that trust cruelly ripped apart by abusive behaviour, and then their hurt compounded further by an attitude of disbelief or an inappropriate response when they courageously came forward with their story. It is no wonder that many survivors of abuse have lost a sense of belonging to the Church. Towards Peace is there for those do come forward desiring to begin the process of spiritual healing and reconciliation. Its spiritual direction and support services are spiritual works of mercy.
Day of Prayer for Survivors of Abuse
In this context I wish to mention that, in response to Pope Francis’ request, we will have the first dedicated day of prayer in Ireland for the survivors of abuse. It will take place on the First Friday of Lent next year and it will provide an opportunity at local level for parishes and congregations to pray for all those involved in the work of safeguarding, for healing in the lives of those deeply wounded by abuse, for atonement and ongoing purification of all members of the Church in this regard, and for raising awareness of the ongoing need for prevention of abuse in parishes, homes and families.
I am mindful of the prayer on the Healing Stone which was placed before the altar during the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin four years ago. That stone now greets pilgrims to the penitential island of Lough Derg. It reads: ‘Lord, we are so sorry for what some of us did to your children: treated them so cruelly, especially, in their hour of need. We have left them with a lifelong suffering. This was not your plan for them or us. Please help us to help them. Guide us, Lord, Amen’.
Safeguarding the Future
One thing we can be sure of, as we gather here for our annual conference, is that the work of safeguarding and outreach remains relevant and essential. Its place within the work of mercy reminds us that it should not be seen as extraneous to pastoral ministry and the work of the Gospel, but an essential and intrinsic element of the pastoral ministry and mission of the Church. We are called to heal what has been described as this “deep wound in the Body of Christ”. By placing the needs of children and our most vulnerable parishioners in paramount pastoral position, we enhance, rather than diminish our pastoral practice.
At the beginning of this Year of Mercy Pope Francis said: “Mercy is not contrary to justice but is the behaviour of God toward the sinner.” (Misericordiae Vultus, 21), and again:
“The Church starts from the real-life situations of today’s families, all in need of mercy, beginning with those who suffer most. With the Merciful Heart of Jesus, the Church must draw near and guide the weakest of her members, who are experiencing a wounded or lost love, by restoring confidence and hope, as the beacon light of a port or a torch carried in the crowd, to illuminate those who have lost their way or find themselves in the midst of a storm” (MV, 25).
May God bless you in your work and continue to guide us all in the merciful work of safeguarding.
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Evangelii Gaudium and Missionary Disciples in Medicine by Bishop James Conley

Here is the address given by Bishop James Conley of Lincoln to the Catholic Medical Association’s 85th Annual Educational Conference on Thursday. It is reprinted from the Southern Nebraska Register.
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Esteemed members of the Catholic Medical Association, dear friends in Christ,
I am very glad to be with you for this 85th Annual Educational Conference of the Catholic Medical Association. And it is especially good to be with you in Washington, DC, the capital of our nation, and the heart of so much of Catholic life in the United States.
Just about three miles east of here is the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, one of the most magnificent churches in America, dedicated to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, the patroness of our country. Perhaps some of you had the privilege to be at the basilica a year ago last month, when Pope Francis canonized St. Junipero Serra.
St. Junipero Serra died in 1784, just six years before Washington DC was founded. He was a Franciscan missionary in California. He founded 21 missions up and down the California coast, where native Californians heard the Gospel, had recourse to justice as California was colonized, and had access to new kinds of education and healthcare.
The missions of St. Junipero Serra are often criticized for being a part of the Spanish colonization of Native American lands. But the real story is much more complex. European colonization of the United States is a fact in history. In the face of that fact, the choice of Junipero Serra was to become a leaven for the Gospel in a new society—to represent the rights of all people, to serve the dignity of every human person, to call all people, from every society, to truth, to repentance, and to holiness in Jesus Christ.
In fact, since the fifteenth century—more than five hundred years ago– missionaries in the Americas have given themselves heroically to bring Christ to a world in need of his mercy. And since the founding of our nation, Catholics, and other Christian believers, have gone to great lengths to build the foundation for a society animated by the charity, mercy, justice, and peace of life in Jesus Christ. For more than 500 years, the missionaries of the Gospel have worked to build a culture of life in this land.
Here, in our nation’s capital, we need to remember that Christians have been working to build a virtuous community in America since long before the idea of the United States was ever formulated.
But the truth is that the values of those Christian missionaries, and the virtues they cultivated in the indigenous people of this land, have been largely replaced in the United States.
37 years ago this week, in 1979, Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. When she accepted the award, she told the world that “the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion.” She told them that abortion “is a direct war, a direct killing.”
“If a mother can kill her own child,” Mother Teresa famously asked the world, “what is left for me to kill you and you kill me – there is nothing between.”
In the 37 years since Mother Teresa spoke, the values of the Gospel have been replaced in America by technocratic moral reasoning and scientific reductionism. This is nowhere more obviously true than in the field of medicine.
Our nation has become convinced that we are only the sum total of what we can observe, and the only meaning to our lives is the meaning we choose to assign. Our nation has become convinced that the beautiful and complex human person is, in the words of Francis Crick, “nothing but a pack of neurons.”
Jacques Monod, the evolutionary biologist who won a Nobel Prize a few years before Mother Teresa, wrote that “Man has to understand that he is a mere accident.”
Abortion, and morally relativist technocratic reasoning, have ushered in abysmal practices of assisted reproduction, and euthanasia, and the rejection of our very identities in the false “treatment” of gender dysphoria. Technocratic reductionism only leads to radical individualism, and the triumph of strong over the weak. In the few decades, healthcare has abandoned the protection of your conscience, severed your real relationships with patients, and lost faith in the potential of medicine to bring real hope and possibility to people who need it.
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The new values of Western society are part of the reason why Pope Francis wrote his beautiful exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, three years ago. In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis tells us that we are all called “to embark upon a new chapter of evangelization” in the modern world.
The pope says that our work as evangelists should be marked by the “joy” of life in Jesus Christ. He says that “the Joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew.”
As Catholic missionary disciples of Jesus, our responsibility and mission is to witness to our own rebirth in Jesus Christ, and to invite others, in truth, charity, and joy, to be reborn through life in Christ.
Pope Francis says that Evangelii Gaudiumis a call for a “missionary option… a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything.”
“Transforming everything” is an ambitious goal. But it is obvious to many of you that we need a kind of total transformation in our national life, and in the work of healthcare that you are dedicated to.
Without a total transformation, the future of healthcare in America is grim, at best. In fact, without a total transformation, the future of America is pretty bleak. But God gives us the grace and the mission to change that.
Transforming a broken culture is not an easy task. That is the reason why Evangelii Gaudium tells us that we need to become men and women of prayer before anything else. The pope invites us to “a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ,” so that we might “receive the love which restores meaning to our lives.” Pope Francis tells us that the transformation of the world for holiness begins with the transformation of our hearts for holiness.
Christ, and Christ alone, is the great and eternal healer. If your medical practice is to bring the deepest kind of healing, it will be because you are a conduit of the mercy of Christ the Healer. And to be a conduit of grace, you must receive the grace of God, in prayer and in the sacramental life.
To know God’s voice, you must be men and women who seek to hear him every day—in Sacred Scripture, in private devotion, and especially in the sacramental life. Regular confession, and daily Mass, whenever possible, transform us in faith and life. Nothing prepares to be missionaries if we are not prepared as disciples of Jesus Christ and his Church.
Holiness, attained from the starting point of deep friendship with God, is a palpable reality—and the sense of that palpable reality discredits the lie that man is a biological machine, operating in a system in which there is nothing more than mechanics and genetics.
If we wish to transform the culture of death—the throwaway culture, as Pope Francis calls it, each one of us must begin on our knees, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, the source of all healing, and all truth.
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The second point of Evangelii Gaudiumis that our entire lives must be missionary lives. Your colleagues hunger for the joy of Christ’s real mercy. Your patients hunger for the hope of life in the Lord. And “transforming everything” requires us to articulate the joy we have of life in Christ, and to make real invitations to those we know. To invite Catholic colleagues to daily Mass. To begin a Bible study in the hospital. To form friendships based on real things, in which we can hear the needs of our friends, and respond with the mercy of God.
And on a broader level, becoming missionaries requires that you give public witness to truth. Pope Francis said in 2013 that medical professionals must “be witnesses and propagators of the culture of life.”
Evangelii Gaudiumsays that there are two kinds of public witness to truth. The first is the witness of charity. Catholic physicians are among the most generous I know. They treat the poor, often without expecting anything. They make time for struggling families. They accompany the weak, the marginalized, the disabled. This kind of witness speaks to the reality of life in Christ, and to the joy of live in Christ.
But the other kind of witness is speaking, publicly, in medical circles, and in our communities, and in the public square—the media– about the danger of falsehood in medicine, and about the beauty and integrity of the human person.
These kinds of missionary witnesses—mercy, and truth—can’t be separated. Each supports and gives credibility to the other, and credibility to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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We are in the midst of the most dispiriting Presidential election that any of us can remember. None of us are happy with the choices we have, because none of our choices reflect integrity or truth. Each of us has to discern how best we can support the culture of life in this election, but the choices are not good. But there are two lessons for us to learn in this election.
The first is that we cannot expect the government to transform our culture. We cannot expect that voting for “the right person” will transform everything. Of course, we need to work in the political sphere to build good policy. But culture really transforms politics. And hearts transform culture. Lasting renewal of Christian culture—lasting renewal of the civilization of love—comes through the transformation of one heart at a time, one person who experiences the joy of the Gospel, and then another, and then another. And that kind of transformation requires a real investment, on our parts, in the real lives of other people. We can’t hide that responsibility. At the end of our lives, we’ll be judged by our fidelity to that mission.
The second lesson is that world is hurting, confused, misguided, and broken. Christ works in our pain, confusion, and brokenness. This election evidences a truth: there has never been a moment when the Gospel is more sorely needed. Without it, the consequences for our nation, and for our children, born and unborn, will become ever more dire. And in pain, and confusion, and brokenness, there has never been a moment when the world will be more open to the Gospel. Our nation is desperately looking for answers to very big questions. And Jesus Christ is the answer to every human question ever posed.
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Christ’s presence really can transform everything. The Gospel really does make all things new. That is the lesson of Evangelii Gaudium. Pope Francis says that “it is vitally important for the Church today to go forth and preach the Gospel to all: to all places, on all occasions, without hesitation, reluctance or fear. The joy of the Gospel is for all people: no one can be excluded.”
It is vitally important that you medical professionals preach the Gospel in your hospitals, and offices, and medical schools, without hesitation, reluctance, or fear. May the Lord, who transforms everything, transform your hearts with courage, zeal, and joy.
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Constant Prayer by Archbishop Francesco Follo

Roman Rite
Ex 17.8 – 13; Ps 121; 2 Tim 3.14 4.2; Lk 18, 1-8
Ambrosian Rite
Is 60.11 to 21 [1 Pt 2, 4-10]; Ps 117; B 15-17.20-21; Lk 6.43 to 48
Third Sunday of October
Dedication of the Milan cathedral
1) Constance of prayer: we must pray always.
This Sunday’s Gospel begins with this sentence: “At that time, Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary” and ends with the Messiah’s question: “When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth? “ In addition to the invitation to constant prayer, St. Luke draws attention to the question of constant faith. Will we be able to keep it steady, or will it be only a matter of giving and taking for the solution of our problems?
Regarding prayer, though Jesus’ statement about the need to pray with perseverance, persistence and confidence are never questioned, the question that immediately comes to mind is: “How is it possible to pray always?” If it is true that prayer is the breath of faith (Pope Francis), therefore to pray is a necessity because if we stop breathing we stop living. This spiritual breath is not as automatic and spontaneous as the natural breathing. What is spontaneous in nature in the spirit is the result of asceticism and a work that, we could say, is a fight that involves all energies.
To listen, to meditate, to talk and to be silent in front of the speaking Lord is an art that is learned by practicing it constantly. Prayer is a gift that asks to be welcomed. It is God’s work, but it requires commitment and continuity on our part. Continuity and consistency are important.
Persevering in prayer we will understand and experience that the prayer is the breath of life in the same way as love is breath for two people that are in love.
Prayer is our communion with the Son and the Father in the Holy Spirit that brings us into communion with the creation and with our brothers and sisters. Prayer is the human life fully realized. For this reason, we must pray always without becoming discouraged if God seems deaf to our prayer. It is not important what He gives us. Important is that we are with him and we trust him. This is the real fruit of prayer. It is like an open channel in which flows the oxygen of God, the life of God that we breathe.
In profound friendship with Jesus, living in him and with him the filial relationship with the Father and through faithful and constant prayer, we can open the windows over God’s Heaven. Moreover, following the path of prayer we can help others to follow it. Even for the Christian prayer it is true that, walking this path, other paths, that must be faithfully followed, can be open.
Saint Teresa of Calcutta taught: “The fruit of silence is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of love is service. The fruit of service is peace “. To the question that a nun had asked on how to learn to pray, this great and humble saint replied: “Praying”. She added: “We are not asked to be good, but to be faithful. Start and end the day with prayer. Go to God like children. If you find it hard to pray, you can say: ‘Come, Holy Spirit, guide me, protect me, and clear my mind so that I can pray’. Prayer does not require you to interrupt your work, but to continue the work as if it were a prayer. What matters is being with Him, live in Him, in His will. “In order to be with Christ it is not necessary to have a doctorate of any kind but just to be like Mother Teresa, a person of prayer and faith. It is enough to be like the farmer, a parishioner of Ars, that every evening after work in the fields went to church and spent a long time there without opening his mouth but contemplating Christ on the cross. To the question of the Saint Curé of Ars on how he filled that long prayer time, this humble worker of the land answered: “I look at him (the Christ) and He looks at me.”
2) Constance of faith: we must always persevere in faith.
In the first paragraph, I tried to give cues regarding the question “how to pray always?” Now I will try to sketch an answer to the question of Christ: “The Son of man, when he returns, will he find faith on earth?”
There is a strong link between faith and prayer, because faith is tireless prayer.
Perhaps we do not understand that it is the Lord that desires our cry, our constant prayer. Even when He seems to disappear from our lives and when we feel like the widow of today’s Gospel, He tells us tenderly: “Let me hear your voice, show me your tears, tell me what there is in the profound of your heart”
It is the concrete experience of God’s love and help that everyone has in his life that gives us the certainty that, even when we do not see or we face darkness, the justice and the love of God are at work. Everything will be clear only at the end, when we will have the perfect vision. Now, we are asked to trust God, namely to have faith. A faith that is not easy, and requires strength, firmness and a perseverance like the one of the widow of the Gospel, and the one of Paul who exhorts: “I urge you, brothers, to fight with me in prayer” (Romans 15, 30). In the Greek version the verb is “sunagonizein” (= with agony), indicating the decisive and supreme fight.
The important thing is to believe in the love of Christ, who on the cross shows us that He loves us more than himself. We will then understand that the need to pray always and relentlessly is the necessity of love. Only a loving heart prays faithfully and relentlessly and responds incessantly to the voice of his Beloved. Praying is not madness, or alienation. Prayer is the encounter with the friend that we do not deserve but who offered himself to us, provisional and precarious human beings.
The verb “to pray” has the same root as “precarious”, which means to be a person who gets something only if the other gives it to him. Our relationship with God and with people is always precarious. Every human relationship is precarious, because we have it only if we want it, and if the other gives it to us for free. Prayer is the fundamental act of a relationship that exists between people.
The first thing we teach to a child is to ask and say thank you. This is fundamental. It is the relationship. Otherwise there is only fetishism and reification because, if we do not live an attitude of gratitude, what matters are things and not people.
For this reason, it is necessary to pray always, at all times and in all places, as Jesus did especially at the time of the Crucifixion. With his constant prayer, so persevering as to be made even on the Cross, Jesus leads us to faith and total trust in God and in his will. Jesus wants to show that the God, who so loved humanity and the world to send his only begotten Son (see Jn 3:16), is the God of Life, the God who brings hope and is able to solve humanly impossible situations. The trusting prayer of a believer, then, is a living witness of the presence of God in the world, of his interest in humanity and of his doing to carry out his plan of salvation.
Of this faithful and constant prayer made in faith, the consecrated virgins in the world are a simple and clear example. These women have consecrated themselves because they believed in the merciful and faithful love of God. For this faith, they have put their entire lives under the sign of mercy and loyalty. Loyalty is persevering and unconditional commitment. God has offered himself to us, once and for all, in his Word. He has never taken it back. To believe is to give one’s word, to commit to one who has committed to us with no return. Consequently, these women are faithful, persevering and tenacious. They never take back the wows pronounced at the consecration. They do not abandon the good cause of God who manifested himself to them as a Person for whom it is worth living.
Gladly they have given everything of themselves, body and soul, because virginity is not only a state of the body but it is primarily a virtue of the soul. With their consecration, lived humbly in the world, they show that a life given to God in prayer and in the shadows, and virginity are the fruit of prayer and of a faithful and fervent love for Christ. Without love for Christ one cannot be a virgin. Finally, it is worth remembering that the Christian virginity has as model the Virgin Mary. She has been the virgin par excellence, the one open to the action of God. If God became incarnate in her, he did it because of her availability.
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Patristic Reading
Saint Augustin of Hippo
Sermo 65
On the words of the gospel, Lc 18,1 “They ought always to pray, and not to faint,” etc. And on the two who went up into the temple to pray: and of the little children who were presented unto Christ.
The lesson of the Holy Gospel builds us up unto the duty of praying and believing, and of not putting our trust in ourselves, but in the Lord. What greater encouragement to prayer than the parable which is proposed to us of the unjust judge? For an unjust judge, who feared not God, nor regarded man, yet gave ear to a widow who besought him, overcome by her importunity, not inclined thereto by kindness.1 If he then heard her prayer, who hated to be asked, how must He hear who exhorts us to ask? When therefore by this comparison from a contrary case theLord had taught that” men ought always to pray and not to faint,”2 He added and said, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man shall come, thinkest thou that He shall find faith on the earth?”3 If faith fail, prayer perishes. For who prays for that which he does not believe? Whence also the blessed Apostle, when he exhorted to prayer, said, “Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved.”4 And in order to show that faith is the fountain of prayer, he went on and said, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?”5 So then that we may pray, let us believe; and that this same faith whereby we pray fail not, let us pray. Faith pours out prayer, and the pouring out of prayer obtains the strengthening of faith. Faith, I say, pours out prayer, the pouring out of prayer obtains strengthening even for faith itself. For that faith might not fail in temptations, therefore did the Lord say,” Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.”6 “Watch,” He saith, “and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” What is to “enter into temptation,” but to depart from faith? For so far temptation advances as faith gives way: and so far temptation gives way, as faith advances. For that you may know, Beloved, more plainly, that the Lord said, “Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation,” as touching faith lest it should fail and perish; He said in the same place of the Gospel “This night hath Satan desired to sift7 you as wheat, and I have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith fail not.”8 He that defendeth prayeth, and shall not he pray who is in peril? For in the words of the Lord, “when the Son of Man shall come, thinkest thou that He shall find faith on the earth?” He spoke of that faith, which is perfect. For it is scarce found on the earth. Lo! this Church of God is full: and who would come hither, if there were no faith? But who would not remove mountains, if there were full faith? Look at the very Apostles: they would not have left all they had, have trodden under foot this world’s hope, and followed the Lord, if they had not had great faith; and yet if they had full faith, they would not have said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”9 See again, that man confessing both of himself (behold faith, yet not full faith), who when he had presented to the Lord his son to be cured of an evil spirit, and was asked whether he believed, answered and said, “Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief.10 “Lord,” says he, “I believe,” I believe; therefore there was faith. But “help Thou mine unbelief,” thereforethere was not frill faith.
But inasmuch as faith belongs not to the proud, but to the humble, “He spake this parable unto certain who seemed to themselves to be righteous, and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee said, God, I thank Thee that I am not as the rest of men.”11 He might at least have said, “as many men.” What does, “as the rest of men,” mean, but all except himself? “I,” he says, “am just, the rest are sinners.” “I am not as the rest of men, unjust, extortioners, adulterers.” And, lo, from thy neighbour, the publican, thou takest occasion of greater pride. “As,” he says, “this publican.” “I,” he says, “am alone, he is of the rest.” “I am not,” says he, “such as he is, through my righteous deeds, whereby I have no unrighteousness.” “I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.”12 In all his words seek out for any one thing that he asked of God, and thou wilt find nothing. He went up to pray: he had no mind to pray to God, but to laud himself. Nay, it is but a small part of it, that he prayed not to God, but lauded himself. More than this he even mocked him that did pray. “But the Publican stood afar off;”13 and yet he was in deed near to God. The consciousness of his heart kept him off, piety brought him close. “But the Publican stood afar off:” yet the Lord regarded him near. “For the Lord is high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly.”14 But “those that are high” as was this Pharisee, “He knoweth afar off. “The high” indeed “God knoweth afar off,” but He doth not pardon them. Hear still more the humility of the Publican. It is but a small matter that he stood afar off; “he did not even lift up his eyes unto heaven.” He looked not, that he might be looked upon. He did not dare to look upwards, his conscience pressed him down: but hope lifted him up. Hear again, “he smote his breast.” He punished himself: wherefore the Lord spared him for his confession. “He smote his breast, saying, Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.” See who he is that prays. Why dost thou marvel that God should pardon, when he acknowledges his own sin? Thus thou hast heard the cases of the Pharisee and Publican; now hear the sentence; thou hast heard the proud accuser, thou hast heard the humble criminal; hear nowthe Judge. “Verily I say unto you.” The Truth saith, God saith, the Judge saith it. “VerilyI say unto you, That Publican went down from the temple justified rather than that Pharisee.”15 Tell us, Lord, the cause. Lo! I see that the publican goes down from the temple justified rather than the Pharisee. I ask why? Dost thou ask why? Hear why. “Because every one that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”16 Thou hast heard the sentence, beware of its evil cause. In other words, thou hast heard the sentence, beware of pride.
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New Head of Jesuits Elected by Deborah Castellano Lubov

Venezuelan Jesuit Father Arturo Sosa has been elected new Superior General of the Society of Jesus.
According to Vatican Radio, the announcement of the newly-elected leader came this morning in the Vatican, as the Jesuits are meeting in Rome for their 36th General Congregation.
Fr. Sosa succeeds the 80-year-old Fr. Adolfo Nicolas, who, in 2014, announced his resignation.
After days of prayer and discernment, 212 electors representing the nearly 17,000 Jesuits working around the world chose Fr. Sosa as their leader.
Born in Caracas on Nov. 12, 1948, Arturo Sosa would go on to obtain a doctorate in political sciences, before entering the Jesuits and, in 1977, being ordained a priest.
During their General Congregation, the Jesuits use a new electronic voting system on tablets for most of the proposals they are discussing, but, for the election of their leader, they continue the traditional method of paper ballots.
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2016 Poverello Medal Goes to Aid to the Church in Need by ZENIT Staff

The international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has been awarded the 2016 Poverello Medal, the Franciscan University of Steubenville’s highest non-academic honor.
In a ceremony at the school Oct. 11, 2016, ACNUSA Chairman George J. Marlin accepted the award on behalf of the organization, saying the award “truly honors the men and women, the bishops, priests and religious who battle for their lives every day in countries like Syria and Iraq and wherever the faith is threatened.”
The pontifical foundation joins the company of distinguished previous recipients of the Poverello Medal, including St. Teresa of Calcutta, Father Benedict Groeschel, CFR, and the Little Sisters of the Poor. “Aid to the Church in Need reflects St. Francis’ great love of the poor and suffering,” said Franciscan University President Father Sean O. Sheridan, TOR, adding that school is pleased to award the honor “to an organization that has demonstrated such love and concern for the suffering Church.”
Mr. Marlin stressed that, with the rise of ISIS, Christianity is “at risk of disappearing from the lands of its birth.” ACN has the urgent mission, he said, “to let the world know of the situation in the Middle East.” Besides providing the persecuted and suffering Church in the region with humanitarian and pastoral support, the ACNUSA chairman said that the organization “has the calling of speaking up for those without a voice.”
In 2015, ACN committed $20M in providing Christians in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon with shelter, food, medical and education for children and youth. Overall, the organization last year funded 6200 projects in 140 countries. The Church in Africa—blessed with rapid growth but having to cope with poverty and Islamic radicalism in Nigeria, Kenya, Sudan and elsewhere—received close to $30M in funding to meet various urgent needs of the Church, representing more than 3,000 projects.
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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)
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