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The Church Needs Religious on the Streets, Says Pope by Kathleen Naab
Pope Francis praised the patrimony of the Little Work of Divine Providence today, noting as he addressed participants in their General Chapter that during their founder’s time, members of the congregation were called “the running priests,” because they were always quickly moving to those in need.
The Pope said this today as he received in audience the participants in the 14th General Chapter of the Little Work of Divine Providence, which was founded by St. Luigi Orione (1872-1940).
The chapter’s theme is “Servants of Christ and of the Poor,” and the Chapter Fathers have elected a new Superior General, Father Tarcisio Vieira.
“The proclamation of the Gospel, especially in our days, requires much love of the Lord, joined to a particular initiative,” the Pope told them.
Referring to them being called the running priests, he said, “‘Amor est in via,’ reminded Saint Bernard, love is always on the way, love is always setting out. With Don Orione, I also exhort you not to remain closed in your environments, but to go ‘out.'”
“There is so much need of priests and Religious that do not stay only in charitable institutions,” the Holy Father continued, affirming that this work is necessary, but that there is also a need to “bring to every environment, including the most distant, the perfume of Christ’s charity.”
“Never lose sight either of the Church or of your Religious Community, indeed your heart must be there in your ‘cenacle,’” he said, “but then it is necessary to go out to bring God’s mercy to all, indistinctly.”
On ZENIT’s Web page:
Full text: https://zenit.org/articles/popes-address-to-little-work-of-divine-providence/
Pope’s Telegram at Death of Cardinal Capovilla, Secretary of John XXIII by ZENIT Staff
Below is a ZENIT translation of the telegram of condolences Pope Francis sent to the Bishop of Bergamo upon learning of the death of Cardinal Loris Capovilla, personal secretary to Saint Pope John XXIII, at the age of 100:
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To His Excellency Msgr. Francesco Beschi
Bishop of Bergamo
Upon hearing the news of the death of the revered Cardinal Loris Francesco Capovilla, I wish to express my condolences to you, to the entire diocesan community – of which by now he felt truly a part – the Sisters of the Poor Ones of Ca’Maitino in Sotto Il Monte, who lovingly assisted him, to relatives, friends and admirers of the worthy prelate. I think with affection of this dear brother who in his long and fruitful life has witnessed with joy the Gospel and served the Church obediently, first in the Diocese of Venice, then with caring affection beside Pope John XXIII,of whose memory he was the zealous custodian and expert interpreter. In his episcopal ministry, especially in Chieti-Vasto and in Loreto, he was always pastor, totally dedicated to the good of the priests and all the faithful, with a solid fidelity to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. I pray to the Lord so that, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Mark the Evangelist, He welcomes His faithful servant into joy and eternal peace, and, from the heart, I impart my Apostolic Blessing on those who mourn his passing.[Original text: Italian] [Translation by Deborah Castellano Lubov]
Pope’s Address to Little Work of Divine Providence by ZENIT Staff
Today Pope Francis received in audience the participants in the General Chapter of the Little Work of Divine Providence, founded by Saint Luigi Orione.
Here is a ZENIT translation of the Pope’s address to those present at the audience.
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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I am happy to meet with you on the occasion of your Chapter General. I greet you cordially, beginning with the new Superior General, whom I thank for his words and to whom I express best wishes for good work, together with the Advisers.
We are all on our way in following Jesus. The entire Church is called to walk with Jesus on the roads of the world, to meet today’s humanity that is in need – as Don Orione wrote – of the “bread of the body and of the divine balm of faith” (Letter II, 463). To embody these words of your Founder and the essential nature of his teaching in the today of history, you have put your identity at the center of the reflections of the Chapter General, summarized by Don Orione in the quality of “servants of Christ and of the poor.” The master way is to always have united these two dimensions of your personal and apostolic life. You have been called and consecrated by God to remain with Jesus (cf. Mark 3:14) and to serve Him in the poor and the excluded of society. In them, you touch and serve the flesh of Christ and grow in union with Him, watching always so that the faith does not become an ideology and charity is not reduced to philanthropy, and the Church does not end up being an “NGO.”
Your being servants of Christ qualifies everything you are and do, it guarantees your apostolic effectiveness, renders your service fruitful. Don Orione recommended that you “seek and medicate the people’s wounds, taking care of their infirmities, going out to meet them in their moral and material needs: in this way your action will not only be effective but profoundly Christian and salvific” (Writings 61, 114). I encourage you to follow these pointers; they are all the more true! In fact, by so doing, not only will you imitate Jesus the Good Samaritan but you will offer people the joy of encountering Jesus and the salvation He brings to all. In fact, “those who allow themselves to be saved by Him are freed from sin, from sadness, from interior emptiness and from isolation. With Jesus Christ joy is always born and reborn” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 1).
The proclamation of the Gospel, especially in our days, requires much love of the Lord, joined to a particular initiative. I learned that, when the Founder was still living, in some places you were called “the running priests,” because they saw you always moving amidst the people with the rapid step of one who cares. “Amor est in via,” reminded Saint Bernard, love is always on the way, love is always setting out. With Don Orione, I also exhort you not to remain closed in your environments, but to go “out.” There is so much need of priests and Religious that do not stay only in charitable institutions, though necessary, but who are able to go beyond the <institutions’> boundaries to bring to every environment, including the most distant, the perfume of Christ’s charity. Never lose sight either of the Church or of your Religious Community, indeed your heart must be there in your “cenacle,” but then it is necessary to go out to bring God’s mercy to all, indistinctly.
Your service to the Church will be all the more effective the more you make every effort to take care of your personal adherence to Christ and your spiritual formation. By witnessing the beauty of consecration, the good life of the Religious, “servants of Christ and of the poor,” you will be an example for young people. Life generates life; the holy and happy Religious awakens new vocations.
I entrust your Congregation to the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary, venerated by you as “Mother of Divine Providence.” I ask you, please, to pray for me and for my service to the Church, so that I too am on the way. I impart the Apostolic Blessing upon you, upon your fellow Brothers, especially the elderly and the sick, and upon all those that share your Institute’s charism.
[Original text: Italian] [Translation by ZENIT}
Foreign, Fundamentalist Muslims Threatening Coexistence in Malawi Diocese by ZENIT Staff
A bishop from Malawi has expressed concern about the growing trend towards Islamization in the Mangochi Diocese, in the south of the country.
Speaking with international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Stima Monfort stressed that traditional Islam in Malawi has been moderate and that Christians and Muslims have been co-existing peacefully. A national Christian-Muslim committee has regularly tackled problems. But there are indications of foreign influences that are worrisome, the prelate said.
Muslim preachers are increasingly coming into the country from Sudan, proclaiming a more radical form of Islam and these imams are not easily controlled by established Muslim leaders, who have labelled the newcomers as poorly trained. The bishop said that these preachers were “dissatisfied” with traditional Islam and wanted to bring “true Islam” to Malawi. In the last few years, this has already led to attacks on Christians and moderate Muslims.
The bishop said that “anyone who has the necessary funds can build a mosque. And the person who built the mosque is also the one who controls the imam. Some villages have four mosques: a traditional one that has always been there, as well as other, newly-built ones.”
The situation is exacerbated by the fact that a growing number of young people are receiving scholarships to study in Sudan or Saudi Arabia, returning home radicalized. The bishop added that “many Muslims have several wives, which increases the number of children and thus the proportion of Muslims in the population. These families often cannot provide that many children with regular schooling and can only send them to the Koranic schools.”
Muslim tolerance of polygamy is also a factor for the followers of traditional African religions who are considering conversion to either Islam or Christianity. While the Catholic Church rejects polygamy, the practice is accepted in Islam. The bishop also said that Muslim men are being urged to marry Christian girls—“because even when the wife does not convert to Islam, the children would automatically be Muslim.”
As to the Church’s response, the bishop said: “We encourage priests to be close to the people and, as Pope Francis says, to leave the sacristy. For many faithful converting to Islam is very tempting—especially when the only school in the area is a Muslim institution. They need help and encouragement.”
Malawi’s overall population is 80% Christian, with Muslims accounting for only 13% of the population. However, in the Mangochi Diocese there are easily as many Muslims as there are Christians.
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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)
Medical and Ethical Problems of Producing Human Organs in Animal Chimeras by Justo Aznar
From the Bioethics Observatory at the Catholic University of Valencia, Spain
The major medical and social problems in organ transplantation owing to the increasing shortage of donor organs is well known. Solutions must therefore be sought in the fairly near future that can resolve these issues. One of these is the production of animal chimeras in which quasi-human organs can be developed. This has been attempted using human embryonic stem cells injected into mice (Nature 521; 316-321, 2015), but the practice raises significant problems, from both a medical and ethical perspective.
The main difficulty from a medical point of view is that, since this is an allogeneic material, it can give rise to as yet unresolved problems with immune rejection. The use of embryonic stem cells also entails what I would call insurmountable ethical difficulties, since obtaining these types of cells requires the destruction of human embryos. Furthermore, the transplanted human cells can colonise the organs of the recipient animal, so animals may be generated with practically human organs, which means great new ethical challenges.
Aside from the use of human embryonic stem cells, though, new possibilities have now been opened for these types of experiments with the development of adult somatic cell reprogramming from which so-called iPS cells can be derived. Since these can be obtained from somatic cells of the individual requiring the transplant, they minimise immune rejection. This is an attractive therapeutic possibility that looks likely to be implemented in the fairly near future.
An interesting article on this topic was published in the Journal of Medical Ethics last year (41; 970-974, 2015).
The article begins by making extensive reference to the problems that can arise in patients who are awaiting transplants, which, in addition to diminishing their quality of life, can sometimes lead to death.
It also refers to the attempts made by various countries to resolve this issue, particularly with policies that encourage donation and other medical interventions, such as xenotransplantation, the creation of bioartificial organs and construction of bionic organs. Given that all three possibilities present as yet unresolved technical problems, the possibility of producing organs in animals using human iPS cells offers significant advantages.
The article continues by referring to the medical potential of pluripotent cells, since these cells — the aforementioned iPS cells (click HERE) — have been able to be produced in the laboratory since 2006, by reprogramming adult somatic cells.
Recent Japanese studies have shown that organs (thymus and pancreas) can be produced in animal chimeras using iPS cells obtained from rat somatic cells and injected into the blastocysts of mutated mice. The authors confirmed that these cells integrated with the murine embryos, and were able to develop the desired tissues and organs.
However, these types of experiments present major problems that must be resolved (see “Human-animal chimeras for use in regenerative medicine”), one of which could be the risk of zoonosis, i.e. the chance that a mutated animal virus could be transmitted to human beings, with the possibility of creating a pandemic. While the risk of this happening is minimal — lower than in the case of xenotransplantation, as the organs produced would be quasi-human — it must nevertheless be taken into account due to the magnitude of the potential problem.
In conclusion, although producing quasi-human organs in animals offers enormous possibilities for resolving the scarcity of organs for transplantation, all the medical and ethical problems that these techniques entail must be resolved before they can be used in human medicine
People Live in a Constant Hurry, Pope Laments by ZENIT Staff
On Wednesday afternoon the Holy Father sent a video message for the Katholikentag, the 100th Day for German Catholics, held this year in Leipzig, on the theme “Behold the man”.
In the video message, played at the opening of the event, the Pope underlines that the participants in the Katholikentag show that they live the joy of the Gospel, that they have good relations with Christians of other confessions, and give authentic witness of Christ with their concrete commitment to assisting the weak and needy.
“‘Behold the man!’ You have gathered with this motto. This shows beautifully what is important. It is not doing, or external success that counts, but the capacity to stop, to look up, to be attentive towards others and to offer them what is truly missing. Every human being desires communion and peace. Everyone needs peaceful co-existence. But this can grow only when we also build inner peace in our heart. Many people live in a constant hurry. In this way all that they have inside them tends to be overwhelmed. This also affects how we treat the environment. It is necessary to grant oneself more time to recover a serene harmony with the world, with creation, and also with the Creator. Let us try, in contemplation and prayer, to achieve ever greater familiarity with God. And gradually we will discover that the heavenly Father wants what is good for us. He wants to see us happy, full of joy and serene. It is this familiarity with God that also inspires our mercy. Just as the Father loves, so does His children. As He is merciful, we too are called upon to be merciful towards each other. Let us allow ourselves to be touched by God’s mercy, also through a good confession, to become increasingly merciful like the Father.”
“‘Behold the man!’ So often we find that man is mistreated in society. We see how others judge the value of his life and how they cause him, in old age and sickness, to die too soon. We see how people are compromised, beaten down here and there, and deprived of their dignity, because they are without employment or are refugees. We see here the suffering and martyred Jesus, Whose gaze falls on the evil and brutality, in all their dimensions, that men suffer or make each other suffer in this world.”
The Holy Father concluded by expressing his hope that all participants in the Katholikentag in Leipzig, and all faithful in Germany, may grant greater space in life to the voice of the poor and the oppressed. “Support each other in the sharing of experiences and ideas on how to bring the Good News of Christ to mankind. Let us implore the Divine Consoler, the Holy Spirit, to give us the courage and strength to be witnesses of that hope, that is God, for all humanity.”
Pope Meets President of Costa Rica by Deborah Castellano Lubov
Pope Francis met President of the Republic of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera, today in the Vatican.
According to a statement released by the Holy See Press Office, the discussions were cordial and expressed satisfaction for the good state of bilateral relations between Costa Rica and the Holy See.
“Appreciation was expressed for the contribution that the Church offers,” it noted, “especially in the fields of education, health, the promotion of human and spiritual values and charitable activities.”
“Attention then turned to various themes of mutual interest such as the protection of human life, as well as problems of particular current relevance such as migration and drug trafficking. Finally, mention was made of the regional situation and a number of international issues,” the statement concluded.
After meeting with the Pope, the president met with Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, accompanied by Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher.
‘The Polish Church Is Awaiting Pope Francis’ by Paweł Rytel-Andrianik
All pastoral letters and all the reports drawn up at the end of the plenary assemblies of the Polish Episcopal Conference in 2015 and 2016 refer to Pope Francis. This is the sign of a personal bond with the Successor of Peter who will soon arrive in person in Poland.
On the occasion of the “Ad limina Apostolorum” visit in February of 2014, Pope Francis received the Polish bishops as brothers, reinforcing the reciprocal relationship with his cordiality. It can be said that the Polish are one of the peoples that the Pontiff addresses more frequently. His visit on the occasion of the GMG will be a particular gift for the entire nation. Poland will be the first country in Europe, outside of Italy, where Pope Francis will spend a few days.
The Polish bishops very often make recourse to the magisterium of Pope Francis. In the Acts of the Polish Episcopal Conference of 2015 which collect the documents of the Episcopate, the Pontiff was recalled over 70 times. In the last couple of years the bishops have cited his words in all of the pastoral Letters (11 since the beginning of 2015). Moreover, he was recalled in all of the reports at the end of the Plenary Assemblies of the Polish Episcopal Conference in the years 2015-2016. The President of the Polish bishops, Msgr. Stanislaw Gadecki, as well as the Primate of Poland Msgr. Wojciech Polak, frequently recall the magisterium of the current Pontiff who is also invoked in the documents of various Commissions, Counsels, and Groups of the work of the Episcopate with regard to both moral and social questions.
The general secretary of the episcopate, Msgr. Artur Mizinski, summarizing the year 2015 in the Polish church, has emphasized that the episcopal Conference following the spirit of the magisterium of Pope Francis had been employed with sustaining and defending matrimony and the family both for the defense of values and the dignity of man.
The visit of Pope Francis in Poland constitutes a further occasion for receiving his magisterium and translating it in daily life. The words of the Pope that we shall hear in July will be particularly important for all Polish people because they will be pronounced in Poland in the Year of Mercy.
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