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Pope’s Morning Homily: To Say ‘This or Nothing’ Is Heretic by Deborah Castellano Lubov
To say ‘this or nothing’ is not Catholic, it is heretic.
The Pope made this strong statement during his homily at morning Mass in the Casa Santa Marta today, reported Vatican Radio.
Criticizing this mentality, the Pope reminded those gathered that Jesus called for ‘healthy realism,’ which He taught to His disciples.
Francis exhorted faithful to let go of this rigidity which prevents faithful from reconciling among themselves. He recalled how in Jesus’ time the people were divided among themselves since those that were teaching were not coherent in their life witness.
“How many times do we in the Church hear these things: how many times! ‘But that priest, that man or that woman from the Catholic Action, that bishop, or that Pope tell us we must do this this way!’ and then they do the opposite. This is the scandal that wounds the people and prevents the people of God from growing and going forward. It doesn’t free them.”
“In addition,” he continued, “these people had seen the rigidity of those scribes and Pharisees and when a prophet came to give them a bit of joy, they (the scribes and Pharisees) persecuted them and even murdered them; there was no place for prophets there. And Jesus said to them, to the Pharisees: ‘you have killed the prophets, you have persecuted the prophets: those who were bringing fresh air.’”
Jesus, the Jesuit Pope stressed, wants us to let go of these non-Christian, extreme ideas and to remember and live out the Commandments by loving God and our neighbor.
The Pontiff also warned against insulting others, noting when one insults one’s brother it is akin to giving ‘a slap to his spirit.’ Francis also decried when a man of the Church acts contrary to what he says, noting this is ‘a scandal.’
Before concluding, the Pope urged those gathered to always ‘following healthy realism,’ and never idealism nor rigidity.
—
Readings provided by the US bishops’ conference:
Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 362
Reading 1
1 KGS 18:41-46
Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink,
for there is the sound of a heavy rain.”
So Ahab went up to eat and drink,
while Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel,
crouched down to the earth,
and put his head between his knees.
“Climb up and look out to sea,” he directed his servant,
who went up and looked, but reported, “There is nothing.”
Seven times he said, “Go, look again!”
And the seventh time the youth reported,
“There is a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising from the sea.”
Elijah said, “Go and say to Ahab,
‘Harness up and leave the mountain before the rain stops you.’”
In a trice the sky grew dark with clouds and wind,
and a heavy rain fell.
Ahab mounted his chariot and made for Jezreel.
But the hand of the LORD was on Elijah,
who girded up his clothing and ran before Ahab
as far as the approaches to Jezreel.
Responsorial Psalm
Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink,
for there is the sound of a heavy rain.”
So Ahab went up to eat and drink,
while Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel,
crouched down to the earth,
and put his head between his knees.
“Climb up and look out to sea,” he directed his servant,
who went up and looked, but reported, “There is nothing.”
Seven times he said, “Go, look again!”
And the seventh time the youth reported,
“There is a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising from the sea.”
Elijah said, “Go and say to Ahab,
‘Harness up and leave the mountain before the rain stops you.’”
In a trice the sky grew dark with clouds and wind,
and a heavy rain fell.
Ahab mounted his chariot and made for Jezreel.
But the hand of the LORD was on Elijah,
who girded up his clothing and ran before Ahab
as far as the approaches to Jezreel.
Responsorial Psalm
PS 65:10, 11, 12-13
R. (2a) It is right to praise you in Zion, O God.
You have visited the land and watered it;
greatly have you enriched it.
God’s watercourses are filled;
you have prepared the grain.
R. It is right to praise you in Zion, O God.
Thus have you prepared the land:
drenching its furrows, breaking up its clods,
Softening it with showers,
blessing its yield.
R. It is right to praise you in Zion, O God.
You have crowned the year with your bounty,
and your paths overflow with a rich harvest;
The untilled meadows overflow with it,
and rejoicing clothes the hills.
R. It is right to praise you in Zion, O God.
Alleluia
R. (2a) It is right to praise you in Zion, O God.
You have visited the land and watered it;
greatly have you enriched it.
God’s watercourses are filled;
you have prepared the grain.
R. It is right to praise you in Zion, O God.
Thus have you prepared the land:
drenching its furrows, breaking up its clods,
Softening it with showers,
blessing its yield.
R. It is right to praise you in Zion, O God.
You have crowned the year with your bounty,
and your paths overflow with a rich harvest;
The untilled meadows overflow with it,
and rejoicing clothes the hills.
R. It is right to praise you in Zion, O God.
Alleluia
JN 13:34
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I give you a new commandment:
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I give you a new commandment:
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
MT 5:20-26
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that
of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.
But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment,
and whoever says to his brother,
‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin,
and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna.
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother
has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar,
go first and be reconciled with your brother,
and then come and offer your gift.
Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him.
Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge,
and the judge will hand you over to the guard,
and you will be thrown into prison.
Amen, I say to you,
you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”
Pope Francis’ Program for Poland Released by ZENIT Staff
Below is the Vatican released program, detailing Pope Francis’ apostolic visit to Poland on the occasion of the XXXI World Youth Day, July 27-31:
***
Pope’s Program: July 27-31
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
14:00: Departure by plane from Rome’s Fiumicino International Airport to Kraków
16:00: Arrival at the St. John Paul II International Airport of Kraków-Balice
WELCOME CEREMONY in the Military Area of Kraków-Balice International Airport
17:00 MEETING WITH AUTHORITIES, CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS in the courtyard of the Castle of Wawel (Discourse of the Holy Father)
17:40: COURTESY VISIT TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC in the Hall of birds of the Wawel
18:30: MEETING WITH POLISH BISHOPS at Krakow Cathedral (Discourse of the Holy Father)
Thursday, July 28, 2016
07:40: Transfer to the Airport of Kraków-Balice
Stop at the Convent of the Sisters of the Presentation
08:30: Helicopter transfer to Częstochowa
09:45: Arrival at the Monastery of Jasna Gora and Prayer at the Chapel of the Black Madonna
10:30: Holy Mass on the occasion of the 1050th anniversary of the Baptism of Poland, in the Shrine of Częstochowa (Homily of the Holy Father)
12:45: Helicopter transfer to the airport of Kraków-Balice
17:30: WELCOMING CEREMONY Greets young people in Jordan Park in Kraków (Discourse of the Holy Father)
Friday, July 29, 2016
08:45: Helicopter transfer to Oswięcim
09:30: VISIT TO AUSCHWITZ
10:30: VISIT TO THE CAMP OF BIRKENAU (Discourse of the Holy Father)
11:30: Helicopter transfer to the airport of Kraków-Balice
16:30: VISIT to UNIVERSITY PEDIATRIC HOSPITAL (UCH) in Krakow (Discourse of the Holy Father)
18:00: WAY OF THE CROSS with young people in Jordan Park in Kraków (Discourse of the Holy Father)
Saturday, July 30, 2016
08:30: VISIT TO THE SHRINE OF DIVINE MERCY in Kraków
09:00: Will Pass Through the Door of Divine Mercy
09:15: Rite of Reconciliation of some young people in the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy
10:30: Holy Mass with priests, religious men and women, seminarians and consecrated persons in the Polish Shrine of St. John Paul II in Krakow (Homily of the Holy Father)
12:45: Lunch with young people in the Archbishopric
19:00: Arrival at Campus Misericordiae and crossing the Holy Door with some young people
19:30 PRAYER VIGIL WITH YOUNG Campus Misericordiae (Discourse of the Holy Father)
Sunday, July 31, 2016
10:00: Holy Mass for World Youth Day in Campus Misericordiae
(Homily of the Holy Father, Angelus)
17:00: MEETING WITH WYD VOLUNTEERS and with the Organizing Committee and the Benefactors at Tauron Arena in Kraków (Discourse of the Holy Father)
18:15: FAREWELL CEREMONY at the airport of Kraków-Balice
18:30: Departure by plane to Rome / Ciampino
20:25: Arrival at Rome / Ciampino airport
Time zone
Rome: UTC + 2 hours
Kraków / Częstochowa / Oswięcim: UTC + 2 hours[Program Published by the Holy See Press Office]
Pope Tells Doctors to Put ‘More Heart’ Into Their Hands by Deborah Castellano Lubov
Pope Francis has reminded doctors that they need to put heart into their important work.
Addressing Venezuelan doctors this morning in the Vatican, the Pope stressed that a physician’s identity relies not only on skills, but mainly on a compassionate and merciful attitude towards those who suffer in body and spirit, reported Vatican Radio.
Compassion, the Argentine Pontiff stressed, is the very soul of medicine and is not pity, but “suffering -with.” But in our individualistic and highly technological culture, the Pope lamented that compassion, at times, is not well received by those who see it as a humiliation.
“There are even some who hide behind alleged compassion to justify killing a patient,” the Pope said.
“True compassion,” Francis reminded, “does not marginalize, humiliate or exclude and doesn’t celebrate the passing away of a patient. No, this is the triumph of selfishness, of the “culture of disposability” that rejects people who do not meet certain standards of health, beauty or utility.”
“Health is one of the most precious gifts and everyone desires it.”
Compassion
Compassion, the Pope explained, is the appropriate response to the immense value of the sick person, a response made of respect, understanding and tenderness, because the sacred value of the life of the patient does not disappear, neither is it ever darkened, but it shines with more splendor precisely in the person’s suffering and helplessness.
This is what is understood when St. Camillo de Lellis says with respect to treating patients: “Put more heart in those hands.”
“Fragility, pain and disease are a tough test for everyone, including medical staff; they are a call to patience, to suffer-with; therefore one cannot yield to the temptation to apply quick, merely functional and drastic solutions driven by false compassion or by criteria of efficiency or cost savings. At stake is the dignity of human life; at stake is the dignity of the medical vocation.”
Christus Medicus
“The biblical tradition has always highlighted the closeness between salvation and health,” Francis said recalling the title with which the Church Fathers employed in reference to Christ and His work of salvation: Christus Medicus.
“He is the Good Shepherd who cares for the wounded sheep and comforts the sick (cf. Ez 34,16); he is the Good Samaritan who does not pass before the badly injured person by the wayside but, moved by compassion, he heals and serves (cf. Lk 10.33 to 34). Christian medical tradition has always been inspired by the parable of the Good Samaritan.”
This tradition, he continued is identified with the love of the Son of God, who did good and healed those in need.
“How much good the practice of medicine does in thinking of the sick person as our neighbor, as our flesh and blood, and the mystery of the flesh of Christ himself reflected in his wounded body! ‘Every time you did it to one of these, my brethren, you did it to me’ (Mt 25:40).”
Pope Francis concluded, thanking those present for their daily efforts to accompany, nurture and enhance the immense gift of the human person, and asked them to pray for him.
Committee Instituted for Distribution of Funds Collected for Ukraine by ZENIT Staff
The Holy See Press Office has announced the institution of a committee responsible for the distribution of the funds gathered in the collection promoted by the Pope for Ukraine.
“As is known, following the tragic hostilities in the east of Ukraine, the Holy Father Francis has promoted humanitarian action, entitled “The Pope for Ukraine”, in support of the affected populations resident there and those who have fled to other parts of the country.
To support this action, the Pope offered a personal contribution and called for a collection which took place on Sunday 24 April in all Catholic churches throughout Europe. The proceeds are destined exclusively for the benefit of the population afflicted by war, without distinction on the basis of religion, confession or ethnic origin.”
To oversee the distribution of these funds, the Pope has decided to constitute a special in loco ‘technical’ committee, made up of a president and four members, according to a letter sent by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin to Bishop Jan Sobilo, auxiliary of Kharkiv-Zaporizhia, at the same time appointed as president of the Committee.
The other members will be appointed by the president, aside from one, who will be indicated in agreement with ‘Caritas Internationalis’ and the Pontifical Council ‘Cor Unum’. The Committee will have a one year mandate, renewable if necessary, and will be based in the Curia of the diocese of Kharkiv-Zaporizhia. The workers who act on behalf of the Committee – either at its central office or in the field – will be volunteers, so that the funds gathered may be used effectively to help the affected populations.
The letter makes important indications regarding the choice of interventions to be carried out: the proposals must be received firstly ‘from interreligious or interconfessional assemblies existing in the single areas, or from individual Bishops, also non-Catholic, where such assemblies do not exist’, but proposals from other organisations may also be examined.
As this is a personal initiative of the Pope, the final authorities for the project are the Secretariat of State and the Pontifical Council ‘Cor Unum’, via the apostolic nunciature in Ukraine; technical supervision of its implementation will be entrusted to the Pontifical Council.
Rome Welcomes Jubilee of Sick, Disabled This Weekend by Rocío Lancho García
Rome is preparing to receive the sick and disabled this weekend, which will be an occasion to highlight their conditions to a public opinion that is often unjustly forgetful of these, explained Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, during the presentation on Thursday in the Holy See Press Office of the activities planned for this event in the Year of Mercy.
As he began the presentation, Archbishop Fisichella announced that the latest up-to-date data indicate that the number of pilgrims that have come to Rome for the different Jubilee occasions, including visits to the four Vatican Basilicas, is 9,100,935 – “a really significant number for the first six months of the Jubilee event, which confirms the great desire of faithful worldwide to come to Rome to see Pope Francis, despite the fact that Doors of Mercy are spread throughout the world,” he explained.
The Jubilee will begin tomorrow, Friday, June 10, with a catechesis addressed especially to deaf and blind persons imparted by deaf and blind Redemptorist Father Cyril Axelrod, known worldwide, especially in China, the United Kingdom and South Africa, for his absolute commitment to the disabled.
On Saturday, two special events will be held. In the morning there will be catecheses in several churches in central Rome. In the afternoon, there will be entertainment in the gardens of Castel Sant’Angelo.
On Sunday, the conclusion of the Jubilee, Pope Francis will preside over a concelebrated Mass, which can be followed in sign language. The liturgical service and readings will be by disabled individuals. In particular, among the altar servers, there will be boys with Down’s syndrome and mental disability; among the deacons, there will be a deaf German.
A disabled Spaniard will do the First Reading; a blind girl will read the Second in braille. Deaf persons of different countries will translate all the Readings in international sign language, and sick and disabled persons of various nationalities will recite the Prayer of the Faithful.
In addition, the reading of the Gospel will be “represented” for the first time in Saint Peter’s Square by a group of mentally disabled individuals, to make it possible for pilgrims with mental and intellectual disability to understand the text.
Finally, Archbishop Fisichella mentioned an initiative promoted by theMedTag Foundation, “which we have received with particular enthusiasm and we are certain it will make a great contribution to this Jubilee moment”: beginning on Friday, June 10, four “Health Points” will be established in the surroundings of the four Vatican Basilicas offering free specialized health care, especially to the numerous homeless in the city.
Some 350 volunteers, between Religious, the Red Cross, military men and health workers, will make general medical visits to 700 homeless persons as well as offer some specialized care. Also planned are inoculations against pneumonia, one of the most serious pathologies among these people.
Thousands of Children in Syria Pray for Peace by Eva-Maria Kolmann
On June 1, thousands of Christian children of all denominations gathered in several Syrian cities to celebrate “International Children’s Day” as a day of prayer for peace.
In Homs, the occasion marked the first public event held with children since the liberation of the city by the Syrian regime. Christian television networkTele Lumière broadcast the proceedings across the entire Middle East. More than 700 children dressed in white gathered together with Catholic and Orthodox bishops in what was for several years once a city under siege—an ancient Christian center where Jesuit father Frans van der Lugt was murdered in April of 2014. Children and prelates made their way through the city in a procession, stopping to pray at the churches of the various Christian denominations.
Bishop Abdo Arbach, the Melkite Greek Catholic bishop of Homs, gave talk, the text of which was obtained by international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. He said: “We have had enough of war, of destruction, of child trafficking. We want to live, we want to enrich our children with a good upbringing. (…) We will never accept that they have to live without hope and far away from their homes!” He appealed to the international community, besieging authorities “that this war may end and that they act as per [the UN] human and children’s rights charter. God, give us peace!”
The destroyed Melkite Greek Catholic cathedral, which is consecrated to “Our Lady, Queen of Peace,” was adorned with a monumental poster of the Infant Jesus of Prague. In the Melkite cathedral, the bishops joined the children in a prayer to the Infant Jesus. Bishop Arbach said that the Infant Jesus is “the source of peace for our children and our country because His greeting is ‘Peace be with you.’” They also lit candles before a statue of the Infant Jesus.
Throughout the day, simultaneous events were held in Damascus, Tartus, Marmarita and Aleppo. “We hope that the initiative of these children spreads and many other children all over the world pray for peace,” the Maronite bishop of Latakia and Tartus, Mons. Antoine Chbeir, told Aid to the Church in Need. In Tartus, children also showed posters they had drawn, bearing their prayers for peace as well as calls for the end of terrorism and the war in Syria.
The Pope had put things in motion during the Angelus prayer on May 29, when he invited children all over the world to join the children in Syria in their prayer for peace. Subsequently, the Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs of the country issued a joint message calling upon children to observe this day of prayer, the impetus for which was an initiative of Aid to the Church in Need.
***
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)
ANALYSIS: Faith, Morality, and Money by Fr. John Flynn
Analysis Written by Father John Flynn:
**
Money markets and banks have long been the target of criticism and this has intensified following the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.
Yet money and finance play an essential role in the well-being of persons and nations and they are not of themselves immoral. Relating moral principles and financial markets is the subject of a recent book titled “For God and Profit: How Banking and Finance Can Serve the Common Good,” (Crossroad Books).
The author, Samuel Gregg, research director at the Acton Institute, has written extensively on matters of Catholic social teaching and the economy.
The financial sector is often criticized by Christians, Gregg noted in his introduction, but these judgements would be more accurate and helpful if those involved were better informed about how banking and money markets worked.
Another handicap to an accurate moral analysis of the morality of finances is that for a long time, since the late-seventeenth century in fact as Gregg pointed out later in the book, there has been a real dearth of in-depth commentary by Christians in this area.
Gregg’s book is indeed a much needed addition to Christian reflection on this subject. He starts with some chapters detailing the historical development of theological analysis, above all on the subject of the legitimacy of charging interest on loans.
As well as an outline of the involvement by Christians in the development of banking in the second part of the Middle Ages Gregg also explained that it is an area in which Christians can participate with a clear conscience provided that profit realized through finance is:
+ Understood as a means to an end.
+ Never seen as an end in itself.
+ Used to serve rather than diminish what we understand as human flourishing.
Human flourishing
In his later chapter on “Freedom, Flourishing, and Justice,” Gregg explained that the concept of human flourishing dates back to the writings of Aristotle and is understood as a person’s liberation from sin and free submission to Jesus Christ, who sets us free. As such human freedom and flourishing are linked to doing good and avoiding evil.
Choosing to pursue wealth over the love of God is one of the ways we separate ourselves from Christ, Gregg noted. The fundamental point at stake is how money is regarded.
“For Christians, the question is how we integrate the possession and use of money into our life as Christians, and, second, how money can serve the common good of all the communities in which we live, move, and have our being,” Gregg commented.
As social beings humans are interdependent and rely on the help of others in order to flourish, and the common good is the sum of those factors that assist people to develop and perfect themselves.
Money, therefore, should be regarded as an instrumental good that helps us obtain other goods for our lives. When money comes to be considered as an end in itself or as some type of fundamental good, on the same level as life or truth, then problems occur.
When it comes to financial systems Gregg observed that they have legitimacy to the extent they help allocate resources and stimulate economic development and contribute to the common good.
Financial systems also help to invest and distribute capital, to manage risk, and give greater flexibility in using capital to produce wealth.
Making choices
Such systems, and the people using them, are never perfect and some choices by individuals or firms will be imprudent or have negative side effects. Indeed, some of the people making financial decisions will choose to do evil and to sin.
Thus, the financial speculation leading up to the 2008 crisis and the subsequent criticisms are not really anything new.
To some degree all economic activity involves a degree of speculation, Gregg noted, insofar as it involves choices about spending and investment based on what is inevitably an imperfect knowledge of the future. The point Christians should focus on he insisted is whether the speculation is just or unjust
Gregg finished with a reflection on the role of Christian virtues and the idea of financial activity as a vocation to serve others. We need a financial sector influenced by men and women inspired by the gospel who know that the ultimate profit consists in building up the Kingdom of God.
The issue at question then is not about profits and financial markets as such but about how they are used and for what they are used by people.
As Pope Francis noted in his general audience of May 18 in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus the unnamed rich man is “condemned not because of his wealth, but for being incapable of feeling compassion for Lazarus and for not coming to his aid.” Thus, God and profits are reconcilable so long as the quest for profit is well-ordered.
In addition to the historical information and the question of interest on loans Gregg covers a variety of other topics, such as currency speculation, bank regulation and salaries in the financial sector. It can only be hoped that this illuminating book will spark off further reflections in the area of finance and morality.
Innovative Media Inc.
30 Mansell Road, Suite 103
Roswell, Georgia 30076, United States
---------------------
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that
of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.
But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment,
and whoever says to his brother,
‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin,
and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna.
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother
has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar,
go first and be reconciled with your brother,
and then come and offer your gift.
Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him.
Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge,
and the judge will hand you over to the guard,
and you will be thrown into prison.
Amen, I say to you,
you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”
Pope Francis’ Program for Poland Released by ZENIT Staff
Below is the Vatican released program, detailing Pope Francis’ apostolic visit to Poland on the occasion of the XXXI World Youth Day, July 27-31:
***
Pope’s Program: July 27-31
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
14:00: Departure by plane from Rome’s Fiumicino International Airport to Kraków
16:00: Arrival at the St. John Paul II International Airport of Kraków-Balice
WELCOME CEREMONY in the Military Area of Kraków-Balice International Airport
17:00 MEETING WITH AUTHORITIES, CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS in the courtyard of the Castle of Wawel (Discourse of the Holy Father)
17:40: COURTESY VISIT TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC in the Hall of birds of the Wawel
18:30: MEETING WITH POLISH BISHOPS at Krakow Cathedral (Discourse of the Holy Father)
Thursday, July 28, 2016
07:40: Transfer to the Airport of Kraków-Balice
Stop at the Convent of the Sisters of the Presentation
08:30: Helicopter transfer to Częstochowa
09:45: Arrival at the Monastery of Jasna Gora and Prayer at the Chapel of the Black Madonna
10:30: Holy Mass on the occasion of the 1050th anniversary of the Baptism of Poland, in the Shrine of Częstochowa (Homily of the Holy Father)
12:45: Helicopter transfer to the airport of Kraków-Balice
17:30: WELCOMING CEREMONY Greets young people in Jordan Park in Kraków (Discourse of the Holy Father)
Friday, July 29, 2016
08:45: Helicopter transfer to Oswięcim
09:30: VISIT TO AUSCHWITZ
10:30: VISIT TO THE CAMP OF BIRKENAU (Discourse of the Holy Father)
11:30: Helicopter transfer to the airport of Kraków-Balice
16:30: VISIT to UNIVERSITY PEDIATRIC HOSPITAL (UCH) in Krakow (Discourse of the Holy Father)
18:00: WAY OF THE CROSS with young people in Jordan Park in Kraków (Discourse of the Holy Father)
Saturday, July 30, 2016
08:30: VISIT TO THE SHRINE OF DIVINE MERCY in Kraków
09:00: Will Pass Through the Door of Divine Mercy
09:15: Rite of Reconciliation of some young people in the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy
10:30: Holy Mass with priests, religious men and women, seminarians and consecrated persons in the Polish Shrine of St. John Paul II in Krakow (Homily of the Holy Father)
12:45: Lunch with young people in the Archbishopric
19:00: Arrival at Campus Misericordiae and crossing the Holy Door with some young people
19:30 PRAYER VIGIL WITH YOUNG Campus Misericordiae (Discourse of the Holy Father)
Sunday, July 31, 2016
10:00: Holy Mass for World Youth Day in Campus Misericordiae
(Homily of the Holy Father, Angelus)
17:00: MEETING WITH WYD VOLUNTEERS and with the Organizing Committee and the Benefactors at Tauron Arena in Kraków (Discourse of the Holy Father)
18:15: FAREWELL CEREMONY at the airport of Kraków-Balice
18:30: Departure by plane to Rome / Ciampino
20:25: Arrival at Rome / Ciampino airport
Time zone
Rome: UTC + 2 hours
Kraków / Częstochowa / Oswięcim: UTC + 2 hours[Program Published by the Holy See Press Office]
Pope Tells Doctors to Put ‘More Heart’ Into Their Hands by Deborah Castellano Lubov
Pope Francis has reminded doctors that they need to put heart into their important work.
Addressing Venezuelan doctors this morning in the Vatican, the Pope stressed that a physician’s identity relies not only on skills, but mainly on a compassionate and merciful attitude towards those who suffer in body and spirit, reported Vatican Radio.
Compassion, the Argentine Pontiff stressed, is the very soul of medicine and is not pity, but “suffering -with.” But in our individualistic and highly technological culture, the Pope lamented that compassion, at times, is not well received by those who see it as a humiliation.
“There are even some who hide behind alleged compassion to justify killing a patient,” the Pope said.
“True compassion,” Francis reminded, “does not marginalize, humiliate or exclude and doesn’t celebrate the passing away of a patient. No, this is the triumph of selfishness, of the “culture of disposability” that rejects people who do not meet certain standards of health, beauty or utility.”
“Health is one of the most precious gifts and everyone desires it.”
Compassion
Compassion, the Pope explained, is the appropriate response to the immense value of the sick person, a response made of respect, understanding and tenderness, because the sacred value of the life of the patient does not disappear, neither is it ever darkened, but it shines with more splendor precisely in the person’s suffering and helplessness.
This is what is understood when St. Camillo de Lellis says with respect to treating patients: “Put more heart in those hands.”
“Fragility, pain and disease are a tough test for everyone, including medical staff; they are a call to patience, to suffer-with; therefore one cannot yield to the temptation to apply quick, merely functional and drastic solutions driven by false compassion or by criteria of efficiency or cost savings. At stake is the dignity of human life; at stake is the dignity of the medical vocation.”
Christus Medicus
“The biblical tradition has always highlighted the closeness between salvation and health,” Francis said recalling the title with which the Church Fathers employed in reference to Christ and His work of salvation: Christus Medicus.
“He is the Good Shepherd who cares for the wounded sheep and comforts the sick (cf. Ez 34,16); he is the Good Samaritan who does not pass before the badly injured person by the wayside but, moved by compassion, he heals and serves (cf. Lk 10.33 to 34). Christian medical tradition has always been inspired by the parable of the Good Samaritan.”
This tradition, he continued is identified with the love of the Son of God, who did good and healed those in need.
“How much good the practice of medicine does in thinking of the sick person as our neighbor, as our flesh and blood, and the mystery of the flesh of Christ himself reflected in his wounded body! ‘Every time you did it to one of these, my brethren, you did it to me’ (Mt 25:40).”
Pope Francis concluded, thanking those present for their daily efforts to accompany, nurture and enhance the immense gift of the human person, and asked them to pray for him.
Committee Instituted for Distribution of Funds Collected for Ukraine by ZENIT Staff
The Holy See Press Office has announced the institution of a committee responsible for the distribution of the funds gathered in the collection promoted by the Pope for Ukraine.
“As is known, following the tragic hostilities in the east of Ukraine, the Holy Father Francis has promoted humanitarian action, entitled “The Pope for Ukraine”, in support of the affected populations resident there and those who have fled to other parts of the country.
To support this action, the Pope offered a personal contribution and called for a collection which took place on Sunday 24 April in all Catholic churches throughout Europe. The proceeds are destined exclusively for the benefit of the population afflicted by war, without distinction on the basis of religion, confession or ethnic origin.”
To oversee the distribution of these funds, the Pope has decided to constitute a special in loco ‘technical’ committee, made up of a president and four members, according to a letter sent by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin to Bishop Jan Sobilo, auxiliary of Kharkiv-Zaporizhia, at the same time appointed as president of the Committee.
The other members will be appointed by the president, aside from one, who will be indicated in agreement with ‘Caritas Internationalis’ and the Pontifical Council ‘Cor Unum’. The Committee will have a one year mandate, renewable if necessary, and will be based in the Curia of the diocese of Kharkiv-Zaporizhia. The workers who act on behalf of the Committee – either at its central office or in the field – will be volunteers, so that the funds gathered may be used effectively to help the affected populations.
The letter makes important indications regarding the choice of interventions to be carried out: the proposals must be received firstly ‘from interreligious or interconfessional assemblies existing in the single areas, or from individual Bishops, also non-Catholic, where such assemblies do not exist’, but proposals from other organisations may also be examined.
As this is a personal initiative of the Pope, the final authorities for the project are the Secretariat of State and the Pontifical Council ‘Cor Unum’, via the apostolic nunciature in Ukraine; technical supervision of its implementation will be entrusted to the Pontifical Council.
Rome Welcomes Jubilee of Sick, Disabled This Weekend by Rocío Lancho García
Rome is preparing to receive the sick and disabled this weekend, which will be an occasion to highlight their conditions to a public opinion that is often unjustly forgetful of these, explained Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, during the presentation on Thursday in the Holy See Press Office of the activities planned for this event in the Year of Mercy.
As he began the presentation, Archbishop Fisichella announced that the latest up-to-date data indicate that the number of pilgrims that have come to Rome for the different Jubilee occasions, including visits to the four Vatican Basilicas, is 9,100,935 – “a really significant number for the first six months of the Jubilee event, which confirms the great desire of faithful worldwide to come to Rome to see Pope Francis, despite the fact that Doors of Mercy are spread throughout the world,” he explained.
The Jubilee will begin tomorrow, Friday, June 10, with a catechesis addressed especially to deaf and blind persons imparted by deaf and blind Redemptorist Father Cyril Axelrod, known worldwide, especially in China, the United Kingdom and South Africa, for his absolute commitment to the disabled.
On Saturday, two special events will be held. In the morning there will be catecheses in several churches in central Rome. In the afternoon, there will be entertainment in the gardens of Castel Sant’Angelo.
On Sunday, the conclusion of the Jubilee, Pope Francis will preside over a concelebrated Mass, which can be followed in sign language. The liturgical service and readings will be by disabled individuals. In particular, among the altar servers, there will be boys with Down’s syndrome and mental disability; among the deacons, there will be a deaf German.
A disabled Spaniard will do the First Reading; a blind girl will read the Second in braille. Deaf persons of different countries will translate all the Readings in international sign language, and sick and disabled persons of various nationalities will recite the Prayer of the Faithful.
In addition, the reading of the Gospel will be “represented” for the first time in Saint Peter’s Square by a group of mentally disabled individuals, to make it possible for pilgrims with mental and intellectual disability to understand the text.
Finally, Archbishop Fisichella mentioned an initiative promoted by theMedTag Foundation, “which we have received with particular enthusiasm and we are certain it will make a great contribution to this Jubilee moment”: beginning on Friday, June 10, four “Health Points” will be established in the surroundings of the four Vatican Basilicas offering free specialized health care, especially to the numerous homeless in the city.
Some 350 volunteers, between Religious, the Red Cross, military men and health workers, will make general medical visits to 700 homeless persons as well as offer some specialized care. Also planned are inoculations against pneumonia, one of the most serious pathologies among these people.
Thousands of Children in Syria Pray for Peace by Eva-Maria Kolmann
On June 1, thousands of Christian children of all denominations gathered in several Syrian cities to celebrate “International Children’s Day” as a day of prayer for peace.
In Homs, the occasion marked the first public event held with children since the liberation of the city by the Syrian regime. Christian television networkTele Lumière broadcast the proceedings across the entire Middle East. More than 700 children dressed in white gathered together with Catholic and Orthodox bishops in what was for several years once a city under siege—an ancient Christian center where Jesuit father Frans van der Lugt was murdered in April of 2014. Children and prelates made their way through the city in a procession, stopping to pray at the churches of the various Christian denominations.
Bishop Abdo Arbach, the Melkite Greek Catholic bishop of Homs, gave talk, the text of which was obtained by international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. He said: “We have had enough of war, of destruction, of child trafficking. We want to live, we want to enrich our children with a good upbringing. (…) We will never accept that they have to live without hope and far away from their homes!” He appealed to the international community, besieging authorities “that this war may end and that they act as per [the UN] human and children’s rights charter. God, give us peace!”
The destroyed Melkite Greek Catholic cathedral, which is consecrated to “Our Lady, Queen of Peace,” was adorned with a monumental poster of the Infant Jesus of Prague. In the Melkite cathedral, the bishops joined the children in a prayer to the Infant Jesus. Bishop Arbach said that the Infant Jesus is “the source of peace for our children and our country because His greeting is ‘Peace be with you.’” They also lit candles before a statue of the Infant Jesus.
Throughout the day, simultaneous events were held in Damascus, Tartus, Marmarita and Aleppo. “We hope that the initiative of these children spreads and many other children all over the world pray for peace,” the Maronite bishop of Latakia and Tartus, Mons. Antoine Chbeir, told Aid to the Church in Need. In Tartus, children also showed posters they had drawn, bearing their prayers for peace as well as calls for the end of terrorism and the war in Syria.
The Pope had put things in motion during the Angelus prayer on May 29, when he invited children all over the world to join the children in Syria in their prayer for peace. Subsequently, the Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs of the country issued a joint message calling upon children to observe this day of prayer, the impetus for which was an initiative of Aid to the Church in Need.
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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)
ANALYSIS: Faith, Morality, and Money by Fr. John Flynn
Analysis Written by Father John Flynn:
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Money markets and banks have long been the target of criticism and this has intensified following the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.
Yet money and finance play an essential role in the well-being of persons and nations and they are not of themselves immoral. Relating moral principles and financial markets is the subject of a recent book titled “For God and Profit: How Banking and Finance Can Serve the Common Good,” (Crossroad Books).
The author, Samuel Gregg, research director at the Acton Institute, has written extensively on matters of Catholic social teaching and the economy.
The financial sector is often criticized by Christians, Gregg noted in his introduction, but these judgements would be more accurate and helpful if those involved were better informed about how banking and money markets worked.
Another handicap to an accurate moral analysis of the morality of finances is that for a long time, since the late-seventeenth century in fact as Gregg pointed out later in the book, there has been a real dearth of in-depth commentary by Christians in this area.
Gregg’s book is indeed a much needed addition to Christian reflection on this subject. He starts with some chapters detailing the historical development of theological analysis, above all on the subject of the legitimacy of charging interest on loans.
As well as an outline of the involvement by Christians in the development of banking in the second part of the Middle Ages Gregg also explained that it is an area in which Christians can participate with a clear conscience provided that profit realized through finance is:
+ Understood as a means to an end.
+ Never seen as an end in itself.
+ Used to serve rather than diminish what we understand as human flourishing.
Human flourishing
In his later chapter on “Freedom, Flourishing, and Justice,” Gregg explained that the concept of human flourishing dates back to the writings of Aristotle and is understood as a person’s liberation from sin and free submission to Jesus Christ, who sets us free. As such human freedom and flourishing are linked to doing good and avoiding evil.
Choosing to pursue wealth over the love of God is one of the ways we separate ourselves from Christ, Gregg noted. The fundamental point at stake is how money is regarded.
“For Christians, the question is how we integrate the possession and use of money into our life as Christians, and, second, how money can serve the common good of all the communities in which we live, move, and have our being,” Gregg commented.
As social beings humans are interdependent and rely on the help of others in order to flourish, and the common good is the sum of those factors that assist people to develop and perfect themselves.
Money, therefore, should be regarded as an instrumental good that helps us obtain other goods for our lives. When money comes to be considered as an end in itself or as some type of fundamental good, on the same level as life or truth, then problems occur.
When it comes to financial systems Gregg observed that they have legitimacy to the extent they help allocate resources and stimulate economic development and contribute to the common good.
Financial systems also help to invest and distribute capital, to manage risk, and give greater flexibility in using capital to produce wealth.
Making choices
Such systems, and the people using them, are never perfect and some choices by individuals or firms will be imprudent or have negative side effects. Indeed, some of the people making financial decisions will choose to do evil and to sin.
Thus, the financial speculation leading up to the 2008 crisis and the subsequent criticisms are not really anything new.
To some degree all economic activity involves a degree of speculation, Gregg noted, insofar as it involves choices about spending and investment based on what is inevitably an imperfect knowledge of the future. The point Christians should focus on he insisted is whether the speculation is just or unjust
Gregg finished with a reflection on the role of Christian virtues and the idea of financial activity as a vocation to serve others. We need a financial sector influenced by men and women inspired by the gospel who know that the ultimate profit consists in building up the Kingdom of God.
The issue at question then is not about profits and financial markets as such but about how they are used and for what they are used by people.
As Pope Francis noted in his general audience of May 18 in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus the unnamed rich man is “condemned not because of his wealth, but for being incapable of feeling compassion for Lazarus and for not coming to his aid.” Thus, God and profits are reconcilable so long as the quest for profit is well-ordered.
In addition to the historical information and the question of interest on loans Gregg covers a variety of other topics, such as currency speculation, bank regulation and salaries in the financial sector. It can only be hoped that this illuminating book will spark off further reflections in the area of finance and morality.
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