Three millon people in Pope Benedict XVI's meetings in 2007
Vatican City, Dec.03,2008 (vaticans.org) - During the year 2007, almost three million faithful participated in public meetings with the Pope, either in the Vatican or at his summer residence of Castelgandolfo.
According to statistics released by the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household, a total of 2,830,100 people attended the Wednesday general audiences, special audiences, liturgical celebrations and Sunday Angelus prayers during the course of the year.
The Wednesday general audiences, held in St. Peter's Square and the Paul VI Hall, attracted 729,100 people. This figure reflects the number of tickets distributed, and does not take into account the thousands of faithful who arrive without tickets and also participate.
The Angelus prayers of 2007 drew 1,450,000 people to St. Peter's Square - 155,000 more than last year - while 442,000 attended the various liturgical ceremonies presided by the Holy Father. April 2007, the month in which Holy Week fell, saw the greatest numbers of faithful attending the Wednesday general audiences and the liturgical celebrations: respectively 130,000 and 250,000.
Source: VIS
Fifty people killed inside a Church in Kenya
Nairobi,Kenya, Dec.02,2008 (vaticans.org) - At least 50 people sheltering in a church, most of them women and children, were killed in Kenya yesterday when a mob torched the building.
The victims had sought refuge at the Assemblies of God church in Eldoret, 300 kilometres from Nairobi, after rioters destroyed their homes in earlier attacks.
Red Cross officials say they have been overwhelmed by the number of casualties from the violence in the area and they fear worse is to come.
Yesterday thousands of armed people were heading towards Burnt Forest, a few Kilometres from Eldoret. Burnt Forest has a history of violent tribal clashes.
Many observers expressed concern about the fairness of the elections. Following the apparent victory of President Mwai Kibaki , four days of violent rioting has killed more than 228 people.
The Catholic Church has condemned the violence and appealed for calm and tolerance.
Bishop Martin Kivuva of Machakos Catholic Diocese said that history had shown violence brews violence. He appealed for political leaders to restrain their supporters.
"When we preach an eye for an eye, it means that many people would go blind," he said.
Kivuva said it was the ordinary Kenyan and not the leaders that were suffering.
"The skirmishes we are witnessing today are affecting the poorest of all and not those who live in estates like Muthaiga and other high class estates," he said.
Source: ICN
Pope: From the 'yes' of Mary young people should learn to pronounce 'yes' to God
Vatican City, Dec.14, 2007 (CINS/VIS) - Yesterday evening following a Eucharistic celebration for Roman university students, celebrated in the Vatican Basilica and presided by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar general for the diocese of Rome, the Pope arrived in the basilica to greet the young people gathered there.
In his remarks to them, the Holy Father reflected on two themes: the spiritual formation of the young, and his own recent Encyclical "Spe salvi."
He began by recalling how 150 university students from the diocese of Rome have decided to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation on the eve of Pentecost next year. Addressing them and the other young people present, the Pope invited them "to turn their gaze to the Virgin Mary. From her 'yes' you should learn to pronounce your own 'yes' to the divine call. The Holy Spirit enters our lives in the extent to which we open our hearts with our 'yes.' The fuller that 'yes' is, the fuller is the gift of His presence."
Referring to his Encyclical on Christian hope, Benedict invited his listeners to reflect upon and consider, individually and as a group, the section dedicated to hope in the modern age.
The Pope continued: "In the seventeenth century Europe went through an epoch-making change. Since then a mentality has become ever more widespread according to which human progress is the work of science and technology, while faith concerns only the salvation of the soul.
"The two great concepts of modernity - reason and freedom - have been, so to say, 'disengaged' from God," the Holy Father added. They have "become autonomous and work together in the construction of the 'kingdom of man,' which in practice contrasts with the Kingdom of God. Hence the spread of materialist ideas, nourished by the hope that, by changing economic and political structures, it will finally be possible to achieve a just society in which peace, freedom and equality reign.
This process," the Pope concluded, "which is not without its merits and its historical causes, contains, however, a basic error: man is not just the result of certain economic and social conditions; technological progress does not correspond to the moral development of mankind. In fact without ethical principles science and technology can be used - as has happened and unfortunately still does happen - not for the good but to the detriment of individuals and humanity."
At 99, Marianist Brother Francis Deibel tells Old people not to be afraid of the computer
Ohio, U.S.A, Dec.13, 2007 (CINS/CNS) -- "Maybe I should be reading more," mused Marianist Brother Francis Deibel.
The 99-year-old brother may have a point. Each day he spends up to four hours at his computer exchanging e-mails with more than 100 contacts.
"Lately I've been getting too many e-mails," added Brother Deibel, who thinks too many older people are afraid of technology and computers. "I try to open and read all of them, but sometimes they are too numerous."
He begins his computer time by forwarding readings about the saint of the day. "I send this information to all my Marianist contacts," he said. He then spends hours answering personal e-mails and deleting junk e-mails.
Brother Deibel has been a Marianist since 1926 -- one year before the first "talkie" feature film.
"I began using a computer when it was just a bunch of wires put together," he said. He refined his skills in classes at the University of Dayton, where he worked for 48 years as a librarian. He also credits 86-year-old Marianist Brother Bill Callahan, whom Brother Deibel calls his "young" friend, with teaching him additional skills.
Brother Deibel started e-mailing in 1990 and he says he has used his computer daily ever since. His e-mail address book has four groups: Marianists, relatives, "something else," and "all." The size of his groups are growing, too.
"When I learn of a new e-mail address for someone I know, I'll add it to my list, if it is OK with that person. It doesn't cost extra to add them, so I go ahead and do it," he said.
Brother Deibel said it's possible for all of his fellow senior citizens to pick up the technological tricks of the trade.
"I would encourage old people not to be afraid of the computer," he said. "Too many old people are, but there is nothing to be afraid of. It's just like a typewriter. It won't talk back at you! Learn how to use it. Don't lose time watching TV. Using the computer is much more personal and enjoyable."
Our Lady of Guadalupe as the mother of all peoples
LOS ANGELES (CINS /CNS) -- Thousands of Catholics from throughout the greater Los Angeles area gathered in East Los Angeles Dec. 2 to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe as the mother of all peoples - from every language, race and culture.A mile-long procession, the oldest religious procession in the city honoring Mary, led participants to East Los Angeles College Stadium, where Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and the auxiliary bishops of Los Angeles, numerous priests and more than 15,000 of the faithful gathered for Mass.
The theme this year was "Mother Without Borders: Bringing Down the Walls of Injustice." The event was part of a statewide call to action for comprehensive immigration reform by the California Catholic Conference of Bishops.
"The Virgin of Guadalupe is a symbol of hope and compassion for all who are marginalized," said the cardinal. "Today she continues to unite us as a humble people of God in search for understanding, compassion, peace and human dignity for all -- especially for our immigrant brothers and sisters who are being kept in the margins of society by a broken immigration system."
For the procession, which began near La Soledad Church on Cesar Chavez Avenue, scores of churches decorated banners and colorful floats. Aztec dancers and parishioners wore indigenous and multiethnic dress, many bearing images of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of the Americas.
The annual celebration recalls the miraculous apparitions of the brown-skinned Virgin Mary to St. Juan Diego at Tepeyac, Mexico, in December 1531. She left her image on his "tilma" or cloak.
For 476 years her image has been a symbol of unity, peace, compassion and hope for people around the world.
This year's "Mother Without Borders" theme resonated with immigrant communities living in fear of workplace raids, deportations and family separation.
In his homily, Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala, speaking in English and Spanish, called on all Californians to work toward immigration reform.
"I want to welcome in a special way those of you who are English-speaking, because you understand that Our Lady of Guadalupe -- her message, her love -- is not only for those of Spanish language and culture. But she is the mother of all of us, of every language, every race, every culture," Bishop Zavala said to applause.
"Immigration is today's sword, and it must be turned into a plowshare -- an instrument that prunes away all the injustices and serves to cultivate right relationship among nations and peoples," the bishop continued.
California's Catholic bishops have called "for just and humane immigration reform," he said.
"As those who have faith in Our Lady of Guadalupe I call you to join us today in demanding immigration legislation that allows us to transcend borders and break down the walls of injustice," Bishop Zavala said.
Those walls "view human beings as illegal" and "view undocumented immigrants as criminals, subjecting them to imprisonment and deportation and leaving them without any possibilities of becoming United States citizens," he said.
Among various measures, Bishop Zavala urged immigration legislation that would provide a legal path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants working and living in the United States and would prioritize the reunification of families separated because of mixed immigration status.
Among the thousands of Southern Californians participating in the procession and liturgy was Maria Antonio Rodriguez, a parishioner at St. Anne Church in Santa Monica.
She said she was there to affirm her belief that all people are human beings and no one should suffer discrimination.
"I am praying to Our Lady of Guadalupe, that through her people's hearts may be moved, the ones that are putting up the walls," Rodriguez told The Tidings, newspaper of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. "I hope they can change their point of view."
Juan Sanchez, 19, attended with a dozen family members. A parishioner at St. Matthias Church in Huntington Park, Sanchez said he was there to celebrate how Mary brings all people together.
"If everyone believes in her, then there are no borders with her," said the youth.
Dr. Truc Truong, a physician and parishioner at St. John Neumann in Irvine and St. Cecilia in Tustin, donated the thousands of red and peach roses that surrounded the images of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego near the altar on the stadium field.
A Vietnamese-American immigrant who came to the U.S. in 1975, Truong has been donating 2,000 roses weekly to be placed at the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Hombre Nuevo, a Catholic multimedia center in El Monte.
"Our Lady of Guadalupe is the mother of every single nation, country and every single one of us," said Truong. "The Son of God and the mother of God -- they are together. You can't separate them. She intervenes for us."