Pope at Angelus: Rediscover God and build solidarity

Vatican City, Dec.02,2008 (vaticans.org) – In the first Angelus of the year, the Pope expressed his best wishes for a “peaceful and useful” New Year to more than 30,000 pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square, entrusting it to “the celestial protection of Our Lady which today’s liturgy makes us invoke using her most ancient and important title, that of Mother of God.” Also in the “name of Mary, Mother of God and of men,” he also entrusted the World Day of Peace, which yesterday celebrated its 41st edition. This year’s chosen theme is the “Human family, Community of Peace.”

“The same love that builds and holds together the family, the vital cell of society, favours among the peoples of the earth the start of relations of solidarity and collaboration suitable to members of the human family. The Second Vatican Council made this point when it asserted that ‘[o]ne is the community of all peoples, one their origin . . . One also is their final goal, God’ (Declaration Nostra Aetate, 1). There is therefore a close link between family, society and peace.”

Quoting his own Message, the Pontiff said that “whoever, even unknowingly, circumvents the institution of the family undermines peace in the entire community, national and international, since he weakens what is in effect the primary agency of peace” (Message, n. 5).

There is also a link between peace and the recognition of God the Creator. Quoting again his Message the Pontiff added that “do not live alongside one another purely by chance; all of us are progressing along a common path as men and women, and thus as brothers and sisters” (Message, n. 6).

It is then truly important that each one of us assume our own responsibilities before God and recognise in Him the original source of one’s own existence and that of others. From this awareness comes a commitment to make humanity a true community of peace under a ‘common law . . . one which would foster true freedom . . . and protect the weak from oppression by the strong (Message, n. 11).”

The Pope concluded his brief reflection praying that “Mary, Mother of the Prince of Peace, may sustain the Church in its indefatigable service to peace and help the community of peoples, which in 2008 celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in its journey of true solidarity and stable peace.”

Following the Marian prayer, Benedict XVI thanked all those who sent him best wishes, mentioning in particular the Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano.

He also thanked “all those who promoted and participate in” the innumerable initiatives “sponsored by Church communities in every continent” for World Day of peace. Among them he singled out the rally for “Peace in All Lands” organised by the Sant’Egidio community in Rome and in many other cities around the world, last night’s prayer vigil in St Peter’s Square by the Family Love Movement, and the “Peace Torch” by the Centro sportivo italiano (Italian Sport Centre) which Benedict XVI blessed and which will be brought to the Holy Land by a marathon runner.

Source: Asia News

Pope Benedict XVI: Christians thank God for blessings in 2007

Vatican City,Dec.02,2008 (vaticans.org) - Marking the end of a year, Christians turn to God who is eternal, thanking him for the blessings he has given and asking for his help and protection, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Presiding over a Dec. 31 evening prayer service in St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Benedict said that marking the passage from one year to the next "leads us to turn our gaze with intimate recognition to the one who is eternal, to the Lord of time."

The prayer service, in which officials from the Rome city government participated, ended with the singing of the "Te Deum" hymn of thanksgiving to God.

While the civil calendar changes, the pope said, the church is still in Christmastime, which should help Catholics remember that the first thing for which they give thanks is the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

"The fact that the Son assumed a human nature opens the prospect for a radical change in the human condition," he said.

Jesus, he said, "became like us in order to make us like him" -- children of God freed from the power of sin.

"Isn't this a fundamental reason for raising our thanks to God? A thanksgiving that cannot help being even more motivated at the end of the year, considering the many benefits and the constant assistance we have experienced in the 12 months just passed," he said.

The prayer of thanksgiving to God, he said, is also a prayer for God's continued help, especially for the poor, for families and for the young in Rome and around the world.

For too many people, poverty makes it almost impossible to look to the future with hope, he said.

And too many young people "are attracted by a false exaltation, or better, a profanation of their bodies and the banalization of sexuality," he said.

But Catholics in Rome are working to solve these problems, he said, particularly by helping families and by strengthening efforts to educate young people in "the basic values of existence and in correct behavior."

The young themselves, the pope said, are becoming more and more involved in efforts to evangelize their peers and in campus ministry programs at Rome's universities.

Pope Benedict asked God to give special blessings to the priests of the Diocese of Rome and, especially, to the 28 deacons preparing for ordination in April.

The "Te Deum" hymn of thanksgiving, he said, ends with a solemn proclamation of total hope in God and of trust that believers will be with him for eternity.

Pope Benedict asked those at the prayer service to pray that God would help them be beacons of hope in their families, parishes, schools and workplaces "so that a better future could be built for the whole city."

After the prayer service, Pope Benedict went into St. Peter's Square to get a close look at the Nativity scene.

A special escort was provided by the Vatican police department band.

Source: CNS

Pope at Angelus: Christian Families should experience the loving presence of Jesus

Vatican City, Dec.31,2007 (vaticans.org) – Yesterday's Angelus was a special one, dedicated to the family. Pope Benedict XVI, who mentioned that this sunday was the Feast of the Holy Family, was “linked” to  Plaza de Colon in Madrid, where a celebration of the family was underway, a meeting sponsored by Spain’s Catholic bishops and Spanish Catholic associations aimed at reasserting the value of the family defined as a man, a woman, and their children, as well as parents’ responsibility in education and the need for society to support the family as an institution in which children and the elderly are welcomed. Every diocese and Church movement joined the celebration which brought together an estimated 1.5 million people in Madrid’s Plaza de Colon.

Speaking to them (in Spanish) the Pope said: “Contemplating the mystery of the Son of God who came into the world surrounded by the affection of Mary and Joseph, I urge Christian families to experience the loving presence of the Lord in their life. At the same time I urged them to bear witness before the world of the beauty of human love, marriage and family, finding inspiration in Christ’s love for mankind. Based on an indissoluble union between a man and a woman, it [the family] constitutes the privileged sphere in which human life is welcomed and protected, from its beginning to its natural end.”

In a veiled criticism of the Spanish government, which has legally recognised homosexual unions and has decided to eliminate religious education from schools, the Pontiff added: “Parents have the right and the fundamental duty to educate their children in their faith and the values that give dignity to human existence. It is worthwhile to work for the family and marriage because it is worthwhile to work for human beings, the most precious being created by God.”

Earlier Benedict XVI mentioned the significance of today’s celebration, the Feast Day of the Holy Family. He said: “In accordance with the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, let us look at Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and worship the mystery of a God who chose to be born from a woman, the Holy Virgin, and come into this world the way all men do. This way He sanctified the reality of the family, filling it with divine grace, fully revealing its vocation and mission.”

The Pope mentioned important teachings by the Second Vatican Council on the family. “[H]usbands and wives find their proper vocation in being witnesses of the faith and love of Christ to one another and to their children (cf LG, 35). The Christian family loudly proclaims both the present virtues of the Kingdom of God and the hope of a blessed life to come” (ibid).

In remembering John Paul II for whom “what is good for people and society is strictly connected to the ‘good health’ of the family,” Benedict XVI reiterated that “the Church is committed to defend and promote the ‘the holiness and to foster the natural dignity” (GS, 47)of marriage and the family.”

Finally, the Pope greeted the tens of thousands of faithful in Saint Peter’s Square, wishing them joy in the New Year.

Source: Asia News

Pope's condolences to the family of Benazir Bhutto

Vatican City, Dec.29, 2007 (CINS/AsiaNews) – Pope Benedict XVI sent a telegram of condolences following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, whose remains were laid to rest yesterday. At least 20 people have died in clashes between police and demonstrators.

This heavy toll is a far cry from the Pope’s prayers. In his message the Holy Father said he was praying in the hope that “further violence will be avoided and that every effort will be made to build a climate of respect and trust, which are so necessary if good order is to be maintained in society and if the country’s political institutions are to operate effectively.”

In the telegram, signed by Vatican Secretary of State Card Tarcisio Bertone, and sent to the chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, Mgr Lawrence John Saldanha, the Pope also expressed his “sentiments of deep sympathy and spiritual closeness” to the family of Ms Bhutto who was killed in such a “brutal terrorist attack.”

The funeral for the former Pakistani prime minister was held as expected in her family’s compound in Naudero, in the southern province of Sindh, where hundreds of thousands of people gathered to say farewell to the slain leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

The coffin, covered in the red-green-black flag of the party, was driven in a white ambulance through a dense crowd shouting ‘Benazir Lives’ over a distance of more than five kilometres. It was accompanied by her husband, Asif Zardari, and their three children as well as PPP leaders. The body was then placed inside the family mausoleum in the village of Garhi Khuda Bakhsh beside that of her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who was killed in 1979.

Whilst the ceremony was taking place, violence continued across the country. A roadside bomb in the north-western district of Swat killed six people, including a candidate from President Pervez Musharraf’s ruling PML-Q party.

The situation is particularly tense in Sindh where at least 20 people, including a policeman, died in clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces.

Wielding sticks and brandishing firearms, angry demonstrators destroyed and set on fire hundreds of vehicles, accusing President Musharraf of being behind Bhutto’s death.

Security forces received orders this morning to shoot rioters on sight. And police opened fire on protesters in Sindh's Hyderabad city, wounding at least five people.

More than 400 inmates in three prisons in Thatta district were set free by hundreds of protesters who attacked and set the facilities on fire.

In the provincial capital Karachi, however, the situation was calmer Friday morning after demonstrators attacked and torched four police checkpoints and 180 vehicles. So far 40 people have been arreste

Will 2008 be a busiest year for Pope Benedict XVI?

Vatican City, Dec.28,2007 (CINS/CNS) -- As Pope Benedict XVI looks at his 2008 calendar, he's no doubt recognizing that life doesn't slow down after 80.

With three foreign trips, a world Synod of Bishops on the Bible, a jubilee year dedicated to St. Paul, an important dialogue with Muslims, and an encyclical and a new book in the works, 2008 is shaping up as perhaps the busiest year of his pontificate.

The pope will celebrate his 81st birthday in Washington April 16, the day he's scheduled to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House and with U.S. bishops at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. There's bound to be a birthday cake somewhere along the way.

The April 15-20 trip to the United States and the United Nations will be the pope's first journey outside Italy in 2008. In Washington, the pope also is expected to say Mass in the Nationals' baseball stadium and hold meetings with educators and ecumenical leaders.

In New York, in addition to his U.N. visit, the pope's tentative schedule includes a meeting with interreligious representatives, Mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral, an encounter with seminarians, a visit to ground zero and Mass in Yankee Stadium.

In late July the pope will travel to Australia -- by far the longest trip of his pontificate -- to preside over World Youth Day celebrations. Sometime during the year, he's expected to visit Lourdes, France, to mark the 150th anniversary of Marian apparitions there.

Meanwhile, the pope also has made plans for several major trips inside Italy, beginning with the Ligurian seaports of Genoa and Savona in mid-May. In Savona, which hasn't hosted a pope since 1815, the announcement of the pope's visit was front-page news.

In mid-June, the pope will visit the southern Italian region of Puglia, and in early September will make a one-day stop on the island of Sardinia.

On June 28, Pope Benedict plans to inaugurate the "year of St. Paul," which will feature liturgies, conferences and ecumenical encounters in Rome and around the world. The pope wants modern Christians to draw inspiration from the apostle's missionary energy, and that's a theme he'll be talking about in coming months.

The Synod of Bishops runs Oct. 5-26 on the theme, "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church." The pope chose the topic of Scripture, and he is expected to follow the proceedings closely. The synod's working document is due out earlier in the year.

The pope is himself working on at least one document, a new encyclical that addresses social issues. There's no target date, but officials expect it during the first half of 2008.

And sources said the pope is continuing to work on another project dear to his heart: the second volume on the life of Jesus, following publication of "Jesus of Nazareth" last spring.

Day to day in 2008, much of the pope's time will be taken up by rounds of "ad limina" visits made by heads of dioceses, audiences with world leaders and speeches to ambassadors. He'll welcome Mary Ann Glendon as the new ambassador of the United States, as well as new representatives from Israel and Iran.

In early January, the Jesuits are gathering to elect a new superior general. The pope will meet with delegates of the order and their new leader in February.

In ecumenical affairs, 2008 marks the 100th anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and the pope is expected to preside over a prayer service marking the centenary.

Muslim representatives are coming to the Vatican early in 2008 to lay the groundwork for a potentially important dialogue with the Vatican. The pope had invited a group of Muslim scholars to meet with him and with the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

Other Vatican agencies will be hosting important meetings during the year. The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace has proposed a series of international conferences on social development issues such as poverty, corruption, disarmament, prisons and the ethics of taxation.

Sometime early in the year, the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" plans to issue a document clarifying questions that have arisen regarding the pope's 2007 document relaxing restrictions on use of the Tridentine Mass. Sources said the pope personally is interested in removing ambiguities, and will sign off on the new document.

In April, Pope Benedict 's pontificate enters its fourth year. He gradually has replaced top aides, and that's bound to continue. Six Roman Curia heads are already at the normal retirement age of 75 or will reach it in 2008.

They include Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, head of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, Portuguese Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, and Italian Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers.

 Home   |  27  |  28  |  29  |  30  |  31  |  32  |  33  |  34  |  35  |  36  |  Next