VOLUME 3, ISSUE 17  •  JUNE 24, 2017

Table of Contents

Copyright Notice

VATICAN NEWS

Is there a pontifical commission to reinterpret Humanae vitae?

Pope Francis expresses sorrow for victims of London Grenfell Tower fire

Pope Francis, German Chancellor discuss need to fight poverty, hunger

Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism

The Pope’s words at the Angelus prayer

Holy Mass and Eucharistic Procession on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Pope Francis to visit Chile, Peru in January 2018

It’s a responsibility to seek truth, educate youth, Pope Francis says

Pilgrimage of the Holy Father Francis to the tombs of Don Primo Mazzolari and Don Lorenzo Milani (I)

Pilgrimage of the Holy Father Francis to the tombs of Don Primo Mazzolari and Don Lorenzo Milani (II)

Vatican’s first Auditor General resigns abruptly

General Audience: Saints, witnesses and companions of hope

Pope Francis sends aid to a troubled South Sudan

Meeting with NFL hall-of-famers, Pope Francis promotes teamwork

Pope Francis meets King and Queen of the Netherlands, returns long-lost stick

Audience with the participants in the 75th Convention of Serra International

WORLD NEWS

Be a Good Samaritan to Christians in Syria and Iraq, bishop pleads

U.K. party leader steps down, citing Christian faith

London cardinal ‘appalled’ by Finsbury Park attack on Muslims

Southern DRC violence has left more than 3,000 dead

El Salvador’s first cardinal a friend of Blessed Oscar Romero

Euthanasia mindset looms over disabled baby’s legal fight, ethicist warns

Youssef Absi elected Patriarch of Melkite Greek Catholic Church

Stop sharing fake news, Filipino bishops implore

U.S. NEWS

U.S. bishops ask forgiveness from survivors of clergy sex abuse

U.S. bishops urge caution as Senate considers health care bill

Newark archdiocese defends welcoming of LGBT pilgrimage

Pro-lifers claim victory in Georgia House vote

U.S. bishops launch 2017 Fortnight for Freedom

U.S. military archbishop prays for victims of U.S.S. Fitzgerald collision

California court drops 14 charges against Planned Parenthood investigator

FEATURES

Praise of receptivity

What does ‘the Joy of the Gospel’ look like in the U.S.?

Pope Francis speaks to priests

Can relics unite Catholics and Orthodox? Pope Francis thinks so

This pro-life talk at Google’s headquarters was a hit

Movie review: ‘Beatriz at Dinner’

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Sunday • June 25, 2017

Monday • June 26, 2017

Tuesday • June 27, 2017

Wednesday • June 28, 2017

Thursday • June 29, 2017

Friday • June 30, 2017

Saturday • July 1, 2017

The Catholic Digital News

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Volume 3, Issue 17 • June 24, 2017

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VATICAN NEWS

Is there a pontifical commission to reinterpret Humanae vitae?

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • June 16, 2017

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, now President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, speaks at the Holy See Press Office on Feb. 4, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — As rumors abound concerning a Vatican commission to reinterpret Humanae vitae in light of Amoris laetitia, the controversial president of the Pontifical Academy for Life has rejected these rumors.

“I can confirm that there is no pontifical commission called to re-read or to re-interpret Humanae vitae. However, we should look positively on all those initiatives, such as that of professor Marengo of the John Paul II Institute, which aim at studying and deepening this document in view of the 50th anniversary of its publication,” Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia told CNA.

Vatican reporter Marco Tosatti first reported in May, citing unnamed Vatican sources, that Pope Francis had, or was about to, form a “secret commission” to examine and suggest modifications to the Church’s teaching on contraception, as laid out in Bl. Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae.

And on Wednesday, Roberto de Mattei of Corrispondenza Romana reported that Msgr. Gilfredo Marengo, a professor at the John Paul II Institute, would coordinate the commission.

Corrispondenza Romana said the commission was composed of Msgr. Pierangelo Sequeri, head of the John Paul II Institute, Professor Philippe Chenaux, a professor of Church history at the Pontifical Lateran University, and Msgr. Angelo Maffeis, head of the Paul VI Institute in Brescia.

Citing Msgr. Marengo’s previous writings, de Mattei presented the priest as someone who would be in favor of reviewing Bl. Paul VI’s teaching against the use of contraceptives.

Speaking to CNA, Msgr. Marengo dismissed what he described as the “imaginative report” about him heading a commission to review Humanae vitae, and referred to his own writings on Amoris laetitia to “fully understand my theological path.”

He has written that Amoris laetitia shows Pope Francis’ path “toward a decentralization of doctrinal issues,” and that “whenever the Christian community falls into the error of proposing models of life derived from too-abstract and artificially constructed theological ideals, it conceives its pastoral action as the schematic application of a doctrinal paradigm.”

Msgr. Marengo told CNA that “the issue of a conciliation between Amoris laetitia and Humanae vitae is not in the agenda.”

“I have found it always harmful to invent answers to useless questions,” said Msgr. Marengo, though he added that “theological and pastoral reflection have still a long way to go in order to gain a proper and fruitful understanding of both Paul VI’s and Pope Francis’ texts.”

Archbishop Paglia also told CNA that “there is in fact no doubt that the heart of Humanae vitae – the value of human procreation – is a theme on which we all need to reflect with much attention; the breaking of the marriage-family-procreation triptych is a risk which the Church and all of human society cannot take.”

The archbishop was appointed head of the Pontifical Academy for Life in 2016, and he has come under sharp scrutiny and criticism from former members who are concerned by his actions.

And while Archbishop Paglia was head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, the dicastery organized seminars on marriage and family life in which many of the participants suggested a “penitential path” that would allow the divorced-and-remarried to receive sacramental Communion while still engaging in sexual relations. The seminars’ lectures were published with a foreword by Archbishop Paglia.

Interest in the reception of Humanae vitae is increasing, as the encyclical nears the 50th anniversary of its publication. In view of the anniversary, papers and studies on the text will be prepared and published.

A source in the Pontifical Lateran University, speaking on background, told CNA there is ongoing research in the university archives on the encyclical’s genesis.

It may be that what has been reported as a “papal commission” is one of the many study groups on Humanae vitae created as its major anniversary approaches.

In fact, the source at the Pontifical Lateran University told CNA that “many studies are underway” and that “Pope Francis has been informed of them, and has encouraged them.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis expresses sorrow for victims of London Grenfell Tower fire

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • June 17, 2017

Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square on June 17, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — On Saturday Pope Francis expressed his sorrow for the victims of a devastating fire at Grenfell Tower in London, offering his condolences for the families of those who have died.

A June 17 telegram sent to Cardinal Vincent Nichols, archbishop of Westminster, stated that Pope Francis “was saddened to learn of the devastating fire in London and of the tragic loss of life and injury.”

The Pope “entrusts the souls of those who have died to the Lord’s loving mercy and offers his heartfelt condolences to their families,” it stated.

Signed by Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the telegram went on to express the Pope’s appreciation “for the brave efforts of the emergency service personnel and all committed to supporting those who have lost their homes.”

Concluding, Francis also invoked upon the whole local community “God’s blessings of strength and peace.”

On June 14, just after midnight, a fire began on the fourth floor of Grenfell Tower located in north Kensington, a district of west London. The 24-story building is home to hundreds of people, and the fire blazed until early in the morning.

The cause of the fire is still unknown. A fire investigation report will not be released publicly until the opening of full inquests into those who have died, which could take years, the Guardian reports.

So far, 30 people are confirmed dead, while more than 70 people remain unaccounted for, and friends and family are scrambling to connect with their loved ones. As of Wednesday, some 70 people had been hospitalized for injuries sustained in the incident, including 20 people whose condition is critical.

Hundreds of others who escaped the flames have still lost their homes and all of their belongings, but Catholic parishes in the surrounding area have quickly begun receiving donations of food, clothes, and water to be distributed.

Saint Clemente, one nearby church, has seen such an outpouring that it has asked for future donations to be given to a church a few blocks away.

In the wake of the tragedy, grief has also led to anger at what has been perceived as a failure by authorities to take seriously the concerns of Grenfell residents prior to the fire, as well as a lack of official presence and coordination in the hours following.

Protests have gathered steam and on Friday demonstrators stormed Kensington town hall calling on authorities to provide financial support for victims and to rehouse residents within the borough.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis, German Chancellor discuss need to fight poverty, hunger

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • June 17, 2017

Pope Francis shakes hands with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Vatican on June 17, 2017. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — Saturday, Pope Francis and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met at the Vatican, agreeing on the need to dedicate special attention to the responsibility of the international community in addressing issues of poverty and hunger.

According to a brief June 17 Vatican communique, the “cordial discussions” also included a conversation on the upcoming G20 meeting in Hamburg, as well as concern for the global threats of terrorism and climate change.

The fourth formal meeting of the leaders, the exchange was friendly, the communique stating that the “good relations and fruitful collaboration between the Holy See and Germany were evoked.”

In a press conference following the audience, Merkel said that their conversation included a discussion of their unified desire that the world tear down walls and fight for international treaties, with a special emphasis on the plight in Africa.

Speaking of international treaties, in the press conference Merkel also expressed her disappointment at the United States’ departure from the Paris climate agreement.

In the meeting, Pope Francis expressed his condolences for the death of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who died on Friday. In a message to Merkel, the Pope said that he learned of the news of his death “with emotion.”

“I would like to express my condolences to your family members and to you and to all the German people who empathize with the ‘Chancellor of the Unity,’” he said. “Chancellor Kohl, who is a great and trusted European man, has worked with foresight and dedication for the good of people in Germany and in the neighboring European countries.”

Written in German, the telegram also stated the Pope’s wish that the “Merciful God” will reward him “for his tireless efforts in favor of unity of Germany and the union of Europe, as well as for his commitment to peace and reconciliation.”

The Lord gives eternal joy and life in heaven to those who have died, Francis said, imploring the consolation and blessing of God on the Kohl’s family and all who mourn him.

Near the end of their meeting, the Pope gifted Merkel a small bronze sculpture of an olive branch, symbolizing peace.

He also gave her the customary gift of copies of his environmental encyclical Laudato Si, his 2015 Apostolic Exhortation on the family “Amoris Laetitia,” and his 2013 exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium,” all in German.

For her part, Merkel gave the Pope a gift of three jars of the Argentinian dessert, Dulce de leche, along with a CD set of symphonic works by Beethoven.

Afterward, Merkel met with Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher.

The Pope and Merkel have met for formal audiences at the Vatican three other times: in 2013, 2015 and 2016. Their first encounter was exchanged in St. Peter’s Basilica May 19, 2013, for the occasion of the Pope’s official installation Mass as Bishop of Rome.

June 16, the evening prior to the audience, Merkel met at the German Embassy with Jesuit Fr. Hans Zollner, head of the Center for Child Protection (CCP) at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and a member of the Vatican’s Commission for the Protection of Minors.

According to a tweet by Fr. Zollner, the two discussed the topic of the safeguarding of minors.

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VATICAN NEWS

Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • June 17, 2017

St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.

The Pope met June 16 with the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Angelo Amato, giving his approval for the causes to move forward.

He recognized the martyrdom of Venerable Teresio Olivelli, a layman “killed in hatred of the Faith” Jan. 17, 1945, at the age of 29.

Venerable Olivelli was born in 1916. He graduated with a degree in law and went on to comment in papers on legal and social issues of the time before becoming a volunteer soldier in the Spanish Civil War and in World War II.

During the war, his views towards the Italian fascist regime of Benito Mussolini soured. He founded a newspaper dedicated to promoting the Christian message and tried to infuse a Christian message into the regime.

He later broke from it entirely after seeing the reality of the deportation of Jewish people as per racial laws. He became part of the Italian Resistance movement in Milan.

He was apprehended on April 27, 1944 and taken to a prison where he was tortured and beaten before being moved to another prison. On July 11 his name was added to a list of 70 inmates to be shot, but he fled and hid in a field until he was recaptured.

He was then transferred to a concentration camp in northern Italy before being moved to the Flossenburg and Hersbruck camps in Germany. While there he shared food rations with inmates and treated their injuries.

He died from injuries he received after defending a Ukrainian inmate from being attacked. He was kicked in the stomach and intestines and struck 25 times.

Olivelli’s beatification process began in 1988. Originally sought as a martyrdom, this was rejected because of doubts, though he was found to have lived a life of heroic virtue and was named ‘Venerable’ by Pope Francis in 2015.

Officials of the cause remained adamant that Olivelli was killed in hatred of his faith and therefore re-submitted a “positio” – a collection of documents submitted for sainthood causes – in 2016, hoping it would lead to his beatification without the usual required miracle.

Based on new findings it was approved by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and now by Pope Francis, affirming that he was killed “in hatred of the faith,” paving the way for his beatification.

Another cause moving forward is that of Sr. Maria degli Angeli, born Giuseppa Margherita Operte in Turin in 1871.

Born into a wealthy family, she experienced loss at the young age of 14 when her father and brother died within three months of each other. Left alone with her mother, they entered more deeply into the Christian life, becoming Third Order lay Carmelites.

When Giuseppa heard that a priest in a neighboring parish was circulating the rumor that she would open an institute for poor young girls, she took it as a sign of her calling and in 1894 opened the Institute of St. Joseph in a palace inherited from her parents.

She began a religious community of Third Order Carmelites who live an active apostolate according to the spirituality of the great reformers of Carmel, which since 1970 is called the Carmelite Sisters of Saint Teresa of Turin, and has two branches, one contemplative and one active.

She died in the monastery of Cascine Vica on Oct. 7, 1949, having lived an active life centered on contemplation.

The other persons declared ‘Venerable’ are: Bishop Antonio Jose de Souza Barroso of Porto (1854-1918); Bishop Jose de Jesus López y González of Aguascalientes, founder of the Congregation of the Maestro Catholic Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1872-1950); Bishop Agostino Ernesto Castrillo, OFM, of San Marco and Bisignano, (1904-1955); Fr. Giacomo da Balduina, OFM Cap., (1900-1948); and Sr. Umiltà Patlán Sánchez of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (1895-1970).

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VATICAN NEWS

The Pope’s words at the Angelus prayer

The Holy See Press Office • June 18, 2017

Vatican City — At midday today, the Holy Father Francis appeared at the window of his study in the Vatican Apostolic Palace to pray the Angelus with the faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

The following is the Pope’s introduction to the Marian prayer:

Before the Angelus

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

In Italy and in many other countries, this Sunday we celebrate the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ – often the Latin name is used: Corpus Domini or Corpus Christi. Every Sunday the ecclesial community gathers around the Eucharist, the sacrament instituted by Jesus in the Last Supper. However, every year we have the joy of celebrating the feast dedicated to this Mystery, central to the faith, to express in fullness our adoration of Christ Who gave Himself as the food and drink of salvation.

Today’s reading, from the Gospel of St. John, is a part of the discourse on the “bread of life“ (cf. 6: 51-58). Jesus affirms: “I am the bread which came down from Heaven. [ … ] The bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh” (v. 51). He means that the Father has sent Him to the world as the food of eternal life, and therefore He will sacrifice Himself, His flesh. Indeed, on the cross Jesus gave His Body and shed His Blood. The crucified Son of Man is the true paschal Lamb, which brings us out of sin and sustains us on the way to the Promised Land. The Eucharist is the Sacrament of His flesh, given to make the world live; whoever is nourished by this food abides in Jesus and lives for Him. To assimilate Jesus means to be in Him, to become children in the Son.

As He did with the disciples of Emmaus, in the Eucharist Jesus is alongside us, pilgrims in history, to nurture faith, hope and charity in us; to comfort us in our trials; to support us in our efforts for justice and peace. This fraternal presence of the Son of God is everywhere: in the cities, in the countryside, in the North and in the South of the world, in countries of Christian tradition and in those in the first phase of evangelization. And, in the Eucharist, He offers Himself as the spiritual force to help us put into practice His commandment to love one another as He has loved us, building hospitable communities open to the needs of all, especially the frailest, poorest and most in need.

To be nourished by Jesus the Eucharist also means to abandon ourselves trustfully to Him and to allow ourselves to be guided by Him. It is about putting Jesus in the place of our “I” In this way the free love received from Jesus in Eucharistic Communion, with the work of the Holy Spirit, nurtures our love for God and for the brothers and sisters we encounter on our path every day. Nourished by Christ’s Body, we become increasingly and concretely the Mystical body of Christ. The Apostle Paul reminds us of this: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the Blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the Body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one Body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor 10: 16-17).

May the Virgin Mary, who was always united to Jesus, Bread of life, help us to rediscover the beauty of the Eucharist, to nourish us with faith to live in communion with God and with our brothers.

After the Angelus

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The day after tomorrow is World Refugee Day promoted by the United Nations. The theme this year is: “With Refugees. Today more than ever we must be on the side of refugees.” This is the theme. Concrete care must be given to women, men and children fleeing from conflicts, violence and persecutions. We also remember in prayer those who have lost their life in the sea or in exhausting trips over land. May their stories of grief and hope become opportunities for fraternal encounter and true mutual knowledge. Indeed, personal encounter with refugees dispels fear and distorted ideologies, and becomes a factor of growth in humanity, able to make room for sentiments of openness and the building of bridges.

I express my closeness to the beloved Portuguese people for the devastating fire that is affecting forests around Pedrogao Grande causing numerous victims and injuries. Let us pray in silence.

My greeting goes to all of you, Romans and pilgrims, in particular, those from the Seychelles Islands, from Seville, Spain, and from Umuarama and Toledo, Brazil. I greet the faithful of Naples, Arzano and Santa Caterina di Pedara.

A special greeting goes to the qualified representation of the Central African Republic and of the United Nations, in Rome these days for a meeting organized by the Sant’Egidio Community. I carry in my heart the memory of the visit I made in November 2015 to that country and I hope that, with God’s help and the good will of all, the peace process may be fully re-launched and strengthened, along with the necessary conditions for development.

This evening, I will celebrate Holy Mass at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, which will be followed by a procession with the Most Holy Sacrament to St. Mary Major. I invite you all to take part, also spiritually; I think in particular of cloistered communities, the sick and prisoners. Radio and television also help in this.

Next Tuesday I will go on a pilgrimage to Bozzolo and Barbiana, to pay homage to Fr. Primo Mazzolari and Fr. Lorenzo Milani, the two priests who offer us a message of which we are in great need today. In this case also, I thank all those, especially priests, who will accompany me with their prayer.

I wish you all a good Sunday. And, please, do not forget to pray for me. Have a good lunch, and good-bye!

Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana (vatican.va)

VATICAN NEWS

Holy Mass and Eucharistic Procession on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

The Holy See Press Office • June 18, 2017

Vatican City — At 18:30 this evening, the Holy Father Francis left the Vatican by car destined for the Basilica of St. John Lateran, where he presided at the rites of Corpus Domini, Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, in accordance with the liturgical calendar of the Italian Church.

At 19:00 the Pope celebrated Holy Mass on the forecourt of the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

This was followed immediately by the Eucharistic Procession along the Via Merulana, arriving at the Basilica of St. Mary Major, where the Pope imparted his solemn Blessing with the Most Holy Sacrament.

The following is the homily the Holy Father addressed to the faithful during the Eucharistic celebration at St. John Lateran:

Homily of the Holy Father

On this Solemnity of Corpus Domini, the idea of memory comes up again and again. Moses says to the people: “You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you [ … ]. Lest [ … ] you forget the Lord your God, who fed you in the wilderness with manna” (Dt 8:2, 14, 16). Jesus will tell us: “Do this in memory of me” (1 Cor 11:24). Saint Paul will tell his disciple: “Remember Jesus Christ” (2 Tim 2:8). The “living bread, come down from heaven” (Jn 6:51) is the sacrament of memory, reminding us, in a real and tangible way, of the story of God’s love for us.

Today, to each of us, the word of God says, Remember! Remembrance of the Lord’s deeds guided and strengthened his people’s journey through the desert; remembering all that the Lord has done for us is the foundation of our own personal history of salvation. Remembrance is essential for faith, as water is for a plant. A plant without water cannot stay alive and bear fruit. Nor can faith, unless it drinks deeply of the memory of all that the Lord has done for us. “Remember Jesus Christ.”

Remember. Memory is important, because it allows us to dwell in love, to be mind-ful, never forgetting who it is who loves us and whom we are called to love in return. Yet nowadays, this singular ability that the Lord has given us is considerably weakened. Amid so much frantic activity, many people and events seem to pass in a whirl. We quickly turn the page, looking for novelty while unable to retain memories. Leaving our memories behind and living only for the moment, we risk remaining ever on the surface of things, constantly in flux, without going deeper, without the broader vision that reminds us who we are and where we are going. In this way, our life grows fragmented, and dulled within.

Yet today’s Solemnity reminds us that in our fragmented lives, the Lord comes to meet us with a loving “fragility,” which is the Eucharist. In the Bread of Life, the Lord comes to us, making himself a humble meal that lovingly heals our memory, wounded by life’s frantic pace of life. The Eucharist is the memorial of God’s love. There, “[Christ’s] sufferings are remembered” (II Vespers, antiphon for the Magnificat) and we recall God’s love for us, which gives us strength and support on our journey. This is why the Eucharistic commemoration does us so much good: it is not an abstract, cold and superficial memory, but a living remembrance that comforts us with God’s love. A memory that is both recollection and imitation. The Eucharist is flavored with Jesus’ words and deeds, the taste of his Passion, the fragrance of his Spirit. When we receive it, our hearts are overcome with the certainty of Jesus’ love. In saying this, I think in particular of you boys and girls, who recently received First Holy Communion, and are here today in great numbers.

The Eucharist gives us a grateful memory, because it makes us see that we are the Father’s children, whom he loves and nourishes. It gives us a free memory, because Jesus’ love and forgiveness heal the wounds of the past, soothe our remembrance of wrongs experienced and inflicted. It gives us a patient memory, because amid all our troubles we know that the Spirit of Jesus remains in us. The Eucharist encourages us: even on the roughest road, we are not alone; the Lord does not forget us and whenever we turn to him, he restores us with his love.

The Eucharist also reminds us that we are not isolated individuals, but one body. As the people in the desert gathered the manna that fell from heaven and shared it in their families (cf. Ex 16), so Jesus, the Bread come down from Heaven, calls us together to receive him and to share him with one another. The Eucharist is not a sacrament “for me”; it is the sacrament of the many, who form one body, God’s holy and faithful people. Saint Paul reminded us of this: “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor 10:17). The Eucharist is the sacrament of unity. Whoever receives it cannot fail to be a builder of unity, because building unity has become part of his or her “spiritual DNA.” May this Bread of unity heal our ambition to lord it over others, to greedily hoard things for ourselves, to foment discord and criticism. May it awaken in us the joy of living in love, without rivalry, jealousy or mean-spirited gossip.

Now, in experiencing this Eucharist, let us adore and thank the Lord for this greatest of gifts: the living memorial of his love, that makes us one body and leads us to unity.

Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana (vatican.va)

VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis to visit Chile, Peru in January 2018

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • June 19, 2017

Jubilee audience in St. Peter’s Square with Pope Francis on Nov. 12, 2016. (Lucia Ballester/CNA)

Vatican City — The Holy See Press Office announced Monday that Pope Francis will travel to Chile from January 15 to 18 and Peru from January 18 to 21, 2018.

In Chile the Holy Father will visit the capital of Santiago, as well as Temuco and Iquique. In Peru, he will visit the capital city of Lima, as well as Puerto Maldonado and Trujillo.

“The program of the trip will be published in due course,” the Vatican statement said.

The Archbishop of Lima and Primate of Peru, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, affirmed in a press conference on Monday that “the Holy Father receives daily invitations from countries around the world. He has (chosen) to come to Peru and Chile. This makes us think of the enormous affection he has for our country.”

The Pope “comes as a pilgrim of peace, justice, unity. It is an excellent opportunity for the whole Peruvian family to seek the best, knowing that the Pope brings a message of reconciliation and mission, that the Church is open to (everyone),” he added during the press conference, held in the headquarters of the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference in Lima.

“I call on you so that together we can prepare well for the presence of the Pope that will be a before and after in the history of the country,” he concluded.

The President of Peru, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski reiterated the archbishop’s comments, saying that the Holy Father’s visit “will mark a before and after” for Peru.

“I think this visit is going to be an immense success,” he added.

In Chile, the Apostolic Nuncio, Bishop Ivo Scapolo, announced the news, accompanied by Archbishop Santiago Silva, President of the Episcopal Conference of Chile (CECh), Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, Archbishop of Santiago, and Bishop Fernando Ramos, General Secretary of the CECh, who will be the General Coordinator of the papal visit.

In the announcement Bishop Fernando Ramos affirmed that “the Pope is an important person as Peter’s successor, and his word and testimony are always intended to (announce) the person of Jesus.”

“In his visit he will help the church to reaffirm our following of Jesus,” he added.

The announcement comes a few months ahead of Pope Francis’ upcoming trip to Colombia in September.

The Church’s first Latin American Pope has already visited several countries in South and Central America, including Brazil in 2013, Bolivia, Ecuador and Paraguay in 2015, and Cuba and Mexico in 2016. He has yet to visit his home country of Argentina as Pope.

The last Pope to visit Chile and Peru was Pope John Paul II, who made pastoral trips to Peru in 1985 and 1988, and Chile in 1987.

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VATICAN NEWS

It’s a responsibility to seek truth, educate youth, Pope Francis says

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • June 20, 2017

Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square for a Jubilee of Mercy audience on June 18, 2016. (Alexey Gotovskiy/CNA)

Barbiana, Italy — On Tuesday Pope Francis made a pilgrimage to the graves of two 20th century Italian priests, reflecting on charity and education, and calling on adults to form their consciences well, so that they may teach young people to do the same.

Addressing educators, Pope Francis said June 20, “Yours is a mission full of obstacles but also of joys. But above all it is a mission. A mission of love, because you cannot teach without love and without the awareness that what you give is only a right that you recognize, that of learning.”

“This is an appeal to responsibility. An appeal to you, dear young people, but first of all, adults who are called to live the freedom of conscience in a genuine way, as a search for the true, the beautiful and the good, ready to pay the price that this entails.”

The Pope’s June 20 pilgrimage to the small Italian towns of Bozzolo and Bariana took place in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of Fr. Lorenzo Milani, who lived from 1923-1967. He also visited the grave of Fr. Primo Mazzollari, who lived from 1890-1959.

Both priests have been wrongly portrayed as “anti-clerical” and their writings have often been misquoted in order to make them appear to dissent from the Church. However, during their lives they always obeyed any restriction the Church placed upon them, and they never preached or taught outside of the Catholic Church.

“There are so many things to be taught,” Pope Francis continued, “but the essential thing is the growth of a free conscience, capable of confronting itself with reality and of orienting itself in (reality) guided by love, by the desire to compromise with others, to take on the weight of their difficulties and wounds, to escape from all selfishness to serve the common good.”

The Pope’s brief visit – only half a day – began with an early morning helicopter flight to Bozzolo, landing at 9:00 a.m. He was welcomed by the Mayor of Bozzolo and the Bishop of Cremona, Antonio Napolioni.

From there the Pope proceeded to the parish of St. Peter to pray at the tomb of Fr. Primo Mazzolari, after which he gave a commemorative speech to the faithful present at the church.

At 10:30 a.m. he left for Barbiana, arriving at the Barbiana church at 11:15a.m. He was welcomed there by Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, Archbishop of Florence and the Mayor of Vicchio, a municipality of Florence.

He then made a private visit to the cemetery of the church to pray at the grave of Fr. Lorenzo Milani. Afterwards, Pope Francis met in the church with still-living disciples of Fr. Milani.

After a short visit to the rectory in the adjacent garden he gave a speech in the presence of around 200 people, including the disciples, priests of the diocese and some children living in family homes in the area. The Pope arrived back at the Vatican around 1:15 p.m.

Fr. Mazzolari believed that a parish priest was called to be a reference point for the community, and also called to work for the re-evangelization of Christianity.

Fr. Lorenzo Milani had a similar approach, which he applied by teaching poor children about the social doctrine of the Church. At a time of increasing communist influence in the region, he declared that “only the Gospel” would be his guide.

“The school, for Fr. Lorenzo, was not something different from his priestly mission, but the concrete way to do that mission, giving it a solid foundation and the capacity to rise up to heaven,” Francis said.

You are witnesses to how a priest has lived out his mission, “with full fidelity to the Gospel and precisely for this, with full fidelity to each of you, whom the Lord had entrusted to him,” the Pope said to former students of Fr. Milani’s schools.

A teaching of Fr. Milani was, he said: “Give to the poor the word, because without the word there is no dignity and therefore no freedom and justice.”

If we teach them the Word of God, this is what will open up the path to full citizenship in society, through work and through full membership in the Church, Francis explained.

This is still true, even in our time, he said. It is only the Word of God that can help us to discern between the many false and confusing messages that we are bombarded with by society. It is also only the Word that can help us to make sense of and express the deep feelings and desires of our hearts and of the lack of justice for many of our brothers and sisters.

“Of that full humanization that we claim for every person on this earth, besides bread, home, work, family, is also the possession of the word as an instrument of freedom and fraternity,” he said.

Speaking to priests, Francis said that Fr. Milani was looking, as his mother said, for the “Absolute,” which he found in “religion and the priestly vocation.”

“Without this thirst for the Absolute you can be good officials of the sacred, but you cannot be priests, true priests, able to become servants of Christ in your brothers,” the Pope said.

“Dear priests, with the grace of God, we seek to be men of faith, a sincere faith, not watered down; and men of charity, pastoral charity toward all those whom the Lord entrusts us as brothers and children.”

“We love the Church, dear brothers, and let us love it, showing it as a caring mother of all, especially of the poorest and most fragile, both in social life and in personal and religious life.”

This is the Church that Fr. Milani has shown the world, he said. A Church with a maternal and thoughtful face, extending to everyone the opportunity to meet God.

This charity was not lacking in Servant of God Fr. Primo Mazzolari either. He himself was a priest who was poor, but not a “poor priest,” the Pope said.

In his spiritual testament, the Pope recounted, Fr. Mazzolari wrote that he always had little money, which always had to go to pay for the necessary things. This was his one regret on this point, he wrote, that he did not have more to give to the poor and his parish works.

However, Fr. Primo lived out a “pastoral charity” in his priestly ministry, Francis said, opening up horizons in the many complex situations he had to face during that time: “wars, totalitarianism, fratricidal clashes, the fatigue of democracy in gestation, the misery of its people.”

The Pope encouraged his fellow priests to follow Fr. Mazzolari’s example by listening to the world and all those who live and work in it: “Take care of every question of feeling and hope, without fear of passing through deserts and shadow areas,” he said.

Fr. Mazzolari had a great love of the poor, Francis continued, saying that charity was a matter of spirituality and of looking. In his book “The Crucified Way of the Poor,” he wrote that “he who has little charity sees few poor; he who has much charity sees many poor; those who have no charity see no one.”

The priest added, however, that “he who knows the poor knows his brother: whoever sees the brother sees Christ, who sees Christ sees life and his true poetry, for charity is the poetry of heaven carried on earth.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pilgrimage of the Holy Father Francis to the tombs of Don Primo Mazzolari and Don Lorenzo Milani (I)

The Holy See Press Office • June 20, 2017

Vatican City — This morning, the Holy Father Francis departed by helicopter from the Vatican heliport for his pilgrimage to the tombs of Don Primo Mazzolari in Bozzolo (MN) and Don Lorenzo Milani in Barbiana (FI).

Upon arrival, around 9:00, in the Bozzolo sports field, the Pope was welcomed by the bishop of Cremona, H.E. Msgr. Antonio Napolioni, and the mayor, Mr. Giuseppe Torchio. He then transferred by car to the parish of San Pietro, where he was received by the parish priest, Don Gianni Maccalli, and the parish vicar, Don Gabriele Barbieri.

The Holy Father prayed at the tomb of Don Primo Mazzolari. Then, following the greeting from the bishop, he gave a commemorative address.

At the end, in the sacristy, the Pope was shown some memorials to and works by Don Primo, by the President of the Mazzolari Foundation, Don Bruno Bignami, and the president of the Scientific Committee of the Mazzolari Foundation, Professor Giorgio Vecchio.

Then, after greeting some of the faithful, Pope Francis transferred by car to the Bozzolo sports field where, at around 10:30, he departed for Barbiana (FI), for his pilgrimage to the tomb of Don Lorenzo Milani.

The following is the Holy Father’s address in remembrance of Don Primo Mazzolari:

Address of the Holy Father

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

They advised me to shorten this speech a little, because it is a bit long. I tried to do so, but I did not succeed. So many things came to mind, here and there … But you have patience! Because I do not want to miss all that I want to say about Don Primo Mazzolari.

I am a pilgrim here in Bozzolo and then in Barbiana, following the footsteps of two parish priests who have left a luminous trace, if somewhat “inconvenient,” in their service to the Lord and the people of God. I have said several times that the parish priests are the strength of Church in Italy, and I repeat it. When they are the faces of a non-clerical clergy, like this man, they give life to a true “magisterium of parish priests,” which is good for everyone. Don Primo Mazzolari was called “the parish priest of Italy”; and St. John XXIII greeted him as “the bugle of the Holy Spirit in the lower Po valley.” I believe that the priestly personality of Don Primo is not a singular exception, but a splendid fruit of your communities, although he has not always been understood and appreciated. As Blessed Paul VI said: “He walked ahead with a long stride, and often we could not keep up with him! And so he suffered, and we suffered too. It is the fate of the prophets” (Greeting to pilgrims from Bozzolo and Cicognara, 1 May, 1970). His formation is the offspring of the rich Christian tradition of the Po Valley, Lombardy, Cremona. In the years of his youth he was impressed by the figure of the great bishop Geremia Bonomelli, protagonist of social Catholicism and pioneer of the pastoral care of migrants.

It is not up to me to recount to you or to analyze the work of Don Primo. I thank those who have dedicated themselves to this over the years. I prefer to meditate with you - especially with my priestly brothers who are here and also with those from all over Italy: this was the “parish priest of Italy” - on the timeliness of his message, which I place against the backdrop of three scenes that filled his eyes and heart every day: the river, the farmhouse and the plain.

1. The river is a wonderful image, which belongs to my experience, and also to yours. Don Primo exercised his ministry along the rivers, symbols of primacy and the power of the grace of God flowing incessantly toward the world. His word, preached or written, drew clarity of thought and persuasive force at the source of the Word of the living God in the Gospel, meditated and prayed, rediscovered in the Crucified Jesus and in men, celebrated in sacramental gestures never reduced to pure rite. Don Mazzolari, parish priest in Cicognara and Bozzolo, did not shelter himself from the river of life, from the suffering of his people, who shaped him as a pastor who was clever and demanding, especially with himself. Along the river he learned to receive the gift of truth and love every day, to make him a strong and generous bearer. In preaching to the seminarians in Cremona, he affirmed: “Being a ‘repeater’ is our strength. [ … ] However, between a dead repeater, a loudspeaker, and a live repeater there is a big difference! The priest is a repeater, but his repetition must not be soulless, passive, without cordiality. Along with the truth that I repeat, there must be, I must to put something of my own to show that I believe what I say; it must be done in such a way that the brother hears an invitation to receive the truth” (1). His prophecy was realized in loving his time, in linking himself to the lives of the people he met, in seizing every opportunity to announce God’s mercy. Don Mazzolari was not one who regretted the Church of the past, but tried to change the Church and the world through impassioned love and unconditional dedication. In his work, “The Parish,” he proposes an reflection on the methods of the apostolate, convinced that the shortcomings of the parish in his time was due to a defect of incarnation. There are three roads that do not lead in the direction of the Gospel:

First, the way of “letting go.” This is the way of one who stays at the window to look out without getting dirty hands – being a passive observer in life. He is content to criticize, to “describe with bitter and lustful mischief the errors” (2) of the world around. This attitude quietens the conscience, but it has nothing to do with Christianity because it leads us to back out, with a spirit of judgement, sometimes sour. There is a lack of proactive ability, or of constructive approach to problem solving.

The second erroneous method is that of “separatist activism.” We are committed to creating Catholic institutions (banks, cooperatives, clubs, trade unions, schools … ). So faith becomes more operative, but - Mazzolari warned - it can create an elite Christian community. It favors interests and clientele with a Catholic label. And, inadvertently, barriers are built to the emergence of the question of faith, and risk becoming insurmountable. There is a tendency to affirm what divides rather than what we have in common. It is a method that does not facilitate evangelization, but rather closes doors and creates mistrust.

The third mistake is the “dehumanizing supernaturalism.” This takes refuge in the religious to circumvent the difficulties and disappointments we encounter. We leave the world, the true field of the apostolate, in favor of devotion. It is the temptation of spiritualism. A limp apostolate is born, without love. “Those who are distant cannot be interested in a prayer that does not become charitable, with a procession that does not help bear the crosses of the hour.” (3) The drama is in this distance between faith and life, between contemplation and action.

2. The farmhouse. At Don Primo’s time, it was a “family of families” who lived together in this fertile countryside, even suffering miseries and injustices, waiting for a change, which then led to the exodus to the cities. The farmhouse, the house, offer us an idea of the Church that Don Mazzolari led. He too thought of an outgoing Church when he meditated on priests with these words: “To walk, we must go out of the house and of the Church, if the people of God are no longer there; and to take care of and worry about those needs that, while not spiritual, are human needs and, just as they can cause man to be lost, they can also save him. The Christian has detached himself from the man, and our way of talking can not be understood if we do not first introduce him to this road, which seems to lead farthest and is the safest. [ … ] To do a lot, one has to love a lot.” (4) This is what your pastor said. The parish is the place where every man feels he is expected, a “hearth that knows no absences.” Don Mazzolari was a pastor who believed that “the destinies of the world mature on the outskirts,” and he made his own humanity an instrument of God’s mercy, in the manner of the father of the Gospel parable, so well described in the book “The Most Beautiful Adventure.” He was rightly called the “pastor of the distant” because he always loved and sought others, and he was careful not to define a theoretical method of the apostolate valid for all and forever, but instead to propose discernment as a way to interpret the spirit of every man. This merciful and evangelical outlook on humanity led him to give value also to the necessary gradual approach: the priest is not one who requires perfection, but who helps each person to give their best. “Let us be content with what our peoples can give. Let us have good sense! We must not overburden the shoulders of the poor people” (5). I would like to repeat this, and repeat it to all the priests of Italy and the world too: Let us have good sense! We must not overburden the shoulders of the poor people. And although, for this openness, he was called to obedience, he lived on his feet, as an adult, as a man, and at the same time on his knees, kissing the hand of his bishop, whom he never ceased to love.

3. The third scenario – the first was the river, the second the farmhouse – the third scenario is that of your great plain. Those who have welcomed the Sermon on the Mount are not afraid to cross, as a traveler and witness, the plain that opens out without reassuring boundaries. Jesus prepares His disciples for this, leading them into the crowd, among the poor, revealing that the summit is reached in the plain, where God’s mercy is incarnated (cf. Homily for the Consistory, 19 November 2016). Don Primo’s pastoral charity opened up several horizons in the complex situations he had to face: wars, totalitarianism, fratricidal clashes, the hardship of democracy in gestation, the misery of his people. I encourage you, brothers and priests, to listen to the world, to those who live and work in it, to take on every question of meaning and hope, without fear of passing through deserts and areas of darkness. In this way we can become a poor Church for and with the poor, the Church of Jesus. That of the poor is defined by Don Primo as a “sluggish existence,” and the Church needs to convert to recognition of their life to love them as they are: “The poor want to be loved as poor people, that is, without calculating their poverty, without pretense or right to debt, not even making them citizens of the kingdom of heaven, much less proselytizers” (6). He did not proselytize because this is not Christian. Pope Benedict XVI told us that the Church, Christianity, does not grow by proselytism, but by attraction, that is, by testimony. That’s what Don Primo Mazzolari did: he bore witness. The Servant of God lived in poverty but was not a “poor priest.” In his spiritual testament he wrote: “Around my altar, and around my house and my work there was never the sound of money making. The little that entered my hands [ … ] went where it was supposed to go. If I were to have any regret on this issue, it would concern my poor and parish works that I could have helped a great deal.” He had meditated deeply on the difference of style between God and man: “The style of man: with a lot, he does little. God’s style: with nothing, He does all” (7). For this reason, the credibility of the proclamation passes through the simplicity and poverty of the Church: “If we want to bring the poor people back to their home, the poor need to find the air of the Poor man,” that is, of Jesus Christ. In his book “The Via Crucis of the Poor,” Fr. Primo recalls that charity is a matter of spirituality and of gaze. “Those who have little charity sees few poor; those who have much charity see many poor; those who have no charity see no one” (8). And he adds: “He who knows the poor, knows his brother: whoever sees the brother sees Christ, who sees Christ sees life and its true poetry, because charity is the poem of heaven brought to earth” (9).

Dear friends, I thank you for welcoming me today, in the parish of Don Primo. To you and to the bishops I say: be proud of having made “such priests,” and do not be tired of becoming “such priests and Christians” too, even though this calls for struggle with oneself, calling by name the temptations that deceive us, letting ourselves be healed by God’s tenderness. If you should acknowledge that you have not gathered Don Mazzolari’s lesson, I invite you today to cherish it. The Lord, who has always inspired in the Holy Mother Church shepherds and prophets following His heart, help us today not to ignore them yet. Because they have seen far, and following them will save us from suffering and humiliation. Many times I have said that the shepherd must be able to stand in front of the people to show the way in their midst as a sign of closeness or behind them to encourage those who fall behind (cf. Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 31). And Don Primo wrote: “Where I see the people slip towards dangerous slopes, I put myself behind; where it is necessary to climb, I attack in front. Many do not understand that it is the same charity that moves in one case or the other, and that nobody can do it better than a priest” (10).

With this spirit of fraternal communion, with you and all the priests of the Church in Italy – with those good parish priests – I would like to conclude with a prayer by Don Primo, a pastor who loved Jesus and His desire for all men to be saved. Don Primo prayed thus:

“You came for everyone:

For those who believe

And for those who say they do not believe.

All of them,

Sometimes these more than those,

They work, they suffer, they hope

For the world to go a little better.

O Christ, You were born “outside the house”

And You died “out of the city,”

To be in an even more visible way

The crossroads and the meeting point.

No-one is excluded from salvation, O Lord,

Because no-one is excluded from Your love,

Which does not offend or recoil

From our oppositions or our denials.”

Now, I will give you my blessing. Let us pray to Our Lady, first, who is our Mother; without our Mother we cannot go ahead. [Hail Mary]

1 P. Mazzolari, Preti così, 125-126.

2 Id., Lettera sulla parrocchia, 51.

3 Ibid., 54.

4 P. Mazzolari, Coscienza sociale del clero, ICAS, Milano, 1947, 32.

5 Id., Preti così, 118-119.

6 Id., La via crucis del povero, 63.

7 Id., La parrocchia, 84.

8 Id., La via crucis del povero, 32.

9 Ibid. 33.

10 Id., Scritti politici, 195.

Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana (vatican.va)

VATICAN NEWS

Pilgrimage of the Holy Father Francis to the tombs of Don Primo Mazzolari and Don Lorenzo Milani (II)

The Holy See Press Office • June 20, 2017

Vatican City — This morning, at 11:10, the helicopter carrying the Holy Father Francis, on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Don Lorenzo Milani, landed in the area below the church of Barbiana (FI).

Upon arrival the Pope was received by the archbishop of Florence, Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, and by the mayor of Vicchio, Roberto Izzo. He then transferred directly to the cemetery for a private visit and to pray before the tomb of Don Milani. The Holy Father then travelled by car to the Church, and upon arrival he greeted various disciples and former pupils of the Florentine priest in the square in front of the Church and inside.

After a moment of personal prayer in the Church, Pope Francis visited the rectory and the school. Then, on the adjacent lawn, introduced by greetings from Cardinal Betori, the Holy Father gave the address below.

At the end, the Pope arrived at the space below the Church and at 12:30 he left Barbiana, to return to Rome. He arrived at the Vatican heliport at 13:16.

Address of the Holy Father

Dear brothers and sisters, I have come to Barbiana to pay homage to the memory of a priest who bore witness to how, in the gift of self to Christ, one encounters brothers in their needs and serves them, so that their dignity as people is defended and promoted, with the same self-giving that Jesus showed to us unto the Cross.

1. I rejoice at meeting here those who were pupils of Don Lorenzo Milani, some in the San Donato school in Calenzano, others in the school here in Barbiana. You are witnesses of how a priest has lived his mission, in the places in which the Church called him, with full fidelity to the Gospel and, precisely for this reason, with full fidelity to each one of you, whom the Lord entrusted to him. And you are witnesses of his passion as an educator, of his intention to reawaken the human in people, to open them to the divine.

Hence his complete dedication to the school, with a decision that here in Barbiana he implemented in an even more radical way. The school, for Don Lorenzo, was not something different from his mission as a priest, but rather the concrete way in which he carried out that mission, giving it a solid foundation capable of lifting it up to heaven. And when the bishop’s decision led him from Calenzano to here, among the children of Barbiana, he understood immediately that if the Lord had permitted that detachment, it was to give him new children to help raise and love. Giving the word back to the poor, because without the word there is no dignity, nor is there freedom or justice: this is what Don Milani taught. And it is the world that can open the way to full citizenship in society, through work, and to full belonging to the Church, with a conscious faith. This is valid in its way also for our times, in which merely possessing the word can permit it to discern among the many and often confused messages that rain down on us, and to give an expression to the deep yearnings of the heart, as well as the expectations of justice on the part of many brothers and sisters who await justice. The possession of the word as an instrument of freedom and fraternity forms part of that humanization that we claim for every person on this earth, alongside bread, home, work, and family.

2. There are also some children and young people here, who represent for you the many children and young people who today are in need of someone to accompany them on the journey of their growth. I know that you, like many others in the world, live in situations of marginalization, and that someone is next to you so as not to leave you alone, and to indicate to you a path of possible redemption a future that opens up onto more positive prospects. I would therefore like to thank all the educators, those who place themselves at the service of the growth of the new generations, in particular for those who find themselves in situations of hardship. Yours is a mission of love, because one cannot teach without love or without the awareness that what is given is simply a right that is recognized, that of learning. And there are many things to teach, but the essential one is a free conscience, able to face reality and orient itself in this, guided by love and by the desire to compromise with others, to take on their hardships and sufferings, to take refuge from every selfishness to serve the common good. We find written in the Letter to a teacher, “I learned that the problem of others is equal to mine. Finding a way out together is politics. Finding a way out alone is avarice.” This is an appeal to responsibility. An appeal that relates to you, dear young people, but first of all to us, adults, called to live the freedom of conscience in an authentic way, as the search for the true, the beautiful and the good, ready to pay the price that this involves. And this, without compromise.

3. Last but not least, I address you priests whom I have wanted next to me here in Barbiana. I see among you elderly priests, who shared with Don Lorenzo Milani years in the seminary or ministry in places near here; and also young priests, who represent the future of the Florentine and Italian clergy. Some of you are therefore witnesses to the human and priestly adventure of Don Lorenzo, others are heirs. I would like to remind all of you that the priestly dimension of Don Lorenzo Milani is the root of all that he did. Everything was born of his being a priest. But, in turn, his being a priest had an even deeper root: his faith. A totalizing faith, that becomes a complete giving of the self to the Lord and that in his priestly ministry found the full and fulfilled form for the converted youth. The words of his spiritual guide, Don Raffaele Bensi, are known, and were drawn upon in those years by the highest figures of Florentine Catholicism, which was so lively around the middle of the last century under the paternal ministry of the venerable Cardinal Elia Dalla Costa. As Don Bensi said: “To save his soul, he came to me. From that August day until the autumn, he literally crammed himself with the Gospel and Christ. That boy set off immediately for the absolute, without half measures. He wanted to save and be saved, at any cost. Transparent and hard as a diamond, he immediately had to wound himself and to wound” (Nazzareno Fabbretti, “Interview with Msgr. Raffaele Bensi,” Domenica del Corriere, 27 June 1971). Being a priest as a way of living the Absolute. His mother Alice said, “My son was in search of the Absolute. He found it in religion and in the priestly vocation.” Without this thirst for the absolute, it is possible to be good functionaries of the sacred, but not priests, true priests, capable of being servants of Christ and of our brothers. Dear priests, with the grace of God, let us seek to be men of faith, a sincere faith, not watered down; and men of charity, pastoral charity towards all those whom the Lord entrusts to us as brothers and sons. Don Lorenzo teaches us also to love the Church, as he loved her, with the sincerity and truth that can also create tensions, but never fractures or abandonment. Let us love the Church, dear confreres, and let her be loved, showing her as a caring mother to all, especially the poorest and most fragile, both in social life and in personal and religious life. The Church that Don Milani showed to the world has this maternal and caring face, extending to everyone the opportunity to encounter God and therefore to give consistency to the self in all its dignity.

4. Before concluding, I cannot omit to mention that the gesture I have made today is intended as a response that that request made several times by Don Lorenzo to his bishop, that is, that he be acknowledged and understood in his faithfulness to the Gospel and in the rectitude of his pastoral action. In a letter to the bishop he wrote: “If you do not honor me today with a solemn act, all my apostolate will appear as a private matter.” From the dearly remembered Cardinal Silvano Piovanelli onwards, the archbishops of Florence have on several occasions given this acknowledgement to Don Milani. Today the bishop of Rome does so. This does not cancel out the bitterness that accompanied the life of Don Milani – it is not a question of cancelling out history or denying it, but rather of understanding the circumstances and humanity in play – but means rather that the Church recognizes in that life an exemplary way of serving the Gospel, the poor and the Church herself. With my presence in Barbiana, with my prayer at the tomb of Don Lorenzo Milani, I think that I am able to answer the hope of his mother: “I am especially concerned that we know the priest, that the truth is known, that the Church is honored also for what he was in the Church and that the Church honors him … the Church that made him suffer so much but which gave him the priesthood, and the strength of that faith that remains, for me, the deepest mystery of my son … If you do not really understand the priest Don Lorenzo was, you will hardly be able to understand the rest about him. For example, his profound equilibrium between hardness and charity” (Nazareno Fabbretti, “Meeting with the mother of the priest of Barbiana, three years after his death,” Il Resto Del Carlino, Bologna, 8 July 1970). May this priest, “transparent and tough as a diamond,” continues to shine the light of God on the path of the Church. Take the torch and carry it forward! Thank you.

[Hail Mary]

[Blessing]

Thank you so much again! Pray for me, do not forget. May I too follow the example of this good priest. Thank you for your presence. May the Lord bless you. And you priests, all of you – because there is no retirement in the priesthood! – all of you, forward, and with courage. Thank you.

Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana (vatican.va)

VATICAN NEWS

Vatican’s first Auditor General resigns abruptly

CNA/EWTN News • June 20, 2017

A view of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City on Jan. 25, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — In an unexpected move in the Holy See’s ongoing financial reform, the Vatican announced on Tuesday the resignation of Libero Milone, Auditor General of the Holy See, effective immediately.

The brief Vatican statement simply said that Libero Milone had offered his resignation, and that the Vatican had accepted it.

The lack of reason given for the resignation has some speculating that it is another part of the ongoing, internal conflicts of Vatican financial reform.

Milone’s resignation comes as a surprise because of the emphasis the Vatican placed on the importance of his position when it was created.

Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has sought to reform the Vatican’s bank and finances.

Francis created the position of Auditor General for the Holy See in February 2014 in an effort to increase financial transparency.

Upon the appointment of Milone, Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, wrote in The Catholic Herald that having an independent auditor was a key part of the “separation of powers” necessary for reforming the Vatican’s finances.

The task of the Auditor General was to audit the accounts of the dicasteries of the Vatican Curia and the other institutions dependent on the Holy See and the Vatican State.

During his time as Auditor General, Milone’s personal computer was hacked, and he also clashed with the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, the treasury of the Vatican. Milone showed his commitment to maintaining the separation of powers of his office when he declined an offer in April to become part of the Board of Directors of the Italian public broadcasting service Rai, saying that he wanted to maintain his independence in the Vatican.

Before coming to the Vatican, Libero Milone had extensive experience in reviewing and advising in different companies and public and private firms throughout the world such as Deloitte, Fiat and Wind.

In the statement, the Holy See added that Milone’s resignation was “of mutual accord” and that they are seeking his replacement “as soon as possible.” Milone had previously been expected to serve as Auditor General until 2021.

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VATICAN NEWS

General Audience: Saints, witnesses and companions of hope

The Holy See Press Office • June 21, 2017

Vatican City — This morning’s General Audience took place at 9:10 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, where the Holy Father Francis met with groups of pilgrims and faithful from Italy and all over the world.

In his address in Italian the Pope focused on the theme “Saints, witnesses and companions of hope” (cf. Heb 11: 40- 12: 2a).

After summarizing his catechesis in several languages, the Holy Father addressed special greetings to the groups of faithful present.

The General Audience concluded with the recital of the Pater Noster and the Apostolic Blessing.

Catechesis of the Holy Father

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

On the day of our Baptism, the invocation of the saints resonated for us. Many of us in that moment were babies, held in the arms of our parents. Shortly before the anointment with the Oil of the catechumens, symbol of the strength of God in the fight against evil, the priest invited the entire assembly to pray for those who were about to receive Baptism, invoking the intercession of the saints. That was the first in time which, during our life, we were given this company of “older” brothers and sisters . the saints – who passed along the same way as us, who knew the same hardships and live for ever in God’s embrace. The Letter to the Hebrews defines this company that surrounds us with the expression “cloud of witnesses“ (12: 1). This is what the saints are: a cloud of witnesses.

Christians, in their battle against evil, do not despair. Christianity cultivates an incurable trust: it does not believe that the negative and disruptive forces can prevail. The final word on the history of man is not hatred, nor is it evil, nor death, nor war. In every moment of life the hand of God assists us, and also the discreet presence of all the believers “who have gone before us with the sign of faith” (Roman Canon). Their existence tells us, first and foremost, that Christian life is not an unattainable ideal. And together it comforts us: we are not alone, the Church is made up of innumerable brothers, often anonymous, who have gone before us and who, by the action of the Holy Spirit, are involved in the events of those who still live down here.

That of Baptism is not the only invocation of the saints that marks the path of Christian life. When an engaged couple consecrate their love in the sacrament of Marriage, the intercession of the saints is again invoked for them, this time as a couple. And this invocation is a source of trust for the two young people who set out on the “journey” of conjugal life. Those who love truly have the desire and the courage to say “for ever” – “for ever” – but they know that they need the grace of Christ and the help of the saints to be able to live married life for ever. Not like some, who say “while love lasts.” No: for ever! Otherwise it is best not to marry. Either for ever, or nothing. Therefore, in the nuptial liturgy the presence of the saints is invoked. And in difficult moments it is necessary to have the courage to lift one’s eyes to heaven, thinking of the many Christians who have passed through tribulations, and have kept their baptismal robes white, washing them in the blood of the Lamb (cf. Rev 7: 14); thus the Book of Revelation tells us. God never abandons us: every time that we are in need, one of His angels comes to lift us up and console us. “Angels” sometimes with a human face and heart, because God’s saints are always here, concealed in our midst. This is difficult to understand and even to imagine, but the saints are present in our life. And when someone invokes a saint, it is precisely because he is close to us.

The priests too conserve the memory of an invocation of the saints pronounced for them. It is one of the most touching moments of the liturgy of ordination. The candidates lie on the ground, facing the floor. And all the assembly, guided by the bishop, invokes the intercession of the saints. A man would be crushed by the weight of the mission entrusted to him, but feeling that all paradise is behind him, that God’s grace will not be missing because Jesus is always faithful, and so he can set out serene and heartened. We are not alone.

And what are we? We are dust that aspires to heaven. Our forces are weak, but powerful is the mystery of the grace that is present in the life of Christians. We are faithful to this land, that Jesus loved in every instant of His life, but we know and want to hope in the transfiguration of the world, in its definitive fulfilment where finally there will no longer be tears, evil and suffering.

May the Lord give to all of us the hope of being saints. But some of you might ask me, “Father, can one be a saint every day of one’s life?” Yes, you can. “But this means we have to pray all day?” No, it means that you must do your duty all day: to pray, to go to work, to look after your children. But it is necessary to do everything with a heart open to God, and in this way one can become a saint. May the Lord give us the hope of being saints. Let us not think that it is a difficult thing, that it is easier to be delinquents than saints! No. We can be saints because the Lord helps us: it is He Who helps.

It is the great gift that each one of us can give to the world. May the Lord give us the grace to believe so profoundly in Him as to become an image of Christ for this world. Our history is in need of “mystics,” of people who refuse any rule, who aspire to charity and fraternity. Men and women who live also accepting a portion of suffering, because they take on the hardship of others. But without these men and women the world would not have hope. For this, I hope for you – and I hope also for me – that the Lord give us the hope of being saints.

Thank you!

Greetings in various languages: English

I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s audience, particularly the groups from Scotland, Greece, Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Philippines and the United States of America. Upon all of you, and your families, I invoke the joy and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana (vatican.va)

VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis sends aid to a troubled South Sudan

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • June 21, 2017

Children in South Sudan. (John Wollwerth via Shutterstock)

Vatican City — After the Vatican stated last month the postponement of Pope Francis’ proposed trip to South Sudan, they announced Wednesday that the Pope will instead send aid to the people suffering from worsening conditions.

The Vatican announced June 21 that Pope Francis will be aiding projects in the areas of education, healthcare, and agriculture, called the “Pope for South Sudan” Initiative.

The program will be coordinated through the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, headed by Cardinal Peter Turkson, and by Caritas International.

Because he is unable to travel to South Sudan in person, Pope Francis “wanted to express the tangible presence and closeness of the Church with the afflicted people,” Cardinal Turkson told journalists.

“It is an initiative that is to foster, support and encourage the work of the various religious congregations and international aid organizations that are present on the territory and tirelessly work to help the population and to promote the process of development and peace,” he said.

The projects of the Pope’s aid includes support for two hospitals: Wau Hospital in the Western Bahr el-Ghazal state, and Nzara Hospital in the Diocese of Tombura-Yambio.

Both hospitals have fewer than 130 beds between all of the departments, though the Wau Hospital treats around 300 patients a day on average, hospitalizing around 40,000 per year.

The aid will go toward support for medical and nursing staff, medicine and its transportation from Uganda to the hospital and management costs of the facilities.

Among the priorities of the Nzara hospital are the prevention and treatment of diseases such as tuberculosis, leprosy, and AIDS, as well as healthcare for children under the age of five.

Under education, the Pope’s initiative will help support an association of religious congregations called “Solidarity with South Sudan” which is working to train teachers, nurses, midwives, local farmers, and community leaders.

Since 2010 they have offered a two-year full-time program for obtaining a primary school teacher diploma at their center in Yambio, recognized by the Ministry of Education of South Sudan. Since opening, they have welcomed 3,500 students.

Francis also sends 200,000 euros ($223,000) to support agriculture in the country. The aid will be directed toward giving families the tools and seeds to grow their own crops where it is possible, thus feeding themselves and their families and providing a sustainable source of food.

In comments to CNA, Cardinal Turkson emphasized that this initiative should not be presented in any way as the only and first time the Holy Father is showing interest in the situation in South Sudan.

Cardinal Turkson himself has already made two visits there on behalf of the Pope, and this is just “the latest gesture,” he said.

“The Holy Father stays very close to the situation in South Sudan to try to a help, to be paternal to the situation over there and to try to afford the help that he can.”

Since December 2013 there has been ongoing civil war in South Sudan, interrupted by tenuous peace.

Parts of South Sudan were declared to be under conditions of famine in February. The classification was lifted Wednesday following an increase in aid, according to a UN-backed report. It warns, however, that the situation remains desperate as the number of people at risk for starvation continues to increase.

Michel Roy, Secretary General of Caritas International, told CNA that in February they said 100,000 people were going to die of hunger, but now they think that number might be 1 million.

“The situation is worsening day-by-day and we tend to forget what the situation is because it’s not new,” he said. “Now, the people of South Sudan are dying of hunger, of famine. Because there is no food and we cannot bring food to them because of security. So it’s the worst thing that can happen.”

The Pope’s aid is not just important for the concrete help it gives, he said, but because it also again raises the attention of the international community to the plight in South Sudan.

“To save lives needs money,” he continued. “The UN have launched an appeal which is only half funded, so the other half has to be found. It’s a lot of money, but we cannot just sit and look at people dying, so there’s a real need for increasing humanitarian aid.”

The Vatican’s aid to South Sudan was also welcomed by Catholic Relief Services, the US bishops’ international charity agency.

Sean Callahan, the president of CRS, stated that “what is most important, is Pope Francis telling world not to give up on South Sudan, that we all must step up our commitment to help.”

Callahan recently visited South Sudan, and said, “I can tell you from my visit that there is hope. I saw that when people had peace, they got to work, planting their crops, building homes and roads, building the new nation.”

CRS has led a US government-funded program in the country which focuses on supporting infrastructure development by providing food rations to villagers building roads, schools, dykes, and waterways. The aid agency is urging Congress to continue funding such aid programs, as the Trump administration has proposed cutting or eliminating such programs.

“We’ve seen those programs work and make a huge difference in the lives of people in South Sudan,” Callahan stated. “Now is not the time to turn our backs. There’s still hope and we can still get things done.”

Cardinal Turkson added that South Sudan needs the intervention of the international community to help end the conflict and bring about peace, the only thing which will truly end the humanitarian crisis.

“Pope Francis is a universal shepherd who crosses borders,” Cardinal Turkson said in the press conference. “He feels the pressing need to raise awareness of the international community about this silent drama, calling for greater and renewed efforts to reach a peaceful solution to the conflict.”

“The Holy Father does not forget the unheard and silent victims of this bloody and inhuman conflict, he does not forget all those people who are forced to flee their native country because of the abuse of power, injustice and war – he brings them all in his prayers and in his heart,” he said.

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VATICAN NEWS

Meeting with NFL hall-of-famers, Pope Francis promotes teamwork

CNA/EWTN News • June 21, 2017

Pope Francis meets with NFL Hall of Fame group in Vatican City on June 21, 2017. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — Pope Francis addressed members of the National Football League Hall of Fame on Wednesday, encouraging them to promote the values of sportsmen not only on the field but also within their communities.

“Teamwork, fair play and the pursuit of personal excellence are the values – in the religious sense, we can say virtues – that have guided your own commitment on the field,” said the Pope, meeting with the Hall of Famers on June 21.

“Yet these same values are urgently needed off the field, on all levels of our life as a community.”

He addressed the need for role models in the world, especially for youth, teaching them to live out their “God-given gifts and talents,” showing how to bring out the best in each person and leading the way to a better future.

“They are the values that help build a culture of encounter, in which we anticipate and meet the needs of our brothers and sisters, and combat the exaggerated individualism, indifference and injustice that hold us back from living as one human family.”

Established in 1963, the American Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in Canton, Ohio, the same city where the NFL was created about 40 years earlier. It contains 310 members, 7 of whom will be formally inducted in August.

Present at the group meeting with Pope Francis was Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, and six other hall of fame inductees: Chris Doleman, Franco Harris, Floyd Little, Ronnie Lott, Curtis Martin, and Jim Taylor.

They presented him with a signed helmet and jersey with “Papa Francesco” written on the back.

In welcoming joke, the Pope noted his own love for soccer, which in much of the world is called “football.”

“I am an avid follower of ‘football,’ but where I come from, the game is played very differently,” he said.

Pope Francis is a member of the Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro, located in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. The club, nicknamed the Saints of Boedo, was founded in 1908 by a group of young men, including a priest.

Being a fan of sports himself, the Pope has reflected on the virtues of sportsmanship before.

Last October, at a Vatican conference called “Sport at the Service of Humanity,” he said the values fostered by sports not only promote health and recreation, but also the ability to play on a team, and to humbly win or lose.

At the end of his address to the NFL Hall of Fame delegation, Pope Francis expressed hope that their visit to Rome will increase their gratitude for these gifts and enable them to share it with the rest of the world.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis meets King and Queen of the Netherlands, returns long-lost stick

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • June 22, 2017

Pope Francis meets with King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands at the Vatican on June 22, 2017. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — On Thursday Pope Francis met with King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, as part of the visit returning to them a long-lost royal stick of a 16th century Dutch king.

An important diplomatic portion of the audience June 22, was the Vatican’s return of the stick of William I, Prince of Orange, which until recently had remained lost in the Jesuit Catalan archives.

The stick, which resembles a sort of scepter or baton, and depicts the coat of arms of William of Orange, was given by the 16th century Dutch royal to a Dutch commander in the Battle of Mookerheyde in 1574.

The stick was waved by William’s brother, Luigi of Nassau, during the battle.

After it was lost, it came into the hands of a Spanish general and eventually a Jesuit general, until being returned Thursday, through the Vatican, to Willem-Alexander, current King of the Netherlands and Prince of Orange.

According to a press release from the National Military Museum of the Netherlands, the delivery of the stick represents “a testimony of reconciliation, and of the current union between the two countries and religions.”

“It is also a symbol of the long journey that the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the Kingdom of the Netherlands, have passed from the past of rivalry, war and repression to a present of mutual respect and promotion of peace and human rights.”

The baton will be displayed to the public in the National Military Museum in Soesterberg, Netherlands from April 27 to the end of October 2018.

According to a June 22 Vatican communique, in the audience the three cordially discussed topics “of shared interest,” including protection of the environment, the fight against poverty and how the Holy See and Catholic Church are contributing in these areas.

Particular attention, it stated, was paid to “the phenomenon of migration, underlining the importance of peaceful co-existence between different cultures, and joint commitment to promoting peace and global security, with special reference to various areas of conflict.”

They also shared reflections on the prospects of the European project. The private portion of the audience, which included both the King and the Queen, lasted 35 minutes.

Queen Máxima, who was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, greeted Pope Francis in “porteño,” a dialect of Spanish spoken by people from the Río de la Plata basin of Argentina.

“How are you? Delighted to see you again,” she said.

During the visit Pope Francis gifted the royal couple a medallion depicting St. Martin of Tours, in the classic image of the saint dividing his cloak to give to a poor man.

He also gave them the customary gift of copies of his environmental encyclical Laudato Si, his 2015 Apostolic Exhortation on the family “Amoris Laetitia,” and his 2013 exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium,” as well as a copy of his message for the 2017 World Day of Peace.

For their part, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima gave the Pope a gift of Dutch flowers, white and yellow tulips from their country.

Giving the gifts, they told Pope Francis that tulips aren’t only for Easter, but could be planted in the Vatican.

Afterward, the two met with Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher.

The Royal couple are in the midst of a state visit to the Italian Republic, taking place June 21-23.

Before their meeting with the Pope, the King and Queen visited the Church of Saints Michael and Magnus, the national church of the Netherlands in Rome. Located next to the Vatican, it was built in 1140 in the place where pilgrims from the Netherlands met back in the 8th century.

According to church statistics, Catholics currently make up 23 percent of the population of 17 million in the Netherlands.

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VATICAN NEWS

Audience with the participants in the 75th Convention of Serra International

The Holy See Press Office • June 23, 2017

Vatican City — At 12:30 today, in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father Francis received in audience the participants in the 75th Convention of “Serra International” on the theme: “Siempre adelante: The courage of vocation,” currently underway in Rome from 22 to 25 June 2017.

The following is the Pope’s address to those present at the audience:

Holy Father’s Address

Your Eminence, Your Excellency,

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am pleased to greet all of you. From throughout the world you have gathered for this International Convention, which has as its theme: “Siempre adelante: The courage of vocation.” In the joy of the Gospel, and with that boldness typical of the Christian mission, you have gathered here to discover anew, at the school of the Master, the meaning of every Christian vocation: to offer our lives as a gift, “anointing” our brothers and sisters with the tenderness and mercy of God. I thank Mr. Dante Vannini, the President of Serra International, for his kind words. I would like to reflect on something he said which, I believe, is central to the experience of faith: to be friends.

To be friends to priests, sustaining their vocation and accompanying them in their ministry: with this great gift you enrich the Church! This is, above all else, what a Serran is – a “special friend” whom the Lord has brought into the lives of seminarians and priests.

Today the word “friend” has become a bit overused. In our daily lives, we run into various people whom we call “friends,” but that is just a word we say. Within virtual communications, “friend” is one of the most frequently found words. Yet we know that superficial knowledge has little to do with that experience of encounter or closeness evoked by the word “friend.”

When Jesus speaks of his “friends,” He points to a hard truth: true friendship involves an encounter that draws me so near to the other person that I give something of my very self. Jesus says to His disciples: “No longer do I call you servants … but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (Jn 15:15). He thus establishes a new relationship between man and God, one that transcends the law and is grounded in trust and love. At the same time, Jesus frees friendship from sentimentalism and presents it to us as a responsibility that embraces our entire life: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13).

We become friends, then, only if our encounter is more than something outward or formal, and becomes instead a way of sharing in the life of another person, an experience of compassion, a relationship that involves giving ourselves for others.

It is good for us to reflect on what friends do. They stand at our side, gently and tenderly, along our journey; they listen to us closely, and can see beyond mere words; they are merciful when faced with our faults; they are non-judgmental. They are able to walk with us, helping us to feel joy in knowing that we are not alone. They do not always indulge us but, precisely because they love us, they honestly tell us when they disagree. They are there to pick us up whenever we fall.

This is the also the kind of friendship that you seek to offer to priests. The Serra Club helps foster this beautiful vocation of being laity who are friends to priests. Friends who know how to accompany and sustain them in faith, in fidelity to prayer and apostolic commitment. Friends who share the wonder of a vocation, the courage of a definitive decision, the joy and fatigue of ministry. Friends who can offer priests support and regard their generous efforts and human failings with understanding and tender love. In this way, you are to priests like the home of Bethany, where Jesus entrusted his weariness to Martha and Mary, and, thanks to their care, was able to find rest and refreshment.

There is another phrase that describes you. You chose it for the theme of this convention: Siempre adelante! Keep moving forward! Like you, I believe that this is a synonym for the Christian vocation. For the life of every missionary disciple bears the impress of his or her vocation. The voice of the Lord invites his disciples to leave the safety of their homeland and to begin the “holy journey” towards the promised land of encounter with him and with our brothers and sisters. Vocation is an invitation to go forth from ourselves, to rejoice in our relationship with the Lord, and to journey along the ways that he opens up before us.

Of course, we cannot make progress unless we take a risk. We do not advance toward the goal if, as the Gospel says, we are afraid to lose our lives (cf. Mt 16:25-26). No ship would ever set out into the deep if it feared leaving the safety of the harbor. So too, Christians cannot enter into the transforming experience of God’s love unless they are open to new possibilities, and not tied to their own plans and cherished ways of doing things. Pastoral structures can fall into this same temptation, being concerned more with self-preservation than with adapting themselves to the service of the Gospel.

On the other hand, when Christians go about their daily lives without fear, they can discover God’s constant surprises. They need but have the courage to dare, not to let fear stifle their creativity, not to be suspicious of new things, but instead to embrace the challenges which the Spirit sets before them, even when this means changing plans and charting a different course.

We can take as our inspiration Saint Junípero, as he made his way, limping, towards San Diego to plant the cross there! I fear those Christians who do not keep walking, but remain enclosed in their own little niche. It is better to go forward limping, and even at times to fall, while always trusting in the mercy of God, than to be “museum Christians” who are afraid of change. Even though they received a charism or vocation, instead of serving the eternal newness of the Gospel, they are caught up in defending themselves and their own roles.

A vocation is a calling received from an Other. It entails letting go of ourselves, setting out and placing ourselves at the service of a greater cause. In humility, we become co-workers in the Lord’s vineyard, renouncing every spirit of possession and vainglory. How sad it is to see that at times we, men and women of the Church, do not know how to cede our place. We do not let go of our responsibilities serenely, but find it hard to hand over to others the works that the Lord had entrusted to us!

So you too, siempre adelante! With courage, creativity and boldness. Do not be afraid to renew your structures. Do not rest on your laurels, but be ever ready to try new things. As in the Olympic Games, may you always be ready to “pass the torch,” above all to future generations, knowing that the flame is lit from on high, precedes our response and exceeds our efforts. Such is the Christian mission: “One sows and another reaps” (Jn 4:37).

Dear brothers and sisters, I encourage you to be true friends to seminarians and priests, showing your love for them by promoting vocations and through prayer and pastoral cooperation. Please, keep pressing forward! Forward in hope, forward with your mission, ever looking beyond, opening new horizons, making room for the young and preparing the future. The Church and priestly vocations need you. May Mary Most Holy, Mother of the Church and Mother of priests, be with you every step of the way. And I ask you, please, to pray for me!

Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana (vatican.va)

WORLD NEWS

Be a Good Samaritan to Christians in Syria and Iraq, bishop pleads

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • June 16, 2017

A Christian refugee family living in Erbil, Iraq. (International Christian Concern)

Indianapolis, IN — As the U.S. bishops discussed immigration at their annual meeting this week, one Syriac Catholic bishop begged them not to forget Christian refugees in Syria and the Middle East.

“I need your presence, to feel you are with me,” Bishop Barnaba Yousif Benham Habash of the Syriac Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Deliverance of Newark pleaded with the bishops on Wednesday.

“Our people, they do need the presence of the Catholic Church,” he continued. “This is the task of the Catholic Church today, to be the Good Samaritan.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops met for their annual spring general assembly in Indianapolis June 14-15. Bishop Habash spoke to his fellow bishops during an open floor session after a speech on the spirituality of immigration by Fr. Daniel G. Groody, C.S.C., a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame.

The Syrian conflict between the government forces of President Bashar al-Assad and his international allies Russia and Iran, and various rebel groups supported by Saudi Arabia, the U.S., and others, began in 2011 and continues to rage.

More than 12 million have been displaced by the conflict, including over five million refugees. An estimated 500,000 people have died in the war.

A new report by the Christian advocacy group Open Doors claims that 50 to 80 percent of Christians in Iraq and Syria have fled those countries since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, including half of Syria’s Christian population.

Many refugees are residing in nearby countries like Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon. The sheer number of refugees has already threatened to strain Lebanon, where over one in four persons is a refugee. Bishop Habash implored his brother bishops to remember the “neglected and forgotten” Christian refugees in these countries who are without hope.

The bishop noted that 2,000 homes in his native city, Bakhdida, have been burnt out. Christians driven from their homes are languishing in the desert, he said, and need “a Good Samaritan” to be present to them and not just give them materials.

“It’s good to give me some food, to give me some tent in this winter, in this desert, but it’s not the solution,” he insisted. The Church must make itself present to them, “not just you pass by and ‘good bye,’ like nothing happened,” he said.

Over 100 Iraqi nationals with criminal histories were picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and detained, to be deported to Iraq. Although some have reportedly filed emergency appeals, the Iraqis, many of whom are Chaldean Christians, could be sent back to a country with an active war zone, where Christians have been targeted for genocide.

Religious and civic leaders are trying to intervene on behalf of the Chaldeans, whose criminal records have reportedly been clean for at least ten years, sending letters to the Secretary of Homeland Security and hosting prayer vigils for the detainees. The ACLU has filed a lawsuit to halt the deportations.

Bishop Habash brought up the plight of these Iraqis in his plea to the bishops, and implored them to be the “conscience” of the country.

“They [ICE] took them from all over,” he said of the detainees, to deport them “to where? No houses, persecutions, only persecutions, fire is waiting for them, death is waiting for them. Why? Because we are Christian.”

“This nation should be Christian too!” he insisted. “If the Catholic Church wants to do and to protect, we have to be the conscience of this nation,” he said. “This nation is great, yes, it’s great, but it would be greater if we protected the innocent.”

Also at the assembly, Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, chair of the international justice and peace committee, delivered a presentation on international religious persecution.

He emphasized that amid widespread discrimination against Christians in Asia and the Middle East, the bishops in the U.S. must listen to the local Churches.

“Like a physician, our first duty is to do no harm,” he said of the U.S. bishops’ response to international Christian persecution. “We adopt strategies that complement the work of the local Church.”

“Solidarity visits are helpful in learning how to approach various situations. But sometimes solidarity visits are not advisable,” he said, because “at times it is dangerous for the local Church to be publicly associated with Church leaders from the United States, due to U.S. actions or policy.”

“We always follow the example of the Holy See,” he stated.

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WORLD NEWS

U.K. party leader steps down, citing Christian faith

CNA/EWTN News • June 17, 2017

Tim Farron. (Ms. Jane Campbell via Shutterstock)

London, England — After facing backlash for his Christian faith, the head of the UK’s Liberal Democratic Party announced his resignation on Wednesday, claiming that leading the party was becoming incompatible with living his faith.

“To be a political leader – especially of a progressive, liberal party in 2017 – and to live as a committed Christian, to hold faithfully to the Bible’s teaching, has felt impossible for me,” said Tim Farron, noting he would hold his position until the parliamentary recess begins next month.

Farron’s announcement follows significant media attention surrounding his answers to press questions on abortion and homosexuality.

During the recent election, Farron had been asked repeatedly by reporters about his views on the morality of homosexual acts.

Earlier this week, the party’s home affairs spokesman Brian Paddick – a prominent gay politician – resigned abruptly, citing concerns over opinions held by the party’s leadership.

Despite the Liberal Democrats gaining several parliamentary seats under Farron, he faced opposition from within his own party.

According to the Telegraph, one senior Liberal Democrat said Farron was “unhelpful during the campaign.”

He also said Farron’s “views [were] not compatible with being the leader of the Liberal Democrats.”

Simon Hughes, formerly the party’s deputy leader, said “it became unfairly difficult that Tim was put in the firing line and felt that he couldn’t adequately do justice to his faith while upholding the liberal values that he has argued for all his life.”

“It would be the same for people of other faiths who have strong faith views, where there are issues that are very controversial within that faith community,” he told the BBC.

Farron noted the “scrutiny” he faced when “asked about matters to do with my faith,” claiming he felt unable to remain Christian in the current environment and could not benefit the party in its mission of upholding everyone’s rights.

He said journalist had the right to question him as they saw fit, but that the scrutiny of his faith in the public eye drew away attention from the message of the Liberal Democratic Party.

“I felt guilty that this focus was distracting attention from our campaign, obscuring our message,” he said, identifying a major aspect of that mission as “defending the rights and liberties of people who believe different things to me.”

“In which case we are kidding ourselves if we think we yet live in a tolerant, liberal society,” he said.

He clarified that he disagrees with “Christians in politics who take the view that they should impose the tenets of faith on society,” saying that this is “counterproductive when it comes to advancing the gospel.”

Farron ended his address stating that he loved his party – a party he joined when he was 16 – and encouraged his successor to “fight for a Britain that is confident, generous and compassionate.”

“My successor will inherit a party that is needed now more than ever before. Our future as an open, tolerant and united country is at stake.”

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WORLD NEWS

London cardinal ‘appalled’ by Finsbury Park attack on Muslims

CNA/EWTN News • June 19, 2017

Police officers guard a road leading to Finsbury Park Mosque after an incident in which a van hit worshippers outside the building on June 19, 2017 in London, England. (Carl Court/Getty Images)

London, England — Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster has offered prayers for the victims of a terror attack in north London that targeted worshippers outside a mosque in the early hours of Monday.

One person was killed and nine have been hospitalized, after a van drove into a group outside the Finsbury Park Mosque shortly before 12:20 am June 19.

The Muslim worshippers were helping an elderly man who had fallen down in the street.

“Together with people all over this country I am appalled at the deliberate attack on people leaving their late night prayers, as the end of their day of fasting, at the mosque in Finsbury Park,” Cardinal Nichols stated.

“Violence breeds violence. Hatred breeds hatred. Every one of us must repudiate hatred and violence from our words and actions. We must all be builders of understanding, compassion and peace, day by day, in our homes, our work and our communities. That is the only way.”

The cardinal also wrote to Mohammad Kozbar, trustee of the Finsbury Park Mosque, saying, “I am horrified that people should, again, be targeted in this way. I write to assure you of my prayers for the person who has died, for those who have been injured and for all deeply affected by this brutal attack. I know that I speak for all Catholics when I assure you of prayers and support.”

In a similar message to Ahmed Kheloufi, director of Muslim Welfare House, Cardinal Nichols wrote “to assure you of my prayers and of my deep compassion for all who have been injured and affected by this deliberate act of violence. In particular I pray for the person who has been killed. May God’s blessings strengthened you all.”

“I also want to thank you for the work you do to foster good relations in the Finsbury Park community,” the cardinal added. “I pray that your work will be strengthened at this most difficult time.”

The attack came after the group had taken part in evening prayers after breaking their Ramadan fast.

The van’s driver, a 48 year old man, was restrained at the scene of the attack, and the mosque’s imam kept him from being attacked. He has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, commented that “While this appears to be an attack on a particular community, like the terrible attacks in Manchester, Westminster and London Bridge, it is also an assault on all our shared values of tolerance, freedom and respect.”

Prime minister Theresa May said that “there has been far too much tolerance of extremism over many years.”

“It is a reminder that terrorism, extremism and hatred take many forms; and our determination to tackle them must be the same whoever is responsible.”

The Finsbury Park Mosque had been associated with Islamist terrorism in the early 2000s. Abu Hamza al-Masri, its imam from 1997 to 2002, was found guilty in the UK of inciting violence. He was later extradited ot the US, where he was found guilty of terror charges.

The mosque was shut down in 2003 after a police raid, but was reopened in 2005 under new trustees and new imams which have reportedly turned it around.

In his message to Mohammed Kozbar, Cardinal Nichols said that “Fr John O’Leary has told me of all the good work you do to foster strong and good relations with all people in Finsbury Park. Long may this good work continue and may your resolve be strengthened at this difficult time.”

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WORLD NEWS

Southern DRC violence has left more than 3,000 dead

CNA/EWTN News • June 20, 2017

(Laurin Rinder via Shutterstock)

Kasai, Democratic Republic of the Congo — More than 3,300 people have been killed since October alone in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kasai region, said a report on recent violence by Catholic officials this week.

The death toll includes civilians caught in the crossfire of a brutal fight between the Congolese army and an opposing militia group.

A report was issued Tuesday by Catholic officials, who repeatedly appealed for both sides to embrace peaceful dialogue in order to facilitate the transition of power from President Joseph Kabila to his successor.

In the central-southern province of Kasai, the report said, 14 villages have been destroyed thus far, totaling at least 3,383 deaths.

Ten villages were destroyed by the central government’s army in an attempt to root out the opposition. Four more villages were demolished by the Kamuina Nsapu militia, killing hundreds of people and attacking church property while trying to drive out the government.

U.N. investigators say they have found 42 mass graves, according to Reuters. Additionally, the U.N. has stated that over 1.3 million people have fled from the country’s fighting.

This week, the U.N. Human Right’s Council in Geneva is expected to determine the need for an investigation into the country’s excessive violence. The DRC government has previously opposed such an investigation.

Political unrest developed in Congo in 2015 after a bill was proposed which would potentially delay the presidential and parliamentary elections. The bill was widely seen by the opposition as a power grab on the part of Kabila.

Relations between the government and the opposition deteriorated further when a Kasai chief was killed last August, after calling on the central government to quit meddling in the territory, insisting it be controlled by the local leaders.

Catholic bishops in the country had helped to negotiate an agreement, which hoped to prevent a renewed civil war by securing an election this year for the successor of President Kabila.

However, in January of this year, the bishops said the agreement was expected to fail unless both parties were willing to compromise. In March, the bishops withdrew from mediation talks.

With a history of bloody ethnic rivalries and clashes over resources, fears have developed that the violence in Kasai, a hub for political tension, will spread to the rest of the nation and even lead to the involvement of neighboring countries.

Forty percent of the DRC population is Catholic, and the Church’s report follows dozens of others around the country detailing the destruction of churches, gang violence against members, and even a death of the religious and clergy.

Cardinal Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, the country’s capital, has told the pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need that he thought the Church was being targeted “in order to sabotage her mission of peace and reconciliation.”

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WORLD NEWS

El Salvador’s first cardinal a friend of Blessed Oscar Romero

by Joe Slama (CNA/EWTN News) • June 21, 2017

Auxiliary Bishop Jose Gregorio Rosa Chavez of San Salvador, who will be made a cardinal at the June 28, 2017 consistory. (Octisanduran via Wikimedia CC BY-SA 4.0)

San Salvador, El Salvador — Pope Francis’ decision to elevate Bishop José Gregorio Rosa Chávez is unprecedented: not only is he the first Salvadoran cardinal, he is also the first auxiliary bishop to be given a red biretta.

The cardinal-elect, who will receive the honor at a June 28 consistory, is also well-known for his close collaboration with Blessed Oscar Romero, an Archbishop of San Salvador who was martyred in 1980.

Bishop Rosa, 74, has been auxiliary bishop of San Salvador since 1982.

The Pope’s May 21 announcement of a consistory to create five new cardinals came as surprise to many, though possibly none more than Bishop Rosa.

“I thought it was a joke,” he told CNA of getting the phone call at 5 a.m. “I never thought that this could happen to me.”

Bishop Rosa also described the appointment as “a charge,” saying he prayed for peace after receiving the announcement: “It’s a grace that you have to know how to receive with humility,” he reflected, adding that the office of cardinal is “a service which demands of you a total disposition to martyrdom.”

He also said Mass at the tomb of Blessed Oscar Romero, who he said “shed his blood, like a true cardinal. He shed his blood for Christ, for the Church … this gave me a measure of tranquility.”

Born in 1942 to a farming family in Sociedad, Bishop Rosa was ordained a priest of the Diocese of San Miguel in 1970. He studied at the Catholic University of Louvain from 1973-76, where he obtained a licentiate in social communications.

Under Blessed Romero, beginning in 1977, he headed the Archdiocese of San Salvador’s communications office. He also served as a rector and theology professor at the Central Seminary of San José de la Montana.

He was appointed auxiliary bishop of San Salvador in 1982, a position he has held ever since. Today he works as a parish priest and is president of Caritas Latin America.

Like Blessed Romero, Bishop Chávez has been outspoken about government abuses, even publicly naming the alleged killers of four Jesuits, their housekeeper, and her daughter, who were martyred in 1989. He has sustained death threats and accusations of being a communist.

His designation as a cardinal, while his immediate superior, Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas, was bypassed, suggests that he may be destined for another appointment, after 35 years as San Salvador’s auxiliary bishop. It certainly shows Pope Francis’ willingness to look beyond the traditional “cardinal sees” for those whom he wishes to give the red hat.

The designation of the auxiliary bishop as cardinal-elect has been well-received in El Salvador, where he is known also for his dedication to work with the poor.

Bishop Rosa was “fundamental in our process of dialogue and negotiation that allowed us to sign the peace accords in 1992,” said El Salvador’s Foreign Ministry.

President Salvador Sanchez tweeted: “The pope’s announcement fills us with immense gratitude and happiness.” He also offered his congratulations.

El Salvador suffered a civil war from 1979 to 1992, and gang violence has been a problem in the country ever since. Work against the violence continues, and Bishop Rosa has spoken out against the killing on behalf of the nation’s bishops.

Many expected Bishop Rosa to become archbishop when Blessed Romero’s successor died in 1994, so with this designation by Pope Francis “his prize arrived,” San Salvador parishioner Estela Henriquez told the Associated Press the day of the appointment.

Speaking to Salvadoran media, he declared: “I dedicate this appointment to Archbishop Romero.”

Elise Harris contributed to this report.

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WORLD NEWS

Euthanasia mindset looms over disabled baby’s legal fight, ethicist warns

by Kevin J. Jones (CNA/EWTN News) • June 22, 2017

Charlie Gard. (Connie Yates)

London, England — Legal efforts to bar the parents of a British baby born with a disabling medical condition from seeking treatment overseas are based on deep ethical errors, a Catholic expert in medical ethics has warned.

“It seems to me completely wrongheaded that the state should be stepping in here when the decision that the parents are making is really aimed at the best interests of the child,” Dr. Melissa Moschella, a Catholic University of America philosophy professor, told CNA.

“It’s not crazy, it’s not abusive, it’s not neglectful. It’s the decision of parents who want to, however they can, to give their very sick child a chance for life.”

She said such a decision “should be completely within the prerogative of the parent,” citing the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. According to Moschella, that declaration “clearly indicates that the parents, not the state will have primarily responsibility.”

Charlie Gard, now aged 10 months, is believed to suffer from a rare genetic condition called mitochondrial depletion syndrome, which causes progressive muscle weakness. The disorder is believed to affect fewer than 20 children worldwide. Charlie has been in intensive care since October 2016. He has suffered significant brain damage due to the disease and is currently fed through a tube. He breathes with an artificial ventilator and is unable to move.

His parents, Connie Yates and Chris Gard, have wanted to keep him on life support and transport him to the United States in order to try an experimental treatment.

However, their decision was challenged in court by hospitals and an attorney appointed to represent Charlie. The parents appealed a High Court decision, and their appeal to the U.K.’s Supreme Court was rejected.

Their final legal challenge is presently before the European Court of Human Rights. The court has said Charlie must continue to receive treatment until its judges make a decision.

Moschella said the legal decisions favoring ending life support for Charlie are effectively “telling the parents that their child’s life has no value and that therefore they should cease any effort to heal him of his disease.”

These decisions represent a “quality of life” ethic and an ideology that say human life is valuable only if it meets certain capacities.

“It’s the same ideology that underlies allowing euthanasia or physician assisted suicide,” she said. “That’s completely opposed to the Catholic view in which every human life has intrinsic value regardless of the quality of that life.”

Charlie’s parents have raised more than $1.6 million to help seek experimental treatment for him in the U.S. Their decision faced legal challenge from Great Ormond Street Hospital, where he is being treated.

In early April, the baby’s hospital challenged their efforts. The hospital’s experts argued in court that long-term life support should be withdrawn from the baby because his quality of life was so poor.

Charlie’s court-appointed lawyer argued before a High Court judge that any treatments in the U.S. would be experimental and long-term life-support would only “prolong the process of dying.”

Charlie’s parents had their own legal representative in the case, who argued that travel to the U.S. for treatment would not cause the boy significant suffering or harm and could give him another chance.

Yates, Charlie’s mother, has argued that she would welcome any treatment that could help him live. She also suggested anything learned during an experimental treatment could help treat future babies who suffer from the disorder.

According to Moschella, who has a background in parental rights and medical ethics, said parental rights derive both from the “special intimate relationship” they have with their child and from their primary obligations to care for their own children. Interfering with their conscientious best efforts is akin to violating religious freedom, she said.

“It is a deep violation of conscience, when, without a very serious reason, the state presents parents from fulfilling that conscientious obligation,” she said.

She noted that what Charlie’s parents are trying to do by helping secure extraordinary treatment is not ethically required by Catholic ethics.

“It would be perfectly morally acceptable should they choose to forgo seeking further treatment and take the baby off life support and allow him to pass away naturally due to the underlying disease,” the professor said. “But it’s also acceptable, on Catholic ethics, to do whatever you can to heal a person if you think that there’s any chance that a treatment could have a positive effect.”

She suggested that extraordinary treatment could be unethical only when “there is absolutely no hope of any benefit whatsoever” and the treatment is painful to the patient, or the treatment would take away “important resources that are needed to help other patients who could benefit.”

Moschella said there should only be legal intervention against the wishes of parents in cases “when there is a clear case of abuse or neglect or some significant threat to the public order.”

“Neither of those situations is the case here.”

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WORLD NEWS

Youssef Absi elected Patriarch of Melkite Greek Catholic Church

CNA/EWTN News • June 22, 2017

The Melkite Greek Basilica of St. Paul in Harissa, Lebanon. (Kevin Jones/CNA)

Beirut, Lebanon — The synod of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church elected on Wednesday Archbishop Youssef Absi as the Church’s new patriarch, who received ecclesiastical communion from Pope Francis the following day.

Elected June 21, Patriarch Absi, 71, succeeds Patriarch Gregorios III Laham, who retired May 6 at the age of 83.

The new patriarch was born in Damascus in 1946. He was ordained a priest of the Missionary Society of St. Paul in 1973. He became superior general of the society in 1999, and two years later was appointed curial bishop of the Melkite Patriarchate of Antioch. In 2007, he was appointed the Patriarchal Vicar of of the Melkite Archdiocese of Damascus.

The Melkite Greek Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church of the Byzantine rite, and it consists of some 1.5 million members. It is based in Syria and Lebanon, and most of its eparchies are in the Arab world. It also has structures to serve the Melkite diaspora in Australia, Turkey, Canada, Mexico, the United States, Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela.

The Melkite Church traces its roots to the earliest days of Christianity, when Sts. Peter and Paul first evangelized the peoples of Syria, where followers of Christ were first called “Christians.”

During the 2010 Synod on the Middle East, Patriarch Absi lamented the strife among the Eastern Catholic Churches, calling the struggle a “fount of impairment and false testimony,” according to Vatican Insider.

“The Christians of the East,” he said, “are all on the same boat, and confront the same struggle. They cannot be disinterested each in the other.”

The new patriarch holds licentiates in philosophy and theology, and a doctorate in musical sciences and Byzantine hymnography from the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik in Lebanon. He has taught philosophy, Greek, and musicology at the university level.

Pope Francis wrote to Patriarch Absi the day after his election, congratulating him and granting him ecclesiastical communion.

Francis also noted the tribulation facing Christians in the region.

“The election of Your Beatitude comes at the time of a delicate situation for the venerable Greco-Melkite Church and when many Christian communities in the Middle East are called to bear witness in a special way to their faith in the dead and risen Christ,” the Roman Pontiff said. “In this particularly difficult time, Pastors are called upon to manifest communion, unity, closeness, solidarity and transparency before the suffering people of God.”

“I am certain that your Beatitude, in fraternal harmony with all the Synod Fathers, will know, in all evangelical wisdom, how to be not only ‘Pater et Caput’ in the service of the faithful of the Greco-Melkite Church, but also a faithful and authentic witness to the Risen One.”

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WORLD NEWS

Stop sharing fake news, Filipino bishops implore

CNA/EWTN News • June 23, 2017

(Docstockmedia via Shutterstock)

Manila, Philippines — Fake news is a problem everywhere, including in the island nation of the Philippines.

So much so that the bishops of the Catholic-majority country have released a first-of-its-kind pastoral letter to their people imploring them: Please stop sharing fake news.

“At (Jesus’) trial, the question of truth figured prominently. ‘What is truth?’ asked a bewildered Pilate, because he failed to recognize in Jesus, THE TRUTH!” the bishops said.

Therefore, they said, Christians are called to recognize truth in all forms, and to not participate in deceit for falsehoods in any way.

“A fact,” the bishops helpfully explain, “is anything that is or that happens.”

“If one man kills another, it cannot but be a fact that the deed was done, and any ‘alternative fact’ that would have it so that no killing was done is simply false, and, when meant to deceive, a lie!”

The bishops lamented that there are those “who have given themselves to the service of reporting what never happened, concealing what really happened, and distorting what should be presented in a straightforward manner.”

They also observed that social media “has become the unfortunate site of ‘alternative facts’ and ‘fake news.’ Not only does this offend against the orientation of the human intellect to the truth. It is, more fundamentally, a sin against charity because it hinders persons from making right and sound decisions and induces them, instead, to make faulty ones!”

The letter, issued by Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, president of the Filipino bishops’ conference, includes four obligations for Catholics regarding the truth.

“Catholic faith obliges us to refrain from patronizing, popularizing and supporting identified sources of ‘alternative facts’ or ‘fake news,’” they said, referencing a phrase from a media faux pas made by Kellyanne Conway, counselor to U.S. President Donald Trump, earlier this year.

Secondly, Catholics are obliged “To rebut and refute falsehood whenever they are in possession of facts and of data.”

Catholics also must “refuse to be themselves purveyors of fake news and to desist from disseminating this whether on social media or by word of mouth or through any other form of public expression.”

And finally, Catholics must “identify the sources of fake news so that our brothers and sisters may be duly alerted and may know which media and which sites to shun,” they said.

The letter comes during the same month that a “fake news blocker” was launched in the country by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility. Their newly-created Google Chrome plug-in “Fakeblok” flags fake news and misinformation on Facebook.

A recent study found that Filipinos spend the most time online and on social media of any country in the world.

The pastoral letter also comes at a time when opposing political camps in the Philippines are using fake news to advance their agenda, including controversial President Rodrigo Duterte, according to Philippine news source Rappler.

“A number of officials and agencies of the Duterte administration, such as Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson, have also been accused of spreading fake news. Uson and many pro-Duterte bloggers have also discredited legitimate journalists as ‘presstitutes,’” Rappler reported.

The bishops of the country went so far as to say that sharing fake news is not only an offense against human intellect, but a “sin against charity” because “it hinders persons from making right and sound decisions and induces them, instead, to make faulty ones!”

“We your bishops join the Lord Jesus in His prayer that we all be consecrated in the truth, because the Word of the Lord is truth!”

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U.S. NEWS

U.S. bishops ask forgiveness from survivors of clergy sex abuse

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • June 16, 2017

(Unsplash)

Indianapolis, IN — The Beatitudes call us to own our responsibility for suffering in the world, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta preached on Wednesday at a Mass for victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Through the Beatitudes, Christ “calls us to see with new eyes how to live in a world so continually filled with sorrow, injustice, and violence,” Archbishop Gregory preached during a June 14 Mass of Prayer and Penance for Healing of Survivors of Clergy Sex Abuse in Indianapolis.

Christ also teaches “how important it is to acknowledge our own share in causing or compounding the sorrows, suffering, and violence that often seem to surround us,” he added.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, said the Mass at the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Indianapolis, on the first day of the bishops’ annual spring general assembly.

The Mass was celebrated in response to Pope Francis’ call that bishops’ conferences around the world hold a day of prayer and penance for the victims of clergy sexual abuse. The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors noted last year that a survivor of clerical child sexual abuse had proposed a universal day of prayer for all victims.

During the Mass, Cardinal DiNardo asked forgiveness from all the victims of sexual abuse in the Church.

“In solidarity with our brother bishops around the world, we acknowledge the sins that have occurred,” he said, “and ask forgiveness from, and healing of, those that have suffered abuse at the hands of those who should have been protecting and caring for them.”

At the end of the Mass, all the bishops present knelt and prayed a commemorative prayer for victims of clergy sex abuse.

Archbishop Gregory preached the homily on the Gospel for the day, Matthew 5: 17-19. The archbishop apologized on behalf of the conference for all the harm done to abuse survivors and for the scandal that resulted.

“At this Mass, we bishops humbly and sincerely ask for the forgiveness of those who have been harmed, scandalized, or dispirited by events that, even if they happened many years ago, remain ongoing sources of anguish for them, and for those who love them,” he said.

“We humbly seek forgiveness from the faith-filled people of our Church and from our society at large, and especially from those whose lives may have been devastated from our failure to care adequately for the little ones entrusted to us, and for any decision that we made or should have made that exacerbated the sorrow and the heartache that the entire Church has felt and continues to feel for what we have done, and for what we have failed to do,” he continued.

“We can never say that we are sorry enough for the share that we have had in this tragedy of broken fidelity and trust.”

Only in Christ can true healing be found, the archbishop insisted.

He said that “ultimately, it must be the Lord Himself Who heals and reconciles the hearts of those who live with the pain of God’s law unheeded.”

“For that grace, with sincere hearts, with contrite spirits, and with a renewed promise to protect, we simply pray this evening.”

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U.S. NEWS

U.S. bishops urge caution as Senate considers health care bill

by Joe Slama (CNA/EWTN News) • June 16, 2017

(Darko Stojanovic via Pixabay CC0)

Indianapolis, IN — The US bishops’ annual meeting included on Thursday a discussion on health care, focusing on efforts in Congress to replace the Affordable Care Act.

Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, chairman of the domestic justice and human development committee, focused on the underlying principles by which the bishops approach health care.

No law should “compel us or others to pay for the destruction of human life,” he said June 15, explaining respect for life, the first of the four “key principles.”

The other principles he enumerated were true access for all, true affordability, comprehensive and high-quality coverage, and no repeal of the Affordable Care Act without an adequate replacement. He also mentioned the importance of conscience protections.

He said those seeking health care should be able to do so “in accord with their means” and noted that “immigrants continue to be left out of this equation in many ways.”

Speaking about true affordability, he noted the bishops’ concern regarding “structural changes in Medicaid that would leave large numbers of people at risk to losing access.”

The Senate is currently considering the American Health Care Act, which was passed by the House of Representatives in May as a repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

The US bishops have been cautious about the AHCA, saying in the past that it has “many serious flaws.”

Bishop Dewane enumerated four primary concerns of the bishops regarding the AHCA, staring with changes in Medicaid that would allow states to opt-out of important coverage.

He also discussed protection of the unborn, as the bill faces challenges in this respect in the Senate, and a lack of access to health care for migrants.

Finally, Bishop Dewane noted, “the House bill does not provide any conscience protections.”

The bishop stated that the committees related to health care would continue their collaboration, and to provide resources to bishops to help them “preach and teach” on the issue.

In closing his remarks, Bishop Dewane noted, “the teaching we bring to bear in the questions on health and health care do not fit neatly … into the single party platforms. Because of this, the Church has a unique voice.”

He emphasized that the bishops would continue work for those “most in need at all stages of life.”

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the US bishops’ conference, said discussion of health care “impacts nearly everyone in our society, but we as bishops strive to engage in this debate as a voice for the voiceless, for the poor, the sick, the unborn. There is still much to be done as the Senate considers a repeal and replacement for the Affordable Care Act.”

Among other bishops who spoke on the topic were Bishop George Thomas of Helena, who said we live in a time of “great gravity” as budget votes draw near which will affect Medicaid and nutritional assistance programs, and called for the bishops to work “by raising up a new degree of public consciousness.” Quoting Robert Frost, he implored the bishops that they “‘choose the road less traveled’ for the sake of the people we have been ordained to serve.”

Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago also took the floor, saying that “the state has a responsibility of creating solidarity in a country,” and noted that religious sisters working in health care should be consulted in further discussions. Bishop Dewane clarified that this has been the case already.

Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego observed a “debasement of language” in the national health care debate, citing that while Bishop Dewane spoke of a “robust access,” the access being offered is only “access in theory, access if you’ve got enough money.”

He also noted that “health care is a fundamental human right,” but said the AHCA has been designed as “a house of sand which will deliberately fall apart in the coming years.” He also said that bishops should automatically oppose any bill which is projected to lower the number of people with access to health care.

Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City explained that under the Affordable Care Act, his local Church lost all its Catholic hospitals, and said that the ACA’s “Medicaid provisions were not sustainable by the states.”

He noted also that while the Obama administration had promised there would always be an option for a plan that did not offer abortions, that promise turned out to be false.

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U.S. NEWS

Newark archdiocese defends welcoming of LGBT pilgrimage

by Kevin J. Jones (CNA/EWTN News) • June 20, 2017

The Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, N.J. (Friscocali via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)

Newark, N.J. — Last month Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark welcomed a pilgrimage of self-identified LGBT pilgrims, with an archdiocesan spokesman saying it should be seen in the context of welcoming everyone, not as archdiocese sponsorship of the event.

“I think that the central point that is missing from the majority of the media coverage and blog postings about this pilgrimage is that the cardinal was asked whether he might welcome a group of pilgrims who identify as LGBT. He said yes, we welcome all in the name of Christ,” James Goodness, communications director for the Archdiocese of Newark, told CNA.

“This was not an event sponsored by the archdiocese, and we did not promote or advertise it,” Goodness said. “It was a purely private event.”

Some news coverage of the pilgrimage depicted it as a shift within the Church.

Cardinal Tobin did not concelebrate Mass or preach at the pilgrimage, which Goodness described as a private event.

“He simply offered a word of welcome as he would do for other groups of pilgrims,” the spokesman said. “It is important to note that the cardinal feels very strongly that welcoming people is a first step in any relationship, and that, as Pope Francis says, we have to meet people and minister to them where they are.”

The group included self-identified LGBT Catholics from around New York and New Jersey. The May 21 visit included a Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart and a tour of the cathedral.

The cardinal greeted the group at the Newark cathedral. “I am Joseph, your brother,” he said. “I am your brother, as a disciple of Jesus. I am your brother, as a sinner who finds mercy with the Lord.”

“The word I use is ‘welcome,’” Cardinal Tobin said in an interview before the Mass, the New York Times reports. “These are people that have not felt welcome in other places. My prayer for them is that they do. Today in the Catholic Church, we read a passage that says you have to be able to give a reason for your hope. And I’m praying that this pilgrimage for them, and really for the whole Church, is a reason for hope.”

The cardinal said it was appropriate “to welcome people to come and pray and call them who they were. And later on, we can talk.”

Goodness told CNA there is a chapter of Courage in the Newark archdiocese, which has been active “for many years.”

Courage ministers to Catholics with same-sex attraction and their friends and family who want to live according to Catholic teaching.

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U.S. NEWS

Pro-lifers claim victory in Georgia House vote

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • June 21, 2017

Georgia’s 6th Congressional district Republican candidate Karen Handel gives a victory speech on June 20, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)

Atlanta, GA — Abortion rights groups invested heavily and lost in Tuesday night’s runoff special election for a Georgia House seat, and pro-lifers maintain the outcome proves the futility of the pro-abortion agenda.

In the June 20 special election to replace former congressman and now HHS Secretary Tom Price in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional district, Republican candidate Karen Handel was victorious, holding off Democratic opponent Jon Ossoff with 52 percent of the vote to his 48 percent.

“I think that this is really encouraging for pro-life candidates,” Mallory Quigley, communications director for the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, told CNA Wednesday of the race in the Atlanta suburbs. “Planned Parenthood has just suffered another humiliating loss.”

Ossoff ran on arguably a moderate fiscal platform with ostensibly mild rhetoric, promising to fight wasteful spending and bring more tech jobs to the Atlanta metropolitan area, and vowing to work with Republicans on areas of agreement.

However, from the start of the abbreviated campaign he did zero in on Handel’s opposition to taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, stating that “with all due respect to Karen, I think her record on women’s health issues is lacking,” according to WXIA local news.

On the matter of abortion, he cast himself as a defender of a woman’s right to choose. “I would never disparage anyone who has differing views on the issue,” he said, as reported by WXIA, adding that “it’s precisely that complexity at the ethical and medical level that makes it unacceptable for federal bureaucrats to be getting between women and families and their doctors.”

Handel, meanwhile, was vocally pro-life. She was previously the vice president of Susan G. Komen For the Cure, an organization that raises breast cancer awareness and funds research and which is also a prominent funder of Planned Parenthood.

In 2011, the foundation temporarily cut its grants to Planned Parenthood citing Congress’s investigation into the organization. The investigation was launched over concerns that Planned Parenthood’s federal funding might be used for abortions, and that it allegedly did not report suspicious cases of sexual abuse of minors.

After a widespread backlash in the media, Susan G. Komen quickly backtracked and promised to continue funding Planned Parenthood. Handel then resigned from the foundation.

Ossoff focused on this in a campaign ad, attacking Handel for trying to cut off Planned Parenthood funding and falsely claiming that Planned Parenthood provides breast cancer screenings. A moderator corrected Ossoff on this claim in a recent debate; Planned Parenthood provides referrals for screenings, not the screenings themselves.

Planned Parenthood’s political arm bragged of Ossoff’s strong support on its website. He had promised to be “an unyielding defender of Planned Parenthood,” and had insisted that “my commitment to reproductive health and family planning, as essential to the health of this community, is very strong.”

Abortion rights groups poured cash into the race. Planned Parenthood was the second-largest contributor to Ossoff’s campaign, with $820,000, behind only the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, according to OpenSecrets.org.

The National Abortion Rights Action League ran a six-figure onslaught of video ads, phone calls, and mail outreach in the last days before the election, hoping that accusations of Handel being “extreme” in her opposition to Planned Parenthood would resonate with voters.

Susan B. Anthony List was also active in the race, reaching “65,000 inconsistent voters who are pro-life through mail, phone calls, and digital advertising” and pointing to Ossoff’s “extreme pro-abortion agenda.”

Ultimately, Handel won the day by four percentage points, in a district that Price won by 23 percentage points last election cycle. The seat has not been held by a Democrat since 1979.

The race was the single most expensive House race in history, with spending at $56 million.

Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life of America, insisted that promoting abortion rights continues to be a losing issue for Democrats in states outside of the Northeast and the West Coast.

“Any time you do that in a pro-life district, you risk alienating voters who might otherwise vote for you,” she told CNA.

“We need to be helping people, not spending $25 million on an election that we’ll lose,” she added, referring to the record-setting level of campaign spending for a single House race.

“What are we doing to promote helping those in need?” she asked. “We’ve lost our focus on the little guy.”

The outcome of the election proves that “extreme pro-abortion positions” are losing, Quigley said. She pointed to a recent Susan B. Anthony List poll of voters in states that are considered to be battlegrounds for 2018 Senate races, saying that a majority of voters in select states opposed taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood.

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U.S. NEWS

U.S. bishops launch 2017 Fortnight for Freedom

CNA/EWTN News • June 21, 2017

(Quinn Dombrowski via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0)

Washington D.C. — The U.S. bishops have launched a website and video to mark the beginning of this year’s Fortnight for Freedom, focusing on religious freedom issues both at home and abroad.

The video, about ten minutes long and viewable on the Fortnight for Freedom website, features a number of legal, religious, and other personalities discussing the importance of religious liberty. The Fortnight for Freedom takes place June 21 to July 4.

“Religious freedom is one of the basic freedoms of the human person because without religious freedom, the freedom of conscience, all other freedoms are without foundation,” Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami says at the beginning of the video.

“A government that doesn’t acknowledge limits on its own power to regulate religious institutions is probably going to come after other institutions as well,” said Professor Rick Garnett of the Notre Dame Law School.

The video chronicles the struggle between the Little Sisters of the Poor and the HHS mandate of the Affordable Care Act.

“It’s over three now that this issue has been pursuing us,” says Sr. Constance, L.S.P.

Testimonies from beneficiaries of the Sisters’ work are showcased in the video.

“There is a spiritual component in the way that they live their lives that adds to not only enrichment of the residents’ lives but to those who are in contact with them, who work with them, who just hear about them,” says Carmel Kang.

“When religious freedom goes away, and there is no transcendent authority, then the law is the only norm, and the people in power now are always the only power,” says Professor Helen Alvare of George Mason University Law School.

The video emphasizes the United States’ historical connection to freedom of religion.

“The United States is the greatest country in the history of the world precisely because of the exceptional character of its relationship to faith which permeates every dimension of its evolution,” says Eugene Rivers II, an activist and Pentecostal pastor.

The video also highlighted the struggle of religious peoples in other parts of the world.

“Tragically, we see the killings, the martyrdom of Christians in Iraq, and Libya, and Egypt, Syria,” says Archbishop Wenski. The video then showed clips from the video of 21 Coptic Christians being martyred by the Islamic State in early 2015.

Professor Thomas Farr of Georgetown University noted the increased threat since the Obergefell vs. Hodges Supreme Court decision in June 2015, and also observed that viewpoints motivated by religion are being silenced.

The video also summarized Dignitatis humanae, the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on religious freedom, as well as noting Pope Francis’ concern for persecuted Christians around the world.

“We have to bring not just optimism, but genuine Christian hope,” says Archbishop Lori of Baltimore, head of the USCCB’s Committee on Religious Liberty, which was made a permanent structure of the conference at their annual spring meeting last week.

The video closed with a montage of scenes and figures including the Selma to Montgomery March, St. John Paul II, and the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

The USCCB’s Fortnight for Freedom website provides a host of prayer and practical resources on the topic of religious freedom.

The prayer resources are based in Scripture as well as the examples of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, and are available in both English and Spanish.

Among the practical resources is a brief guide to the issue, which seeks to defend and clarify the bishop’s views, responding to concerns that defense of liberty is an affront to treating people “with equal dignity.”

Also included are summaries of religious liberty concerns in the United States and internationally. Domestically, issues listed include the HHS mandate, the right to practice faith in business, and religious institutes’ right to aid undocumented immigrants. Internationally, concerns are presented from the Central African Republic, Myanmar, and Mexico.

On May 4, the National Day of Prayer, President Trump signed an executive order on religious liberty while surrounded by faith leaders, including Cardinal Donald Wuerl of D.C. and the Little Sisters of the Poor. The order called for agencies to consider different enforcement of the mandate and looser enforcement of the Johnson Amendment. It was modified from an earlier, leaked version which critics claimed would have allowed for unjust discrimination of LGBT people.

On May 31, a draft rule providing blanket protection from the mandate was leaked.

The bishops’ website does not include the Johnson Amendment among its concerns.

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U.S. NEWS

U.S. military archbishop prays for victims of U.S.S. Fitzgerald collision

CNA/EWTN News • June 22, 2017

The U.S.S. Fitzgerald returns to Fleet Activities Yokosuka following a collision with a merchant vessel on June 17, 2017. (Peter Burghart/U.S. Navy)

Yokohama, Japan — On Wednesday the Archbishop for Military Services, U.S.A. offered his prayers and condolences for the sailors who perished on U.S.S. Fitzgerald after colliding with a container ship off the coast of south east Japan last week.

“Deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life on the U.S.S. Fitzgerald, I ask all of the faithful to remember in prayer the victims and their families,” Archbishop Timothy Broglio said in a June 21 statement.

“I express my heartfelt sympathy to the families whose loved ones perished in this unfortunate incident,” he added.

Twenty-five minutes after a Filipino container ship, the ACX Crystal, made a sudden U-turn, it crashed into the starboard side of the U.S.S. Fitzgerald, a destroyer, in the early hours of June 17 near Shimoda, Japan.

The hull of the destroyer was penetrated below the waterline, causing water to flood into the radio room, machinery, and two sleeping quarters for the crew. The captain’s cabin was also damaged.

Seven sailors died in the collision. Three men were also injured; they were quickly evacuated by helicopter.

Archbishop Broglio also expressed his sympathy for the survivors of the collision, saying: “My heart also goes out to all of the members of the crew who not only lost their esteemed shipmates, but also all of the personal belongings they had on board with them.”

“The Naval community at Yokosuka has responded with great care in attempting to meet the physical, psychological, and spiritual needs of those who survived the collision,” he added. “May Almighty God give them continued fortitude in the days ahead.”

Most men out of the 350 person crew on the U.S.S. Fitzgerald were asleep, but sailors still acted heroically according to Seventh Fleet Commander Joseph Aucoin. He said the ship could have taken on more water and potentially sunk, but the crew worked well to keep the water from spreading.

The ACX Crystal sustained lighter damage to its port bow, and none of its crew of 20 were injured.

The U.S.S. Fitzgerald was first commissioned in 1995, and in 2005 it was deployed to counteract missile crises around the globe.

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California court drops 14 charges against Planned Parenthood investigator

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • June 22, 2017

(American Life League via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)

San Francisco, CA — A California court on Wednesday dismissed 14 of 15 criminal charges against an undercover journalist behind the video exposé of Planned Parenthood’s role in the fetal tissue trade.

“This is a huge victory to have 14 criminal counts dismissed,” Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, which defended Sandra Merritt in court as she faced 15 felony charges. One charge of conspiracy to invade privacy has still not been dismissed.

“We will now turn our attention to dismissing the final count,” Staver continued. “Sandra Merritt did nothing wrong. The complaint by the California Attorney General is unprecedented and frankly will threaten every journalist who provides valuable information to the public.”

In March, California Attorney General Xavier Beccerra charged Merritt and her colleague David Daleiden with 14 criminal counts of recording others without their consent in a confidential conversation, and one count of conspiracy to invade privacy.

Merritt and Daleiden were undercover journalists at the Center for Medical Progress, a group which seeks to expose the role of Planned Parenthood clinics and tissue harvesters in the trade of fetal tissue of aborted babies. The group began releasing videos in July of 2015 that were undercover video recordings of conversations with Planned Parenthood officials.

CMP alleged that Planned Parenthood clinics illegally broke the law by profiting off of the transfer of the fetal tissue to harvesters. Federal law does allow for reasonable compensation for fetal tissue in cases where it is procured for medical research purposes. The compensation cannot be for “valuable consideration,” but may cover operating expenses like storage and transfer costs.

The recorded conversations Merritt and Daleiden had took place as they posed as representatives of a tissue procurement company BioMax seeking to possibly partner with Planned Parenthood clinics and other representatives in the abortion industry to obtain body parts of aborted babies.

In the criminal complaint against Merritt and Daleiden, Beccerra had alleged that both persons had recorded confidential conversations without the consent of other parties involved. Each of the 14 counts involved a separate conversation that allegedly took place.

Eight of the charges had to do with secretly recorded conversations with attendees at a National Abortion Federation conference in San Francisco. Other conversations with Planned Parenthood officials and tissue procurement representatives were recorded at other times.

California is a “two-party consent” state, which means that both parties of a conversation, where it is expected to be private and confidential, must agree to it being recorded.

An affidavit from a California Peace Officer claimed that, according to accounts from multiple persons to whom Daleiden and Merritt allegedly talked, they recorded conversations that were believed to be confidential by the other party.

Liberty Counsel, on the other hand, said that “the videos produced by Merritt and Daleiden exposed unethical and potentially illegal conduct by Planned Parenthood, and Planned Parenthood itself has admitted, under oath, that the recorded conversations took place in ‘non-confidential’ and public venues,” such as restaurants.

Beccerra also charged Daleiden with conspiracy to invade privacy, alleging that Daleiden used a password from a former employee at the tissue procurement company StemExpress, accessed the company’s email system, and took documents.

The affadavit also alleged that Daleiden and Merritt set up a tissue procurement company of their own – BioMax Procurement Services, LLC – and used false names to “pose” as representatives of the company and to be admitted to a National Abortion Federation conference in San Francisco, “where they secretly video recorded conference speakers, vendors, and attendees.”

On Wednesday, the San Francisco Superior Court dismissed the 14 recording charges, but the charge for conspiracy to invade privacy has not yet been dropped.

Beccerra, a former Democratic congressman, had previously received small donations from Planned Parenthood as a candidate for Congress amounting to around $6,000 over the last 20 years, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

“Sandra did not break any law and the criminal complaint against her is legally deficient, vague and full of inconsistencies,” Horatio Mihet, Liberty Counsel’s vice president of legal affairs and chief litigation counsel, stated.

“No other citizen journalist or organization has ever been charged with a crime for undercover recordings,” he added.

After Center for Medical Progress began releasing its recorded conversations with officials at Planned Parenthood and tissue procurement companies, Congress and several states launched investigations into Planned Parenthood to find out whether it broke the law in the fetal tissue trade.

A final report from a House select investigative panel released in January detailed various abuses in the abortion industry in the fetal body parts trade.

Consent forms required by law were not obtained from mothers to have the fetal tissue of their aborted child used for research. Private medical information may have been shared between abortion clinics and tissue procurement companies in a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.

In another case, the University of New Mexico established a possibly illegal relationship with a local abortion clinic where students and fellows performed abortions at the clinic and the clinic’s abortionists were reportedly granted “volunteer faculty” status at the university where they received benefits like insurance coverage and access to university facilities.

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Praise of receptivity

by Alice von Hildebrand • June 17, 2017

When I entered grammar school aged five, one of the great names that I was soon acquainted with were Plato and Aristotle. Clearly both of them conquered time, and are acknowledged to be two of the greatest minds that the human race has produced. Yet, we must acknowledge that talented as they were they were not protected from error. The human mind is great and noble, clearly capable of finding truths; skepticism refutes its own arguments because if they were valid, it would prove that the human mind is capable of reasoning flawlessly. Our task is to acknowledge its capacity to reach truth, while warning us that we should always remain aware of its limits and imperfections. Not only are there truths inaccessible to the human mind such as supernatural truths which need to be revealed (i.e. that God is a Trinity) but also in the domain accessible to us we should never forget that self-assurance, pride, intellectual “arrogance” can lead us into error.

Socrates also reminds us that much as we know or believe to know, what we do not know is infinitely larger. This is why this noble and great thinker knew that “he knew not.” When a truth is clearly perceived, the response should be gratitude; indeed the human mind should be grateful that it has been given the capacity of reaching certainty. Alas, many a thinker instead of giving this uplifting response, is often tempted to “inflate” itself by the idea that, with time, he will know all things. This was the arrogant claim of Feuerbach, a German thinker of the 19 century, that led him to the conviction that man, having reached maturity, and liberated himself from the diapers in which the dark mediaeval mind had imprisoned itself in is now legitimately entitled to call himself god. But if this were true, it is surprising indeed that this god feels the need to proclaim it – to be god should be sufficient, to do so sounds as if he needed to reassure himself!

This leads me back to Aristotle, a gift of Greece to humanity. Yet this great mind made some serious errors which have been inherited by his disciples, rightly impressed by his genius. He tells us that the human male is superior to the human female – a prejudice gleefully endorsed by the machismo attitude – because he is active and she is only passive. Activity being clearly superior to passivity, this claim has been inherited by his disciples and admirers and has led to the masculine superiority complex.

When God created male and female, He in no way created one superior to the other: they were clearly complementary, enriching one another. The fullness of the human person is to be found in both of them together. Yet it is worth remarking that whereas Adam’s body was made from the slime of the earth, the one of Eve was taken from a human person – a fact which gives the female body a special dignity. Who would not prefer to have a body made from a human person, and not from the slime of the earth?

What was Aristotle’s serious mistake? He failed to distinguish between two very different things because they are both opposed to a third – namely activity. Both receptivity and passivity are opposed to activity, but, whereas passivity is “to be subject to” being “defenseless,” receptivity is to be opened to fecundation. Indeed, what is there that man has not received, and receptivity is therefore deeply linked to gratitude. In one case, the one being acted upon is “defenseless.” Passivity is a sign of inferiority.

The piece of wood used by a carpenter to make a table has nothing to say in the matter. It is the slave of the carpenter who does with it what he pleases. Alas, human beings can also abuse of other human beings by brutally forcing them to yield to their strength. An illustration of this is “rape,” in contrast to the joyful donation of a wife to her husband. Man being a creature is essentially receptive. The most perfect of all human beings is the Holy Virgin, and the grade of her holiness is expressed in her words: “I am the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to Thy word.”

This leads me to a topic of capital importance in metaphysics: the abyss separating passivity from receptivity, a truth powerfully expressed in the Bible, particularly in the New Testament, that makes this gloriously evident. Mary, a Jewish girl, whose heart from its conception was God centered, is greeted by an Angel, a being metaphysically superior to human beings, as being “full of grace.” The humble virgin is surprised by this greeting. Are angels not metaphysically superior to human persons? She is a virgin and yet informed that she will be fecundated by God, and be given the privilege of carrying the Savior in her womb. Her response should be the object of our daily meditation: “I am the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.” First, she joyfully acknowledge that she is God’s handmaid; she knows that to be God’s servant is a glorious title of honor and adds: “be it done to me according to thy word.” The glory of any creature is to pray: “be it done to me.” She joyfully accepted to be receptive, and this very receptivity makes her to be the Queen of Angels.

Not activity, but receptivity gives us a golden key to holiness. It combines humility, an awareness that one is poverty, for we are weak and miserable, accompanied by faith: with God’s grace, “I shall scale mountains.” This deep truth, sheds light on Saul’s conversion on his way to Damascus which transformed a rapacious lion into a lamb. He was going to Damascus with a murderous mission to bring back Christians to Jerusalem to have them put to their death; he is active. He became “receptive” to God’s grace and became Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles, from murderous activity to radiant receptivity. He reflected the words of the young Samuel in the temple: “Speak, o Lord, Thy servant listens.” Living in a world where activity is acclaimed and receptivity easily confused with passivity, this passage of the New Testament should be a clarion call to reexamine our lives, and ask ourselves whether we have not forgotten to joyfully declare ourselves to be servants of the Lord, and daily repeat the word “be it done to me according to thy word.”

Alice von Hildebrand is a lecturer and an author whose works include The Privilege of Being a Woman (2002) and The Soul of a Lion: The Life of Dietrich von Hildebrand (2000), a biography of her late husband. She was made a Dame Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of St. Gregory by Pope Francis in 2013.

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What does ‘the Joy of the Gospel’ look like in the U.S.?

by Adelaide Mena (CNA/EWTN News) • June 17, 2017

World Youth Day 2016 in Krakow, Poland. (Jeff Bruno/CNA)

Orlando, FL — It’s been nearly four years since Pope Francis released his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii gaudium, or “The Joy of the Gospel.” But what does it look like to truly live out the Joy of the Gospel in the U.S.?

That’s the question behind an unprecedented gathering of Catholic leaders from around the country this summer.

On the weekend of July 4th, hundreds of bishops will join with thousands of Catholic leaders from around the country to participate in “The Convocation of Catholic Leaders: The Joy of the Gospel in America,” a four-day conference to share experiences about the Church engaging with modern U.S. culture.

“Never before has such a large and diverse group assembled under the guidance of the bishops,” said Bishop Richard J. Malone of Buffalo, who chairs the bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth. Speaking to his brother bishops in a June 15 talk, he stressed, “This is truly unlike any other meeting.”

Dr. Jonathan Reyes, executive director of the bishops’ Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, said in an interview with Register Radio that the Church finds herself in a unique moment, which provides a wealth of opportunities for growth and fruit from this convocation.

“I think it’s the kind of moment the Holy Spirit uses for the Church, to open the Church up to ideas and opportunities,” Reyes said. “It’s about an opportunity that we think the Lord has given, that we believe the Lord has given and that we have to respond to.”

The Convocation of Catholic Leaders will take place July 1-4 in Orlando, Florida, and will bring together a broad swath of bishops, clergy and lay Catholic leaders from around the country.

Focusing on what it means to be a Catholic in the United States, delegations from 155 dioceses and roughly 200 Catholic organizations will be in attendance, along with 160 bishops. Nearly 4,000 people of all ages, backgrounds, and ministerial focuses are expected to attend.

Bishop Malone explained the major role the bishops have played in organizing the event. “It had to be led by us, the bishops. It had to leverage our best research strategy and people.”

“And,” Bishop Malone continued, “it had to be about forming missionary disciples.”

The bishops will be leading each of the panel discussions, round table conversations, liturgies and speeches at the event. Topics will range from the Church and politics, youth evangelization, reaching to the peripheries, family dynamics, technology, life issues, disabilities, application of the Church’s social magisterium and more.

Dr. Reyes explained that the strength of the convocation will be found in the participants’ broad range of expertise, geography and background.

“What happens is that conversation evolves. People get to trust each other. What we’re doing is bringing in people from completely different backgrounds. We’ve got college presidents, we’ve got business leaders, we’ve got religious, we’ve got people working the front lines in some of the most difficult socioeconomic situations in this country. We’ve got people who’ve been in basically every aspect of the Church’s ministry but also in worldly life, just doing things, because they’re essential to effective evangelization,” he told Register Radio.

Many of these people would not have any other chance to share their expertise with one another, yet what the bishops are doing is “trying to provide an opportunity for a trusting, balanced conversation because it’s really key to us having a way forward together as a Church,” he continued.

Another key aspect of the convocation, Reyes added, is the bishops’ focus on Evangelii Gaudium‘s message of missionary discipleship and bringing the message of the Gospel to new, unprecedented challenges.

“This is Pope Francis’s whole point: it’s the laity out there who are going to change the culture in their conversations with those around them,” Reyes said. “And we need the laity, we need the priests, we need the Church unified proclaiming the Gospel and inviting people to encounter Jesus Christ. The good news is that if we do that, the Gospel works.”

Most of all, however, Reyes said he is excited to see what comes after the convocation. “Everyone is going to come back with key insights. You just can’t help it.”

Often, Reyes offered, “we don’t see enough the great things the Holy Spirit is doing.” He noted that while attention is often placed on the challenges of the 21st Century, there are many different movements, ministries and local examples of life sprouting within the Church that others may not see.

“There’s light all over the place. The Gospel is not failing. I think the Church would benefit from seeing this.”

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Pope Francis speaks to priests

by Bishop Robert Barron • June 20, 2017

I write these words from the Nuremore Hotel in Monaghan, Ireland, where I am conducting a retreat for the good priests of the Dublin Archdiocese. As I look out at these men, I am reminded of so many of my own relatives on both sides of my family (“Gosh, he looks like Uncle Charlie” and “That one is the spitting image of my cousin Terry”), for I am Irish all the way through. Many of the priests who are making the retreat are retired, and it is edifying to see so many who have bravely borne the heat of the day. Do say a prayer for them.

The theme that I have chosen for my talks is “Pope Francis Speaks to Priests.” I have culled a number of motifs from the Pope’s numerous talks, sermons, and lectures to priests, seminarians, and bishops. Allow me, in the course of this brief article to say just a few words about each one.

The first is “encountering Christ.” Drawing from the writings of Padre Luigi Giussani and others, Pope Francis emphasizes that the single most important feature of Christianity is a personal friendship with the Lord Jesus. The Christian faith is not a philosophy or a social theory or an ideology, but rather a living relationship with Jesus. Therefore, I have told the priests of Dublin, make Christ the center of your lives and let every aspect of your life and ministry revolve around your friendship with the Lord.

The second theme is “living simply.” Nothing about Pope Francis has so captivated the popular imagination than his gestures in the direction of simplicity of life: paying his own bill at the clerical residence just after his election as Pope, riding in the unpretentious Fiat rather than a limo, dining with the homeless, residing in the Santa Marta Hotel rather than the Apostolic Palace, etc. In an address to consecrated religious in 2015, the Pope cited his spiritual father Ignatius of Loyola to the effect that poverty is the “wall and the mother of the consecrated life,” mother because it gives birth to greater confidence in God and wall because it keeps out worldliness.

The third motif I am exploring is preaching, which Pope Francis emphasizes time and again when he addresses priests and seminarians. The Pope once remarked that everyone suffers from preaching, the priests from having to give sermons and the faithful from having to listen to them! In my presentation, I’m stressing that there should always be an element of the surprising and the novel in good Christian preaching, for the preacher is trading in Good News. Something utterly unexpected has happened — namely the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead — and the preacher wants to grab his audience by the shoulders and tell them about it. If he is simply sharing bland spiritual truisms, he is not really preaching.

Fourthly, I’m urging the priests of Dublin to be what the Pope calls “missionary disciples.” Vatican II was, first and foremost, a missionary council, whose purpose was to push the Church outward, bringing the lumen of Christ to the gentes. Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI all followed this impulse in stressing the centrality of the new evangelization. Pope Francis has rung the same bell in his insistence that the Church must go out to the periferia, to the margins both economic and existential. He offers a funny and wise commentary on the famous scene from the book of Revelation in which Jesus stands at the door and knocks. This represents, says Francis, not so much the Lord’s desire to enter into our hearts as his longing to get out into the world!

The fifth topic is perhaps the interpretive key to the Francis papacy, namely, mercy. The Church, he has memorably commented, is like a field hospital, where those deeply wounded by our postmodern society come to be treated. Misericordia (a suffering heart) is therefore prerequisite number one for those who would aspire to serve in that treatment center. Whatever else the Church says and does, I told the Dublin presbyterate, must return to, and be conditioned by, the attitude of mercy.

Finally, I am sharing some reflections on the Pope’s encyclical letter Laudato Si. I realize that many tended to read this text as Francis’s treatise on “global warming,” and whether one celebrates or bemoans the Pope’s view on that particular topic, to read the encyclical from that perspective alone is to miss a lovely forest for one tree. What Francis accomplishes in Laudato Si is the placing of the Christian life into a properly cosmic context, and this brings him close to all of the great pre-modern figures in Christian spirituality and theology. Modernity has tended to construe the human being as, in Descartes’s famous phrase, the “master of nature,” whereas the Biblical, patristic, and medieval commentators saw the human being as stewards of creation, indeed, as the one who has the privilege and responsibility of leading all of creation in an act of praise. I have shared with the priests of Dublin the ancient notion that the priest celebrating Mass is speaking, in a sense, on behalf of the entire material creation. This explains why pre-modern Churches, such as the great Gothic Cathedrals, were decorated, inside and out, with images of plants, animals, sun, moon, stars, and planets. Curiously, an excessive anthropocentrism has actually undermined our attempts to evangelize the contemporary culture.

Again, please pray for the priests of the Archdiocese of Dublin, and indeed for all priests, as we strive to fulfill our mission.

Bishop Robert Barron is an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries (wordonfire.org). He is the creator of two award-winning documentary series, Catholicism and Catholicism: The New Evangelization.

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Can relics unite Catholics and Orthodox? Pope Francis thinks so

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • June 21, 2017

A Russian icon of St. Nicholas, c. 1500. (CNA)

Vatican City — Common veneration of relics is one of the tools Pope Francis is using to foster ecumenical relations with the Eastern Orthodox Churches.

In May, relics of St. Philip and St. Nicholas were transported to Turkey and Russia, respectively. They have been exposed for the veneration of the Orthodox faithful from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Patriarchate of Moscow.

The transportation of the relics of St. Nicholas from the Italian city of Bari to Moscow is particularly noteworthy. It is the first time in 930 years that a part of the body of St. Nicholas has left Bari for veneration abroad.

The novel action comes after a specific request Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow made to Pope Francis when they met in Havana, Cuba in February 2016.

Pope Francis consented to Patriarch Kirill’s request and forwarded the request to Bari’s Archbishop Francesco Cacucci. The archbishop then started the procedures to move the relics.

In the end, it was possible to detach a small particle of St. Nicholas’ left rib, which the archbishop noted was “close to the saint’s heart.”

Archbishop Cacucci discussed the letter Pope Francis had sent him to about the Patriarch’s request. The archbishop explained that, for Pope Francis, the veneration of relics is “an essential part of the path toward the re-establishment of full communion among all Christians.”

“The common veneration of saints help us to look at the ecumenical dialogue with a light of hope,” he said.

St. Nicholas was one of the most venerated saints in Christianity even before his relics were taken from Myra, Turkey, by 62 sailors from Bari in 1087.

Those sailors made an expedition to Myra to save St. Nicholas’ relics from Muslims who had conquered the city where St. Nicholas had lived and served as a bishop in the fourth century.

This year, St. Nicholas’ relics arrived in Moscow May 22. They were placed in a container specially crafted for the occasion. The relics were then placed in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior of Moscow. Patriarch Kirill himself celebrated a divine liturgy to welcome them.

St. Nicholas’ relics will be in Moscow until July 12. They will then move to St. Petersburg for several weeks before returning to Bari July 28.

While the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate received St. Nicholas’ relics from the Church of Rome, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople on May 8 welcomed relics of St. Philip in the Turkish city of Izmir, better known by its ancient Greek name: Smyrna.

St. Philip evangelized that land and was martyred there.

His relics had been secured in Rome’s Santi Apostoli Church since the sixth century. Last year, the relics were taken out and submitted to an examination. Then, they were exposed for a while for the veneration of the faithful.

Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople strongly advocated sharing the relics for veneration, as he is particularly devoted to St. Philip. The Catholic community joined the Patriarch in this request, and so one of St. Philip’s relic could return home. The Catholic Archbishop of Izmir Lorenzo Piretto personally forwarded the request to bring the relics to the Turkish city.

The common veneration of saints and relics is one area where ecumenism is performed today.

It echoes Pope Francis’ idea of “walking ecumenism,” which he described in an Oct. 12 meeting with members of the Conference of Secretaries of Christian World Communions.

In his remarks, the Pope said that “it is important that theologians study, that they find agreement and identify disagreements.”

But, he added, “ecumenism is done by walking and by walking with Jesus.” It is “a simple path, traveled with prayer and through helping one another.”

Another reflection came while the Pope presided at Vespers Jan. 25, 2016 at St. Paul Outside the Walls Basilica, a time that by tradition closes the week of prayer for Christian unity. Pope Francis said that “while we journey together toward full communion, we can begin already to develop many forms of cooperation in order to favor the spread of the Gospel – and walking together, we become aware that we are already united in the name of the Lord.”

This “walking ecumenism” is also emphasized through the veneration of the same saints. Patriarch Kirill seems to think the same.

Bari’s Archbishop Cacucci, having returned from Russia where he accompanied St. Nicholas’ relic, reflected on the phenomenon.

“In fact, the translation of the relic is already an ecumenical dialogue, and this Patriarch Kirill said more and more times. When ecumenism does not involve only the top ranks of Churches or theologians, but rather involves the people of God, then it is possible to move forward.”

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FEATURES

This pro-life talk at Google’s headquarters was a hit

CNA/EWTN News • June 22, 2017

Stephanie Gray speaking at Google’s headquarters. (YouTube)

Mountain View, CA — A pro-life activist walks into Google’s headquarters and delivers a speech so compelling that within 24 hours, the online video of it surpassed a similar speech given by the head of Planned Parenthood.

It may sound like the start to a far-fetched joke, but on April 20th, pro-life speaker and activist Stephanie Gray did just that.

Gray was the co-founder of the Canadian Center for Bio-Ethical Reform and served as its executive director for several year before starting the ministry which she now runs, Love Unleashes Life.

She spoke in April as a part of the Talks at Google series, a program that brings a variety of speakers to the company’s headquarters to discuss their work. Gray has participated in more than 800 talks and debates on abortion.

Gray’s talk centered around the idea that there are three qualities that lead us to call someone “inspiring:” They place others ahead of themselves, have “perspective” on their sufferings and situation in life, and do the right thing even in difficult situations. She linked these criteria to the process of dialoguing with others about abortion, emphasizing question asking.

She began by contrasting two stories, that of the shipwreck of the Costa Concordia in Italy in 2012 and the “Miracle on the Hudson” emergency plane landing in 2009. In the first story, she explained, the captain had jumped ship along with the rest of the crew. In the second, the pilot, Captain Chesley Sullenberger, had been the last off the flooding vessel, ensuring his passengers all exited safely.

In comparing the two stories, she noted that Sullenberger was lauded as a hero, and the captain of the Concordia internationally shamed.

“If you agree that it was correct for the pilot to put the passengers ahead of himself, to prioritize the needs of his dependents,” she said, “then wouldn’t it follow, that when it comes to the topic of abortion and an unplanned pregnancy, that a pregnant woman ought to prioritize the needs of her dependent?”

However, she noted that the comparison was only valid “depending on, indeed, whether embryos and fetuses are human beings, like the passengers on the airplane.”

To determine whether or not a fetus is a human being, Gray displayed an image of a human fetus and posed the question, “What are her parents?” It would logically follow that two human parents’ offspring must be the same species, she said.

Despite the ambiguity around the origin point of human life when it comes to abortion, she said, in discussing other topics “we have great clarity.” For example, an IVF specialist or dog breeder would agree that the life they attempt to create begins at fertilization.

Taking a look at what qualifies as “personhood,” Gray considered the terms used by pro-infanticide philosopher Peter Singer, that a person is a being which is “rational, conscious, and self-aware.” She contrasted a human embryo with an amoeba: the embryo lacks these qualities “because of how old she is,” where the amoeba lacks them “because of what it is.”

“Should personhood be grounded in how old we are, or should personhood be grounded in what we are?” she asked.

“The quality of age shouldn’t be the basis for which someone has personhood status,” she answered, noting that the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the rights of “all members of the human family.”

She then addressed the question of the fetus’ dependence, arguing that the fetus’ greater dependent status as a weaker entity than a baby entitles it to greater, not less, protection. She related this to the story of a friend’s husband who, faced with the choice between rescuing a mother or her baby first from the roof of a sinking car, made the “obvious” choice to take the baby.

“Since you believe that we should prioritize weaker and more vulnerable people ahead of stronger people, then shouldn’t we actually prioritize the needs of the pre-born child?” she said.

She recalled meeting a Rwandan genocide survivor who, seeing a picture of a child killed in the conflict next to an aborted fetus, pointed to the image of the fetus and said, “That’s worse, because at least my family could try to run away.”

Considering the concept of perspective, she posed another question: “How can we change our perspective in an unplanned, crisis situation?” She recalled dialoguing with a college student whose stepmother had an abortion upon learning her baby was expected to die at birth. Responding with a thought experiment involving a terminal cancer diagnosis, she answered the student, “Why would we cut short the already short time we have left? Instead, wouldn’t we want to savor every moment of every day of the next 20 weeks (of the pregnancy)?”

Moving to her final criterion for what makes a person inspirational – “do the right thing” – she listed a number of circumstances that make pregnancy hard and often lead to abortion, including poverty or rape. But when we look at parents raising an already-born child in the same circumstances, she said, we can see that we ought to have the same attitude towards carrying an unborn child as towards parenting a child in the same situation.

Gray closed with a number of stories from people she knows personally, including a woman who was raped and had a child at age 12, a woman who cared for her baby daughter with respiratory issues, and a woman who regretted her own abortion and ended up counseling another woman to carry her baby to term.

“They’re inspiring because they put others ahead of themselves, because they had perspective, and because they did the right thing, even when it was hard,” she said of all the stories she had told throughout the talk. “And that’s the challenge that I leave all of you with today.”

In a question-and-answer session after her talk, she recommended that audience members seek to start dialogue on the difficult topic of abortion with open-ended questions, and to “seek to understand where (another) person is coming from.” She also used the analogy of a person choosing rape to address the thought that pro-life views cannot be “forced on” pregnant women, saying that just as it is illegal to make the choice to rape someone, it ought to be illegal to choose to end the life of a fetus.

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards also gave a Talk at Google, in a video published March 7. Gray’s talk, published June 19, had surpassed Richards in views within 24 hours of being uploaded.

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FEATURES

Movie review: ‘Beatriz at Dinner’

by Carl Kozlowski • June 23, 2017

The media may tell us that the rich and powerful are the people to focus upon in society, while ignoring the far greater masses who just try to get through each day with their dignity intact. But the new movie “Beatriz at Dinner” tries to turn the tables on that equation by following an unwittingly key day in the life of a simple woman who finds herself in an unexpected philosophical showdown with a billionaire and his friends.

The movie opens on Beatriz (Salma Hayek), a single woman whose only source of companionship is her puppy and a couple of baby goats that she cares for in her modest home in a Los Angeles suburb. While she plays with and feeds them in the morning, she also meditates and lights candles before a picture of another pet goat that recently died.

Beatriz is a woman with a sweet but muddled sense of spirituality, with both a dancing Buddha figurine and an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in her ancient car as she drives to work at a Santa Monica cancer center. She’s a holistic caregiver, offering healing massages and yoga classes to her clients each day, hoping to help them ward off death through alternatives to the risks of chemotherapy.

After work, she makes the hours-long trek to a private client named Cathy (Connie Britton) in the ritzy town of Newport Beach to give her a massage before a big dinner party she and her husband Grant (David Warshofsky) are hosting for billionaire real estate developer Doug Strutt (John Lithgow). Cathy considers Beatriz to be practically a family member because she helped save the life of her daughter Tara, and is shocked to learn when Beatriz reveals that her next-door neighbor broke her goat’s neck.

When Beatriz finds herself stranded with her car dead in their driveway, Cathy pushes to invite her to stay for dinner against Grant’s wishes. As their snooty friends Alex (Jay Duplass) and Shannon (Chloe Sevigny) arrive before Doug and his wife, it becomes clear that Beatriz is out of her element – and when Doug shows up and treats her with dismissive condescension, the table is set for a slow-building battle of the minds.

“Beatriz” bills itself as a comedy, and has strong credentials from its indie-gods team of writer Mike White and director Miguel Arteta, who have done much stronger work in the past with Jennifer Aniston’s dramedy “The Good Girl” and the terrific Ed Helms character comedy “Cedar Rapids.” But “Beatriz” is in actuality a deceptively dark drama, with a heavy-handed battle of social class, and of environmentalism versus capitalism, that portrays Beatriz throughout as a heart-filled saint and all the wealthy characters as heartless and shallow in their desire to destroy all that is good in the world.

The moral debates about being rich versus poor have been around since the dawn of mankind, and indeed, It is a major focus of the Bible’s teachings as well. But there is not an ounce of subtlety to be found here, and the movie is clearly pushing a political rather than moral agenda.

The movie is only 83 minutes long, yet it takes forever to get going, spending a ton of setup time on pre-dinner conversations and an endless series of exchanges that are meant to convey the divisions between the two sides. Aside from Cathy, it seems that every comment by the well-to-do is intended as a heart-crushing dig at Beatriz, with the men in particular cackling with glee while sharing stories of rapacious business deals and the need to crush environmental protesters and smoking stogies.

It’s a shame, because Hayek is clearly giving a heartfelt performance, conveying Beatriz’s wounded soul and rendering a character who feels completely out of place not only with this rarefied household, but much of the world as a whole. Lithgow seems to be having fun being icily nasty, but there’s a fine line between satirizing a jerk and crossing the line into just being annoying, and he leaps right over it.

“Beatriz” winds up taking a shocking couple of turns in its final minutes, with events that take it far from the realm of comedy. That unfortunate set of circumstances winds up leaving Beatriz less sympathetic herself, and will likely leave all but the most ardently left-wing audience members more bummed than inspired.

“Beatriz at Dinner” is rated R for language and a scene of violence. It is in a few major cities now, and spreading wider in coming weeks.

Carl Kozlowski has been a professional film critic and essayist for the past five years at Pasadena Weekly, in addition to the Christian movie site Movieguide.org, the conservative pop culture site Breitbart.com’s Big Hollywood, the Christian pop culture magazine Relevant, and New City newspaper in Chicago. He also writes in-depth celebrity interviews for Esquire.com and The Progressive. He is owner of the podcasting site radiotitans.com, which was named one of the Frontier Fifty in 2013 as one of the 50 best talk-radio outlets in the nation by talkers.com and will be re-launching it in January 2014 after a five-month sabbatical. He lives in Los Angeles.

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SUNDAY • JUNE 25, 2017

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Jer 20:10-13; NRSVCE)

For I hear many whispering:

“Terror is all around!

Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”

All my close friends

are watching for me to stumble.

“Perhaps he can be enticed,

and we can prevail against him,

and take our revenge on him.”

But the Lord is with me like a dread warrior;

therefore my persecutors will stumble,

and they will not prevail.

They will be greatly shamed,

for they will not succeed.

Their eternal dishonor

will never be forgotten.

O Lord of hosts, you test the righteous,

you see the heart and the mind;

let me see your retribution upon them,

for to you I have committed my cause.

Sing to the Lord;

praise the Lord!

For he has delivered the life of the needy

from the hands of evildoers.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35; NRSVCE)

R: (14c) Lord, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.

It is for your sake that I have borne reproach,

that shame has covered my face.

I have become a stranger to my kindred,

an alien to my mother’s children.

It is zeal for your house that has consumed me;

the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.

R: Lord, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.

But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.

At an acceptable time, O God,

in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me

with your faithful help.

Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;

according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

R: Lord, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.

Let the oppressed see it and be glad;

you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

For the Lord hears the needy,

and does not despise his own that are in bonds.

Let heaven and earth praise him,

the seas and everything that moves in them.

R: Lord, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.

Second Reading (Rom 5:12-15; NRSVCE)

Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned — sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come.

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many.

Gospel Reading (Mt 10:26-33; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to the Twelve, “Have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.”

MONDAY • JUNE 26, 2017

Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Gn 12:1-9; NRSVCE)

The Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 33:12-13, 18-19, 20 and 22; NRSVCE)

R: (12) Happy is the nation the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord,

the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.

The Lord looks down from heaven;

he sees all humankind.

R: Happy is the nation the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,

on those who hope in his steadfast love,

to deliver their soul from death,

and to keep them alive in famine.

R: Happy is the nation the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Our soul waits for the Lord;

he is our help and shield.

Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,

even as we hope in you.

R: Happy is the nation the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Gospel Reading (Mt 7:1-5; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.”

TUESDAY • JUNE 27, 2017

Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Gn 13:2, 5-18; NRSVCE)

Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.

Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land could not support both of them living together; for their possessions were so great that they could not live together, and there was strife between the herders of Abram’s livestock and the herders of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land.

Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herders and my herders; for we are kindred. Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” Lot looked about him, and saw that the plain of the Jordan was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar; this was before the Lord had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. So Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward; thus they separated from each other. Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the Plain and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the people of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.

The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Rise up, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” So Abram moved his tent, and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron; and there he built an altar to the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 15:2-3a, 3bc-4ab, 5; NRSVCE)

R: (1b) Those who do justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right,

and speak the truth from their heart;

who do not slander with their tongue.

R: Those who do justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

Those who do no evil to their friends,

nor take up a reproach against their neighbors;

in whose eyes the wicked are despised,

but who honor those who fear the Lord.

R: Those who do justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

Those who do not lend money at interest,

and do not take a bribe against the innocent.

Those who do these things shall never be moved.

R: Those who do justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

Gospel Reading (Mt 7:6, 12-14; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.

“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

WEDNESDAY • JUNE 28, 2017

Memorial of Saint Irenaeus

First Reading (Gn 15:1-12, 17-18; NRSVCE)

The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Then he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him.

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.”

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9; NRSVCE)

R: (8a) The Lord is mindful of his covenant forever.

O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name,

make known his deeds among the peoples.

Sing to him, sing praises to him;

tell of all his wonderful works.

R: The Lord is mindful of his covenant forever.

Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

Seek the Lord and his strength;

seek his presence continually.

R: The Lord is mindful of his covenant forever.

O offspring of his servant Abraham,

children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

He is the Lord our God;

his judgments are in all the earth.

R: The Lord is mindful of his covenant forever.

He is mindful of his covenant forever,

of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,

the covenant that he made with Abraham,

his sworn promise to Isaac.

R: The Lord is mindful of his covenant forever.

Gospel Reading (Mt 7:15-20; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.”

THURSDAY • JUNE 29, 2017

Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul

First Reading (Acts 12:1-11; NRSVCE)

About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword. After he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. (This was during the festival of Unleavened Bread.) When he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him.

The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists. The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.” He did so. Then he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel’s help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. After they had passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9; NRSVCE)

R: (5) The angel of the Lord will deliver those who fear him.

I will bless the Lord at all times;

his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boast in the Lord;

let the humble hear and be glad.

R: The angel of the Lord will deliver those who fear him.

O magnify the Lord with me,

and let us exalt his name together.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me,

and delivered me from all my fears.

R: The angel of the Lord will deliver those who fear him.

Look to him, and be radiant;

so your faces shall never be ashamed.

This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord,

and was saved from every trouble.

R: The angel of the Lord will deliver those who fear him.

The angel of the Lord encamps

around those who fear him, and delivers them.

O taste and see that the Lord is good;

happy are those who take refuge in him.

R: The angel of the Lord will deliver those who fear him.

Second Reading (2 Tm 4:6-8, 17-18; NRSVCE)

As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Gospel Reading (Mt 16:13-19; NRSVCE)

When Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

FRIDAY • JUNE 30, 2017

Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Gn 17:1, 9-10, 15-22; NRSVCE)

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.”

God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.”

God further said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live in your sight!” God said, “No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year.” And when he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5; NRSVCE)

R: (4) The man shall be blessed who fears the Lord.

Happy is everyone who fears the Lord,

who walks in his ways.

You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;

you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you.

R: The man shall be blessed who fears the Lord.

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine

within your house;

your children will be like olive shoots

around your table.

R: The man shall be blessed who fears the Lord.

Thus shall the man be blessed

who fears the Lord.

The Lord bless you from Zion.

May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem

all the days of your life.

R: The man shall be blessed who fears the Lord.

Gospel Reading (Mt 8:1-4; NRSVCE)

When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; and there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

SATURDAY • JULY 1, 2017

Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Gn 18:1-15; NRSVCE)

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on — since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”

Responsorial Psalm (Lk 1:46-47, 48-49, 50 and 53, 54-55; NRSVCE)

R: (see 54b) The Lord has remembered his mercy.

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

R: The Lord has remembered his mercy.

“For he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.

Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

for the Mighty One has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.”

R: The Lord has remembered his mercy.

“His mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty.”

R: The Lord has remembered his mercy.

“He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy,

according to the promise he made to our ancestors,

to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

R: The Lord has remembered his mercy.

Gospel Reading (Mt 8:5-17; NRSVCE)

When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.” And he said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you according to your faith.” And the servant was healed in that hour.

When Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever; he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him. That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and cured all who were sick. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”