News Vatican Information Service 09/03-05/2011

SUMMARY: 3 - 5 SEPTEMBER

- Telegram For a Plane Crash in the Juan Fernandez Islands
- The Lord Is Present in Communities Which Pray Together
- Cardinal Deskur Dies at the Age of 87

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TELEGRAM FOR A PLANE CRASH IN THE JUAN FERNANDEZ ISLANDS

VATICAN CITY, 3 SEP 2011 (VIS) - Given below is the text of a telegram sent in the Holy Father's name by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. to Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati Andrello S.D.B. of Santiago de Chile, president of the Episcopal Conference of Chile, for a plane crash in the Juan Fernandez Islands yesterday which caused the deaths of 21 people.

  "His Holiness Benedict XVI, profoundly saddened on hearing the distressing news of the crash of a Chilean Air Force aeroplane, which came down near the Juan Fernandez Islands with many victims, offers fervent prayers for the eternal response of the deceased.

  "I would ask Your Excellency to express the Pope's heartfelt condolences, his closeness and his consolation, to the families who have suffered such a terrible loss, asking the Lord to pour upon them gifts of spiritual serenity and Christian hope, in sign of which he imparts the comfort of an apostolic blessing".
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THE LORD IS PRESENT IN COMMUNITIES WHICH PRAY TOGETHER

VATICAN CITY, 4 SEP 2011 (VIS) - In remarks before praying the Angelus today, the Holy Father spoke to faithful gathered in the internal courtyard of the Apostolic Palace of Castelgandolfo about the readings of the Sunday liturgy, which focused on fraternal charity.

  Fraternal love, said Benedict XVI, "involves a feeling of mutual responsibility according to which, if my brother sins against me, I must be charitable towards him and speak to him directly to help him understand that what he has done is wrong". Loving our brother does not only mean accepting him in his hour of need, "sometimes it means saying a word of correction. If a brother sins, we do not cease to love him by inviting him to return to the straight path. ... In the course of Christian life each of us, aware of our own limits and defects, is called both to accept fraternal correction from others and to offer the same service to them".

  Another of the fruits of charity in the community is joint prayer, the Pope explained. "Individual prayer is certainly indispensable, but the Lord gives assurances of His presence in communities which, even if very small, remain united and speak with one voice, because they reflect the reality of God Himself, One and Triune, perfect communion of love".

  In closing the Holy Father exhorted the faithful "to pray, and to correct one another as brethren, something which requires great humility and simplicity of heart, in order that our prayers might be raised to God from a community truly united in Christ".

  Following the Angelus, the Pope mentioned today's opening of the twenty-fifth Italian National Eucharistic Congress in Ancona, the closure of which he will preside in a week's time, and greeted groups of pilgrims from various countries.
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CARDINAL DESKUR DIES AT THE AGE OF 87

VATICAN CITY, 4 SEP 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father has sent a telegram to Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow, Poland, for the death of Cardinal Andrzej Maria Deskur, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. Cardinal Deskur died yesterday at the age of 87.

  The Pope expresses his condolences to the relatives of the late cardinal, whom he describes as "one of the most illustrious sons" of the diocesan community of Krakow, recalling his "valuable collaboration with the Holy See over many decades at the service of six Popes, especially ... in the field of the communications media".

  Cardinal Deskur, "linked by profound ties of friendship to Blessed John Paul II, leaves us the memory of a life spend in coherent and generous dedication to his vocation as a pious and zealous priest, who enriched his ministry by accepting illness with evangelical resignation.

  "I pray that, through the intercession of Mary Immaculate whom he so greatly venerated, the Lord may welcome this faithful pastor of the Gospel and the Church into His Kingdom of eternal joy and peace", the Pope concludes.

  Cardinal Deskur's funeral, presided by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, will be held in St. Peter's Basilica at 11.30 a.m. on 6 September.
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