SUMMARY:
-
TRANSMITTING THE PASSION FOR CHRIST TO THE WORLD
-
COMMUNIQUE OF THE HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE
- HOLY
FATHER INAUGURATES THE SYNOD ON NEW EVANGELISATION
- CHERISH
THE ROSARY DURING THE YEAR OF FAITH
-
SENTENCE OF THE TRIBUNAL OF VATICAN CITY STATE AGAINST PAOLO GABRIELE
-
AUDIENCES
- OTHER
PONTIFICAL ACTS
______________________________________
TRANSMITTING
THE PASSION FOR CHRIST TO THE WORLD
Vatican
City, 8 October 2012 (VIS) - The passion for announcing Christ to the
world and the knowledge that God acts in the Church were the two key
themes of the brief remarks addressed this morning by Benedict XVI to
the Synod Fathers at the opening of the thirteenth Ordinary General
Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which is to examine the subject of
new evangelisation.
The Pope
explained how the question as to whether God is real is as urgent
today as it was in the past. With the Gospel God broke His silence,
He spoke to us and entered into history. Jesus is His Word, the God
Who showed that He loved us, Who suffered with us even unto death,
then rose again.
This, the
Holy Father went on, is the Church’s response to that great
question. Yet there is another question: how to communicate this
truth to the men and women of our time, that they might learn of
salvation? "We cannot make the Church", he said, "we
can only make known what He did. The Church did not begin with our
actions but with the actions and word of God".
Having
recalled how the Apostles received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost,
while gathered in prayer in the Upper Room, Benedict XVI went on:
"The fact, then, that each synodal assembly begins with prayer
is no mere formality; rather, it is evidence of our awareness that
the initiative is always God's: we may implore it, but the Church can
only cooperate with God".
Having
achieved this awareness, the second step is "confession";
that is, bearing witness even in dangerous situations. It is
precisely such witness in moments of difficulty that is a guarantee
of credibility, because it implies a readiness to give our lives for
that in which we believe.
Yet,
confession requires a visible form, a 'clothing'. This, the Pope
explained, is charity; the most powerful force, which must burn in
the hearts of Christians. Faith, he concluded, must become a flame of
love within us, a flame which burns in our lives and is propagated to
our neighbours. This is the essence of evangelisation.
COMMUNIQUE
OF THE HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE
Vatican
City, 8 October 2012 (VIS) - Given below is the text of a communique
released today by the Holy See Press Office in response to an article
which appeared in the Italian daily "Il Messaggero",
concerning alleged irregularities in the Fabric of St. Peter's, which
administers the Vatican Basilica.
"Regarding
an article which appeared in 'Il Messaggero' on 8 October 2012,
entitled 'The Fabric of St. Peter's: combing through the accounts',
the Holy See Press Office having duly acquired the relevant
information, states:
"(1)
There is no pending dossier lying on the desk of the Secretary of
State concerning the accounts of the Fabric of St. Peter's.
"(2)
All the accounts of the Fabric of St. Peter's have been submitted for
examination by the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy
See, and have always been approved by the Secretariat of State.
"(3)
The article in question is entirely misinformed".
HOLY
FATHER INAUGURATES THE SYNOD ON NEW EVANGELISATION
Vatican
City, 7 October 2012 (VIS) - This morning in St. Peter's Square,
Benedict XVI proclaimed St. John of Avila and St. Hildegard of Bingen
as Doctors of the Universal Church. He then went on to preside at a
Eucharistic celebration during which he inaugurated the thirteenth
Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, the theme of which
is "The New Evangelisation for the Transmission of the Christian
Faith". The Mass was concelebrated by the Synod of Fathers and
by the presidents of the German and Spanish episcopal conferences.
"Evangelisation
always has as its starting and finishing points Jesus Christ, the Son
of God", said the Pope in his homily. "And the Crucified
One is the supremely distinctive sign of he who announces the Gospel:
a sign of love and peace, a call to conversion and reconciliation".
"The
Church exists to evangelise", he went on. "Faithful to the
Lord Jesus Christ’s command, His disciples went out to the whole
world to announce the Good News, spreading Christian communities
everywhere. With time, these became well organised Churches with many
faithful. ... Even in our own times, the Holy Spirit has nurtured in
the Church a new effort to announce the Good News, a pastoral and
spiritual dynamism which found a more universal expression and its
most authoritative impulse in the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council.
Such renewed evangelical dynamism produces a beneficent influence on
the two specific 'branches' developed by it, that is, on the one hand
the 'Missio ad Gentes' or announcement of the Gospel to those who do
not yet know Jesus Christ and His message of salvation, and on the
other the new evangelisation, directed principally at those who,
though baptised, have drifted away from the Church and live without
reference to Christian life.
"The
Synodal Assembly which opens today is dedicated to this new
evangelisation, to help these people encounter the Lord, Who alone
fills existence with deep meaning and peace; and to favour the
rediscovery of the faith, that source of grace which brings joy and
hope to personal, family and social life".
The Holy
Father then turned his attention to the theme of marriage, which was
the subject of today's Gospel and first reading, noting that it
"deserves special attention", because "it invites us
to be more aware of a reality, already well known but not fully
appreciated: that matrimony is a Gospel in itself, a Good News for
the world of today, especially the de- Christianised world. The union
of a man and a woman, their becoming 'one flesh' in charity, in
fruitful and indissoluble love, is a sign that speaks of God with a
force and an eloquence which in our days has become greater because
unfortunately, for various reasons, marriage, in precisely the oldest
regions evangelised, is going through a profound crisis. And it is
not by chance. Marriage is linked to faith, but not in a general way.
Marriage, as a union of faithful and indissoluble love, is based upon
the grace that comes from the Triune God, Who in Christ loved us with
a faithful love, even to the Cross. ... There is a clear link between
the crisis in faith and the crisis in marriage. And, as the Church
has said and witnessed for a long time now, marriage is called to be
not only an object but a subject of the new evangelisation".
Before
then going on to refer to the newly proclaimed Doctors of the Church,
the Pope reminded the faithful that "one of the important ideas
of the renewed impulse that Vatican Council II gave to evangelisation
is that of the universal call to holiness, which in itself concerns
all Christians. The saints are the true actors in evangelisation in
all its expressions. ... Holiness is not confined by cultural,
social, political or religious barriers. Its language, that of love
and truth, is understandable to all people of good will and it draws
them to Jesus Christ, the inexhaustible source of new life.
"At
this point", he added, "let us pause for a moment to
appreciate the two saints who today have been added to the elect
number of Doctors of the Church. St. John of Avila lived in the
sixteenth century. A profound expert on the Sacred Scriptures, he was
gifted with an ardent missionary spirit. He knew how to penetrate in
a uniquely profound way the mysteries of the redemption worked by
Christ for humanity. A man of God, he united constant prayer to
apostolic action. He dedicated himself to preaching and to the more
frequent practice of the Sacraments, concentrating his commitment on
improving the formation of candidates for the priesthood, of
religious and of lay people, with a view to a fruitful reform of the
Church.
"St.
Hildegard of Bingen, an important female figure of the twelfth
century, offered her precious contribution to the growth of the
Church of her time, employing the gifts received from God and showing
herself to be a woman of brilliant intelligence, deep sensitivity and
recognised spiritual authority. The Lord granted her a prophetic
spirit and fervent capacity to discern the signs of the times.
Hildegard nurtured an evident love of creation, and was learned in
medicine, poetry and music. Above all, she maintained a great and
faithful love for Christ and the Church.
"This
summary of the ideal in Christian life, expressed in the call to
holiness, draws us to look with humility at the fragility, even sin,
of many Christians, as individuals and communities, which is a great
obstacle to evangelisation and to recognising the force of God that,
in faith, meets human weakness. Thus, we cannot speak about the new
evangelisation without a sincere desire for conversion".
Benedict
XVI concluded by entrusting the work of the Synod "to God,
sustained by the communion of saints, invoking in particular the
intercession of great evangelisers, among whom, with much affection,
we ought to number Blessed John Paul II, whose long pontificate was
an example of the new evangelisation".
CHERISH
THE ROSARY DURING THE YEAR OF FAITH
Vatican
City, 7 October 2012 (VIS) - Before praying the Angelus this morning,
Benedict XVI recalled that the traditional annual "supplication",
in which thousands of faithful around the world participate, is
taking place today at the Italian shrine of Pompei, dedicated to Our
Lady of the Rosary.
"As
we too spiritually unite ourselves to that choral invocation, I would
like to invite everyone to cherish the Rosary during the forthcoming
Year of Faith. With the Rosary, in fact, we allow ourselves to be
guided by Mary, the model of faith, in meditating upon the mysteries
of Christ, and day after day we are helped to assimilate the Gospel
so that it can shape our lives. Therefore, in the wake of my
predecessors, and in particular Blessed John Paul II who ten years
ago gave us his Apostolic Letter 'Rosarium Virginis Mariae', I invite
people to pray the Rosary individually, in the family and in the
community, placing themselves in the school of Mary who leads us to
Christ, the living centre of our faith".
SENTENCE
OF THE TRIBUNAL OF VATICAN CITY STATE AGAINST PAOLO GABRIELE
Vatican
City, 6 October 2012 (VIS) - The Tribunal of Vatican City State today
delivered the following sentence in the trial of Paolo Gabriele, who
is accused of aggravated theft.
The
accused Paolo Gabriele is declared "guilty of the offence under
article 404 paragraph 1/1 of the Criminal Code, for abusing the trust
inherent in relationships deriving from his professional
responsibilities, and stealing items which - by virtue of those
relationships and on the basis of the trust placed in him - were left
unattended and in full view.
"For
this reason the Tribunal sentences him to prison for a period of
three years.
"Pursuant
to article 26 of the Law of 21 June 1969, in view of the accused's
lack of a criminal record, his record of service in the period prior
to the facts in question, the subjective (though mistaken) belief
identified by the accused as the motive for his conduct, as well as
his own statement of his awareness of having betrayed the trust of
the Holy Father, the Tribunal reduces the sentence to imprisonment
for one (1) year and six (6) months, and orders the guilty party to
defray the costs of the trial.
"Signed:
Giuseppe Dalla Torre, president; Paolo Papanti-Pelletier; Venerando
Marano, and Raffaele Ottaviano, substitute registrar".
AUDIENCES
Vatican
City, 6 October 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in
audience:
-
Cardinal Marc Ouellet P.S.S., prefect of the Congregation for
Bishops.
-
Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting
Christian Unity.
OTHER
PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican
City, 6 October 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father:
-
Accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of the diocese
of Sandomierz, Poland, presented by Bishop Edward Frankowski, upon
having reached the age limit.
-
Appointed Msgr. Charles J. Scicluna of the clergy of Malta, Malta,
promoter of justice at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, as auxiliary of the archdiocese of Malta (area 246, population
412,970, Catholics 388,970, priests 671, religious 1,291). The
bishop-elect was born in Toronto, Canada in 1959 and ordained a
priest in 1986. Having studied in Malta and in Rome, he worked as
defender of the bond and promoter of justice at the metropolitan
tribunal of Malta. He was also active in education and in the
pastoral care of various parishes.
-
Appointed Archbishop Henryk Jozef Nowacki, apostolic nuncio to Sweden
and Iceland, also as apostolic nuncio to Denmark.
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