SUMMARY:
- PAPAL
MESSAGE FOR THE ELECTION OF THE NEW HEAD OF THE COPTIC ORTHODOX
CHURCH
-
BENEDICT XVI'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR NOVEMBER
-
ANGELUS: THE DUAL COMMANDMENT TO LOVE
-
CHRISTIANS' FIRM HOPE IN THE RESURRECTION
-
CARDINAL MURPHY-O'CONNOR, SPECIAL ENVOY TO DHAKA
-
BENEDICT XVI PRAYS FOR DECEASED POPES
- THE
POPE SPEAKS OF THE DYNAMISM OF COMMUNION WITH THE SAINTS
- THE
SISTINE CHAPEL: A STORY OF LIGHT AND SALVATION
-
AUDIENCES
- OTHER
PONTIFICAL ACTS
______________________________________
PAPAL
MESSAGE FOR THE ELECTION OF THE NEW HEAD OF THE COPTIC ORTHODOX
CHURCH
Vatican
City, 5 November 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father has sent a message to
the new head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, His Holiness Abna
Tawadros. He has been chosen as the new Pope of Alexandria and
Patriarch of the See of Mark, replacing His Holiness Shenouda III,
who died in March.
In his
English-language message Benedict XVI speaks of his joy at hearing
the news of the election. "I am confident", he writes,
"that, like your renowned predecessor Pope Shenouda III, you
will be a genuine spiritual father for your people and an effective
partner with all your fellow-citizens in building the new Egypt in
peace and harmony, serving the common good and the good of the entire
Middle East. In these challenging times it is important for all
Christians to bear witness to the love and fellowship that binds them
together, mindful of the prayer offered by our Lord at the Last
Supper: that all may be one, so that the world may believe".
BENEDICT
XVI'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR NOVEMBER
Vatican
City, 5 November 2012 (VIS) - Pope Benedict's general prayer
intention for November is: "That bishops, priests, and all
ministers of the Gospel may bear courageous witness of fidelity to
the crucified and risen Lord".
His
mission intention is: "That the pilgrim Church on earth may
shine as a light to the nations".
ANGELUS:
THE DUAL COMMANDMENT TO LOVE
Vatican
City, 4 November 2012 (VIS) - At midday today Benedict XVI appeared
at the window of his study to pray the Angelus with faithful gathered
in St. Peter's Square.
The Pope
commented on today's Gospel, which presents the teaching of Jesus on
the “greatest commandment”, the commandment to love. This, he
said, has two facets: love for God and love for neighbour. “The
saints, all of whom we have recently celebrated on a single feast
day, are precisely those who, trusting in the grace of God, endeavour
to live according to this fundamental law. In effect, the commandment
to love is put into practice fully by those who live in a profound
relationship with God, just as children become capable of love
beginning with a good relationship with their parents. ... Love is
not a command – it is a gift, something which God enables us to
know and experience, in order that like a seed, it might germinate
and grow within us too, and develop within our lives”.
If the
love of God lays down deep roots within a person, “he is able to
love even those who do not merit it, just as God loves us. A father
and a mother do not love their children only when they deserve it:
they love them always, even though they let them know when they make
mistakes. From God we learn to wish well, and never ill, upon others.
We learn to look upon others not only with our own eyes, but also
with the gaze of God, which is the gaze of Jesus Christ, ... which
looks beyond appearances to man's deepest expectations: the desire to
be listened to, to receive attention; in short, the desire for love.
But this occurs also in reverse: by opening myself to others,
accepting and reaching out to them, ... I open also myself to
knowledge of God, to the knowledge that He exists and is good”.
Love for
God and love for neighbour are “inseparable and have a reciprocal
relationship. Jesus invented neither the one nor the other, but
showed that they are, fundamentally, a single commandment. He did so
not only through words, but above all by example: the very Person of
Jesus Himself and His mystery incarnate the unity of love for God and
neighbour, like the two arms of the Cross, vertical and horizontal.
In the Eucharist He gives us this dual love, in giving Himself to us
as, nourished by this bread, we love each other just as He loved us”.
CHRISTIANS'
FIRM HOPE IN THE RESURRECTION
Vatican
City, 3 November 2012 (VIS) – This morning in St. Peter's Basilica
the Holy Father presided at Mass for the souls of cardinals and
bishops who died during the course of last year. The Pope recalled,
in particular, Cardinals John Patrick Foley, Anthony Bevilacqua, Jose
Sanchez, Ignace Moussa Daoud, Luis Aponte Martinez, Rodolfo Quezeda
Toruno, Eugenio de Araujo Sales, Paul Shan Kuo-Hsi, Carlo Maria
Martini and Fortunato Baldelli.
Extracts
from his homily are given below:
“Burial
places constitute a sort of assembly, where the living can encounter
the deceased and consolidate the ties of a communion which death was
not able to break. And here in Rome, in those unique cemeteries, the
catacombs, we are aware as in no other place of the profound links
with ancient Christianity, which we experience as close to us.
“When
we enter the Roman catacombs – or the cemeteries of our cities and
towns – it is as if we cross an intangible threshold and enter into
communication with those whose past is there, a past made up of joy
and pain, defeat and hope. This occurs because death concerns
humanity today exactly as it did then; and even if many things from
the past have become foreign to us, death has remained the same”.
“But
how can we Christians respond to the question of death? We respond
with our faith in God, with a firm hope based on the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thus death opens the way to life,
eternal life, which is not infinite repetition of the present, but
something completely new. Faith tells us that the true immortality to
which we aspire is not an idea, a concept, but rather a relationship
of full communion with the living God: it means abiding in His hands,
in His love, and in Him becoming at one with all our brothers and
sisters whom He created and redeemed. ... This is life which reaches
fullness in God; a life that we can now only glimpse just as we catch
sight of a clear sky through the fog”.
“The
pastors we remember today served the Church with faith and love, at
times facing difficult challenges in order to ensure the flock
entrusted to their care received the necessary care and attention. In
the variety of their respective gifts and tasks, they showed
perseverance and vigilance, wisdom and zealous dedication to the
Kingdom of God, offering a valuable contribution in the period
following Vatican Council II, a time of renewal throughout the
Church”.
The
Eucharistic banquet they attended, first as the faithful and then,
daily, as ministers, foretells most eloquently what the Lord promised
in the Sermon on the Mount: the possession of the Kingdom of Heaven,
participation in the banquet of the heavenly Jerusalem. Let us pray
that this might be accomplished for everyone. Our prayer is nourished
by the firm hope that 'does not disappoint', because it is guaranteed
by Christ Who chose to experience death in order to triumph over it
through the prodigious event of the Resurrection”.
CARDINAL
MURPHY-O'CONNOR, SPECIAL ENVOY TO DHAKA
Vatican
City, 3 November 2012 (VIS) – Made public today was the letter –
written in Latin and dated 12 October – in which the Holy Father
appoints Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, archbishop emeritus of
Westminster, England as his special envoy to celebrations marking the
125th anniversary of the archdiocese of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and the
fourth centenary of the evangelisation of the Bengal territory, which
will be celebrated on 9 and 10 November.
The
cardinal will be accompanied by a mission composed of Fr. Abel B.
Rozarios and Fr. Adam Pereira C.S.C.
BENEDICT
XVI PRAYS FOR DECEASED POPES
Vatican
City, 3 November 2012 (VIS) – Yesterday afternoon, as is
traditional on All Souls' Day, the Holy Father went down to the
Vatican Grottoes to pray privately for the Popes buried there, and
for all deceased.
THE
POPE SPEAKS OF THE DYNAMISM OF COMMUNION WITH THE SAINTS
Vatican
City, 1 November 2012 (VIS) – The Solemnity of All Saints
encourages us to reflect “on the dual horizon of humanity,
symbolically expressed in the words 'earth' and 'heaven': the earth
represents the path of history, while heaven represents eternity, the
fullness of life in God”, said the Pope to the faithful gathered in
St Peter's Square at midday to pray the Angelus.
“This
feast reminds us of the Church in its dual dimension: the Church on
its journey through time and the Church which celebrates an eternal
feast, the heavenly Jerusalem. These two dimensions are united by the
'communion of saints', which begins here on earth and is completed in
heaven. On earth, the Church represents the beginning of this mystery
of communion which unites humanity, a mystery centred entirely upon
Jesus Christ: it was He Who introduced this new dynamism into
humankind, a movement that brings us towards God, and at the same
time towards unity, towards profound peace. ... Being Christian,
belonging to the Church, means opening to this communion, just as a
seed opens within the earth, dying and germinating, reaching up
towards heaven”.
The
saints – those proclaimed as such by the Church, but also all those
known only to God, whom we also celebrate today – have experienced
this dynamism intensely. Christ presented Himself to each one of them
in a very personal way, thanks to His Spirit which works through the
Word and the Sacraments. Indeed, being united with Christ in the
Church, does not nullify personality, but rather opens it out and
transforms it through the force of love, giving it an eternal
dimension, already here on earth. In essence, it means conforming to
the image of the Son of God, fulfilling the plan of God Who created
man in His image and likeness. But entering into Christ also opens us
to communion with other members of the mystic Body that is the
Church, a communion that is perfect in 'heaven' where there is no
isolation, competition or separation”.
In the
saints we see “the victory of love over egoism and death: we see
that following Christ leads to life, to eternal life, and gives
meaning to the present, ... filling it with love and hope. Only faith
in eternal life can enable us to love history and the present, but
without attachment, with the freedom of the pilgrim who loves the
earth because his heart belongs to heaven. May the Virgin Mary give
us the grace to believe firmly in eternal life and to enter into true
communion with our beloved deceased”.
THE
SISTINE CHAPEL: A STORY OF LIGHT AND SALVATION
Vatican
City, 31 October 2012 (VIS) – This afternoon Benedict XVI presided
at the first Vespers of the Solemnity of All Saints in the Sistine
Chapel. The ceremony was intended to repeat a gesture of Pope Julius
II who, on this day in 1512, inaugurated the chapel following the
completion of the ceiling decoration by Michelangelo.
"Why",
the Pope asked, "are we recalling this artistic-historical event
with a liturgical celebration? Firstly, because the Sistine Chapel
is, by its nature, a place of liturgy, the 'Cappella magna' of the
Vatican Apostolic Palace. Furthermore, because the works of art that
decorate it, especially the cycle of frescoes, find in the liturgy
their living environment, the context in which they best express all
their beauty, their richness and their fullness of meaning. … In
brief, the Sistine Chapel, contemplated in prayer, becomes even more
beautiful, more authentic; it is revealed in all its richness”.
Referring
to Giorgio Vasari, who defined the Sistine Chapel as the light of art
that illuminates the world, the Pope noted that "the light comes
not only from the skilful use of colour, or from the movement that
animates Michelangelo's masterpiece, but from the idea that permeates
the great vault: it is the light of God which illuminates these
frescoes, and indeed the entire chapel; … that light whose power
conquers chaos and obscurity, bringing light through creation and
redemption. The Sistine Chapel narrates this story of light, of
liberation, of salvation; it speaks of God's relationship with
humanity.
"With
Michelangelo's work of genius, our gaze is drawn to the message of
the Prophets, to the pagan Sybils awaiting Christ, and finally to the
origin of all: 'In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth'. With
a unique expressive intensity, the great artist depicted God the
Creator, His action, His power, to show that the world is not the
product of obscurity, of chance or of the absurd, but that it derives
from intelligence, freedom and from a supreme act of love. In that
encounter between the hand of God and the hand of Adam, we perceive
the contact between heaven and earth; in Adam God enters into a new
relationship with His creation, and man is in direct contact with
God, is called by Him, and is the image and likeness of God.
"To
pray this evening in the Sistine Chapel, enveloped in the history of
God's journey with man, admirably represented in the frescoes above
and around us, is an invitation to worship", concluded the Holy
Father.
AUDIENCES
Vatican
City, 5 November 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in
audience:
- Francis
C. Okeke, the new ambassador of Nigeria to the Holy See, for the
presentation of his Letters of Credence.
- John
Anthony Gerard McCarthy, the new ambassador of Australia to the Holy
See, for the presentation of his Letters of Credence.
- German
Cardona Gutierrez, the new ambassador of Colombia to the Holy See,
for the presentation of his Letters of Credence.
- Miguel
Humberto Diaz, ambassador of the United States of America,
accompanied by his wife, on his farewell visit.
On Friday
2 November the Holy Father received in audience Cardinal Stanislaw
Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow, Poland.
OTHER
PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican
City, 5 November 2012 (VIS) The Holy Father appointed Msgr. Carmelo
Pellegrino, relator of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, as
promoter of the faith of the same dicastery.
On
Saturday 3 November it was made public that the Holy Father:
-
Appointed Cardinal Franc Rode C.M., prefect emeritus of the
Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of
Apostolic Life, as his special envoy to the concluding celebration
for the five-hundredth anniversary of the archdiocese of Ljubjuana,
Slovenia, which will take place on Sunday 9 December.
-
Appointed Msgr. Guido Pozzo, secretary of the Pontifical Commission
“Ecclesia Dei”, as almoner of His Holiness, at the same time
elevating him to the dignity of archbishop. The archbishop elect was
born in Trieste, Italy in 1951 and ordained a priest in 1977. He has
served as an official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith since 1987 . He succeeds Archbishop Felix del Blanco Prieto,
whose resignation from the same office the Holy Father accepted, upon
having reached the age limit.
-
Appointed Fr. Pius Thomas D'Souza, chancellor of the diocese of
Bareilly, India, as bishop of the diocese of Ajmer (area 146,681,
population 17,595,585, Catholics 9,190, priests 43, religious 423),
India. The bishop-elect was born in Mangalore, India in 1954 and
ordained a priest in 1982. He studied in India and Rome, and, among
other things, has worked as professor of philosophy at St. Joseph's
regional seminary in Allahabad. He succeeds Bishop Ignatius Menezes,
whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy
Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
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