SUMMARY:
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POPE TO PRESIDE OVER IMPOSITION OF ASHES IN VATICAN BASILICA
-
GRATITUDE AND FIDELITY TO BENEDICT XVI
-
CONSISTORY FOR SEVERAL CAUSES OF CANONIZATION
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GOD DOESN'T CONSIDER AS MUCH THE QUALITIES OF THE CHOSEN AS THEIR
FAITH
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POPE VISITS MAJOR ROMAN SEMINARY
-
POPE TO ORDER OF MALTA: ACT WITH FAITH AND CHARITY FOR RENEWAL OF
HOPE
-
AUDIENCES
-
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
-
NOTICE
______________________________________
POPE
TO PRESIDE OVER IMPOSITION OF ASHES IN VATICAN BASILICA
Vatican
City, 12 February 2013 (VIS) – Wednesday, 13 February at 5:00pm,
the Holy Father will celebrate the rite of blessing and imposition of
ashes in the Vatican Basilica, instead of the Roman Basilica of Santa
Sabina, where the celebration is traditionally held. The reason, as
Fr. Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office,
explained, is that, as this will be Benedict XVI's last public
concelebration, a large number of participants is expected.
For
the same reason, the Pope's annual meeting with the pastors of Rome,
scheduled to take place on 14 February, will take place in the Paul
VI Hall and will focus on?according to Fr. Lombardi's
information?Vatican Council II, as the Roman clergy requested. Also,
in expectation of great numbers, Benedict XVI's last general
audience, scheduled for 27 February in the Paul VI Hall, will
probably be moved to St. Peter's Square.
"The
Pope is well," Fr. Lombardi said, "and his soul is serene.
He did not resign the pontificate because he is ill but because of
the fragility that comes with old age," he affirmed, recalling
that the pontiff, recently underwent an entirely routine procedure to
replace the battery of the pacemaker he wears, but that this had no
impact on his decision. Likewise, Fr. Lombardi explained, the trip to
Cuba and Mexico, due to his fatigue, was another reason in the
development of Benedict XVI's decision, but not its cause.
The
director of the Press Office confirmed that the Pope's calendar will
continue as scheduled until 28 February, the last day of his
pontificate, with ad limina visits from the Italian bishops, visits
with the presidents of Romania and Guatemala, etc. However, the
expected encyclical on Faith will not be published because the text
still is not ready.
GRATITUDE
AND FIDELITY TO BENEDICT XVI
Vatican
City, 12 February 2013 (VIS) - Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop
of Krakow, Poland, after begin informed of Benedict XVI's resignation
yesterday, made the following declaration in Krakow.
"With
great respect and emotion I accept the Holy Father Benedict XVI's
decision to resign from the governance of the Church and to entrust
the care of Her future events to the College of Cardinals. I
understand the reasons that the Holy Father presented to the members
of the consistory. After John Paul II's death, Benedict XVI has
guided Christ's Church with great reflection and wisdom, which come
from his exceptional intellectual ability as well as his deep faith.
I thank the Holy Father for all his efforts to renew the Church in
the spirit of fidelity to the Teacher of Nazareth. As one of the
bishops of Poland, I assure him of our gratitude for his friendship
with John Paul II, for his beatification, and also for his
exceptional benevolence toward the Polish nation. Personally, I will
always be faithful and grateful for everything that I have received
from him. The Church in Krakow will be eternally appreciative to the
Peter of our time, Benedict XVI. Gratitude and fidelity. We will
remain united in prayer and dedication, together with the Holy
Father. I entrust Benedict XVI to the Holy Spirit and to Our Lady of
Lourdes, the patroness of the day."
CONSISTORY
FOR SEVERAL CAUSES OF CANONIZATION
Vatican
City, 11 February 2013 (VIS) – This morning at 11:00am in the
Consistory Hall of the Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father presided
over an ordinary public consistory for the canonization of the
blesseds:
-
Antonio Primaldo and Companions, martyrs, (1480);
-
Laura di Santa Caterina da Siena Montoya y Upegui (1874 -1949),
virgin, foundress of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Mary
Immaculate and St Catherine of Siena; and
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Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala, co-foundress of the Congregation of
the Handmaids of St Margaret Mary (Alacoque) and the Poor.
During
the course of the consistory, the Pope decreed that blesseds Antonio
Primaldo and his companions, Laura di Santa Caterina da Siena Montoya
y Upegui and Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala be inscribed in the book
of saints on Sunday, 12 May 2013.
GOD
DOESN'T CONSIDER AS MUCH THE QUALITIES OF THE CHOSEN AS THEIR FAITH
Vatican
City, 10 February 2013 (VIS) – As is customary on Sundays, Benedict
XVI appeared at the window of his study to pray the Angelus with the
faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square.
The
Pope commented on the Gospel of St. Luke that narrates the call of
the first disciples, a call "preceded by Jesus' teaching to the
multitude and by a miraculous catch of fish." While the crowd
gathered on the shore of Lake Gennesaret to listen to Him,
Jesus?seeing Simon disheartened because he hadn't caught anything the
whole night?asks if He can board his boat to preach to the people a
little way from the shore. Once finished preaching, Christ orders
Simon to go out to sea with his companions and to cast their nets.
Simon obeys and the nets are filled with an incredible amount of
fish. "The Gospel writer shows that the first disciples followed
Jesus, trusting in Him, acting on His Word, while accompanied by
prodigious signs. … This is the pedagogy of God's call, which
doesn't look as much at the quality of the chosen as at their faith,
as in Simon's case.
"The
image of the catch," the Pope emphasized, "recalls the
Church's mission … Peter's experience, certainly unique, is also
representative of the call of each Apostle in the Gospel, who should
never lose heart in proclaiming Christ to all people, even to the
ends of the earth. today's text also brings us to reflect on the
vocation to the priesthood and to consecrated life. This is God's
work. Human beings are not the authors of their own vocation, but
respond to a divine call. Human weakness should not lead us to fear
God's call. It is necessary to be confident in His strength, which
acts precisely in our weakness. We must trust ever more in the power
of His mercy, which transforms and renews us."
"May
this Word of God also reignite in us and in our Christian communities
the courage, confidence, and enthusiasm to announce and witness to
the Gospel. Challenges and difficulties don't dishearten us: it falls
to us to cast our nets with faith. The Lord will do the rest,"
concluded the Holy Father.
After
praying the Angelus, Benedict XVI noted that many Asian countries are
celebrating the Lunar New Year. Peace, harmony, and thanksgiving to
heaven," he observed, "are the universal values that are
celebrated in this happy circumstance, and they are wished for by all
so as to build their family, society, and their nation upon them. I
wish for those peoples the fulfilment of their aspirations for a
happy and prosperous life. I send a special greeting to the Catholics
of those countries that, in this Year of Faith, they may be guided by
Christ's wisdom.
Lastly,
he spoke of the World Day of the Sick, which will be celebrated
tomorrow, 11 February, on the liturgical feastday of Our Lady of
Lourdes. "The solemn ceremony," he said, "will take
place in the Marian Shrine in Altotting, Bavaria, Germany. I am near
to all the ill in prayer and affection and I spiritually join with
those gathered in that sanctuary that I love so much."
POPE
VISITS MAJOR ROMAN SEMINARY
Vatican
City, 11 February 2013 (VIS) – Yesterday afternoon at 6:15pm, the
Holy Father visited the Major Roman Seminary on the eve of its feast
of its patroness, Our Lady of Trust. On arriving he was greeted by
Cardinal Agostino Vallini and the rector, Fr. Concetto Occhipinti.
Benedict XVI delivered a lectio divina on the First Letter of St.
Peter to seminarians of the Major and Minor Roman Seminary, the "Almo
Collegio Capranica", the "Redemptoris Mater" diocesan
seminary, and the Virgin of Divine Love Seminary. Following are ample
excerpts of his address, which was given without an official text.
"Peter
speaks. This is almost the first encyclical by which the first
apostle, vicar of Christ, speaks to the Church of all time. … He
doesn't write as an isolated individual, but with the help of the
Church, of the persons who help him to go more deeply into his faith,
to enter into the depth of his thought. … This is very important:
Peter doesn't speak as an individual, but 'ex persona Ecclesiae'. He
speaks as a man of the Church, certainly as a person, with personal
responsibility, but also as a person who speaks on behalf of the
Church … in communion with the Church."
“I
believe that it is also important that at the end of the letter he
names Silvanus and Mark, two people who belonged to the group of St.
Paul’s friends. Thus, the worlds of St. Peter and St. Paul come
together; it is not an exclusively Petrine theology as opposed to a
Pauline theology. Rather, it is a theology of the Church, of the
faith of the Church, in which there is of course a diversity of
temperament, of thought, of style. It is good that there are
differences—different charisms, different temperaments—then as
well as now. These differences do not divide but are united in the
same faith.”
“St.
Peter writes from Rome. This is important: here we already have the
Bishop of Rome, the beginning of the succession, the basis of the
concrete primacy located in Rome, not only given by the Lord but also
placed in this city, capital of the world. Ever since his flight from
Herod’s prison, Peter entrusted the Judeo-Christian church, the
church of Jerusalem, to James and, in entrusting it to James,
remained without qualification primate of the universal Church,
primate of the Church of the pagans as well as primate of the
Judeo-Christian Church … In Rome he met both parts of the Church:
the Judeo-Christian and the Pagan-Christian united, an expression of
the universal Church. And Peter was not alone in thinking of this
movement: Jerusalem/Rome, Judeo-Christian Church/Universal Church.
St. Paul knew that his end would be martyrdom, would be the cross.
Therefore, to go to Rome was without doubt to go to martyrdom. The
primacy has this universal component and also a martyriological
component. The cross can take many different forms, but one cannot be
Christian without following the Crucified, without accepting also the
martyriological moment.”
“St.
Peter called those to whom he wrote 'the chosen ones who are
dispersed aliens'. Once again we have the paradox of glory and the
cross: chosen but dispersed and strangers. We are chosen: God knows
us always, since before we were born. God wanted me, as Christian, as
Catholic, as priest … he chose me, he loved me, and now I respond.
But to rejoice because God has chosen us is not triumphalism but
gratitude, and I think that we have to learn this joy. Without doubt,
'chosen ones' needs to be accompanied by strangers and dispersed
ones. As Christians, we are dispersed and we are strangers. We see
that today Christians in the world today are the most persecuted
group because they do not conform, because they go against the
tendencies toward egoism and materialism.”
“Certainly
Christians are not only strangers; we are also Christian nations, we
feel proud to have contributed to the formation of culture. There is
a healthy patriotism, a healthy joy in belonging to a nation that has
a great history of culture and faith. However, without doubt, as
Christians we are always strangers; this is the destiny of Abraham,
as it is described in the Letter to the Hebrews. Today, as Christians
we are each time more strangers than before. In the workforce,
Christians are a minority and encounter a situation of alienation. It
is remarkable that today one can still believe and live in this way.
It is part of our life: it is the way of being with Christ Crucified,
being strangers, who do not live the way everyone else lives. We
live—or at least we try to live—according to his Word, in a great
diversity, respectful of what everyone says. This is characteristic
of Christians.”
"Finally
we arrive at today’s three verses. I would only like to point out
three words: regenerated, inheritance, and safeguarded by faith.
Regenerated: this does not only refer to the area of the will; it
refers to the whole sphere of being. It does not depend only on my
will; it is an act of God … I am reborn. I am transformed, renewed.
Being reborn, being regenerated indicates that I become part of a new
family: God, My Father; the Church, my Mother; and other Christians,
my brothers and sisters.”
"The
second word: Inheritance. We are heirs, but not heirs of specific
country but of the land of God, of the future of God. This word says
that as Christians we have the future. Thus, as Christians, we know
that ours is the future, and the tree of the Church is not a dying
tree but a tree that grows ever new. Therefore, we have reason to not
let ourselves be moved by the prophets of doom, as John XXIII said,
who say that the Church is a tree grown from a mustard seed, which
has lived two thousand years but now her time is past and the time to
die has arrived. No. The church always renews itself; it is
continually reborn. The future is ours. Of course, there is a false
optimism and a false pessimism. A false pessimism says that the time
of Christianity has come to an end. No: it begins again! A false
optimism was that witnessed immediately after the Council when
convents and seminaries were closed and people said: it doesn’t
matter, everything is good. No: this is not good! There are also
serious and grave dangers. We have to recognize with a healthy
realism that all is not well. It is not good when they do wrong
things. At the same time, we have to be sure that even though here
and there the Church dies for the sins of humans, because of their
lack of belief, at the same time, it is reborn."
"Finally,
'safeguarded by faith'. Faith is like the 'sentinel' that preserves
the integrity of my being. We have to be grateful for this vigilance
of faith that protects us, that helps us, that guides us, and that
gives us safety. God will not let us fall from his hands."
POPE
TO ORDER OF MALTA: ACT WITH FAITH AND CHARITY FOR RENEWAL OF HOPE
Vatican
City, 9 February 2013 (VIS) – Members of the Sovereign Military
Order of Malta, whose Grand Master is Fra' Matthew Festing, have come
to Rome on pilgrimage to celebrate the ninth centenary of the "Pie
postulatio volutatis" privilege of February 15, 1113, by which
Pope Paschal II placed the newly created "hospitaller
fraternity” of Jerusalem, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist,
under Church protection, giving it sovereign status and constituting
it as an Order in church law, with the faculty freely to elect its
superiors without interference from other lay or religious
authorities. This morning, Benedict XVI welcomed them to St. Peter's
Basilica, thanking the Order for their offering, which will be
destined to a work of charity. He also thanked Cardinal Paolo Sardi,
patron of the Order, "for the care with which he strives to
strengthen the special bond that joins you to the Catholic Church and
most particularly to the Holy See".
"This
important event," the Pope explained, "takes on a special
meaning in the context of the Year of Faith, during which the Church
is called to renew the joy and the commitment of believing in Jesus
Christ, the one Saviour of the world. In this regard, you too are
called to welcome this time of grace, so as to deepen your knowledge
of the Lord and to cause the truth and beauty of the faith to shine
forth, through the witness of your lives and your service, in this
present time. Your Order, from its earliest days, has been marked by
fidelity to the Church and to the Successor of Peter, and also for
its unrenounceable spiritual identity, characterized by high
religious ideals. Continue to walk along this path, bearing concrete
witness to the transforming power of faith. …"
"By
faith, down the centuries, the members of your Order have given
themselves completely, firstly in the care of the sick in Jerusalem
and then in aid to pilgrims in the Holy Land who were exposed to
grave dangers: their lives have added radiant pages to the annals of
Christian charity and protection of Christianity. In the nineteenth
century, the Order opened up to new and more ample forms of
apostolate in the area of charitable assistance and service of the
sick and the poor, but without ever abandoning the original ideals,
especially that of the intense spiritual life of individual members.
In this sense, your commitment must continue with a very particular
attention to the religious consecration? of the professed
members?which constitutes the heart of the Order."
"In
this sense," the Pope emphasized, "your Order, compared
with other organizations that are committed in the international
arena to the care of the sick, to solidarity and to human promotion,
is distinguished by the Christian inspiration that must constantly
direct the social engagement of its members. Be sure to preserve and
cultivate this your qualifying characteristic and work with renewed
apostolic ardour, maintaining an attitude of profound harmony with
the Magisterium of the Church. Your esteemed and beneficent activity,
carried out in a variety of fields and in different parts of the
world, and particularly focused on care of the sick through hospitals
and health-care institutes, is not mere philanthropy, but an
effective expression and a living testimony of evangelical love. …"
"In
Sacred Scripture, the summons to love of neighbour is tied to the
commandment to love God with all our heart, all our soul and all our
strength. Thus, love of neighbour?if based on a true love for
God?corresponds to the commandment and the example of Christ. ... In
order to offer love to our brothers and sisters, we must be afire
with it from the furnace of divine charity: through prayer, constant
listening to the word of God, and a life centred on the Eucharist."
The
Pope concluded his address by inviting the members of the Order of
Malta to "continue working in society and in the world along the
elevated paths indicated by the Gospel?faith and charity, for the
renewal of hope. Faith, as testimony of adherence to Christ and of
commitment to the Gospel mission, which inspires you to an ever more
vital presence in the ecclesial community and to an ever more
conscious membership of the people of God; charity, as an expression
of fraternity in Christ, through works of mercy for the sick, the
poor, those in need of love, comfort and assistance, those who are
afflicted by loneliness, by a sense of bewilderment and by new
material and spiritual forms of poverty. These ideals are aptly
expressed in your motto: “Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum”.
These words summarize well the charism of your Order which, as a
subject of international law, aims not to exercise power and
influence of a worldly character, but in complete freedom to
accomplish its own mission for the integral good of man, spirit and
body, both individually and collectively, with special regard to
those whose need of hope and love is greater.
AUDIENCES
Vatican
City, 9 February 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father received in
separate audiences:
ten
prelates from the Lazio region of the Italian Episcopal Conference on
their "ad limina" visit:
-
Archbishop Fabio Bernardo D’Onorio, O.S.B., of Gaeta,
-
Bishop Delio Lucarelli of Rieti,
-
Bishop Giuseppe Petrocchi of Latina-Terracina-Sezze-Priverno,
-
Bishop Lino Fumagalli of Viterbo,
-
Bishop Lorenzo Loppa of Anagni-Alatri,
-
Bishop Romano Rossi of Civita Castellana,
-
Bishop Ambrogio Spreafico of Frosinone-Veroli-Ferentino,
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Bishop Luigi Marrucci of Civitavecchia-Tarquinia,
-
Bishop-elect Gerardo Antonazzo of Sora-Aquino-Pontecorvo,
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Abbot Pietro Vittorelli, O.S.B., of the territorial Abbey of
Montecassino, and
Cardinal
Marc Ouellet, P.S.S., prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.
OTHER
PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican
City, 11 February 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father appointed
Msgr. Robert J. Coyle as as military ordinary for the United States
of America, assigning him the titular see of Zabi. The bishop-elect
was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1964 and was ordained a priest in
1991. He has served in several pastoral roles, currently as pastor of
Corpus Christi Parish in Mineola, New York. He was a military
chaplain from 1991 to 1999, when he was named to Corpus Christi
Parish, but has remained a reservist chaplain and has achieved the
level of commander.
On
Saturday, 9 February, the Holy Father appointed:
-
Fr. Domingo Buezo Leiva as bishop of the apostolic vicariate of
Izabal (area 9,038, population 413,339, Catholics 175,000, priests
30, permanent deacons 3, religious 45), Guatemala, assigning him the
titular see of Dardano. The bishop-elect was born in Zulia, Guatemala
in 1962 and was ordained a priest in 1988. Bishop-elect Buezo Leiva
has served as pastor of several parishes in Guatemala, currently San
Juan Bautista in Camotan in the diocese of Zacapa, and, since 1998
has served as episcopal vicar for Pastoral Care of that same diocese.
-
Msgr. Leonardo Sapienza, S.C.I., regent of the Prefecture of the
Pontifical Household, to the College of Apostolic Protonotaries "de
numero participantium".
NOTICE
Vatican
City, 12 February 2013 (VIS) – The Vatican Information Service begs
the pardon of its readers for the errors that may have appeared in
yesterday's transmission, due to technical problems caused by the
overload of the Vatican servers.
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