Pope Benedict XVI

Friday, June 16, 2006

News Vatican Information Services 06/15-16/2006

SUMMARY: JUNE 15 - 16

- The Consecrated Host Truly Is the Bread of Heaven
- Audiences

___________________________________________________________

THE CONSECRATED HOST TRULY IS THE BREAD OF HEAVEN

VATICAN CITY, JUN 15, 2006 (VIS) - At 7 p.m. today, Solemnity of Corpus Christi, Benedict XVI celebrated Mass on the square in front of Rome's Basilica of St. John Lateran, then presided at the Eucharistic procession to the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

In his homily, the Pope affirmed that the consecrated Host is the "food of the poor," and the "fruit of the earth and of the labor of mankind." And yet, he added, "bread is not simply our own product, something made by us; it is a fruit of the earth and, hence, a gift. ... It requires the synergy of the forces of the earth and of the gifts of the heavens: sun and rain."

"At a time in which we hear of desertification, and there is ever more talk of the danger of men and beasts dying of thirst in those regions without water, at such a time, we gain a renewed awareness of the greatness of the gift of water, and of how incapable we are of producing it alone. Then, looking closer, this little piece of white Host, this bread of the poor, appears as a synthesis of creation."

"When, in adoration, we contemplate the consecrated Host, the mark of creation is speaking to us. Then we discover the greatness of this gift, but we also discover the Passion, the Cross of Jesus and His resurrection."

The Holy Father went on: "In the feast of Corpus Christi we contemplate above all the sign of the bread. This also reminds us of the pilgrimage of Israel during the 40 years in the wilderness. The Host is our manna with which the Lord nourishes us; it truly is the bread of heaven, by which He gives Himself. In the procession, we follow this sign, and thus we follow Him."

Benedict XVI then raised an appeal to the Lord: "Guide us along the roads of our history! Always show the Church and her pastors the right path! Look at suffering humanity, anxiously wandering among so many uncertainties; look at the physical and mental hunger afflicting them! Give men bread for the body and the soul! Give them work! Give them light! Give them Yourself! Purify and sanctify us all!

"Bring us to understand" the Pope concluded, "that only by participating in Your Passion, by saying 'yes' to the cross, to sacrifice, to the purification you impose upon us, can our lives mature and reach their true fulfillment. Gather us from all the corners of the earth. Unite Your Church, unite lacerated humanity. Give us Your salvation!"

Following Mass, the Pope presided at a Eucharistic procession that passed along Rome's Via Merulana to the Basilica of St. Mary Major. Along the way, thousands of faithful prayed and sang, accompanying the Blessed Sacrament. An open vehicle transported the Sacrament in a mostrance, before which the Holy Father knelt in prayer.
HML/CORPUS CHRISTI/... VIS 060616 (500)

AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JUN 16, 2006 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Oscar Arias Sanchez, president of the Republic of Costa Rica, accompanied by an entourage.

- Cardinal Julian Herranz, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.

- Archbishop Robert Sarah, emeritus of Conakry, Guinea, and secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

- Fr. Alvaro Corcuera Martinez del Rio, superior general of the Legionaries of Christ.

This evening, he is scheduled to receive in audience Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
AP/.../... VIS 060616 (100)

V.I.S. -Vatican Information Service.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

News Vatican Information Services 06/14/2006

SUMMARY:

- Andrew: The Church Reaches All Peoples and Cultures
- Holy Land: Call For a Just and Lasting Peace
- Beatification Tomorrow of Fr. Eustaquio Van Lieshout
- Other Pontifical Acts
- Notice

___________________________________________________________

ANDREW: THE CHURCH REACHES ALL PEOPLES AND CULTURES

VATICAN CITY, JUN 14, 2006 (VIS) - St. Andrew the Apostle, brother of St. Peter, was the subject of Benedict XVI's catechesis during today's general audience, held in St. Peter's Square in the presence of 35,000 people.

The name of Andrew, not Hebrew but Greek, is "an appreciable sign of a certain cultural openness of his family," said the Pope. "He was the first of the Apostles to be called to follow Jesus," and thanks to Andrew (according to tradition, the evangelizer of the Greek world), "the Church of Rome and the Church of Constantinople feel themselves to be sisters."

The Holy Father pointed out how the Gospels mention Andrew in three key moments: The multiplication of the loaves and fishes when "his realism is worthy of note, he saw the boy [with the bread and fish] but noticed the scarcity of his resources." When asking explanations from Christ on His words concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, he showed that "we must not be afraid to put questions to Jesus, but at the same time we must be ready to accept the teaching He offers us." And again, shortly before the Passion, with Philip, "he interpreted and mediated for a small group of Greeks before Jesus."

Referring to this last episode, the Holy Father recalled Jesus' words on the necessary death of a grain of wheat in order to bear fruit, a symbol of the crucifixion that "in the resurrection will become bread of life for the world, ... a light for people and cultures." Christ thus prophesies the meeting with the Greek world and Greek culture and the extension of the Church "to pagans as a fruit of His Passion."

Tradition recounts St. Andrew's death in Patras on a diagonal cross as, "like his brother Peter, he asked to be crucified on a cross different from that of Jesus." Benedict XVI then quoted the words attributed to St. Andrew during his agony when he said of the cross: "before the Lord was placed upon you, you incited earthly terrors. Now, blessed with a heavenly love, you are received as a gift."

This phrase, the Pope continued, contains "a profound Christian spirituality, which sees in the cross not so much an instrument of torture as the unrivaled means of full assimilation to the Redeemer. ... Our crosses acquire value if considered and accepted as part of the cross of Christ. ... Only from that cross do our sufferings become ennobled and acquire their true significance."
AG/ANDREW/... VIS 060614 (430)

HOLY LAND: CALL FOR A JUST AND LASTING PEACE

VATICAN CITY, JUN 14, 2006 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls released the following declaration at midday today:

"The Holy See is following with great concern and anguish the episodes of increasing mindless violence which are bloodying the Holy Land over these days. The Holy Father is close, especially in prayer, to the innocent victims, their relatives and to the peoples of that land, which is captive to those who delude themselves into thinking they can resolve the ever more dramatic problems of the region with force or unilaterally.

"The Holy See invites the international community quickly to activate the means necessary for providing due humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people, and joins the call to leaders of both peoples, that in the first place due respect be shown for human life, especially that of defenseless civilians and children, and that the path of negotiation be courageously resumed, the only way to arrive at the just and lasting peace to which everyone aspires."
OP/PEACE:HOLY LAND/NAVARRO-VALLS VIS 060614 (180)

BEATIFICATION TOMORROW OF FR. EUSTAQUIO VAN LIESHOUT

VATICAN CITY, JUN 14, 2006 (VIS) - At 4 p.m. tomorrow, in the Mineirao Stadium of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins C.M.F., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, will preside at a Eucharistic concelebration during which, by order of Benedict XVI, he will read out the Apostolic Letter in which the Holy Father proclaims as Blessed, Servant of God Fr. Eustaquio Van Lieshout.

Fr. Eustaquio Van Lieshout was born in Aarle-Rixtel, Netherlands, on November 3, 1890, the eighth of eleven children, and baptized the same day with the name of Humberto. He came from a very Catholic rural family. After reading the biography of the Belgian Blessed, Fr. Damian de Veuster of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, he decided to join the same order. During his noviciate, he took the name of Eustaquio. He was ordained a priest in 1919, and exercised the pastoral ministry in his own country until 1924.

He arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1925, and for the next 18 years worked as a missionary in Brazil. In April 1942, he took over the parish of Santo Domingo in Belo Horizonte, where a few months later, on August 30, 1943, he died.

In 1949, his mortal remains were transferred to his last parish, which is dedicated to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

On December 19, 2005 Benedict XVI authorized the promulgation of a decree concerning a miracle attributed to the intercession of Fr. Eustaquio.
.../BEATIFICATION FR. EUSTAQUIO/BRAZIL:SARAIVA VIS 060614 (260)

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUN 14, 2006 (VIS) - The Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the archdiocese of Minsk-Mohilev, Belarus, presented by Cardinal Kazimierz Swiatek, upon having reached the age limit, and appointed Bishop Antoni Dziemianko, auxiliary of Minsk-Mohilev, as apostolic administrator "sede vacante" of the same ecclesiastical circumscription.
RE/.../SWIATEK:DZIEMIANKO VIS 060614 (60)

NOTICE

VATICAN CITY, JUN 14, 2006 (VIS) - As previously advised, tomorrow, Solemnity of Corpus Christi and a holiday in the Vatican, there will be no VIS bulletin. Service will resume on Friday, June 16.
.../.../... VIS 060614 (40)