News Vatican Information Service 12/01/2009

SUMMARY:

- Papal Mass with International Theological Commission
- Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for December
- America: Inculturation and Formation of the Laity

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PAPAL MASS WITH INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL COMMISSION

VATICAN CITY, 1 DEC 2009 (VIS) - Early this morning Benedict XVI celebrated Mass in the Pauline Chapel of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, with members of the International Theological Commission.

In his homily the Pope described the figure of the true theologian, who does not succumb to the temptation of using the measure of his own intelligence to fathom the mystery of God. In the study of Holy Scripture over the last two hundred years, he said, "there have been great specialists and ... masters of the faith who have penetrated into the details ... of the history of salvation. But they were unable to see the mystery in itself, the central nucleus: that Christ truly was the Son of God".

Yet the history of the Church, the Holy Father went on, contains a long list of men and women who were capable of humility and of reaching the truth. Among these he mentioned St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Damian de Veuster, "little people who were also wise", models from which to draw inspiration because "they were touched in the depths of their heart".

"Following His Resurrection the Lord touched the heart of Saul on the road to Damascus", the Pope concluded, "Saul, who was one of the wise who could not see. ... He became blind and thus truly came to see. The great man becomes a small man and so sees the ... wisdom of God, ... which is greater than all human wisdom".
.../MASS/ITC VIS 091201 (260)

BENEDICT XVI'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR DECEMBER

VATICAN CITY, 1 DEC 2009 (VIS) - Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for December is: "That children may be respected and loved and never be the victims of exploitation in its various forms".

His mission intention is: "That at Christmas the peoples of the earth may recognise in the Word Incarnate the light which illuminates every man, and that the nations may open their doors to Christ, the Saviour of the world".
BXVI-PRAYER INTENTIONS/DECEMBER/... VIS 091201 (80)

AMERICA: INCULTURATION AND FORMATION OF THE LAITY

VATICAN CITY, 1 DEC 2009 (VIS) - A communique concerning the fourteenth meeting of the Special Assembly for America of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops was published yesterday afternoon. The meeting took place on 17 and 18 November this year, while the Synod for America was held in the Vatican in 1997.

The meeting - presided by Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops - was attended by four cardinals and six archbishops and bishops. They examined the ecclesial and social situation on the American continent, and the inculturation of the Good News there.

The communique explains that "the process of inculturation depends to a large extent on a balanced education in the faith. This task particularly falls to families, schools and Catholic universities and, especially urgently today, to the media which, if used correctly and competently, are a vehicle of extraordinary pastoral effectiveness".

The cardinals and bishops likewise express their concern over "drug trafficking, the recycling of illicit profits, corruption, violence, the arms race, racial discrimination, foreign debt, inequality between social groups and the thoughtless destruction of nature".

On the subject of corruption, the communique explains that "the Church supports the efforts being made by the civil authorities to defeat it, or at least limit its extent. For her part, the Church is ready to make an effective contribution to eradicate this evil from civil society through the education of the faithful and through a greater presence of qualified lay Christians who - by virtue of their family, school and parish education - promote the practice of such values as truth, honesty, hard work and the service of the common good".

Another subject of concern is "the ease with which arms are able to circulate". In this context the communique calls for the particular Churches in America "to raise a prophetic voice denouncing rearmament and the scandalous trade in the materials of war, which absorb huge sums of money that should, in fact, be used for combating poverty and promoting development".

The communique also mentions migration, "which particularly affects many people and families from Latin American States, who have moved to the northern regions of the continent".

"One promising initiative is the great continental mission, currently underway in the countries of Latin America with the aim of promoting new evangelisation. Other signs of hope include the Church's pastoral initiatives, her human promotion, and her solidarity with the poor and the marginalised".

"On the basis of the Gospel, it is necessary to promote a culture of solidarity that stimulates appropriate initiatives in support of the poor and marginalised, especially refugees", say the prelates in their communique.

The text concludes by announcing that the fifteenth meeting of the Special Assembly for America of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops will be held on 16 and 17 November 2010.
SE/MEETING SYNOD AMERICA/ETEROVIC VIS 091201 (490)

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News Vatican Information Service 07/08/2009

SUMMARY:

- Caritas in Veritate: Building a World of Justice and Peace

- Motu Proprio Ecclesiae Unitatem

- Other Pontifical Acts

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CARITAS IN VERITATE: BUILDING A WORLD OF JUSTICE AND PEACE

VATICAN CITY, 8 JUL 2009 (VIS) - In today's general audience, which was held in the Paul VI Hall, the Pope spoke about his third Encyclical "Caritas in veritate", which was officially published yesterday.

The Encyclical, explained the Holy Father, highlights the fact that "charity in truth is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity. ... Only with charity, illuminated by reason and by faith, is it possible to pursue development goals that possess a more humane and humanising value".

The document, he went on, "intensifies Church analysis and reflection on social themes of vital interest to humankind in our century. In a special way it harks back to what Paul VI wrote more than forty years ago in his 'Populorum progressio'".

"Caritas in veritate", said Benedict XVI, "does not seek to offer technical solutions to the enormous social problems of the modern world. ...What it does do is recall the fundamental principles that are indispensable for building human development over coming years". Among these principles it highlights "concern for the life of man, seen as the centre of all true progress; respect for the right to religious freedom; ... and the rejection of a Promethean vision of human beings which sees them as the sole architects of their own destiny".

"Upright men and women are needed, both in politics and in the economy, people sincerely concerned for the common good", he said. Referring then specifically to "world emergencies", the Pope spoke of the urgent need to call "public opinion to the drama of hunger and of food security", which "must be faced decisively, eliminating the structural causes which produce it and promoting agricultural development in the poorest countries".

"The economy needs ethics in order to function correctly. It needs to recover the important contribution of the principle of gratuitousness and the 'logic of giving' in the economy and in the market, where profit cannot be the only rule. But this is possible only through commitment on the part of everyone, economists and politicians, producers and consumers, and it presupposes a formation of consciences capable of strengthening moral criteria in the elaboration of political and economic projects".

Another necessity, the Holy Father proceeded, "is for all humankind to practice a different lifestyle, one in which each individual's duties towards the environment are linked to his or her duties towards human beings, considered both in themselves and in relation to others".

Finally, "faced with the vast and profound problems of today's world", he said, "I indicated the need for a world political authority regulated by law, one that observes the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity and is firmly directed towards attaining the common good, while respecting the great moral and religious traditions of humanity".

The Pope asked the faithful to pray that "this Encyclical may help humankind to feel itself to be a single family, committed to creating a world of justice and peace". He also called upon them to pray for "the heads of State and government of the G8 who are currently meeting in L'Aquila, Italy. May this important world summit generate decisions and directives that serve the true progress of all peoples, especially the poorest".

AG/CARITAS IN VERITATE/... VIS 090708 (550)

MOTU PROPRIO ECCLESIAE UNITATEM

VATICAN CITY, 8 JUL 2009 (VIS) - Given below is an English-language translation from the Italian of the Apostolic Letter "Motu Proprio data" of Pope Benedict XVI, "Ecclesiae unitatem". The document concerns the structure of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" which deals with questions involving the Society of Saint Pius X and which as of now becomes dependent upon the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The original text of the Motu Proprio is written in Latin:

1. The duty to safeguard the unity of the Church, with the solicitude to offer everyone help in responding appropriately to this vocation and divine grace, is the particular responsibility of the Successor of the Apostle Peter, who is the perpetual and visible principle and foundation of the unity of both bishops and faithful. The supreme and fundamental priority of the Church in all times - to lead mankind to the meeting with God - must be supported by the commitment to achieve a shared witness of faith among all Christians.

2. Faithful to this mandate, following the act of 30 June 1988 by which Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre illicitly conferred episcopal ordination upon four priests, on 2 July 1988 Pope John Paul II of venerable memory established the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" whose task it is "to collaborate with the bishops, with the departments of the Roman Curia and with the circles concerned, for the purpose of facilitating full ecclesial communion of priests, seminarians, religious communities or individuals until now linked in various ways to the Society founded by Msgr. Lefebvre, who may wish to remain united to the Successor Peter in the Catholic Church, while preserving their spiritual and liturgical traditions, in the light of the Protocol signed on 5 May last by Cardinal Ratzinger and Msgr. Lefebvre".

3. In keeping with this, faithfully adhering to that duty to serve the universal communion of the Church, also in her visible manifestation, and making every effort to ensure that those who truly desire unity have the possibility to remain in it or to rediscover it, I decided, with the Motu Proprio "Summorum Pontificum", to expand and update through more precise and detailed norms the general indications already contained in the Motu Proprio "Ecclesia Dei" concerning the possibility of using the 1962"Missale Romanum".

4. In the same spirit, and with the same commitment to favouring the repair of all fractures and divisions within the Church, and to healing a wound that is ever more painfully felt within the ecclesiastical structure, I decided to remit the excommunication of the four bishops illicitly ordained by Msgr. Lefebvre. In making that decision my intention was to remove an impediment that could hinder the opening of a door to dialogue and thus invite the four bishops and the Society of Saint Pius X to rediscover the path to full communion with the Church. As I explained in my Letter to Catholic bishops of 10 March this year, the remission of the excommunication was a measure taken in the field of ecclesiastical discipline, to free individuals from the burden of conscience constituted by the most serious of ecclesiastical penalties. However it is clear that the doctrinal questions remain, and until they are clarified the Society has no canonical status in the Church, and its ministers cannot legitimately exercise any ministry in the Church.

5. Precisely because the problems that now have to be examined with the Society are essentially doctrinal in nature, I have decided - twenty-one years after the Motu Proprio "Ecclesia Dei" and in keeping with what I had intended to do - to reconsider the structure of the Commission "Ecclesia Dei", joining it closely to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

6. The Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" will, then, have the following configuration:

(a) The president of the Commission is the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

(b) The Commission has its own staff, composed of the secretary and officials.

(c) It will be the task of the president, with the assistance of the secretary, to submit the principal cases and questions of a doctrinal nature for study and discernment according to the ordinary requirements of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and to submit the results thereof to the superior dispositions of the Supreme Pontiff.

7. With this decision I wish in particular to show paternal solicitude towards the Society of Saint Pius X, with the aim of rediscovering the full communion of the Church.

To everyone I address a pressing invitation to pray ceaselessly to the Lord, by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, "ut unum sint".

From Rome, at St. Peter's, 2 July 2009, fifth year of Our Pontificate.

MP/ECCLESIAE UNITATEM/... VIS 090708 (800)

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 8 JUL 2009 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to the additional office of president of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei". He succeeds Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, whom the Holy Father thanked at the end of his service as president of the same commission.

- Appointed Msgr. Guido Pozzo, adjunct secretary of the International Theological Commission and official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as secretary of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei".

- Appointed Fr. Celso Antonio Marchiori, pastor of the parish of the Blessed Sacrament in the archdiocese of Curitiba, Brazil, as bishop of Apucarana (area 8,655, population 489,000, Catholics 370,231, priests 77, permanent deacons 70, religious 61), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Campo Largo, Brazil in 1958 and ordained a priest in 1988. He succeeds Bishop Luiz Vicente Bernetti O.A.D., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Bishop Jean-Paul James of Beauvais, France, as bishop of Nantes (area 6,979, population 1,245,000, Catholics 1,141,000, priests 491, permanent deacons 41, religious 1,241), France. He succeeds Bishop Georges Soubrier P.S.S., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

NA:NER:RE/.../... VIS 090708 (230)

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The news items contained in the Vatican Information Service may be used, in part or in their entirety, by quoting the source:
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