Saturday, September 30, 2017

False reporting

A news article published Friday evening by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) alleges that Monsignor Carlo Cappella, accused in Canada and the USA for a violation of laws relating to distribution of pornographic material, was involved with or invited to an international Conference on Child Dignity in the Digital World which will take place this week in Rome.  This conference begins on Monday, October 2.

At no time was Monsignor Capella ever involved with or invited to this conference as was erroneously reported.

The Child Dignity in the Digital World Congress, beginning on Monday in Rome with a live-streamed press conference at noon, is an invitation-only event engaging experts from all sectors strategizing to end the crime of online child sexual exploitation.

Friday, September 29, 2017

Renewing the promise

A few weeks ago, I received an invitation to preside at the Mass that was celebrated today with teachers, staff members and all those who have been entrusted with the great privilege of passing on their faith in Jesus Christ to children in the Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board.


Homily for the Mass
Celebrated with teachers and staff
Of the Huron-Superior District Catholic School Board
Saint Mary’s College, Sault Ste. Marie
September 29, 2017

As a young child, I lived in Sault Ste. Marie.  I attended elementary school at Sister Mary Clare and High School at the original Saint Mary’s College on Saint George’s Avenue.  Those years are only distant memories now, but the formation that I received has left me with an enduring sense of gratitude for the wisdom that was imparted during those formative years by such faith-filled teachers.

I am thankful to Sister Pat Carter, CSJ for her kind invitation to be here today and for the opportunity to share a few thoughts in the context of this Eucharistic celebration.  The theme that has been chosen for this gathering – and the theme of this entire scholastic year - is Renewing the Promise.  I must admit that when I first heard this theme about a month ago, I couldn’t help wondering: which promise is being renewed?

My teachers taught me to be curious, so I did some research.  A promise is a declaration that something will or will not be done, an assurance on which expectation can be based, an assurance, an indication of what may be expected ... and the verb to renew means to begin again, to restore to a former state, as if new again ... so we might say that there is something of which we have been assured, something that we can expect and this assurance is being restored or renewed.  In order to understand what this promise is, we need only look at the readings that have been chosen for this morning’s Mass.

Allow me to set the scene.  Saint Peter was the disciple who Jesus had chosen to lead his Church: You are Peter (Rock) and upon this rock, I will build my Church (Mt 16:8), Emboldened by this vote of confidence, Peter was filled with bravado.  In fact, on the very night when Jesus was arrested, Peter assured him: Even if all others should fall away from you, I will never fall away (Mt 26:33).  However, despite the outward appearance of confidence, Peter’s conviction wasn’t as steadfast as he may have thought.  When he saw his hero arrested and tried, I’m sure that he thought the same fate might be his if he were to admit having been one of Jesus’ followers.  Three times that night, Peter denied knowing Jesus (Mt 26:69-75).

Fast forward to Pentecost, the day on which the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles in the form of flames, and we see a very different Peter.  He who was once timid and afraid to speak about his faith was now strengthened by the gift of the Spirit and able to stand before the people in Jerusalem speaking with a newfound confidence about the truth that Jesus had taught.  You can hear the authority resounding in his voice: Men of Judea, and all you who live in Jerusalem, make no mistake about this, but listen carefully to what I say.  Peter then explained in great detail how the prophecies foretold by the prophets had been fulfilled in Jesus.  The conclusion of his speech must have echoed in the ears of his hearers: ... the Lord and Christ whom God has made is this Jesus whom you crucified (Acts 2:36).

This was a major Aha! moment for those people who were standing around.  We have all witnessed such moments in the lives of the students we are privileged to accompany.  Perhaps we have experienced a few such moments ourselves, when a certain truth that has eluded us is all of a sudden made clear to us.

The scriptures tell us that hearing Peter’s words, all those who were present were cut to the heart (Acts 2:37).  In that very moment, they realized that Jesus had been wrongly accused, and as though wrapped with guilt, they turned to Peter and asked: What are we to do?  We who have been given the great privilege to mold the minds and hearts of children – the promise of our future – need also to be cut to the heart if we have been unaware of the great gift of hope that Jesus came to share with us.

The good news is that it is not too late.  Jesus is still renewing the promise in each one of us: a promise of eternal life in heaven where we will know the fullness of joy in his presence.  This promise is for you and for me, for each one of us, for our children, for all those who are far away, for all those whom the Lord our God is calling to himself (Acts 2:39).

This is the good news of our faith.  It fills us with great joy, the joy that was echoed in the song of praise offered by Zechariah.  We heard this song in the gospel passage for this Mass.  Can you imagine, just for a moment, how different our schools would be if our students were to witness such joy on our faces, if they were to be convinced that our hearts overflow with such exceeding jubilation, if they were to hear us sing out with every fibre of our being as Zechariah did?
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel!He has come to his people and set them free (Lk 2:68).
Today, we are being given a great opportunity: Jesus is renewing the promise he made to us – to show us the way to the Father.  Are we willing to accept this gift and to share it joyfully with the children in our classrooms, with the parents who knock at our doors, with all those we meet?  May it be so!

Feastday celebrations with the Vatican Guard

Today, the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin shared a homily during a special Mass that was celebrated in the Church of Saint Mary of the Family at the Governatorato within the Vatican City State with members of the Corps of the Vatican Guard and the State Police who are celebrating today the Feast of their Patron Saint, Michael the Archangel.


Homily of His Eminence, Pietro Parolin
Cardinal Secretary of State
For the Mass with members of the Vatican Guard

Your Eminences,
Your Excellencies,
Mister Minister,
Distinguished Authorities,
Dear members of the Vatican Guard,
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I am pleased to celebrate this Mass for you, members of the Vatican Guard and Agents of Public Service, on the day when the Church celebrates the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.

I extend my cordial greetings to His Excellency, the Minister of the Interior, the Honourable Marco Minniti, and to the Head of the Italian Police, Doctor Franco Gabrielli, who I thank for his presence here.  I greet the Commanders of te Pontifical Guard, Doctor Domenico Giani.

In the name of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, I thank you dear Guards and Agents for the important service that you exercise and for your dedication and commitment.

The mission of assuring order, tranquility and observance of the necessary norms, through your discrete and attentive presence, necessitate specific preparation, exemplary care and a high level of morality.  This latter aspect, when it is rooted in faith, predisposes the mind and the heart to receive the extra strength, clarity and serenity that comes from above, something that is very useful for the good performance of your work.

I also wish to point out the exemplary collaboration and synergy with which you are proceeding, an indispensable factor for the success of your mission, and I hope that you can profit more and more from one another through a profuse exchange of experiences and of information.

Security is an invaluable asset that is built through unremitting teamwork, through clever and intelligent collaboration involving everyone.  It is the result of constant and prudent action, all the more efficient the more it is discrete and capillary.  For this reason, I exhort you to nourish not only your body for the operational needs of your mission and your minds for the proper understanding of human and natural phenomena, but also the spirit, in order to always be well equipped before various difficulties and unforeseen events.

Today's celebration allows us to reflect on the Angels, on the truth of faith that concerns the existence of incorporeal beings which the Sacred Scriptures usually refer to as angels.  As we learn in the Catechesis, they are pure spirits which are in the presence of God, docile performers of his will and his plan of salvation for the human race and for all of creation.  From the very beginning until the hour of earthly death, they surround human life with their protection and their intercession.  Every one of the faithful has at his or her side an angel who acts as a protector and shepherd, a guardian angel (cf Catechesis of the Catholic Church, 336).

Thus the Church celebrates the memory of some of the angels in particular: Gabriel, the strength of God, who proclaimed to Zachariah the birth of John the Baptist and to the Virgin Mary the birth of Jesus; Raphael, who accompanied Tobit along his difficult voyage, healed his wife Sarah and the blindness of his father Tobias, thus deserving his name which means remedy of God; and finally Michael, who you honour as your celestial patron.

And it is certainly appropriate that Saint Michael, the Prince of the celestial armies, should be your protector.  In every age, including the one in which we are living, there are both opportunities and challenges, remarkable joint achievements fraught with difficulties and dangers.  It is enough to browse through a newspaper or to listen to the news in order to perceive the brilliant contemporary acquisitions, but also the violence of individuals or organized groups who, in their desperation and bullying commit acts of untold ferocity.

The biblical readings for today's feast teach us that persistence in the world of evil and sin finds its origin in events that go beyond history and involve celestial dynamics.

In fact, we have heard the affirmation in the text of the Book of Revelation: A war broke out in the sky.  Michael and his angels fought against the dragon.  The dragon fought together with his angels, but he did not prevail and there was no place for them in heaven (Rev 12:7).  The Scriptures warn us that because of an ancient rebellion against the providential plan of God, there were dramatic consequences, but at the same time, the Scriptures assure us that the Archangel Michael prevailed, and that evil, even if it causes pain and suffering, will not have the final word.

The word Michael means Who is like God?  Michael, with his own name, asks us to answer this very question.  No one is like God, no one is as good as He because He is pure goodness, no one is as powerful as He because He is the creator of everything that exists, no one is as merciful as He, because He is our Redeemer.  No one loves us like He does because He died on the cross for each of us.  No one knows us as deeply as He.  We have proof of this in the pages of the Gospel that we heard just moments ago, when Jesus said to the disgruntled Nathanael: Before Philip called you, I saw you when you were under the fig tree (Jn 1:48).

Before we were formed in the wombs of our mothers, the Lord has seen us, has thought about us, has loved us.  Only He promises us eternal life in the joy of His presence, together with all the saints.

No one therefore can be compared with God by usurping his functions.  Anyone who does this will ruin the true face of God and instead of freeing us and raising us up, will subject us to difficult slavery, instead of the joy and light that brings about goodness, truth and beauty, removing the darkness of disharmony, deception and illusion.

Cravings for power, pleasure, money, fame at all costs, the false search for enjoyment and connected tendencies to escape every responsibility do not lead us to happiness, do not lead us to live in harmony with ourselves, do not lead us to tranquil ports, do not build fraternal and solid relationships, but rather produce frustrations, delusions, violence and growing hypocrisy, soberness and feelings of inner emptiness.

If, by forgetting to fear God, man allows himself to be seduced by the search for some selfish and disordered satisfaction, he moves himself further away from wisdom and conforms himself to the world's criteria, spreading sadness and vanity.  On the contrary, a solid relationship with the Lord provides appropriate parameters for our relationships with ourselves, with our neighbours, with the civil and ecclesial communities.

When God becomes a sure reference for everyday choices, everything is transformed.  We can then open ourselves to hope without being blocked by anxiety for the future, pursuing life-long projects, mobilizing the best of our energies in order to build stable families, cemented by love and a sense of responsibility by trying to build a fraternal and solidly based society, and have the ability to sacrifice ourselves for the happiness of others, for the good of the community and of the Church and in so doing discover the true sense of our existence.

To acquire this wisdom I invite you to deepen your knowledge of God in prayer and to entrust yourselves to your patron Saint Michael the Archangel.  What a beautiful image we find in the gospel of the heavens open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man (cf Jn 1:51)!  They ascend in order to bring our prayers to God, our requests, our necessities, our needs; and descending toward us, they give us their grace and blessings, so that we all can reach the goal of our journey, Paradise, and hear that powerful voice that speaks to us in the First reading: Now, salvation has been accomplished, the strength and the reign of our God and the power of his Christ (Rev 12:10).

In Venezuela, we sang a song that I liked very much.  It says: If you catch a whiff and do not know what it is, it is an Angel who is arriving even if you don't see it, to bring our prayers to the Lord ... Yes, the Angels are flying in this place, among all of us and above the altar, with their hands filled with blessings ...

Let us also look to Most Holy Mary, who believers honour in litanies of prayer with the marvellous title of Queen of the Angels.  Let us call upon her with these words: Who is like God?  Who is like you, Mary Queen of the Angels and victor over hell?  O good and tender Mother Mary, bride of the King of celestial Spirits, whose aspirations they wish to mirror, You will always remain our love, our hope, our refuge and the source of our boasting.

To Her, I entrust all of you, and to the Holy Angels, especially to the Archangel, Saint Michael, that he may defend and protect you, defending and protecting your families and those who are dear to you, and helping you to carry out your work with renewed, constant and generous commitment.  Amen.

Evangelization belongs to the People of God

At 11:45am this morning, in the Consistory Hall at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the participants taking part in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.  They are concluding their work which has taken place at the Vatican between 27 and 29 September 2017.


Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
addressed to the Plenary Assembly of the
Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am very glad, at the conclusion of the Plenary Session of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, to reflect with you on the urgency that the Church is aware of, in this particular historical moment, to renew her forces and enthusiasm in her perennial mission of evangelization. I greet you all and I thank Archbishop Fisichella for his words of greeting and for the effort that the Dicastery intends to make in continuing to keep alive in the ecclesial community the fruits of the Jubilee of Mercy.

This Holy Year was a moment of grace that the entire Church lived with great faith and intense spirituality. We cannot permit, therefore, that so much enthusiasm be diluted or forgotten. The People of God has strongly felt the gift of mercy and lived the Jubilee, rediscovering in particular the Sacrament of Reconciliation, as a special place for experiencing God’s goodness and tenderness, and His forgiveness that knows no bounds. The Church thus has the great responsibility of continuing tirelessly to be an instrument of mercy. In this way it can easily be ensured that the welcome of the Gospel is perceived and lived as an event of salvation and may bring full and definitive meaning to personal and social life.

The announcement of mercy, which is made concrete and visible in the lifestyle of believers, lived in the light of the many works of mercy, belongs intrinsically to every evangelizer, who has discovered first-hand the call of the apostolate, precisely by virtue of the mercy reserved to him. The words of the apostle Paul should never be forgotten by those who have the task of proclaiming the Gospel: “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because He judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life (1 Tim 1:12-16).

And we come now to the theme of evangelization. It is necessary to discover ever more that it by nature belongs to the People of God. In this regard, I would like to underline two aspects.

The first is the contribution that the individual peoples and the respective cultures offer to the journey of the People of God. From every people towards which we go there emerges a wealth that the Church is called to recognize and value to bring to fulfilment the unity of all the human race of which it is a sign and sacrament (cf Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 1). This unity is not constituted according to the flesh, but in the Spirit (LG, 1), which guides our steps. The richness that comes to the Church from the many good traditions that the individual peoples possess is valuable to give life to the action of grace that opens the heart to welcoming the announcement of the Gospel. They are authentic gifts that express the infinite variety of the creative action of the Father, and which merge in the unity of the Church to increase the necessary communion so as to be a seed of salvation, prelude of universal peace and concrete locus of dialogue.

Being an evangelizing people (cf Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 111) brings awareness – and it is the second aspect – of an appeal that transcends each individual personal willingness, to be inserted in a complex interweaving of personal relationships (EG, 113), which enables the experience of the profound unity and humanity of the community of believers. And this applies in a particular way in a period such as ours, in which we are forced to face a new culture, the fruit of technology that, while it fascinates us for the conquests it offers, makes equally evident the lack of a true interpersonal relationship and interest in the other. Few realities such as the Church can claim to have a knowledge of the people able to value that cultural, moral and religious heritage that constitutes the identity of entire generations. It is important, therefore, that we know how to penetrate into the heart of our people, to discover that sense of God and His love that offers the confidence and hope to look ahead with serenity, despite the grave difficulties and poverty that many are forced to live due to the greed of the few. If we are still able to look in depth, we will rediscover the genuine desire for God that makes restless the heart of many people who have fallen, despite themselves, into the chasm of indifference that prevents them from savouring life and building their future serenely. The joy of evangelization can reach them and restore to them the strength for conversion.

Dear brothers and sisters, the new phase of evangelization that we are called to journey through is certainly the work of all the Church, the people journeying towards God. Rediscovering this horizon of meaning and concrete pastoral practice will be able to promote the impetus to evangelization itself, without forgetting its social value, for a genuine integral human promotion (cf EG, 178).

I wish you good work, in particular for the preparation of the first World Day of the Poor, which will take place on 19 November. I assure you of my closeness and my support. May the Lord bless you and Our Lady keep you.

Communications: the truth will set you free

This morning, the Holy See Press Centre released the theme for the next World Day of Social Communications which will be observed in 2018.

The Holy Father has chosen the theme: The truth will set you free » (Jn 8:32). Fake news and journalism for peace.

The Secretariat for Communications has released the following statement in order to aid in the understanding of the Holy Father's reasoning for his choice of this theme:


Statement issued by the Secretariat for Communications
relating to the theme for the next World Day of Social Communications

The theme that the Holy Father Francis has chosen for the 52nd World Day of Social Communications 2018 relates to so-called fake news, namely baseless information that contributes to generating and nurturing a strong polarization of opinions. It involves an often misleading distortion of facts, with possible repercussions at the level of individual and collective behaviour. In a context in which the key companies of the social web and the world of institutions and politics have started to confront this phenomenon, the Church too wishes to offer a contribution, proposing a reflection on the causes, the logic and the consequences of disinformation in the media, and helping to promote professional journalism, which always seeks the truth, and therefore a journalism of peace that promotes understanding between people.

World Day of Social Communications, the only world day established by the Vatican Council II (Inter Mirifica, 1963), is celebrated in many countries, by recommendation of the bishops of the world, on the Sunday preceding Pentecost (in 2018, 13 May).

The text of the Holy Father’s Message for the World Day of Social Communications is traditionally published on the feast day of Saint Francis de Sales, patron of journalists (24 January).

At the UN, responsibility of Religious leaders to protect

His Excellency, Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See's Secretary for Relations with States has been in New York for the past two weeks, participating in the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly.  On Monday of this week (September 25), he delivered the following speech to the Assembly which was focusing its deliberations on the subject: The responsibility of Religious Leaders regarding the responsibility to protect.


Presentation of His Excellency, Paul R. Gallagher
to the UN General Assembly
25 September 2017

In general terms, and before the recent international juridical debate, one can say that the responsibility to protect is one of the primary objectives of the State and Criminal Law. From the time of the ancient Mesopotamic civilizations, the history of criminal law can be summarized in its effort to ensure cohesion and social order and to protect persons and property, at the very least, certain social groups. Therefore, we can say that the responsibility to protect began when social order was maintained no longer by the private vendetta of the clan or the tribe but as a responsibility of Authority. A fundamental and historic turning point in the development of the responsibility to protect within every State was the constitutionalism of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly with the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, on 4 July 1776, and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen by France’s National Constituent Assembly on 26 August 1789. Both of these Declarations established the equality of citizens before the law, from which would develop certain fundamental principles which are the hallmarks of criminal law today, namely, the principle of the legality of penalties and sanctions: nullum crimen, nulla poena sine praevia lege poenali. At the level of political theory and constitutional law, the primary responsibility of the State to protect public order, social harmony and the life and security of persons and their families as well as their property, is today an indisputable and absolute principle accepted by everyone. The performance of this task, moreover, is the fundamental basis for the legitimacy of governments, and a good part of constitutional mechanisms have as their objective to prevent governments from disregarding these principles.

After the Second World War, the major juridical principles that imposed on national governments the obligation to protect the public order and the life and dignity of persons also became the basic principles of the international order. In particular, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 10 December 1948, is nothing other than making explicit the objectives contained in the second introductory paragraph of the Charter of the United Nations: “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small….” Thus, in addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations on 2 October 1979, Pope John Paul II (now Pope Saint John Paul II for Catholics) described the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a milestone on the long and difficult path of the human race.

However, it is well known that when we speak of the responsibility to protect in the current international debate, we refer to concepts that are more precise and more limited than those concerning the primary responsibility of the State to respect human rights and to protect public order, social harmony and the security of persons and their families and their property. The 60th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations set forth three pillars on which rest the international concept of the responsibility to protect. These are:
  1. States have a responsibility to protect populations under their jurisdiction from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity;
  2. The international community has a responsibility to help states to fulfil their responsibility to protect;
  3. When a state is ‘manifestly failing’ to protect its own populations then the international community has a responsibility to protect and may take collective action in a timely manner, even to the point of using force as a last resort (Cfr. A/RES/60/1. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly – World Summit Outcome, NN. 138-139)
The first element of the principle of the responsibility to protect is self-evident and accepted by everyone. Protection from genocide, from war crimes, from ethnic cleansing and from crimes against humanity, is nothing other than a re-statement of the most important parts of the fundamental obligation of Governments to protect public order, social harmony and the life and security of the person. Moreover, a Government that would consent to such crimes would lose all ethical legitimacy or, in the case that it was unable to prevent them, it would prove itself to have failed absolutely as a Government.

The second and third elements of the international definition of the responsibility to protect, instead, raise some important international issues. Firstly, there is a difficult in reconciling the International Community’s obligation to protect with the principle of non-interference, as ratified by Article 2.7 of the Charter of the United Nations, and secondly, there is not yet an international legal text that authorises the use of collective force above and beyond the cases or circumstances that are set forth in Chapter VII of the UN Charter. A juridical formulation of the principle would require, at the very least, a reform of Article 39 to include among the various circumstances which would authorise an intervention of the Security Council also those crimes to which the concept of responsibility to protect refers to. There would also need to be a reform or, at least, an authoritative interpretation of Article 2.7, to define the competence of the United Nations concerning those crimes that fall within the ambit of the responsibility to protect. On the other hand, the decision of a State to assume to itself the right to intervene militarily in another State, on the pretext of applying the principle of responsibility to protect, would setback all the achievements of the twentieth century in developing international law, by going back to an international juridical culture of the times before the Congress of Vienna of 1815. Such an intervention, then, would obtain nothing other than the undermining of the responsibility to protect or, at the very least, raise serious reservations about it.

At this point, considering the difficulties of an international juridical formulation of the principle of the responsibility to protect, which are not easily overcome, religious leaders, in the exercise of their mission, and without going beyond the limits of their competence, can greatly facilitate the understanding and the just application of the principle. Indeed, religious leaders can help society understand that the concept of the responsibility to protect is also a corollary of the fundamental truths and values of all religions and that, on the contrary, the crimes for which the principle of the responsibility to protect would be invoked are a negation of every true religious sentiment. Indeed, all of the world’s great religions affirm the ethical principle of reciprocity, either negatively, do not do unto others what you would not done to yourself, or positively, do unto others what you would want done for you. From this fundamental ethical principle one can deduce also the obligation of all to respect the life of others and that of governments to protect their citizens.

Addressing religious leaders of the various religious communities that live side-by-side in Azerbaijan, during the inter-religious meeting which closed his visit to that country last year, Pope Francis stated that religions, which help to discern the good and put it into practice through deeds, prayer and diligent cultivation of the inner life, are called to build a culture of encounter and peace, based on patience, understanding, and humble, tangible steps. This is the way a humane society is best served (Pope Francis, Inter-religious Meeting with the Sheikh and with the Representatives of the Different Religious Communities of the Country, Heydar Aliyev Mosque, Baku, Azerbaijan, 2 October 2016). Religions which affirm both the existence of a Creator God and the transcendence of every human person, also agree about an essential human dignity, which is shared by all, and about the existence of certain laws of justice which are anterior to all human normative formulations. Likewise, true religious sentiment rejects any form of violent imposition. Moreover, as Pope Francis, quoting Dostoevsky, stated in the same address, If God does not exist then everything is permissible (Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, XI, 4.8.9. Cited by Pope Francis during the same meeting at Baku).

Human rights, the great principles of humanitarian law and, in particular, the total rejection of the crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity are part of an universal juridical patrimony, shared by all, and which are also anterior to their legal definition and to the allocation of competences among the various organs of the nation State and between it and the international community. Between this juridical patrimony and true religious ideas there is an inseparable connection, because faith in God who is Creator and Father also leads to the recognition of the unity of human beings and of universal fraternity. It is the responsibility of religious leaders, as part of their mission, to promote the recognition of that universal juridical patrimony, which can also be called natural law, and of the obligations that are derived from it.

A general overview of the history of the genesis and development of international law can help us to understand the importance of the responsibility of religious leaders. Article 53 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (Vienna, 23 May 1969) stipulates that a treaty is void if, at the time of its conclusion, it conflicts with a peremptory norm of general international law (jus cogens). For the purposes of the present Convention, a peremptory norm of general international law is a norm accepted and recognized by the international community of States as a whole as a norm from which no derogation is permitted and which can be modified only by a subsequent norm of general international law having the same character.

Even if within academic circles and within the same Commission of International Law there has been, and continues to be, much discussion on the meaning of the expression jus cogens and on the existence or not of imperative norms that cannot be derogated from by any treaty, simple common sense teaches us about the existence of such norms. It is enough to think of the absurdity and of the coarse illegitimacy of a treaty that would legitimise genocide and ethnic cleansing, even if such a hypothetical treaty were to be signed and ratified by all the members of the international community. True religious faith, thus, serves to do no more than to strengthen common sense.

Recently, the Commission for International Law presented the Report of its 69th annual session, which will be debated during the current 72nd session of the General Assembly of the United Nations from 23 October next. Item 7 of the Agenda of the Commission (Preparatory Document of the 72nd Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations A/CN.4/SR.3382, 25 August 2015) ... Peremptory norms of general international law (jus cogens) – concern in a particular way the current debate, inasmuch as the provisional conclusion N° 2 [3.(2)], in fact, recognizes the existence of peremptory norms of general international law (jus cogens) which reflect and protect fundamental values of the international community, are hierarchically superior to other rules of international law and universally applicable.

In his first report on jus cogens the Special Rapporteur Professor Dire Tladi, quoting Professor Eric Suy (a former Under-Secretary General and Legal Counsellor of the United Nations) (Eric Suy is a well known international jurist. Professor of the Catholic University of Leuven. Legal Counsel and Under-Secretary General during the time of Secretary General U Thant (1961-1971) and later Director of the United Nations Office in Geneva. He was also associated with the beginning of the Holy See’s presence at New York and Geneva) stated that the term jus cogens could be found in no text prior to the nineteenth century but the idea of a superior law, from which no derogation was permitted runs like a thread through the whole theory and philosophy of law, and he recalled in a particular way the theologians and jurists of the Salamanca school of the fifteenth century and Grotius and Wolff in the following century (UN General Assembly, A/CN.4/683, 8 March 2016, NN. 20-21 and notes).  It was not by chance that these Fathers of international law were also theologians or, at least, men of faith who had a deep knowledge and familiarity with theology, philosophy and history. Pope Benedict XVI, in speaking about them, affirmed that they had perceived the reality of human rights long before they were solemnly formulated and, in a certain way they had already foreseen the responsibility to protect (Pope Benedict XVI, Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations, 18 April 2008. The Pope on that occasion cited in particular the Dominican friar and theologian, Francisco de Vitoria).

The most vile crimes of the twentieth century, on the other hand, happened at a time when the idea of God and universal fraternity, characteristics of the great religions, had been replace by ideologies of racial or national superiority and class struggle. As Pope Francis said during his visit to Tirana in September 2014: When, in the name of an ideology, there is an attempt to remove God from society, it ends up adoring idols, and very soon men and women lose their way, their dignity is trampled and their rights violated. You know well how much pain comes from the denial of freedom of conscience and of religious freedom, and how from such a wound comes a humanity that is impoverished because it lacks hope and ideals to guide it (Pope Francis, Meeting with the Leaders of other religions and other Christian denominations, Catholic University of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Tirana, 21 September 2014).

Twenty-one years earlier, also in Tirana, Pope John Paul II spoke about religious freedom and the correct understanding of religion: “religious freedom [...] is not only a precious gift from the Lord for those who have the grace of faith: it is a gift for each person, because it is the basic guarantee of every other expression of freedom [...]. Only faith reminds us that, if we have one Creator, we are therefore all brothers and sisters. Religious freedom is thus a bulwark against all forms of totalitarianism and contributes decisively to human fraternity (Pope Saint John Paul II, Message to the Albanian Nation, 25 April 1993).

Thus, drawing from the words of Popes John Paul II and Francis, true religion shuns the temptation to intolerance and sectarianism, and promotes attitudes of respect and constructive dialogue (Pope Saint John Paul II, Message to the Albanian Nation, 25 April 1993). And as Pope Francis added, as believers we must be particularly vigilant so that, in living out with conviction our religious and ethical code, we may always express the mystery we intend to honour. This means that all those forms which present a distorted use of religion, must be firmly refuted as false since they are unworthy of God or humanity. Authentic religion is a source of peace and not of violence! No one must use the name of God to commit violence! To kill in the name of God is a grave sacrilege. To discriminate in the name of God is inhuman (Pope Francis, Meeting with the Leaders of other religions and other Christian denominations, Catholic University of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Tirana, 21 September 2014).

It is, thus, an obligation and a task of religious leaders to create “a shared space ... an atmosphere of respect and cooperation that must be built with everyone’s participation, even those who have no religious convictions ... that regards every man and woman, even those of different religious traditions, not as rivals, less still enemies, but rather as brothers and sisters. When a person is secure of his or her own beliefs, there is no need to impose or put pressure on others: there is a conviction that truth has its own power of attraction. Deep down, we are all pilgrims on this earth, and on this pilgrim journey, as we yearn for truth and eternity, we do not live autonomous and self-sufficient individual lives; the same applies to religious, cultural and national communities. We need each other, and are entrusted to each other’s care. Each religious tradition, from within, must be able to take account of others (Pope Francis, Meeting with the Leaders of other religions and other Christian denominations, Catholic University of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Tirana, 21 September 2014).

If international norms, and law in general, were to depend solely on the will of States, or worse still, on the de facto exercise of power, without recognizing the existence of higher principles that cannot be derogated from, it would be impossible to advance the implementation of the principle of the responsibility to protect, particularly its third element, the intervention of the international community. True religious faith, instead, offers a clear complementary and alternative path. On the one hand, recognizing the transcendent nature of the human person and living the golden rule of charity and all of its consequences, in each and every circumstance, there would be no crimes that would justify the intervention of the international community. On the other hand, even if these crimes were, nevertheless, to occur, a faith that does not lead to the disrespect of others, that brings about dialogue, faith and the search for consensus, would facilitate entrusting the solution of such grave situations to an organized international community. A profound reflection on the nature of faith and on its consequences can be something good for the international community, for the implementation of humanitarian law and for the promotion of human rights and also for the extreme situation when it would be necessary to implement internationally the responsibility to protect. Thus, the great role that religious leaders can play regarding the responsibility to protect is to ensure that religions are lived in such a way that genocides, war crimes, ethnic cleansings or crimes against humanity never happen.

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Greetings to the Bishops of Europe

The Cardinal Secretary of State of His Holiness, His Eminence, Pietro Parolin has sent a Message in the name of the Holy Father, Pope Francis to participants taking part in the annual Plenary Assembly of the Council of Episcopal Conferences of Europe (CCEE) which is taking place this year for the first time in Minsk (Bielorussia) from 28 September to 1 October 2017.  This gathering is dedicated to the theme of youth and to the contribution and mission of the Church in building the common European home.

The Assembly has been moved to Bielorussia in order to meet the local Catholic community and to celebrate together the 750th anniversary of the first mention of the city of Minsk in the Primary Chronicles and the 500th anniversary of the printing of the Bible, the first book to be printed in the Bielorussian language.


Message sent by His Eminence, Pietro Parolin
to participants taking part in the meeting of the
Council of Episcopal Conferences of Europe

To His Eminence Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco
President of the Council
of European Episcopal Conferences

The Holy Father sends his most cordial greetings to the participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Council of European Episcopal Conferences and encourages them to continue the important work aimed at identifying paths of pastoral collaboration between the various countries, appreciating the differences and promoting initiatives of solidarity and fraternity. His Holiness hopes that the meeting may contribute to strengthening the bonds of unity and communion between the European bishops, imparting a further and courageous impetus to the Church’s mission in Europe especially on behalf of young people to help them to discover, in the light of faith, their own vocation in the Christian community and in society.

With such sentiments, he asks that you continue to pray for Him and he willingly imparts the Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican
23 September 2017

Cardinal Pietro Parolin
Secretary of State for His Holiness

Grace is not an ideology

From September 6-11, 2017, Pope Francis was in Colombia, so completing his 20th apostolic voyage. The voyage included a visit on September 10 to the city of Cartagena de Indias, the capital of the region of Bolívar that looks onto the Caribbean Sea to the north of Colombia.  Father Antonio Spadaro, SJ provides some details about a private visit which was held between the Holy Father and his Jesuit brothers which took place in Cartagena earlier this month.  The article was printed in the Jesuit periodical La Civilta Cattolica.

The pope went first to the St. Francis of Assisi Square, and then he went on to the sanctuary of St. Peter Claver, greeting people along the way. After reciting the Angelus in the piazza, he entered the sanctuary and remained in silence some moments before the altar that contains the relics of the saint, laying some flowers that had been given to him by two children.

Some 300 representatives of the Afro-Colombian community served by the Jesuits were in the church. The pope gave a gift to the rector of the sanctuary. Afterwards he went into the inner courtyard where he met privately with representatives of the community of the Society of Jesus made up of 65 religious. Francis was welcomed with song and applause.

Then he sat down and gave thanks for the meeting. Referring to the Society of Jesus he said playfully, I like meeting with the sect, prompting laughter all round. Thank you for what you are doing in Colombia, he said, and continued: Yesterday I was very happy to meet Álvaro Restrepo in Medellín. He was the provincial in Argentina. He used to come to my residence to talk… He’s a great man, very good, very good. Well, I am here for you. I don’t want to make a speech, so if you have some questions or something you want to know, ask me now, that’s best: provoke and inspire me! Somebody immediately asked for a blessing but the pope replied: At the end. When I give my concluding blessing, I’ll bless you all.

Father Carlos Eduardo Correa, SJ, the Jesuit provincial in Colombia, declared: Dear Pope Francis, we are very happy because your message in these days in Colombia has encouraged us in the commitment to reconciliation and peace. We want to say to you that in all our work we want to continue taking these processes forward, so that in this country we can live the fellowship of the Gospel, and for this we want to thank you from our hearts for encouraging us and confirming us in the faith and in hope. Sincere thanks and may God continue to bless your ministry. Francis thanked him for his words.

After the provincial came the rector of the Pontifical University Javeriana, Father Jorge Humberto Peláez, SJ: Your Holiness, this has been a marvellous gift because Colombia has sunk into a state of despair. With this visit we will take not just one step forward but many. You can count on the Javeriana University and the entire educational and pastoral work of the Jesuits for the work of reconciliation. Thank you for this visit. It gives us hope, Your Holiness.

Father Jorge Iván Moreno asks the first question: Dear Francis, I’m pastor of the parish of Saint Rita. The people there love you and appreciate you, and we wrote you a letter a few days ago. I want to know: when you were in San Francisco at those communities at Pie de la Popa, what struck you most? I think it’s the first time you’ve come to Cartagena and I’d like to know: as pontiff, what have you seen while passing through this 'other' Cartagena, as we call it?  His Holiness replied:

Let’s stop at the question, as I think it gives me an opportunity to say something very dear to me. What I noticed and what touched me most was the spontaneity. The people of God there placed no limits on their joyful enthusiasm. Scholars could give a thousand different interpretations, but it was simply the people of God opening out to be welcoming.

For me there was a clear indicator that this wasn’t something prepared beforehand with ready-made slogans: the very culture of these different parts of the people of God, these areas I passed through, expressed itself in complete freedom, praising God. It’s unusual.

Sadly, we are often tempted to evangelize for the people, toward the people, but without the people of God. Everything for the people, but nothing with the people. This way of being, in the final analysis, is due to a liberal and illuminist vision of evangelization. Surely, the first rejection of such a vision comes in Lumen Gentium: the Church is the holy people of God. So, if we want to hear the Church, we have to hear the people of God. People… Today we need to be careful when we speak of people! For someone might say: “you’ll end up being populists,” and they’ll start concocting theories.

But we need to understand that this people is not a category of logic. If you want to speak of people with logical schemes you end up falling into an illuminist and liberal ideology, or a populist one, right … anyway you end up closing the people into an ideologica schema. People, however, refers to a mythical category. And to understand the people we need to immerse ourselves in them, we need to accompany them from within.

To be Church, the holy pilgrim people, faithful to God, requires pastors who let themselves be carried by the reality of the people, which is not a mere ideology: it is vital, it is alive. The grace of God that is present in the life of the people is not an ideology. Certainly, many theologians could explain several important things that need to be known about the theme. But I want to say that grace is not an ideology: it is an embrace, it is something bigger.

When I come to places like Cartagena where people express themselves freely, I see they are expressing themselves as the people of God. Certainly, it is true that some affirm that the people are superstitious.

So I tell them to go and read Paul VI who in Evangelii Nuntiandi n. 48 highlighted the risks involved but also the virtues of the people. He said that popular piety is, yes, open to the penetration of superstition. But he also said that, if it is well-ordered then it is full of values and shows a thirst for God that only the simple and the poor can know. The people of God have a good sense of smell. Perhaps the people struggle to communicate well, and sometimes people get it wrong… But can any of us say, Thank you, Lord, for I have never been wrong? No.

The people of God have a good sense of smell. And sometimes our task as pastors is to be behind the people. A pastor has to take up all three positions: in front to mark out the road, in the middle, to know it, and at the back to ensure nobody falls behind and to let the flock seek the road… and the sheep smell a good pasture. A pastor has to move continually between these three positions. See, this is what your question has prompted me to say.

Good evening, your Holiness, I am Rodolfo Abello, responsible for youth work in the province. I want to ask something along these lines toward which horizon should we be motivating our young people with Ignatian spirituality?

What comes to me is to say something a bit intellectual: put them into the spirituality of the Exercises. What do I mean? I mean, put them in movement, into action. Youth work as pure reflection in small groups no longer works today. This pastoral approach is inactive youth gets no traction. You have to make them move: whether they are practicing or non-practicing, you need to get them up and active.

If they are believers, leading them will be easy. If they are non-believers, you need to let life itself make demands of them, but in action and with accompaniment. Impose nothing, accompany them … in volunteering, working with the elderly, in teaching basic literacy … all appropriate ways for the youth. If we put a young person into action, we facilitate a dynamic where the Lord starts to speak and move the heart of that person. It won’t be for us to stir the heart with our wisdom, at most we can help by using our minds once the heart moves.

Yesterday at Medellin I recalled an event that was very important to me because it came from the heart. At Krakow during lunch with the archbishop and 15 young people from around the world – in every World Youth Day there is such a lunch – they started to ask questions and a dialogue opened up.

A university student asked me: Some of my companions are atheists, what do I have to say to persuade them? I noticed a sense of ecclesial militancy in the young man. The response came to me clearly: The last thing to do is to use words, really, speaking is the very last thing. Start by acting, invite him along, and when he sees what you do and how you do it, then he will ask you, and then you can start to speak.

What I am saying is to get the youth moving, invent things that make them feel as though they are the protagonists and then lead them to ask themselves: What is happening, what has changed my heart, why does this make me happy? Just as in the Exercises when considering interior movements. Obviously though, don’t ask the young people what movements they have experienced because they won’t understand your language.

But let them tell you how they feel, and from there engage with them bit by bit. To do this – and here’s a tip I received from the much loved Fr. Furlong when they made me provincial – you need to have the patience to sit and listen to those who come asking questions, and you need to know how to handle people who want to push you into endless discussions. The youth are tiring, the youth are discussing, so you need this continual mortification of being among them to listen, always and in any way. But for me the key point is the movement.

Jesuit scholastic Jefferson Chaverra put this request to the pope: Your Holiness, firstly, I want to thank you for coming to visit us and for coming to Colombia. Secondly, I don’t want to ask a real question but to make a request in the name of all Afro-Colombians, of all the black people of Colombia. I want to thank you for the many priests and bishops committed to our causes and at the same time tell you, and in your name tell the whole Church, that we blacks in Colombia need greater accompaniment by and engagement with the Church, for our pain and our suffering as black people continues to be enormous, and the workers are still few. Your Holiness, the harvest is great but the labourers are few. Many thanks.

What you say is true. I spoke of this matter you touch on in my talk to the bishops. There is a basic charism for the Colombian Jesuit: a person whose name is Peter Claver. I believe that God has spoken to us through this man. This impresses me. He was just a weak boy, a young Jesuit in formation, yet he spoke so much to the old porter. And the old man nourished his aspirations. How good it would be if the elderly in our Society were to step forward and the youth follow them: this would fulfil the words of Joel: the elderly will dream and the young will prophesy. And so there is a need to prophesy, and to speak with the elderly.

Father Jorge Alberto Camacho, pastor of the St. Peter Claver parish, says to the pope: “Holiness, real thanks to you for being here with us. You have made a present to the sanctuary and we from the sanctuary want to reciprocate with some small tokens. One is the process of canonization of St. Peter Claver. It contains everything that made him a saint, his actions that enable us to work, like you. Fr. Tulio Aristizábal, the eldest member of our community in Cartagena, is 96 and an expert on Saint Peter Claver. He will give you the book.

Father Tulio Aristizábal stands up and, with great emotion, says: My father superior has asked me to give you as a gift the book of the process of canonization of St. Peter Claver. It contains a most interesting section: the sworn declaration of more than 30 slaves who tell us about St. Peter. In my mind, this is the best biography of the saint. I place it in your hands. Pope Francis thanks him.

Father Jorge Alberto Camacho continues: Holiness, the other present we have prepared for you is a program we have been promoting these past three months. We have called it the Pope Francis Ruta Verde or Green Way. It takes the encyclical Laudato Si’ into the popular districts. As a sign of this way, we want to gift you the booklet that we have used with the youngsters in the streets and the t-shirt of the Ruta Verde. At the end we will ask Your Holiness to bless these objects and the saplings of the Ruta Verde, local fruit trees that we have planted in the city.

Father Vicente Durán Casas stands to ask another question: Holy Father, again thank you for your visit. I teach philosophy and I would like to know, and I speak for my teaching colleagues in theology too, what do you expect from philosophical and theological reflection in a country such as ours and in the Church generally?

To start, I’d say let’s not have laboratory reflection. We’ve seen what damage occurred when the great and brilliant Thomist scholastics deteriorated, falling down, down, down to a manualistic scholasticism without life, mere ideas that transformed into a casuistic pastoral approach. At least, in our day we were formed that way … I’d say it was quite ridiculous how, to explain metaphysical continuity, the philosopher Losada spoke of puncta inflata… To demonstrate some ideas, things got ridiculous. He was a good philosopher, but decadent, he didn’t become famous …

So, philosophy not in a laboratory, but in life, in dialogue with reality. In dialogue with reality, philosophers will find the three transcendentals that constitute unity, but they will have a real name. Recall the words of our great writer Dostoyevsky. Like him we must reflect on which beauty will save us, on goodness, on truth. Benedict XVI spoke of truth as an encounter, that is to say no longer a classification, but a road. Always in dialogue with reality, for you cannot do philosophy with a logarithmic table. Besides, nobody uses them anymore.

The same is true for theology, but this does not mean to corrupt theology, depriving it of its purity. Quite the opposite. The theology of Jesus was the most real thing of all; it began with reality and rose up to the Father. It began with a seed, a parable, a fact … and explained them. Jesus wanted to make a deep theology and the great reality is the Lord. I like to repeat that to be a good theologian, together with study you have to be dedicated, awake and seize hold of reality; and you need to reflect on all of this on your knees.

A man who does not pray, a woman who does not pray, cannot be a theologian. They might be a living form of Denzinger, they might know every possible existing doctrine, but they’ll not be doing theology. They’ll be a compendium or a manual containing everything. But today it is a matter of how you express God, how you tell who God is, how you show the Spirit, the wounds of Christ, the mystery of Christ, starting with the Letter to the Philippians 2:7 … How you explain these mysteries and keep explaining them, and how you are teaching the encounter that is grace. As when you read Paul in the Letter to the Romans where there’s the entire mystery of grace and you want to explain it.

I’ll use this question to say something else that I believe should be said out of justice, and also out of charity. In fact I hear many comments – they are respectable for they come from children of God, but wrong – concerning the post-synod apostolic exhortation. To understand Amoris Laetitia you need to read it from the start to the end. Beginning with the first chapter, and to continue to the second and then on … and reflect. And read what was said in the Synod.

A second thing: some maintain that there is no Catholic morality underlying Amoris Laetitia, or at least, no sure morality. I want to repeat clearly that the morality of Amoris Laetitia is Thomist, the morality of the great Thomas. You can speak of it with a great theologian, one of the best today and one of the most mature, Cardinal Schönborn.

I want to say this so that you can help those who believe that morality is purely casuistic. Help them understand that the great Thomas possesses the greatest richness, which is still able to inspire us today. But on your knees, always on your knees …

Before leaving, the Holy Father blessed the Jesuits asking them not to forget to pray for him. Then, after some photos and greetings, he headed for the Monastero di Santo where he lunched with the papal entourage.

At the UN, speaking about human trafficking and protecting victims

Yesterday in New York (USA) at the offices of the United Nations, a Plenary Session of High Level meetings concerning the evaluation of a UN Plan of global action to combat human trafficking is taking place as part of the 72nd session of the General Assembly.

His Excellency, Paul Richard Gallagher, who is acting as the leader of the Holy See's delegation, addressed the gathered assembly yesterday on the subject of evaluating the UN Plan of global action to combat human trafficking and to protect and assist the victims.


Intervention prepared by His Excellency, Paul R. Gallagher
Head of the Holy See's Delegation to the
72nd session of the UN General Assembly
Evaluating the UN Plan of global action to combat human trafficking
27 September 2017

Mister President,

Since the adoption, in 2010, of the United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons in 2010, the extent of the crime of human trafficking across the globe has worsened. Thankfully, however, during the same period, the recognition of the dimensions of the problem, the resources required to respond to it, and the resolve of governments, institutions and individuals to combat it have grown. It is, alas, a meager consolation, because the gap is still growing between our commitments and efforts and the reality confronting victims including the serious dangers that persons in vulnerable situations face every day. Finding effective measures to close this gap is the reason we are gathered here.

One of the most conspicuous and promising signs of the growing resolve to fight trafficking in persons is that three of the 169 targets in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are explicitly dedicated to fighting different dimensions of this modern crime against humanity (Address of Pope Francis to participants in the international conference on combating human trafficking, 10 April 2014).  However, as Pope Francis noted minutes before the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, in his address to the General Assembly: Solemn commitments, although necessary, are not enough. Our commitments to fight this heinous crime must translate into action and puts an end, as quickly as possible, to plagues like human trafficking, the marketing of human organs and tissues, the sexual exploitation of boys and girls, slave labor, including prostitution, and other evils. We must ensure, Pope Francis underlined, that our efforts are truly effective in the struggle against all of these scourges (Meeting with the Members of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization, 25 September 2015). The current appraisal of the Global Plan of Action provides us an opportunity to assess that effectiveness.

My Delegation would like to structure its assessment on the progress of the Plan of Action around the four objectives that underpin it, often referred to as the four Ps: to prevent trafficking in persons by addressing what drives it; to protect and assist victims; to prosecute those involved in the crime of trafficking; and to promote partnerships among governmental institutions and all the stakeholders to eradicate trafficking and rehabilitate survivors.

There has been significant progress in identifying and addressing many of the social, economic, cultural, political and other factors that make people vulnerable to human trafficking, in formulating comprehensive policies and programs, and in developing educational and awareness-raising campaigns. At the same time, however, several of the drivers of vulnerability have worsened, in particular armed conflicts that provoke enormous humanitarian emergencies and forced migration, and the refugee crisis, both of which have exacerbated the dramatic situation faced by people, especially women and children. On the part of each country, the utmost honesty is essential in examining what domestic factors of demand fuel this growing global industry. With regard to cultural factors, the Political Declaration commits the international community to intensify efforts to prevent and address, with a view to eliminating, the demand that fosters trafficking, especially of women and girls, for all forms of exploitation (Political Declaration on the Implementation of the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, paragraph 9). To do so in a resolute way requires a frank and courageous examination of those practices, such as pornography and prostitution, that foster sexually addictive behaviour and the dehumanization of other persons as mere objects of gratification.

Concerning the protection and assistance of victims, my Delegation believes that there is now greater awareness and legal recognition that the victims of trafficking are indeed victims rather than silent partners or, even worse, perpetrators of crime. More services are in place to identify and liberate victims from the clutches of modern slavery, regularize their situation and put them on the path to recovery. Because of the deep traumas suffered, however, there is need for greater recognition that the work of rehabilitation cannot be a brief program but requires a long-term investment to provide the healing and training necessary for the victims to begin a normal, productive and autonomous life.

With regard to the prosecution of crimes of trafficking in persons, there have been various advances in terms of formulating adequate legal instruments to investigate, prosecute and punish traffickers, unlocking the financial chains, understanding the connection to other forms of organized crime and corruption, and fostering cooperation at and across borders. At the same time, however, as the 2016 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons makes clear, there are still very few convictions and too much impunity (2016 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, p. 16).

There has also been progress in the formation of partnerships to strengthen collective action among governments and governmental agencies, academic institutions and the media, civil society and the private sector. The Political Declaration specifically mentions partnerships with and among faith-based organizations (Political Declaration on the Implementation of the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, paragraph 24).  Just to mention an example, the Santa Marta Group, named after the residence of Pope Francis, is an international alliance of police chiefs and bishops working together, at all levels, to promote coordination between law enforcement and faith-based organizations in combatting human trafficking according to the specific competencies of each one. Similarly, the many groups and networks of Catholic religious sisters, coordinated internationally by Talitha Kum, a network of 22 member organizations in 70 countries, show how faith-groups can collaborate with law enforcement authorities and with one another, joining more powerful coalitions with multi-pronged strategies in the fight against trafficking in persons and other contemporary forms of modern slavery.

In his 2015 Message for the World Day of Prayer for Peace, dedicated to the theme of eliminating human trafficking, Pope Francis emphasized this need for partnerships and for a new worldwide solidarity and fraternity to remedy the indifference and exploitation that forms a polluted human ecology, in which human trafficking thrives. We are facing a global phenomenon that exceeds the competence of any one community or country, he wrote. In order to eliminate it, we need a mobilization comparable in size to that of the phenomenon itself (No Longer Slaves, But Brothers and Sisters, Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace, 1 January 2015). The Global Plan of Action is an important part of that mobilization and this appraisal a means to help make the Global Plan increasingly effective. Our efforts must be commensurate to the challenge.

Thank you, Mister President.


Intervention prepared by His Excellency, Paul R. Gallagher
Head of the Holy See's Delegation to the
72nd session of the UN General Assembly
Concerning protection and assistance for victims of human trafficking 
27 September 2017

Interactive Panel Discussion 2
The Global Plan of Action and effective partnerships for the protection of and assistance to victims, including through the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons,
Especially Women and Children, also taking into consideration the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals

Mister Moderator,

In the Political Declaration on the Implementation of the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons adopted at the start of this High-Level Meeting, the international community expresses its solidarity with and compassion for victims and survivors, calls for full respect of their human rights, and commits itself to providing appropriate care, assistance and services for their recovery and rehabilitation, working with civil society and other relevant partners (Political Declaration on the Implementation of the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, paragraph 8). Among such partnerships, it specifically mentions those with and among faith-based organizations (Political Declaration on the Implementation of the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, paragraph 24).

In line with this, the Holy See would like to highlight, at least, some of the recent partnerships that the Catholic Church and Catholic organizations have sought to form in order to protect and assist victims of human trafficking and help combat the larger context of this dark and revolting global scourge.

An essential collaboration is that among the leaders and faithful of different religions in various parts of the world. In December 2014, the Vatican hosted a meeting of religious leaders that led to a Universal Declaration of Faith Leaders Against Slavery, in which all pledged to do all in our power, within our faith communities and beyond, to work together for the freedom of all those who are enslaved and trafficked so that their future may be restored (Faith Leaders’ Universal Declaration Against Slavery, 2014).  At that meeting, Pope Francis thanked his fellow religious leaders for their commitment in favour of the survivors of human trafficking and expressed the conviction that sustained by the ideals of our confessions of faith and by our shared values, we all can and must raise the standard of spiritual values, common effort and the vision of freedom to eradicate slavery from our planet. He also shared his hope that the example of joint inter-religious commitment would summon all people of faith, leaders, governments, businesses, all men and women of good will, to give their strong support and join in the action against modern slavery in all its forms (Pope Francis, At the Ceremony for the Signing of the Faith Leaders’ Universal Declaration against Slavery, 2 December 2014).

Another important form of partnership is among Catholic institutions and organizations. The fight against trafficking in persons remains a very high pastoral priority of Pope Francis, as it was for his predecessors, and Catholic institutions and organizations are in alignment with this fight. I wish to underline in particular the role of women religious, who are on the front line in helping those caught in the snare of human trafficking, especially women and girls, to escape from situations of slavery. With loving concern, they patiently accompany the victims on the long road back to a life lived again in freedom. These women religious work in very difficult situations, mostly dominated by violence. They form networks at multiple levels to coordinate their efforts and share best practices and resources, thus maximizing their impact. The Talitha Kum network brings together 22 associations across 70 countries in 5 continents. It helps victims to rise to a life of restored dignity, recalling the Aramaic words of Jesus to a young girl who was lifeless: Young girl, I say to you, arise (Mark 5:41). While members of the South Asian movement of religious against trafficking now comprise about 200 nuns from 63 congregations working in various countries, the RENATE association coordinates the efforts of women religious in 27 countries of Europe.

The third form of collaboration we would like to mention is the alliance between the Church and the law enforcement authorities called The Santa Marta Group, after the residence of Pope Francis in which it was founded. The reality is that many trafficking survivors struggle to trust law enforcement, making their liberation and the prosecution of their traffickers much more difficult. Experience has shown that it is much easier for them to grow to trust religious sisters, and other Church personnel, who can build up their trust in the legal process and provide them safe haven and other forms of assistance.

Mister Moderator,

The Political Declaration emphasizes in the strongest terms possible the importance of strengthening collective action …to end trafficking in persons (Political Declaration on the Implementation of the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, paragraph 24). The global nature of the trafficking problem and the vile forms of collusion that are involved in perpetrating this crime against people in the most vulnerable situations, require a commensurate response of collaboration, fraternity and solidarity. This is what those enslaved by traffickers urgently and desperately need and what this Panel, this High-Level Meeting, the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, and the 2030 Agenda are all hoping to foster.

Thank you, Mister Moderator.