This morning at 11:30am in the John Paul II Hall of the Holy See Press Office, the first press conference of the Vatican Foundation known as the International Centre for the Family of Nazareth. Present at the press conference were Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, Auxiliary Bishop for Latin Catholics in Jersusalem, and Patriarchal Vicar for Israel (especially in Nazareth).
Speakers at this morning's press conference were Bishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family and Doctor Salvatore Martinez, Italian National President of the Holy Spirit Renewal movement.
Eight years ago, in the month of April 2005, Blessed John Paul II died. While he was alive, the Pope personally told Cardinal Carlo Caffarra (Archbishop of Bologna) that he wanted to be remembered as the Pope of the family.
If we are here today, it is simply because of his untiring attention to families around the world, and our ongoing commitment to giving shape to his dream.
Indeed, it was during the Second World Meeting of Families in Rio de Janeiro, on October 5, 1997, that the idea of an International Centre for the Family of Nazareth was conceived. In preparation for the Jubilee Year 2000, Pope John Paul II called for the construction of this Centre as a sign of encouragement for families around the world. With the invitation that the spirit of the Holy Family of Nazareth reign in all Christian homes, the Pope called for the creation of a genuine conversion and personal renewal in families all over the world. In Rio de Janeiro, Blessed John Paul II blessed an Icon dedicated to the Holy Family of Nazareth, given to him by the Patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins, His Beatitude Michel Sabbah; and the Bishop of Nazareth, His Excellency Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, which was to be placed in the Centre once it was constructed.
Despite the efforts made by Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, the construction of the Centre was not completed in the timeframe and in the manner desired; in fact it seemed at some points that work on the project was going to be abandoned, but in 2009, on the eve of the pastoral trip to the Holy Land by Pope Benedict XVI, the Secretary of State of the Holy See and the new President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, His Eminence, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, decided to renew dedicated efforts toward the realization of the initiative and to verify the willingness of the Ecclesial Renewal Movement in the Spirit to take responsibility for the project.
After several meetings, focusing mainly on the reconsideration of the project and seeking to identify new solutions to logistical difficulties, the Ecclesial Renewal Movement agreed to supporting the project of the International Centre for the Family of Nazareth.
After long and difficult agreements were finally reached with the ecclesiastical, civil and political authorities in Israel, the final design conceived by the architect, Luigi Leoni, in collaboration with Nazarene engineers and consultants was finally approved, and in June of last year in Milan, at the VII World Meeting of Families, the International Centre for the Family of Nazareth was presented as a work in progress of the Pontifical Council for the Family. A video presentation shown during the International Conference on Pastoral Theology, a model displayed in a special stand and brochures in four languages delivered to all participants, enabled families from all over the world to know what we hope to achieve with the collaboration of many friends and by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
On 15 October 2012, the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI, in order to give adequate legal form to the project, ordered the erection of the Vatican Foundation International Centre for the Family of Nazareth, giving it juridical public canonical and legal personality and Vatican approval, as well as the simultaneous approval ad experimentum of its Statute, thus enrolling the Foundation in the registry of legal persons according to civil and canon laws of the Vatican City State. This Foundation was officially established on 18 January 2013 and is based on the premises of the Pontifical Council for the Family. The Foundation is chaired by Dr. Salvatore Martinez, a consultant of our department and President of Renewal in the Spirit, who I thank for his enthusiastic and generous availability. He will explain more precisely the details of the project in a few minutes.
Allow me to explain the deeper meaning of this project.
It was precisely on the Mount of the Precipice in Nazareth on May 14, 2009 that Pope Benedict XVI wanted to reaffirm the significance of his visit and blessed the cornerstone for the Centre. On that day, he said: "Let us pray that strong family life may be promoted in this region, and that Nazareth may offer support and assistance to families everywhere, encouraging them in their irreplaceable mission in society. And further: We all need to return to Nazareth, to contemplate ever anew the silence and love of the Holy Family, the model of all Christian family life.
On the basis of these precious indications, the International Centre for the Family, will pursue the following mission:
Nazareth is a land - today even more than in his day - full of tensions and pain. But perhaps because of it, it is a land that more than any other, claims the right to peace and universal brotherhood. A land where there are still those who have the strength and the ability to dream, even more: to ensure that a dream can become a reality.
Christian families can become co-authors ofhis dream.
The Pontifical Council, the Renewal in the Spirit movement, and many other organizations want to contribute to this great project; we are at their service.
The mission of the Vatican Foundation Centre International Family of Nazareth
In order to remain faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church on the Family, the Foundation aims to promote the spiritual formation and evangelization of the family, as well as to support the pastoral care of families all over the world, and particularly in the Holy Land. To carry out its broad statutory purposes of defense and promotion of the family in its dual subjectivity: social and ecclesial, the Foundation may, in accordance with the laws in force in the respective countries of origin, which recognize local organizations eligible to pursue its purposes, and proceed to the construction of centers for the conduct of its business and / or participate in the creation of institutions or companies and the management of the centers themselves.
The Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of five members, three of which are appointed by Renewal in the Holy Spirit and two appointed by the Pontifical Council for the Family. The Foundation was established by the Pontifical Council for the Family on January 18 and this Pontifical Council gave us the first statutory obligations, acting - among other things - as key to the establishment of three committees that will support the work of the Board of Directors (Honorary , Promoter and Scientific) with experts from five continents, and the creation of a Portal of the Family.
I thank the President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Bishop Vincenzo Paglia, for the friendship and prompt collaboration that he immediately wanted to ensure for the Project, in profound harmony with the President Emeritus of the Congregation, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, his predecessor. We received with great joy and not a little trepidation, aware of the great challenge that lies before us, the invitation to build, manage and animate the House of the Pope in the Holy Land, a special spiritual home for families around the world and a concrete sign of closeness especially to the families of the Middle East, who have been part of the blessed living memory of the People of God since Christianity began.
We want the International Centre for the Family of Nazareth to become a privileged place for the spreading of the Gospel of the Family, a window on the beautiful, the good, the true, the just and the witness that the family speaks to the world, actively involving pastoral offices, Universities, Research Centres dedicated to family Movements, Communities and Associations of purpose, many benefactors who see in the trio Father, Family, Holy Land, a new and interesting opportunity for generously supporting the cause of the family.
This world of ours, gripped by crises, yearns for a more fraternal humanity, more focused on the family than on any measure of the good of the state or of any market. If it takes a family, it follows that we need a home! Because a home is not only a social indication of the existence of a family, but it also signals the spiritual power of love that generates life. The house is not only a living space, but also a place where all neighborhood relations are established and tested. Learn to love by loving! In the end, In the end man can not live except in love and he cannot have that which he has not yet experienced. That's why we want the prophecy of Nazareth to never be extinguished in the heart of Nations.
In Nazareth, the place where it all started and where it all begins again.
In Nazareth, where humanity has known the truly unique model of the Holy Family, a model that everyone can appreciate and emulate.
In Nazareth, a place among the most peaceful of places in all the Holy Land, the city preserved by God, where Christians account for 40% of the population, compared with around 1% of the other cities of Israel. It is a record, that Nazareth, which shows us the vitality of the tradition of the Christian family is a story that can model new love for family life around the world, even in ecumenical and interreligious circles.
The International Centre for the Family - Nazareth
The centre will be built on top of the hill overlooking the town of Nazareth and the Basilica of the Annunciation, in a dominant position of particular scenic beauty, with a view that includes Mount Precipice, Tabor and even Mount Carmel. The International Centre for the Family is and will always remain property of the Holy See.
The Centre, on land owned by the Holy See and a neighboring property, will consist of two buildings over an area of one hectare and, once fully operational, will consist of:
The finished construction of the Centre, with furnishings and technological fittings will cost approximately € 12 million, based on the forecasts produced by local craftsmen and technicians and advisers chosen in agreement by a committee composed of representatives of the Vatican Secretariat of State and Renewal in the Spirit, under the auspices of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem of the Latins.
The Portal of the Family
The Portal of the Family is a unique proposal on the international scene. Created with the aim of ensuring a wide range of free services for all families, under the horizontal subsidiarity and in the name of gift economy, to support the choices and needs that grandparents, parents and children meet every day in the journey of life. The observation of reality tells us how precious this attention to the ordinariness of married life, parenting, social and ecclesial family is. Too often families are left to themselves, they lack adequate information to support the choices to be made; nor are they helped in terms of material, moral and spiritual dimensions in times of trial.
The portal, initially online in Italian, but intended to have similar projects in other countries and languages of the world, opens the door to the solutions put forward by families through the collaboration of many volunteers from among experts or representatives of organizations and associations that pursue adequate means for the intended purposes and those who have decided to take part in the project: doctors, psychologists, economists, lawyers, educators, priests ... all of whom can interact with families. But it will also involve communication experts and travel agencies, providing advise, for example, regarding a film or a book to read, a holiday or a pilgrimage to arrange.
The portal will also serve to increase awareness among families about opportunities to experience reports of self-help through the sharing of services and the facilitation of new mediations for better assistance for families by dedicated organizations and institutions. The vitality of the family should also include the ability to overcome isolation and to open themselves to others by serving others. So the story is not resigned to suffering the spirit of death and can revive the power of family friendly love.
Speakers at this morning's press conference were Bishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family and Doctor Salvatore Martinez, Italian National President of the Holy Spirit Renewal movement.
Intervention of His Excellency, Vincenzo Paglia
President of the Pontifical Council for the Family
Eight years ago, in the month of April 2005, Blessed John Paul II died. While he was alive, the Pope personally told Cardinal Carlo Caffarra (Archbishop of Bologna) that he wanted to be remembered as the Pope of the family.
If we are here today, it is simply because of his untiring attention to families around the world, and our ongoing commitment to giving shape to his dream.
Indeed, it was during the Second World Meeting of Families in Rio de Janeiro, on October 5, 1997, that the idea of an International Centre for the Family of Nazareth was conceived. In preparation for the Jubilee Year 2000, Pope John Paul II called for the construction of this Centre as a sign of encouragement for families around the world. With the invitation that the spirit of the Holy Family of Nazareth reign in all Christian homes, the Pope called for the creation of a genuine conversion and personal renewal in families all over the world. In Rio de Janeiro, Blessed John Paul II blessed an Icon dedicated to the Holy Family of Nazareth, given to him by the Patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins, His Beatitude Michel Sabbah; and the Bishop of Nazareth, His Excellency Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, which was to be placed in the Centre once it was constructed.
Despite the efforts made by Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, the construction of the Centre was not completed in the timeframe and in the manner desired; in fact it seemed at some points that work on the project was going to be abandoned, but in 2009, on the eve of the pastoral trip to the Holy Land by Pope Benedict XVI, the Secretary of State of the Holy See and the new President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, His Eminence, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, decided to renew dedicated efforts toward the realization of the initiative and to verify the willingness of the Ecclesial Renewal Movement in the Spirit to take responsibility for the project.
After several meetings, focusing mainly on the reconsideration of the project and seeking to identify new solutions to logistical difficulties, the Ecclesial Renewal Movement agreed to supporting the project of the International Centre for the Family of Nazareth.
After long and difficult agreements were finally reached with the ecclesiastical, civil and political authorities in Israel, the final design conceived by the architect, Luigi Leoni, in collaboration with Nazarene engineers and consultants was finally approved, and in June of last year in Milan, at the VII World Meeting of Families, the International Centre for the Family of Nazareth was presented as a work in progress of the Pontifical Council for the Family. A video presentation shown during the International Conference on Pastoral Theology, a model displayed in a special stand and brochures in four languages delivered to all participants, enabled families from all over the world to know what we hope to achieve with the collaboration of many friends and by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
On 15 October 2012, the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI, in order to give adequate legal form to the project, ordered the erection of the Vatican Foundation International Centre for the Family of Nazareth, giving it juridical public canonical and legal personality and Vatican approval, as well as the simultaneous approval ad experimentum of its Statute, thus enrolling the Foundation in the registry of legal persons according to civil and canon laws of the Vatican City State. This Foundation was officially established on 18 January 2013 and is based on the premises of the Pontifical Council for the Family. The Foundation is chaired by Dr. Salvatore Martinez, a consultant of our department and President of Renewal in the Spirit, who I thank for his enthusiastic and generous availability. He will explain more precisely the details of the project in a few minutes.
Allow me to explain the deeper meaning of this project.
It was precisely on the Mount of the Precipice in Nazareth on May 14, 2009 that Pope Benedict XVI wanted to reaffirm the significance of his visit and blessed the cornerstone for the Centre. On that day, he said: "Let us pray that strong family life may be promoted in this region, and that Nazareth may offer support and assistance to families everywhere, encouraging them in their irreplaceable mission in society. And further: We all need to return to Nazareth, to contemplate ever anew the silence and love of the Holy Family, the model of all Christian family life.
On the basis of these precious indications, the International Centre for the Family, will pursue the following mission:
- A Centre of Spirituality, family, training in parenting and family life, pastoral care for catechists to prepare for new evangelization, church-based activities and social aspects of the family.
- Permanent Observatory studies on family ministry in the world and especially in the Holy Land and the Middle East (family and media, family and social welfare, family and education, family education, family and leisure, family and interreligious realities) in collaboration with the bishops' conferences around the world, with Catholic Universities, with international institutions of Christian inspiration at the service of the family.
- Supporting material for families in need, especially in the Holy Land, through international projects for fund raising.
- The pivotal role of the family in the constuction of human society;
- The fruitfulness of the Christian family as the subject of the evangelizing mission of the Church;
- Attention paid to the various players (men and women, elderly and children);
- The fundamental centrality of the Word of God should be the focus of the path of each family of believers.
Nazareth is a land - today even more than in his day - full of tensions and pain. But perhaps because of it, it is a land that more than any other, claims the right to peace and universal brotherhood. A land where there are still those who have the strength and the ability to dream, even more: to ensure that a dream can become a reality.
Christian families can become co-authors ofhis dream.
The Pontifical Council, the Renewal in the Spirit movement, and many other organizations want to contribute to this great project; we are at their service.
Intervention of Doctor Salvatore Martinez
Italian National President of the
Holy Spirit Renewal movement
The mission of the Vatican Foundation Centre International Family of Nazareth
In order to remain faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church on the Family, the Foundation aims to promote the spiritual formation and evangelization of the family, as well as to support the pastoral care of families all over the world, and particularly in the Holy Land. To carry out its broad statutory purposes of defense and promotion of the family in its dual subjectivity: social and ecclesial, the Foundation may, in accordance with the laws in force in the respective countries of origin, which recognize local organizations eligible to pursue its purposes, and proceed to the construction of centers for the conduct of its business and / or participate in the creation of institutions or companies and the management of the centers themselves.
The Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of five members, three of which are appointed by Renewal in the Holy Spirit and two appointed by the Pontifical Council for the Family. The Foundation was established by the Pontifical Council for the Family on January 18 and this Pontifical Council gave us the first statutory obligations, acting - among other things - as key to the establishment of three committees that will support the work of the Board of Directors (Honorary , Promoter and Scientific) with experts from five continents, and the creation of a Portal of the Family.
I thank the President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Bishop Vincenzo Paglia, for the friendship and prompt collaboration that he immediately wanted to ensure for the Project, in profound harmony with the President Emeritus of the Congregation, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, his predecessor. We received with great joy and not a little trepidation, aware of the great challenge that lies before us, the invitation to build, manage and animate the House of the Pope in the Holy Land, a special spiritual home for families around the world and a concrete sign of closeness especially to the families of the Middle East, who have been part of the blessed living memory of the People of God since Christianity began.
We want the International Centre for the Family of Nazareth to become a privileged place for the spreading of the Gospel of the Family, a window on the beautiful, the good, the true, the just and the witness that the family speaks to the world, actively involving pastoral offices, Universities, Research Centres dedicated to family Movements, Communities and Associations of purpose, many benefactors who see in the trio Father, Family, Holy Land, a new and interesting opportunity for generously supporting the cause of the family.
This world of ours, gripped by crises, yearns for a more fraternal humanity, more focused on the family than on any measure of the good of the state or of any market. If it takes a family, it follows that we need a home! Because a home is not only a social indication of the existence of a family, but it also signals the spiritual power of love that generates life. The house is not only a living space, but also a place where all neighborhood relations are established and tested. Learn to love by loving! In the end, In the end man can not live except in love and he cannot have that which he has not yet experienced. That's why we want the prophecy of Nazareth to never be extinguished in the heart of Nations.
In Nazareth, the place where it all started and where it all begins again.
In Nazareth, where humanity has known the truly unique model of the Holy Family, a model that everyone can appreciate and emulate.
In Nazareth, a place among the most peaceful of places in all the Holy Land, the city preserved by God, where Christians account for 40% of the population, compared with around 1% of the other cities of Israel. It is a record, that Nazareth, which shows us the vitality of the tradition of the Christian family is a story that can model new love for family life around the world, even in ecumenical and interreligious circles.
The International Centre for the Family - Nazareth
The centre will be built on top of the hill overlooking the town of Nazareth and the Basilica of the Annunciation, in a dominant position of particular scenic beauty, with a view that includes Mount Precipice, Tabor and even Mount Carmel. The International Centre for the Family is and will always remain property of the Holy See.
The Centre, on land owned by the Holy See and a neighboring property, will consist of two buildings over an area of one hectare and, once fully operational, will consist of:
- an auditorium with 500 seats,
- a diocesan pastoral centre,
- meeting and study rooms,
- a church with 500 seats,
- a residential accommodation for the Community,
- a hotel with 100 rooms and a restaurant designed to be family-friendly,
- a Game Room and outdoor entertainment for children,
- outdoor corridors, car parks and leisure areas.
The finished construction of the Centre, with furnishings and technological fittings will cost approximately € 12 million, based on the forecasts produced by local craftsmen and technicians and advisers chosen in agreement by a committee composed of representatives of the Vatican Secretariat of State and Renewal in the Spirit, under the auspices of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem of the Latins.
The Portal of the Family
The Portal of the Family is a unique proposal on the international scene. Created with the aim of ensuring a wide range of free services for all families, under the horizontal subsidiarity and in the name of gift economy, to support the choices and needs that grandparents, parents and children meet every day in the journey of life. The observation of reality tells us how precious this attention to the ordinariness of married life, parenting, social and ecclesial family is. Too often families are left to themselves, they lack adequate information to support the choices to be made; nor are they helped in terms of material, moral and spiritual dimensions in times of trial.
The portal, initially online in Italian, but intended to have similar projects in other countries and languages of the world, opens the door to the solutions put forward by families through the collaboration of many volunteers from among experts or representatives of organizations and associations that pursue adequate means for the intended purposes and those who have decided to take part in the project: doctors, psychologists, economists, lawyers, educators, priests ... all of whom can interact with families. But it will also involve communication experts and travel agencies, providing advise, for example, regarding a film or a book to read, a holiday or a pilgrimage to arrange.
The portal will also serve to increase awareness among families about opportunities to experience reports of self-help through the sharing of services and the facilitation of new mediations for better assistance for families by dedicated organizations and institutions. The vitality of the family should also include the ability to overcome isolation and to open themselves to others by serving others. So the story is not resigned to suffering the spirit of death and can revive the power of family friendly love.
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