General Audience on the Liturgy of the Word

This morning's General Audience began at 9:40am in Saint Peter's Square, where the Holy Father, Pope Francis met with groups of pilgrims and the faithful from Italy and from every corner of the world.

In his speech, the Pope continued his catechesis on the Mass, adding his meditation on the Liturgy of the Word: a dialogue between God and his people (Letter to the Hebrews 1:1-2).

After having summarized his catechesis in various languages, the Holy Father offered greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance.

The General Audience concluded with the chanting of the Pater Noster and the Apostolic blessing.

Catechesis of the Holy Father, Pope Francis

for the General Audience

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

Today, we continue the catechesis on the Mass.  After dwelling on the introductory rites, we now consider the Liturgy of the Word, which is a constitutive part because we gather to listen to what God has done and still intends to do for us.  It is an experience that takes place live and not by hearsay, because when the Church reads the sacred Scriptures, God himself speaks to his people and Christ, who is present in his word, proclaims the gospel (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 29; Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7, 33).  How many times, while the Word of God is read, do we hear comments: Look at that ... look at that ...; look at the hat that that lady is wearing, it's ridiculous ... and the comments begin.  Isn't it true?  Should comments be made while we are reading the Word of God? (The people respond: No!)  No, because if you are chatting with people, you are not listening to the Word of God.  When we read the Word of God in the bible - the first Reading, the second, the responsorial psalm and the gospel - we should listen, open our hearts, because it is God himself who is speaking and we shouldn't be thinking about other things or speaking about such things.  Do you understand? ... I will explain to you what happens in the Liturgy of the Word.

The pages of the bible are a written record of the living word, pronounced by God.  It is God who, through the person who is reading, speaks and compels us who are listening in faith.  The Spirit who has spoken through the prophets (Nicene Creed) and who has inspired the sacred authors, causes the word of God to truly work in our hearts to bring about that which resounds in our ears (Lectionary, Introduction, 9).  But in order for us to listen to the Word of God, we must also have open hearts in order to receive the word in our hearts.  God speaks and we listen to him, in order to then put into practice what we have heard.  It is very important for us to listen.  At times, we may not understand why there are some difficult readings, but God speaks to us the same thing in another way.  We need to be silent, to listen to the Word of God.  Let us not forget this.  At Mass, when the readings begin, let us listen to the Word of God.

We need to listen!  In fact, it is a question of life, as the incisive expression reminds us that mankind does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Mt 4:4): the life that the Word of God gives us.  In this sense, we speak of the Liturgy of the Word as the table which the Lord sets in order to feed our spiritual life.  The table of the liturgy is an abundant table which draws largely from the treasures of the Bible (cf SC, 51), both the Old Testament and the New, because in these, the Church is proclaimed as the unique and particular mystery of Christ (cf Lectionary, Introduction, 5).  Let us consider the richness of the biblical readings offered in the three Sunday cycles which, in the light of the Synoptic gospels, accompany us throughout the liturgical year: a great treasure.  Here I also want to recall the importance of the responsorial Psalm, which serves to favour meditation on what we have heard in the reading that has preceded it.  It is good that the Psalm should be enhanced by being sung, or at least that the refrain should be sung (cf GIRM, 61; Lectionary, Introduction, 19-22).

The liturgical proclamation of these readings, with the songs taken from Sacred Scripture, expresses and favours ecclesial communion, accompanying the journey that we all are on.  We can therefore understand why some subjective choices, like the omission of some readings or substituting non-biblical texts are prohibited.  I have heard that someone, if there is news to share, reads the newspaper during the Mass instead of the scriptures because it is the news of the day.  No!  The Word of God is the Word of God!  We can read the newspapers afterwards.  But in the midst of the Mass, we read the Word of God.  It is the Lord who speaks.  Substituting his Word with other things impoverishes and compromises the dialogue between God and his people in prayer.  On the contrary, this requires the dignity of the ambo and the use of the Lectionary (The criteria and arrangement of the readings of the Mass in the Roman Rite are described in the Introduction of the Lectionary), the availability of good readers and psalmists.  We need to seek out good readers!, those who know how to read, not those who read but cripple the words and who don't understand anything of what they read.  Good readers.  They must prepare themselves to face the test before Mass in order to read well.  And this creates a climate of receptive silence (The Liturgy of the Word should be celebrated in such a way as to promote meditation; therefore it is absolutely necessary that we avoid every form of haste that hinders recollection.  In this, there are also opportune moments of silence, suitable for the assembly, through which, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the word of God can be received in the heart and our answer can be prepared with prayer (GIRM, 56)).

We know that the word of the Lord is an indispensable help in order for us not to lose ourselves, as the Psalmist, turning to God, confesses: Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path (Psalm 119:105).  How can we face our earthly pilgrimage, with all its labours and trials, without being regularly nourished and illuminated by the Word of God that resounds in the liturgy?

Certainly it is not enough for us to hear this Word with our ears, without welcoming into our hearts the seeds of this divine Word, allowing it to bear fruit.  Let us remember the parable of the sower and the different results he achieved based on the different types of soil (cf Mk 4:14-20).  The actions of the Spirit, which makes our response effective, needs hearts that are willing to allow themselves to be cultivated, in order that when we hear the Mass, it can become part of our daily lives according to the admonition of the Apostle James:  Be like those who put the Word into practice, and not simply listen to it, deluding yourselves (James 1:22).  The Word of God creates a journey within us.  We hear it with our ears and it passes into our hearts; it does not remain in our ears, it must continue to our hearts; and from our hearts, it passes into our hands, transformed into good works.  This is the journey that the Word of God travels: from our ears to our hearts and into our hands.  Let us learn these things.  Thank you!



The Holy Father's catechesis was then summarized in various languages, and His Holiness offered greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance.  To English-speaking people, he said:

I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from Australia and from the United States of America. Upon all of you, and your families, I invoke the joy and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you!

Investigations taking place in Chile

During the Press Conference granted to journalists aboard the flight from Lima (Perú) to Rome last week, the Holy Father spoke about the case of His Excellency, Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid, Bishop of Osorno (Chile).

Today, the Director of the Holy See Press Centre, Mister Greg Burke revealed that Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna has been sent to Chile to receive information on the case of Bishop Juan Barros.  The Holy See Press Office issued the following statement concerning Pope Francis' decision to send Achbishop Charles Scicluna to Chile to hear information concerning the case of Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno:

Regarding some recently received information concerning the case of Bishop Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid, Bishop of Osorno (Chile), the Holy Father arranged for Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna, Archbishop of Malta and President of the College for the examination of appeals (in matters of delicta graviora) for the Ordinary Session of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to go to Santiago de Chile to listen to those who have expressed the will to submit elements in their possession.

A call for conscience

His Excellency, Marcel Damphousse, Bishop of Sault Ste. Marie has issued a letter addressed to all parishioners of the Diocese in which he renews a call for us to get involved in the Call for Conscience campaign in order to add our voices to those who are already calling on the government to provide protection for the conscience rights of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals who are asked to participate in cases of assisted suicide or euthanasia.

Below is the text of a letter which was issued this week.

Dear parishioners,

In 2017, many Churches across the province were involved in the Call for Conscience campaign to advocate for the protection of conscience rights of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals who are asked to participate in assisted suicide/euthanasia. Despite more than 30,000 letters sent to Members of Provincial Parliament (MPP’s), this campaign did not achieve its desired goal: legislation that would protect health care workers from being forced to participate in causing the death of their patients. Health care workers in Ontario are being forced to choose between their careers and their conscience.

Ontario remains one of the few jurisdictions in the world without adequate protection for conscientious objectors. As a provincial election will be held this June, we need your help to highlight this issue for MPP’s and those seeking office. The 2018 Call for Conscience campaign pursues the following goals:

1) To renew the call to protect the right of health care professionals to abstain from any involvement in causing the death of their patients.

2) To provide protection for faith-based facilities that do not wish to participate in assisted suicide/euthanasia.

3) To ask elected Members of Provincial Parliament (MPP’s) and those seeking office to increase access and funding for palliative care in Ontario.

I encourage you to participate in this campaign by contacting MPP’s and candidates in your riding, as well as leaders of the Parties, to express your concern. You will find helpful information and documents, as well as sample letters by clicking here. Another way of supporting the campaign would be to sign up on the Coalition for Health Care and Conscience website. You would then receive monthly newsletters.

Yours in Christ,
+Marcel Damphousse
Bishop of Sault Ste. Marie

Bishop's Office (Sudbury, ON)
4 February 2018

Constitution on Church-run Universities

This morning, the Holy See Press Centre published the text of the Holy Father's newest Apostolic Constitution concerning Universities and Ecclesiastical Faculties.

Apostolic Constitution: Veritatis Gaudium

On Ecclesiastical Universities and Faculties

Pope Francis has issued a new Apostolic Constitution entitled Veritatis gaudium (The Joy of Truth), in which He revisies the norms governing Ecclesiastical Universities and Faculties – that is, institutions granting pontifical degrees in fields such as theology, philosophy, and canon law, as well as numerous other disciplines.

Updating Sapientia christiana

The new document updates the previous Apostolic Constitution, Sapientia christiana, issued in 1979 in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. Since its promulgation, Sapientia christiana has been amended three times, and other normative texts have been published, including the Code of Canon Law and the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. In addition, the Holy See has entered into various agreements concerning higher education and the awarding of academic degrees. The work of producing a new Apostolic Constitution which takes account of these changes was entrusted by Pope Francis to the Congregation for Catholic Education.

In a press conference introducing Veritatis gaudium, (held earlier today at the Holy See's Press Centre, the Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, said that the Holy Father had encouraged their work in an address on 13 February 2014: The 50th anniversary of the Conciliar Declaration, Gravissimum Educationis, the 25th anniversary of Ex corde Ecclesiae and the updating of Sapientia christiana, lead us to reflect seriously on the many formational institutions around the world and on their duty to be an expression of a living presence of the Gospel in the field of education, of science and of culture.

Cardinal Versaldi said Pope Francis made the decision to issue a new Apostolic Constitution after being presented with the revision of Sapientia christiana. The new Constitution, he said, indicates the meaning and the basic criteria for a renewal and a revival of ecclesiastical studies, especially in light of the missionary orientation of the Church, as described in Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium.

What's new

Following Cardinal Versaldi’s presentation at the press conference, the Secretary of the Congregation, Archbishop Angelo Vincenzo Zani highlighted some of the most important innovations in the Veritatis gaudium. In particular, he mentioned the significance of bringing all ecclesiastical universities and faculties into line with the Holy See’s Agency for the Evaluation and Promotion of Quality in Ecclesiastical Universities and Faculties (AVEPRO). Archbishop Zani also noted the guidelines governing relations between ecclesiastical academic institutions and their civil counterparts.

Notably, Archishop Zani said Veritatis gaudium makes provisions for distance learning, the possibilities for which have increased significantly since the publication of Sapientia christiana. The new Constitution also includes regulations concerning migrants and refugees, requiring ecclesiastical institutions to adopt procedures to provide for those who may not possess the required documentation for admittance.

The entire text of the new Apostolic Constitution, Veritatis gaudium is available on the Vatican website.

Greetings for the Vatican's Supreme Court

At 10:30am today (EST+6) in the Consistory Hall at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the Prelate Auditors, the Officials, the Advocates and the Collaborators who are part of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota (the Vatican's Supreme Court) who are marking the solemn inauguration of the Judicial Year.

Following a few words of introduction from the Dean of the Roman Rota's Tribunal, His Excellency, Pio Vito Pinto, the Pope shared the following greetings.

Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis

offered to the Tribunal of the Roman Rota

Dear Prelates and Auditors,

I cordially greet you, beginning with your Dean, who I wish to thank for his words.  Together with you, I greet the officials, the advocates and all the collaborators who work with the Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota.  I wish you every good for the judicial year which begins today.

Today, I wish to reflect with you on a qualifying aspect of your judicial service, which is the centrality of conscience, which is at the same time the central concern for each of you and for the persons whose cases you are studying.  In fact, your activity is also expressed as a ministry of peace for consciences and needs to be exercised in full conscience, as is well expressed in the formula with which your Sentences are issued ad consulendum conscientiae o ut consulatur conscientiae (to provide for the conscience of conscience or considered as advised by conscience).

Regarding the declaration of nullity or validity of the marriage bond, you place yourselves - in a certain sense - as experts in the consciences of the Christian faithful.  In this role, you are called to incessantly invoke divine assistance in order to carry out in humility the serious task entrusted to you by the Church, thus demonstrating the connection between moral certitude, which the judge must achieve ex actis et probatis, and his conscience, known only to the Holy Spirit and assisted by him.  In fact, thanks to the light of the Holy Spirit, we are given the privilege of entering into the sacred sphere of the conscience of the faithful.  It is significant that the ancient prayer of the Adsumus, which was proclaimed at the beginning of every session of the Second Vatican Council, is still recited with such frequency within your Tribunal.

The sphere of conscience has been very dear to the Fathers of the last two Synods of Bishops, and it has resonated significantly in the Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia.  This derives from the awareness that the Successor of Peter and the Synod Fathers have matured concerning the urgent need for the Pastors of the Church to listen to the expectations and the requests put forward by the faithful who have muted their consciences and considered them absent for so long and who, years later, were helped by God and by life to rediscover some light, turning to the Church in order to have peace within their consciences.

Conscience assumes a decisive role in the demanding choices that couples must face to welcome and build the conjugal union and hence the family according to God’s plan. The Church, a tender mother, ut consulatur conscientiae of the faithful in need of truth, has recognized the need to invite those who work in the pastoral care of marriage and family to obtain a renewed awareness in helping engaged couples to build and preserve the intimate sanctuary of their Christian conscience. In this regard, I would like to point out that in the two Documents in the form of a Motu proprio, enacted for the reform of the marriage annulment process, I have urged the establishment of the diocesan pastoral investigation in order not only to make the process more rapid, but also more just, in due knowledge of the causes and reasons that are the cause of the failure of marriage. On the other hand, in the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, pastoral pathways have been indicated to help engaged couples to enter without fear into discernment and in the consequent choice of the future conjugal and family life, describing in the first five chapters the extraordinary richness of the conjugal covenant as designed by God in the Scriptures and lived by the Church throughout history.

A continuous experience of faith, hope and charity is all the more necessary so that young people may again decide, with a sure and serene conscience, that conjugal union open to the gift of children is great joy for God, for the Church, for humanity. The synodal journey of reflection on marriage and the family, and the subsequent Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, have had an obligatory path and purpose: how to save young people from the din and deafening noise of the ephemeral, which leads them to shy away from stable and positive commitments for the individual and collective good. A conditioning that silences the voice of their freedom, of that intimate cell – indeed, the conscience – that God alone illuminates and opens to life, if He is allowed to enter.

How valuable and urgent is the pastoral action of the whole Church for the recovery, safeguarding, protection of a Christian conscience, illuminated by Gospel values! It will be a long undertaking and not easy, requiring bishops and presbyters to work indefatigably to enlighten, defend and support the Christian conscience of our people. The synodal voice of the bishop Fathers and the subsequent Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia thus ensured a basic point: the necessary relationship between the regula fidei, that is, the fidelity of the Church to the untouchable Magisterium on marriage, as well as on the Eucharist, and the urgent attention of the Church herself to the psychological and religious processes of all persons called to the choice of marriage and family. Welcoming the wishes expressed by the Synod Fathers, I have already had the opportunity to recommend a marriage catechumenate, intended as an indispensable itinerary for young people and couples destined to revive their Christian conscience, sustained by the grace of the two sacraments, baptism and marriage.

As I have reiterated on other occasions, the catechumenate is unique in itself, as it is baptismal, rooted in baptism, and at the same time in life it necessitates a permanent character, inasmuch as the grace of the sacrament of marriage is permanent, that precisely because grace is the fruit of mystery, whose wealth can only be safeguarded and assisted in the conscience of spouses as individuals and as couples. These are in fact figures peculiar to that incessant cura animarum which is the raison d’être of the Church, and of us as Pastors first of all.

However, the care of consciences can not be the exclusive concern of Pastors; rather, with different responsibilities and methods, it is the mission of all, ministers and baptized faithful. Blessed Paul VI exhorted absolute fidelity to safeguard the 'regula fidei' (Paul VI, Teachings XV, 1977, 663), which enlightens the conscience and can not be obscured or detached. To do this – says Paul VI – it is necessary to avoid opposing extremisms, both by those who appeal to tradition to justify their disobedience to the supreme Magisterium and to the Ecumenical Council, and by those who uproot from themselves from the ecclesial humus by corrupting the genuine doctrine of the Church; both attitudes are a sign of undue and perhaps subconscious subjectivism, when it is not unfortunately of obstinacy, of stubbornness, of imbalance; these positions wound the heart of the Church, Mother and Teacher (Paul VI, Teachings XIV, 1976, 500).

Faith is a light that illuminates not only the present but also the future: marriage and family are the future of the Church and of society. It is therefore necessary to promote a state of permanent catechumenate so that the consciousness of the baptized is open to the light of the Spirit. The sacramental intention is never the result of automatism, but always of a conscience illuminated by faith, as the result of a combination of the human and the divine. In this sense, spousal union can be said to be true only if the human intention of the spouses is oriented to what Christ and the Church want. To make the future spouses more aware of this, we need the contribution not only of bishops and priests, but also of other people involved in pastoral care, religious and lay faithful who are jointly responsible in the mission of the Church.

Dear judges of the Roman Rota, the close connection between the sphere of conscience and that of the matrimonial processes that you deal with daily, demands avoiding that the exercise of justice be reduced to a mere bureaucratic accomplishment. If the ecclesiastical tribunals were to fall to this temptation, they would betray the Christian conscience. This is why, in the processus brevior procedure, I established not only that the supervisory role of the diocesan bishop be made more evident, but also that he himself, a native judge in the Church entrusted to him, considers in the first instance possible cases of matrimonial nullity. We must ensure that the conscience of the faithful in difficulty as regards their marriage does not close up to a path of grace. This aim is achieved through pastoral accompaniment, discernment of consciences (see Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, 242) and the work of our tribunals. This work must take place in wisdom and in the search for truth: only in this way can the declaration of nullity produce a liberation of consciences.

I reaffirm my gratitude to every one of you for the good you do to God’s people, serving justice. I invoke divine assistance on your work and I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing to you.
(Original text in Italian; translation by Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

The fight against anti-semitism continues

At 9:15am this morning (3:15am EST), in the Consistory Hall at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience those who are participating in an International Conference on the responsibility of States, Institutions and Individuals in the fight against anti-semitism and crimes related to anti-semitic hatred.  The conference is taking place today in Rome at the Ministry of External Affairs and International Cooperation.

The conference is organized in cooperation with the OSCE, with the support of the ODIHR (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights) and in collaboration with the Union of Italian Jewish Communities and the Centre for Contemporary Jewish Documentation.

Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis

for the meeting with participants

Dear friends,

I offer you a warm welcome and thank you for your presence here. I am grateful for the noble aim that brings you here: to reflect together, from varying points of view, on the responsibility of States, institutions and individuals in the struggle against anti-Semitism and crimes associated with anti-Semitic hatred. I would like to emphasize one word: responsibility. We are responsible when we are able to respond. It is not merely a question of analyzing the causes of violence and refuting their perverse reasoning, but of being actively prepared to respond to them. Thus, the enemy against which we fight is not only hatred in all of its forms, but even more fundamentally, indifference; for it is indifference that paralyzes and impedes us from doing what is right even when we know that it is right.

I do not grow tired of repeating that indifference is a virus that is dangerously contagious in our time, a time when we are ever more connected with others, but are increasingly less attentive to others. And yet the global context should help us understand that none of us is an island and none will have a future of peace without one that is worthy for all. The Book of Genesis helps us to understand that indifference is an insidious evil crouching at man’s door (cf Gen 4:7). It is the subject of debate between the creature and his Creator at the beginning of history, as soon as the Creator asks Cain: Where is your brother? But Cain, who has just killed his brother, does not reply to the question, does not explain where. On the contrary, he protests that he is autonomous: Am I my brother’s keeper? (Gn 4:9). His brother does not interest him: here is the root of perversity, the root of death that produces desperation and silence. I recall the roar of the deafening silence I sensed two years ago in Auschwitz-Birkenau: a disturbing silence that leaves space only for tears, for prayer and for the begging of forgiveness.

Faced with the virus of indifference, the root of hatred, what vaccine can we administer? The Book of Deuteronomy comes to our aid. After a long journey through the desert, Moses addressed a basic counsel to the Chosen People: Remember your whole journey (Deut 8:2). To the people longing for the promised future, wisdom was suggesting one looks back, turning one’s glance to the steps already completed. And Moses did not simply say, think of the journey, but remember, or bring alive; do not let the past die. Remember, that is, return with your heart: do not only form the memory in your mind, but in the depths of your soul, with your whole being. And do not form a memory only of what you like, but of your whole journey. We have just celebrated International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In order to recover our humanity, to recover our human understanding of reality and to overcome so many deplorable forms of apathy towards our neighbour, we need this memory, this capacity to involve ourselves together in remembering. Memory is the key to accessing the future, and it is our responsibility to hand it on in a dignified way to young generations.

In this regard, I would like to mention a document of the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, whose twentieth anniversary of publication we celebrate this year. The title is eloquent: We Remember: a Reflection on the Shoah (16 March 1998). It was Saint John Paul II’s fervent hope that it would enable memory to play its necessary part in the process of shaping a future in which the unspeakable iniquity of the Shoah will never again be possible (Letter, 12 March 1998). The text speaks of this memory, which we Christians are called to safeguard, together with our elder Jewish brothers: However, it is not only a question of recalling the past. The common future of Jews and Christians demands that we remember, for ‘there is no future without memory’. History itself is memoria futuri (We Remember, I).

To build our history, which will either be together or will not be at all, we need a common memory, living and faithful, that should not remain imprisoned in resentment but, though riven by the night of pain, should open up to the hope of a new dawn. The Church desires to extend her hand. She wishes to remember and to walk together. On this journey, the Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel’s spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone (Nostra Aetate, 4).

Dear friends, may we help one another in turn to grow a culture of responsibility, of memory and of closeness, and to establish an alliance against indifference, against every form of indifference. The potentialities of information will certainly be of assistance; even more important will be those of formation. We need urgently to educate young generations to become actively involved in the struggle against hatred and discrimination, but also in the overcoming of conflicting positions in the past, and never to grow tired of seeking the other. Indeed, to prepare a truly human future, rejecting evil is not enough; we need to build the common good together.

I thank you for your commitment in all of these matters. May the Lord of peace accompany you and bless every one of your good intentions. Thank you.
(Original text in Italian; translation by Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

30 years after the Morgentaler decison

On Saturday (January 27, 2018), the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement to mark the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in the case designated as R v Morgentaler.

Statement by His Excellency, Lionel Gendron, PSS

President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

The state has a legitimate interest in protecting the unborn

Statement on the 30th anniversary of the Morgentaler Decision

Exactly thirty years ago, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that existing abortion provisions in our nation’s Criminal Code violated a woman’s Charter rights to the security of person, and were thus unconstitutional. Since that ruling, there has been no criminal law regulating abortion in Canada. Yet, Mister Justice Gerard Mitchell, retired Chief Justice of Prince Edward Island, has noted that at the time of the 1988 Morgentaler decision, none of the seven judges held that there was a constitutional right to abortion on demand. In fact, all of the judges acknowledged [that] the state has a legitimate interest in protecting the unborn (Justice Gerard Mitchell, Clarifying facts on Canada’s abortion law or lack of, Letter to the Editor in The (P.E.I.) Guardian, 22 May 2014).  Despite the heroic efforts of countless Canadian citizens and organizations to secure in law that full protection for the unborn, a succession of federal governments has failed to take any decisive action. Canada today is one of the only countries in the world in which abortion continues to be permitted at every stage of pre-natal development and for any motive.

Legal or not, every abortion involves at least four victims: the unborn child, the mother, the father, and the community. The mother’s actions, whether coerced or freely chosen, leave her wounded – in many instances for the remainder of her life. Abortion can also cause destructive tensions between the parents themselves and with their families. While unrestricted access to abortion continues to be touted by some as the guarantor of women’s freedom, the truth is that abortion does nothing at all to address the very real challenges which confront a woman when she finds herself facing an unintended pregnancy. Nor does it address any of the other conditions in a society that unjustly limit a woman’s freedom. Abortion merely makes it easier for society to avoid its moral obligations to ensure protection and shelter for the most vulnerable – expectant mothers, the unborn child, and all who are in need. Abortion is never a solution.

From its very beginning, and throughout its history, the Catholic Church has consistently taught that human life is sacred, and derives its value not from any measure of usefulness but from its origin, hidden in the creative power of God, and from the eternal destiny to which it is directed. The intentional killing of innocent human beings at any stage of development is always gravely wrong. The life that begins at conception is that of a unique and irreplaceable human being; a life, like all others, at least in some measure dependent yet genetically distinct – a human life, full of potential. As proclaimed in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), we hold that every member of the human family enjoys the right to life.

Today, the sciences of embryology and genetics have placed the humanity of the unborn child beyond question. That a new human life comes into existence at conception is not, as some suggest, a theological opinion; reason tells us that each human life has the right not to be killed. As Canadians, we take pride in our record of upholding international human rights – while at the same time failing to provide the most basic protection for the child in the womb and so contradicting and eroding our own humanity. In our country, in order to create a society which recognizes the inherent value of human life, we need to do more in making the choice for life a real option and opposing erroneous notions of freedom and autonomy which pit the welfare and rights of the individual against those of his or her neighbour, friend, or unborn child and thus also against the human community. What impoverishes one impoverishes all; what enriches one enriches all. To those who have succumbed to the pressures to abort, we hold out the promise of divine forgiveness. God, who is full of mercy and compassion, desires the friendship and healing of all.

With great hope and thanksgiving, the Catholic Bishops of Canada recognize that respect for life and opposition to abortion is not, as some have asserted, merely the Catholic position. Over the course of the last decades, many of our fellow Christians, members of other faiths, and those of no faith at all, have worked tirelessly with members of our own communities to uphold the value of human life from the first moment of conception. Through these collaborative efforts, countless vulnerable lives have been protected and mothers assisted; couples struggling with infertility have experienced the joys of parenthood; and mercy, forgiveness and healing have been celebrated and shared throughout the community. It is our prayer that this unity of purpose may continue to grow and flourish and that in the near future Canadian law will offer protection for the lives of the unborn. Let us continue to try hard and do what is right so that the most vulnerable among us will one day benefit from the protection which they are owed.

+Lionel Gendron, P.S.S.
Bishop of Saint-Jean-Longeuil
President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

The power of silence

This weekend, the community of believers gathered as it always does to draw wisdom from the words of scripture.  Here is the reflection I shared in hopes that it may be helpful to God's people.

Into the silence

Today’s gospel places us in the synagogue in Capernaum.  Even today, the foundations of that place of worship are still outlined, and as we stand inside the space where it once stood, it isn’t difficult to see that it would have been a place of encounter, a place where all manner of social gatherings would have taken place.

Jesus and his disciples went to the synagogue on the Sabbath.  At the time, everyone in town would have been there, listening to Jesus as he taught.  As they listened, they were astonished at his teaching (Mk 1:22) and would have been paying close attention.  Perhaps they were totally unaware that someone else had made his way into the crowd.  The words that this newcomer spoke would have broken the spell that had seemed to keep them captivated by Jesus’ words.  This new voice cried out harshly: What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  (Mk 1:24).   In response to this interruption, Jesus simply says: Be silent! (Mk 1:25).

The society around is so filled with noises of all kinds that we can sometimes forget that it is possible for us to be silent.  Silence is not merely the absence of noise, but a living reality that helps us to stay connected to ourselves and, more importantly, to stay connected to our God.  It is often only when we are disciplined enough to sit in silence that we are able to take a second look at things that are concerning us.  Silence allows us to look at life from different angles.  In fact, it is often from the depths of silence that great pearls of wisdom are able to find a home in our minds and hearts.

In the case of the demoniac presented in the gospel, silence allowed Jesus to free the possessed man from his imprisonment.  Those who were standing around and witnessed this act of mercy were amazed at what they saw as Jesus commanded the evil spirit: come out of him! (Mk 1:25).

In the silence of prayer, Moses heard the Lord entrusting him with advise for his people: The Lord, your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me (Deut 18:15) ... and anyone who does not heed the words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will hold him accountable (Deut 18:19).

I wonder whether our modern-day insistence on being surrounded by noise is not a rebellious way of trying to fill the silence – which is God’s gift – with activity and sound that is an attempt to fool ourselves into thinking that silence is the absence of something instead of the place where we are invited to encounter our God, the place where He invites us to be free of all our anxieties (1 Cor 7:32) so that we can begin to see the various details of our lives not as competing for attention but rather as an opportunity to marvel at the way God uses our busy-ness to remind us of his presence.

Take time this week to be silent and you may be surprised at how it will help to put everything else into perspective.

Dans le silence

L’évangile d’aujourd’hui nous place dans la synagogue de Capharnaüm.  Même de nos jours, les fondements de ce lieu de culte sont encore visibles. Lorsqu’on se tient dans l’espace où la synagogue se trouvait autrefois, il n’est pas difficile de voir qu’elle était un lieu de rencontre, un lieu où toutes sortes de rassemblements auraient eu lieu.

Jésus et ses disciples sont allés à la synagogue le jour du sabbat.  En ce jour-là, tout le monde en ville était là, en écoutant l’enseignement de Jésus.  Pendant qu’ils écoutaient, ils étaient frappés par son enseignement (Mc 1,22) et étaient très attentifs.  Peut-être qu’ils n’avaient pas eu connaissance de la présence de l’homme qui s’était frayé un chemin dans la foule.  Les paroles que prononçait ce nouveau arrivé brisait le sortilège qui semblait les garder captivés par les paroles de Jésus.  Cette nouvelle voix a crié fortement: Que nous veux-tu, Jésus de Nazareth? (Mc 1,24)  En réponse à cette interruption, Jésus dit simplement: Tais-toi! (Mc 1,25)

La société qui nous entoure est tellement remplie de bruits de toutes sortes que nous pouvons parfois oublier qu’il nous est possible de garder le silence.  Le silence n’est pas simplement l’absence de bruit, mais une réalité vivante qui nous permet de nous brancher à nous-mêmes et, plus important encore, de nous brancher à notre Seigneur.  Ce n’est souvent que lorsque nous sommes assez disciplinés pour nous asseoir en silence que nous sommes capables de jeter un regard attentif sur les choses qui nous concernent.  Le silence nous permet de regarder la vie sous différents angles.  En fait, c’est souvent dans les profondeurs du silence que de grandes perles de sagesse peuvent trouver place dans nos esprits et dans nos coeurs.

Dans le cas de l’homme tourmenté par un esprit impur qui nous est présenté dans l’évangile, le silence a permis à Jésus de le libérer de son emprisonnement.  Les autres personnes qui se tenaient autour et qui étaient témoins de cet acte de pitié ont été étonnées de ce qu’elles ont vu lorsque Jésus a commandé l’esprit mauvais: Sors de cet homme! (Mc 1,25)

Dans le silence de la prière, Moïse a entendu la voix du Seigneur qui lui confiait les conseils pour son peuple: Le Seigneur votre Dieu fera se lever un prophète comme moi (Deut 18,15) ... et si quelqu’un n’écoute pas les paroles que ce prophète prononcera en mon nom, moi-même je lui en demanderai compte (Deut 18,19).

Je me demande si notre insistance à être toujours entouré de bruit n’est pas une manière rebelle d’essayer de remplir le silence – qui est le don de Dieu – avec une activité et un son qui tentent de nous faire croire que le silence est vraiment l’absence de quelque chose, au lieu du lieu privilégié où nous sommes invités à rencontrer notre Seigneur, le lieu où Il nous invite à nous libérer de tout souci (1 Cor 7,32) pour que nous puissions commencer à voir les divers détails de nos vies non pas en concurrence, mais plutôt comme une opportunité d’admirer la façon dont le Seigneur utilise même nos activités afin de nous rappeler de sa présence.

Profiter cette semaine si vous pouvez d’un moment de silence.  Vous serez peut-être surpris de voir à quel point cela vous aidera à mettre tout le reste en bonne perspective.

A visit to the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Community in Rome

This afternoon, at 3:45pm local time (9:45am EST), the Holy Father, Pope Francis paid a visit to the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Community located at the Minor Basilica of Saint Sofia in Rome.

Upon his arrival, before entering the Basilica, the Pope briefly greeted the faithful who were waiting outside.

Following a few introductory remarks offered by His Beatitude, Svjatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halyč, the Pope shared his speech.

At the conclusion of the meeting, after the Blessing, the Holy Father went to the Crypt of Saint Sofia, accompanied by His Beatitude.  There, His Holiness paused in prayer in front of the tomb of Stepan Chmil, Bishop of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church.

Before returning to the Vatican, the Pope wished once again to greet and to thank the faithful who were gathered outside the Basilica.

Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis

offered during the visit to the

Minor Basilica of Saint Sofia in Rome

Your Beatitude, dear Brother Svjatoslav,
Dear Bishops, priests, brothers and sisters,

I cordially greet you, and I am happy to be with you.  I thank you for your welcome and for the faith that you have always had, faith in God and in the successor of Peter, for which you have often paid a hefty price.

Entering into the sacred place I had the joy of looking upon your faces, of hearing your songs.  If we are here, gathered in fraternal communion, we should give thanks also for the many faces that we no longer see, but which have been a reflection of God's loving gaze upon us.  In particular, I think of three figures: the first is that of Cardinal Slipyj, whose 125th anniversary of birth was celebrated just this past year.  He desired and built this luminous Basilica so that it would shine as a prophetic sign of freedom during the years when access to many places of worship were impeded.  However with the sufferings endured and offered to the Lord, he helped to build another temple, even larger and more beautiful, the edifice of living stones that you are today (cf 1 Peter 2:5).

A second figure is that of Bishop Chmil, who died forty years ago and who is buried here: a person who has done me a lot of good.  Engraved within me is the memory of a time when I was a young man - I was twelve years old - and I was attending his Mass; he taught me to serve the Mass, and how to read your alphabet, to respond to various parts ...; as I served at that Mass, I learned from him - I served his Mass three times a week - the beauty of your liturgy; from his stories, the living testimony of how much your faith has been tested and forged in the midst of the terrible persecutions by atheists during the last century.  I am very grateful to him and to your numerous heroes of the faith: those who, like Jesus, sowed seeds along the way of the cross and brought forth a fruitful harvest.  The true Christian victory is always in the sign of the cross, our banner of hope.

And the third person that I want to remember is Cardinal Husar.  We were created Cardinals the same day.  He was not only father and head of your Church, but leader and elder brother to many; You, dear Beatitude, carry him in your heart, and many will always preserve the memory of his affection, his gentleness, his vigilant and prayerful presence right up until the end.  He was blind, but he looked beyond.

These witnesses from the past were open to the future of God and for this reason, they give hope to the present.  Several among you may have had the grace to know them.  When you cross the threshold of this temple, remember, keep alive the memory of your fathers and mothers in faith, for they are the foundations that support us: those who taught us the gospel in this life still guide us and accompany us on the journey.  The Metropolitan Archbishop spoke about mothers, Ukrainian grandmothers, who pass on the faith, who have passed on the faith, with courage; who baptized their children, their nephews and nieces with courage.  And even today, it is great to see the good - and I say this because I know it to be true - the good that these women do here in Rome, in Italy, taking care of children, or in their careers: they pass on the faith within their families, sometimes they/you are tepid in your faith ... but you have courageous faith.  I remember the reading from last Friday, when Paul said to Timothy: Your mother and your grandmother.  Behind everyone of you there is a mother, a grandmother who has passed on the faith.  The Ukrainian women are heroic, truly.  Let us thank the Lord for them!

Along the journey of your Roman community, the stable point of reference is this rectory.  Together with the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic community throughout the world, you have explained your pastoral plan very well in just one sentence: The living parish is the place where we encounter the living Christ.  I want to focus on two words.  The first is encounter.  The Church is a place of encounter, a place where loneliness can be healed, where the temptation to isolate ourselves and to close ourselves off can be overcome, where we can find the strength to overcome the temptation to withdraw within ourselves.  Thus the community is a place where we can share our joys and trials, where we can carry the burdens in one another's hearts, where we can help one another to face the dissatisfactions of life and the nostalgia of homesickness.  Here, God is waiting for you to make your hope even more secure, for when you meet the Lord, everything intersects with his hope.  My wish is that you will always be able to find bread here for your every-day journey, consolation for your hearts, healing for your wounds.

The second word is living.  Jesus is the living one, the risen ad living one and so we encounter him in the Church, in the Liturgy, in the Word.  Therefore, every one of his communities cannot help but smell of life.  A parish is not a museum filled with memories from the past or merely a symbol of some presence on the territory, rather it is the heart of the mission of the Church, where we receive and share new life, the life that triumphs over sin, death, sadness, every sadness, and keeps us young at heart.  If faith is born of an encounter and speaks to life, the treasure that you have received from your fathers will be well cared for.  You will know how to offer the priceless treasures of your traditions even to younger generations, who welcome the faith especially when they perceive the Church as being close to them and filled with life.  Young people need to see this: that the Church is not a museum, that the Church is not a tomb, that God is not something over there ... no, that the Church is alive, that the Church gives life and that God and Jesus Christ are in the midst of the Church, that it is the living presence of Christ.

I also want to offer a thought of thanks to the many women - I spoke a bit already about this, so I'm repeating myself - who in your community are apostles of charity and faith.  You are precious and you carry the proclamation of God to many Italian families in the best of ways, when in your service you care for people through a considerate and unobtrusive presence.  This is very important: you do not invade ... you provide a witness ... And then people say: This woman is good ... and faith comes, faith is passed on.  I invite you to consider your work, which is tiring and at times a bit unsatisfactory, not only as a job but as a mission: you are the point of reference for many of the elderly, you are the sisters who help them to know that they are not alone.  Bring the comfort and tenderness of God to those in life who are open to and ready for an encounter with Him.  This is a great ministry of proximity, closeness, one which is pleasing to God and one for which I wish to thank you.  And you, who carry out this ministry of being close to the elderly, see to it that they are capable of going beyond, perhaps some of them are forgotten, because there is always someone else, and another one to care for ... Yes, remember their names ... but they will be the ones who will open the doors, up there, for you, that's their job.

I understand that, while you are here, your heart beats for your country, it beats not only with affection, but also with concern, especially for the scourge of war and economic difficulties.  I am here to tell you that I am close to you: close with my heart, close with my prayer, close to you when I celebrate the Eucharist.  There, I am begging the Prince of Peace to silence the weapons.  I am also asking that there will no longer be any need for you to make huge sacrifices in order to keep your loved ones.  I am praying that in the hearts of each one of you, hope may never be lost, but that you will be renewed with courage to continue, to always start again.  I thank you, in the name of the entire Church, while to all of you and to the people you hold in your hearts, I impart my Blessing.  And I ask you please, don't forget to pray for me.

And I also want to tell you something else, to tell you a secret.  At night, before I go to bed, and in the morning, when I wake up, I always have a meeting with the Ukrainians.  Why?  Because when your Major Archbishop came to Argentina, when I saw him, I thought that he was the altar boy at the Ukrainian Church, but he was the Archbishop!  He did good work in Argentina.  We would meet together, quite often.  Then, one day he went to the Synod and he returned as the Major Archbishop: he came to say good-bye.  The day on which he left, he presented me with a beautiful icon - this size, half (he folded the sheets in his hands in half in order to show them the dimensions) - of the Madonna of tenderness.  And in Buenos Aires, I placed it in my bedroom, and every night, I would greet her, and in the morning too, it is a habit.  Then it was my turn to make the trip to Rome and not to be able to return - he could return, but I couldn't - And I had the three volumes of the breviary sent to me along with some other essential things, one of which was the Madonna of tenderness.  And every night, before I go to bed, I kiss the Madonna of tenderness that your Major Archbishop presented to me as a gift, and also in the morning, I say hello.  So I can say that I begin and finish my day in Ukrainian.

Now, I invite you to pray to Our Lady and I will give you my blessing, which I want to ask your Archbishop to join me in doing.

Hail Mary ...

(Blessing)
(Original text in Italian)



Unscripted remarks offered by His Holiness, Pope Francis

Greetings upon his arrival
in front of the Minor Basilica of Saint Sophia

Ісус Христо чув
(Praise be to Jesus Christ)

Thank you very much for your invitation, for your presence, for your welcome, for your joy.  I have come to pray with you and to visit with you.  I invite you, before we enter, to pray for peace in Ukraine.

Hail Mary ...

See you later.

Final greetings to the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Community
gathered outside the Basilica of Saint Sophia

Dear brothers and sisters,

I thank you very much for your warm welcome.  My heart is filled with the joy of this encounter.  Thank you for your perseverance in the faith.  Be steadfast in the faith!  Care for the faith that you received from your ancestors and pass it on to your children.  It is the most beautiful gift that a people can give to their children: the faith, the faith that you have received.

May the Lord bless you.  And pray for me (they all say: Yes!).  For me or against me? ... (they respond: For you!)  Keep praying for me.  I will continue to pray for you, and to begin and end each day in Ukrainian in front of the Madonna that was gifted to me by Archbishop Shevchuk in Buenos Aires.

I give you my blessing.  Let us pray together and ask Our Lady to bless us.

Hail Mary ...

(Blessing)

Take courage ... keep up the good work!

Angelus for the Fourth Sunday

At noon today in Rome (6:00am EST), the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Holy Father, Pope Francis appeared at the window of his study in the Vatican Apostolic Palace to recite the Angelus with the faithful and with pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter's Square.

In attendance today, among others, were children who are part of Catholic Action in the Diocese of Rome who were concluding today, with their annual Caravan of Peace, the month of January which they traditionally dedicate to the theme of peace.  At the conclusion of the recitation of the Angelus, two young people who are from different Roman parishes, who had been invited to the pontifical apartments, read a message in the name of Catholic Action Rome.

Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis

prior to the recitation of the Angelus

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

The gospel passage for this Sunday (cf Mk 1:21-28) is part of a longer narrative which is known as the day in Capermaum.  The focus of today's story is an event that we call exorcism, through which Jesus is presented as a prophet powerful in word and in deed.

He enters into the synagogue in Capernaum on a Saturday and begins to teach; the people are amazed by his words, because they are not ordinary words, not the words that they normally are used to hearing.  In fact, the scribes teach but without having their own authority, but Jesus teaches with authority.  Instead of the scribes, Jesus teaches as one who has authority, revealing himself as the Messenger sent from God, and not as a simple man who must base his teaching only on previous traditions.  Jesus has full authority.  His doctrine is new and the gospel says that the people commented: This is a new teaching, given with authority (Mk1:27).

At the same time, Jesus shows himself to be powerful in his works.  In the synagogue in Capernaum, there is a man who is possessed by an unclean spirit.  This spirit shows itself and begins to cry out: What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to ruin us?  I know who you are: the holy one of God! (Mk 1:24)  The devil tells the truth: Jesus has come to ruin the devil, to ruin the demon, to overpower him.  This unclean spirit knows Jesus' power and also proclaims his holiness.  Jesus scolds him, saying to him: Be quiet!  Come out of him (Mk 1:25).  These few words spoken by Jesus are enough to be victorious over Satan, the one who comes out of the man, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, the gospel says (Mk 1:26).

This fact leaves its impression on many of those who are present; they are all seized by fear and ask: Who is this man?  He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him! (Mk 1:27).  Jesus power confirms the authority of his teaching.  He does not merely speak words, he also acts.  This is how he manifests God's plan - in words and through the power of his works.  In fact, in the gospel, we see that Jesus, in his earthly mission, reveals God's love through his preaching and through innumerable gestures of attention and care for the sick, those in need, children and even sinners.

Jesus is our Teacher, he is strong in word and in deed.  Jesus communicates to us all the light that illuminates the streets of our existence, the paths that are sometimes dark; he also communicates the necessary strength so that we can overcome difficulties, trials and temptations.  Let us think about how great of a grace it is that we have known a God who is so powerful, so good!  A teacher and a friend, who points out the path that we should walk and takes care of us, especially when we are in need.

May the Virgin Mary, a woman of listening, helps us to be silent inside and around us, to listen amidst the din of the messages the world offers, to the the most authoritative word there is: the word of her Son Jesus, who proclaims the sense of our existence and frees us from every slavery, even slavery to the Evil One.



Following the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:

Dear brothers and sisters,

Yesterday we received sad news from Afghanistan where a terrible terrorist attack took place in the capital city of Kabul, leaving more than one hundred people dead and many others wounded.  A few days ago, another serious attack, also in Kabul, incited terror and death in a large hotel.  How long will the Afghan people have to endure such inhuman violence?  Let us pray in silence for all the victims and for their families; and let us pray for those, in that country, who continue to work toward establishing peace.

Today, we celebrate the World Day of Leprosy.  Unfortunately, this illness still affects the most disadvantaged and poor above all else.  To these brothers and sisters, we assure our closeness and solidarity; and let us pray also for those who are helping them and those who are working toward their reintegration into society.

I greet the families, the parishes, the associations and all those who have come from Italy and from other parts of the world.  In particular, I greet the students from Badajoz (Spain), the faithful from Ljubljana (Slovenia) and those from Venice and from Veglie.

With great affection, I greet the young men and women of Catholic Action within the Diocese of Rome!  I hope that even as you make noise today, you know how to do good things, no?  Dear young people, once more this year, accompanied by the Archbishop Vicar, your parents and teachers and by your priests, you have come in great numbers at the conclusion of your Caravan of Peace.  I thank you for this initiative.  Thank you, thank you very much!  Never grow tired of being instruments of peace and joy among your peers!  Now, let us listen to the message which your friends, standing here beside me, will read.

The Holy Father moved away from the window to allow the two young people to read their message.  When they were finished, he continued:

Thank you, thank you.  Stay here.  Greet the crowds, say hello, say hello, don't be afraid.

And now, together with our prayers for peace, every one of us in our hearts, we can pray for peace.  Together with these prayers, we will let the balloons float into the sky!

Did you see those balloons?  When we pray badly, when we lead a life that is not the life that Jesus wants us to live, our prayers don't reach heaven.  For this reason, they need some help to keep rising up toward heaven.  When you feel that your prayers are not rising, ask someone for help.

I wish you all a good Sunday.  Please don't forget to pray for me.  Enjoy your lunch and good bye!

Celebrating the Icon of Salus Populi Romani

At 9:00am this morning (3:00am EST), the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Holy Father, Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major on the occasion of the Feast of the Translation (Transfer) of the Icon of Our Lady, Salvation of the Roman People (Salus Populi Romani).

Homily of the Holy Father, Pope Francis

for the Mass celebrated at the

Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major

As people of God on a journey, we are here to stand in the temple of our Mother.  The presence of our Mother makes this temple a family home for all of us children.  Together with generations and generations of Romans, we recognize in this maternal house, our home, the home where we find refreshment, comfort, protection, refuge.  The Christian people have understood, from the very beginning, that in times of difficulty and trial, we must resort to our Mother, as is demonstrated by the oldest Marian antiphon: Beneath your protection we seek refuge, Holy Mother of God: do not despise the petitions of your children who are in need, but free us from every danger, O glorious and blessed Virgin.

We seek refuge.  Our Fathers in faith have taught us that in turbulent moments, we must gather under the mantle of the Holy Mother of God.  Those who were persecuted and in need once sought refuge near the noble high-ranking women: when their mantles, which were considered inviolable, stretched out as a sign of welcome and protection was granted.  It is the same for us in regard to Our Lady, the highest-ranked woman of all humanity.  Her mantle is always open to welcome and gather us together.  This belief is recalled in the Christian east where many people celebrate the Protection of the Mother of God who is depicted in a beautiful icon that depicts her sheltering her children and covering the entire world with her mantle.  Ancient monks also recommended that, in times of trial, we should seek refuge beneath the mantle of the Holy Mother of God.  Invoking her - Holy Mother of God - was already a guarantee of protection and help as we greet her with the prayer: Holy Mother of God, Holy Mother of God ...

This wisdom, which comes from afar, helps us: the Mother guards our faith, protects our relationships, saves us in bad weather and protects us from evil.  Where the Mother is present in our homes, the devil does not enter.  When the Mother is present in our homes, the devil does not enter.  Where the Mother is present, no disturbance can prevail, fear cannot overcome.  Who of us does not need this, who of us is not sometimes upset or restless?  How often the heart is a stormy sea, where the waves of problems overlap and the winds of worries never cease to blow!  Mary is surely the ark in the midst of the flood.  Ideas and technology cannot give us this comfort and hope, but the face of the Mother, her hands that caress life, her mantle that shelters us.  By going every day to our Mother, we learn to find refuge in her.

The antiphon continues: Do not despise your children's petitions.  When we implore her, Mary implores on our behalf.  There is a beautiful Greek title that says this: Grigorusa, which means the one who intercedes promptly.  And this is the image that Luke uses in the gospel to explain how Mary went to Elizabeth: promptly, immediately!  She intercedes promptly, she does not delay, as we heard in the gospel, where she carries people's tangible needs immediately to Jesus: They have no wine (Jn 2:3), nothing more!  She does this every time, if we call on her: when there is a lack of hope, when joy is scarce, when our strength is exhausted, when the light of life is obscured, our Mother intervenes ... and if we call upon her, she intervenes all the more.  She is attentive to the labours, sensitive to the turbulences - the turbulence of life - she is close to our hearts ... and she never, never despises our prayers; she never ignores even one of them.  She is a Mother; she is never ashamed of us, she is always waiting to help her children.

An example can help us to understand.  Beside a hospital bed, a mother was keeping vigil over her son who was suffering after an accident.  The mother was always there, day and night.  At a certain point, she was lamenting to a priest, saying: But there is one thing that the Lord has not allowed us mothers to do!  - What things!, asked the priest. - To take on the sufferings of our children, the woman responded.  This is the heart of a mother: she is not ashamed of the wounds, te weaknesses of her children, but she wants to be with them.  The Mother of God is our mother.  She knows how to take us under her mantle, how to console us, to watch over us, to heal us.

The antiphon continues: free us from every danger.  The Lord himself knows that we need shelter and protection in the midst of so many dangers.  For this reason, at his most important moment, on the cross, he said to the beloved disciple, and to every disciple: This is your Mother! (Jn 19:27).  The Mother is not an option, an optional thing, she is bequeathed by Christ, and we need her to act as a bearer of refreshment, like babies being carried in her arms.  It is a great danger for faith to live without a Mother, without protection, allowing ourselves to be carried away by life like leaves being blown around by the wind.  The Lord knows this and encourages us to welcome our Mother.  This is not a matter of spiritual etiquette, it is necessary for us to have life.  Loving her is not a matter of poetry, it is a matter of knowing how to live ... because without Mary, we cannot be children.  Above all else, we are children, beloved children, who have God for our Father and the Madonna for our Mother.

The Second Vatican Council teaches us that Mary is a sign of certain hope and of consolation for the pilgrim people of God (Lumen gentium, Chapter 8, 5).  She is a sign, a sign that God has given us.  If we do not follow her, we go astray.  Because she shows us the signs of a spiritual life, which must be observed.  She shows us that we are still wandering and placed in the midst of dangers and troubles (LG, 62), she is our Mother who has already reached her goal.  Who better than she can accompany us on our journey?  What are we waiting for?  Like the disciple who beneath the cross welcomed the Mother into his home (Jn 19:27), we too, in this maternal home, invite Mary to enter our own homes, our own hearts, our own lives.  We cannot remain neutral or distant from our Mother, otherwise we lose our identity as children and our identity as a people, and we live as Christians founded on ideas, programs, but without trust, without tenderness, without heart.  But without a heart, there is not love and faith is in danger of becoming a beautiful tale of ancient times.  On the other hand, our Mother cares for and prepares her children.  She loves them and protects them, because she loves and protects everyone.  Let's welcome our Mother as our daily guest, a constant presence in our homes, our sure refuge.  Let's entrust every day to her.  Let's entrust all our troubles to her.  And let's not forget to come back to her and to thank her.

Now, let us look at her, when we have just gotten out of hospital, let us look to her with tenderness and let us say hello to her like the Christians in Ephesus would do.  All together, three times, let us say together: Holy Mother of God.  All together: Holy Mother of God, Holy Mother of God, Holy Mother of God.

Fighting against Leprosy

This morning, the Holy See Press Centre published the Message prepared by the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, His Eminence, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, on the occasion of the 65th World Day of Fighting Leprosy (Hansen's Disease) which is being observed today.

Message prepared by His Eminence, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson

Prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development

To the Presidents of the Episcopal Conferences,
To the Bishops responsible for Health and Pastoral Care,
To Men and Women Religious,
To social, healthcare and pastoral workers,
To volunteers and all persons of good will,

No more injustice, discrimination, leprosy in the world!

In order to express the Church’s concern for the world, during Vatican Council II, the Council Fathers declared that “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ” (Pastoral Constitution, Gaudium et spes, 1).  For this reason, it is troubling that, despite the enormous progress made by humanity in recent times, it is still not possible to eradicate definitively an old disease such as leprosy, which continues to spread to thousands of people all over the world. Indeed, even today, every two minutes a person is infected with Hansen’s disease. Leprosy continues to be a major health problem in places where precarious socio-economic conditions exist, which favour transmission. As Pope Francis has stated, this is a disease that although in decline, is still among the most feared, and afflicts the poorest and most marginalized (Angelus, 29 January 2017).

The data published by the World Health Organization in 2017 on the situation of leprosy worldwide confirm the high concentration of the disease in 14 countries which alone represent 95% of new cases. At the top of the list is India, with 135,485 cases, followed by Brazil with 25,218 cases and Indonesia with 16,826 cases. Even in Europe, 32 new cases of contagion in 2016. In addition, in many countries, the number of cases of leprosy, while not considerable, represents a high percentage with regard to the total population. In the countries in which the disease is endemic it can be seen that, among those afflicted, there are many minors. Indeed, of every 100 people afflicted by Hansen’s disease worldwide, 9 have less than 15 years of age.

To combat Hansen’s disease effectively and incisively, the World Health Organization has drawn up a Global Strategy against Leprosy (2016-2020), in which an important role is attributed to the defense of fundamental human rights, the reduction of the stigma and consequent promotion of integration and social inclusion, the restoration of the dignity of those afflicted by the disease, and access to care. It is therefore extremely urgent to abrogate, where present, discriminatory laws which obstruct fundamental human rights. It is no longer possible to delay this further (cf M. Aramini, Conclusions and Recommendations of the International Conference: Towards holistic care for people with Hansen’s disease, respecting their dignity, organized by the Pontifical Council for Healthcare Workers, 9-10 June 2016).  Social stigma is still the main problem today for people affected by Hansen’s disease, and it is therefore important, in the words of Pope Francis, to fight this disease, but also against the discrimination that it engenders (Angelus, 29 January 2017).  More than other diseases, sufferers of leprosy need human contact, that touch that releases beneficial liberating energy. Very often, says the Holy Father, we encounter a poor person who comes towards us. We offer him coins, we toss them there, but we avoid touching his hand. And we forget that that person is the Body of Christ! Jesus teaches us not to be afraid to touch the poor and the excluded because He is in them. Touching the poor can cleanse us from hypocrisy and make us distressed over their condition (General Audience, 22 June 2016).  It is edifying to serve with love and tenderness those who are in need of help because it makes us grow in humanity. Saint Francis of Assisi is testimony of this; a young rich man transformed completely by the embrace with a leper, who made him understand what is truly of value in life: not wealth, the power of weapons, earthly glory, but the humility, the mercy, the forgiveness that are the fruit of the encounter with God (cf Address on the occasion of the Meeting with the sick and disabled children assisted at the Seraphic Institute of Assisi, 4 October 2013).

From this perspective, the theme of World Leprosy Day reaffirms No more injustice, discrimination, leprosy in the world! More charity and love, translated into the concrete facts of acceptance, protection, inclusion, and integration. The celebration of this Day recalls not only solidarity but also acting with courage in favour of those brothers and sisters affected by Hansen’s disease and their families. For this reason, I urge all pastoral workers, social and healthcare workers and all men and women of good faith to sensitize and mobilize consciences in favour of those afflicted by the disease against stigma and against all forms of discrimination towards them.

To have a world free of leprosy and of marginalization, it is necessary to join the forces of all the Churches, religious communities, international organizations, governments, large foundations, non-governmental organizations and associations of people affected by the disease who have so far contributed to fighting against it. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen joint projects of cooperation (cf M. Aramini, p64). If faced with the correct approach, leprosy may finally be eradicated.

I thank all those who, in various ways, have made efforts in favor of those affected by Hansen’s disease. May the Good God aid and protect you, by the intercession of the many saints who have made their service to the afflicted the reason for their life.

May Mary Most Holy, our Mother who cares for her children, especially the most vulnerable, obtain every blessing and grace to those sick and those who bear the signs of leprosy on their body.

Cardinal Peter K.A. Turkson
Prefect