Ending discrimination, stigma and prejudice over Hansen's disease

The Prefect of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development, His Eminence, Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, has published a Message on the occasion of the 66th World Day of Fighting against Leprosy (Hansen's Disease) which was observed on Sunday, 27 January 2019.

Message of His Eminence, Peter K.A. Turkson

Prefect of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development

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

Ending discrimination, stigma, and prejudice

The medical community and society have seen great advances in the care of persons with Leprosy or Hansen’s disease in recent years. Diagnosis has improved and various treatments are more accessible than before, yet this illness still continues to strike, especially the neediest and poorest of persons (Pope Francis, Angelus, 28 January 2018).  Over 200,000 new cases of Hansen’s disease are reported each year, with 94% representing 13 different countries (World Health Organization, Global Leprosy Strategy 2016-2020, 3). It is important, Pope Francis has stated, to keep solidarity alive with these brothers and sisters, disabled as a result of this disease (Pope Francis, Angelus, 31 January 2016). Jesus has given us a model for this care; what moved Christ deeply in the encounter with Leprosy must now motivate us in the Church and in society.

Multi-drug therapy and skilled clinical service centres have proven effective in addressing this illness, but no institution can by itself replace the human heart or human compassion when it is a matter of encountering the suffering of another (Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance for Health Care Workers, New Charter for Health Care Workers, 3). The theme for this year’s World Leprosy Day, Ending discrimination, stigma, and prejudice, teaches us clearly that one of the most critical needs in the lives of those experiencing this devastating disease is love.

Pope Francis, reflecting on Jesus’ healing of the person with leprosy in Saint Mark’s Gospel (Mk 1:40-45), indicates God’s power and effectiveness in meeting our deepest desire to be loved and cared for. God’s mercy, he reminds us, overcomes every barrier and Jesus’ hand touches the person with leprosy. The Divine Physician wastes no time diagnosing the diseases that afflict us, and He desires nothing more than to treat them by drawing near to us. He does not stand at a safe distance, Francis continues, and does not act by delegating, but places himself in direct contact with our contagion (Pope Francis, Angelus, 15 February 2015).

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the canonization of Saint Damien de Veuster. Born in Tremelo, Belgium in 1840, he was ordained a priest for the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. His missionary zeal led him to serve the isolated community of persons suffering from leprosy on the Hawaiian Island of Molokai. Attentive to the inspirations of his own heart and the requests of the sick persons he served, Damien chose to remain on the island and later contracted the disease himself. To a community that was used to being addressed from a distance, he preached the Gospel of mercy, indicating the nearness of God to We lepers. He died on the Island of Molokai in 1889, after 16 years of compassionate care that revealed the face of Christ to those he served.

In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis addresses the human tendency to embrace an unruly activism when it comes to serving the poor and those in need. What God calls each of us to, he explains, is an attentiveness which considers the other ‘in a certain sense as one with ourselves’ (EG, 199).  What we need today is the grace to build a culture of encounter, of this fruitful encounter, this encounter that returns to each person their dignity as children of God, the dignity of living (Pope Francis, Morning Meditation in the Chapel of the Casa Santa Marta, 13 September 2016).  Saint Francis of Assisi’s profound conversion included a grace-filled encounter with a person suffering from leprosy. In the end, he cared for that person: the leper who was a figure of Christ crucified.  He helped him, and kissed him. Every true encounter has the power to restore life and hope.

On a practical level, there are several ways that this encounter with those suffering from leprosy can be facilitated. Our health institutions and local health care systems, cooperating with government agencies and NGOs, can help form partnerships that will have a lasting effect on those afflicted with this illness. It will not be an individual effort that will bring about the necessary transformation of those struggling with leprosy, but a shared work of communion and solidarity.

Building awareness, particularly in those countries where leprosy is endemic, is also a necessary step on the road to progress. Here the power of education and the contribution of the academy of sciences can do much to assist those diagnosed with leprosy to find a way forward and to help our communities to extend a welcoming, healing hand. God always blesses such cooperation and the benefits for the sick are tangible.

Finally, communities themselves must continually strive to eliminate discrimination, stigma, and prejudice, by working towards the complete integration of the person in all of his or her bodily and spiritual dimensions. When addressing the great need for development on a global scale, Saint Paul VI spoke of the development of the whole man and of everyman (Pope Paul VI, Populorum Progressio, 42). When persons with leprosy find the clinical care they deserve being matched by the receptivity of a fraternal glance of love, and therefore social acceptance in accord with their spiritual dignity, then will integral human development find its purest expression in authentic healing.

I express my deepest gratitude to all who work so tirelessly to assist persons afflicted by leprosy and who provide such effective relief in their care for the sick. The financial support of many, along with the various contributions of science and research have also brought hope and assistance for countless persons afflicted with this illness. May the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Health of the Sick, continue to be with us as we seek to eliminate Hansen’s disease, as well as stigma, discrimination and prejudice in all its forms.

Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson
Prefect
(Original text in Italian)

Greetings to the United Arab Emirates

This morning, the Holy See Press Centre published the text of a video message which the Holy Father, Pope Francis has sent to the people of the United Arab Emirates a few days prior to his Apostolic voyage to that country which will take place from 3 to 5 February 2019.

Video message of His Holiness, Pope Francis

addressed to the people of the

United Arab Emirates

Dear people of the United Arab Emirates,

Al Salamu Alaikum
Peace be with you!

I am happy that in a few days' time, I will visit your country, a land that seeks to be a model of coexistence, of human brotherhood and of encounter between different civilizations and cultures, where many find a safe place to work and live freely, while respecting diversity.

It makes me happy to meet a people that lives the present with an eye to the future. Sheikh Zayed, the founder of the United Arab Emirates, of honorable memory, correctly declared: True wealth does not reside only in material resources, but the true wealth of the nation resides in the people who build the future of their nation ... people are the true measure of wealth.

I sincerely thank His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who invited me to participate in the inter-religious meeting on the theme of Human Brotherhood and I am grateful to the other Authorities of the United Arab Emirates for the excellent collaboration, the generous hospitality and the fraternal welcome that has been so nobly offered to carry out this visit.

I thank my friend and dear brother the Great Imam of Al-Azhar, Doctor Ahmed Al-Tayeb, and all those who collaborated in the preparation of the meeting, for the courage and the will to affirm the fact that faith in God unites and does not divide; he approaches the distinction, away from hostility and aversion.

I am happy to have this opportunity offered to me by the Lord to write, on your dear land, a new page in the history of relations between religions, confirming that we are brothers while being different.

With joy, I look forward to meeting you and having the opportunity to greet you

eyal Zayid fi dar Zayid
the sons of Zayid in the house of Zayid

in a land of prosperity and peace, a land of sun and harmony, a land of sharing and encounter!

Thank you very much and we will see each other soon!  Pray for me!

General Audience reflecting on the trip

This morning's General Audience began at 9:30am (3:30am EST) inside the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican.  The Holy Father, Pope Francis met with groups of pilgrims and the faithful from Italy and from other parts of the world.

In his speech, the Pope added a meditation on his recent Apostolic voyage to Panama for the XXXIV World Youth Day (Gospel passage: Lk 1:38-39).

After having summarized His catechesis in various languages, the Holy Father offered particular 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, I want to focus with you on the Apostolic voyage to Panama that I have completed in recent days.  I invite you to give thanks to the Lord with me for this grace which He has given to the Church and to the people of that beloved country.  I thank the President of Panama and the other Authorities, the Bishops ... and I thank all the volunteers - there were so many of them - for their warm and open welcome, something which I also saw in the many people who came from every place to greet me with great faith and enthusiasm.  One thing that struck me was the people who would raise their children up in their arms.  When the popemobile was passing by, all those who had children: they would raise them up saying, Here is my pride, here is my future!  And they would show me their children.  But there were so many of them!  And the fathers and mothers were so proud of their children.  I thought: how much dignity there is in such a gesture, and how eloquent it is against the demographic winter we are experiencing here in Europe!  Children are the pride of their families.  Children are sources of security for the future.  Demographic winter, without children, is difficult!

The reason for this trip was the World Youth Day, but the meetings with young people were intertwined with the reality of the country: the Authorities, the Bishops, young prisoners, consecrated persons and a family home. Everything was infected and amalgamated by the joyful presence of the young: it was a party for them and a party for Panama, and also for all of Central America, marked by so many dramas and in need of hope and peace, and even justice.

This World Youth Day was preceded by the meeting of young members from native and African-American peoples. This was a nice gesture: they spent five days in meetings: young indigenous people and young descendants. There are many of them in that region. They opened the door to World Day. And this is an important initiative that has shown even better the multifaceted face of the Church in Latin America: Latin America is mixed. Then, with the arrival of groups from all over the world, the great symphony of faces and languages - which is typical of this event - were formed. Seeing all the flags parade together, dancing in the hands of the joyful young people is a prophetic sign, a mark against the current trend of today's conflicting nationalisms, which raise walls and close us off from universality, from encountering other people. It is a sign that young Christians are leaven for peace in the world.

This WYD had a strong Marian imprint, because its theme was the words of the Virgin to the Angel: Behold the servant of the Lord; let it be done unto me according to your word (Lk 1:38). It was striking to hear these words spoken by the representatives of the youth from all the five continents, and above all to see them show it on their faces. As long as there are new generations able to say here I am to God, there will be a future in the world.

Among the stages of the WYD there is always the Via Crucis. Walking with Mary behind Jesus who is carrying the cross is the school of Christian life: there you learn patient, silent, concrete love. I want to tell you something: I really like to experience the Via Crucis, because it is about going with Mary behind Jesus. And I always carry with me, to do it at any time, a pocket-sized Via Crucis, which gave me the ability to be a very apostolic person in Buenos Aires. And when I have time I take advantage of it and follow the Via Crucis. You too can walk the Via Crucis, because it is a matter of following Jesus with Mary on the path of the cross, where He gave his life for us, for our redemption. In the Via Crucis one learns patient, silent and concrete love. In Panama, young people brought with Jesus and Mary the burden of the conditions of so many suffering brothers and sisters in Central America and in the whole world. Among these, there are many young victims of different forms of slavery and poverty. And in this sense, the penitential liturgy that I celebrated in a Rehabilitation home for minors and the visit to the Buon Samaritano Family Home, which houses people living with HIV / AIDS, were very significant moments.

The culmination of the WYD and the Apostolic journey were the Vigil and the Mass with the youth. In the Vigil - in that camp full of young people who experienced the Vigil, they slept there and at 8:00am they participated in the Mass - in the Vigil the living dialogue was renewed with all the boys and girls, enthusiastic and even capable of silence and listening. They passed from enthusiasm to listening and silent prayer. To them I proposed Mary as the one who, in her smallness, more than any other, has influenced the history of the world: we called her the influencer of God. The beautiful and strong testimonies of some young people were reflected in her fiat. On Sunday morning, in the great final Eucharistic celebration, the Risen Christ, with the power of the Holy Spirit, spoke again to the young people of the world calling them to live the Gospel today, because young people are not tomorrow; no, they are the today for tomorrow. They are not in the meantime, but they are today, now, of the Church and of the world. And I appealed to the responsibility of adults, so that new generations do not lack education, work, community and family. And this is the key right now in the world, because these things are missing. Education, that is the importance of education. Work: there are so many young people who are without work. Community must always be a place where we feel welcomed, a part of the family, a part of society.

The meeting with the Bishops of Central America was for me a moment of special consolation. Together we let ourselves be taught by the testimony of the holy bishop Oscar Romero, in order to better learn how to feel with the Church - that was his episcopal motto - in the proximity of the young, the poor, the priests, the holy faithful people of God.

And a strong symbolic value was seen in the consecration of the altar of the restored Cathedral of Santa Maria La Antigua, in Panama. It has been closed for seven years for restoration. It is a sign of rediscovered beauty, for the glory of God and for the faith and the feast of his people. The Chrism which consecrates the altar is the same oil that is used for anointing the baptized, confirmed, priests and bishops. May the family of the Church, in Panama and in the whole world, draw from the Holy Spirit ever new fruitfulness, so that the pilgrimage of the young missionary disciples of Jesus Christ may continue and spread throughout the earth.



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 pilgrims, he said:

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

Toward balance in the world

The Holy Father, Pope Francis has sent a Message to those who are participating in the IV International Conference entitled Toward balance in the world, organized by the José Martí Project, part of Solidarity International.  The Conference is taking place at the Convention Palace in Havana (Cuba) from 28 to 31 January 2019.

Message of the Holy Father, Pope Francis

for the IV International Conference sponsored

by the José Martí Project

Distinguished delegates,

I cordially greet the participants taking part in this International Conference for the Balance of the World, which is being held in Havana, as part of the commemoration of such a significant date for that beloved country: the birth of José Martí, whose purpose is unite the wills of all those who contribute, through a fruitful dialogue, to strengthen bonds of fraternity among nations.

It is easy to see how the various events on the planet have contributed significantly to the endangerment of the balance of the current civilization. For this reason good men and women should join and meet in events of this nature, in a framework of plurality, in order to achieve authentic human promotion, knowing also that those who strive to defend the dignity of people, can find in the Christian faith the deepest arguments for that commitment (Encyclical Letter, Laudato si ', 65).

The human environment and the natural environment go hand in hand and can degrade together. Environmental degradation can not be adequately addressed if we do not understand the causes that have to do with human and social degradation (cf LS, 48). For this reason, I already expressed during my pastoral visit to Cuba that a culture of encounter should be cultivated, especially among young people, by promoting social friendship (cf Greetings to young people, Havana, 20 September 2015), which brings us together in a common goal of promoting people.

I encourage you to look for effective alternatives around the thought of José Martí, a man of light, as defined by Saint John Paul II during his visit to Cuba (Encounter with the world of culture, Havana, January 23, 1998). May the teachings of that Cuban teacher and writer resonate within us and remind us, with their words, that all the trees of the earth will concentrate in the end on one, which will give in the eternal a very mild aroma: the tree of love, of such robust and copious branches, that in his name all men will be smiling and in peace (Obras completas, vol 5, 103).

I hope that these days of work and reflection will bear much fruit of understanding and dialogue in the achievement of an increasingly fraternal civilization.

From the Vatican
17 January 2019

Francis

Greetings for the Roman Rota

At 10:40am this morning in Rome (4:40am EST), in the Clementine Hall at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the priest auditors, the officials, the advocates and the team from the Tribunal of the Roman Rota on the occasion of the solemn inauguration of the Judicial Year.

Following a word of greeting offered by the Dean of the Tribunal, His Excellency, Pio Vito Pinto, the Pope shared the following speech with those who were gathered.

Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis

addressed to members of the

Tribunal of the Roman Rota

Your Excellency,
Dear Auditor Prelates,

I offer each one of you my cordial greetings, beginning with your Dean, who I thank for his words.  I greet those who are participating in this meeting: the officials, the advocates and the other members of the team at the Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota.  I extend sincere wishes at the start of this judicial year which begins today.

The society in which we live is more and more secular, and does not favour the growth of faith, with the consequence that the Catholic faithful grow tired of bearing witness to living according to the gospel, even in terms of that which concerns the Sacrament of Matrimony.  In this context, the Church must, in all her articulations, act in harmony to offer adequate spiritual and pastoral support.  In your daily ministry at the service to Christian matrimony, you experience two fundamental cornerstones not only in regard to theology and the canonical laws pertaining to matrimony, but also and even more at the core of the essence of the Church of Christ: unity and fidelity.  In fact, these two matrimonial goods, even before they exist, in order to be juridical obligations of every conjugal union in Christ, should be epiphanies of baptismal faith.

In order for it to be validly contracted, marriage requires that one establishes in each of the nubendi a full unity and harmony with the other, so that, through the mutual exchange of the respective human, moral and spiritual riches - almost by way of communicating vessels - the two spouses become one thing. Marriage also requires a commitment of fidelity, which absorbs all life, permanently becoming consortium totius vitae (Canon 1135).

Unity and fidelity are two important and necessary values not only between spouses, but generally in interpersonal and social relationships. We are all aware of the drawbacks that determine the unfulfilled promises in the civil sphere as well as the lack of fidelity to the word given and to the commitments undertaken.

Unity and fidelity. These two indispensable and constitutive assets of marriage must not only to be adequately illustrated to the future spouses, but they also call for the pastoral action of the Church, especially of the bishops and priests, in order to accompany families in the various stages of their formation and development. This pastoral action naturally cannot be limited to the completion of the practices, although this is necessary and must be carried out with care. We need a triple preparation for marriage: remote, proximate and permanent. The latter is good for understanding the different stages of married life in a serious and structural way, through careful training aimed at increasing the awareness of the values and commitments of their vocation as spouses.

The main subjects of this marriage formation, by virtue of their office and ministry, are pastors; nevertheless, it is more opportune, indeed necessary to involve the ecclesial communities in their different components: they are co-responsible for this pastoral care under the guidance of the diocesan Bishop and the parish priest. The obligation is therefore in solidum, with primary responsibility laid on pastors and the active participation of the community in promoting marriage and accompanying families with spiritual and formative support.

To understand this pastoral need, it would be good to consider - in the Scriptures - the experience of the spouses Aquila and Priscilla. They were among the most faithful companions of the mission of Saint Paul, who refer to them as their sinergoi with grateful affection, that is full collaborators in the anxiety and the work of the Apostle. We are struck and moved by this high recognition by Paul of the missionary work of these spouses; and at the same time we can recognize how this synergy was a precious gift of the Spirit to the first Christian communities. We therefore ask the Holy Spirit to give the Church priests today who are able to appreciate and value the charisms of spouses with a strong faith and apostolic spirit such as Aquila and Priscilla had.

The constant and permanent pastoral care of the Church for the good of marriage and of the family must be carried out through various pastoral means: the approach to the Word of God, especially through lectio divina; catechetical meetings; involvement in the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist; conversation and spiritual direction; participation in family groups and charitable services, as well as developing the comparison with other families and openness to the needs of those who are most disadvantaged.

On the other hand, spouses who live their marriage in generous unity and with faithful love, supporting each other with the grace of the Lord and with the necessary support of the ecclesial community, represent in turn a precious source of pastoral help for the Church. In fact, they offer everyone an example of true love and become witnesses and cooperators in the fruitfulness of the Church itself. Truly, many Christian spouses are silent sermons for everyone, weekday sermon I would say, everyday, and we must unfortunately see that a couple who has lived together for so many years does not make news - this is sad -, while scandals, separations and divorces are making headlines ... (see Homily at the Casa Santa Marta, Friday 18 May 2018).

Spouses who live in unity and in fidelity reflect the image and likeness of God. This is the good news: that fidelity is possible, because it is a gift, in spouses and in presbyters. This is the news that should also make the faithful and full ministry of evangelical love of bishops and priests stronger and more consoling; how the love and marital fidelity of the spouses Aquila and Priscilla were comforting for Paul and Apollo!

Dear prelate auditors, I renew my gratitude to each one of you for the good you do for the people of God, serving justice through your sentences. Besides the importance for the interested parties of the judgment in itself, they contribute to correctly interpreting matrimonial law. This right is placed at the service of the salus animarum and the faith of the spouses. Therefore, we understand the punctual reference of the sentences issued by the Rota to the principles of Catholic doctrine, as regards the natural idea of marriage, with relative obligations and rights, and even more as regards the sacramental reality of matrimony.

Thank you with all my heart for your work!  I invoke divine assistance upon you and I willingly impart my Apostolic blessing.  Please, do not forget to pray for me.  Thank you!
(Original text in Italian)

Panama to Rome

At 5:30pm EST today, the Holy Father, Pope Francis arrived at the Tocumen International Airport where the official departure ceremony took place.

Upon his arrival, the Pope was welcomed by the President of the Republic, Juan Carlos Varela Rodríguez and his wife in a specially designed salon where a short meeting took place.

Following the playing of the respective national anthems and having greeted the bishops who were present, the Pope climbed aboard the Avianca B787 for his return flight to Italy.

The aircraft carrying the Pope on the return flight from his Apostolic voyage to the Republic of Panama departed at 6:25pm EST and landed at Rome's Ciampino airport at 11:15am local time (5:15am) on Monday.

Immediately after the departure of the aircraft carrying the Pope from Panama to Rome, the Holy Father, Pope Francis sent the following telegram to the President of the Republic, Mister Juan Carlos Varela Rodríguez.

His Excellency, Juan Carlos Varela Rodríguez
President of the Republic of Panama
Panama City

 Returning to Rome at the conclusion of my Apostolic visit to Panama, I once again express thanksgiving to Almighty God for the many graces received over the past days.  With renewed gratitude for the hospitality I have received, I assure Your Excellency and all the beloved people of Panama of my continued prayers for the peace and prosperity of your nation.  As a pledge of joy in the Lord, I gladly invoke upon all of you God's abundant blessings.

Francis

During the flight from Panama to Rome, flying over Colombia, Curaçao, the Dominican Republic, Porto Rico, the United States of America, Portugal, Spain, France and finally arriving in Italy, the Pope sent the following telegrams to their respective Heads of State.

Flying over Colombia

His Excellency, Iván Duque Márquez
President of the Republic of Colombia
Bogota

As my return flight from my Apostolic visit to Panama takes me over Colombia, I send cordial greetings to Your Excellency and your fellow citizens, commending the nation to the care of the Almighty, I willingly invoke upon all of you God's abundant blessings.

Francis

Flying over Curaçao

His Majesty Willem-Alexander
King of the Netherlands

En route to Rome at the conclusion of my Apostolic visit to Panama, I once again greet the people of the Dutch Caribbean, invoking upon them the divine blessings of peace, health and prosperity.

Francis

Flying over the Dominican Republic

His Excellency, Danilo Medina Sánchez
President of the Dominican Republic
Santo Domingo

As I fly over the Dominican Republic on my return journey from Panama to Rome, I send cordial greetings to Your Excellency and your fellow citizens.  Entrusting the nation to the providence of the Almighty, I willingly invoke upon all of you God's abundant blessings.

Francis

Flying over Porto Rico and the United States of America

The Honourable Donald J. Trump
President of the United States of America
Washington

As my return journey to Rome at the conclusion of my Apostolic visit to Panama takes me once more through the airspace of the United States, I cordially renew my prayers that all the people of the nation may enjoy the abundant blessings of Almighty God.

Francis

Flying over Portugal

His Excellency, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
President of the Portuguese Republic
Lisbon

As my return journey to Rome following my Apostolic visit to Panama takes me once more through Portuguese airspace, I cordially renew my prayers that all the people of Portugal may be filled with the abundant blessings of Almighty God.

Francis

Flying over Spain

His Majesty, Filipe VI
King of Spain
Madrid

Returning to Rome following my Apostolic visit to Panama, I once again send warm greetings to Your Majesty, the members of the royal family and the people of Spain, with renewed prayers for the security, well being and prosperity of all.

Francis

Flying over France

His Excellency, Emmanuel Macron
President of the French Republic
Paris

Returning to Rome at the conclusion of my Apostolic visit to Panama, I once again express my cordial best wishes to Your Excellency and the people of France.  With the assurance of my prayers, I gladly invoke upon all of you Almighty God's blessings of joy and peace.

Francis

Arriving in Italian airspace

His Excellency, the Honourable Sergio Mattarella
President of the Italian Republic
Palazzo del Quirinale

Upon my re-entry from my Apostolic voyage to Panama, where I met courageous young people and motivated by a desire to build a future of peace and fraternity, bearing witness to perennial Christian values, with all my heart I send to Your Excellency and to the beloved Italian nation my cordial greetings, assuring you all of my special prayer.

Francis

Meeting the WYD Volunteers

This afternoon, after bidding farewell to the personnel at the Apostolic Nunciature in Panama, the Holy Father, Pope Francis travelled by car to the Rommel Fernández Juan Díaz Stadium for a meeting with the WYD volunteers.  Upon his arrival, the Pope was welcomed by the Archbishop of Panama who accompanied him aboard a mini-van as they travelled throughout the crowds inside the stadium.

At 4:10pm EST, the meeting with the WYD volunteers officially began.  Following a word of greeting offered by the General Coordinator of the World Youth Day, there were testimonials presented by one of the young volunteers from Poland, one from Panama and one from Portugal, the country that will host the next WYD gathering.

Following a few words of thanks offered by the Archbishop of Panama, the Holy Father shared his speech.  When he was done, after the final prayer and blessing, Pope Francis travelled by car to the Tocumen International Airport.

Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis

offered to WYD volunteers

Dear Volunteers,

Before we conclude the celebration of World Youth Day, I wanted to meet you to thank every one of you for the service you rendered during these days and in the months preceding WYD.

Thanks to Bartosz, Stella Maris del Carmen and Maria Margarida for sharing their personal experiences. For me it was very important to listen to them and to appreciate the fellowship that comes about when we join together to serve others. We experience how faith takes on a completely new flavour and force: faith becomes more alive, more dynamic and more real. We experience a kind of joy – the one being lived here – a different kind of joy that comes from the opportunity of working side by side with others to achieve a shared dream. I know that all of you have experienced this.

Now you know how our hearts beat faster when we have a mission, not because someone told you this, but because you experienced it for yourselves. You experienced in your own life that no one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (Jn 15:13).

You also experienced some difficult moments that called for additional sacrifice. As you told us, Bartosz, we also became aware of our own weaknesses. The good thing is that you did not let those weaknesses get in the way of your service, or bother you too much. You experienced them in serving others, yes; in trying to understand and help other volunteers and pilgrims, yes; but you were determined not to let this stop you or paralyze you, you went ahead. May our limits and weaknesses not paralyze us, let us go on ahead with our defects, we will correct them, so as to keep moving forwards. This is the beauty of knowing that we are sent, the joy of knowing that, in spite of every difficulty, we have a mission to carry out. Let our limitations, our weaknesses and even our sins not hold us back and stop us from living the mission, because God invites us to do what we can and ask for what we cannot, in the knowledge that his love is taking hold of us and transforming us progressively (cf Gaudete et Exsultate, 49-50). Do not be alarmed by your weaknesses, and do not fear when you see your sins. Get up and move forwards, always forwards. Don’t remain fallen down, don’t close yourselves in, but go on ahead as you are, move forwards, because God knows how to forgive all things. Let us learn from so many, like Bartosz, who put service and mission first, and you will see that everything else will follow.

I thank you all, because in these days you have been attentive to even the smallest details, the most ordinary and apparently insignificant details, like offering someone a glass of water. Yet you have also been concerned with the larger things that called for careful planning. You prepared every detail with joy, creativity and commitment, and with much prayer. The things we pray over, we feel them and live them more profoundly. Prayer gives substance and vitality to everything we do. In praying, we discover that we are part of a family larger than what we can see or imagine. In praying, we open everything we do to the Church that supports and accompanies us from heaven, to the saints who have shown us the way, but above all, in praying, we open it all to God so that he may act, enter and claim victory.

You have dedicated your time, and your energy and resources, to dreaming and putting together this meeting. You could have easily chosen to do other things, but you wanted to be involved. A phrase that others want to erase: “to be involved”. This makes you grow, makes you greater, as you are, but… involved. To give your best to making possible the miracle of the multiplication not only of loaves but also of hope. And when you give the best of yourselves, getting involved with dedication, you see the miracle of the multiplication of hope. We need to multiply hope. Thank you for all this! In this, you show us, once again, that it is possible to set aside your own interests in order to help others. As you did, Stella Maris. I had read the testimonies earlier, which is why I was able to write these words, and yet when I read yours I felt a desire to cry. You put aside your own interests, you saved up to attend the World Youth Day in Krakow, but decided not to go, so that you could care for your three grandparents. You gave up something in order to honour your roots and this makes you a woman, it makes you adult, it makes you brave. You gave up something you wanted to do and had dreamed about, in order to help and accompany your family, to honour your roots, to be there with them; but the Lord, without you imagining it or desiring it, was preparing a gift for you; the celebration of WYD in your own country. The Lord likes to joke in this way, he likes to repay generosity in this way, for in generosity he always wins: you give the Lord a little and he gives you a massive amount, just like this. The Lord is like that, what can we do about it; that’s the way he loves us. Like Stella Maris, many of you also made all sorts of sacrifices. Many of you made sacrifices… Think now, what did I set aside to be here as a volunteer? Think a minute. You who have thought about this, have had to defer your dreams to care for your land, your roots. The Lord always blesses that, and he can never be outdone in generosity. Every time we forego something that we like for the good of others and especially for those most in need, or for the good of our roots as in the case of our grandparents and our elderly, the Lord pays it back a hundredfold. He always wins in generosity, for no one can beat him in this; no one can outdo him in love. Friends, give and it will be given to you, and you will experience how the Lord puts into your lap good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over (Lk 6:38), as the Gospel says.

Dear friends, you have had a more lively and real experience of faith; you have experienced the strength born of prayer and a new and different kind of joy, the fruit of working side by side even with people you did not know. Now is the moment when you are sent forth: go out and tell, go out and bear witness, go out and spread the word about everything you have seen and heard. And don’t do this with lots of words but rather, as you did here, with simple and ordinary gestures, those that transform and renew all things. Gestures capable of creating a mess, a constructive mess, a loving mess. Let me tell you something. On my first day here I saw a woman with a bonnet, an elderly lady, a grandmother, at the barrier where we were driving by, and she had a sign saying: We grandmothers also know how to make a mess with the words added below, with wisdom. Join the grandparents to make a mess, it will be a real mess, a really clever mess, don’t be frightened of it, go out and speak. I thought the lady was quite elderly and so I asked her age: she was 14 years younger than me, what an embarrassment!

Let us ask the Lord for his blessing. May he bless your families and your communities, and all those whom you will meet and encounter in the days to come. Let us also place our hearts, and what we feel in our hearts, under the mantle of the Blessed Virgin. May Our Lady accompany you. And, as I told you in Krakow, I do not know if I will be there for the next World Youth Day, but I assure you that Peter will be there to confirm you in faith. Press on, with courage and strength, and please, I am a sinner in my soul, do not forget to pray for me. Thank you.

(Prayer)

And now I will give you the blessing. Let us place in our hearts all that we are, all that we desire, the persons with whom we have worked in this time, the other volunteers, the people we have seen. We place in our hearts our friends so that they may receive the blessing; and we also place in our hearts those who do not like us, our enemies, and each of us has some, so that Jesus may also bless them, and so that all together we may move forwards.

Blessing
(Original text in Spanish)

Visiting a home for youth in Panama

At 10:45am EST this morning, the Holy Father, Pope Francis paid a visit to the Casa Hogar El buen Samaritano Juan Díaz, a foundation which was organized by the Church in Panama to help young people and adults who are poor, and those who are suffering from AIDS.

Upon his arrival, His Holiness was welcomed at the entrance to the structure by the four Directors of the ecclesial institutions who provide assistance to young people (Casa Hogar El Buen Samaritano, Centro Juan Pablo II, Hogar San José and Kkottongnae Panamá).  There were sixty young people from these residences present in the courtyard.

Following a word of greeting offered by the Director of the Casa Hogar El Buen Samaritano Jan Díaz, Father Domingo Escobar, the presentation of a video and a specially prepared choreography, the Pope shared a speech and recited the Angelus.  Then, after having blessed the cornerstone of the four centres, and having exchanged gifts, His Holiness returned to the Apostolic Nunciature by car where he had lunch with the members of the Papal party.

Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis

addressed to residents at the

Casa Hogar El Buen Samaritano

Dear Young Friends,
Dear Directors, Associates and Pastoral Workers,
Dear Friends,

Thank you, Father Domingo, for your words of greeting on behalf of all present. I have been looking forward very much to this meeting with you here from this Good Samaritan Home, and also with the other young people from the John Paul II Centre, the Saint Joseph Home of the Sisters of Charity and the House of Love of the Congregation of the Brothers of Jesus of Kkottonngae. Being with you today gives me reason for renewed hope. Thank you for giving me this.

In preparing for this meeting, I was able to read the testimony of a member of this Home that touched my heart. It said: Here I was reborn. This home, and all the centres you represent, are a sign of the new life that the Lord wants to give us. It is easy to confirm the faith of some of our brothers and sisters when we see it at work in anointing wounds, renewing hope and encouraging faith. Nor are those we might call the primary beneficiaries of your homes the only ones to be reborn; here the Church and the faith are also born and continually recreated through love.

We begin to be reborn when the Holy Spirit grants us eyes to see others, as Father Domingo said to us, not only as the people we live with – and that is already saying a lot – but as our neighbours. The Gospel tells us that Jesus was asked one day: Who is my neighbour? (cf Lk 10:29). He did not respond with theories, or give a fine, lofty speech. Instead he told a story – the parable of the Good Samaritan – a concrete example drawn from the real life that you all know and experience. My neighbour is before all else a face that I meet along the way, one that makes us move and be moved. To move from our fixed ways of doing things and our priorities, and to be moved so deeply by what that person is experiencing that we stop and make room for him or her on our journey. That is what the Good Samaritan realized when he saw the man left half-dead on the side of the road, not only by bandits but also by the indifference of a priest and a levite who could not be bothered to come to his aid. For indifference can also wound and kill. Some for a few miserable coins, others for fear of becoming unclean. Whatever their reason, whether contempt or social aversion, they saw nothing wrong in leaving that man lying on the roadside. The Good Samaritan, whether in the parable or in all of your homes, shows us that our neighbour is first of all a person, someone with a real, particular face, not something to avoid or ignore, whatever his or her situation may be. And that face reveals our humanity, so often suffering and overlooked.

Our neighbour, then, is a face that wonderfully inconveniences our lives, because it reminds us and points our steps towards what is really important, and it frees us from all that is trite and superficial in the way we follow the Lord. To be here is to touch the maternal face of the Church, which is capable of prophesying and creating a home, creating community. The Church’s face is usually unseen; it passes by unnoticed. Yet it is a sign of God’s concrete mercy and tender love, a living sign of the good news of the resurrection that even now is at work in our lives.

To create a home is to create a family. It is to learn to feel connected to others by more than the utilitarian and practical bonds that make us feel that our life is a bit more human. To create a home is to let prophecy take flesh and make our hours and days less cold, indifferent and anonymous. It is to create bonds by simple, everyday acts that all of us can do. A home, and this we all know very well, demands that everyone work together. No one can be indifferent or aloof, since each is a stone needed to build the home. And that also means asking the Lord to grant us the grace to learn to be patient, to forgive one another, to start over each day. How many times should I forgive and start over? Seventy times seven times, as many times as necessary. To create strong bonds requires confidence and trust nurtured daily by patience and forgiveness.

That is how the miracle takes place: we feel that here we are reborn, here we are all reborn, because we feel God’s caress that enables us to dream of a more human world, and therefore of a world more divine. I thank all of you for your example and your generosity. I also thank your institutions, and the volunteers and benefactors. I thank all those who have made it possible for God’s love to become ever more concrete and real by gazing into the eyes of those around us and acknowledging that we are all neighbours.

Now that we are about to pray the Angelus, I entrust you to our Blessed Lady. We ask her, as a good Mother, full of tender love and closeness, to teach us to make an effort each day to discover who our neighbours are, and to help us go out quickly to meet them, to give them a home, an embrace, where care and fraternal love meet. This is a mission involving every one of us. I encourage you now to place beneath her mantle all your concerns and needs, all your sorrows and hurts, so that, as a Good Samaritan, she will come to us and aid us by her maternal love and with her smile, the smile of a Mother.

Angelus Domini ...
(Original text in Spanish)

All eyes were on him

Here is the text of the homily I prepared for this Sunday's celebrations of the liturgy with the people of God.

Sharing the news

This week, thousands of young people from all corners of the world are gathered in Panama to celebrate the 34th World Youth Day.  As I heard the news of this gathering, I was immediately drawn back in time to the times when I myself was able to attend other World Youth Day gatherings.  Each of them was a celebration of faith and an opportunity to encounter the joy of youth, and a privileged moment for all those who were there to experience an encounter with Jesus.  Each time I came back home, there was exciting news to share about new friends I had made or about an experience that had helped me to grow in faith.  I wonder what stories the young people who are gathered in Panama will bring home with them, and I wonder how those stories they have to share will be received.

Today’s gospel account speaks of a time when Jesus himself came home with stories to tell.  Even before he arrived, he was already gaining a reputation throughout Galilee.  People in his hometown must have been excited to hear the stories that he would have to share.  Is it any wonder then that after he had read those words from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him (Lk 4:20)?  I have often wondered about the thoughts that might have been going through the minds of all those people at that precise moment: Did some in the crowd still remember him as a child?  Were they truly excited to hear all about his adventures?  Did they think that he was home to stay?

And what about us?  Have we ever had the experience of someone in our family going away, perhaps even moving away for a time and then coming back home to visit?  Were we excited to sit around a table and to hear about all the adventures that had been encountered?  This is the fervour that I imagine might have been present in the crowd as they listened to the priest Ezra reading the Law of God before the assembly (cf Neh 8:2-3).  They too would have been excited to hear the good news that Ezra had to share.

In fact, every time we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, we have another opportunity to hear a portion of the gospel – the good news – that Jesus wants to share with us.  Sometimes the news he has to share brings us consolation, at other times it excites us and fills us with great joy; sometimes it encourages us, and at other times it compels us to ask ourselves some serious and difficult questions.  Each time we hear it, the gospel invites us to grow in our relationship with our God and in our relationships with others.

We see a prime example of this in the second reading that we have heard today. Saint Paul writes to the Christian community at Corinth – and across the centuries, to us as well – comparing our role within the Church to the different parts of a body.  Just as the body is one and has many members ... so it is with Christ ... in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body (1 Cor 12:12).  Therefore even though we may all have come from different ethnic backgrounds, even though we each have our own story to tell, we are all united in faith; we are travelling the same road, hand in hand with one another.  This alone is exciting news worth sharing.

Des nouvelles passionnantes à partager

Cette semaine, des milliers de jeunes de tous les coins du monde se sont réunis à Panama afin de célébrer la 34ème Journée mondiale de la jeunesse. En apprenant la nouvelle de ce rassemblement, je suis immédiatement revenu à l'époque où j'avais moi-même pu assister à d'autres rassemblements des JMJ. Chacune d'entre elles était une célébration de la foi et une occasion de rencontrer la joie de la jeunesse ainsi qu’un moment privilégié pour tous ceux qui étaient présents pour vivre une rencontre avec Jésus. Chaque fois que je rentrais chez moi, il y avait des nouvelles passionnantes à partager à propos de nouveaux amis que je m'étais faites ou d'une expérience qui m'avait aidé à grandir dans la foi. Je me demande quelles histoires les jeunes qui sont réunis à Panama ramèneront à la maison, et comment ces histoires qu’ils ont à partager seront accueillies.

Le récit évangélique d’aujourd’hui parle d’un moment où Jésus lui-même est rentré à la maison avec des histoires à raconter. Même avant son arrivée, il gagnait déjà une réputation en Galilée. Les gens de sa ville natale ont dû être enthousiasmés par les histoires qu’il devrait partager. Est-il alors étonnant qu'après avoir lu ces paroles du rouleau du prophète Isaïe, tous dans la synagogue avaient les yeux fixés sur lui (Lc 4, 20)? Je me suis souvent interrogé au sujet des pensées qui pourraient avoir traversé l'esprit de toutes ces personnes à ce moment précis: certains dans la foule se souvenaient-ils encore de Jésus comme d'un enfant? Étaient-ils vraiment excités d'entendre parler de ses aventures? Pensaient-ils qu'il était chez lui pour rester?

Et nous? Avons-nous déjà vécu l'expérience d'un membre de notre famille qui partait, peut-être même s'éloignait un peu pour revenir ensuite à la maison? Avions-nous hâte de nous asseoir autour d'une table et d'entendre parler de toutes les aventures vécues? C’est cette ferveur qui, j’imagine, aurait pu être présente dans la foule alors qu’ils écoutaient le prêtre Esdras qui lisait la loi de Dieu devant l’assemblée (cf Ne 8: 2-3). Eux aussi auraient été ravis d'apprendre la bonne nouvelle qu’Esdras voulait partager.

En fait, chaque fois que nous nous réunissons pour célébrer l'Eucharistie, nous avons une autre occasion d'entendre une partie de l'Évangile - la bonne nouvelle - que Jésus veut partager avec nous. Parfois, la nouvelle qu'il a à partager nous apporte la consolation, d'autres fois elle nous excite et nous comble de joie; parfois cela nous encourage, et d'autres fois cela nous oblige à nous poser des questions sérieuses et difficiles. Chaque fois que nous l'entendons, l'évangile nous invite à grandir dans nos relations avec notre Dieu et avec les autres.

Nous en voyons un excellent exemple lors de la deuxième lecture que nous avons entendue aujourd'hui. Saint Paul écrit à la communauté chrétienne de Corinthe - et à nous également à travers les siècles - comparant notre rôle au sein de l'Église aux différentes parties d'un corps. Le corps – dit-il – ne fait qu’un, il a pourtant plusieurs membres; et tous les membres, malgré leur nombre, ne forment qu’un seul corps (1 Co 12, 12). Par conséquent, même si nous venons tous d’origines ethniques différentes, même si chacun de nous a sa propre histoire à raconter, nous sommes tous unis dans la foi; nous entreprenons la même route, main dans la main. Cela seul est une nouvelle passionnante à partager.

Concluding Mass for WYD 2019

This morning, having left the Apostolic Nunciature, the Holy Father, Pope Francis travelled by car to the Campo San Juan Pablo II (Metro Park) for the concluding Mass of the XXXIV World Youth Day which has as its theme: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to your word (Lk 1:38).

Upon his arrival, the Pope was welcomed by the Archbishop of Panama, His Excellency, José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta, OSA, who accompanied him aboard the popemobile as it made a tour throughout the crowds.

At 8:00am EST, the Holy Father presided over the Eucharistic Celebration for the III Sunday of Ordinary Time.  After a few words of thanks offered by the Archbishop of Panama and the proclamation of the gospel, the Holy Father shared his homily.

At the conclusion of the Eucharistic celebration, the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, His Eminence, Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, offered a few words of greeting to the Holy Father and then announced that the next celebration of the World Youth Day will take place in Portugal in 2022.

Before the final Blessing, the Holy Father offered the youth and the pilgrims who were present a few words of greeting.  Then, after having greeted 40 local volunteers, he travelled by car to the Casa Hogar El Buen Samaritano Juan Diaz (the Juan Diaz Good Samaritan Home).

Homily of the Holy Father, Pope Francis

for the concluding Mass of the WYD 2019

The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them: 'Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’ (Lk 4:20-21). With these words, the Gospel presents the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. It started in the synagogue that saw him grow up; he was in the midst of neighbours and people he knew, and perhaps even some of his childhood catechists who had taught him the Law. It was an important moment in the life of the Master: the child who was educated and grew up in that community, stood up and took the floor to proclaim and put into action God’s dream. A word previously proclaimed only as a future promise, but now, on the lips of Jesus alone, could be spoken in the present tense, as it became a reality: Today it has been fulfilled.

Jesus reveals the now of God, who comes to meet us and call us to take part in his now of proclaiming good news to the poor... bringing liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, setting at liberty those who are oppressed, announcing the year of the Lord’s favour (Lk 4:18- 19). This is the now of God. It becomes present with Jesus: it has a face, it is flesh. It is a merciful love that does not wait for ideal or perfect situations to show itself, nor does it accept excuses for its appearance. It is God’s time, that makes every situation and place both right and proper. In Jesus, the promised future begins and becomes life.

When? Now. Yet not everyone who was listening felt invited or called. Not all the residents of Nazareth were prepared to believe in someone they knew and had seen grow up, and who was now inviting them to realize a long-awaited dream. Not only that, but they said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ (Lk 4:22).

The same thing can also happen with us. We do not always believe that God can be that concrete and commonplace, that close and real, and much less that he can become so present and work through somebody like a neighbour, a friend, a relative. We do not always believe that the Lord can invite us to work and soil our hands with him in his Kingdom in that simple and blunt a way. It is hard to accept that God’s love can become concrete and can almost be experienced in history with all its painful and glorious vicissitudes (Benedict XVI, General Audience, 28 September 2005).

Often we too behave like the neighbours in Nazareth: we prefer a distant God: nice, good, generous but far-off, a God who does not inconvenience us. Because a close and everyday God, a friend and brother, demands that we be concerned with our surroundings, everyday affairs and above all fraternity. God chose not to reveal himself as an angel or in some spectacular way, but to give us a face that is fraternal and friendly, concrete and familiar. God is real because love is real; God is concrete because love is concrete. Indeed, this concrete manifestation of love is one of the essential elements in the life of Christians (Benedict XVI, Homily, 1 March 2006).

We can also run the same risks as the neighbours at Nazareth, when within our communities the Gospel seeks to be lived concretely. We begin to say: But these young people, aren’t they the children of Mary, Joseph, aren’t they the brothers and sisters of so and so? Are these not the youngsters we saw grow up? That one over there, wasn’t he the one who kept breaking windows with his ball? What was born as prophecy and proclamation of the kingdom of God gets domesticated and impoverished. Attempts to domesticate the word of God occur daily.

You too, dear young people, can experience this whenever you think that your mission, your vocation, even your life itself, is a promise far off in the future, having nothing to do with the present. As if being young were a kind of waiting room, where we sit around until we are called. And in the meantime, we adults or you yourselves invent a hygienically sealed future, without consequences, where everything is safe, secure and well insured. A make-believe happiness. So we tranquilize you, we numb you into keeping quiet, not asking or questioning; and in that “meantime” your dreams lose their buoyancy, they begin to become flat and dreary, petty and plaintive (cf Palm Sunday Homily, 25 March 2018). Only because we think, or you think, that your now has not yet come, that you are too young to be involved in dreaming about and working for the future.

One of the fruits of the last Synod was the enrichment that came from being able to meet and above all to listen to one another. The enrichment of intergenerational dialogue, the enrichment of exchange and the value of realizing that we need one another, that we have to work to create channels and spaces that encourage dreaming of and working for tomorrow, starting today. And this, not in isolation, but rather side by side, creating a common space. A space that is not simply taken for granted, or won in a lottery, but a space for which you too must fight.

You, dear young people, are not the future but the now of God. He invites you and calls you in your communities and cities to go out and find your grandparents, your elders; to stand up and with them to speak out and realize the dream that the Lord has dreamed for you.  Not tomorrow but now, for wherever your treasure is, there will your heart also be (cf Mt 6:21). Whatever you fall in love with, it will win over not only your imagination, it will affect everything. It will be what makes you get up in the morning, what keeps you going at times of fatigue, what will break open your hearts and fill you with wonder, joy and gratitude. Realize that you have a mission and fall in love; that will decide everything (cf Pedro Arrupe, S.J., Nada es más práctico). We may possess everything, but if we lack the passion of love, we will have nothing. Let us allow the Lord to make us fall in love!

For Jesus, there is no meantime, but only a merciful love that wants to enter into and win over our hearts. He wants to be our treasure, because he is not a meantime, an interval in life or a passing fad; he is generous love that invites us to entrust ourselves. He is concrete, close, real love. He is festive joy, born of opting for and taking part in the miraculous draught of hope and charity, solidarity and fraternity, despite the paralyzed and paralyzing gaze born of fear and exclusion, speculation and manipulation.

Brothers and sisters, the Lord and his mission are not a meantime in our life, something temporary; they are our life! In a special way throughout these days, Mary’s fiat has been whispering like a kind of music in the background. She not only believed in God and in his promises as something possible, she believed God himself and dared to say yes to taking part in this now of the Lord. She felt she had a mission; she fell in love and that decided everything.

As in the synagogue of Nazareth, the Lord stands up again among us his friends and acquaintances; he takes the book and says to us Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing (Lk 4:21). Do you want to live out your love in a practical way? May your yes continue to be the gateway for the Holy Spirit to give us a new Pentecost for the world and for the Church.

(Video)

Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
at the conclusion of the Mass

At the conclusion of this celebration, I give thanks to God for making it possible for us to share these days and to experience once again this World Youth Day.

In a particular way, I wish to thank the President of Panama, Mister Juan Carlos Varela Rodríguez and the Presidents of other Nations as well as other political and civil authorities for their presence at this celebration.

I thank His Excellency, José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta, Archbishop of Panama, for his availability and his good services in welcoming this celebration in his Diocese, as well as the other Bishops of this country and of neighbouring countries, for all that they have done in their local communities to provide lodgings and help for so many young people.

Thank you to all those who have helped us with your prayer and who have collaborated with their commitment and their work in order to make the World Youth Day in this country a reality.

And to you, dear young people, I offer a great word of thanks.  Your faith and your joy have made Panama, America and the entire world vibrate.  As we have heard so many times during these days in the World Youth Day hymn, We are pilgrims who have come here today from continents and cities.  We are on a journey: keep going along this journey, continue living your faith and sharing it too.  Don't forget that you are not the tomorrow, not the meanwhile of God, but rather the now of God.

The location of the next World Youth Day has already been announced.  I ask you not to allow what you have experienced during these days to cool off.  Return to your parishes and communities, to your families and your friends, ready to share with them what you have experienced, so that others may also vibrate with the strength and the concrete hope that you have found.  And with Maria, continue saying yes to the dream that God has planted within you.

And please don't forget to pray for me.

At the Vigil with youth in Panama

This afternoon, Pope Francis, having left the Apostolic Nunciature, traveled by car to the Campo San Juan Pablo II (Metro Park) for the prayer vigil with the young people taking part in the XXXIV World Youth Day. Upon his arrival the Pope was welcomed by the Archbishop of Panama, José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta, OSA, who accompanied him in the popemobile for the tour among the faithful.

The Vigil began at 6.30pm EST. Testimonies by a family, a young former drug addict and a young Palestinian were given. The Holy Father then addressed the crowd.

This was followed by adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the final blessing and the prayer to Our Lady.  At the conclusion of the Vigil, Pope Francis returned to the Apostolic Nunciature.

Greetings of His Holiness, Pope Francis

addressed to youth at the WYD Vigil

Dear young friends, good afternoon!

We have watched that beautiful presentation about the Tree of Life. It shows us how the life that Jesus gives us is a love story, a life history that wants to blend with ours and sink roots in the soil of our own lives. That life is not a salvation up in the clouds and waiting to be downloaded, a new app to be discovered, or a technique of mental self-improvement. Still less is it a tutorial for finding out the latest news. The salvation the Lord offers us is an invitation to be part of a love story interwoven with our personal stories; it is alive and wants to be born in our midst so that we can bear fruit just as we are, wherever we are and with everyone all around us. The Lord comes there to sow and to be sown. He is the first to say yes to our lives and our history, and he wants us to say yes along with him.

That was how he surprised Mary, and asked her to be part of this love story. Obviously, the young woman of Nazareth was not part of the social networks of the time. She was not an influencer, but without wanting or trying to, she became the most influential woman in history.  Mary, the influencer of God. With just a few words, she was able to say yes and to trust in the love and promises of God, the only force capable of making all things new.

We are always struck by the strength of that young woman’s yes, the words be it done that she spoke to the angel. This was no merely passive or resigned acceptance or a faint yes, as if to say, Well, let’s give it a try, and see what happens. It was something else, something different. It was the yes of someone prepared to be committed and take a risk, ready to stake everything she had, with no more security than the certainty of knowing that she was the bearer of a promise. Hers would undoubtedly be a difficult mission, but the challenges that lay ahead were no reason to say no. Things would get complicated, of course, but not in the same way as happens when cowardice paralyzes us because things are not clear or sure in advance. The yes and the desire to serve were stronger than any doubts and difficulties.

This afternoon we also heard how Mary’s yes echoes and expands in every generation. Many young people, like Mary, take a risk and stake their future on a promise. Thank you, Erika and Rogelio, for the witness you gave us. You shared your fears and difficulties and the risks you faced with the birth of your daughter Inés. At one point, you said, We parents, for various reasons, find it hard to accept that our child will be born with an illness or disability. That is true and understandable. Yet the amazing thing was what you went on to say, When our daughter was born, we decided to love her with all our heart. Before her birth, when faced with all the issues and problems that came up, you made a decision and said, like Mary, let it be done; you decided to love her. Presented with the life of your frail, helpless and needy daughter, your answer was yes, and so we have Inés. You believed that the world is not only for the strong!

Saying yes to the Lord means preparing to embrace life as it comes, with all its fragility, its simplicity, and often enough too, with its conflicts and annoyances, and to do so with the same love with which Erika and Rogelio spoke. It means embracing our country, our families and our friends as they are, with all their weak points and their flaws. Embracing life is also seen in accepting things that are not perfect, pure or distilled, yet no less worthy of love. Is a disabled or frail person not worthy of love? Is a person who happens to be a foreigner, a person who made a mistake, a person ill or in prison, not worthy of love? We know what Jesus did: he embraced the leper, the blind man, the paralytic, the Pharisee and the sinner. He embraced the thief on the cross and even embraced and forgave those who crucified him.

Why did he do this? Because only what is loved can be saved. Only what is embraced can be transformed. The Lord’s love is greater than all our problems, frailties and flaws. Yet it is precisely through our problems, frailties and flaws that he wants to write this love story. He embraced the prodigal son, he embraced Peter after his denials and he always embraces us whenever we fall: he helps us to get up and get back on our feet. Because the worst fall, the fall that can ruin our lives, is to remain down and not allow ourselves to be helped up.

How hard it is at times to understand God’s love! But what a gift it is to know that we have a Father who embraces us despite all our imperfections!  So, the first step is not to be afraid to welcome life as it comes, to embrace life!

Thank you, Alfredo, for your testimony and your courage in sharing it with us all. I was impressed when you told us: I started working on a construction project, but once it was finished, I was without a job and things changed fast: without an education, a trade and a job. Let me summarize this in four withouts that leave our life rootless and parched: without work, without education, without community, without family.

It is impossible for us to grow unless we have strong roots to support us and to keep us firmly grounded. It is easy to drift off, when nothing holds us down. There is a question that we older people have to ask ourselves, but also a question that you need to ask us and we have to answer: What roots are we providing for you, what foundations for you to grow as persons? It is easy enough to criticize and complain about young people if we are depriving them of the jobs, education and community opportunities they need to take root and to dream of a future. Without education, it is difficult to dream of a future; without work, it is very difficult to dream of a future; without a family and community, it is almost impossible to dream of a future. Because dreaming of a future means learning how to answer not only the question what I am living for, but also who I am living for, who makes it worthwhile for me to live my life.

As Alfredo told us, when we find ourselves at a loss and without work, without education, without community and without family, at the end of the day we feel empty and we end up filling that emptiness with anything we can. Because we no longer know for whom to live, to fight and to love. I remember once talking with some young people, and one of them asked me: Father, why are so many young people today not interested in whether God exists or find it difficult to believe in him, and they seem so bored and aimless in life? I asked them in return what they thought. I remember one particular answer that touched me and it relates to the experience Alfredo shared – it’s because many of them feel that, little by little, they stopped existing for others; often they feel invisible. This is the culture of abandonment and lack of concern for others. Not everyone, but many people feel that they have little or nothing to contribute, because there is no one around to ask them to get involved. How can they think that God exists, if others have long since stopped thinking that they exist?

We know well that to feel acknowledged or loved it is not enough to be connected all day long. To feel respected and asked to get involved is greater than simply being on-line. It means finding spaces where, with your hands, your heart and your head, you can feel part of a larger community that needs you and that you yourselves need.

The saints understood this very well. I think, for example, of Saint John Bosco. He did not go off to seek young people in far-off places, but learned to see with God’s eyes everything that was going on in his city. So, he was struck by the hundreds of children and young people left to themselves, without education, without work and without the helping hand of a community. Many other people were living in the same city, and many criticized those young people, but they were unable to see them with God’s eyes. Don Bosco did, and found the energy to take the first step: to embrace life as it presented itself. From there, he was not afraid to take the second step: to create a community, a family with them, where through work and study they could feel loved. He gave them roots from which they could reach up to heaven.

I think of many places in our Latin America that promote what they call familia grande hogar de Cristo. With the same spirit as the John Paul II Foundation that Alfredo spoke of and many other centres, they seek to accept life as it comes, in its totality and complexity, because they know that there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease (Job 14:7).

It is always possible to sprout shoots and grow when there is a community, a warm home that enables us to take root, that provides the confidence we need and prepares our hearts to discover a new horizon: the horizon of a beloved son or daughter who is sought, found and entrusted with a mission. Through real faces, the Lord makes himself present. To say yes to this love story is to say yes to becoming a means of building in our neighbourhoods those ecclesial communities capable of walking the streets of our cities, embracing and weaving new relationships. To be an influencer in the twenty-first century is to be guardians of roots, guardians of all that prevents our life from dissipating and evaporating into nothingness. Be guardians of everything that can make us feel part of one another, to feel that we belong.

That was what Nirmeen experienced at World Youth Day in Krakow. She found a lively, happy community that welcomed her, gave her a sense of belonging and allowed her to live the joy that comes from being found by Jesus. A saint once asked: Will the progress of society consist only in owning the latest car or buying the newest gadget on the market? Is that the extent of our greatness as human beings? Is that all there is to live for? (cf Saint Albert Hurtado, Holy Week Meditation for Young People, 1946). So let me ask you: Is that your idea of greatness? Weren’t you created for something more? The Virgin Mary understood this and said, Let it be done! Erika and Rogelio understood this and said, Let it be done! Alfredo understood this and said, Let it be done! Nirmeen understood this and said, Let it be done! Young friends, I ask you: Are you willing to say yes? The Gospel teaches us that the world will not be better because there are fewer sick, weak, frail or elderly people to be concerned about, or because there are fewer sinners. Rather it will be better when more people, like these friends, are willing and enthused enough to give birth to the future and believe in the transforming power of God’s love. Are you willing to be an influencer like Mary, who dared to say, Let it be done? Only love makes us more human and fulfilled; everything else is a pleasant but useless placebo.

In a few moments, we will encounter the living Jesus in eucharistic adoration. You can be sure that he has many things to say to you, about different situations in your lives, families and countries. In a few moments, we will encounter the living Jesus in eucharistic adoration. You can be sure that he has many things to say to you, about different situations in your lives, families and countries.

Face to face with him, don’t be afraid to open your heart to him and to ask him to renew the fire of his love, so that you can embrace life with all its frailty and flaws, but also with its grandeur and beauty. May he help you to discover the beauty of being alive. Do not be afraid to tell him that you too want to be a part of his love story in this world, that you are ready for something greater!

Friends: when you meet Jesus face to face, I ask you also to pray for me, so that I too will be unafraid to embrace life, to care for its roots and to say, like Mary, Let it be done, according to your word!.
(Original text in Spanish)

Mass at the Cathedral of Panama

This morning, before leaving the Apostolic Nunciature, the Holy Father received a delegation of 40 Polish youth from the sailing ship Dar Młodzież (Gift of Youth) from the Merchant Navy Academy in Gdynia (Poland), which is making a cruise around the world on the occasion of the World Youth Day in Panama and to celebrate the Centenary of the re-establishment of Poland's independence.  Present at the encounter, in addition to the members of the ships crew and representatives from the Academy were the Polish Minister of Marine Transportation, Mister Marek Gróbarczyk.  At the conclusion of the encounter, Pope Francis travelled by car to the Cathedral Basilica of Santa María La Antigua.

Upon his arrival, before entering the Cathedral, the Pope was greeted by a group of 200 young pilgrims from France who were accompanied by the Vicar General of Paris, Monsignor Benoist de Sinety.  Immediately afterwards, at the entrance to the Cathedral, the Pope was welcomed by the Metropolitan Chapter of Canons who presented him with the crucifix and holy water.  Near to the altar, two religious Sisters presented His Holiness with a silver rose which His Holiness placed at the statue of the Virgin.

At 9:15am EST, the Holy Father presided over the Eucharistic Celebration during which he dedicated the altar of the Cathedral Basilica in the presence of Priests, Consecrated men and women and various Lay Movements.

During the Mass, after the proclamation of the gospel, the Pope spoke the homily.

At the conclusion of the Celebration, following a few words of greeting offered by the Archbishop of Panama, His Excellency, José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta, OSA, and the final blessing, the Pope travelled by car to the Major Seminary of San José di Panama.

Homily of the Holy Father, Pope Francis

for the Mass celebrated at the

Cathedral Basilica of Santa María La Antigua

Jacob’s well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’ (Jn 4:6-7).

The Gospel we have heard does not shrink from showing us Jesus, wearied from his journey. At midday, when the sun makes all its strength and power felt, we encounter him beside the well. He needed to relieve and quench his thirst, to refresh his steps, to recover his strength in order to continue his mission. The disciples personally experienced the extent of the Lord’s commitment and readiness to bring the Good News to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners, to comfort those who mourn and to proclaim a year of favour to all (cf Is 61:1-3). These are all situations that consume life and energy; yet they show us many important moments in the life of the Master, moments in which our humanity, too, can find a word of Life.

Weary from the journey

It is relatively easy for us, compulsively busy as we are, to imagine and enter into communion with the Lord’s activity. Yet we do not always know how to contemplate and accompany his weariness; it seems this is not something proper to God. The Lord knew what it was to be tired, and in his weariness so many struggles of our nations and peoples, our communities and all who are weary and heavily burdened (cf Mt 11:28) can find a place.

There are many reasons for weariness on our journey as priests, consecrated men and women, and members of lay movements: from long hours of work, which leave little time to eat, rest and be with family, to toxic working conditions and relationships that lead to exhaustion and disappointment. From simple daily commitments to the burdensome routine of those who do not find the relaxation, appreciation or support needed to move from one day to the next. From the usual and predictable little problems to lengthy and stressful periods of pressure. A whole array of burdens to bear.

It would be impossible to try to cope with all these situations that assail the lives of consecrated persons, but in all of them we feel the urgent need to find a well to quench our thirst and relieve our weariness from the journey. All these situations demand, like a silent plea, a well from which we can set out once more. For some time now, a subtle weariness seems to have found a place in our communities, a weariness that has nothing to do with the Lord’s weariness. It is a temptation that we might call the weariness of hope. This weariness is felt when – as in the Gospel – the sun beats down mercilessly and with such intensity that it becomes impossible to keep walking or even to look ahead. Everything becomes confused. I am not referring to that particular heaviness of heart (cf Redemptoris Mater, 17; Evangelii Gaudium, 287) felt by those who feel shattered at the end of the day, yet manage a serene and grateful smile. I am speaking of that other weariness, which comes from looking ahead once reality hits and calls into question the energy, resources and viability of our mission in this changing and challenging world.

It is a weariness that paralyzes. It comes from looking ahead and not knowing how to react to the intense and confusing changes that we as a society are experiencing. These changes seem to call into question not only our ways of speaking and engaging, our attitudes and habits in dealing with reality, but in many cases they call into doubt the very viability of religious life in today’s world. And the very speed of these changes can paralyze our options and opinions, while what was meaningful and important in the past can now no longer seem valid. The weariness of hope comes from seeing a Church wounded by sin, which so often failed to hear all those cries that echoed the cry of the Master: My God, why have you forsaken me? (Mt 27:46).

We can get used to living with a weariness of hope before an uncertain and unknown future, and this can pave the way for a grey pragmatism to lodge in the heart of our communities. Everything apparently goes on as usual, but in reality, faith is crumbling and failing. Disappointed by a reality that we do not understand or that we think has no room for our message, we can open the door to one of the worst heresies possible in our time: the notion that the Lord and our communities have nothing to say or contribute in the new world now being born (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 83). What once arose to be the salt and light for the world ends up stale and worn.

Give me a drink

Weariness from the journey can happen; it can make itself felt. Like it or not, we do well to have the same courage as the Master, and to say, Give me a drink. As was the case with the Samaritan woman and perhaps with each one of us, we want to quench our thirst not with any water but with the spring of water welling up to eternal life (Jn 4:14). Like the Samaritan woman who for years had been carrying the empty pitchers of failed loves, we know that not just any word can help us regain energy and prophecy in our mission. Not just any novelty, however alluring it may seem, can quench our thirst. We know, as she did, that neither knowledge of religion nor upholding options and traditions past or present, always makes us fruitful and passionate worshipers in spirit and truth (Jn 4:23).

The Lord says, Give me a drink, he asks us to say those same words. To say them, let us open the door and let our wearied hope return without fear to the deep well of our first love, when Jesus passed our way, gazed at us with mercy and asked us to follow him. To say those words, let us revive the memory of that moment when his eyes met ours, the moment when he made us realize that he loved us, not only personally but also as a community (cf Homily at the Easter Vigil, 19 April 2014). It means retracing our steps and, in creative fidelity, listening to how the Spirit inspired no specific works, pastoral plans or structures, but instead, through any number of saints next door – including the founders of your institutes and the bishops and priests who laid the bases for your communities – he gave life and fresh breath to a particular moment of history when all hope and dignity seemed to be stifled and crushed.

Give me a drink means finding the courage to be purified and to recapture the most authentic part of our founding charisms – which are not only for religious life but for the life of Church as a whole – and to see how they can find expression today. This means not only looking back on the past with gratitude, but seeking the roots of their inspiration and letting them resound forcefully once again in our midst (cf Pope Francis-Fernando Prado, The Strength of a Vocation, 42).

Give me a drink means recognizing that we need the Spirit to make us men and women mindful of a passage, the salvific passage of God. And trusting that, as he did yesterday, he will still do tomorrow: Going to the roots helps us without a doubt to live in the present without fear. We need to live without fear, responding to life with the passion of being engaged with history, immersed in things. With the passion of lovers (cf Pope Francis-Frenando Prado, The Strength of a Vocation, 44).

A wearied hope will be healed and will enjoy that particular tiredness of heart when it is unafraid to return to the place of its first love and to find, in the peripheries and challenges before us today, the same song, the same gaze that inspired the song and the gaze of those who have gone before us. In this way, we will avoid the danger of starting with ourselves; we will abandon a wearisome self-pity in order to meet Christ’s gaze as he continues today to seek us, to call us and to invite us to the mission.

For me it is no small thing that this cathedral now reopens its doors after a lengthy renovation. It has experienced the passage of the years as a faithful witness of the history of this people, and now with the help and work of many it wants once more to show us its beauty. More than a formal restoration, which always attempts to reproduce the original appearance, this restoration has sought to preserve the beauty of the past while making room for all the newness of the present. A Spanish, Indian and Afro-American cathedral thus becomes a Panamanian cathedral, belonging both to past generations and to those of today who made it possible. It no longer belongs only to the past, but it is a thing of beauty for the present.

Today it is once more a place of peace, that encourages us to renew and nurture our hope, to discover how yesterday’s beauty becomes a basis for creating the beauty of tomorrow. That is how the Lord works. Brothers and sisters, may we not allow ourselves to be robbed of the beauty we have inherited from our ancestors. May it be a living and fruitful root that will help us continue to make beautiful and prophetic the history of salvation in these lands.
(Original text in Spanish)