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VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXIII - N° 123
DATE 07-06-2013
Summary:
- POPE, IN DIALOGUE WITH STUDENTS OF JESUIT-RUN SCHOOLS, AFFIRMS THAT POVERTY
IN WORLD IS A SCANDAL
- AUDIENCES
___________________________________________________________
POPE, IN DIALOGUE WITH STUDENTS OF JESUIT-RUN SCHOOLS, AFFIRMS THAT POVERTY IN
WORLD IS A SCANDAL
Vatican City, 7 June 2013 (VIS) – This morning in the Paul VI Audience
Hall, Pope Francis received students from Jesuit-run schools in Italy and
Albania accompanied by their teachers and family members. It was a moment of
affection and spontaneity
prompting the Holy Father to say: “I've prepared a text but it's five
pages and that's a little long. Let's do this: I'll give it to the Provincial
Father and Fr. Federico Lombardi [director of the Holy See Press Office] so
that you all can have
it written and then some of you will ask me questions and I'll answer them.
That way we can talk.”
In his address, which we offer ample excerpts from below, the Pope had written:
“School is one of the educational environments where one grows by
learning how to live, how to become grown-up, mature men and women. …
Following what St. Ignatius teaches us, the main element in school is learning
to be magnanimous
… This means having a big heart, having a greatness of soul. It means
having grand ideals, the desire to achieve great things in response to what
God asks of us and, precisely because of this, doing everyday things, all our
daily actions,
commitments, and meetings with people well. [It means] doing the little
everyday things with a big heart that is open to God and to others.”
“School broadens not only your intellectual dimension, but also the
human one. I think that Jesuit schools in particular are careful to develop
the human virtues: loyalty, respect, and commitment. I would like to focus on
two fundamental values:
freedom and service. Before all else be free persons! … Freedom means
knowing how to reflect on what we do, knowing how to evaluate … which
are the behaviours that make us grow. It means always choosing the good.
… Being free to
always choose the good is challenging, but it will make you persons with a
backbone, who know how to face life, courageous and patient persons.”
“The second word is service. In your schools you participate in various
activities that prepare you not to be wrapped up in yourselves or in your own
little world, but to open yourselves to others, especially to the poorest and
most in need, to
work to improve the world we live in.” Spiritual formation is the
requirement for all this, and in the text he urges the students to
“always love Jesus Christ more and more! Our lives are a response to his
call and you will be happy and will
build your lives well if you know how to answer that call. Feel the Lord's
presence in your lives. … In prayer, in dialogue with him, in reading
the Bible you will discover that He is truly close to you. And you should also
learn to read God's
signs in your lives. He is always speaking to us, even through the events of
our times and our everyday existence. It's up to us to listen to him.”
In his address, he also directs his thoughts to all the educators: Jesuits,
teachers, workers in the schools, and parents. “Don't be discouraged by
the difficulties that the educational challenge presents! Educating isn't a
profession but an
attitude, a way of being. In order to educate you must go out of yourselves
and be amidst the young, accompanying them in the stages of their growth,
standing beside them.”
In the text Francis asks them to give their students hope and optimism by
teaching them “to see the beauty and goodness of creation and of
humanity, which always retains the Creator's imprint. But above all, witness
with your lives what you are
communicating.” He also reminds them that educators “impart
knowledge and values with their words but it will be more influential on the
kids if your words are accompanied by your witness, by being consistent in
your lives. It isn't possible
to educate without being consistent! ... School can and should function as a
catalyst, being a place of encounter and convergence of the entire educational
community with the single objective of shaping and helping [the students] to
grow as mature,
simple, honest, and competent persons who know how to love faithfully, who
know how to live their lives as a response to God's call and their future
professions as a service to society.”
In a section that he also spoke at the audience—humorously noting that
he had already reached the last page—he encourages the educators
“to seek new forms of non-conventional education according to 'the needs
of the places, times, and
persons'.” The text closes with the reminder that “the Lord is
always nearby, lifting you up after you fall and pushing you to grow and to
make ever-better choices 'with great courage and generosity', with
magnanimity. Ad Maiorem Dei
Gloriam.” [For the greater glory of God, the Jesuit motto].
The floor was then given to several students and professors who asked the Pope
unscripted questions. To the first student, who asked about the doubts
regarding belief that he sometimes has and what he could do to help him grow
in faith, Francis
answered: “Journeying is an art because, if we're always in a hurry, we
get tired and don't arrive at our journey's goal. If we stop, if we don't go
forward and we also miss the goal. Journeying is precisely the art of looking
toward the horizon,
thinking where I want to go but also enduring the fatigue of the journey,
which is sometimes difficult … There are dark days, even days when we
fail, even days when we fall. [Sometimes] one falls but always think of this:
don't be afraid of
failures. Don't be afraid of falling. What matters in the art of journeying
isn't not falling but not staying down. Get up right away and continue going
forward. This is what's beautiful: this is working every day, this is
journeying as humans.
But
also, it's bad walking alone: it's bad and boring. Walking in community, with
friends, with those who love us, that helps us. It helps us to arrive
precisely at that goal, that 'there where' we're supposed to arrive.”
An elementary school girl asked if the Pope continued to see his friends from
grade school. “But I've only been Pope for two and a half months,”
he answered. But he understood her concern and continued “My friends are
14 hours away
from here by plane, right? They're far from here, but I want to tell you
something, three of them came to find me and greet me and I see them and they
write to me and I love them very much. You can't live without friends, that's
important.”
The next question, also from a grade school girl, was if he wanted to be Pope.
He responded by asking her: “Do you know what it means if someone
doesn't love themselves very much?” He continued: “Someone who
wants, who has the desire
to be Pope doesn't love themself. ... But I didn't want to be Pope.”
Another girl asked why he had forsaken the wealth of the papacy, living at the
Domus Sanctae Marthae instead of the Apostolic Palace apartments, and other
similar choices. He answered: “It's not just about wealth. For me it's a
question of
personality. I need to live among people and if I lived alone, perhaps rather
isolated, it wouldn't be good for me. A professor asked me this question: 'Why
don't you go live there?' and I answered, 'Listen, professor, it's for
psychiatric reasons.'
Because … that's my personality. That apartment [in the Apostolic
Palace] isn't so luxurious either, don't worry. But I can't live alone, do you
understand? And well, I believe that, yes, the times talk to us of so much
poverty in the world and
this is a scandal. Poverty in the world is a scandal. In a world where there
is so much wealth, so many resources to feed everyone, it is unfathomable that
there are so many hungry children, that there are so many children without an
educatio
n, so
many poor persons. Poverty today is a cry. We all have to think if we can
become a little poorer, all of us have to do this. How can I become a little
poorer in order to be more like Jesus, who was the poor Teacher?”
Returning to the original
question, he finished: “It's not a question of my personal virtue. It's
just that I can't live alone.” All the rest, not having so many things,
“is about becoming a little poorer”.
The Pope also answered questions related to his choosing to become a Jesuit,
but the last of the eight questions was from a young man who asked how young
people should deal with the material and spiritual poverty that exists in the
world. The Holy
Father responded: “First of all I want to tell you something, tell all
you young persons: don't let yourselves be robbed of hope. Please, don't let
it be stolen from you. The worldly spirit, wealth, the spirit of vanity,
arrogance, and pride
… all these things steal hope. Where do I find hope? In the poor Jesus,
Jesus who made himself poor for us. And you spoke of poverty. Poverty calls us
to sow hope. This seems a bit difficult to understand. I remember Fr. Arrupe
[Father General of
the Jesuits from 1965-1983] wrote a letter to the Society's centres for social
research. At the end he said to us: 'Look, you can't speak of poverty without
having experience with the poor.' You can't speak of poverty in the abstract:
that
doesn't exist. Poverty is the flesh of the poor Jesus, in that child who is
hungry, in the one who is sick, in those unjust social structures. Go forward,
look there upon the flesh of Jesus. But don't let well-being rob you of hope,
that spirit of
well-being that, in the end, leads you to becoming a nothing in life. Young
persons should bet on their high ideals, that's my advice. But where do I find
hope? In the flesh of Jesus who suffers and in true poverty. There is a
connection between the
two.”
___________________________________________________________
AUDIENCES
Vatican City, 7 June 2013 (VIS) – This morning the Holy Father received:
- the Letters of Credence from Armenia's new ambassador to the Holy See,
His excellency Mr. Mikayel Minasyan, and
- Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, P. Schonstatt, archbishop
emeritus of Santiago de Chile, Chile.
This afternoon he is scheduled to receive Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller,
prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
___________________________________________________________
Per ulteriori informazioni e per la ricerca di documenti consultare il
sito: www.wisnews.org e www.vatican.va
Il servizio del VIS viene inviato soltanto agli indirizzi di posta
elettronica che ne hanno fatto richiesta. Se per qualunque motivo
non si desidera continuare a riceverlo, si prega di visitare nostra pagina
dinizio:
http://212.77.1.245/news_services/press/vis/italinde.php
Copyright (VIS): Le notizie contenute nei servizi del Vatican
Information Service possono essere riprodotte parzialmente o totalmente
citando la fonte: V.I.S. - Vatican Information Service.
--Boundary_(ID_YxMASzhGG14VmFq15dwssA)
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VISnews130607
VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE YEAR XXIII - N° 123DATE 07-06-2013
Summary: - POPE, IN DIALOGUE WITH STUDENTS
OF JESUIT-RUN SCHOOLS,
AFFIRMS THAT POVERTY IN WORLD IS A SCANDAL - AUDIENCES ___________________________________________________________
POPE, IN DIALOGUE WITH STUDENTS OF JESUIT-RUN SCHOOLS, AFFIRMS THAT POVERTY
IN WORLD IS A SCANDAL
Vatican City, 7 June 2013 (VIS) – This morning in the Paul VI
Audience Hall, Pope Francis received students from Jesuit-run schools in Italy
and Albania accompanied by their teachers and family members. It was a moment
of affection and
spontaneity prompting the Holy Father to say: “I've prepared a text but
it's five pages and that's a little long. Let's do this: I'll give it to the
Provincial Father and Fr. Federico Lombardi [director of the Holy See Press
Office] so that you
all can have it written and then some of you will ask me questions and I'll
answer them. That way we can talk.”
In his address, which we offer ample excerpts from below, the Pope had
written:
“School is one of the educational environments where one grows by
learning how to live, how to become grown-up, mature men and women. …
Following what St. Ignatius teaches us, the main element in school is learning
to be magnanimous
… This means having a big heart, having a greatness of soul. It means
having grand ideals, the desire to achieve great things in response to what
God asks of us and, precisely because of this, doing everyday things, all our
daily actions,
commitments, and meetings with people well. [It means] doing the little
everyday things with a big heart that is open to God and to others.”
“School broadens not only your intellectual dimension, but also the
human one. I think that Jesuit schools in particular are careful to develop
the human virtues: loyalty, respect, and commitment. I would like to focus on
two fundamental
values: freedom and service. Before all else be free persons! … Freedom
means knowing how to reflect on what we do, knowing how to evaluate …
which are the behaviours that make us grow. It means always choosing the good.
… Being
free to always choose the good is challenging, but it will make you persons
with a backbone, who know how to face life, courageous and patient
persons.”
“The second word is service. In your schools you participate in
various activities that prepare you not to be wrapped up in yourselves or in
your own little world, but to open yourselves to others, especially to the
poorest and most in need, to
work to improve the world we live in.” Spiritual formation is the
requirement for all this, and in the text he urges the students to
“always love Jesus Christ more and more! Our lives are a response to his
call and you will be happy and will
build your lives well if you know how to answer that call. Feel the Lord's
presence in your lives. … In prayer, in dialogue with him, in reading
the Bible you will discover that He is truly close to you. And you should also
learn to read God's
signs in your lives. He is always speaking to us, even through the events of
our times and our everyday existence. It's up to us to listen to
him.”
In his address, he also directs his thoughts to all the educators: Jesuits,
teachers, workers in the schools, and parents. “Don't be discouraged by
the difficulties that the educational challenge presents! Educating isn't a
profession but an
attitude, a way of being. In order to educate you must go out of yourselves
and be amidst the young, accompanying them in the stages of their growth,
standing beside them.”
In the text Francis asks them to give their students hope and optimism by
teaching them “to see the beauty and goodness of creation and of
humanity, which always retains the Creator's imprint. But above all, witness
with your lives what you are
communicating.” He also reminds them that educators “impart
knowledge and values with their words but it will be more influential on the
kids if your words are accompanied by your witness, by being consistent in
your lives. It isn't possible
to educate without being consistent! ... School can and should function as a
catalyst, being a place of encounter and convergence of the entire educational
community with the single objective of shaping and helping [the students] to
grow as mature,
simple, honest, and competent persons who know how to love faithfully, who
know how to live their lives as a response to God's call and their future
professions as a service to society.”
In a section that he also spoke at the audience—humorously noting
that he had already reached the last page—he encourages the educators
“to seek new forms of non-conventional education according to 'the needs
of the places, times,
and persons'.” The text closes with the reminder that “the Lord is
always nearby, lifting you up after you fall and pushing you to grow and to
make ever-better choices 'with great courage and generosity', with
magnanimity. Ad Maiorem Dei
Gloriam.” [For the greater glory of God, the Jesuit motto].
The floor was then given to several students and professors who asked the
Pope unscripted questions. To the first student, who asked about the doubts
regarding belief that he sometimes has and what he could do to help him grow
in faith, Francis
answered: “Journeying is an art because, if we're always in a hurry, we
get tired and don't arrive at our journey's goal. If we stop, if we don't go
forward and we also miss the goal. Journeying is precisely the art of looking
toward the horizon,
thinking where I want to go but also enduring the fatigue of the journey,
which is sometimes difficult … There are dark days, even days when we
fail, even days when we fall. [Sometimes] one falls but always think of this:
don't be afraid of
failures. Don't be afraid of falling. What matters in the art of journeying
isn't not falling but not staying down. Get up right away and continue going
forward. This is what's beautiful: this is
working every day, this is journeying as humans. But also, it's bad walking
alone: it's bad and boring. Walking in community, with friends, with those who
love us, that helps us. It helps us to arrive precisely at that goal, that
'there where' we're
supposed to arrive.”
An elementary school girl asked if the Pope continued to see his friends
from grade school. “But I've only been Pope for two and a half
months,” he answered. But he understood her concern and continued
“My friends are 14 hours away
from here by plane, right? They're far from here, but I want to tell you
something, three of them came to find me and greet me and I see them and they
write to me and I love them very much. You can't live without friends, that's
important.”
The next question, also from a grade school girl, was if he wanted to be
Pope. He responded by asking her: “Do you know what it means if someone
doesn't love themselves very much?” He continued: “Someone who
wants, who has the
desire to be Pope doesn't love themself. ... But I didn't want to be
Pope.”
Another girl asked why he had forsaken the wealth of the papacy, living at
the Domus Sanctae Marthae instead of the Apostolic Palace apartments, and
other similar choices. He answered: “It's not just about wealth. For me
it's a question of
personality. I need to live among people and if I lived alone, perhaps rather
isolated, it wouldn't be good for me. A professor asked me this question: 'Why
don't you go live there?' and I answered, 'Listen, professor, it's for
psychiatric reasons.'
Because … that's my personality. That apartment [in the Apostolic
Palace] isn't so luxurious either, don't worry. But I can't live alone, do you
understand? And well, I believe that, yes, the times talk to us of so much
poverty in the world and
this is a scandal. Poverty in the world is a scandal. In a world where there
is so much wealth, so many resources to feed everyone, it is unfathomable that
there are so many
hungry children, that there are so many children without an education, so many
poor persons. Poverty today is a cry. We all have to think if we can become a
little poorer, all of us have to do this. How can I become a little poorer in
order to be more
like Jesus, who was the poor Teacher?” Returning to the original
question, he finished: “It's not a question of my personal virtue. It's
just that I can't live alone.” All the rest, not having so many things,
“is about becoming a
little poorer”.
The Pope also answered questions related to his choosing to become a
Jesuit, but the last of the eight questions was from a young man who asked how
young people should deal with the material and spiritual poverty that exists
in the world. The Holy
Father responded: “First of all I want to tell you something, tell all
you young persons: don't let yourselves be robbed of hope. Please, don't let
it be stolen from you. The worldly spirit, wealth, the spirit of vanity,
arrogance, and pride
… all these things steal hope. Where do I find hope? In the poor Jesus,
Jesus who made himself poor for us. And you spoke of poverty. Poverty calls us
to sow hope. This seems a bit difficult to understand. I remember Fr. Arrupe
[Father General of
the Jesuits from 1965-1983] wrote a letter to the Society's centres for social
research. At the end he said to us: 'Look, you can't speak of poverty without
having experience with the poor.' You can't
speak of poverty in the abstract: that doesn't exist. Poverty is the flesh of
the poor Jesus, in that child who is hungry, in the one who is sick, in those
unjust social structures. Go forward, look there upon the flesh of Jesus. But
don't let
well-being rob you of hope, that spirit of well-being that, in the end, leads
you to becoming a nothing in life. Young persons should bet on their high
ideals, that's my advice. But where do I find hope? In the flesh of Jesus who
suffers and in true
poverty. There is a connection between the two.”
Per ulteriori informazioni e per la ricerca di documenti consultare il
sito: www.wisnews.org e www.vatican.va Il servizio
del VIS viene inviato soltanto agli indirizzi di posta elettronica che
ne hanno
fatto richiesta. Se per qualunque motivo non si desidera continuare a
riceverlo, si prega di visitare nostra pagina dinizio: http://212.77.1.245/news_services/press/v
s/italinde.php
Copyright (VIS): Le notizie contenute nei servizi del Vatican
Information Service possono essere riprodotte parzialmente o totalmente
citando la fonte: V.I.S. - Vatican Information Service.
--Boundary_(ID_YxMASzhGG14VmFq15dwssA)--
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