VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 105   
   DATE 05-06-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - THE POPE RECEIVES ARAM I, CATHOLICOS OF THE ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH OF   
   CILICIA: WE SHARE THE SAME HOPES   
   - FRANCIS: GYPSIES ARE ONE OF THE GROUPS MOST VULNERABLE TO NEW FORMS OF   
   SLAVERY   
   - FUNERAL OF CARDINAL LOURDUSAMY   
   - AUDIENCES   
   - OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    THE POPE RECEIVES ARAM I, CATHOLICOS OF THE ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH OF   
   CILICIA: WE SHARE THE SAME HOPES   
    Vatican City, 5 June 2014 (VIS) - "On our journey towards full communion, we   
   share the same hopes and a similar sense of responsibility as we strive to be   
   faithful to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ". With these words, Pope Francis   
   greeted His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church of   
   Cilicia, during their meeting in the Vatican this morning.   
    As the Pope observed, His Holiness Aram I's commitment to the cause of   
   Christian unity is well known to all. The Catholicos has played an important   
   role in the World Council of Churches and in the Middle East Council of   
   Churches, which support Christian communities in the Middle East, and has made   
   a significant contribution to the Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue   
   between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches.   
    Francis also remarked that Aram I represents "a part of the Christian world   
   that is irrevocably marked by a history of trials and sufferings courageously   
   accepted for the love of God. The Armenian Apostolic Church has had to become   
   a pilgrim people; it has experienced in a singular way what it means to   
   journey towards the Kingdom of God. The history of emigration, persecutions   
   and the martyrdom experienced by so many of the faithful has inflicted deep   
   wounds on the hearts of all Armenians. We must see and venerate these as   
   wounds inflicted on the very body of Christ, and for this very reason a cause   
   for unfailing hope and trust in the provident mercy of the Father".   
    "Trust and hope. How much these are needed! They are needed by our Christian   
   brothers and sisters in the Middle East, especially those living in areas   
   racked by conflict and violence. But we too need them, as Christians who are   
   spared such sufferings yet so often risk losing our way in the desert of   
   indifference and forgetfulness of God, or living in conflict with our brothers   
   and sisters, or succumbing in our interior struggle against sin. As followers   
   of Jesus Christ, we need to learn humbly to bear one another's burdens and to   
   help each other to be better Christians, better followers of Jesus. So let us   
   advance together in charity, as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us,   
   offering Himself to God as a pleasing sacrifice".   
    "In these days before Pentecost ... in faith, let us invoke the Spirit, the   
   Lord and Giver of Life, that he may renew the face of the earth, be a source   
   of healing for our wounded world, and reconcile the hearts of all men and   
   women with God the Creator. May He, the Paraclete, inspire our journey towards   
   unity. May He teach us to strengthen the fraternal bonds which even now unite   
   us in the one baptism and in the one faith", concluded Francis.   
    After the meeting, the Catholicos and the Pope prayed together in the   
   Redemptoris Mater Chapel.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    FRANCIS: GYPSIES ARE ONE OF THE GROUPS MOST VULNERABLE TO NEW FORMS OF SLAVERY   
    Vatican City, 5 June 2014 (VIS) - "New civil, cultural and social approaches,   
   and a new pastoral strategy for the Church" against "modern forms of   
   persecution, oppression and slavery" are necessary to face the situation of   
   gypsies throughout the world, said Pope Francis during this morning's audience   
   with the participants in the meeting "The Church and gypsies: proclaiming the   
   Gospel in the peripheries", organised by the Pontifical Council for the   
   Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples.   
    The theme of the meeting, said Francis, involves "the memory of a   
   relationship, that between the ecclesiastical community and the gypsy   
   population, the history of a journey to get to know each other, to encounter   
   one another; and then the challenge for today, a challenge that regards both   
   ordinary pastoral care and new evangelisation".   
    He commented that often gypsies find themselves on the margins of society,   
   "and at times are looked upon with hostility and suspicion; they are rarely   
   involved in the political, economic and social dynamics of the country". He   
   continued, "We know that it is a complex reality, but certainly the gypsy   
   population is also required to contribute to the common good, and this is   
   possible with adequate itineraries of co-responsibility, the observance of   
   duties and the promotion of the rights of every person".   
    He observed that among the causes of misery among various sectors of the   
   population there are factors such as "a lack of educational structures for   
   cultural and professional formation, the difficulty of access to healthcare,   
   discrimination in the employment market and a lack of decent accommodation".   
   He added that while these social ills affect everyone, "the weakest groups are   
   those who most easily become victims of new forms of slavery. Indeed, the   
   least protected are those who fall into the trap of abuse, forced begging and   
   other forms of abuse. Gypsies are among the most vulnerable, especially those   
   who are receive no help in relation to integration or the promotion of the   
   person in the various dimensions of civil life".   
    The care of the Church is relevant here: "Indeed, the Gospel is the   
   proclamation of joy for all and especially for the weakest and most   
   marginalised. We are called upon to ensure our closeness and solidarity to   
   these people, following the example of Jesus Christ, who demonstrated His   
   Father's predilection for them". However, alongside this united action in   
   favour of the gypsy population, there needs to be "commitment on the part of   
   local and national institutions and the support of the international   
   community, to identify projects and action for improving quality of life".   
    The Holy Father concluded by urging the Pontifical Council to continue in its   
   task and not to be discouraged, adding, "May gypsies find in you brothers and   
   sisters who love them with the same love that Christ had for the marginalised.   
   Be, for them, the welcoming and joyful face of the Church".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    FUNERAL OF CARDINAL LOURDUSAMY   
    Vatican City, 5 June 2014 (VIS) - At 11.30 this morning, at the major altar   
   of St. Peter's Basilica, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of   
   Cardinals, presided at the funeral mass for Cardinal Simon Lourdusamy, prefect   
   emeritus of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, who died on Monday in   
   Rome at the age of 90.   
    In his homily, the dean of the College of Cardinals described Cardinal   
   Lourdusamy as "a zealous priest who worked for more than ten years in his   
   beloved diocese of Pondicherry and then, for almost a decade, was pastor of   
   the archdiocese of Bangalore. He then generously accepted Pope Paul VI's call   
   to Rome, to serve in the missionary Congregation of Propaganda Fide. Here, for   
   twenty years, he dedicated his energies to the great cause of the   
   evangelisation of peoples, until finally, submitting to the trials of illness,   
   he continued to serve the Church in prayer and suffering, with an attitude of   
   great serenity".   
    Following the Eucharistic celebration, the Holy Father administered the rites   
   of "Uitima Commendatio" and "Valedictio".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    AUDIENCES   
    Vatican City, 5 June 2014 (VIS) - The Holy Father has received in audience:   
    - Archbishop Charles Daniel Balvo, apostolic nuncio in Kenya and South Sudan;   
   permanent observer of the Holy See for the United Nations Environment   
   Programme (UNEP) and the Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).   
    - Doug Coe of the National Prayer Breakfast, U.S.A., and entourage.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS   
    Vatican City, 5 June 2014 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:   
    - approved the appointment by the Cardinal Secretary of State of Tommaso Di   
   Ruzza as vice-director "ad interim" of the Financial Information Authority   
   (AIF). Dr. Di Ruzza was previously study assistant at the AIF.   
    - appointed, for a further five-year period, the following members of the   
   managing board of the Financial Information Authority: Maria Bianca Farina,   
   managing director of Poste Vita and Poste Assicura, Italy; Marc Odendall,   
   administrator of various foundations and financial advisor for the   
   philanthropic sector, Switzerland; Joseph Yuvaraj Pillay, president of the   
   Council of Consultors of the president of the Republic of Singapore,   
   Singapore; Juan C. Zarate, senior advisor at the Centre for Strategic and   
   International Studies (CSIS) and lecturer in law at Harvard University, U.S.A.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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