VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 107   
   DATE 09-06-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - POPE FRANCIS AND THE PRESIDENTS OF ISRAEL AND PALESTINE INVOKE PEACE   
   - THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE LIVING MEMORY OF THE CHURCH   
   - REGINA COELI: A CHURCH CAPABLE OF SURPRISING   
   - THE POPE TELEPHONES PILGRIMS FROM MACERATA TO LORETO   
   - SPORT IS A FORM OF EDUCATION   
   - THE POPE RECEIVES THE PRESIDENT OF MEXICO   
   - THE CHURCH PROPOSES A SYSTEM OF JUSTICE THAT AIMS TO FULL REHABILITATE   
   WRONGDOERS   
   - STUDY DAY DEDICATED TO ST. PIUS X   
   - THE AIF FURTHER STRENGTHENS INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION   
   - CARDINAL FILONI SPECIAL ENVOY TO FUNCHAL   
   - AUDIENCES   
   - OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    POPE FRANCIS AND THE PRESIDENTS OF ISRAEL AND PALESTINE INVOKE PEACE   
    Vatican City, 9 June 2014 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon the Vatican Gardens   
   hosted the Invocation for Peace, the initiative Pope Francis proposed to   
   presidents Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas during his recent pilgrimage to the   
   Holy Land, to pray for the gift of peace for the Israeli and Palestinian   
   peoples. Peres and Abbas arrived in the Vatican at 6.15 and 6.30 p.m.   
   respectively, and were received by the Holy Father at the entrance of the   
   Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he spoke briefly first with the Israel president,   
   and then with the Palestinian.   
    Shortly after, they entered the Santa Marta Hall where they were joined by   
   the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomaios I, and then transferred by car to the   
   Vatican Gardens where they were awaited by their respective delegations. The   
   meeting began with the following words: "May the Lord grant us peace! We are   
   gathered here, Israelis and Palestinians, Jews, Christians and Muslims, to   
   offer our prayer for peace for the Holy Land and for all its inhabitants".   
    As previously explained, the meeting took place in three phases, followed by   
   a conclusion. Following the chronological order of the three religions, it   
   began with the Jewish community, followed by Christians, and finally Muslims.   
   The first phase, for the three communities, consisted of praise to God for the   
   gift of creation and for having made us members of one human family. The   
   second was a plea to God for forgiveness for not having acted like brothers   
   and sisters, and for our sins against God and neighbour. The third invokes   
   from God the gift of peace in the Holy Land and the capacity to be converted   
   into builders of peace. Each of these phases was accompanied by a brief   
   musical interlude. A longer musical meditation concluded each of the three   
   principal parts. At the end, before exchanging handshakes and planting an   
   olive tree as a symbol of the common desire for peace between the Palestinian   
   and Israeli peoples, the Holy Father, President Shimon Peres and President   
   Mahmoud Abbas all gave brief discourses.   
    "Distinguished Presidents", began Pope Francis, "I greet you with immense joy   
   and I wish to offer you, and the eminent delegations accompanying you, the   
   same warm welcome which you gave to me during my recent pilgrimage to the Holy   
   Land. I am profoundly grateful to you for accepting my invitation to come here   
   and to join in imploring from God the gift of peace. It is my hope that this   
   meeting will be a path to seeking the things that unite, so as to overcome the   
   things that divide. I also thank Your Holiness, my venerable Brother   
   Bartholomaios, for joining me in welcoming these illustrious guests. Your   
   presence here is a great gift, a much-appreciated sign of support, and a   
   testimony to the pilgrimage which we Christians are making towards full unity".   
    "Your presence, dear Presidents, is a great sign of brotherhood which you   
   offer as children of Abraham. It is also a concrete expression of trust in   
   God, the Lord of history, Who today looks upon all of us as brothers and Who   
   desires to guide us in His ways. This meeting of prayer for peace in the Holy   
   Land, in the Middle East and in the entire world is accompanied by the prayers   
   of countless people of different cultures, nations, languages and religions:   
   they have prayed for this meeting and even now they are united with us in the   
   same supplication. It is a meeting which responds to the fervent desire of all   
   who long for peace and dream of a world in which men and women can live as   
   brothers and sisters and no longer as adversaries and enemies".   
    "Dear Presidents, our world is a legacy bequeathed to us from past   
   generations, but it is also on loan to us from our children: our children who   
   are weary, worn out by conflicts and yearning for the dawn of peace, our   
   children who plead with us to tear down the walls of enmity and to set out on   
   the path of dialogue and peace, so that love and friendship will prevail.   
   Many, all too many, of those children have been innocent victims of war and   
   violence, saplings cut down at the height of their promise. It is our duty to   
   ensure that their sacrifice is not in vain. The memory of these children   
   instils in us the courage of peace, the strength to persevere undaunted in   
   dialogue, the patience to weave, day by day, an ever more robust fabric of   
   respectful and peaceful coexistence, for the glory of God and the good of all.   
   Peacemaking calls for courage, much more so than warfare. It calls for the   
   courage to say yes to encounter and no to conflict: yes to dialogue and no to   
   violence; yes to negotiations and no to hostilities; yes to respect for   
   agreements and no to acts of provocation; yes to sincerity and no to   
   duplicity. All of this takes courage, it takes strength and tenacity".   
    "History teaches that our own powers do not suffice. More than once we have   
   been on the verge of peace, but the evil one, employing a variety of means,   
   has succeeded in blocking it. That is why we are here, because we know and we   
   believe that we need the help of God. We do not renounce our responsibilities,   
   but we do call upon God in an act of supreme responsibility before our   
   consciences and before our peoples. We have heard a summons, and we must   
   respond. It is the summons to break the spiral of hatred and violence, and to   
   break it by one word alone: the word 'brother'. But to be able to utter this   
   word we have to lift our eyes to heaven and acknowledge one another as   
   children of one Father".   
    "To him, the Father, in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, I now turn, begging the   
   intercession of the Virgin Mary, a daughter of the Holy Land and our Mother.   
   Lord God of peace, hear our prayer! We have tried so many times and over so   
   many years to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our   
   arms. How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced; how much   
   blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered; how many hopes have   
   been buried... But our efforts have been in vain. Now, Lord, come to our aid!   
   Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our   
   eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: 'Never again war!'; 'With   
   war everything is lost'. Instil in our hearts the courage to take concrete   
   steps to achieve peace. Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of   
   Love, You created us and You call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us   
   the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who   
   crosses our path as our brother or sister. Make us sensitive to the plea of   
   our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of   
   peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarrelling into   
   forgiveness. Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and   
   perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace   
   triumph at last, and may the words 'division', 'hatred' and 'war' be banished   
   from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our   
   tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which   
   always brings us together will be 'brother', and our way of life will always   
   be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam! Amen".   
    President Shimon Peres then addressed those present: "I have come from the   
   Holy City of Jerusalem to thank you for your exceptional invitation", he said.   
   "The Holy City of Jerusalem is the beating heart of the Jewish people. In   
   Hebrew, our ancient language, the word Jerusalem and the word for peace share   
   the same root. And indeed peace is the vision of Jerusalem. As it is said in   
   the Book of Psalms: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May those who love you be   
   secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your   
   citadels. For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, 'Peace be within   
   you'. For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your   
   prosperity".   
    "During your historic visit to the Holy Land, you moved us with the warmth of   
   your heart, the sincerity of your intentions, your modesty, and your kind   
   ways. You touched the people's hearts - regardless of their faith or nation.   
   You emerged as a bridge-builder of brotherhood and peace. We are all in need   
   of the inspiration which accompanies your character and your way. Thank you".   
    "Two peoples - Israelis and Palestinians - still are aching for peace. The   
   tears of mothers over their children are still etched in our hearts. We must   
   put an end to the cries, to the violence, to the conflict. We all need peace.   
   Peace between equals. Your invitation to us to join you in this momentous   
   ceremony to call for peace, here in the Vatican garden, in the presence of   
   Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Druze leaders,graciously reflects your vision   
   of the aspiration we all share: Peace. On this moving occasion, brimming with   
   hope and full of faith, let us all raise with you, Your Holiness, a call for   
   peace between religions, between nations, between communities, and between   
   fellow men and women. Let true peace become our legacy soon and swiftly".   
    "Our Book of Books commands upon us the way of peace, demands of us to toil   
   for its realization. It is said in the book of Proverbs: 'Her ways are ways of   
   grace, and all her paths are peace'. So too must our ways be. Ways of grace   
   and peace. It is not by chance that Rabbi Akiva captured the essence of our   
   Torah in one sentence: 'Love your neighbour like thyself'. We are all equal   
   before the Lord. We are all part of the human family. For without peace, we   
   are not complete, and we have yet to achieve the mission of humanity. Peace   
   does not come easy. We must toil with all our strengths to reach it. To reach   
   it soon. Even if it requires sacrifice or compromise. The Book of Psalms tells   
   us: 'Whoever loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue   
   from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good, seek   
   peace and pursue it'".   
    "This is to say, we are commanded to pursue after peace. All year. Every day.   
   We greet each other with this blessing. Shalom. Salam. We must be worthy of   
   the deep and demanding meaning of this blessing. Even when peace seems   
   distant, we must pursue it to bring it closer. And if we pursue peace with   
   perseverance, with faith, we will reach it. And it will endure through us,   
   through all of us, of all faiths, of all nations, as it is written: 'They will   
   beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation   
   will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more'.   
   The soul is elated upon the reading of these verses of eternal vision. And we   
   can - together and now, Israelis and Palestinians - convert our noble vision   
   to a reality of welfare and prosperity. It is within our power to bring peace   
   to our children. This is our duty, the holy mission of parents. Let me end   
   with a prayer: He who makes peace in the heavens shall make peace upon us and   
   upon all of Israel, and upon the entire world, and let us say Amen".   
    Finally, the president of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, said: "It is indeed a   
   great honour for us to meet again with His Holiness Pope Francis in fulfilment   
   of his kind invitation to relish his spiritual and noble presence, and listen   
   to his opinion and crystal wisdom, which emanate from a sound heart, vibrant   
   conscience, as well as an elevated ethical and religious sense. I thank your   
   Holiness from the bottom of my heart for initiating this important gathering   
   here in the Vatican. Simultaneously, we highly appreciate your visit to the   
   Holy Land Palestine, and in particular to our Holy city Jerusalem and to   
   Bethlehem, the city of love and peace, and the cradle of Jesus Christ. The   
   visit is a sincere expression of your belief in peace and a truthful attempt   
   to achieve peace between Palestinians and Israelis".   
    "Oh God, we ever praise You for making Jerusalem our gate to heaven. As said   
   in the Holy Quran, '?Glory to Him who made His servant travel by night from   
   the sacred place of worship to the furthest place of worship, whose   
   surroundings we have blessed'.? You made pilgrimage and prayer in it as the   
   best acts the faithful can make in your praise, and made your truthful promise   
   in your say:? '?Let them enter the Masjid as they did for the first time'. ?   
   God Almighty has spoken the truth".   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)