VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 117   
   DATE 25-06-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - NAME: CHRISTIAN. SURNAME: BELONGING TO THE CHURCH   
   - THE POPE LAUNCHES A CAMPAIGN TO HELP AFRICAN ALBINOS   
   - THE SITUATION OF THE FRANCISCANS OF THE IMMACULATE AND THE LEGIONARIES OF   
   CHRIST   
   - THE AIF COLLABORATES WITH ARGENTINA AGAINST MONEY LAUNDERING AND THE   
   FINANCING OF TERRORISM   
   - OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    NAME: CHRISTIAN. SURNAME: BELONGING TO THE CHURCH   
    Vatican City, 25 June 2014 (VIS) - This morning in St. Peter's Square the   
   Holy Father, in his general audience, continued to speak about the People of   
   God, a theme that he began to explore last Wednesday. Today he highlighted the   
   importance for a Christian of belonging to this people, and reiterated that we   
   are not isolated Christians. "Belonging is our identity", he said. "We are   
   Christians because we belong to the Church. It is like a surname: if our name   
   is 'I am Christian', our surname is 'I belong to the Church'.   
    "No-one becomes a Christian alone; we must think first, with gratitude, of   
   all those who have preceded us", he continued. "If we believe, if we pray, if   
   we know the Lord and are able to listen to His Word, we feel close to Him and   
   recognise Him in our brethren, and because others before us have lived faith   
   and transmitted it to us, have taught us. The Church is a family in which one   
   is welcomed and learns to live as believers and disciples of the Lord Jesus".   
   The Pope explained that this is a path that one may undertake not thanks to   
   others, but rather united with others, and emphasised that a "do-it-yourself   
   Church" does not exist.   
    "How many times did Benedict XVI describe the Church as an ecclesiastical   
   'we'? Often we hear people say, 'I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, but I   
   am not interested in the Church...". There are those who believe they can have   
   a personal relationship, direct and immediate, with Jesus Christ removed from   
   communion and the mediation of the Church. They are dangerous and damaging   
   temptations. They are, as the great Paul VI said, absurd dichotomies. It is   
   true that to walk together is challenging and difficult. ... But the Lord has   
   entrusted his message of salvation to human beings, to all all of us, as   
   witnesses; and it is in our brothers and sisters, with their gifts and their   
   limits, that it comes towards us and is revealed to us. And this is what   
   belonging to the Church means. Remember: being Christian means belonging to   
   the Church".   
    Before concluding, the Pope asked that the Lord, by the intercession of the   
   Virgin Mary, might grant us the grace never to give in to the temptation to   
   think we can do without other people, that we can do without the Church and   
   save ourselves alone, that we can be 'laboratory Christians'. On the contrary,   
   it is not possible to love God without loving one's brethren, it is not   
   possible to love God outside the Church; it is not possible to be in communion   
   with God without being in communion with the Church, and we cannot be good   
   Christians other than by staying together with those who follow the Lord   
   Jesus, as one people, a single body".   
    Following his catechesis, the Pope greeted a delegation from the Bethlehem   
   University, the first university founded in the West Bank and inspired by the   
   principles of the schools established by the De La Salle Christian brothers,   
   which celebrates its fortieth anniversary this year. He gave special thanks to   
   them for their "laudable academic activity in support of the Palestinian   
   people".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    THE POPE LAUNCHES A CAMPAIGN TO HELP AFRICAN ALBINOS   
    Vatican City, 25 June 2014 (VIS) - Pope Francis recorded his voice last 30   
   November, reading several passages from the book "Ombra Bianco" ("White   
   Shadow") by the Italian author Cristiano Gentile, which seeks to raise public   
   awareness of the situation experienced by albinos in Africa: a population   
   often rejected and repudiated. The Holy Father was invited by the writer to   
   close an international symposium on Africa organised by the Pontifical Academy   
   of Sciences.   
    The reading and the Pope's testimony form part of a universal message of   
   peace and brotherhood, addressed on this occasion to African albinos, living   
   symbols of the absolute periphery, the "last of the last".   
    Today, 25 July, sees the launch of the international awareness campaign,   
   "Help African Albinos", on the site   
   www.ombrabianca.com. Any person can follow the Pope's example and lend their   
   voice, reading in Italian, with a multilingual translation system, a phrase   
   from the novel, thus participating in the creation of the first social   
   audio-book ever created. It will be the audio-book read by the greatest number   
   of people in the world and will symbolically give voice to those who have   
   none. The international campaign has the hashtag #HelpAfricanAlbinos and will   
   launch a petition in 6 languages on the site www.change.org to demonstrate   
   closeness and ask for concrete help for African albinos, which will be made   
   possible thanks to a partnership with various NGOs, including Doctors with   
   Africa-CUAMM.   
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    THE SITUATION OF THE FRANCISCANS OF THE IMMACULATE AND THE LEGIONARIES OF   
   CHRIST   
    Vatican City, 25 June 2014 (VIS) - The director of the Holy See Press Office,   
   Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., has made public the answers received from the   
   secretary of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the   
   Societies of Apostolic Life in relation to various questions on the   
   Franciscans of the Immaculate and the Legionaries of Christ, published in full   
   below:   
    "The Franciscans of the Immaculate: both the commissioner, Fr. Volpi, and all   
   the seminarians of the Franciscans of the Immaculate were received by the Holy   
   Father on 10 June at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, a gesture that demonstrates   
   the interest with which Pope Francis follows the situation of the Franciscans   
   of the Immaculate and his closeness to the work that the commissioner is   
   carrying out in the name of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated   
   Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life. The Holy Father is punctually   
   informed of all the steps as they taken. At the moment a house in Rome is   
   being sought to accommodate the Friars, brothers of the aforementioned   
   Institute, who attend a Pontifical university in Rome to pursue their studies.   
    The Legionaries: as anticipated, with the celebration of the General Chapter   
   the Institute has returned to the competence of the Congregation for the   
   Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life. This   
   progression has ended the work of the Apostolic delegate. As a gesture of   
   fraternal closeness, the prefect and the secretary of the dicastery will meet   
   on 3 July at the Legionaries' central seat to comment personally on various   
   corrections that need to be made to the text of the Constitutions presented to   
   the dicastery, and to communicate the name of the Pontifical assistant. The   
   corrections to the text of the Constitutions are very few in number. With   
   regard to the assistant, the role will be assumed by a consecrated person, as   
   anticipated, who knows the Legionaries and will be able to be of help to the   
   general Council on legal and other themes, according to need. It is to be   
   noted that this figure is an assistant, not a visitator, commissioner or   
   delegate. The assistant has neither a voice nor a vote, and is merely an   
   assessor, and was agreed upon before the general Chapter.   
    The governor general of the Legionaries attended the Congregation following   
   the Chapter to meet the prefect and the secretary. On that occasion, the   
   director general had expressed the wish to receive the prefect and secretary   
   of the dicastery at the seat of the Legionaries. For this reason Cardinal Joao   
   Braz de Aviz and Archbishop Jose Rodriguez Carballo will make their visit on 3   
   July.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    THE AIF COLLABORATES WITH ARGENTINA AGAINST MONEY LAUNDERING AND THE   
   FINANCING OF TERRORISM   
    Vatican City, 25 June 2014 (VIS) - The Autorita Informazione Finanziaria   
   (AIF), the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Holy See and Vatican City State,   
   has formalised its bilateral cooperation with Argentina, signing a Memorandum   
   of Understanding (MOU) at the Vatican on Tuesday.   
    The MOU was signed in the Palazzo San Carlo by the director of the AIF, Rene   
   Bruelhart, and the president of the Unidad de Informacion Financiera (UIF) of   
   Argentina, Jose Sbattella.   
    "We're very pleased to have signed this MOU with Argentina today", Bruelhart   
   said. "This is an important step to further expand the network to support   
   global efforts to fight money laundering and the financing of terrorism. We're   
   looking forward to fruitful cooperation with Argentina, which will be   
   beneficial to both parties".   
    A Memorandum of Understanding is standard practice and formalises the   
   cooperation and exchange of financial information to fight money laundering   
   and combat terrorist financing across borders between the competent   
   authorities of both countries. It is based on the model Memorandum of   
   Understanding prepared by the Egmont Group, the global organisation of   
   national Financial Intelligence Units, and contains clauses on reciprocity,   
   permitted uses of information and confidentiality.   
    AIF became a member of the Egmont Group in July of 2013, and has already   
   signed MOUs with the Financial Intelligence Units of more than a dozen   
   countries, including the U.K., the United States, France, Spain, Italy and   
   Germany.   
    AIF is the competent authority of the Holy See/Vatican City State to fight   
   money laundering and the financing of terrorism. It was established in 2010.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS   
    Vatican City, 25 June 2014 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:   
    - eliminated the diocese of Guiratinga, Brazil, distributing its territory   
   between the current dioceses of Rondonopolis, Barra do Garcas and Paranatinga.   
    - renamed the diocese of Rondonopolis, Brazil, now Rondonopolis - Guiratinga.   
    - erected the diocese of Primavera do Leste - Parataninga, Brazil.   
    - appointed Bishop Derek John Christopher Byrne, SPS., of Guiratinga, Brazil,   
   as first bishop of Primavera do Leste - Parataninga (area 98,056, population   
   170,000, Catholics 127,500, priests 24, religious 22), Brazil.   
    - confirmed the election of Abbot Hryhoriy Komar as auxiliary of the   
   Ukrainian eparchy of Sambir - Drohobych, Ukraine. The bishop-elect was born in   
   Letnya, Ukraine in 1976 and was ordained a priest in 2001. He is currently   
   vicar general of the same diocese. He holds a licentiate in oriental theology,   
   and has served as a teacher and collaborator in several parishes.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)