VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 121   
   DATE 30-06-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - THE POPE RECEIVES IN AUDIENCE KING FELIPE VI ON HIS FIRST FOREIGN ENGAGEMENT   
   - POPE FRANCIS' PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR JULY   
   - PASTORAL VISIT TO MOLISE   
   - TO THE NEW METROPOLITAN ARCHBISHOPS: SEEK THE ESSENTIAL AND PROCLAIM THE   
   GOSPEL, ESPECIALLY TO THE LEAST AMONG US   
   - ANGELUS: GOD IS ALWAYS CAPABLE OF TRANSFORMING US   
   - POPE FRANCIS' NEW APPEAL FOR PEACE IN IRAQ   
   - A CHRISTIAN WITHOUT MARY IS AN ORPHAN   
   - MADAGASCAR: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH'S POSITIVE CONTRIBUTION ON THE PATH TO   
   RECONCILIATION AND STABILITY   
   - ECUMENISM: LET US SEE OURSELVES ACCORDING TO GOD'S PLAN, NOT THE HISTORICAL   
   CONSEQUENCES OF OUR SINS   
   - THE POPE CANCELS HIS VISIT TO THE GEMELLI HOSPITAL   
   - GOD IS NOT AFRAID OF HIS BONDS WITH US   
   - THE AIF SIGNS INFORMATION SHARING AGREEMENT WITH THE USA OFFICE OF THE   
   COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY   
   - AUDIENCES   
   - OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    THE POPE RECEIVES IN AUDIENCE KING FELIPE VI ON HIS FIRST FOREIGN ENGAGEMENT   
    Vatican City, 30 June 2014 (VIS) - Today in the Vatican Apostolic Palace Pope   
   Francis received in audience Their Majesties King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia   
   of Spain, who subsequently met with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro   
   Parolin, accompanied by Mgsr. Antoine Camilleri, under-secretary for Relations   
   with States.   
    During the cordial discussions, satisfaction was expressed for today's visit,   
   their first trip abroad as reigning monarchs, which follows the recent visit   
   by King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia on 28 April. It is hoped that this may   
   mark the strengthening of the existing good relations between the Holy See and   
   Spain.   
    The conversation focused on themes of common interest and the importance of   
   promoting dialogue and collaboration between the Church and the State for the   
   good of all Spanish society. Finally, mention was made of various problems of   
   an international and regional nature, paying particular attention to areas of   
   conflict.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    POPE FRANCIS' PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR JULY   
    Vatican City, 30 June 2014 (VIS) - The Pope's universal prayer intention for   
   July is "that sports may always be occasions of human fraternity and growth".   
    His prayer intention for evangelisation is "that the Holy Spirit may support   
   the work of the laity who proclaim the Gospel in the poorest countries".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    PASTORAL VISIT TO MOLISE   
    Vatican City, 30 June 2014 (VIS) - This coming 5 July, the Pope will visit   
   the Italian region of Molise. He will depart from the Vatican heliport at 7.45   
   a.m. and, after an hour's journey, will land at the heliport of the University   
   of Molise in Campobasso. At 9 a.m. he will meet with a group of    
   epresentatives from the world of work and industry in the Great Hall of the   
   University. At 10.30 a.m. he will preside at a Eucharistic celebration at the   
   old Romagnoli Stadium and, to conclude, will greet a group of sick people at   
   the Cathedral of Campobasso and lunch with the poor at the "House of Angels".   
    At 2.30 p.m. he will transfer by helicopter to Castelpetroso, where he will   
   encounter a group of young people from the diocese of Abruzzo and Molise in   
   Piazza del Santuario di Castelpetroso. At 4 p.m. he will travel by car to   
   Isernia, where he will meet with the detainees in the local prison. He will   
   greet the sick in the Cathedral of Isernia and, in the surrounding square,   
   will meet with all the citizens and announce the Celestine Jubilee Year.   
   Finally, he will depart for Rome from the heliport of the Isernia fire   
   service. He is expected to arrive in the Vatican around 8.15 p.m.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    TO THE NEW METROPOLITAN ARCHBISHOPS: SEEK THE ESSENTIAL AND PROCLAIM THE   
   GOSPEL, ESPECIALLY TO THE LEAST AMONG US   
    Vatican City, 29 June 2014 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican basilica, on   
   the occasion of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope Francis imposed   
   the pallium - symbol of the bond of unity with the see of Peter - on   
   twenty-four new metropolitan archbishops. It will be imposed on a further   
   three - the archbishops of Lilongwe, Malawi; Mandalay, Myanmar; and Freiburg   
   im Bresgau, Germany - in their metropolitan sees.   
    Pope Francis concelebrated the Eucharist with the new archbishops. As is   
   customary on the feast day of the patron saints of Rome, the event was   
   attended by a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople,   
   sent by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomaios I and led by Metropolitan of   
   Pergamo Ioannis (Zizioulas), co-president of the Mixed Commission for   
   Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.   
    In his homily, the Holy Father spoke about various problems and the two   
   issues the clergy can be led to face as a result: fear, and the pastoral   
   responsibility for combating it. He began by considering the beginning of   
   Peter's service in the Christian community of Jerusalem, where fear still   
   reigned because of Herod's persecution of members of the Church.   
    "There had been the killing of James, and then the imprisonment of Peter   
   himself, in order to placate the people. While Peter was imprisoned and in   
   chains, he heard the voice of the angel telling him, 'Get up quickly... dress   
   yourself and put on your sandals... Put on your mantle and follow me!'. The   
   chains fell from him and the door of the prison opened before him. Peter   
   realised that the Lord had 'rescued him from the hand of Herod'; he realized   
   that the Lord had freed him from fear and from chains. Yes, the Lord liberates   
   us from every fear and from all that enslaves us, so that we can be truly   
   free. Today's liturgical celebration expresses this truth well in the refrain   
   of the Responsorial Psalm: 'The Lord has freed me from all my fears'".   
    "The problem for us, then, is fear and looking for refuge in our pastoral   
   responsibilities. I wonder, dear brother bishops, are we afraid? What are we   
   afraid of? And if we are afraid, what forms of refuge do we seek, in our   
   pastoral life, to find security? Do we look for support from those who wield   
   worldly power? Or do we let ourselves be deceived by the pride which seeks   
   gratification and recognition, thinking that these will offer us security?   
   Dear brother bishops, where do we find our security?"   
    "The witness of the Apostle Peter reminds us that our true refuge is trust in   
   God. Trust in God banishes all fear and sets us free from every form of   
   slavery and all worldly temptation. Today the Bishop of Rome and other   
   bishops, particularly the metropolitans who have received the pallium, feel   
   challenged by the example of Saint Peter to assess to what extent each of us   
   puts his trust in the Lord. Peter recovered this trust when Jesus said to him   
   three times: 'Feed my sheep'. Peter thrice confessed his love for Jesus, thus   
   making up for his threefold denial of Christ during the passion. Peter still   
   regrets the disappointment which he caused the Lord on the night of his   
   betrayal. Now that the Lord asks him: 'Do you love me?', Peter does not trust   
   himself and his own strength, but instead entrusts himself to Jesus and his   
   mercy: 'Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you'. Precisely at   
   this moment fear, insecurity and cowardice dissipate".   
    "Peter experienced how God's fidelity is always greater than our acts of   
   infidelity, stronger than our denials. He realises that the God's fidelity   
   dispels our fears and exceeds every human reckoning. Today Jesus also asks us:   
   'Do you love me?'. He does so because he knows our fears and our struggles.   
   Peter shows us the way: we need to trust in the Lord, who 'knows everything'   
   that is in us, not counting on our capacity to be faithful, but on his   
   unshakable fidelity. Jesus never abandons us, for he cannot deny himself. He   
   is faithful. The fidelity which God constantly shows to us pastors, far in   
   excess of our merits, is the source of our confidence and our peace. The   
   Lord's fidelity to us keeps kindled within us the desire to serve him and to   
   serve our sisters and brothers in charity".   
    "The love of Jesus must suffice for Peter. He must no longer yield to the   
   temptation to curiosity, jealousy, as when, seeing John nearby, he asks Jesus:   
   'Lord, what about this man?'. But Jesus, before such temptations, says to him   
   in reply: 'What is it to you? Follow me'. This experience of Peter is a   
   message for us too, dear brother archbishops. Today the Lord repeats to me, to   
   you, and to all pastors: Follow me! Waste no time in questioning or in useless   
   chattering; do not dwell on secondary things, but look to what is essential   
   and follow me. Follow me without regard for the difficulties. Follow me in   
   preaching the Gospel. Follow me by the witness of a life shaped by the grace   
   you received in baptism and holy orders. Follow me by speaking of me to those   
   with whom you live, day after day, in your work, your conversations and among   
   your friends. Follow me by proclaiming the Gospel to all, especially to the   
   least among us, so that no one will fail to hear the word of life which sets   
   us free from every fear and enables us to trust in the faithfulness of God.   
   Follow me!".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    ANGELUS: GOD IS ALWAYS CAPABLE OF TRANSFORMING US   
    Vatican City, 29 June 2014 (VIS) - After celebrating Mass in the Vatican   
   basilica with the new metropolitan archbishops, the Pope appeared at the   
   window of his study to pray the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St.   
   Peter's Square, as on every Sunday. He remarked that ever since ancient times,   
   the Church of Rome has celebrated the apostles Peter and Paul in a single   
   festivity on the same day, 29 June, so that "the faith in Jesus Christ which   
   made them brothers and martyrs made them into a single entity".   
    "St. Peter and St. Paul, so different from each other from a human point of   
   view, were chosen personally by the Lord Jesus and responded to His call,   
   offering all their lives. In both, Christ's grace achieved great things,   
   transforming them. Simon had denied Jesus in the dramatic moment of the   
   passion; Saul had harshly persecuted Christians. But both welcomed God's love   
   and allowed themselves to be transformed by His mercy; they thus became   
   friends and apostles of Christ. They therefore continue to speak to the Church   
   and even nowadays they show us the path of salvation. If we too fall prey to   
   the gravest sins and the darkest night, then God is always able to transform   
   our heart and forgive us everything, thus transforming the darkness of our sin   
   into a dawn of light".   
    He went on to cite the Acts of the Apostles, which demonstrate many aspects   
   of their witness. "Peter, for example, teaches us to look to the poor through   
   the eyes of faith and to give them that which is most precious: the power of   
   the name of Jesus. This is what he did with the paralytic; he gave him what he   
   had, which was Jesus". And the episode of Paul's conversion on the road to   
   Damascus, the fulcrum of his life, "clearly marks a before and after. Before,   
   Paul was an arch-enemy of the Church. After, he placed all his existence at   
   the service of the Gospel. Also for us, the encounter with the Word of Christ   
   is able to completely transform our lives. It is not possible to listen to   
   this Word and stand firm, unswayed in our habits. It gives us the impetus to   
   defeat the selfishness we have in our hearts, to follow decisively that Master   
   who gave His life for His friends. But it is He Who, with His word, changes   
   us; it is He Who transforms us; it is He Who forgives everything, if we open   
   our hearts and ask for forgiveness".   
    This feast day inspires great joy in us, because it places us before the work   
   of God's mercy in the hearts of two men. It is the work of God's mercy in   
   these two men who were great sinners. And God wishes to fill us too with His   
   grace, as He did with Peter and Paul. May the Virgin Mary help us to welcome   
   it as they did, with an open heart, and not to receive this grace in vain! And   
   may she support us in the hour of need, to give witness to Jesus Christ and   
   His Gospel".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    POPE FRANCIS' NEW APPEAL FOR PEACE IN IRAQ   
    Vatican City, 29 June 2014 (VIS) - "The news from Iraq is, unfortunately,   
   very painful", said the Holy Father after today's Angelus prayer. "I join with   
   the bishops of the country in their appeal to the authorities so that, through   
   dialogue, national unity may be maintained and war avoided. I am close to the   
   thousands of families, especially Christians, who have had to leave their   
   homes and who are in grave danger. Violence begets violence; dialogue is the   
   only path to peace. Let us pray to the Virgin Mary that she might safeguard   
   the people of Iraq".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    A CHRISTIAN WITHOUT MARY IS AN ORPHAN   
    Vatican City, 30 June 2014 (VIS) - On Saturday afternoon, in the Lourdes   
   Grotto in the Vatican Gardens, the Pope met with a group of young people from   
   the diocese of Rome embarking on a vocational journey. "This visit to the   
   Virgin is very important in our lives", he said. "She accompanies us also in   
   our definitive choice, the vocational choice, as she accompanied her Son on   
   his vocational path which was so hard and so painful".   
    "When a Christian says to me, not that he does not love the Virgin, but   
   rather that it does not come to mind to look to the Virgin or to pray to the   
   Virgin, I feel sad", he said, adding that "a Christian without the Virgin is   
   an orphan. A Christian needs these two women, these two mothers, two virgin   
   women: the Church and Our Lady. And to 'test' a true Christian vocation, it is   
   necessary to ask oneself, 'how is my relationship with these two Mothers?".   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)