VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 141   
   DATE 29-07-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - POPE FRANCIS' APOSTOLIC TRIP TO SRI LANKA AND THE PHILIPPINES   
   - THE POPE TO THE PENTECOSTAL CHURCH: WE ARE ON THE PATH TOWARDS UNITY   
   - FIFTY THOUSAND MINISTRANTS IN PILGRIMAGE TO ROME   
      
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    POPE FRANCIS' APOSTOLIC TRIP TO SRI LANKA AND THE PHILIPPINES   
    Vatican City, 29 July 2014 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office today announced   
   that His Holiness Francis, accepting the invitation from the civil authorities   
   and the bishops, will make an Apostolic trip to Sri Lanka from 12 to 15   
   January and the Philippines from 15 to 19 January 2015. The program for the   
   trip will be published shortly.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    THE POPE TO THE PENTECOSTAL CHURCH: WE ARE ON THE PATH TOWARDS UNITY   
    Vatican City, 29 July 2014 (VIS) - Unity in diversity and the plea for   
   forgiveness for the lack of understanding shown by some Catholics towards   
   their Pentecostal brothers were the key themes of the Pope's address at the   
   Pentecostal Church of the Reconciliation in Caserta yesterday, during his   
   meeting with his friend, the pastor Giovanni Traettino, whom he known for many   
   years, both in Buenos Aires and as bishop of Rome, engaged in ecumenism. The   
   meeting took place in a cheerful and intimate atmosphere, and was attended by   
   200 people, mostly Pentecostals from Italy, the United States and Argentina,   
   as well as other countries. "With men like you", said Pastor Traettino to his   
   friend, Pope Francis, "there is hope for us, as Christians".   
    The Pope's address responded to the discourse pronounced by Pastor Traettino,   
   who had remarked that the presence of Jesus and walking in the presence of   
   Jesus should be at the centre of our life. Francis remarked that "walk" was   
   God's first commandment to his people, represented by Abraham - "walk before   
   me faithfully and be blameless" - and added, "I don't understand a Christian   
   who stands still! I don't understand a Christian who doesn't walk. A Christian   
   must walk ... because that which is still, that does not move ahead, becomes   
   corrupt. Like still water, which is the first to become stagnant. ... There   
   are Christians who confuse walking and moving ahead with moving around. These,   
   instead, are errants who saunter here and there; these are people who lack   
   parrhesia, the boldness to go ahead; they lack hope".   
    He went on to cite the story of Jacob who, during a time of famine, sent his   
   eleven sons - ten of whom were guilty of betrayal, having sold their brother   
   Joseph - to Egypt to buy grain. There, they once again found Joseph, who in   
   the meantime had become the vizier. "When we walk in God's presence, we find   
   brotherhood", asserted the Pope. "When instead we stop, we scrutinise each   
   other too much, and we set out on another path, that of gossip. ... And in   
   this way it begins, from the first moment the division of the Church began.   
   And it is not the Holy Spirit who causes division! ... From the very beginning   
   there has been this temptation in the Christian community. 'I am from this   
   group, you are from that one', 'No! I am the Church, you are a sect', and so   
   on. ... The Holy Spirit creates diversity in the Church ... diversity, rich   
   and beautiful. But, at the same time, the Holy Spirit creates unity, and so   
   the Church is one in her diversity. To borrow a phrase used by an evangelical,   
   a phrase I love, it is the 'reconciled diversity' of the Holy Spirit, Who   
   creates both of these things: diversity in charisms, and harmony in charisms".   
    To offer an image of how unity in the Church could be, Pope Francis first   
   described a sphere, all of whose points are equidistant from the centre. This,   
   he said, was an example of uniformity, and "the Holy Spirit does not create   
   uniformity". "Let us imagine, instead, a polyhedron: it is an example of   
   unity, but with many different parts, each with its own peculiarity and   
   charism. This is unity in diversity. This is the path that we Christians take,   
   giving it the theological name of ecumenism: we seek to ensure that this   
   diversity is harmonised by the Holy Spirit and becomes a unity; we seek to   
   walk in the presence of God to be blameless".   
    Pastor Traettino had also referred to the incarnation of Jesus, and the Holy   
   Father responded that "the incarnation of the Word is the foundation - it is   
   Jesus Christ! God and man, Son of God and Son of man, true God and true man.   
   This is how the first Christians understood Him to be and they fought hard to   
   maintain this truth: the Lord is God and man. It is the mystery of Christ's   
   flesh. ... I love the poor, the widow, the slave, the imprisoned. ... I love   
   them all, as these people who suffer are Christ's flesh. ... It is not   
   possible to preach a purely intellectual Gospel: the Gospel is the truth but   
   it is also love and beauty! And this is the joy of the Gospel!".   
    "On this path, many times we have done the same thing as the brothers of   
   Joseph, when jealous and envy have divided us", he remarked. "That sad story   
   in which the Gospel for some was lived as truth and they did not realise that   
   behind this attitude there were bad things, things that were not the Lord's,   
   an ugly attempt at division. That sad history, in which there are repeated the   
   same things that Joseph's brother did: denouncements, the laws of these people   
   who 'are against the purity of the race'. ... And these laws were ratified by   
   baptised persons! Some of those who enacted these laws, and some of those who   
   persecuted, denounced their pentecostal brothers because they were   
   'enthusiastic', almost 'crazy', who spoiled the race. ... I am a pastor of   
   Catholics, and I beg forgiveness for this. I ask your forgiveness on behalf of   
   those Catholic brothers and sisters who did not understand and who were   
   tempted by the devil, and who did the same thing that Joseph's brothers did. I   
   ask the Lord for the grace to recognise and to forgive".   
    Pope Francis went on to comment on Pastor Traettino's words, "The truth is an   
   encounter". "An encounter between people", he emphasised. "The truth is not   
   made in a laboratory, it is made in life, seeking Jesus in order to find Him.   
   But the greatest and most beautiful mystery is that when we find Jesus, we   
   realise that He sought us first, that He had found us first, because He   
   arrives before us. I like to use the Spanish verb 'primerea' to describe this,   
   meaning that He precedes us, and always awaits us. ... That encounter that   
   transforms us: everything comes from that encounter. This is the path of   
   Christian sanctity: seeking Jesus every day in order to meet him, and letting   
   oneself be sought and found by Jesus every day".   
    "We are on that path of unity, among brothers", he concluded. "Some people   
   will be surprised: they will say, the Pope has gone to the evangelicals! He   
   has gone to meet his brothers! Yes! Because - and this is the truth - they   
   came to me first, in Buenos Aires. ... And so this friendship began, this   
   closeness between the pastors in Buenos Aires, and here today. I thank you,   
   and I ask you to pray for me, as I need your prayers".   
    Following the meeting, in the mid afternoon, the Pope returned to the Vatican   
   by helicopter.   
      
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    FIFTY THOUSAND MINISTRANTS IN PILGRIMAGE TO ROME   
    Vatican City, 29 July 2014 (VIS) - From 4 to 8 August, more than fifty   
   thousand ministrants from Germany, Austria and Switzerland will make a   
   pilgrimage to Rome, a trip organised every August by German dioceses. This   
   event is intended to strengthen the spiritual potential of an group that is   
   important to German pastoral ministry, consisting of more than 430,00   
   children, adolescents and young adults who carry out altar service.   
    The week's program includes diocesan religious functions, guided tours on   
   themes related to history, culture and spirituality, and cultural and   
   religious excursions including a trip to Assisi. However, the key moment of   
   the pilgrimage, eagerly awaited by all the participants, will be the audience   
   with Pope Francis, who will receive them in the Vatican on Tuesday, 5 August.   
      
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   For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:   
   www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va   
      
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