VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 154   
   DATE 13-09-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - Pope Francis: the shadow of Cain looms over history from 1914 to the present   
   - The Pope to visit Turkey at the end of November   
   - Cardinal Antonelli, Pope's special envoy to the consecration of the new   
   Shrine to St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Pope Francis: the shadow of Cain looms over history from 1914 to the present   
    Vatican City, 13 September 2014 (VIS) - Today, the centenary of the outbreak   
   of the First World War (13 September 1914), Pope Francis chose to celebrate   
   Mass at the Military Monument of Redipuglia, in the Italian province of   
   Gorizia.   
    The Holy Father left the Vatican by helicopter at 8 a.m. and landed shortly   
   before 9 a.m. at the airport of Ronchi dei Legionari, where he was received by   
   the archbishop of Gorizia, Carlo Alberto Maria Redaelli. He transferred by car   
   to the Austro-Hungarian cemetery of Fogliano di Redipuglia, the resting place   
   of 14,550 soldiers who fell in this area. At the entrance there is the phrase   
   "Im Leben und im Tode vereint" ("United in Life and Death"). The Pope placed a   
   floral wreath at the central monument to 7000 unknown soldiers.   
    The Pope subsequently proceeded to the Military Monument, a large cemetery   
   dedicated to the memory of the more than one hundred thousand Italian soldiers   
   who lost their lives in the Great War, in foothills of Mount Sei Busi, a   
   contested territory in the early phases of the conflict and where the tomb of   
   Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia Aosta, commander of the Third Army, is located.   
   The monument was designed by the architect Giovanni Greppi and the sculptor   
   Giannino Castiglioni, and building work commenced in 1933; it was inaugurated   
   by the then head of government, Benito Mussolini, in 1938, in the presence of   
   more than 50,000 First World War veterans.   
    The first reading narrated the story of Cain and Abel, and in his homily the   
   Holy Father commented on the murder of Abel to condemn indifference in the   
   face of war.   
    "After experiencing the beauty of travelling throughout this region, where   
   men and women work and raise their families, where children play and the   
   elderly dream, I now find myself here, in this place, near this cemetery, able   
   to say only one thing: War is madness. Whereas God carries forward the work of   
   creation, and we men and women are called to participate in his work, war   
   destroys. It also ruins the most beautiful work of his hands: human beings.   
   War ruins everything, even the bonds between brothers. War is irrational; its   
   only plan is to bring destruction: it seeks to grow by destroying.   
    "Greed, intolerance, the lust for power ... are the motives underlying the   
   decision to go to war, and they are too often justified by an ideology; but   
   first there is a distorted passion or impulse. Ideology is presented as a   
   justification and when there is no ideology, there is the response of Cain:   
   'What does it matter to me? Am I my brother's keeper?'. War does not look   
   directly at anyone, be they elderly, children, mothers, fathers. 'What does it   
   matter to me?'   
    "Above the entrance to this cemetery, there hang in the air those ironic   
   words of war, 'What does it matter to me?' All of the dead who repose here had   
   their own plans, they had their own dreams, but their lives were cut short.   
   Why? Because humanity said, 'What does it matter to me?'. Even today, after   
   the second failure of another world war, perhaps one can speak of a third war,   
   one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction. In all honesty, the   
   front page of newspapers ought to carry the headline, 'What does it matter to   
   me?'. Cain would say, 'Am I my brother's keeper?'.   
    "This attitude is the exact opposite of what Jesus asks of us in the Gospel.   
   We have heard: He is in the least of his brothers; He, the King, the Judge of   
   the world, He is the one who hungers, who thirsts, He is the stranger, the one   
   who is sick, the prisoner. Those who care for their brother or sister enter   
   into the joy of the Lord; those who do not do so, however, who by their   
   omission say, 'What does it matter to me?', remain excluded.   
    "Here, and in the other cemetery, lie many victims. Today, we remember them.   
   There are tears, there is mourning, there is grief. From this place we   
   remember all the victims of every war. Today, too, there are many victims ...   
   How is this possible? It is so because in today's world, behind the scenes,   
   there are interests, geopolitical strategies, lust for money and power, and   
   there is the manufacture and sale of arms, which seem to be so important! And   
   these plotters of terrorism, these schemers of conflicts, just like arms   
   dealers, have engraved in their hearts, 'What does it matter to me?'   
    "It is the task of the wise to recognise errors, to feel pain, to repent, to   
   beg for pardon and to cry. With this 'What does it matter to me?' in their   
   hearts, the merchants of war perhaps have made a great deal of money, but   
   their corrupted hearts have lost the capacity to weep. Cain did not weep. He   
   was not able to weep. The shadow of Cain hangs over us today in this cemetery.   
   It is seen here. It has been seen from 1914 right up to our own time.   
    "With the heart of a son, a brother, a father, I ask each of you, indeed for   
   all of us, to have a conversion of heart: to move on from 'What does it matter   
   to me?', to shed tears: for each one of the fallen of this 'senseless   
   massacre', for all the victims of the mindless wars, in every age. Brothers,   
   humanity needs to weep, and this is the time to weep".   
    Following Mass and after greetings from the military archbishop for Italy,   
   Santo Marciano and the Chiefs of Staff and General Commanders, the bishop of   
   Rome presented to those in attendance the "Light of St. Francis" Lamp, which   
   will be lit in the respective dioceses during the events commemorating the   
   First World War. The lamp was donated by the Holy Convent of Assisi and the   
   oil was given by the "Libera" Association of the priest Don Luigi Ciotti.   
    The Pope subsequently bade farewell to those present and transferred to   
   Ronchi dei Legionari airport, where he departed for the Vatican.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope to visit Turkey at the end of November   
    Vatican City, 13 September 2014 (VIS) - Late yesterday afternoon, in response   
   to questions from journalists, the director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr.   
   Federico Lombardi S.J., gave the following declaration:   
    "This morning the Holy See has received a letter with an official invitation   
   from the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to visit the country.   
   Preparations will therefore be made for a trip to take place in the final days   
   of November, although the length and programme of the visit are yet to be   
   confirmed".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Cardinal Antonelli, Pope's special envoy to the consecration of the new   
   Shrine to St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows   
    Vatican City, 13 September 2014 (VIS) - In a letter made public today,   
   written in Latin and dated 29 July, the Holy Father nominated Cardinal Ennio   
   Antonelli, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for the Family, as his   
   special envoy to the consecration of the new Shrine to St. Gabriel of Our Lady   
   of Sorrows in Teramo, Italy, scheduled to take place on 21 September.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 13 September 2014 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:   
    - appointed the following as members of the Congregation for the   
   Evangelisation of Peoples: Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat   
   for the Economy; Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan, archbishop of New York,   
   U.S.A.; Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, archbishop of Manila, Philippines;   
   Cardinal Jean-Pierre Kutwa, archbishop of Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire; Cardinal   
   Orani Joao Tempesta, archbishop of Sao Sebastiao do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;   
   Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops;   
   Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, secretary emeritus of the Pontifical Council   
   for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples; Archbishop Luigi   
   Travaglino, apostolic nuncio to the Principality of Monaco, Holy See Permanent   
   Observer at the United Nations Organisations and Organisms for Food and   
   Agriculture; Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical   
   Council for Social Communications; Archbishop Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo   
   of Jakarta, Indonesia; Archbishop Patrick Christopher Pinder of Nassau,   
   Bahamas; Archbishop Dieudonne Nzapalainga of Bangui, Central African Republic;   
   Archbishop Giampiero Gloder, president of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical   
   Academy; Archbishop Paul Bui Van Doc of Thanh-Pho Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam; Bishop   
   Tarcisius Isai Kikuchi of Niigata, Japan; Bishop Celmo Lazzari, apostolic   
   vicar of San Miguel de Sucumbios, Ecuador; Fr. Michael Anthony Perry, O.F.M.,   
   minister general of the Order of Friars Minor; Fr. Louis Lougen, O.M.I.,   
   superior general of the Oblate Missionaries of Mary Immaculate; Socrates   
   Mesiona, director general of the PP.OO.MM. In the Philippines; Sister Luzia   
   Premoli, S.M.C., superior general of the Combonian Missionaries,   
    - appointed the following as consultors of the same Congregation for the   
   Evangelisation of Peoples: Archbishop Jorge Carlos Patron Wong, bishop   
   emeritus of Paplanta, Mexico, secretary for seminaries of the Congregation for   
   the Clergy; and Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru, secretary of   
   the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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