VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 155   
   DATE 15-09-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - The Pope to render homage to martyrs of faith in Albania   
   - Sixth meeting of the Council of Cardinals   
   - Francis marries twenty couples from the diocese of Rome   
   - Angelus: the Cross restores hope   
   - Humanity still has not learnt that war is madness   
   - Cardinal Aguilar to take possession of his titular church   
   - Audiences   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope to render homage to martyrs of faith in Albania   
    Vatican City, 15 September 2014 (VIS) - Homage to martyrs of faith, victims   
   of the communist regime, the importance of dialogue with Islam in a country   
   with a Muslim majority but with a notable Christian presence, both Catholic   
   and Orthodox, and the memory of blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, born in   
   Albania, will be the fundamental themes that Pope Francis will address in his   
   upcoming trip to the capital Tirana next Sunday, 21 September, said Fr.   
   Federico Lombardi S.J., director of the Holy See Press Office, in a press   
   conference held this morning.   
    The apostolic trip to Albania is Pope Francis' first in a European country   
   outside Italy and the fourth of his pontificate.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Sixth meeting of the Council of Cardinals   
    Vatican City, 15 September 2014 (VIS) - The sixth meeting of the Council of   
   Cardinals with the Holy Father began this morning, and will continue during   
   the days of 16 and 17 September. The Council of Cardinals was instituted by   
   Pope Francis to assist in the governance of the universal Church and to draw   
   up a plan for the revision of the apostolic constitution "Pastor bonus" on the   
   Roman Curia.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Francis marries twenty couples from the diocese of Rome   
    Vatican City, 14 September 2014 (VIS) - This morning, Pope Francis celebrated   
   the marriage of twenty couples from Rome, the diocese of which he is bishop,   
   during a Holy Mass celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica. The cardinal vicar of   
   Rome, Agostino Vallini, and Archbishop Filippo Iannone, vice-regent and   
   director of the diocesan Centre for Family Pastoral, concelebrated with the   
   Pontiff.   
    The couples married by the Pope, according to a press release from the   
   Vicariate of Rome, are like many others, engaged for different lengths of   
   time; some already live together, others have children, and others met within   
   the parish. The youngest couple were born in 1986 and 1989 respectively,   
   whereas the eldest were born in 1958 and 1965.   
    In his homily, the Holy Father, commenting on the Bible passage that speaks   
   of the long and wearisome journey of the people of Israel through the desert,   
   spoke of marriage as a path with areas of light and shadows, during which the   
   mercy and grace of Christ can regenerate and channel married and family life.   
    "Today's first reading speaks to us of the people's journey through the   
   desert", he began. "We can imagine them as they walked, led by Moses; they   
   were families: fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, grandparents, men and   
   women of all ages, accompanied by many children and the elderly who struggled   
   to make the journey. This people reminds us of the Church as she makes her way   
   across the desert of the contemporary world, reminds us of the People of God   
   composed, for the most part, of families.   
    "This makes us think of families, our families, walking along the paths of   
   life with all their day to day experiences. It is impossible to quantify the   
   strength and depth of humanity contained in a family: mutual help, educational   
   support, relationships developing as family members mature, the sharing of   
   joys and difficulties. Families are the first place in which we are formed as   
   persons and, at the same time, the 'bricks' for the building up of society.   
    "Let us return to the biblical story. At a certain point, 'the people became   
   impatient on the way'. They are tired, water supplies are low and all they   
   have for food is manna, which, although plentiful and sent by God, seems far   
   too meagre in a time of crisis. And so they complain and protest against God   
   and against Moses: 'Why did you make us leave?'. They are tempted to turn back   
   and abandon the journey.   
    "Here our thoughts turn to married couples who 'become impatient on the way',   
   the way of conjugal and family life. The hardship of the journey causes them   
   to experience interior weariness; they lose the flavour of matrimony and they   
   cease to draw water from the well of the Sacrament. Daily life becomes   
   burdensome, and often, even 'nauseating'. During such moments of   
   disorientation - the Bible says - poisonous serpents come and bite the people,   
   and many die. This causes the people to repent and to turn to Moses for   
   forgiveness, asking him to beseech the Lord so that he will cast out the   
   snakes. Moses prays to the Lord, and the Lord offers a remedy: a bronze   
   serpent set on a pole; whoever looks at it will be saved from the deadly   
   poison of the vipers.   
    "What is the meaning of this symbol? God does not destroy the serpents, but   
   rather offers an 'antidote': by means of the bronze serpent fashioned by   
   Moses, God transmits his healing strength, namely his mercy, which is more   
   potent than the Tempter's poison.   
    "As we have heard in the Gospel, Jesus identifies Himself with this symbol:   
   out of love the Father 'has given' His only begotten Son so that men and women   
   might have eternal life. Such immense love of the Father spurs the Son to   
   become man, to become a servant and to die for us upon a cross. Out of such   
   love, the Father raises up his Son, giving Him dominion over the entire   
   universe. This is expressed by Saint Paul in his hymn in the Letter to the   
   Philippians. Whoever entrusts himself to Jesus crucified receives the mercy of   
   God and finds healing from the deadly poison of sin.   
    "The cure which God offers the people applies also, in a particular way, to   
   spouses who 'have become impatient on the way' and who succumb to the   
   dangerous temptation of discouragement, infidelity, weakness, abandonment. To   
   them too, God the Father gives His Son Jesus, not to condemn them, but to save   
   them: if they entrust themselves to Him, He will bring them healing by the   
   merciful love which pours forth from the Cross, with the strength of His grace   
   that renews and sets married couples and families once again on the right path.   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)