VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 165   
   DATE 26-09-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - Pope Francis receives in audience the Focolare Movement   
   - Holy Father's calendar for October 2014   
   - Comments of the Holy See on the Concluding Observations of the Committee on   
   the Rights of the Child   
   - Cardinal Parolin encourages people of faith to condemn terrorist acts   
   - Comments of the Holy See on the Concluding Observations of the Committee on   
   the Rights of the Child   
   - The KAICIID deplores the abuse of religion to justify violent conflict   
   - Cardinals Nichols, Soo-Jung and Brenes Solorzano take possession of their   
   titular churches   
   - Audiences   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
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    Pope Francis receives in audience the Focolare Movement   
    Vatican City, 26 September 2014 (VIS) - Contemplate, go forth, and educate:   
   these were the three directions Pope Francis gave this morning to the Focolare   
   Movement, whose general assembly takes place in Rome this week.   
    The Work of Mary, better known as the Focolare Movement, was born within the   
   bosom of the Catholic Church "from a small seed that, over the years, has   
   grown into a tree that now extends its branches in all the expressions of the   
   Christian family and also among members of different religions, and among many   
   who cultivate justice and solidarity alongside the search for truth".   
    Pope Francis referred with great affection and admiration to Chiara Lubich,   
   founder and firs president of the Focolare Movement, commenting that,   
   "faithful to the charism from which it was born and by which it is nurtured,   
   the Focolare Movement now finds itself faced with the same task that awaits   
   the Church as a whole: offering, with responsibility and creativity, its   
   special contribution to this new season of evangelisation". He gave three   
   directions on how to achieve this: contemplate, go forth, and educate.   
    To contemplate, it is necessary to "enlarge one's inner capacity to   
   accommodate Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit, to make contemplation the   
   indispensable condition for a supportive presence and effective action that is   
   truly free and pure". To contemplate means living in the company of brothers   
   and sisters, breaking the bread of communion and fraternity with them,   
   together crossing the threshold that leads to the Father, since contemplation   
   that excludes others is a deception. It is narcissism".   
    The next step is to "go forth like Jesus from the bosom of the Father to   
   proclaim the word of love to all, unto His sacrifice on the Cross. We must   
   learn from Him, from Jesus, the 'drive to go forth and give, to go out from   
   ourselves, to keep pressing forward in our sowing of the good seed'. We must   
   not linger, but rather, with God's help, must aim high and broaden our   
   horizons! And to do this, we must go forth with courage 'unto him without the   
   camp, bearing his reproach'. He awaits us in the suffering and in the cries of   
   our brothers, in the wounds of society and in the questions posed by the   
   culture of our times. It pains the heart when we see a Church, faced with a   
   humanity with many wounds - moral, existential, of war - making philosophical,   
   theological and spiritual Byzantisms, while lacking a spirituality of action.   
   It is necessary to go forth, because the Church is like a field hospital. In   
   this type of hospital, the first thing you do is tend to the injured, rather   
   than analysing their cholesterol levels; you do that later".   
    Finally, the third direction: educate. "It is necessary, as the Gospel   
   demands, to form new men and women, and to do this there must be a school in   
   humanity that measures up to the humanity of Jesus. ... Without adequate   
   education of the new generations, it is illusory to imagine the realisation of   
   a serious and lasting project in the service of a new humanity".   
    "Chiara Lubich, in her time, coined an expression that remains relevant in   
   our times", concluded the Holy Father. "Today, she said, we need to form   
   'world-people', men and women with the soul, the heart and the mind of Jesus   
   and therefore capable of recognising and interpreting the needs, worries and   
   hopes that reside in the heart of every person".   
      
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    Holy Father's calendar for October 2014   
    Vatican City, 26 September 2014 (VIS) - The Office of Liturgical Celebrations   
   of the Supreme Pontiff has published the following calendar of liturgical   
   celebrations over which the Holy Father will preside during the month of   
   October:   
    Sunday 4: At 6 p.m. in St. Peter's Square, prayer vigil in preparation for   
   the Synod on the family.   
    Sunday 5: 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time. At 10 a.m. in the Papal Chapel of the   
   Vatican Basilica, Holy Mass for the opening of the Extraordinary Synod of   
   Bishops on the family.   
    Sunday 12: 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time. At 10 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica,   
   Holy Mass for thanksgiving for the equipollent canonisation of the French   
   Canadian Saints Marie de l'Incarnation, O.S.U. (1599-1672), and Francois de   
   Montmorency-Laval, M.E.P. (1623-1708).   
    Sunday 19: 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time. At 10.30 a.m. in the Papal Chapel of   
   the Vatican Basilica, Holy Mass for the conclusion of the Extraordinary Synod   
   of Bishops on the family and the beatification of the Servant of God, Supreme   
   Pontiff Paul VI.   
      
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    Comments of the Holy See on the Concluding Observations of the Committee on   
   the Rights of the Child   
    Vatican City, 26 September 2014 (VIS) - The Holy See has communicated to the   
   competent offices of the United Nations in Geneva the document "Comments of   
   the Holy See on the Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of   
   the Child". The Concluding Observations were presented by the Committee on the   
   Rights of the Child on 5 February, following the reports, written responses   
   and interactive dialogue submitted to the Committee by the Holy See as a State   
   signatory of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).   
    The full English text of the Holy See's comments may be consulted at   
   http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/secretariat_state/2014/documen   
   s/rc-seg-st-20140205_concluding-observations-rights-child_en.html   
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Cardinal Parolin encourages people of faith to condemn terrorist acts   
    Vatican City, 26 September 2014 (VIS) - Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro   
   Parolin participated in the United Nations Security Council Open Debate on   
   terrorism, held last Wednesday, 24 September in New York, on "Threats to   
   international peace and security caused by terrorist acts". Cardinal Parolin   
   began by congratulating the U.S.A. on assuming the presidency of the Security   
   Council and applauded the timely convocation of the debate, which came "at a   
   time when every region of the world faces the dehumanising impact of   
   terrorism". He continued, "This is not a phenomenon which impacts only certain   
   peoples, religions or regions, but rather is a crime which impacts the entire   
   international community. The ongoing, and in some regions escalating use of   
   terrorism is a reminder that such as shared challenge requires a shared   
   commitment from all nations and all people of good will".   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)