"Your witness, as athletes", he exclaimed, "is a great sign of hope. It is   
   the proof that in every person there is potential that at times we do not   
   imagine, and that may develop with trust and solidarity. God the Father is the   
   first to know this! He knows us better than any other, and He looks upon us   
   with trust, He loves us as we are, but he enables us to grow according to what   
   we are able to become. In this way, in your efforts for sport without   
   barriers, for a world without exclusion, you are never alone" God our Father   
   is with you!".   
    "May sport therefore be for you a place where you are able to train every   
   day, in relation to yourselves and others, a gymnasium that offers you the   
   chance to get to know new people and environments and that helps you to be an   
   active part of society".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Christians in the Middle East: the Church cannot remain silent before the   
   persecution of her children   
    Vatican City, 4 October 2014 (VIS) - This morning in the Pauline Chapel   
   Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin celebrated Holy Mass for the papal   
   representatives in the Middle East at the end of the meeting convoked at the   
   behest of the Holy Father, dedicated to the situation faced by Christians in   
   the region. Extensive extracts from his homily are published below:   
    "Today we celebrate this Holy Eucharist with concern for what is happening in   
   various countries in the Middle East. We are profoundly troubled to see the   
   growing threats to peace and disturbed by the conditions in which Christian   
   communities live in the territories from Syria to Iraq, controlled by an   
   entity that disregards rights and adopts terrorist methods to increase its   
   power".   
    "Such communities, which inhabit these lands since apostolic times, therefore   
   find themselves facing situations of grave danger and open persecution, and   
   are frequently forced to abandon everything and flee from their homes and   
   their country. It is sad to note how persistent and active the forces of evil   
   are, and how in some corrupt minds the conviction has taken hold that violence   
   and terror are methods that can be used to impose one's will for power over   
   others, under the pretext of affirming a specific religious concept. It is   
   clearly a perversion of authentic religious meaning, with dramatic results and   
   to which it is necessary to respond. The Church cannot remain silent before   
   the persecution of her sons and daughters, and the international community   
   cannot remain neutral between victims and the aggressor".   
    "'Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge'. Thus the psalmist prays. He,   
   who was no stranger to difficulty and violent adversaries, confidently turns   
   to the Lord. The wicked and their machinations do not frighten him, because   
   his life is in the Lord's hands. He knows that his true strength and safety is   
   the Lord Who gives him peace and joy and Who prepares a definitive and joyful   
   future. ... It is the joy of every faithful Christian who knows that History   
   is led by Providence and that the forces of evil shall not prevail".   
    "This certainty that we rejoice in, far from leaving us as idle or inert   
   spectators, encourages us as individuals and as a Christian community, as   
   Church, in constant and trusting prayer and urges us to put into effect all   
   those concrete initiatives that help influence governments and public opinion.   
   Nothing must be neglected that it may be possible to do to alleviate the   
   suffering of our brethren in need and to stop the aggressors. Providence   
   wishes also to make use of us, of our freedom and our industriousness, our   
   initiative and our daily efforts".   
    "Persecuted Christians and all those who suffer unjustly must be able to   
   recognise that the Church is the institution that defends them, that prays and   
   acts for them, that is not afraid of stating the truth, becoming the word for   
   those without a voice, defence and support for those who are abandoned, who   
   seek refuge, who are discriminated against. Indeed, everything depends on God   
   and His Grace, but it is necessary to act as if it all depended on us, on our   
   prayer and our solidarity".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    In brief   
    Vatican City, 4 October 2014 (VIS) - THE HOLY FATHER HAS SENT A VIDEO MESSAGE   
   to the International Centre of the Focolare Movement in Loppiano, Italy, on   
   the fiftieth anniversary of its foundation by Chiara Lubich. The Pope remarked   
   that Loppiano "inspired by the Gospel of fraternity ... lives in the service   
   of the Church and the world", and offers a "living and effective witness of   
   communion among persons of different nations, cultures and vocations" and   
   maintaining, above all, mutual and continual charity in everyday life.   
    NO MORE WAR OR HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, affirm the papal representatives in   
   the Middle East at the end of their meeting in the Vatican from 2 to 4   
   October, during which they discussed the situation faced by Christians in the   
   region. They expressed their serious concerns regarding the actions of various   
   extremist groups, in particular the "Islamic State", before whose violence and   
   abuses it is impossible to remain indifferent. The international community   
   cannot remain inert, they remarked, when faced with massacres carried out on   
   the pretext of religious belief or ethnic origin or the exodus of thousands of   
   people and the destruction of their places of worship. The participants in the   
   meeting emphasised that it is acceptable to stop an unjust aggressor, always   
   with respect for international law. However, the problem cannot be entrusted   
   solely to the usual military response, but must be faced in more depth,   
   starting from the root causes that are exploited by fundamentalist ideology.   
   An important role can be played by religious leaders, Christian and Muslim,   
   collaborating to promote dialogue and education in mutual understanding, and   
   clearly denouncing the abuse of religion to justify violence. Faced with the   
   crisis of so many people forced to leave their homes in a brutal fashion, the   
   participants highlighted the need to recognise the rights of Christians and   
   other ethnic and religious groups to be able to remain in their homelands and,   
   should it be necessary for them to leave, to return in suitable conditions of   
   safety, with the possibility of living and working in freedom and with   
   prospects for the future. In the current circumstances this requires   
   commitment on the part of the governments involved and the international   
   community as a whole. Finally, they stressed that we cannot resign ourselves   
   to imagining a Middle East without Christians, who for two thousand years have   
   confessed the name of Jesus Christ there.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audiences   
    Vatican City, 4 October 2014 (VIS) - This morning, the Holy Father received   
   the following in separate audiences:   
    - Cardinal Marc Ouellet, P.S.S., prefect of the Congregation for Bishops;   
    - Archbishop Joseph Edward Kurtz of Louisville, U.S.A., president of the   
   United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, with Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo,   
   archbishop of Galveston-Houston, deputy president, Msgr. Ronny E. Jenkins,   
   secretary general and J. Brian Bransfield, adjunct secretary general;   
    - Archbishop Wojciech Zaluski, apostolic nuncio in Burundi;   
    - Msgr. Paolo Rudelli, special envoy and Holy See Permanent Observer at the   
   Council of Europe in Strasbourg.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 6 October 2014 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:   
    On Saturday, 4 October the Holy Father: - accepted the resignation from the   
   pastoral care of the diocese of Arundel and Brighton, England, presented by   
   Bishop Kieran Conry, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon   
   Law.   
    - appointed Fr. Stane Zore, O.F.M., as metropolitan archbishop of Ljubljana   
   (area 6,134, population 776,336, Catholics 554,417, priests 428, permanent   
   deacons 221, religious 546), Slovenia. The bishop-elect was born in Sel Pri   
   Kamniku, Slovenia in 1958, gave his solemn vows in 1984, and was ordained a   
   priest in 1985. He has served in a number of roles, including parish priest,   
   rector of the national Shrines of Brezje and Sveta Gora, guardian in various   
   fraternities, master of novices, and provincial minister of the province of   
   the Holy Cross in Slovenia. He is currently provincial minister of his order   
   and president of the Conference of Men and Women Religious in Slovenia (KORUS).   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
   For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:   
   www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va   
      
   Copyright (VIS):  the news contained in the services of the Vatican   
   Information Service may be reproduced wholly or partially by quoting   
   the source:  V. I. S. - Vatican Information Service.   
   http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/vis/vis_en.html   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)