VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 180   
   DATE 17-10-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - Francis on World Food Day: to defeat hunger it is necessary to change the   
   paradigm of aid and development policies   
   - Pope's message to the Italian Catholic University Federation   
   - Benedict XVI to attend the beatification of Paul VI   
   - Audiences   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Francis on World Food Day: to defeat hunger it is necessary to change the   
   paradigm of aid and development policies   
    Vatican City, 17 October 2014 (VIS) - World Food Day, held on 16 October, was   
   instituted in 1979 by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation   
   (FAO) in order to raise public awareness and strengthen solidarity in the   
   fight against hunger, malnutrition and poverty. To mark the occasion, the Holy   
   Father sent a message to the director general of the FAO, Jose Graziano da   
   Silva, extensive extracts of which are published below.   
    "Again this year, World Food Day echoes the cries of our many brothers and   
   sisters who, in many parts of the world, do not have enough to eat each day.   
   ... Despite the progress that is being achieved in many countries, recent data   
   continue to indicate a troubling situation, contributed to by the general   
   reduction of public development aid".   
    "The theme proposed by the FAO for this year's World Food Day - 'Family   
   farming: feeding the world, caring for the earth' - highlights the need to   
   begin with people, as individuals or in groups, to propose new forms and   
   methods of management for different aspects of nutrition. Specifically, it is   
   necessary to give greater acknowledgement of the role of the rural family, and   
   to develop its full potential. ... Indeed, the family promotes dialogue   
   between generations and provides the foundation for a true social integration,   
   aside from representing that hoped-for synergy between agricultural work and   
   sustainability; who, more than the rural family, is concerned with preserving   
   nature for generations to come? And who, more than the rural family, has at   
   heart cohesion between people and social groups?"   
    "Defending rural communities from the serious threats posed by human action   
   or natural disasters must not merely be a strategy but rather a form of   
   permanent action aimed at promoting their participation in decision-making, at   
   making appropriate technologies available, and extending their use, always   
   with respect for the natural environment. Acting in this way can alter the   
   methods of international cooperation and aid for the hungry and malnourished.   
   Never more than in this moment has the world needed unity between people and   
   among nations to overcome the divisions that exist and the conflicts in   
   progress, and above all to seek concrete ways out of a crisis that is global,   
   but the burden of which falls mostly on the poor. ... Think of the men and   
   women, of every age and condition, who are victims of bloody conflicts and   
   their consequent destruction and misery, the lack of housing, medical care and   
   education, who lose every hope of a dignified life. We have an obligation   
   towards these people, of solidarity and sharing".   
    "To defeat hunger, it is not enough to meet the needs of those who are   
   unfortunate or to help through aid and donations those who live in situations   
   of emergency. It is necessary, instead, to change the paradigm of aid and   
   development policies ... It is also necessary to change how we understand   
   work, economic aims and activity, food production and the protection of the   
   environment. This is perhaps the only possibility for constructing an   
   authentic future of peace, threatened nowadays by insecurity in relation to   
   food".   
    "The Catholic Church, on her part, while pursuing her charitable activities   
   in the different continents, remains available to offer, enlighten and   
   accompany both the elaboration of policies and their concrete implementation,   
   aware that faith becomes visible by putting into practice God's plan for the   
   human family and for the world through that profound and real fraternity that   
   is not exclusive to Christians, but that includes all peoples".   
      
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    Pope's message to the Italian Catholic University Federation   
    Vatican City, 17 October 2014 (VIS) - Pope Francis has sent a message to the   
   Italian Catholic University Federation (FUCI), which is preparing to hold an   
   extraordinary national conference in Arezzo, Italy, devoted to Pope Paul VI,   
   who was the Central Assistant of the institution from 1925 and 1933, and who   
   will be proclaimed blessed next Sunday.   
    The Holy Father assures the participants of his spiritual closeness and   
   accompanies them in their work with three words, the first of which is   
   "studium". "The essence of university life is found in study, in the effort   
   and patience of thought that reveals the importance to humanity of truth,   
   goodness and beauty. ... Do not be satisfied with partial truths or reassuring   
   illusions, but welcome an increasingly full comprehension of reality in your   
   study. Doing this requires the humility to listen, and a far-sighted vision".   
    The second word is "research", which along with dialogue is at the basis of   
   the FUCI's study method. The Pope continues, "The FUCI must always experience   
   the humility of research, that attitude of silently accepting the unknown, the   
   other, and of showing openness and willingness to walk alongside all those who   
   are inspired by a restless yearning for the Truth, believers and   
   non-believers, outsiders and marginalised. Research challenges itself   
   continually, becoming an encounter with mystery and opening up to faith:   
   research makes the encounter between faith, reason and science possible,   
   enabling a harmonious dialogue between them. ... By this method of research it   
   is possible to attain an ambitious objective: to repair the fracture between   
   the Gospel and contemporary life through the style of cultural mediation, an   
   itinerant mediation that, without denying cultural differences - instead,   
   recognising their value - becomes the focus of positive planning".   
    The third and final word is "frontier". "The university is a frontier that   
   awaits you, a periphery where the existential poverty of humanity can be   
   received and cured. Poverty in relations, in human growth, tend to fill minds   
   without leading to the creation of a shared plan for society, a common aim,   
   sincere fraternity. Always be sure to encounter the other, to be receptive to   
   the 'scent' of the people of today, to be imbued with their joys and hopes,   
   their sadness and their anguish. Do not set up barriers that, intended to   
   defend the frontier, preclude an encounter with the Lord. ... In today's   
   culture, in particular, we need to stand alongside everyone. You will be able   
   to overcome the clash between peoples only if you succeed in nurturing a   
   culture of encounter and fraternity".   
      
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    Benedict XVI to attend the beatification of Paul VI   
    Vatican City, 17 October 2014 (VIS) - Benedict XVI will attend the   
   beatification of Paul VI in St. Peter's Square this Sunday, according to the   
   director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J. The Pope   
   emeritus was made a cardinal by the new blessed, and the ceremony will be   
   attended by another two cardinals created by the pontiff, author of "Populorum   
   Progressio": Paulo Evaristo Arns, archbishop emeritus of Sao Paulo, Brazil,   
   and William Wakefield Baum, major penitentiary emeritus.   
    A press conference was held this morning in the Holy See Press Office to   
   present the figure of the new blessed and his relevance to the contemporary   
   Church. The speakers were Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect emeritus of   
   the Congregation for Bishops; Fr. Pierantonio Lanzoni, episcopal delegate for   
   the promotion of the memory of Paul VI in the diocese of Brescia, where the   
   pontiff was born in the town of Concesio in 1897; Fr. Antonio Marrazzo,   
   C.SS.R., postulator of the cause for beatification and Fr. Davide Milani,   
   spokesperson for the diocese of Milan, where Cardinal Montini was archbishop   
   between 1954 and 1963. This afternoon, Cardinal Paul Poupard, president   
   emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Culture and Fr. Angelo Maffeis,   
   president of the Paul VI Institute in Brescia, will speak on Vatican Radio,   
   accompanied by Fausto Montini, Paul VI's nephew.   
    Thousands of pilgrims will attend the beatification and the events linked to   
   it, the first of which will take place tomorrow, Saturday 18, in the Roman   
   Basilica of the Twelve Apostles, when Cardinal Angelo Scola, current   
   archbishop of Milan, will preside at Vespers. At 10.30 a.m. on Sunday, in St.   
   Peter's Square, the mass of beatification will be celebrated by Pope Francis   
   and at 9.30 a.m. on Monday 20, in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls,   
   Cardinal Angelo Scola will celebrate a mass of thanksgiving for the faithful   
   of the dioceses of Milan and Brescia.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audiences   
    Vatican City, 17 October 2014 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in   
   audience:   
    - Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, president of the Department for   
   External Ecclesiastical Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow;   
    - Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops;   
    - His Beatitude Louis Raphael I Sako, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans;   
    - Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect emeritus of the Congregation of the   
   Causes of Saints.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
   For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:   
   www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va   
      
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