VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXIV - # 184   
   DATE 23-10-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - Audience with Prime Minister of Grenada: Catholic Churh's Crontribution in   
   Responding to Challenges Facing the Country   
   - Pope to Association of Penal Law: Corruption is Greater Evil than Sin   
   - Audiences   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audience with Prime Minister of Grenada: Catholic Churh's Crontribution in   
   Responding to Challenges Facing the Country   
   Vatican City, 23 October 2014 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican Apostolic   
   Palace, the Holy Father received the Prime Minister of Grenada, Keith   
   Mitchell, who subsequently met with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro   
   Parolin, accompanied by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations   
   with States.   
   In the course of the cordial conversations, the parties focused on the good   
   relations existing between the Holy See and Grenada, as well as the important   
   contribution made by the Catholic Church in the educational, social, and   
   charitable spheres, to meet the challenges of the country, especially with   
   regard to youth. In this regard, the need for cooperation between all of the   
   social services, in order to promote the common good and the development of   
   the country, was affirmed.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Pope to Association of Penal Law: Corruption is Greater Evil than Sin   
   Vatican City, 23 October 2014 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received   
   delegates from the International Association of Penal Law (AIDP), addressing   
   them with a speech focusing on the issues in their subject area that have   
   recourse to the Church in her mission of evangelization and the promotion of   
   the human person.   
   The Pope began by recalling the need for legal and political methods that are   
   not characterized by the mythological ?scapegoat? logic, that is, of an   
   individual unjustly accused of the misfortunes that befall a community and   
   then chosen to be sacrificed. It is also necessary to refute the belief that   
   legal sanctions carry benefit, which requires the implementation of inclusive   
   economic and social policies. He reiterated the primacy of the life and   
   dignity of the human person, reaffirming the absolute condemnation of the   
   death penalty, the use of which isrejected by Christians. In this context he   
   also talked about the so-called extrajudicial executions, that is, the   
   deliberated killing of individuals by some states or their agents that are   
   presented as the unintended consequence of the reasonable, necessary, and   
   proportionate use of force to implement the law. He emphasized that the death   
   penalty is used in totalitarian regimes as ?an instrument of suppression of   
   political dissent or of persecution of religious or cultural minorities?.   
   He then spoke of the conditions of prisoners, including prisoners who have not   
   been convicted and those convicted without a trial, stating that pretrial   
   detention, when used improperly, is another modern form of unlawful punishment   
   that is hidden behind legality. He also referred to the deplorable prison   
   condition in much of the world, sometimes due to lack of infrastructure while   
   other instances are the result of ?the arbitrary exercise of ruthless power   
   over detainees?.Pope Francis also spoke about torture and other inhuman and   
   degrading treatment, stating that, in the world today, torture is used not   
   only as a means to achieve a particular purpose, such as a confession or an   
   accusation?practices that are characteristic of a doctrine of national   
   security?but also adds to the evil of detention. Criminal code itself bears   
   responsibility for having allowed, in certain cases, the legitimacy of torture   
   under certain conditions, opening the way for further abuse.   
   The Pope did not forget the application of criminal sanctions against children   
   and the elderly, condemning its use in both cases. He also recalled some forms   
   of crime that seriously damage the dignity of the human person as well as the   
   common good, including human trafficking, slavery?recognized as a crime   
   against humanity as well as a war crime in both international law and under   
   many nations? laws?the abject poverty in which more than a billion people   
   live, andcorruption. ?The scandalous accumulation of global wealth is possible   
   because of the connivance of those with strong powers who are responsible for   
   public affairs. Corruption is a process of death ? more evil than sin. An evil   
   that, instead of being forgiven, must be cured.?   
   ?Caution in the application of penal codes,? he concluded, ?must be the   
   overarching principle of legal systems ? and respect for human dignity must   
   not only act to limit the arbitrariness and excesses of government agents but   
   as the guiding criterion for prosecuting and punishing behaviors that   
   represent the most serious attacks on the dignity and integrity of the human   
   person.?   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audiences   
   Vatican City, 23 October 2014 (VIS) - This morning, the Holy Father received   
   in separate audiences:   
   - Archbishop Luigi Ventura, apostolic nuncio to France,   
   - Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation   
   of Peoples,   
   - Bishop Nunzio Galantino, secretary general of the Italian Episcopal   
   Conference.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
   Vatican City, 23 October 2014 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father appointed Abbot   
   Donato Ogliari, O.S.B., as abbot of the territorial abbey of Montecassino,   
   Italy. He formerly served as abbot of the Santa Maria della Scala Monastery in   
   Noci, Italy. The Holy Father has, at the same time, applied the Motu Proprio   
   ?Ecclesia Catholica? to the Abbey of Montecassino with a subsequent reduction   
   of its territory, providing that: the territory on which stand the Abbey   
   Church and Monastery belongs to the new territorial configuration of the   
   ecclesiastical jurisdiction ?Territorial Abbey of Montecassino?, effective   
   immediately. The 53 parishes with their faithful, secular and religious   
   clergy, religious communities, and semiarians pass to the pastoral care of the   
   Diocese of Sora-Aquino-Pontecorvo, which will now be named Sora-   
   assino-Aquino-Pontecorvo.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)