VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 219   
   DATE 10-12-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - General audience: new series of catechesis on the family   
   - Presentation of the Message for the 48th World Day of Peace   
   - Slaves no more, but brothers and sisters: the Pope's Message for World Day   
   of Peace   
   - "Love is our mission: the family, fully alive": theme of the 7th World   
   Meeting of Families   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
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    General audience: new series of catechesis on the family   
    Vatican City, 10 December 2014 (VIS) - Having concluded his catechesis on the   
   Church, in today's general audience Pope Francis began a new series dedicated   
   to the family, "a new cycle in this intermediate period between two Synod   
   Assemblies dedicated to this important reality". Before considering the   
   different aspects of family life, Francis began by speaking about the Synod   
   held last October on the theme "Pastoral challenges to the family in the   
   context of new evangelisation".   
    The Pontiff first praised the work of the Holy See Press Office during the   
   Synod, and the good work accomplished by the media responsible for covering   
   the assembly. He went on to mention the events and results of the assembly,   
   and emphasised that at no point was there any form of censorship and that the   
   Synod Fathers were entirely free to speak frankly. "The only think I asked of   
   them was that they speak with sincerity and courage, and listen with humility".   
    He explained that the Instrumentum laboris always remained the basis of all   
   the interventions that took place, and that this document was the result of a   
   previous consultation involving all of the Church. He remarked that "no   
   intervention challenged the fundamental truths of the Sacrament of Marriage:   
   indissolubility, unity, fidelity and openness to life". All these   
   interventions, in a second phase, were gathered together and gave rise to the   
   Relatio post disceptationem or the post-discussion report, which was divided   
   into three sections: listening to the context and the challenges to the   
   family; looking steadily at Christ and the Gospel of the family, and   
   comparison with pastoral perspectives. The third phase, the group discussions,   
   followed this first approach at a summary. Finally, at the end of its work,   
   each group presented a report and all the group reports were published   
   immediately, "with transparency, so that what was happening was made known".   
    Finally, a commission examined all the suggestions that emerged from the   
   groups and the a Final Report was produced, maintaining the same structure as   
   before - listening, looking to the Gospel and pastoral ministry - which was   
   then sent to all the Episcopal Conferences worldwide to enable discussion   
   prior to the Ordinary Assembly, scheduled for October 2015. As always, a Final   
   Message from the Synod was approved, more concise and informative compared to   
   the Report. The Holy Father remarked that the Synod Fathers "did not argue,   
   but there were animated discussions. This is the freedom of the Church", and   
   added that there are three official Synod documents: the Final Message, the   
   Final Report, and the Pope's concluding discourse.   
    The Bishop of Rome emphasised that the Synod is not a parliament but rather a   
   protected space that allows the Holy Spirit to intervene, and that now the   
   work of prayer, reflection and fraternal discussion must continue in the   
   particular Churches in preparation for the upcoming Assembly. "Let us commend   
   it to the protection of the Virgin Mother, so that she may help us to follow   
   God's will in making pastoral decisions that offer greater and better help to   
   families", he concluded.   
      
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    Presentation of the Message for the 48th World Day of Peace   
    Vatican City, 10 December 2014 (VIS) - This morning in the Holy See Press   
   Office a press conference was held to present the Holy Father's Message for   
   the 48th World Day of Peace, to be held on 1 January 2015 on the theme "Slaves   
   no more, but brothers and sisters". The speakers were Cardinal Peter Kodwo   
   Appiah Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council "Justice and Peace";   
   Bishop Mario Toso, S.D.B., secretary of the same dicastery; Vittorio V.   
   Alberti, official of "Justice and Peace"; and Sister Gabriella Bottani,   
   Combonian missionary representing the International Network of Consecrated   
   Life Against Human Trafficking (of the International Union of Superior   
   Generals) and head of Talitha Kum.   
    The theme chosen by the Pope, explained Cardinal Turkson, "regards not only   
   the foundation of peace but also its concrete achievement in interpersonal   
   relations. Therefore, it must be an invitation to transform social relations   
   from a relationship of dependence-slavery, and the negation of the humanity of   
   the other, to a relationship of fraternity lived between brothers and sisters   
   who share the same Father. An itinerary of conversion for believers that leads   
   to recognition of the other not as an enemy to combat or an inferior being to   
   exploit, but rather a brother or sister to love and for this reason to free   
   from all the chains of slavery".   
    "Starting from the Epistle of Paul to Philemon and other passages from the   
   Bible, "the Holy Father shows that God's plan for humanity does not have any   
   place for the enslavement of others, since God calls to all of his sons and   
   daughters to renew their interpersonal relationships, respecting in each   
   person the image and semblance of God along with the intangible dignity of   
   every person, confident in the Good News of Jesus Christ, who is capable of   
   renewing the heart of man, where sin is most abundant".   
    "However, despite the great efforts of many people, modern slavery continues   
   to be an atrocious scourge that is present on a large scale throughout the   
   world, even as tourism. This 'crime of injured humanity' is masked by   
   apparently accepted habits, but in reality it creates victims in prostitution,   
   human trafficking, forced labour, slave labour, mutilation, the sale of   
   organs, drug abuse and child labour. They are concealed behind closed doors,   
   in special places, on the streets, in cars, in factories, in the country, in   
   fishing boats and in many other places. And this happens in both cities and   
   villages, in the reception centres of the richest and poorest countries in the   
   world. And the worst thing is that this situation unfortunately worsens every   
   day".   
    With regard to the joint effort against human trafficking and other forms of   
   slavery, the Cardinal emphasised a number of points. First, there is the fact   
   that slavery, "fruit and sign of the rupture of fraternity and the denial of   
   communion, once accepted by civil law as the right to ownership of another   
   person, is now a 'crime of injured humanity' that, as previously mentioned,   
   assumes various faces in the context of globalisation, creating new needs, new   
   forms of poverty and slavery". In this year dedicated to the family, he   
   reiterated that it is unacceptable for the institution of the family, "a place   
   of acceptance and promotion of life", to be "transformed into the place in   
   which life is betrayed, treated with disdain, denied, manipulated and sold".   
   Finally, to defeat the wound of modern slavery, there needs to be a   
   mobilisation on a scale comparable to that of the phenomenon itself, both   
   locally - families, schools, parishes - and at the global levels of state   
   institutions and civil society.   
    "The Church of Jesus Christ, that announces the Good News of liberation from   
   sin and from every form of enslavement, must continue her mission of   
   announcing the Word on every occasion, convenient or otherwise, denouncing   
   every form of slavery and violation of the dignity of the human person,   
   offering at the same time, also through daily gestures of welcome and   
   closeness, the witness of a free life, renewed and open to Transcendence".   
    "Following the example of St. Josephine Bakhita, the former slave who later   
   became a free daughter of God, we look with hope to Jesus Christ Who has   
   defeated evil and Who is the maker and icon of the liberation of humanity and   
   the freedom of the sons and daughters of God", concluded Cardinal Turkson. "We   
   must work together and never tire until there no longer remains any person   
   reduced to slavery in this world, because no-one can be freed without regard   
   for others, for humanity and for the creation that, as St. Paul says in his   
   Letter to the Romans, 'is waiting with eagerness for the children of God to be   
   revealed ... with the intention that the whole creation itself might be freed   
   from its slavery to corruption and brought into the same glorious freedom as   
   the children of God'".   
      
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    Slaves no more, but brothers and sisters: the Pope's Message for World Day of   
   Peace   
    Vatican City, 10 December 2014 (VIS) - Below is the full text of the Holy   
   Father's Message for the 48th World Day of Peace, to be held on 1 January 2015   
   on the theme "Slaves no more, but brothers and sisters'':   
    "At the beginning of this New Year, which we welcome as God's gracious gift   
   to all humanity, I offer heartfelt wishes of peace to every man and woman, to   
   all the world's peoples and nations, to heads of state and government, and to   
   religious leaders. In doing so, I pray for an end to wars, conflicts and the   
   great suffering caused by human agency, by epidemics past and present, and by   
   the devastation wrought by natural disasters. I pray especially that, on the   
   basis of our common calling to cooperate with God and all people of good will   
   for the advancement of harmony and peace in the world, we may resist the   
   temptation to act in a manner unworthy of our humanity.   
    In my Message for Peace last year, I spoke of 'the desire for a full life ...   
   which includes a longing for fraternity which draws us to fellowship with   
   others and enables us to see them not as enemies or rivals, but as brothers   
   and sisters to be accepted and embraced'. Since we are by nature relational   
   beings, meant to find fulfilment through interpersonal relationships inspired   
   by justice and love, it is fundamental for our human development that our   
   dignity, freedom and autonomy be acknowledged and respected. Tragically, the   
   growing scourge of man's exploitation by man gravely damages the life of   
   communion and our calling to forge interpersonal relations marked by respect,   
   justice and love. This abominable phenomenon, which leads to contempt for the   
   fundamental rights of others and to the suppression of their freedom and   
   dignity, takes many forms. I would like briefly to consider these, so that, in   
   the light of God's word, we can consider all men and women 'no longer slaves,   
   but brothers and sisters'.   
    Listening to God's plan for humanity   
    2. The theme I have chosen for this year's message is drawn from Saint Paul's   
   letter to Philemon, in which the Apostle asks his co-worker to welcome   
   Onesimus, formerly Philemon's slave, now a Christian and, therefore, according   
   to Paul, worthy of being considered a brother. The Apostle of the Gentiles   
   writes: 'Perhaps this is why he was parted from you for a while, that you   
   might have him back for ever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a   
   beloved brother'. Onesimus became Philemon's brother when he became a   
   Christian. Conversion to Christ, the beginning of a life lived Christian   
   discipleship, thus constitutes a new birth which generates fraternity as the   
   fundamental bond of family life and the basis of life in society.   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)