VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 222   
   DATE 15-12-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - Audience with Dragan Covic: the importance of the Catholic contribution to   
   the reconstruction of Bosnia Herzegovina   
   - To Catholic television workers: avoid the sins of the media   
   - Pope Francis visits the Roman parish of San Giuseppe all'Aurelio   
   - Angelus: rediscover the true joy of Jesus Christ   
   - The Pope gives a prayerbook to the faithful   
   - Audience with Matteo Renzi: common concern about persistent social and   
   economic problems   
   - St. Lucy, patroness of the blind and visually-impaired, teaches us the   
   secret of true happiness   
   - Francis gives thanks to the foundation of Notre Dame des Sans-Abri for its   
   work with the homeless   
   - The Pope prays to the Virgin of Guadalupe that the future of Latin America   
   be forged for the poor   
   - "I received my first ecumenical sermon from my grandmother, in front of   
   you", says the Pope to the Salvation Army   
   - Cardinal Turkson to travel to Sierra Leone and Liberia to bring the   
   solidarity of the Church to two of the countries hardest hit by the Ebola virus   
   - Audiences   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audience with Dragan Covic: the importance of the Catholic contribution to   
   the reconstruction of Bosnia Herzegovina   
    Vatican City, 15 December 2014 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican Apostolic   
   Palace the Holy Father received in audience Dragan Covic, Croatian member of   
   the Collegial Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who subsequently met with   
   Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by Archbishop   
   Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States.   
    During the cordial discussions, the Parties focused on the situation in the   
   country, with particular reference to the contribution of Catholics to the   
   edification of society and especially their commitment in the field of   
   reconstruction following the devastation caused by floods last spring.   
   Satisfaction was expressed regarding the good bilateral relations, and several   
   issues were discussed in relation to the application of the 2006 Basic   
   Agreement, which governs the relationships and collaboration between the   
   Church and the State for the common good.   
    Finally, various themes relating to regional and international politics were   
   considered.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    To Catholic television workers: avoid the sins of the media   
    Vatican City, 15 December 2014 (VIS) - This morning Pope Francis met with the   
   managers and workers of TV2000, an Italian Church television broadcasting   
   company, with whom he wished to share "three thoughts on the role of the   
   communicator", recalling that "the Catholic media have a very difficult   
   mission in relation to social communication: seeking to preserve it from all   
   that distorts and twists it for other purposes. Often communication is subject   
   to propaganda, ideologies, political ends, or for the control of the economy   
   or technology. The first thing that is beneficial to communication is   
   parrhesia, or rather the courage to speak directly, to speak frankly and   
   freely. ... If, instead, we are worried about tactical aspects, our words   
   become artificial, and we communicate nothing. Freedom also means freedom from   
   fashions, clichés, pre-packaged formulas. ... We must reawaken words. But   
   every word has a spark of fire and life within. Reawaken that spark, so that   
   it comes out. So this is the first task of the communicator: to reawaken the   
   word".   
    Secondly, he emphasised the need to avoid "filling" and "closing"; the first   
   takes the form of "saturating our perceptions with an excess of slogans that   
   annul our thoughts instead of setting them into motion", whereas the second is   
   that of seeking short cuts instead of favouring longer and more complex routes   
   of understanding, "choosing to present an individual as if he or she could   
   solve all our problems, or on the contrary, as a scapegoat onto whom we can   
   discharge all our responsibilities. [It is] jumping to conclusions   
   immediately, instead of making the effort to represent the complexity of real   
   life".   
    Finally, Francis mentioned the third mission, "speaking to the whole person   
   ... avoiding the sins of the media: disinformation, slander and defamation".   
   Authentic communication, he stressed, "is not concerned with att   
   ntion-grabbing. ... It is necessary to speak to people as a whole: to their   
   mind and their heart, so that they know how to see beyond the immediate,   
   beyond a present that risks being forgetful and fearful of the future". Of   
   these three sins, "the most insidious is disinformation, as it leads to   
   mistakes and to believing only a part of the truth".   
    These three tasks bring to life "the culture of encounter, so necessary in an   
   increasingly pluralistic context. Confrontation does not lead anywhere", he   
   concluded. "Creating a culture of encounter: it is an important job for you".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Pope Francis visits the Roman parish of San Giuseppe all'Aurelio   
    Vatican City, 14 December 2014 (VIS) - This afternoon Pope Francis visited   
   the Roman parish of San Giuseppe all'Aurelio, in the Primavalle suburb of the   
   capital. Before celebrating the Eucharist, Francis met with various groups of   
   people and spoke informally with them.   
    First, he met with some children who were preparing for their First   
   Communion, and spoke about his own, which took place on 8 October 1944. "I   
   remember it as if it were today. I prepared for a year with a very kind nun   
   and two catechists. ... In those times, its was not possible to drink a little   
   water before Mass, nothing - not even a drop of water. It was Pope Pius XII   
   who saved us from this dictatorship! ... And we all arrived in the Church with   
   our hands together, singing. ... And later, in the afternoon, we returned to   
   the Church for our Confirmation: the same day. And you, who will take your   
   first Communion, will remember that day for ever, all your life: the first day   
   Jesus came to you. He comes, He makes Himself one with us, he nourishes us to   
   give us strength. ... Do not forget the date, and every year, on that day,   
   confess and take communion, will you?"   
    He then spoke to the Rom families in the parish, wishing them peace within   
   their families and adding, "May there be work, and may there be joy. The joy   
   of Jesus, the peace of Jesus, and so on. Do not lose hope in difficult   
   moments, as hope never disappoints: the Lord gives it to us. And the Lord,   
   sooner or later, He always awaits us, always".   
    The Holy Father then met with the sick, and began by thanking them for their   
   witness of patience, of love for God and of hope in the Lord. "This does great   
   good to the Church", he affirmed. "You continually nurture the Church with   
   your life, with your suffering, with your patience. Thank you, truly. The   
   Church, without the sick, would not carry on. You are the strength of the   
   Church, her true strength".   
    Finally, he encountered newly baptised children with their parents. "A child   
   always offers a word of hope simply by being. ... A child is a seed of the   
   future. .... And you, parents, will say to God, protect my child in the   
   future. Our hopes reside in our children. We hand them the torch of faith and   
   life, and they will pass it on to their children, our grandchildren. This is   
   life. And in Baptism, you have given them faith, and thus faith from Jesus'   
   time up to the present day is like a chain, transmitted by parents. And this   
   is a real responsibility! Never forget the day of your Baptism".   
    Finally, after revealing that he was baptised on 25 December, just eight days   
   after his birth, as was the custom at the time, Francis asked all those   
   present to pray for him, and added, "babies and children cry, they make noise,   
   they run about ... and it bothers me greatly when a child cries in church and   
   people expect him or her to leave. No! It is the best sermon. The cry of a   
   child is the voice of God. Never, ever send them out of the church!"   
    Following his meetings with the parishioners, Pope Francis confessed several   
   people and then celebrated Mass. In his homily, he mentioned that "the Church   
   this Sunday anticipates the joy of the Nativity, and it is therefore called   
   'Gaudete Sunday', joyful Sunday". The joy of the Nativity, he said, is a   
   special joy the the Christian experiences not only on that day, but throughout   
   all his or her life. "It is a serene, calm joy, a joy that always accompanies   
   a Christian. Even in difficult moments, this joy is transformed into peace.   
   The true Christian never loses this peace, even during suffering. This peace   
   is a gift from the Lord".   
    Francis emphasised that we encounter Christian joy in prayer and in giving   
   thanks to God, and he spoke about all those people who do not know how to   
   thank God and who are always looking for something to complain about. "A   
   Christian cannot live like this, always complaining. ... No saint has ever had   
   a sad face. The saints always had joyful faces. Or at least, in moments of   
   suffering, their faces showed peace". In this way, the Pontiff explained that   
   in order to obtain this Christian joy, which is not the joy of consumerism on   
   24 December, first one must pray and give thanks - but then there exists a   
   further dimension, which is bringing the glad tidings to others. "Go to   
   others, those who are in need, both materially and spiritually. They are many   
   people who suffer and are distraught as a result of family problems. Bring   
   them peace, the anointing of Jesus, the oil of Jesus which does so much good   
   and consoles the soul".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Angelus: rediscover the true joy of Jesus Christ   
    Vatican City, 14 December 2014 (VIS) - Today, the third Sunday of Advent,   
   known as the "Sunday of Joy" (Gaudete), Pope Francis appeared at the window of   
   his study to pray the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's   
   Square, including many children who had brought their figurines of the baby   
   Jesus from their Nativity displays, to be blessed by the Holy Father.   
    Francis remarked that the time of Advent, which began two weeks ago, invites   
   us to spiritual vigilance to prepare the way for the Lord who is on his way.   
   "On this third Sunday the liturgy proposes to us another inner attitude with   
   which to await the Lord: joy. Man's heart desires joy. We all wish for joy,   
   every family, every population aspires to happiness. But what is the joy that   
   the Christian is required to live and to bear witness to? It is that which   
   comes from closeness to God, from His presence in our life. Ever since Jesus   
   entered into history, with his birth in Bethlehem, humanity has received the   
   germ of the Kingdom of God, like the terrain that receives the seed, the   
   promise of a future harvest. There is no need to search elsewhere! Jesus has   
   come to bring joy to all for ever. It is not merely a hoped-for joy, or a joy   
   postponed to paradise: here on earth we are sad but in paradise we will be   
   joyful. No! It is not this, but rather it is a joy that is already real and   
   that can be experienced now, because Jesus Himself is our joy, and with Jesus   
   our home is joyful".   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)