VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 047   
   DATE 06-03-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Audience with the president of Azerbaijan: importance of intercultural and   
   interreligious dialogue to promote peace   
   - The Pope to members of the Neocatechumenal Way on the "missio ad gentes":   
   take to the peripheries of the world the message the God loves humanity and   
   that love is possible   
   - Telegram for the death of Cardinal Edward M. Egan   
   - Bishop Renato Corti is the author of the meditations for the stations of the   
   2015 Via Crucis   
   - Promoting a Europe based on the sacred nature of the human being   
   - Audiences   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audience with the president of Azerbaijan: importance of intercultural and   
   interreligious dialogue to promote peace   
    Vatican City, 6 March 2015 (VIS) - This morning the President of the Republic   
   of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and his wife were received in Audience by the Holy   
   Father Francis. The president subsequently met with Cardinal Secretary of   
   State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by the under secretary for Relations with   
   States, Msgr. Antoine Camilleri.   
    During the cordial discussions, satisfaction was expressed for the   
   development of bilateral relations. In particular, attention was paid to   
   themes regarding the life of the Catholic Community in the country and to a   
   number of initiatives in the culture field, revealing the value in the   
   contemporary world of intercultural and interreligious dialogue to promote   
   peace.   
    Reference was then made to the current regional and international situation,   
   emphasising the importance of negotiation in conflict resolution, and   
   education for promoting the conditions for peaceful coexistence between   
   populations and different religious groups.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope to members of the Neocatechumenal Way on the "missio ad gentes":   
   take to the peripheries of the world the message the God loves humanity and   
   that love is possible   
    Vatican City, 6 March 2015 (VIS) - This morning in the Paul VI Hall Pope   
   Francis received in audience seven thousand members of the Neocatechumenal   
   Way, including two hundred families who will shortly depart on the "missio ad   
   gentes". "The task of the Pope is to confirm brothers in the faith", said the   
   Holy Father. "You too, with this gesture, have asked Peter's Successor to   
   confirm your calling, to support your mission, to bless your charism. And   
   today I confirm your calling, I support your mission, and I bless your   
   charism. Because I am happy to do so! Go in the name of Christ, and take his   
   Gospel all round the world".   
    As well as from the cardinals and bishops who accompanied the N   
   ocatechumenals, the Pope also gave special greetings to the organisers of the   
   Way: Kiko Arguello and Carmen Hernandez, along with Fr. Mario Pezzi, and   
   expressed his appreciation and encouragement "for all that, via the Way, you   
   do for the good of the Church".   
    "Our meeting today is a missionary response in obedience to Christ's   
   instruction; 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.   
   He who believes and is baptised will be saved'. And I am particularly content   
   that this mission of yours will be carried out thanks to Christian families   
   who, joined together in a community, have the mission of giving the signs of   
   the faith that attract men to the beauty of the Gospel. ... These communities   
   are formed of a presbyter and four or five families with children, some of   
   whom are fully grown, and constitute a 'missio ad gentes', with a mandate to   
   evangelise non-Christians. To those non-Christians who have never heard of   
   Jesus Christ, and the many non-Christians who have forgotten who Jesus Christ   
   was, who He was: non-Christians who have been baptised but have forgotten   
   their faith on account of secularisation, worldliness and many other things.   
   Let us reawaken that faith!"   
    "Therefore, even prior to the word, it is your witness of life that   
   demonstrates the heart of Christ's revelation: that God loves man to the   
   extent of delivering Him to death, and that He was resurrected by the Father   
   to give us the grace of offering our life to others. How much solitude, how   
   much suffering, how much distance from God there is in many peripheries of   
   Europe and America, and in many cities of Asia! How great is humanity's need,   
   in every latitude, to hear that God loves us and that love is possible! These   
   Christian communities, thanks to you, missionary families, have the essential   
   task of making this message visible. And what is the message? 'Christ is   
   risen, Christ lives! Christ lives among us!'"   
    "You have received the strength to leave everything and to depart for distant   
   lands thanks to a path of Christian initiation, lived in small communities,   
   where you have rediscovered the immense richness of your Baptism. This is the   
   Neocatechumenal Way, a true gift of Providence to the Church in our time",   
   affirmed the Pope, "which rests on the three dimensions of the Church: the   
   Word, the Liturgy and the Community. Therefore, obediently and constantly   
   listening to the Word of God; the Eucharistic celebration in small communities   
   after the first Vespers of Sunday; the celebration of Lauds within the family   
   on Sunday with all children, and the sharing of faith with other brothers are   
   at the origin of the many gifts that the Lord has bestowed to you, along with   
   many vocations to the presbytery and to consecrated life".   
    "On a number of occasions I have insisted on the need for the Church to pass   
   from a pastoral ministry of simple conversion to a decisively missionary   
   pastoral ministry. How often, in the Church, do we hold Jesus inside but fail   
   to let Him out? This is the most important thing to do if we do not want the   
   waters of the Church to stagnate. The Way has been carrying out this 'missio   
   ad gentes' amid non-Christians for years now, by means of an 'implantatio   
   Ecclesiae', a new presence of the Church, where the Church does not exist or   
   is unable to reach people. 'What joy you give us through your presence and   
   your activity!', exclaimed Blessed Paul VI in his first audience with you. I   
   too offer you these words and encourage you to continue, entrusting you to the   
   Holy Virgin Mary who inspired the Neocatechumenal Way".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Telegram for the death of Cardinal Edward M. Egan   
    Vatican City, 6 March 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has sent a telegram of   
   condolences to Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York, U.S.A., for   
   the death of Cardinal Edward M. Egan, archbishop emeritus of the same diocese.   
   He recalls with gratitude "his years of episcopal ministry among Christ's   
   flock in Bridgeport and New York, his distinguished service to the Apostolic   
   See, and his expert contribution to the revision of the Church's law in the   
   years following the Vatican Council II", and, commending the late Cardinal's   
   soul to God, imparts his apostolic blessing to all those participating in his   
   funeral, held in St. Patrick's Cathedral.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Bishop Renato Corti is the author of the meditations for the stations of the   
   2015 Via Crucis   
    Vatican City, 6 March 2015 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office today announced   
   that the texts for the stations of the Via Crucis on Good Friday at the   
   Colosseum have been prepared on behalf of the Holy Father by Bishop Renato   
   Corti, emeritus of Novara, Italy, according to the traditional format of the   
   fourteen stations.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Promoting a Europe based on the sacred nature of the human being   
    Vatican City, 5 March 2015 (VIS) - Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher,   
   secretary for Relations with States, gave an address in Bratislava, Slovakia   
   today, during the meeting of the legal advisers of the Episcopal Conferences   
   of Europe, (C.E.C.E.). The prelate focused on the challenges the Church faces   
   today, and on Pope Francis' two addresses to the European Parliament and the   
   Council of Europe on 25 November 2014.   
    Archbishop Gallagher emphasised that "at the centre of the Pope's   
   considerations in Strasbourg was his affirmation of the dignity of the human   
   person" and respect for human rights not for political reasons, but because   
   "they are engraved in the heart of every human person". He continued, "the   
   Pope reminds us of the Christian roots of our continent ... and exhorts the   
   members of the European Parliament as the time has come to work together in   
   building a Europe that revolves not around the economy, but around the   
   sacredness of the human person, around inalienable values", and added, "the   
   time has come for us to abandon the idea of a Europe that is fearful and   
   self-absorbed, in order to revive and encourage a Europe of leadership, a   
   repository of science, art, music, human values and faith as well".   
    He went on to highlight the worrying conditions of migrants who seek   
   protection for their lives and families on our continent, a major challenge   
   for Europe which greatly concerns the Pope. "The absence of mutual support   
   within the European Union runs the risk of encouraging particularistic   
   solutions to the problem, solutions which fail to take into account the human   
   dignity of immigrants, and thus contribute to slave labour and continuing   
   social tensions. ... Christianity has to perform her mission in Europe, and   
   the Cathlic Church especially, in which the unity of cultural differences is   
   found, can offer tangible help to unite and strengthen the national family of   
   Europe".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audiences   
    Vatican City, 6 March 2015 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in   
   audience:   
    - Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the   
   Doctrine of the Faith;   
    - Archbishop Fernando Natalio Chomali Garib, archbishop of Concepcion,   
   apostolic administrator "sede vacante" of Osorno, Chile.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 6 March 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed Rev. Augusto   
   Paolo Lojudice as auxiliary of the diocese of Rome (area 849, population   
   2,885,272, Catholics 2,365,923, priests 4834, permanent deacons 122, religious   
   27,727), Italy. The bishop-elect was born in Rome, Italy in 1964 and was   
   ordained a priest in 1989. He holds a licentiate in theology from the   
   Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, and has served in a number of pastoral   
   roles, including parish vicar in the parishes of "Santa Maria del Buon   
   Consiglio" and "San Virgilio", parish priest of the parish "Santa Maria Madre   
   del Redentore a Tor Bella Monaca", and spiritual father of the Pontifical   
   Roman Major Seminary. He is currently parish priest of the "San Luca al   
   Prenestino" parish.   
      
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