VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 053   
   DATE 16-03-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Fruitful collaboration between the Holy See and the Republic of San Marino   
   - To the bishops of Bosnia and Herzegovina: social pastoral ministry to involve   
   the people in reconstruction and growth   
   - Angelus: God loves us - the summary of all theology   
   - Appeal for an end to the persecution of Christians   
   - To the UCIIM: go to the peripheries of schools as witnesses of life and hope   
   - "Follow Me" Association: engage with earthly reality to serve the good of man   
   - To be able to confess our sins is a gift from God   
   - To the Korean community: be a Church of martyrs   
   - Audiences   
   - From the Oriental Churches   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Fruitful collaboration between the Holy See and the Republic of San Marino   
    Vatican City, 16 March 2015 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father Francis received in   
   audience the Captains Regent of the Most Serene Republic of San Marino,   
   Gianfranco Terenzi and Guerrino Zanotti, who subsequently met with Cardinal   
   Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by Archbishop Paul Richard   
   Gallagher, secretary for Relations with States.   
    During the cordial discussions, deep satisfaction was expressed regarding the   
   good relations between the Holy See and the Republic of San Marino, and the   
   active collaboration in the social field between public institutions and the   
   Church was underlined.   
    Finally, mention was made of the fruitful collaboration between the Holy See   
   and the Republic of San Marino at a bilateral level and in the context of the   
   international community.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    To the bishops of Bosnia and Herzegovina: social pastoral ministry to involve   
   the people in reconstruction and growth   
    Vatican City, 16 March 2015 (VIS) - The prelates of the Bishops' Conference of   
   Bosnia and Herzegovina were received in audience this morning by the Pope, at   
   the end of their "ad Limina" visit. In the written discourse he handed to them   
   at the end of the visit the Holy Father, who will shortly visit Sarajevo,   
   emphasised "the charity, the care and the closeness of the Church of Rome" with   
   "the heirs of many martyrs and confessors, who during the troubled   
   centuries-long history of the country have kept the faith alive".   
    "Migration is justly one of the social issues close to your heart", he writes.   
   "It evokes the difficulty of return for many of your co-citizens, the scarcity   
   of sources of work, the instability of families, the emotional and social   
   laceration of entire communities, the practical precariousness of many   
   parishes,   
   and the still fresh memories of conflict, both at a personal and community   
   level, in which wounded hearts are still painful. I am well aware that, in your   
   hearts as Pastors, this gives rise to bitterness and concern. The Pope and the   
   Church are with you in prayer and in active support for your programmes to   
   assist those who live in your territories, without any form of discrimination.   
   I   
   therefore encourage you to spare no energies in supporting the weak, helping -   
   in all ways possible - those who have a legitimate and honest desire to remain   
   in the land of their birth, bring succour to the spiritual hunger of those who   
   believe in the indelible values, born of the Gospel, that throughout the   
   centuries have nurtured the life of your communities".   
    "The society in which you live has a multicultural and multi-ethnic dimension.   
   And you have been entrusted the task of being fathers to all, in spite of   
   material limits and the crisis within which you work. May your heart always be   
   large enough to accommodate all, just as the heart of Christ is able to receive   
   in itself - with divine love - every human being. Every Christian community   
   knows that it is called upon to open itself up and to irradiate the light of   
   the   
   Gospel; it cannot stay closed within its traditions, noble though they may be.   
   It must come out of its 'enclosure', firm in faith, supported by prayer and   
   encouraged by pastors, to live and announce the new life of which it is a   
   depository, that of Christ, Saviour of all men. From this perspective, I   
   encourage the initiatives that can extend the presence of the Church beyond   
   liturgical parameters, assuming with imagination every other action that may   
   affect society, bringing with it the fresh spirit of the Gospel. ... Seek to   
   promote a solid social pastoral ministry in relation to the faithful,   
   especially   
   the young, to ensure that consciences are formed, willing to remain in their   
   own   
   territories as agents and key actors in the reconstruction and the growth of   
   your country, from which they cannot expect only to receive. In this   
   educational   
   and pastoral work, the social doctrine of the Church is of valid assistance. It   
   is also a way of overcoming the residue of old materialism that still persists   
   in the mentality and behaviour of some sectors of the society in which you   
   live".   
    The Pope remarks that the ministry of the prelates of Bosnia and Herzegovina   
   assumes various dimensions - pastoral, ecumenical and interreligious - and   
   underlines the intense work that they carry out in these sectors, an expression   
   of their paternity towards the people entrusted to them. "I encourage you and   
   remind you that, while with respect for all, this does not absolve you of the   
   need to give open and frank testimony of your belonging to Christ. The priests,   
   men and women religious and lay faithful, who live in close contact with   
   citizens of different religious traditions, are able to offer you valid advice   
   regarding your mixed communities. I consider an approach of this type to be   
   wise   
   as it may bear the seeds and fruits of pacification, understanding and   
   collaboration".   
    With reference to the relationship between clergy and men and women religious,   
   Francis comments, "I know through direct experience the complexity of these   
   relations, as well as the difficulties in harmonising their respective   
   charisms.   
   But the most important fact is that in both dimensions ... a single mission is   
   pursued: to serve the Kingdom of Christ. ... In this year dedicated to   
   Consecrated   
   Life, we must show that all charisms and ministries are destined to the glory   
   of   
   God and the salvation of all men, taking care to ensure that these are   
   effectively orientated towards the edification of the Kingdom of God and not   
   contaminated by partial aims; that they are carried out in a regime of human   
   and   
   fraternal communion, bearing each other's burdens with a spirit of service".   
    The Pontiff concludes with "a personal word between bishops, as is appropriate   
   in full charity". "I am aware that historical events make Bosnia and   
   Herzegovina   
   different in many areas. And yet you are a single body: you are Catholic   
   bishops   
   in communion with the Successor of Peter, in a frontier location. One word   
   alone   
   emerges spontaneously from my heart: you are in communion. Although at times   
   imperfect, such communion is to be pursued vigorously at all levels, setting   
   individual peculiarities aside. It is necessary to act on the basis of your   
   belonging to the same Apostolic College; other considerations are of secondary   
   importance and are to be analysed in the light of the catholicity of your faith   
   and your ministry".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Angelus: God loves us - the summary of all theology   
    Vatican City, 15 March 2015 (VIS) At midday the Holy Father appeared at the   
   window of his study to recite the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St.   
   Peter's Square and, as usual, commented on day's Gospel reading, which this   
   Sunday was Jesus' words to Nicodemus: "For God so loved the world, that he gave   
   his only begotten Son". "God loves us!" exclaimed the Pope. "He loves us truly,   
   and he loves us so much! This is the simplest expression that summarises the   
   whole of the Gospel, all faith, all theology: God loves, us, with freely given   
   and boundless love".   
    "At the origin of the world there is only the Father's free and gratuitous   
   love", affirmed Pope Francis, cited the words of St. Irenaeus who, in his work   
   "Adversus haereses", wrote: "In the beginning God formed Adam, not because He   
   was in need of humans, but so He might have someone to receive His benefits".   
   And after the fall, He did not abandon man to the power of death, but instead   
   rescued him with His mercy. "As in creation", explained Francis, "also the   
   subsequent stages in the history of salvation emphasise the gratuity of God's   
   love: the Lord chooses His people not because they were deserving, but because   
   it was the smallest among all the peoples. And, in the fullness of time,   
   although men have broken the covenant many times, instead of abandoning them   
   God   
   makes a new bond with them, in the blood of Jesus - the bond of the new and   
   everlasting covenant - a bond that nothing can ever break".   
    The Cross of Christ is "the supreme proof of God's love for us: Jesus has   
   loved   
   us 'unto the end', meaning not up to the final moment of his earthly life, but   
   until the extreme limit of love. If in creation the Father has given us the   
   proof of his great love by giving us life, in the passion of His Son He has   
   given us the proof of all proofs: He has come to suffer and die for us. And   
   this   
   love that is so great is God's mercy, because He loves us, He forgives us. With   
   his mercy, God forgives all and God always forgives".   
    "May Mary, Mother of Mercy, place in our hearts the certainty that we are   
   loved   
   by God. May She be close to us in the moments of difficulty and give us the   
   sentiments of Her Son, so that our Lenten itinerary may be an experience of   
   forgiveness, of welcome and of charity".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Appeal for an end to the persecution of Christians   
    Vatican City, 15 March 2015 (VIS) - "It is with great sorrow that I have   
   learned of the terrorist attacks on two churches in the city of Lahore,   
   Pakistan   
   today, which have caused many deaths and casualties. They are Christian   
   churches. Christians are persecuted. Our brothers shed blood solely because   
   they   
   are Christians. While I assure my prayers for the victims and for their   
   families, I ask the Lord, I implore the Lord, the source of all good, to grant   
   the gift of peace and harmony to the country. May this persecution of   
   Christians, that the world seeks to conceal, come to an end, and may there be   
   peace", said the Holy Father following today's Angelus prayer.   
    Pope Francis also expressed his closeness to the population of Vanuatu, in the   
   Pacific Ocean, devastated by a cyclone. "I pray for the deceased, for the   
   injured, and for those who have lost their homes", he said, "and I give thanks   
   to those who have taken rapid action to bring aid and assistance.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    To the UCIIM: go to the peripheries of schools as witnesses of life and hope   
    Vatican City, 16 March 2015 (VIS) - "Teaching is a beautiful job, as it allows   
   you to see the growth day by day of the people entrusted to your care. It is a   
   little like being parents, at least spiritually. It is a great responsibility",   
   said the Pope this morning to the members of the Catholic Union of Teachers   
   (UCIIM), whom he received in audience in the Paul VI Hall. He added, "Teaching   
   is a serious commitment, that only a mature and balanced person can undertake.   
   A   
   commitment of this type may inculcate apprehension, but remember that no   
   teacher   
   is ever alone; his or her work is shared with other colleagues and with all the   
   educational community to which they belong".   
    "As Jesus taught us, all the Law and the Prophets can be summarised in two   
   commandments: love the Lord God and love your neighbour. We can ask ourselves:   
   who is a teacher's neighbour? The neighbours are your students! It is with them   
   that a teacher passes the day. They seek guidance, orientation, an answer - and   
   first of all, good questions!", he continued. "Among the tasks of the UCIIM is   
   that of enlightening and promoting the correct idea of school, often obscured   
   by   
   discussions and reductive positions. The school is certainly make up of valid   
   and qualified instruction, but also of human relations, that from our side are   
   relationships of welcome and benevolence, due to all indiscriminately. Indeed,   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)