VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 056   
   DATE 20-03-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - The Pope on the importance of the "hidden Christians" of Japan   
   - Pope Francis: the death penalty is inadmissible   
   - Press release from the Dean of the College of Cardinals   
   - Pope's telegram for terrorist attack in Tunisia   
   - Audiences   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope on the importance of the "hidden Christians" of Japan   
    Vatican City, 20 March 2015 (VIS) - "Though the Catholic community is small,   
   your local Churches are esteemed by Japanese society for your many   
   contributions, born of your Christian identity, which serve people regardless   
   of   
   religion. I commend your many efforts in the fields of education, healthcare,   
   service to the elderly, infirm, and handicapped, and your charitable works   
   which   
   have been especially important in response to the tragic devastation wrought by   
   the earthquake and tsunami four years ago. So too I express deep appreciation   
   for your initiatives in favour of peace, especially your efforts to keep before   
   the world the immense suffering experienced by the people of Hiroshima and   
   Nagasaki at the end of the Second World War seventy years ago. In all of these   
   works, you not only meet the needs of the community, but you also create   
   opportunities for dialogue between the Church and society".   
    The Holy Father thus addressed the prelates of the Catholic Bishops'   
   Conference   
   of Japan at the end of their "ad Limina" visit, who this month celebrate the   
   "discovery" fifty years ago of the "hidden Christians" of Japan, a central   
   theme   
   of the written discourse the Pope handed to them this morning.   
    He writes, "The Church in Japan has experienced abundant blessings but has   
   equally known suffering. From those joys and sorrows, your ancestors in the   
   faith have bequeathed to you a living heritage that adorns the Church today and   
   encourages her journey toward the future. This heritage is rooted in the   
   missionaries who first reached your shores and proclaimed the Word of God,   
   Jesus   
   Christ. We think especially of Saint Francis Xavier. ... For many of these   
   missionaries, as well as for some of the first members of the Japanese Catholic   
   community, their witness to Christ led to the shedding of their blood. ... We   
   recall especially Saint Paul Miki and companions whose steadfast faith in the   
   midst of persecution became an encouragement for the small Christian community   
   to persevere in every trial".   
    Another aspect of this rich patrimony is the discovery of the "hidden   
   Christians" - those who conserved the Christian faith after all the lay   
   missionaries and priests had been expelled from the country. "The embers of   
   faith which the Holy Spirit ignited through the preaching of these evangelisers   
   and sustained by the witness of the martyrs were kept safe, through the care of   
   the lay faithful who maintained the Catholic community's life of prayer and   
   catechesis in the midst of great danger and persecution".   
    "These two pillars of Catholic history in Japan, missionary activity and the   
   'hidden Christians',continue to support the life of the Church today, and offer   
   a guide to living the faith. In every age and land, the Church remains a   
   missionary Church, seeking to evangelise and make disciples of all nations,   
   while continually enriching the faith of the community of believers and   
   instilling in them the responsibility to nurture this faith in the home and   
   society".   
    The work of evangelisation, however, "is not the sole responsibility of those   
   who leave their homes and go to distant lands to preach the Gospel. In fact, by   
   our baptism, we are all called to be evangelisers and to witness to the Good   
   News of Jesus wherever we are. We are called to go forth, to be an evangelising   
   community, even if that simply means opening the front door of our homes and   
   stepping out into our own neighbourhoods. ... If our missionary efforts are to   
   bear fruit, the example of the 'hidden Christians' has much to teach us. Though   
   small in number and daily facing persecution, these believers were able to   
   preserve the faith by being attentive to their personal relationship with   
   Jesus,   
   a relationship built on a solid prayer life and a sincere commitment to the   
   welfare of the community. ... The 'hidden Christians' of Japan remind us that   
   the   
   work of fostering the life of the Church and of evangelising require the full   
   and active participation of the lay faithful. Their mission is twofold: to   
   engage in the life of the parish and local Church, and to permeate the social   
   order with their Christian witness".   
    Through the witness of faith of the Japanese faithful, "the Church expresses   
   her genuine catholicity and shows the ‘beauty of her varied face'", the Pope   
   concludes, citing his apostolic exhortation "Evangelii Gaudium". "So often,   
   when   
   we find this witness lacking, it is not because the faithful do not want to be   
   missionary disciples, but rather because they think themselves incapable of the   
   task. I encourage you as Pastors to instil in them a deep appreciation of their   
   calling and to offer them concrete expressions of support and guidance so that   
   they may answer this call with generosity and courage".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Pope Francis: the death penalty is inadmissible   
    Vatican City, 20 March 2015 (VIS)- This morning the Holy Father received in   
   audience a delegation from the International Commission against the Death   
   Penalty. Below we offer extensive extracts from the letter the Pope gave to   
   Federico Mayor, president of the Commission, to greet and offer his personal   
   thanks to all the members of the aforementioned International Commission, the   
   group of countries that lend their support, and all those who collaborate in   
   its   
   work.   
    "I would like to take this opportunity to share with you some reflections on   
   what the Church contributes to the humanistic efforts of the Commission. The   
   Church's Magisterium, based on the Sacred Scripture and the thousand-year   
   experience of the People of God, defends life from conception to natural end,   
   and supports full human dignity inasmuch as it represents the image of God.   
   Human life is sacred as, from its beginning, from the first instant of   
   conception, it is the fruit of God's creating action".   
    "States kill when they apply the death penalty, when they send their people to   
   war or when they carry out extrajudicial or summary executions. They can also   
   kill by omission, when they fail to guarantee to their people access to the   
   bare   
   essentials for life. ... On some occasions it is necessary to repel an ongoing   
   assault proportionately to avoid damage caused by the aggressor, and the need   
   to   
   neutralise him could lead to his elimination; this is a case of legitimate   
   defence. However, the presuppositions of personal legitimate defence do not   
   apply at the social level, without risk of misinterpretation. When the death   
   penalty is applied, it is not for a current act of aggression, but rather for   
   an   
   act committed in the past. It is also applied to persons whose current ability   
   to cause harm is not current, as it has been neutralised - they are already   
   deprived of their liberty".   
    "Nowadays the death penalty is inadmissible, no matter how serious the crime   
   committed. It is an offence against the inviolability of life and the dignity   
   of   
   the human person, which contradicts God's plan for man and society, and his   
   merciful justice, and impedes the penalty from fulfilling any just objective.   
   It   
   does not render justice to the victims, but rather fosters vengeance".   
    "For the rule of law, the death penalty represents a failure, as it obliges   
   the   
   state to kill in the name of justice. ... Justice can never be wrought by   
   killing   
   a human being. ... With the application of the death penalty, the convict is   
   denied the possibility of to repent or make amends for the harm caused; the   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)