VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 096   
   DATE 25-05-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Meeting of the Council of the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops   
   - Pentecost: the Holy Spirit makes us capable of dedicating ourselves to works   
   of justice and peace   
   - Regina Coeli: the Church is not born isolated   
   - The Pope urges the international community to help refugees in the Bay of   
   Bengal   
   - Message for World Missions Day: "There is an inseparable bond between our   
   faith and the poor"   
   - Francis prays with the Pentecostal evangelical pastors of Phoenix for the   
   unity of the Church   
   - The Pope to Christian workers' association: fight for free, creative,   
   participatory and fraternal work   
   - Blessed Oscar Arnulfo Romero: a martyr who knew how to guide, defend and   
   protect his flock   
   - Pope's message for the Second International Conference on Women   
   - Audiences   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Meeting of the Council of the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops   
    Vatican City, 25 May 2015 (VIS) - This morning the Holy Father chaired the   
   meeting of the Council of the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Pentecost: the Holy Spirit makes us capable of dedicating ourselves to works   
   of   
   justice and peace   
    Vatican City, 24 May 2015 (VIS) - "Strengthened by the Spirit - who guides,   
   who   
   guides us into the truth, who renews us and the whole earth, and who gives us   
   his fruits - strengthened in the Spirit and by these many gifts, may we be able   
   to battle uncompromisingly against sin, to battle uncompromisingly against   
   corruption, which continues to spread in the world day after day, by devoting   
   ourselves with patient perseverance to the works of justice and peace", said   
   the   
   Holy Father during Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on the solemnity of Pentecost.   
    Pope Francis repeated several times during his homily that the Holy Spirit,   
   today as yesterday, guides, renews and bears fruit, acting through people and   
   communities, and making them capable of receiving God, "capax Dei" the Holy   
   Fathers have affirmed.   
    "On the evening of Easter, Jesus appeared to the Apostles and breathed on them   
   his Spirit; on the morning of Pentecost the outpouring occurred in a resounding   
   way, like a wind which shook the place the Apostles were in, filling their   
   minds   
   and hearts. They received a new strength so great that they were able to   
   proclaim Christ's Resurrection in different languages. ... Together with them   
   was Mary, the Mother of Jesus, the first disciple, there too as Mother of the   
   nascent Church. With her peace, with her smile,with her maternity, she   
   accompanied the joyful young Bride, the Church of Jesus".   
    In the Gospel, Jesus promises his disciples that, when he has returned to the   
   Father, the Holy Spirit will come to "guide them into all the truth", and   
   explains to them that its action will bring them to understand ever more   
   clearly   
   what he, the Messiah, has said and done, especially with regard to his death   
   and   
   resurrection. "To the Apostles, who could not bear the scandal of their   
   Master's   
   sufferings, the Spirit would give a new understanding of the truth and beauty   
   of   
   that saving event. At first they were paralysed with fear, shut in the Upper   
   Room to avoid the aftermath of Good Friday. Now they would no longer be ashamed   
   to be Christ's disciples; they would no longer tremble before the courts of   
   men.   
   Filled with the Holy Spirit, they would now understand 'all the truth': that   
   the   
   death of Jesus was not his defeat, but rather the ultimate expression of God's   
   love, a love that, in the Resurrection, conquers death and exalts Jesus as the   
   Living One, the Lord, the Redeemer of mankind, the Lord of history and of the   
   world. This truth, to which the Apostles were witnesses, became Good News, to   
   be   
   proclaimed to all".   
    The Holy Spirit also renews the earth. "Respect for creation, then, is a   
   requirement of our faith: the 'garden' in which we live is not entrusted to us   
   to be exploited, but rather to be cultivated and tended with respect. Yet this   
   is possible only if Adam - the man formed from the earth - allows himself in   
   turn to be renewed by the Holy Spirit, only if he allows himself to be   
   re-formed   
   by the Father on the model of Christ, the new Adam. In this way, renewed by the   
   Spirit of God, we will indeed be able to experience the freedom of the sons and   
   daughters, in harmony with all creation. In every creature we will be able to   
   see reflected the glory of the Creator".   
    "The world needs men and women who are not closed in on themselves, but filled   
   with the Holy Spirit", exclaimed the Pope at the end of his homily. "Closing   
   oneself off from the Holy Spirit means not only a lack of freedom; it is a sin.   
   There are many ways one can close oneself off to the Holy Spirit: by   
   selfishness   
   for one's own gain; by rigid legalism - seen in the attitude of the doctors of   
   the law to whom Jesus referred as 'hypocrites'; by neglect of what Jesus   
   taught;   
   by living the Christian life not as service to others but in the pursuit of   
   personal interests; and in so many other ways. However, the world needs the   
   courage, hope, faith and perseverance of Christ's followers. The world needs   
   the   
   fruits, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as Saint Paul lists them: 'love, joy,   
   peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control'.   
   The gift of the Holy Spirit has been bestowed upon the Church and upon each one   
   of us, so that we may live lives of genuine faith and active charity, that we   
   may sow the seeds of reconciliation and peace".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Regina Coeli: the Church is not born isolated   
    Vatican City, 24 May 2015 (VIS) - As is usual on a Sunday, the Pope appeared   
   at   
   the window of his study at midday today to pray the Regina Coeli with the   
   thousands of pilgrims and faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square.   
    Before the Marian prayer he again referred to the solemnity of Pentecost,   
   which   
   represents "the baptism of the Church, which thus begins her path through   
   history, guided by the strength of the Holy Spirit". He continued, "That event,   
   which changes the heart and the life of the apostles and the other disciples,   
   is   
   immediately reflected outside the Cenacle. Indeed, the door that had been kept   
   closed for fifty days is finally opened and the first Christian Community, no   
   longer closed in on itself, begins to speak to the crowds of different origins   
   of the great things that God has done. ... And every person present hears the   
   disciples speak in his own language. The gift of the Spirit re-establishes the   
   harmony of language lost in Babel, and prefigures the universal dimension of   
   the   
   apostles' mission".   
    The Church "is not born isolated: she is born universal, one, Catholic, with a   
   precise identity but open to all, not closed, an identity that embraces the   
   whole world, without exception. The Mother Church does not close her door to   
   anyone! Not even the greatest sinner! And this is due to the strength and the   
   grace of the Holy Spirit. The Mother Church throws her doors wide open to all,   
   because she is a mother".   
    Pentecost is also "the beginning of a new season: the season of witness and   
   fraternity. It is a season that comes from above, that comes from God, like the   
   flames of fire that came to rest of the head of each disciple. It was the flame   
   of love that burned away all bitterness; it was the language of the Gospel that   
   crosses the boundaries set by man and touches the hearts of the multitude,   
   without distinction of language, race or nationality. As on that day of   
   Pentecost, today too the Holy Spirit is continually poured onto the Church and   
   on each one of us, so that we leave behind our mediocrity and na   
   row-mindedness,   
   and communicate the merciful love of the Lord to all the world ... so that as   
   we   
   announce Jesus, resurrected, living and present in our midst, we warm our own   
   heart and the heart of peoples, drawing them close to Him, the path, the truth,   
   and life".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope urges the international community to help refugees in the Bay of   
   Bengal   
    Vatican City, 24 May 2015 (VIS) - Following today's Regina Coeli the Pope   
   voiced his concern and suffering for the fate of the many refugees stranded at   
   sea in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, expressing his appreciation for   
   the efforts made by those countries which "have shown their willingness to   
   welcome these people who face great suffering and danger", and urged the   
   international community to offer humanitarian aid.   
    He went on to recall that today marks the centenary of Italy's entry into the   
   First World War, "that senseless slaughter". "Let us pray for the victims", he   
   said, "asking the Holy Spirit for the gift of peace".   
    He also mentioned the beatification yesterday of Archbishop Oscar Romero in El   
   Salvador and the Italian religious sister Irene Stefanini in Kenya. "The first   
   was killed in hatred of the faith as he celebrated the Eucharist", he remarked.   
   "This zealous pastor, following Jesus' example, chose to stay among his people,   
   especially the poor and oppressed, even at the cost of his own life. Sister   
   Irene Stefanini, Missionary of Consolation, served the Kenyan population with   
   joy, mercy and tender compassion. May the example of these blesseds inspire in   
   every one of us the wish to bear witness to the Gospel with courage and   
   self-sacrifice".   
    Finally, on the feast day of Mary Help of Christians, he greeted the Salesian   
   community, asking that the Lord might give them the strength to continue in   
   their work in the spirit of St. John Bosco.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Message for World Missions Day: "There is an inseparable bond between our   
   faith   
   and the poor"   
    Vatican City, 24 May 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father's message for the 89th World   
   Mission Day was published today. To be held on Sunday 18 October 2015, this   
   year   
   the Day will take place in the context of the Year of Consecrated Life and will   
   therefore highlight the bond between faith and mission.   
    The following is the full text of the message:   
    "The 2015 World Mission Sunday 2015 takes place in the context of the Year of   
   Consecrated Life, which provides a further stimulus for prayer and reflection.   
   For if every baptised person is called to bear witness to the Lord Jesus by   
   proclaiming the faith received as a gift, this is especially so for each   
   consecrated man and woman. There is a clear connection between consecrated life   
   and mission. The desire to follow Jesus closely, which led to the emergence of   
   consecrated life in the Church, responds to his call to take up the cross and   
   follow him, to imitate his dedication to the Father and his service and love,   
   to   
   lose our life so as to gain it. Since Christ's entire existence had a   
   missionary   
   character, so too, all those who follow him closely must possess this   
   missionary   
   quality.   
    The missionary dimension, which belongs to the very nature of the Church, is   
   also intrinsic to all forms of consecrated life, and cannot be neglected   
   without   
   detracting from and disfiguring its charism. Being a missionary is not about   
   proselytising or mere strategy; mission is part of the 'grammar' of faith,   
   something essential for those who listen to the voice of the Spirit who   
   whispers   
   'Come' and 'Go forth'. Those who follow Christ cannot fail to be missionaries,   
   for they know that Jesus 'walks with them, speaks to them, breathes with them.   
   They sense Jesus alive with them in the midst of the missionary enterprise'.   
    Mission is a passion for Jesus and at the same time a passion for his people.   
   When we pray before Jesus crucified, we see the depth of his love which gives   
   us   
   dignity and sustains us. At the same time, we realise that the love flowing   
   from   
   Jesus' pierced heart expands to embrace the People of God and all humanity. We   
   realise once more that he wants to make use of us to draw closer to his beloved   
   people and all those who seek him with a sincere heart. In Jesus' command to   
   'go   
   forth', we see the scenarios and ever-present new challenges of the Church's   
   evangelising mission. 'l her members are called to proclaim the Gospel by their   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)