between what we Pastors preach and the various social environments. ? At the   
   same time, both they and you are in daily contact with other Christian   
   traditions that are present in your territory and together you can support   
   ecumenical dialogue, which is so necessary today in view of the fact that   
   social   
   peace is sometimes shaken by ethnic and linguistic differences.?   
   The Pope shares the bishops' determination to promote the family, noting   
   however   
   that ?marriage today is often considered a form of emotional gratification that   
   can be constituted in any way whatsoever or changed according to the   
   sensibilities of each. Unfortunately, this reductive conception also affects   
   the   
   mindset of Christians, causing a ease inresorting to divorce or separation. As   
   pastors we are called to question on the preparation for marriage given to   
   engaged couples and also on how to assist those who are living in these   
   situations so that the children do not become the primary victims and the   
   spouses do not feel excluded from God's mercy and the Church's care but are   
   helped on their faith journey and in the Christian education of their   
   children.?   
   Finally, the Pope recalled the economic and social crisis that has also   
   affected   
   Latvia and Estonia, provoking a migration the result of which has been a large   
   number of single-parent families in need of special pastoral attention. The   
   absence of a father or mother in many families causes the other spouse greater   
   effort, in every sense, in raising the children. For these families your   
   attention and the pastoral outreach of your priests is truly valuable, combined   
   with the effective nearness of the communities.?   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Pope's Audience with Vladimir Putin: Ukraine and Middle East, Key Points of   
   Meeting   
   Vatican City, 11 June 2015 (VIS) - President of the Russian Federation,   
   Vladimir   
   Putin was received in audience by the Holy Father yesterday afternoon according   
   to a press release from the director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico   
   Lombardi, S.J.   
   The private meeting held in the library of the Apostolic Palace began   
   approximately at 6:15pm and lasted some 50 minutes. Afterwards there was a   
   presentation of the president's entourage and an exchange of gifts. President   
   Putin offered the Pope an image of the famous Church of Christ the Savior which   
   the Holy Father reciprocated with a medallion by artist Guido Veroi that   
   represented the angel of peace?an invitation to build a world of solidarity and   
   peace based on justice?and a copy of the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii   
   Gaudium.   
   As foreseen, given the current globalstate of affairs, the meeting was mainly   
   devoted to the conflict in the Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East.   
   Regarding the situation in the Ukraine, the Holy Father affirmed that a great   
   and sincere effort is necessary to achieve peace. He agreed on the importance   
   of   
   re-establishing a climate of dialogue and that all parties must commit   
   themselves to enforcing the Minsk Accords. It is also essential to address the   
   serious humanitarian situation, in particular guaranteeing access to   
   humanitarian workers and, with the contribution of all parties, a progressive   
   easing of tensions in the region.   
   On the other hand, as regards the conflicts of the Middle East, regarding the   
   territories of Syria and Iraq, the common and urgent idea of seeking peace with   
   the concrete participation of the international community, at the same time   
   ensuring the necessary conditions of life to all area of society, including   
   religious minorities, Christians inparticular was substantially confirmed.   
   At the same time as the meeting with President Putin, a meeting was held   
   between   
   Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for Relations with States, and   
   Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov during   
   which the topics of the conflict in the Ukraine and the worrying situation in   
   the Middle East were also discussed.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    National Holy See Day at Milan's Expo 2015   
   Vatican City, 11 June 2015 (VIS) ? Today marked the celebration of the National   
   Day of the Holy See at the Expo 2015 in Milan. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi,   
   General Commissioner of the Holy See for Expo Milan 2015, Archbishop Giovanni   
   Angelo Becciu, substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State,   
   Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, president on the Italian Episcopal Conference, and   
   Cardinal Angelo Scola, Archbishop of Milan, all spoke this morning. This   
   afternoon the ?Courtyard of the Gentiles? will also intervene with a   
   presentation on the theme of ?The Faces of the Earth?.   
   During the course of the celebrations this morning, Archbishop Becciu's speech   
   emphasized that the Holy See considers the vast objective of ensuring an   
   adequate level of nutrition as a real necessity, a result of true sharing, the   
   same which is evidenced in the participation of so many countries in ExpoMilan   
   2015.   
   ?A shared action,? the archbishop stated, ?whose priority is the reduction of   
   the number of hungry persons must include not only interventions during   
   emergency situations, but also projects in favor of agricultural development   
   and   
   their funding proportionate to the different capacity of donors and the needs   
   of   
   beneficiaries. Giving and receiving according to justice requires a formation   
   of   
   conscience attentive to the needs of others, of each one, including when the   
   problem is related to the use of technology, their transfer to the most   
   vulnerable areas and the ability to meet the needs of beneficiaries without   
   limiting the prerogatives, rights, and?not the least?alimentary customs and   
   cultures. Such a commitment demands that governments, international   
   institutions, and civil social organizations involved in food safety work   
   together, preserving diversity without putting them at odds, and using dialogue   
   as the only concretetool.?   
   ?Religions and their traditions,? he added, ?know well that freedom from hunger   
   also means freedom from conflicts and prevention of war as the Catholic   
   Church's   
   litany of saints recalls, in the prayer for liberation from disease, hunger,   
   and   
   war: 'a peste, fame, et bello libera nos, Domine'.?   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    ROACO Plenary Assembly to Analyze Situation of Christians in Middle East,   
   Armenia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and the Holy Land   
   Vatican City, 11 June 2015 (VIS) ? ROACO (Reunion of Aid Agencies for the   
   Oriental Churches) will hold its 88th annual plenary assembly in the Vatican   
   from 15 to 17 June.   
   The assembly will begin on Monday morning with an audience granted by Pope   
   Francis to the representatives of the various aid projects to the Oriental   
   Catholic Churches. As in previous years, it will be a session dedicated to the   
   situation in Syria with attention also given to Iraq in view of the recent   
   tragic developments in that region which also affect the faithful of the   
   Eastern   
   Churches. The results of the recent visit to Iraq made by Cardinal Leonardo   
   Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, during which he   
   and a delegation from ROACO met with refugees, bishops, priests, and religious   
   in Baghdad, Erbil, and Dohuk, will bepresented.   
   On Tuesday, 16 June, the cardinal will celebrate Holy Mass at St. Stephen of   
   the   
   Abyssinians, a historical presence of the Oriental Church within the Vatican   
   walls, to pray for peace in the Middle East as well as the Ukraine where the   
   Greek-Catholic Church has a presence, and to pray for the benefactors, living   
   and deceased, of the Oriental Catholic Churches.   
   On the occasion of the centenary memorial of the Medz Yeghern suffered by the   
   Armenian people, a session will be dedicated to the Armenian Catholic Church in   
   Eastern Europe, which is present in Georgia and Russia as well as Armenia.   
   Another session will study the Church of Ethiopia and the Church of Eritrea,   
   which was recently elevated by Pope Frances to a metropolitan church   
   (metropolitana sui iuris). As customary, during the assembly the situation of   
   the Church in the Holy Land will be examined, with verifications of the   
   projects   
   undertaken thanks to the proceeds of the GoodFriday collection.   
   The objective of the proceedings, which will conclude on Thursday 17 June, is   
   to   
   identify priorities for the work of evangelization and charitable interventions   
   in order that they be coordinated by ROACO as a gesture of the solidarity of   
   the   
   universal Church.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audiences   
   Vatican City, June 2015 (VIS) ? Today, the Holy Father received in separate   
   audiences:   
   Five prelates of the Episcopal Conference of Latvia and Estonia, on their ad   
   Limina visit:   
   - Archbishop Zbig?ev Stankevics of Riga,   
   - Bishop Eduards Pavlovskis of Jelgava,   
   - Bishop Viktors Stulpins of Liepaja,   
   - Bishop Janis Bulis of Rezkene-Aglona, and   
   - Bishop Philippe Jean-Charles Jourdan, Apostolic Adminstrator of Estonia.   
   Archbishop emeritus Antonio Maria Rouco Varela of Madrid, Spain, and   
   a delegation from the San Andres School of Evangelization.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
   Vatican City, June 2015 (VIS) ? Today, the Holy Father has appointed Bishop   
   Lionginas Virbalas, S.J., as Metropolitan Archbishop of Kaunas (area 8,750,   
   population 661,000, Catholics 530,000, priests 135, religious 227), Lithuania.   
   Archbishop Virbalas, previously bishop of Panevezys, Lithuania, succeeds   
   Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius, S.J., whose resignation from the pastoral care   
   of the archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
   For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:   
   www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va   
      
   Copyright (VIS):  the news contained in the services of the Vatican   
   Information Service may be reproduced wholly or partially by quoting   
   the source:  V. I. S. - Vatican Information Service.   
   http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/vis/vis_en.html   
      
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