Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) - This morning in the Clementine Hall the   
   Pope   
   received in audience the two hundred members of the newly-recomposed High   
   Council of the Italian Magistrature (CSM). During his address, Pope Francis   
   spoke about the complexity of legislation in current times and the variety of   
   cases which must be responded to, bearing in mind the phenomenon of   
   globalisation that may at times be a vehicle for concepts and norms far from   
   the   
   roots of a given social fabric.   
    "In this context of deep shocks to cultural roots, it is important for the   
   public authorities, including those of a legal nature, to use the space   
   allocated to them to provide stability and to make the foundations of human   
   co-existence more solid through the recovery of fundamental values".   
    Starting from these bases, it is possible to effectively counteract phenomena   
   such as "the spread of criminality, even in its economic and financial forms,   
   and the scourge of corruption, which affects even the most evolved   
   democracies".   
   Therefore, "it is necessary to intervene not only at the moment of repression,   
   but also in an educational way, addressing in particular the new generations,   
   offering an anthropology and a model of life able to respond to the highest and   
   most profound aspirations of the human heart".   
    All those in legal office "contribute to this work of construction, on the   
   front line", the Pope continued. "Although magistrates are required to   
   intervene   
   in the presence of a violation of the law, it is also true that the   
   reaffirmation of the rule is not an act directed solely at the single person,   
   but rather goes beyond the individual case to affect the community as a whole.   
   In this sense, every judicial pronouncement goes beyond the single procedure,   
   opening up to become an opportunity for all the community ('the people', in   
   whose name the sentence is pronounced) to assume this rule, to reaffirm its   
   value and in this way, even more importantly, to identify with it".   
    "In our times, and rightly so, particular emphasis is given to the issue of   
   human rights, which constitute the fundamental nucleus of the recognition of   
   the   
   essential dignity of man. This must be done without abusing this category, for   
   instance by allowing practices and forms of behaviour that, instead of   
   promoting   
   and guaranteeing human dignity, in reality threaten or even violate it. Justice   
   is not done in an abstract sense, but rather by always considering the person   
   in   
   terms of his or her real value, as a being created in the image of God and   
   called upon to be, here on earth, His semblance".   
    The Holy Father concluded by mentioning Vittorio Bachelet, the deputy   
   president   
   of the CSM assassinated by the Red Brigades in 1980, and he invited the   
   magistrates to follow his example "as a man, as a Christian and and a jurist in   
   serving justice and the common good".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    God's tenderness: theme of the Pope's homily at the Third Worldwide Priests'   
   Retreat   
    Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) - Today the homily in Spanish pronounced by   
   the Pope last Friday in the Basilica of St. John Lateran during the Third   
   Worldwide Priests' Retreat, organised by the International Catholic Charismatic   
   Renewal Services (ICCRS) and the Catholic Fraternity, dedicated to the theme   
   "Called to sanctity for the new evangelisation" based on the apostolic   
   exhortation "Evangelii gaudium". Before the Eucharistic celebration, the Holy   
   Father reflected with those present on the theme "Transformed by love and for   
   love", and answered five questions from attendees. The following is an extract   
   from the homily, which focused on God's tenderness.   
    "How good it is to listen to God Who teaches me to progress, the Almighty Who   
   stoops down to me and teaches me to walk. ... And God's closeness is this   
   tenderness: He taught me to walk, and without Him I would not know how to walk   
   in the Spirit.   
    "How often I think that we are afraid of God's tenderness, and since we are   
   afraid of God's tenderness, we do not allow ourselves to experience Him and as   
   a   
   result are at times hard, harsh and punishing; we are pastors without   
   tenderness. What does Jesus tell us in Luke Chapter 15, about that pastor who   
   noticed that he had only ninety-nine sheep and that one was missing? He locked   
   them up safely and went looking for the other one, which was entangled in   
   thorns. He did not hit or reprimand her; he took her in his arms, put her on   
   his   
   shoulders, took her home and healed her. Do you do likewise with your   
   parishioners, when you notice that one is missing from the flock, or are we   
   accustomed to being a Church with one sheep in the flock and ninety-nine lost   
   on   
   the mountain?   
    "Today I ask you during this retreat to be pastors with God's tenderness, to   
   leave the whip in the sacristy and to be tender pastors, even with those who   
   cause you the most problems. It is a grace, it is a divine grace. We do not   
   believe in an ethereal God - we believe in a God made flesh, with a heart, and   
   this heart says to us today, 'they come to me if they are tired, overwhelmed,   
   and I soothe them; treat my little ones with tenderness, with the same   
   tenderness with which I treat them". The heart of Christ tells us this today,   
   and it is what I ask of you and of myself in this Mass today".   
    During the Eucharistic celebration the Pope entrusted the missionary mandate   
   to   
   the priests.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Former nuncio Jozef Wesolowski committed to trial   
    Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) - The President of the Tribunal of Vatican   
   City State, Professor Giuseppe Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, by decree   
   of 6 June 2015 in response to the request submitted by the Office of the   
   Promoter of Justice, has ordered the trial of the former apostolic nuncio to   
   the   
   Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski. The first hearing of the trial is   
   scheduled for 11 July 2015. The ex-prelate is accused of a number of offences   
   committed both during his stay in Rome from August 2013 until the moment of his   
   arrest (on 22 September 2014) and in the period he spent in the Dominican   
   Republic, during the five years in which he held the office of apostolic nuncio   
   (he was appointed as nuncio to the Dominican Republic on 24 January 2008 and   
   apostolic delegate to Puerto Rico, offices from which he resigned on 21 August   
   2013).   
    With regard to the period spent in Rome, the nuncio is charged with the   
   offence   
   of possession of child pornography under Law VIII of 2013 introduced by Pope   
   Francis. The allegations referring to the preceding period are based on   
   evidence   
   transmitted by the judicial authorities of the Dominican Republic in relation   
   to   
   the sexual abuse of minors.   
    These serious allegations will be scrutinised by the competent judicial body   
   which will be assisted by both technical appraisals of the IT systems used by   
   the defendant and, if necessary, international legal cooperation for the   
   evaluation of testimonial evidence from the competent authorities in the   
   Dominican Republic. This will be a delicate and detailed procedure, requiring   
   the most careful observations and insights from all parties involved in the   
   trial.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audiences   
    Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in   
   audience:   
    - Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department of External   
   Church Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow;   
    - Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, apostolic nuncio in Nicaragua;   
    - Enrique Garcia, executive president of the "Banco de Desarrollo de America   
   Latina";   
    On Saturday 13 June the Holy Father received in audience Cardinal Marc   
   Ouellet,   
   P.S.S., prefect for the Congregation for Bishops.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:   
    - accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the archdiocese of Saint   
   Paul and Minneapolis, U.S.A., presented by Archbishop John C. Nienstedt, in   
   accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law. He has appointed   
   Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda, coadjutor of Newark, U.S.A., as apostolic   
   administrator "sede vacante" of the Saint Paul and Minneapolis.   
    - appointed Archbishop Petar Rajic, currently apostolic nuncio in Kuwait,   
   Bahrain, Yemen, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and apostolic delegate to   
   the   
   Arabian Peninsula, as apostolic nuncio in Angola and Sao Tome and Principe.   
    On Saturday 13 June, the Holy Father appointed Fr. Wieslaw Spiewak, C.R., as   
   bishop of Hamilton (area 54, population 64,237, Catholics 9,340, priests 6,   
   religious 2), Bermuda. The bishop-elect was born in Krakow, Poland in 1963 and   
   was ordained a priest in 1990. He holds a master's degree in theology from the   
   Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, and a licentiate in spiritual theology   
   from the Salesian Fathers in Rome. He has served in a number of roles within   
   the   
   Congregation of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and is currently   
   provincial superior in Poland and a member of the Episcopal Commission for   
   migrants. He succeeds Bishop Robert Joseph Lurtz, C.R., whose resignation from   
   the pastoral care of the same diocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted   
   by the Holy Father.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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   www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va   
      
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