VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 116   
   DATE 22-06-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - The Pope in Turin: meeting with the world of work   
   - Contemplation before the Shroud and Mass in Piazza Vittorio   
   - To the Salesians: remember St. John Bosco's "street children"   
   - Francis visits the Cottolengo: the poor continue to be excluded from   
   necessary   
   care   
   - Meeting with the young: go against the grain   
   - To the Waldensian Church: God is not resigned to human sin   
   - The Pope to the Knights of the Order of Merit for Labour: the economy   
   contributes to development when rooted in justice   
   - To the Catholic Biblical Federation: the Word of God is a sacramental   
   - Audiences   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope in Turin: meeting with the world of work   
    Vatican City, 21 June 2015 (VIS) - Pope Francis today began his visit to Turin   
   on the occasion of the extraordinary exposition of the Turin Shroud and the   
   bicentenary of the birth of St. John Bosco. He was welcomed at the airport of   
   the Piedmontese capital by the local religious and civil authorities following   
   an hour-long flight from Rome, and then went on to meet with representatives   
   from the world of work in the Piazzetta Reale.   
    "My visit to Turin begins with you", he said to the thousands of people who   
   had   
   been awaiting him in the square since the early hours of the morning. "First of   
   all, I would like to express my closeness to the young unemployed, to those in   
   receipt of unemployment insurance, and those in precarious working conditions;   
   and also to businesspeople, artisans and all those who work in various sectors,   
   especially those who struggle to keep afloat".   
    "Work is not necessary only for the economy, but also for the human person,   
   and   
   for his or her dignity and citizenship, and also for social inclusion",   
   emphasised the Holy Father, noting that Turin has historically been a pole of   
   attraction for work, but is currently hard-hit by the crisis. "There is a lack   
   of work and economic and social inequalities have increased; many people are   
   poor and have problems with housing, health, education and other basic needs.   
   Immigration increases competition, but migrants must not be blamed, as they are   
   victims of iniquity, of this throwaway economy, and of wars. It makes us weep   
   to   
   see what is happening in these days, in which human beings are treated like   
   commodities".   
    The Pontiff reiterated that we must say "no" to a series of problems: to the   
   throwaway economy "that expects us to resign ourselves to the exclusion of   
   those   
   who live in abject poverty. ... Children are excluded, with a birthrate of 0%,   
   the   
   elderly are excluded, and now the young are excluded, with more than 40%   
   unemployed. That which is not productive is excluded in a throwaway fashion".   
   We   
   must say "no" to the idolatry of money, "which drives us to enter at all costs   
   among those who, despite the crisis, become rich without caring about the many   
   who are poor, often to the point of going hungry". We must then say "no" to   
   corruption, which is "so widespread that it seems to be a normal attitude and   
   form of behaviour. But not merely in words, but also in actions. 'No' to   
   collusion with the mafia, to fraud, to kickbacks, and so on". Finally, "no" to   
   the "iniquity that generates violence. Don Bosco teaches us that the best   
   method   
   is prevention: even social conflict can be prevented, and this must be done   
   with   
   justice".   
    The Pope affirmed that, faced with this situation, "one cannot simply wait for   
   recovery. Work is fundamental - it is declared from the beginning of the   
   Italian   
   Constitution - and it is necessary for society as a whole, in all its   
   components, to collaborate so that there is work for all and that it is work   
   worthy of man and woman. This requires an economic model that is not organised   
   on the basis of capital and production but rather in the service of the common   
   good. And, with regard to women, their rights must be forcefully protected; for   
   women, who bear the greater burden in caring for the home, children and the   
   elderly, are still discriminated against at work too".   
    "Today I would like to add my voice to those of many workers and   
   businesspeople   
   in asking for a 'social and generational pact'. ... Making data and resources   
   available with a view to working together is a precondition for overcoming the   
   current difficult situation and for building a new identity suitable for the   
   times and the needs of the territory. The time has come to reactivate   
   solidarity   
   between generations, to recover trust between the young and adults. ... And   
   these   
   are the main things I wanted to say to you. I add one word, which is not   
   intended rhetorically: courage! This does not mean resignation, but rather, the   
   contrary: be bold, be creative, be artisans of the future! For this I pray and   
   I   
   accompany you with my heart".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Contemplation before the Shroud and Mass in Piazza Vittorio   
    Vatican City, 21 June 2015 (VIS) - After his encounter with representatives   
   from the world of work, the Pope proceeded on foot to the Cathedral of St. John   
   the Baptist, which houses the Holy Shroud, traditionally considered to have   
   been   
   wrapped around the body of Christ after his crucifixion. As Roberto Gottardo,   
   president of the diocesan Commission for the Shroud, writes: "The Shroud is a   
   cloth, but it is above all an image. ... This image tells us of Jesus, in an   
   immediate way, before science can offer its version and before faith reveals   
   that it is Jesus. All this does not mean that the Shroud is certainly the sheet   
   brought by Joseph of Arimathea below the cross, but certainly anyone who looks   
   at it will find that it immediately recalls this story". During the exposition   
   of the Shroud in 1998, St. John Paul II affirmed: "The Shroud is also an image   
   of human suffering, that experience that is to varying extents part of the   
   existence of every person, and allows us to recognise this man as one of us".   
    Once inside the Cathedral, the Pope knelt before the Holy Shroud, displayed at   
   the major altar, in order to meditate for a moment in the presence of the elder   
   priests of the Cathedral and cloistered nuns. He then proceeded to the chapel   
   that houses the relics of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901-1925), from   
   Turin.   
   Shortly after 10 a.m. he left the Cathedral and travelled by popemobile to   
   Piazza Vittorio, one of the largest squares in Europe, to celebrate Holy Mass   
   before thousands of people and to pray the Angelus.   
    "The readings we have heard should us how God's love for us is a faithful   
   love,   
   a love that recreates everything, a stable and secure love", said Francis in   
   his   
   homily. "It is a love that does not deceive us, that never ends. Jesus   
   incarnates that love: it is his Testament. He never ceases to love us, to   
   support us, to forgive us, and so it leads us down the path of life, according   
   to the promise He made to His disciples: 'I am with you always, to the end of   
   the age'. Jesus remains faithful, even when we make mistakes, and he awaits us   
   to forgive us: He is the face of the merciful Father. He is faithful love".   
    "The second aspect: the love of God recreates everything, it makes all things   
   new. ... Acknowledging our limits and weaknesses is the door that opens up to   
   Jesus' forgiveness, to His love that can renew us profoundly and can recreate   
   us. Salvation can enter into the heart when we open up to the truth and   
   acknowledge our errors, our sins; it is then that we have that beautiful   
   experience of Him, of He who came not for the healthy, but for the sick; not   
   for   
   the righteous, but for sinners. ... The sign that we have become 'new' and have   
   been transformed by God's love is knowing how to cast aside the worn and old   
   robes of rancour and enmities, to re-clothe us in the clean tunic of meekness,   
   benevolence, service to others, and the peace of the heart proper to the sons   
   of   
   God. ... God's love is stable and secure ... as Jesus shows in the miracle   
   narrated   
   in the Gospel, when He calms the storm, commanding the wind and the sea. The   
   disciples are afraid as they realise they are not able to cope, but He opens   
   their heart to the courage of faith. To the man who cries, 'I can't do it any   
   more', the Lord reaches out, offering him the rock of His love, to which anyone   
   can hold, sure of not falling".   
    "We can ask ourselves if today we rest firmly on the rock that is God's love;   
   whether we live God's faithful love for us. There is always the risk of   
   forgetting that great love the Lord has shown to us. We Christians too run the   
   risk of letting ourselves be paralysed by fears of the future and seeking   
   security in transient things, in a model of a closed society that tends to   
   exclude more than it includes".   
    "May the Holy Spirit help us always to be conscious of this love that, like a   
   rock makes us stable and strong in sufferings small and great; that makes us   
   able not to close ourselves up when faced with difficulties, to face life with   
   courage and to look to the future with hope. As then, on the lake of Galilee,   
   today too in the sea of our existence Jesus is He Who vanquishes the forces of   
   evil and the threats of despair. The peace He gives us is for all; even for   
   many   
   brothers and sisters who flee from wars and persecutions in search of peace and   
   freedom".   
    Following Mass, and before praying the Angelus, the Pope recalled that the   
   Shroud, which attracts millions of pilgrims to Turin every year, was the icon   
   of   
   Jesus' love. "The Shroud attracts us through the face and the broken body of   
   Jesus and, at the same time, drives us towards the face of every suffering and   
   unjustly persecuted person. It drives us in the same direction of the gift of   
   Jesus' love. 'The love of Christ impels us': these words of St. Paul's were the   
   motto of St. Joseph Benedict Cottolengo".   
    "Recalling the apostolic zeal of many priests, saints of this land, starting   
   from Don Bosco, of whom we recall the bicentenary of his birth, I greet you,   
   priests and men and women religious. You dedicate yourselves fully to pastoral   
   work and you are close to the people and their problems. I encourage you to   
   continue in your ministry with joy, always focusing on what is essential in the   
   announcement of the Gospel. And while I thank you, brother bishops of Piedmont   
   and Valle d'Aosta, for your presence, I exhort you to stay near to your priests   
   with paternal affection and warm closeness".   
    "To the Holy Virgin I commend this city, her territory and all who live here,   
   so that they may live in justice, in peace and in fraternity. In particular, I   
   entrust families, the young, the elderly, the imprisoned and all those who   
   suffer, with a special thought for those who suffer from leukaemia today, on   
   National Day Against Leukaemia, Lymphoma, and Myeloma. May Mary the Consoler,   
   the Queen of Turin and Piedmont, keep firm your faith, assure your hopes and   
   make your charity fruitful, so as to be 'salt and light' of this blessed land,   
   of which I am a grandson".   
    Following the Marian prayer, the Pope transferred to the archbishop's   
   residence   
   by car, greeting the soldiers of the Training School, where he lunched with the   
   detainees of the "Ferrante-Aporti" prison for minors, some immigrants and   
   various people without fixed abode.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    To the Salesians: remember St. John Bosco's "street children"   
    Vatican City, 21 June 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father's afternoon in Turin began   
   with a private visit to the Shrine of the Consolata, the most popular basilica   
   in the city, dedicated to Mary the Consoler, protector of the city ever since   
   the twelfth century and invoked during the siege by Franco-Spanish troops in   
   1706 and during the plague in 1835. The Pope prayed at the altar of the Virgin   
   and Child, the work of Felipe Juvarra, in the company of ten priests from the   
   Cathedral.   
    From there, he proceeded to the basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians to   
   celebrate with the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in their motherhouse on   
   the bicentenary of the birth of the "apostle of the young", St. John Bosco.   
   Thousands of young people from Salesian oratories from all over the world   
   awaited the Pope outside the basilica. Upon arrival Pope Francis, accompanied   
   by   
   the Archbishop of Turin, Cesare Nosiglia, left a floral tribute at the main   
   altar, inaugurated in 1868 at the behest of St. John Bosco, and handed the   
   discourse he had prepared to the Major Rector of the Salesians, Fr. Angel   
   Fernandez Artime, after which he made some unscripted remarks to those present.   
   Extensive extracts of the Pope's written discourse are published below. "I   
   thank   
   the Lord with you for having given the Church this saint, who along with many   
   other saints from the region, is an honour and a blessing for the Church and   
   for   
   society in Turin and Piedmont, for Italy and all the world, in particular for   
   the attention he showed to the young and marginalised poor. Much may be said of   
   Don Bosco. However, I would like to emphasise just three characteristics: his   
   trust in Divine Providence; the vocation of being a priest for the young,   
   especially the poorest; and his loyal and active service to the Church,   
   especially to Peter's Successor".   
    "Don Bosco carried out his priestly mission up to his last breath, supported   
   by   
   an unswerving trust in God and in His love, and for this he was able to do   
   great   
   things. This relationship of trust with the Lord is also the substance of   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)