VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 154   
   DATE 11-09-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Audience with the president of Serbia: promote a joint solution for Syrian   
   and   
   Iraqi refugees   
   - The Pope thanks the Claretians for their missionary work and invites them to   
   express the maternity of the Church, merciful mother   
   - The climate issue is a matter of justice   
   - Cardinal Vingt-Trois, Pope's special envoy to Creteil   
   - Audiences   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audience with the president of Serbia: promote a joint solution for Syrian and   
   Iraqi refugees   
    Vatican City, 11 September 2015 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican Apostolic   
   Palace the Holy Father received in audience Tomislav Nikolic, president of the   
   Republic of Serbia, who subsequently met with Cardinal Secretary of State   
   Pietro   
   Parolin, accompanied by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for   
   Relations with States.   
    In the cordial discussions, the good existing relations between the Holy See   
   and the Republic of Serbia were demonstrated, and the parties considered issues   
   of mutual interest regarding the relationship between the ecclesial and civil   
   communities, with particular reference to ecumenical dialogue and the   
   contribution of the Catholic Church to the common good of Serbian society.   
    Attention then turned to Serbia's progress towards full integration in the   
   European Union, as well as various situations of a regional and international   
   nature, including the condition of Syrian and Iraqi refugees and displaced   
   persons, and the importance of promoting a shared solution to the current   
   crisis.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope thanks the Claretians for their missionary work and invites them to   
   express the maternity of the Church, merciful mother   
    Vatican City, 11 September 2015 (VIS) - "Called to evangelise: witnesses and   
   messengers of the joy of the Gospel", was the theme of the General Chapter of   
   the Congregation of Missionaries, Sons of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed   
   Virgin Mary (Claretians) whom Pope Francis received this morning in audience in   
   the Consistory Hall. The following are extensive extracts from the written   
   discourse the Pope handed to the attendees of the Chapter, to whom he also   
   addressed some unscripted remarks.   
    "'Witnesses' because joy cannot be communicated if it is not present and   
   deeply   
   rooted both in one's own life and in that of the community", writes the Holy   
   Father. "'Messengers' because good must be shared and, in sharing, joy is   
   purified and multiplied, becoming truly 'evangelical'".   
    "How did the Congregation meet in this Chapter analysis? In this exercise of   
   discernment, how did the voice of the Spirit challenge you?", asks Francis,   
   adding that a sure path for discerning His call is found in "listening in the   
   different peripheries of the world. In them, His voice resonates with greater   
   clarity. This is even more important for a missionary Congregation like yours".   
    He goes on to recall that to mark the occasion of the current Year of   
   Consecrated Life he had sent a letter to all consecrated persons inviting them   
   to look to the past with gratitude, to live the present with passion and to   
   embrace the future with hope, and he explains to the Claretians how to respond   
   to this invitation.   
    "'Looking to the past with gratitude' means thanking God for the witness of   
   many of your brethren who, supported by their faith, live their vocation with   
   profound joy - in some cases unto martyrdom. It also means recognising the   
   mysterious hand of the Lord who, despite our weakness and our inconstancy,   
   continues to work miracles through His Church. 'Living the present with   
   passion'   
   is basing your missionary programme on the spirit of St. Antonio Maria Claret   
   whose motto, on his episcopal coat of arms, is 'Caritas Christi urget nos'.   
   Loving as Jesus loved must infuse all of our choices in life and in pastoral   
   ministry. 'Embracing the future with hope' means not allowing ourselves to be   
   held back by disillusionment. Do not be afraid. It is the Lord who sends you.   
   Always keep your eyes on those who await the announcement, those who need His   
   witness to feel the merciful presence of God in their lives".   
    Francis thanks the members of the Congregation for their missionary life and   
   work, also asking them to greet all their brethren on his behalf, "especially   
   those who, due to illness or advanced age, collaborate through prayer and   
   witness to the mission of the congregation".   
    "St. Antonio Maria Claret, your founder, gave your congregation a beautiful   
   name: Sons of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary", concludes the   
   Pope. "Let all the dimensions of your lives be profoundly marked by this   
   'intimacy', that inspired in Mary the beautiful hymn of the Magnificat; and   
   express the maternity of the Church, merciful mother, who never ceases to hope,   
   to accompany and to forgive".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The climate issue is a matter of justice   
    Vatican City, 11 September 2015 (VIS) - This morning in the Clementine Hall   
   the   
   Holy Father met with the three hundred participants in the meeting promoted by   
   the Foundation for Sustainable Development, "Environmental justice and climate   
   change", attended by major representatives of religion, politics, economic   
   activity and scientific research in various sectors, international   
   organisations   
   and those involved in the fight against poverty.   
    "We must not forget the grave social consequences of climate change", affirmed   
   the Pope in his address. "It is the poorest who suffer the worst consequences.   
   Therefore ... the issue of climate change is a a matter of justice; it is also   
   a   
   question of solidarity, that must never be separated from justice. ... Science   
   and   
   technology place an unprecedented power in our hands: it is our duty to   
   humanity   
   as a whole, and in particular the poorest and future generations, to use it for   
   the common good".   
    "Will our generation be remembered for having generously shouldered its grave   
   responsibilities?" he asked. "Amid the many contradictions of our time, we have   
   good enough reason to nurture the hope of being able to do so. And we should   
   let   
   ourselves be guided by this hope. In fulfilling this commitment, I hope that   
   each one of you may experience the satisfaction of participating in actions   
   that   
   transmit life. The joy of the Gospel also resides here".   
    We are all called upon directly to be responsible and fraternal, and to defend   
   our dignity as people and citizens of the world "by virtue of the role that we   
   occupy in the family, in the world of work, the economy and research, in civil   
   society and in institutions". This does not involve producing "improbable   
   recipes", as no-one has them, but rather bringing what we have understood to   
   the   
   dialogue. "Everyone is required to contribute with a view to attaining a result   
   that can only be the fruit of a joint effort. The great enemy, in this aspect,   
   is hypocrisy", emphasised the Pope.   
    To this end, this dialogue needs to be inspired by "a vision as transparent as   
   it is broad-ranging" and must proceed "according to an integral and above all   
   participatory approach, including all interested parties, including those who   
   more easily remain at the margins of institutional processes". Francis urged   
   those present to spare no effort, "so that at the tables in which a solution is   
   sought to the unique and complex socio-environmental crisis the voice of the   
   poorest may be heard", since "this too is a duty of environmental justice.   
   Faced   
   with the emergency of climate change and looking ahead to the crucial   
   appointments scheduled for the coming months - the approval of the Sustainable   
   Development Goals by the United Nations at the end of this month and above all   
   the COP 21 in Paris at the beginning of December - I wish to propose that this   
   dialogue become an authentic alliance leading to truly significant and   
   effective   
   global environmental agreements".   
    "Along the way you can count on my personal support and that of the Church,   
   starting with the indispensable contribution of prayer. From now on I offer to   
   the Lord our joint effort, asking His blessing so that humanity may finally   
   know   
   how to listen to the cry of the land - today our mother earth is among the many   
   excluded who ask for help from Heaven - our mother and our sister, and of the   
   poorest among us who inhabit the earth and care for her. In this way creation   
   will increasingly resemble the common home that the sole Father imagined for us   
   a a gift to the universal family of His creatures", concluded the Holy Father.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Cardinal Vingt-Trois, Pope's special envoy to Creteil   
    Vatican City, 11 September 2015 (VIS) - In a letter published today, written   
   in   
   Latin and dated 11 August, the Holy Father appoints Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois,   
   archbishop of Paris, France, as his special envoy to the mass with the rite for   
   the dedication of the new cathedral of the diocese of Creteil, France, to be   
   held on 20 September.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audiences   
    Vatican City, 11 September 2015 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father received in   
   audience Cardinal Marc Ouellet, P.S.S., prefect of the Congregation for   
   Bishops.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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