VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 160   
   DATE 21-09-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - The Pope speaks with journalists on the papal flight   
   - The Pope arrives in Cuba, a meeting point for all peoples who come together   
   in   
   friendship   
   - Mass in Plaza de la Revolucion: the importance of a people is based on how it   
   serves its most vulnerable members   
   - Angelus: Francis asks for definitive reconciliation in Colombia   
   - Meeting with President Raul Castro and with Commander Fidel in the Palace of   
   the Revolution   
   - Vespers in the Cathedral of Havana   
   - Francis meets with the young, Cuba's hope for the future   
   - Other News   
   - Message to the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East   
   - Message to Hungarian religious: seek the concerns and expectations of the   
   people   
   - The Pope speaks with young people from Cuba and the United States before his   
   apostolic trip   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope speaks with journalists on the papal flight   
    Vatican City, 19 September 2015 (VIS) - Shortly after beginning his trip from   
   Rome to Havana, the Pope greeted the 76 journalists accompanying him on the   
   flight. As indicated by the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico   
   Lombardi, S.J., the media coverage of this trip will be more intense than   
   usual.   
   In a very cordial atmosphere, the Holy Father enquired about the journalists'   
   families and received various edible gifts, including dulce de leche and an   
   empanada, a typical Argentinian pastry, that he offered to all those present.   
    "Thank you for the welcome", he said. "I wish you a good journey. If I am not   
   mistaken, I think this is the longest trip I have made. ... Fr. Lombardi   
   mentioned   
   peace. Today's world thirsts for peace. There are wars, immigrants who flee,   
   this wave of immigration as a result of war, to escape from death and in search   
   of life. Today I am happy as I was greeted at the door of St. Anna by one of   
   the   
   two families residing in the Vatican, in the parish of the same name. They are   
   Syrian refugees. You can see the suffering in their faces. ... This word:   
   peace. I   
   thank you for all that you do in your work to build bridges: small bridges, but   
   bridges nonetheless, that together all form the great bridge of peace. I wish   
   you a good trip and good work. Pray for me. Thank you".   
    He also offered a greeting to all the journalists' colleagues working in their   
   offices.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope arrives in Cuba, a meeting point for all peoples who come together in   
   friendship   
    Vatican City, 20 September 2015 (VIS) - "Missionary of Mercy" is the theme   
   chosen by Pope Francis for his visit to Cuba, where he began his tenth   
   apostolic   
   trip yesterday. The Holy Father arrived in the Jose Marti airport in Havana at   
   4   
   p.m. local time (10 p.m. in Italy) after a twelve-hour flight, and was welcomed   
   by the president of Cuba, Raul Castro, and by the cardinal archbishop of   
   Havana,   
   Jaime Ortega y Alamino, accompanied by Archbishop Dionisio Guillermo Garcia   
   Ibanez, president of the Episcopal Conference.   
    After the protocol greetings and national anthems of Cuba and Vatican City   
   State, President Castro gave a welcome address on behalf of the government and   
   people of Cuba. The Pope thanked the president and asked him to convey   
   sentiments of particular respect and consideration to his brother Fidel. "I   
   would like my greeting to embrace especially all those who, for various   
   reasons,   
   I will not be able to meet, and to Cubans throughout the world", continued   
   Francis.   
    After remarking that 2015 marks the eightieth anniversary of the establishment   
   of uninterrupted diplomatic relations between the Republic of Cuba and the Holy   
   See, the Pope affirmed that his arrival in this "beloved nation" follows "the   
   indelible path opened by the unforgettable apostolic journeys which my two   
   predecessors, St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI, made to this island. I know   
   that the memory of those visits awakens gratitude and affection in the people   
   and leaders of Cuba. Today we renew those bonds of cooperation and friendship,   
   so that the Church can continue to support and encourage the Cuban people in   
   its   
   hopes and concerns, with the freedom, the means and the space needed to bring   
   the proclamation of the Kingdom to the existential peripheries of society".   
    This Apostolic Journey also coincides with the first centenary of Pope   
   Benedict   
   XV's declaration of our Lady of Charity of El Cobre as Patroness of Cuba, and   
   Francis commented that it was the veterans of the War of Independence who,   
   moved   
   by sentiments of faith and patriotism, wanted the Virgen mambisa to be the   
   patroness of Cuba as a free and sovereign nation. "Since that time she has   
   accompanied the history of the Cuban people", he said, "sustaining the hope   
   which preserves people's dignity in the most difficult situations and   
   championing the promotion of all that gives dignity to the human person. The   
   growing devotion to the Virgin is a visible testimony of her presence in the   
   soul of the Cuban people. In these days I will have occasion to go to El Cobre,   
   as a son and pilgrim, to pray to our Mother for all her Cuban children and for   
   this beloved nation, that it may travel the paths of justice, peace, liberty   
   and   
   reconciliation".   
    "Geographically, Cuba is an archipelago, facing all directions, with an   
   extraordinary value as a 'key' between north and south, east and west. Its   
   natural vocation is to be a point of encounter for all peoples to join in   
   friendship, as Jose Marti dreamed, 'regardless of the languages of isthmuses   
   and   
   the barriers of oceans'. Such was also the desire of St. John Paul II, with his   
   ardent appeal: 'May Cuba, with all its magnificent potential, open itself to   
   the   
   world, and may the world open itself to Cuba'".   
    "For some months now, we have witnessed an event which fills us with hope: the   
   process of normalising relations between two peoples following years of   
   estrangement. It is a sign of the victory of the culture of encounter and   
   dialogue, 'the system of universal growth' over 'the forever-dead system of   
   groups and dynasties'. I urge political leaders to persevere on this path and   
   to   
   develop all its potentialities as a proof of the high service which they are   
   called to carry out on behalf of the peace and well-being of their peoples, of   
   all America, and as an example of reconciliation for the entire world. The   
   world   
   needs reconciliation, in this climate of a piecemeal third world war in which   
   we   
   are living".   
    The Pope concluded his first discourse on Cuban soil by invoking "the   
   protection of our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, Blessed Olallo Valdes and   
   Blessed   
   Jose Lopez Piteira, and Venerable Felix Varela, the great promoter of love   
   between Cubans and all peoples, so that our bonds of peace, solidarity and   
   mutual respect may ever increase".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Mass in Plaza de la Revolucion: the importance of a people is based on how it   
   serves its most vulnerable members   
    Vatican City, 20 September 2015 (VIS) - After spending the night in the   
   apostolic nunciature in Havana, the Pope began his second day in Cuba by   
   greeting the thousands of people who lined the streets on his journey by   
   popemobile to Plaza de la Revolucion Jose Marti, dedicated to the poet and   
   writer who fought for Cuban independence. The square, where the Holy Father   
   celebrated Holy Mass attended by more than 200,000 faithful, is a strongly   
   symbolic location for the island, and has provided the backdrop to important   
   demonstrations.   
    Francis, who before the Eucharistic celebration met with the representatives   
   of   
   other Christian confessions present in Cuba in a provisional sacristy, devoted   
   his homily to the importance of serving the weakest and frailest among us. "Let   
   us not forget the Good News we have heard today: the importance of a people, a   
   nation, and the importance of individuals, which is always based on how they   
   seek to serve their vulnerable brothers and sisters. Here we encounter one of   
   the fruits of a true humanity. Whoever does not live to serve, does not ‘serve'   
   to live".   
    The Pope commented on the Gospel passage in which Jesus asks a seemingly   
   indiscreet question of His disciples: "What were you discussing along the way?"   
   to which they did not answer because on the way they had been arguing about who   
   was the most important, and were ashamed.   
    "Who is the most important?", continued the Pope. "This is a life-long   
   question   
   to which, at different times, we must give an answer. ... The history of   
   humanity has been marked by the answer we give to this question. Jesus is not   
   afraid of people's questions; He is not afraid of our humanity or the different   
   things we are looking for. On the contrary, He knows the 'twists and turns' of   
   the human heart, and, as a good teacher, He is always ready to encourage and   
   support us. As usual, He takes up our searching, our aspirations, and he gives   
   them a new horizon ... He somehow finds an the answer which can pose a new   
   challenge, setting aside the 'right answers', the standard replies we are   
   expected to give. As usual, Jesus sets before us the 'logic' of love. A   
   mindset,   
   an approach to life, which is capable of being lived out by all, because it is   
   meant for all".   
    "Far from any kind of elitism, the horizon to which Jesus points us is not for   
   those few privileged souls capable of attaining the heights of knowledge or   
   different levels of spirituality. The horizon to which Jesus points us always   
   has to do with daily life, also here on "our island", something which can   
   season   
   our daily lives with eternity. Who is the most important? Jesus is   
   straightforward in His reply: 'Whoever wishes to be the first among you must be   
   the last of all, and the servant of all'. Whatever wishes to be great must   
   serve   
   others, not be served by others".   
    "Here lies the great paradox of Jesus", emphasises the Pope. "The disciples   
   were arguing about who would have the highest place, who would be chosen for   
   privileges ... in order to stand out in the quest for superiority over others.   
   Who would climb the ladder most quickly to take the jobs which carry certain   
   benefits. Jesus upsets their 'logic', their mindset, simply by telling them   
   that   
   life is lived authentically in a concrete commitment to our neighbour. That is,   
   in serving".   
    But the call to serve "involves something special, to which we must be   
   attentive. Serving others chiefly means caring for their vulnerability. Serving   
   means caring for the vulnerable of our families, our society, our people.   
   Theirs   
   are the suffering, fragile and downcast faces which Jesus tells us specifically   
   to look at and which He asks us to love. With a love which takes shape in our   
   actions and decisions. With a love which finds expression in whatever tasks we,   
   as citizens, are called to perform. People of flesh and blood, people with   
   individual lives and stories, and with all their frailty: these are those whom   
   Jesus asks us to protect, to care for, to serve. Being a Christian entails   
   promoting the dignity of our brothers and sisters, fighting for it, living for   
   it. That is why Christians are constantly called to set aside their own wishes   
   and desires, their pursuit of power, and to look instead to those who are most   
   vulnerable".   
    "There is a kind of 'service' which truly 'serves' others, yet we need to be   
   careful not to be tempted by another kind of service, a 'service' which is   
   'self-serving'. There is a way to go about serving which is interested in only   
   helping 'my people', 'our people'. This service always leaves 'your people'   
   outside, and gives rise to a process of exclusion. All of us are called by   
   virtue of our Christian vocation to that service which truly serves, and to   
   help   
   one another not to be tempted by a 'service' which is really 'self-serving'.   
   ...   
   Without looking to one side or the other to see what our neighbour is doing or   
   not doing. Jesus tells us: Whoever would be first among you must be the last,   
   and the servant of all. He will be the servant of all. He does not say: if your   
   neighbour wants to be first, let him be the servant! We have to be careful to   
   avoid judgemental looks and renew our belief in the transforming look to which   
   Jesus invites us. This caring for others out of love is not about being   
   servile.   
   Rather, it means putting our brothers and sisters at the centre. Service always   
   looks to their faces, touches their flesh, senses their closeness and even, in   
   some cases, 'suffers' in trying to help. Service is never ideological, for we   
   do   
   not serve ideas, we serve people".   
    "God's holy and faithful people in Cuba is a people with a taste for   
   celebration, for friendship, for beautiful things", he concluded. "It is a   
   people which marches with songs of praise. It is a people which has its wounds,   
   like every other people, yet knows how to stand up with open arms, to keep   
   walking in hope, because it has a vocation of grandeur. This is how it raised   
   its heroes. Today I ask you to care for this vocation of yours, to care for   
   these gifts which God has given you, but above all I invite you to care for and   
   be at the service of the frailty of your brothers and sisters. Do not neglect   
   them for plans which can be seductive, but are unconcerned about the face of   
   the   
   person beside you. We know, we are witnesses of the incomparable power of the   
   resurrection, which 'everywhere calls forth the seeds of a new world'".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Angelus: Francis asks for definitive reconciliation in Colombia   
    Vatican City, 20 September 2015 (VIS) - At the end of Mass, the Pope spoke for   
   a few minutes before praying the Angelus.   
    "We have heard in the Gospel how the disciples were afraid to question Jesus   
   when He spoke to them about His passion and death. He frightened them, and they   
   could not grasp the idea of seeing Jesus suffer on the cross. We too are   
   tempted   
   to flee from our own crosses and those of others, to withdraw from those who   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)