stewards but not masters. It is wrong, then, to look the other way or to remain   
   silent. No less important is the Gospel of the Family, which in the World   
   Meeting of Families in Philadelphia I will emphatically proclaim together with   
   you and the entire Church".   
    "These essential aspects of the Church's mission belong to the core of what we   
   have received from the Lord. It is our duty to preserve and communicate them,   
   even when the tenor of the times becomes resistant and even hostile to that   
   message. I urge you to offer this witness, with the means and creativity born   
   of   
   love, and with the humility of truth. It needs to be preached and proclaimed to   
   those without, but also to find room in people's hearts and in the conscience   
   of   
   society. To this end, it is important that the Church in the United States also   
   be a humble home, a family fire which attracts men and women through the   
   attractive light and warmth of love. ... Only a Church which can gather around   
   the   
   family fire remains able to attract others. And not any fire, but the one which   
   blazed forth on Easter morn".   
    "Before concluding, allow me to offer two recommendations which are close to   
   my   
   heart. The first refers to your fatherhood as bishops. Be pastors close to   
   people, pastors who are neighbours and servants. Let this closeness be   
   expressed   
   in a special way towards your priests. ... Find ways to encourage their   
   spiritual   
   growth, lest they yield to the temptation to become notaries and bureaucrats,   
   but instead reflect the motherhood of the Church, which gives birth to and   
   raises her sons and daughters".   
    "My second recommendation has to do with immigrants. I ask you to excuse me if   
   in some way I am pleading my own case. The Church in the United States knows   
   like few others the hopes present in the hearts of these 'pilgrims'. From the   
   beginning you have learned their languages, promoted their cause, made their   
   contributions your own, defended their rights, helped them to prosper, and kept   
   alive the flame of their faith. Even today, no American institution does more   
   for immigrants than your Christian communities. Now you are facing this stream   
   of Latin immigration which affects many of your dioceses. Not only as the   
   Bishop   
   of Rome, but also as a pastor from the South, I feel the need to thank and   
   encourage you. Perhaps it will not be easy for you to look into their soul;   
   perhaps you will be challenged by their diversity. But know that they also   
   possess resources meant to be shared. So do not be afraid to welcome them.   
   Offer   
   them the warmth of the love of Christ and you will unlock the mystery of their   
   heart. I am certain that, as so often in the past, these people will enrich   
   America and its Church".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The canonisation of Blessed Junipero Serra: Jesus has no 'shortlist' of people   
   worthy of His message   
    Vatican City, 24 September 2015 (VIS) - Blessed Junipero Serra (1713-1784),   
   known as the "Apostle of California", was canonised yesterday by Pope Francis   
   during a solemn Mass celebrated in the National Shrine of the Immaculate   
   Conception, the title under which, since 1847, the Virgin Mary is the patroness   
   of the United States.   
    The new saint, born in Mallorca, Spain, was a missionary first in Mexico,   
   where   
   he learned the Pame language in order to teach the indigenous peoples the   
   catechism and ordinary prayers, which he translated for them. He was also   
   master   
   of novices in the apostolic College of San Fernando. In 1767, the Jesuits were   
   expelled from the missions of Baja California, which were entrusted to the   
   Franciscans. Fr. Junipero was appointed Superior and arrived with 14 companions   
   in the territory in 1760, where he founded the first mission of San Diego. He   
   went on to found missions in Alta California: San Carlos de Monterrey, San   
   Anselmo, San Gabriel and San Luis Obispo. In California alone he travelled   
   9,900   
   kilometres and 5,400 nautical miles to found new missions from which there   
   derive the Franciscan names of Californian cities such as San Francisco, San   
   Diego and Los Angeles. Serra was beatified by John Paul II in 1988.   
    In his homily the Pope cites St. Paul's words to the Philippians: "Rejoice in   
   the Lord always! I say it again, rejoice!". "Paul tells us to rejoice; he   
   practically orders us to rejoice. This command resonates with the desire we all   
   have for a fulfilling life, a meaningful life, a joyful life. ... Something   
   deep   
   within us invites us to rejoice and tells us not to settle for placebos which   
   simply keep us comfortable. At the same time, though, we all know the struggles   
   of everyday life. So much seems to stand in the way of this invitation to   
   rejoice. Our daily routine can often lead us to a kind of glum apathy which   
   gradually becomes a habit, with a fatal consequence: our hearts grow numb".   
    "We don't want apathy to guide our lives ... or do we?", he continued. "We   
   don't   
   want the force of habit to rule our life ... or do we? So we ought to ask   
   ourselves: What can we do to keep our heart from growing numb, becoming   
   anaesthetised? How do we make the joy of the Gospel increase and take deeper   
   root in our lives? Jesus gives the answer. He said to his disciples then and he   
   says it to us now: Go forth! Proclaim! The joy of the Gospel is something to be   
   experienced, something to be known and lived only through giving it away,   
   through giving ourselves away".   
    The spirit of the world "tells us to be like everyone else, to settle for what   
   comes easy. Faced with this human way of thinking, 'we must regain the   
   conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for   
   others and for the world'. It is the responsibility to proclaim the message of   
   Jesus. For the source of our joy is 'an endless desire to show mercy, the fruit   
   of our own experience of the power of the Father's infinite mercy'. Go out to   
   all, proclaim by anointing and anoint by proclaiming. This is what the Lord   
   tells us today. He tells us that a Christian finds joy in mission: Go out to   
   people of every nation! A Christian experiences joy in following a command: Go   
   forth and proclaim the good news! A Christian finds ever new joy in answering a   
   call: Go forth and anoint!".   
    "Jesus sends His disciples out to all nations. To every people. We too were   
   part of all those people of two thousand years ago. Jesus did not provide a   
   short list of who is, or is not, worthy of receiving His message, His presence.   
   Instead, He always embraced life as He saw it. In faces of pain, hunger,   
   sickness and sin. In faces of the wounded, in thirst, weariness, doubt and   
   pity.   
   Far from expecting a beautiful life, smartly-dressed and neatly groomed, He   
   embraced life as He found it. It made no difference whether it was dirty,   
   unkempt, broken. Jesus said: Go out and tell the good news to everyone. Go out   
   and in my name embrace life as it is, and not as you think it should be. Go out   
   to the highways and byways, go out to tell the good news fearlessly, without   
   prejudice, without superiority, without condescension, to all those who have   
   lost the joy of living. Go out to proclaim the merciful embrace of the Father.   
   Go out to those who are burdened by pain and failure, who feel that their lives   
   are empty, and proclaim the 'folly' of a loving Father Who wants to anoint them   
   with the oil of hope, the oil of salvation. Go out to proclaim the good news   
   that error, deceitful illusions and falsehoods do not have the last word in a   
   person's life. Go out with the balm which soothes wounds and heals hearts".   
    Mission is "never the fruit of a perfectly planned program or a well-organised   
   manual. Mission is always the fruit of a life which knows what it is to be   
   found   
   and healed, encountered and forgiven. Mission is born of a constant experience   
   of God's merciful anointing. The Church, the holy People of God, treads the   
   dust-laden paths of history, so often traversed by conflict, injustice and   
   violence, in order to encounter her children, our brothers and sisters. The   
   holy   
   and faithful People of God are not afraid of losing their way; they are afraid   
   of becoming self-enclosed, frozen into elites, clinging to their own security.   
   They know that self-enclosure, in all the many forms it takes, is the cause of   
   so much apathy. So let us go out, let us go forth to offer everyone the life of   
   Jesus Christ. The People of God can embrace everyone because we are the   
   disciples of the One who knelt before his own to wash their feet.   
    "The reason we are here today is that many other people wanted to respond to   
   that call. They believed that 'life grows by being given away, and it weakens   
   in   
   isolation and comfort'. We are heirs to the bold missionary spirit of so many   
   men and women who preferred not to be 'shut up within structures which give us   
   a   
   false sense of security ... within habits which make us feel safe, while at our   
   door people are starving'. We are indebted to a tradition, a chain of witnesses   
   who have made it possible for the good news of the Gospel to be, in every   
   generation, both 'good' and 'new'".   
    "Today we remember one of those witnesses who testified to the joy of the   
   Gospel in these lands, Fr. Junipero Serra. He was the embodiment of 'a Church   
   which goes forth', a Church which sets out to bring everywhere the reconciling   
   tenderness of God. Junipero Serra left his native land and its way of life. He   
   was excited about blazing trails, going forth to meet many people, learning and   
   valuing their particular customs and ways of life. He learned how to bring to   
   birth and nurture God's life in the faces of everyone he met; he made them his   
   brothers and sisters. Junipero sought to defend the dignity of the native   
   community, to protect it from those who had mistreated and abused it.   
   Mistreatment and wrongs which today still trouble us, especially because of the   
   hurt which they cause in the lives of many people".   
    Father Serra "had a motto which inspired his life and work, a saying he lived   
   his life by: siempre adelante! Keep moving forward! For him, this was the way   
   to   
   continue experiencing the joy of the Gospel, to keep his heart from growing   
   numb, from being anaesthetised. He kept moving forward, because the Lord was   
   waiting. He kept going, because his brothers and sisters were waiting. He kept   
   going forward to the end of his life. Today, like him, may we be able to say:   
   Forward! Let's keep moving forward!".   
    After the Mass for canonisation the Holy Father proceeded to the new St. John   
   Paul II archdiocesan seminary, inaugurated in 2011, inhabited by 47 seminarians   
   who awaited Francis at the entrance to the institution. The Pope unveiled a   
   plaque commemorating his visit and returned to the nunciature in Washington   
   D.C., where he spent the night.   
    Today, 24 September, at 10 a.m. local time (4 p.m. in Rome), the Holy Father   
   will address the United States Congress assembled in joint session, an   
   extraordinary gathering of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. He   
   will subsequently meet with homeless people in the St. Patrick parish. After   
   leaving the At 5 p.m. local time (11 p.m. in Rome) he will depart by air for   
   New   
   York, where he will conclude the day with Vespers in St. Patrick's Cathedral.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 24 September 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:   
    - accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the metropolitan   
   archdiocese of Messina-Lipari-Santa Lucia del Mela, Italy, presented by   
   Archbishop Calogero La Piana, S.D.B., in accordance with canon 402 para. 2 of   
   the Code of Canon Laws.   
    - accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Alba,   
   Italy, presented by Bishop Giacomo Lanzetti, in accordance with canon 402 para.   
   2 of the Code of Canon Laws.   
    - accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Goya,   
   Argentina, presented by Bishop Ricardo Oscar Faifer, upon reaching the age   
   limit. He is succeeded by Bishop Adolfo Ramon Canecin, coadjutor of the same   
   diocese.   
    - appointed Archbishop Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera, O.F.M., of Cuenca,   
   Ecuador   
   as archbishop of Guayaquil (area 14,637, population 3,275,192, Catholics   
   2,783,913, priests 202, permanent deacons 21, religious 607), Ecuador. He   
   succeeds Archbishop Antonio Arregui Yarza, whose resignation from the pastoral   
   care of the same archdiocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the   
   Holy Father.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
   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.   
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