for the sake of all the families of the world, and thus overcome the scandal of   
   a narrow, petty love, closed in on itself, impatient of others".   
    "How beautiful it would be if everywhere, even beyond our borders, we could   
   appreciate and encourage this prophecy and this miracle", concluded the Holy   
   Father. "May God grant to all of us, as the Lord's disciples, the grace to be   
   worthy of this purity of heart which is not scandalised by the Gospel".   
    Following the Eucharist, Pope Francis gave the Gospel of St. Luke to five   
   families representing the five continents, from, respectively, Kinshasa   
   (Africa), Havana (America), Hanoi (Asia), Syney (Australia) and Marseilles   
   (Europe).   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Francis leaves the United States: I thank the Lord that I was able to witness   
   the faith of God's people in this country   
    Vatican City, 28 September 2015 (VIS) - Following Holy Mass at Benjamin   
   Franklin Parkway, the Pope travelled by car to the airport in Philadelphia   
   where   
   he embarked on his return flight to Rome. He was welcomed at the airport by   
   five   
   hundred people, mostly members of the Organising Committee and volunteers and   
   benefactors of the World Meeting of Families, as well as the vice president of   
   the United States, Joe Biden. The Holy Father expressed his gratitude to them   
   and to the families who had shared their witness during the Meeting.   
    "It is not so easy to speak openly of one's life journey! But their honesty   
   and   
   humility before the Lord and each of us showed the beauty of family life in all   
   its richness and diversity. I pray that our days of prayer and reflection on   
   the   
   importance of the family for a healthy society will inspire families to   
   continue   
   to strive for holiness and to see the Church as their constant companion,   
   whatever the challenges they may face".   
    The Pope thanked all those who had prepared for his stay in the archdioceses   
   of   
   Washington, New York and Philadelphia. "It was particularly moving for me to   
   canonise St. Junipero Serra, who reminds us all of our call to be missionary   
   disciples, and I was also very moved to stand with my brothers and sisters of   
   other religions at Ground Zero, that place which speaks so powerfully of the   
   mystery of evil. Yet we know with certainty that evil never has the last word,   
   and that, in God's merciful plan, love and peace triumph over all".   
    He asked the vice president, Joe Biden, to renew his gratitude to President   
   Obama and to the Members of Congress, together with the assurance of his   
   prayers   
   for the American people. "This land has been blessed with tremendous gifts and   
   opportunities", he remarked. "I pray that you may all be good and generous   
   stewards of the human and material resources entrusted to you".   
    "I thank the Lord that I was able to witness the faith of God's people in this   
   country, as manifested in our moments of prayer together and evidenced in so   
   many works of charity. Jesus says in the Scriptures: 'Truly, I say to you, as   
   you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me'. Your   
   care for me and your generous welcome are a sign of your love for Jesus and   
   your   
   faithfulness to Him. So too is your care for the poor, the sick, the homeless   
   and the immigrant, your defence of life at every stage, and your concern for   
   family life. In all of this, you recognise that Jesus is in your midst and that   
   your care for one another is care for Jesus Himself.   
    "As I leave, I ask all of you, especially the volunteers and benefactors who   
   assisted with the World Meeting of Families: do not let your enthusiasm for   
   Jesus, His Church, our families, and the broader family of society run dry. May   
   our days together bear fruit that will last, generosity and care for others   
   that   
   will endure. Just as we have received so much from God -gifts freely given us,   
   and not of our own making - so let us freely give to others in return".   
    "Dear friends, I embrace all of you in the Lord and I entrust you to the   
   maternal care of Mary Immaculate, Patroness of the United States. I will pray   
   for you and your families, and I ask you, please, to pray for me. May God bless   
   you all. God bless America!" concluded Francis.   
    At 8 p.m. local time (2 a.m., 28 September in Rome), the aircraft carrying the   
   Holy Father departed from Rome, where it landed this morning at 9.58 a.m. On   
   the   
   way back to the Vatican he paused at the Basilica of St. Mary Major to pray   
   before the image of the Salus Populi Romani and to thank the Virgin for the   
   fruits of this apostolic trip.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Message for World Youth Day in Krakow, 2016: "Blessed are the merciful, for   
   they shall obtain mercy"   
    Vatican City, 28 September 2015 (VIS) - The following is the full text of the   
   Pope's message for the 31st World Youth Day, to be held in Krakow, Poland in   
   July 2016.   
    "Dear Young People,   
    We have come to the last stretch of our pilgrimage to Krakow, the place where   
   we will celebrate the 31st World Youth Day next year in the month of July. We   
   are being guided on this long and challenging path by Jesus' words taken from   
   the Sermon on the Mount. We began this journey in 2014 by meditating together   
   on   
   the first Beatitude: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom   
   of heaven' (Mt 5:3). The theme for 2015 was: 'Blessed are the pure in heart,   
   for   
   they shall see God' (Mt 5:8). During the year ahead, let us allow ourselves to   
   be inspired by the words: 'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain   
   mercy'.   
    1. The Jubilee of Mercy   
    With this theme, the Krakow 2016 WYD forms part of the Holy Year of Mercy and   
   so becomes a Youth Jubilee at world level. It is not the first time that an   
   international youth gathering has coincided with a Jubilee Year. Indeed, it was   
   during the Holy Year of the Redemption (1983/1984) that St. John Paul II first   
   called on young people from around the world to come together on Palm Sunday.   
   Then, during the Great Jubilee of the year 2000, over two million young people   
   from around 165 countries gathered in Rome for the 15th World Youth Day. I am   
   sure that the Youth Jubilee in Krakow will be, as on those two previous   
   occasions, one of the high points of this Holy Year!   
    Perhaps some of you are asking: what is this Jubilee Year that is celebrated   
   in   
   the Church? The scriptural text of Leviticus can help us to understand the   
   meaning of a 'jubilee' for the people of Israel. Every fifty years they heard   
   the sounding of a trumpet (jobel) calling them (jobil) to celebrate a holy year   
   as a time of reconciliation (jobal) for everyone. During that time they had to   
   renew their good relations with God, with their neighbours and with creation,   
   all in a spirit of gratuitousness. This fostered, among other things, debt   
   forgiveness, special help for those who had fallen into poverty, an improvement   
   in interpersonal relations and the freeing of slaves.   
    Jesus Christ came to proclaim and bring about the Lord's everlasting time of   
   grace. He brought good news to the poor, freedom to prisoners, sight to the   
   blind and freedom to the oppressed. In Jesus, and particularly in his Paschal   
   Mystery, the deeper meaning of the jubilee is fully realised. When the Church   
   proclaims a jubilee in the name of Christ, we are all invited to experience a   
   wonderful time of grace. The Church must offer abundant signs of God's presence   
   and closeness, and reawaken in people's hearts the ability to look to the   
   essentials. In particular, this Holy Year of Mercy is 'a time for the Church to   
   rediscover the meaning of the mission entrusted to her by the Lord on the day   
   of   
   Easter: to be a sign and an instrument of the Father's mercy'.   
    2. Merciful like the Father   
    The motto for this Extraordinary Jubilee is 'Merciful like the Father'. This   
   fits in with the theme of the next WYD, so let us try to better understand the   
   meaning of divine mercy.   
    The Old Testament uses various terms when it speaks about mercy. The most   
   meaningful of these are hesed and rahamim. The first, when applied to God,   
   expresses God's unfailing fidelity to the Covenant with his people whom he   
   loves   
   and forgives forever. The second, rahamim, which literally means 'entrails',   
   can   
   be translated as 'heartfelt mercy'. This particularly brings to mind the   
   maternal womb and helps us understand that God's love for his people is like   
   that of a mother for her child. That is how it is presented by the prophet   
   Isaiah: 'Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of   
   her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you'. Love of this kind   
   involves making space for others within ourselves and being able to sympathise,   
   suffer and rejoice with our neighbours.   
    The biblical concept of mercy also includes the tangible presence of love that   
   is faithful, freely given and able to forgive. In the following passage from   
   Hosea, we have a beautiful example of God's love, which the prophet compares to   
   that of a father for his child: 'When Israel was a child I loved him; out of   
   Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the farther they went from me...   
   Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them   
   with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an   
   infant to his cheeks... I stooped to feed my child'. Despite the child's wrong   
   attitude that deserves punishment, a father's love is faithful. He always   
   forgives his repentant children. We see here how forgiveness is always included   
   in mercy. It is 'not an abstract idea, but a concrete reality with which he   
   reveals his love as of that of a father or a mother, moved to the very depths   
   out of love for their child. It gushes forth from the depths naturally, full of   
   tenderness and compassion, indulgence and mercy.   
    The New Testament speaks to us of divine mercy (eleos) as a synthesis of the   
   work that Jesus came to accomplish in the world in the name of the Father. Our   
   Lord's mercy can be seen especially when he bends down to human misery and   
   shows   
   his compassion for those in need of understanding, healing and forgiveness.   
   Everything in Jesus speaks of mercy. Indeed, he himself is mercy.   
    In Chapter 15 of Luke's Gospel we find the three parables of mercy: the lost   
   sheep, the lost coin and the parable of the prodigal son. In these three   
   parables we are struck by God's joy, the joy that God feels when he finds and   
   forgives a sinner. Yes, it is God's joy to forgive! This sums up the whole of   
   the Gospel. 'Each of us, each one of us, is that little lost lamb, the coin   
   that   
   was mislaid; each one of us is that son who has squandered his freedom on false   
   idols, illusions of happiness, and has lost everything. But God does not forget   
   us; the Father never abandons us. He is a patient Father, always waiting for   
   us!   
   He respects our freedom, but He remains faithful forever. And when we come back   
   to him, He welcomes us like children into His house, for He never ceases, not   
   for one instant, to wait for us with love. And His heart rejoices over every   
   child who returns. He is celebrating because He is joy. God has this joy, when   
   one of us sinners goes to Him and asks his forgiveness'.   
    God's mercy is very real and we are all called to experience it firsthand.   
   When   
   I was seventeen years old, it happened one day that, as I was about to go out   
   with friends, I decided to stop into a church first. I met a priest there who   
   inspired great confidence, and I felt the desire to open my heart in   
   Confession.   
   That meeting changed my life! I discovered that when we open our hearts with   
   humility and transparency, we can contemplate God's mercy in a very concrete   
   way. I felt certain that, in the person of that priest, God was already waiting   
   for me even before I took the step of entering that church. We keep looking for   
   God, but God is there before us, always looking for us, and He finds us first.   
   Maybe one of you feels something weighing on your heart. You are thinking: I   
   did   
   this, I did that. Do not be afraid! God is waiting for you! God is a Father and   
   He is always waiting for us! It is so wonderful to feel the merciful embrace of   
   the Father in the sacrament of Reconciliation, to discover that the   
   confessional   
   is a place of mercy, and to allow ourselves to be touched by the merciful love   
   of the Lord Who always forgives us.   
    You, dear young man, dear young woman, have you ever felt the gaze of   
   everlasting love upon you, a gaze that looks beyond your sins, limitations and   
   failings, and continues to have faith in you and to look upon your life with   
   hope? Do you realise how precious you are to God, who has given you everything   
   out of love? St. Paul tells us that 'God proves His love for us in that, while   
   we were still sinners, Christ died for us'. Do we really understand the power   
   of   
   these words?   
    I know how much the WYD cross means to all of you. It was a gift from St. John   
   Paul II and has been with you at all your World Meetings since 1984. So many   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)