not grow in the love of God by avoiding the entanglement of human relations.   
   For   
   in loving others, we learn to love God, in stooping down to help our neighbour,   
   we are lifted up to God. Through his fraternal closeness and his solidarity   
   with   
   the poor and the abandoned, he came to understand that it is they who   
   evangelise   
   us, they who help us to grow in humanity".   
    The Holy Father encouraged the faithful to enter into the mystery of the   
   family   
   in order to be able to understand it. "The family is a place where evangelical   
   holiness is lived out in the most ordinary conditions. There we are formed by   
   the memory of past generations and we put down roots which enable us to go far.   
   The family is a place of discernment, where we learn to recognise God's plan   
   for   
   our lives and to embrace it with trust. It is a place of gratuitousness. of   
   discreet fraternal presence and solidarity, a place where we learn to step out   
   of ourselves and accept others, to forgive and to be feel forgiven".   
    "Let us set out once more from Nazareth for a Synod which, more than speaking   
   about the family, can learn from the family, readily acknowledging its dignity,   
   its strength and its value, despite all its problems and difficulties. In the   
   'Galilee of the nations' of our own time, we will rediscover the richness and   
   strength of a Church which is a mother, ever capable of giving and nourishing   
   life, accompanying it with devotion, tenderness, and moral strength. For unless   
   we can unite compassion with justice, we will end up being needlessly severe   
   and   
   deeply unjust".   
    "A Church which is family is also able to show the closeness and love of a   
   father ... a Church of children who see themselves as brothers and sisters,   
   will   
   never end up considering anyone simply as a burden, a problem, an expense, a   
   concern or a risk. Other persons are essentially a gift, and always remain so,   
   even when they walk different paths. The Church is an open house, far from   
   outward pomp, hospitable in the simplicity of her members. ... This Church can   
   indeed light up the darkness felt by so many men and women. She can credibly   
   point them towards the goal and walk at their side, precisely because she   
   herself first experienced what it is to be endlessly reborn in the merciful   
   heart of the Father", Francis concluded.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope receives volunteers from the Food Bank and again denounces food waste   
    Vatican City, 3 October 2015 (VIS) - This morning in the Paul VI Hall Pope   
   Francis received in audience seven thousand volunteers from the Food Bank   
   Foundation, established 25 years ago by the Italian businessman Danilo Fossati   
   and Don Giussani, founder of Communion and Liberation, to combat food waste,   
   recovering and distributing food among the poor and families in need.   
    In his address to them, Francis underlined that hunger has now assumed the   
   dimensions of a true scandal that threatens the life and dignity of many   
   people:   
   men and women, children and the elderly. "Every day we must face this   
   injustice:   
   in a world rich in food resources, thanks also to enormous technological   
   progress, there are too many people who do not have the essentials for   
   survival;   
   and this is true not only of poor countries, but increasingly so in rich and   
   developed societies. The situation is aggravated by the increase in migratory   
   flows, which bring thousands of refugees to Europe, fleeing their countries and   
   in need of everything. In the face of such an immeasurable problem, Jesus'   
   words   
   resonate: 'For I was hungry and you gave me food'. We see in the Gospel that   
   the   
   Lord, when He realises that the crowd that has come to listen to Him is hungry,   
   does not ignore the problem, nor does He give a good speech on the fight   
   against   
   poverty; instead He performs a gesture that leaves everyone astonished. He   
   takes   
   the little that the disciples have brought with them, He blesses it, and He   
   multiplies the bread and fishes, so that in the end 'they took up twelve   
   baskets   
   full of the broken pieces left over'".   
    "We cannot perform a miracle as Jesus did; however we can do something when   
   faced wit the emergency of hunger, something useful, that also has the power of   
   a miracle. First of all we can educate ourselves in humanity, in recognising   
   the   
   humanity present in every person, in need of everything. This is perhaps what   
   Danilo Fossati, entrepreneur in the food sector and founder of the Food Bank,   
   was thinking of when he confided to Don Giussani his unease at seeing the   
   destruction of products that could still be consumed, when so many people in   
   Italy suffered from hunger".   
    The bishop of Rome remarked that the Foundation has its roots in the heart of   
   those two men who were not indifferent to the cry of the poor and "understood   
   that something needed to change in the mentality of the people, that the walls   
   of individualism and selfishness had to be broken down. ... Jesus Himself   
   invites   
   us to make space in our heart for the urgency of feeding the hungry, and the   
   Church has made it one of the works of corporal mercy".   
    Finally, commenting that the Food Bank volunteers encounter hundreds of people   
   every day, the Pope reminded them of the need to remember that they are "people   
   and not numbers, each one with his or her burden that at times seems impossible   
   to bear. Always keeping this in mind, you will be able to look them in the eye,   
   to hold their hand, to descry the flesh of Christ in them and to help them   
   regain their dignity and get back on their feet. I encourage you to be brothers   
   and friends to the poor; to let them feel that they are important in God's   
   eyes".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Mass for the Vatican Gendarmerie Corps   
    Vatican City, 3 October 2015 (VIS) - Following the festivity of St. Michael   
   Archangel, patron of the Vatican City State Gendarmerie Corps, Pope Francis   
   celebrated Mass this morning in the Governorate Chapel, attended by the members   
   of the Corps.   
    The Holy Father spoke in his homily about St. Michael's battle against Satan,   
   affirming that "there is a war between good and evil, in which we must choose   
   what we want, good or evil. But ... the methods of war adopted by these two   
   enemies are totally opposed to one another. In the initial prayer ... we ask   
   for   
   the grace to be defended by Archangel Michael against the temptations of the   
   devil, and this is one of the devil's methods: temptation".   
    He then explained "the three steps of the method of the ancient serpent, the   
   devil. First, having things: in this case bread, wealth, the wealth that   
   gradually leads to corruption, and this corruption is not a tale, it is   
   everywhere. Many people are willing to sell their soul for a pittance, they   
   sell   
   their happiness, their life, everything. It is the first step: money and   
   wealth.   
   Then, when you have it you feel important, which leads to the second step:   
   vanity. What the devil said to Jesus: Let's go to the terrace, 'cast Yourself   
   down from here' - make a great spectacle! Living for vanity. And the third step   
   is power, pride and arrogance: 'to you I will give all this authority', you   
   will   
   be in command".   
    "This also happens to us, in small things, always, in small things: too   
   attached to wealth, we like it when we are praised, like the peacock. And many   
   people become ridiculous. Vanity makes us become ridiculous. Or, in the end,   
   when you have power you feel as if you are God, and this is the great sin".   
    "You who have a difficult job, in which there are always conflicts and you   
   have   
   to put in things in their place, often enabling crime to be avoided. Pray to   
   the   
   Lord that, by the intercession of St. Michael Archangel, He will defend you   
   from   
   any temptation of corruption for money, for wealth, for vanity or arrogance.   
   The   
   humbler you are, like Jesus, the humbler your service will be and the more   
   fruitful and useful it will be for all of us".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Statement by the Director of the Holy See Press Office   
    Vatican City, 3 October 2015 (VIS) - The Director of the Holy See Press   
   Office,   
   Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., today made the following statement:   
    "With regard to the declarations and interview given by Msgr. Krzystof   
   Charamsa   
   it should be observed that, notwithstanding the respect due to the events and   
   personal situations, and reflections on the issue, the decision to make such a   
   pointed statement on the eve of the opening of the Synod appears very serious   
   and irresponsible, since it aims to subject the Synod assembly to undue media   
   pressure. Msgr. Charamsa will certainly be unable to continue to carry out his   
   previous work in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the   
   Pontifical universities, while the other aspects of his situation shall remain   
   the competence of his diocesan Ordinary".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audiences   
    Vatican City, 3 October 2015 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in   
   audience:   
    - Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops;   
    - Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, apostolic nuncio in Belarus.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 5 October 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed:   
    - Archbishop Salvatore Ligorio of Matera-Irsina, Italy, as metropolitan   
   archbishop of Potenza-Muro-Lucano-Marsico Nuovo (area 1,634, population   
   154,600,   
   Catholics 152,600, priests 113, permanent deacons 23, religious 124), Italy. He   
   succeeds Archbishop Agostino Superbo, whose resignation from the pastoral care   
   of the same archdiocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy   
   Father.   
    - Msgr. Andrea Migliavacca as bishop of San Miniato (area 691, population   
   176,794, Catholics 161,000, priests 79, permanent deacons 10, religious 122),   
   Italy. The bishop-elect was born in Pavia, Italy in 1967 and was ordained a   
   priest in 1992. He holds a degree in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian   
   University and has served in a number of pastoral and administrative roles in   
   Pavia, including notary of the diocesan ecclesiastical tribunal, adjunct   
   judicial vicar, head of youth pastoral, Catholic Action assistant for youth,   
   parish administrator of the San Genesio ed Uniti. He is currently vice   
   chancellor and judge of the Lombard Regional Ecclesiastical Tribunal, rector of   
   the diocesan seminary and head of vocations, judicial vicar and canon of the   
   Cathedral Chapter.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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   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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    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)