VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 192   
   DATE 30-10-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - The Pope on Blessed Oscar Romero: his impact is still felt in our time   
   - To the Santa Marta Group: combating human trafficking is a moral imperative   
   for States   
   - The Pope's 60th anniversary message to the Latin American Episcopal Council:   
   love your people, open paths of greater equality, justice and peace   
   - Pope Francis' prayer intentions for November   
   - Audiences   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
   - Notice   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope on Blessed Oscar Romero: his impact is still felt in our time   
    Vatican City, 30 October 2015 (VIS) - This morning five hundred pilgrims from   
   El Salvador, in Rome to give thanks for the beatification of the bishop Oscar   
   Arnulfo Romero, met with the Holy Father in the Paul VI Hall. The Pope defined   
   the Salvadoran bishop martyr as a "good pastor, full of love for God and close   
   to his brothers who, living the dynamism of the Beatitudes, gave his life in a   
   violent way while celebrating the Eucharist, the supreme sacrifice of love,   
   sealing with his own blood the Gospel that he announced".   
    "From the very beginning of the life of the Church, Christians have always   
   believed that the blood of martyrs is a seed for Christians, as Tertullian   
   said.   
   Today too, in a dramatic way, the blood of a great number of Christian martyrs   
   continues to be shed on the field of the world, with the certain hope that will   
   bear fruit in a rich harvest of holiness, justice, reconciliation and love of   
   God. But we must remember that one is not born a martyr. Archbishop Romero   
   remarked, 'We must be willing to die for our faith, even if the Lord does not   
   grant us this honour. ... Giving life does not only mean being assassinated;   
   giving life, having the spirit of martyrdom, means offering it in silence, in   
   prayer, in the honest fulfilment of one's duty; in this silence of everyday   
   life, giving life a little at a time'".   
    "Indeed, the martyr is not someone relegated to the past, a beautiful image   
   that adorns our churches and which we recall with a certain nostalgia. No, the   
   martyr is a brother, a sister, who continues to accompany us in the communion   
   of   
   saints and who, united with Christ, does not ignore our earthly pilgrimage, our   
   sufferings, our anxieties. In the recent history of this beloved country, the   
   witness of Msgr. Romero has joined that of the other brothers and sisters ...   
   who   
   are a treasure and well-founded hope for the Church and for Salvadoran society.   
   The impact of his commitment can still be felt in our times".   
    Just a few weeks before the beginning of the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy,   
   the example of Msgr. Romero constitutes, for his beloved nation, a "stimulus to   
   a renewed proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to announce it in a way   
   that all people can understand, so that the merciful love of the Divine Saviour   
   enters the heart and the history of this good people. The holy people of God in   
   pilgrimage in El Salvador have a series of difficult tasks ahead of them, which   
   require, as in the rest of the world, an evangelising announcement that allows   
   witness, in the communion of Christ's one Church, of authentic Christian life".   
    "On this occasion, I make my own the sentiments of the Blessed Msgr. Romero,   
   who with the well-founded hope longed to see the happy time when the terrible   
   suffering of many of our brothers, due to hate, violence and injustice, would   
   disappear. May the Lord, with a shower of mercy and goodness and a torrent of   
   grace convert all hearts, and may the beautiful homeland He has given you, that   
   bears the name of the Divine Saviour, be transform into a country where all are   
   redeemed and all are brothers, without differences, since we are all one in   
   Christ our Lord".   
    The Holy Father concluded with some unscripted remarks. "I wish to add   
   something we are forgetting", he said. "The martyrdom of Msgr. Romero was not   
   fulfilled at the moment of his death - it was a martyrdom of witness, of prior   
   suffering and prior persecution, up to his death. But even afterwards,   
   following   
   his death - I was a young priest and a witness to this - he was defamed,   
   slandered, his memory despoiled, and his martyrdom continued also for his   
   brethren in the priesthood and in the episcopate. This is not hearsay, but   
   rather things I have heard. Or perhaps it is best to see it thus: a man who   
   continues to be a martyr. After having given his life, he continues to give it   
   by allowing himself to be assailed by all this misunderstanding and slander.   
   This gives me strength. Only God knows the stories of those people who have   
   given their lives, who have died, and continue to be stoned with the hardest   
   stone that exists in the world: language".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    To the Santa Marta Group: combating human trafficking is a moral imperative   
   for   
   States   
    Vatican City, 30 October 2015 (VIS) - Pope Francis has sent a message to the   
   Santa Marta Group, an initiative launched by the Holy Father in the battle   
   against human trafficking, involving the security forces of various countries,   
   episcopates, social organisations and representatives of various religious   
   confessions. The group is currently gathered at the San Lorenzo del Escorial in   
   Spain, a meeting inaugurated this Friday by Queen Sofia and attended by   
   cardinals, bishops, social activists and around fifty heads of police from   
   around the world.   
    In the short time of its existence, writes Francis, this worthy group has made   
   significant achievements and is called upon to play a decisive role in the   
   eradication of human trafficking and modern slavery. He recalls that during the   
   last year there have been important institutional changes that have without   
   doubt supported its activity, starting with the meeting of mayors in Vatican   
   City on 21 July, in which key figures signed a declaration expressing their   
   commitment to eliminating the new forms of slavery that constitute a crime   
   against humanity.   
    He also mentions the recent approval of the Agenda 2030, with the new United   
   Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which include the adoption of immediate   
   and effective means for eradicating forced labour, putting an end to modern   
   forms of slavery and human trafficking and ensuring the prohibition and   
   elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including the recruitment and   
   deployment of child soldiers, with a view to putting an end to all forms of   
   child labour by 2025.   
    The Pope also refers to his address to the United Nations in New York on 25   
   September, in which he affirmed that the world demands of government leaders "a   
   will which is effective, practical and constant, concrete steps and immediate   
   measures for preserving and improving the natural environment and thus putting   
   an end as quickly as possible to the phenomenon of social and economic   
   exclusion, with its baneful consequences. ... Such is the magnitude of these   
   situations and their toll in innocent lives, that we must avoid every   
   temptation   
   to fall into a declarationist nominalism which would assuage our consciences".   
   "Today the 193 states of the United Nations have a new moral imperative to   
   combat human trafficking, a true crime against humanity. Collaboration between   
   bishops and the civil authorities, each in accordance with his own mission and   
   character and with the aim of discovering best practice for the fulfilment of   
   this delicate task, is a decisive step to ensuring that the will of governments   
   reaches the victims in a direct, immediate, constant, effective and concrete   
   way".   
    "For my part, I pray that God Almighty grant you the grace of carrying forward   
   the delicate, humanitarian and Christian mission of healing the open and   
   painful   
   wounds of humanity, which are also Christ's wounds. I assure you of all my   
   support and my prayer, and the support and prayer of the faithful of the   
   Catholic Church. With God's help, and your collaboration, the indispensable   
   service of the Santa Marta Group will be able to free the victims of new forms   
   of slavery, rehabilitate them, along with the imprisoned and the marginalised,   
   unmasking the traffickers and those who create this market, and provide   
   effective assistance to cities and nations; a service for the common good and   
   the promotion of human dignity, able to bring out the best in every person and   
   every citizen".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope's 60th anniversary message to the Latin American Episcopal Council:   
   love your people, open paths of greater equality, justice and peace   
    Vatican City, 30 October 2015 (VIS) - To commemorate 60 years of the Latin   
   American Episcopal Council (CELAM), the Pope has written a message to the   
   president Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez in which he expresses his gratitude for   
   all the good the Lord has gradually sown there, and that has borne fruit   
   through   
   the service of God's Church in Latin America.   
    "I hope that CELAM, making pastoral and missionary conversion its priority,   
   may   
   increasingly participate in, support and give momentum to this evangelising   
   movement towards all environments and all frontiers. It is important that our   
   communities are a 'home and school of communion', which attract by a surprising   
   fraternity based on the recognition of the common father, and help always to   
   keep alive in the Church in Latin America the passion for our peoples, the   
   bearing of our sufferings and the capacity for Christian discernment of the   
   vicissitudes of their recent history, to open up paths of greater equality,   
   peace and justice".   
    He also emphasises that the upcoming opening of the extraordinary Jubilee of   
   Mercy "will be an event of grace in which CELAM must provide a fundamental   
   service of inspiration, exchange and celebration".   
    Finally, the Pope imparts his apostolic blessing to all members of CELAM,   
   their   
   collaborators, and the episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean, placing   
   all these intentions under the protection of the mantle of Our Lady of   
   Guadalupe, patron of America, so that by her intercession "Our Lord Jesus   
   Christ   
   may inspire new and holier missionary disciples in our Churches, and more   
   courageous builders of peace and justice in our nations".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Pope Francis' prayer intentions for November   
    Vatican City, 30 October 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father's universal prayer   
   intention for November is: "That we may be open to personal encounter and   
   dialogue with all, even those whose convictions differ from our own".   
    His intention for evangelisation is: "That pastors of the Church, with   
   profound   
   love for their flocks, may accompany them and enliven their hope".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audiences   
    Vatican City, 30 October 2015 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in   
   audience:   
    - Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation   
   of Peoples;   
    - Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, archbishop of Bogota, Colombia, president of   
   the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM), with Bishop Carlos Maria Collazzi   
   Irazabal of Mercedes, Uruguay, first deputy president; Archbishop Jose   
   Belisario   
   da Silva of Sao Luis do Maranhao, Brazil, second deputy president; Bishop Juan   
   Espinoza Jimenez, auxiliary of Morelia, Mexico, secretary general; Cardinal   
   Jose   
   Luis Lacunza Maestrojuan, bishop of David, Panama, president for economic   
   affairs; and Fr. Leonidas Ortiz Losada, adjunct secretary general.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 30 October 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed:   
    - Bishop Fidel Herraez Vegas, auxiliary of Madrid, Spain, as archbishop of   
   Burgos (area 13,850, population 374,970, Catholics 337,473, priests 519,   
   religious 1,377), Spain. He succeeds Archbishop Francisco Gil Hellin, whose   
   resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese upon reaching the   
   age   
   limit was accepted by the Holy Father.   
    - Bishop Renauld de Dinechin, auxiliary of Paris, France, as bishop of   
   Soissons   
   (area 7,378, population 557,000, Catholics 403,000, priests 89, permanent   
   deacons 22, religious 97), France.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Notice   
    Vatican City, 30 October 2015 (VIS) - We inform our readers that there will be   
   no Vatican Information Service bulletin on Monday, 2 November, a holiday in the   
   Vatican. Service will resume on Tuesday, 3 November.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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   www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va   
      
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