VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 197   
   DATE 09-11-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Audience with the president of Poland: family, the needy and migrants   
   - Angelus: generosity is not a question of the wallet, but of the heart   
   - Pope Francis: the theft of private documents will not divert me from the task   
   of reform   
   - On the defence of working rights   
   - Cardinal Ranjith, Pope's special envoy to India's National Eucharistic   
   Congress   
   - Audiences   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audience with the president of Poland: family, the needy and migrants   
    Vatican City, 9 November 2015 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father Francis received   
   in   
   audience Andrzej Duda, president of the Republic of Poland, who subsequently   
   met   
   with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by Msgr. Antoine   
   Camilleri, under-secretary for Relations with States.   
    During the cordial discussions, the Church's positive contribution to Polish   
   society was emphasised, also in view of the Holy Father's planned visit to   
   Kraków next year on the occasion of World Youth Day. Attention then turned to   
   various themes of mutual interest, such as the promotion of the family, support   
   for social groups most in need, and the welcome of migrants.   
    Finally, some themes regarding the international community were discussed,   
   such   
   as peace and security, the conflict in Ukraine and the situation in the Middle   
   East.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Angelus: generosity is not a question of the wallet, but of the heart   
    Vatican City, 8 November 2015 (VIS) - Before this Sunday's Angelus the Pope   
   commented on the day's Gospel reading, divided into two parts: the first on how   
   not to be a follower of Christ and the second, conversely, on the model of an   
   ideal Christian. "In the first part, Jesus criticises the scribes, teachers of   
   the law, for three defects in their lifestyle: pride, greed and hypocrisy".   
   Under their solemn appearances "they are hiding falsehood and injustice. ...   
   There   
   is a risk that these attitudes exist even in our day. For example when prayer   
   is   
   separated from justice, because we cannot worship God and cause harm to the   
   poor. Or when one claims to love God, and instead offers God one's vainglory,   
   to   
   one's own advantage".   
    The second part describes the scene in the Temple of Jerusalem, precisely in   
   the place where people threw coins as offerings. "There are many rich people   
   who   
   pay a lot of money, and there is a poor woman - a widow - contributing just two   
   mites, two small coins. ... The rich gave with great show what for them was   
   superfluous, while the widow, with discretion and humility, gave - Jesus says -   
   "all she had to live"; for this - Jesus says - she gave the most of all".   
    Today, continued the Holy Father, "Jesus also tells us that the measurement is   
   not quantity but fullness. There is a difference. ... It is possible to have a   
   lot of money but to be empty. There is no fullness in a heart like this".   
    He concluded by encouraging all those present to think during this week of the   
   difference between quantity and fullness. "It is not a question of the wallet,   
   but of the heart. Faced with the needs of others, we are called to deprive   
   ourselves of essential things, not only the superfluous; we are called to give   
   the necessary time, not only the surplus that is left over; we are called to   
   give immediately and unconditionally some of our talent, not only after using   
   it   
   for our own purposes or for those of our group".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Pope Francis: the theft of private documents will not divert me from the task   
   of reform   
    Vatican City, 9 November 2015 (VIS) - After the Angelus prayer, the Holy   
   Father   
   addressed some words to those present on the events of recent days in the   
   Vatican:   
    "I know that many of you are concerned by the news that has circulated in   
   recent days regarding reserved documents of the Holy See that have been stolen   
   and published. Therefore, I would like to say to you, first and foremost, that   
   stealing those documents is a crime. It is a deplorable and unhelpful act. I   
   myself had asked for that study to be undertaken; my collaborators and I were   
   very familiar with the documents and measures had been taken that had started   
   to   
   bear fruit, including some that were visible".   
    "Therefore I wish to assure you that this sad event will certainly not divert   
   me from the work of reform that we are carrying forward with my collaborators   
   and with the support of all of you. Yes, with the support of all the Church,   
   because the Church is renewed with the prayer and daily sanctity of every   
   baptised person. Therefore, I thank you and I ask you to continue to pray for   
   the Pope and for the Church, without letting yourselves be disturbed, but   
   instead going ahead with trust and hope".   
    He went on to speak about the Italian Day of Thanksgiving, whose theme this   
   year is "The earth, a common good". "I join with the bishops in hoping that all   
   will act as responsible administrators of an inestimable common good, the   
   earth,   
   whose fruits have a universal destiny. I wish to express my gratitude to the   
   world of agriculture, and encourage the cultivation of the earth in such a way   
   as to conserve its fertility so that it produces food for all, today and for   
   future generations".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    On the defence of working rights   
    Vatican City, 9 November 2015 (VIS) - The right to rest, a retirement pension   
   and maternity leave, among other workers' rights, "based on the very nature of   
   the person and his or her transcendent dignity", were the key themes of Pope   
   Francis' address in St. Peter's Square this morning to 23,000 member of the   
   Italian National Social Security Institute (INPS).   
    The Pope emphasised the meaning of safeguarding the right to rest. "I do not   
   refer only to that rest that is supported by an legitimised by social policy   
   (such as the weekly day of rest and annual leave, to which every worker is   
   entitled), but also and above all to a dimension of the human being that does   
   not lack spiritual roots".   
    God, Who instructs man to rest, also chose to rest on the seventh day. "Rest,   
   in the language of faith, is therefore a human and divine dimension at the same   
   time", commented Francis. "With a single prerogative, though: that of not being   
   a simple abstention from ordinary labour and effort, but rather an opportunity   
   to fully live one's condition as creatures elevated to filial dignity by God   
   Himself. The need to 'sanctify' rest is therefore linked to that - offered each   
   week on Sunday - of a time that enabled family, cultural, social and religious   
   life to be taken care of, making a space and time for God and for many in all   
   these aspects".   
    The Pope then referred to the complex situations in the world of work   
   nowadays,   
   from unemployment to precarious guarantees for employees. "If you live like   
   this, how can you ever rest? Rest is a right we all have when we work, but if   
   the situation of unemployment, social injustice, illegal work and   
   precariousness   
   is so serious, how can I rest? What can we say? We can say - it is shameful -   
   'But do you want to work?'. 'Yes!'. 'Very well, let's make a deal. You can   
   start   
   work in September, but until July, and then July, August, and part of September   
   you will neither eat nor rest...". This happens these days! And it happens all   
   over the world; it happens here in Rome, too! Rest, when there is work;   
   otherwise there is no rest".   
    The Holy Father went on to note that until just a short while ago it was   
   normal   
   to associate retirement and pensions with reaching old age in which it was   
   possible to enjoy a well-earned rest and offer wisdom and advice to the new   
   generations. However, "the contemporary age has significantly altered these   
   rhythms. On the one hand, the possibility of rest has been brought forward, at   
   times diluted, and at times renegotiated to aberrant extremes, to the point of   
   distorting the very idea of ceasing to work. On the other hand, existential   
   needs have not diminished for those who have lost or never had a job, or for   
   those who are obliged to stop working for the most varied reasons. If you stop   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)