the Pope awarded the Pontifical Medal to the Spanish Almudena Alba Lopez for   
   her   
   publication "Political theology and anti-Arian polemics" (University of   
   Salamanca).   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Humanism with the face of charity: Mass in Florence   
    Vatican City, 11 November 2015 (VIS) - Pope Francis concluded his brief   
   pastoral visit to Florence yesterday with Mass celebrated before fifty thousand   
   people in the "Artemio Franchi" stadium. Even the detainees in the Florentine   
   prison participated in a way, as the altar at which the Holy Father consecrated   
   the Eucharist was produced by them, for which he warmly thanked them.   
    In his homily, the Holy Father began from Christ's question to His disciples:   
   "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?". "Jesus is interested in what   
   people   
   think, not to keep them happy, but to be able to communicate with them", he   
   explained. "Without knowing what people think, the disciple isolates himself   
   and   
   begins to judge people according to his own thoughts and convictions.   
   Maintaining a healthy contact with reality, with what people experience, their   
   tears and their joys, is the only way of being able to help them ... to open   
   their   
   hearts to God. In reality, when God wanted to speak with us He incarnated   
   Himself. Jesus' disciples must never forget where they were chosen from - that   
   is, among the people - and must never give in to the temptation to assume   
   detached attitudes, as if what the people think and live did not affect them or   
   as if it were of little importance to them. ... This also applies to us. The   
   fact   
   that we are gathered today to celebrate Holy Mass in a sports stadium is a   
   reminder of this. The Church, like Jesus, lives amid the people and for the   
   people. For this reason the Church, throughout her history, has always carried   
   within her the same question: who is Jesus for the men and women of today?".   
    "Safeguarding and announcing the true faith in Jesus Christ is at the heart of   
   our Christian identity, since in recognising the mystery of the Son of God made   
   man, we can enter into the mystery of God and the mystery of man. ... Today,   
   too ...   
   our joy is sharing this faith and answering the Lord Jesus together: 'You, for   
   us, are the Christ, the Son of the living God'. Our joy is also that of going   
   against the grain and surmounting current opinion, that, like then, does not   
   manage to see Jesus as more than a prophet or a teacher. Our joy is recognising   
   in Him the presence of God, the envoy of His Father, the Son who came to make   
   Himself an instrument of salvation for humanity".   
    "At the root of the mystery of salvation is "the will of a merciful God, who   
   does not give up when confronted with man's incomprehension, blame and misery,   
   but rather gives Himself to him, to the point of making Himself man in order to   
   encounter every person in his or her true condition. This, God's merciful love,   
   is what Simon Peter recognises in Jesus' face. It is the same face that we are   
   called upon to recognise in the forms in which the Lord assures us of His   
   presence among us: in His Word, that illuminates the darkness of our minds and   
   our heart; in the Sacraments, that regenerate us from our death to new life; in   
   fraternal communion, that the Holy Spirit generates among His disciples; in   
   boundless love, that renders generous and tender service to all; in the poor,   
   who reminds us that Jesus wished for the supreme revelation of Himself and His   
   Father to take the image of Himself humiliated and crucified. This truth of   
   faith, this truth scandalises ... those who do not tolerate the mystery of God   
   impressed on the face of Christ".   
    "In reality, the communion between the divine and the human, fully realised in   
   Jesus, is our aim, the culmination of human history according to the Father's   
   plan. ... God and man are not the two extremes of an opposition: they always   
   seek   
   each other, as God recognises in man His own image and man recognises himself   
   only by looking at God. ... This is the road on which we can encounter   
   humanity ...   
   with the spirit of the good Samaritan. It is not by chance that humanism, to   
   whose most creative moments the city of Florence bears witness, has always had   
   the face of charity".   
    "At the end of the Mass the Pope greeted the cardinal archbishop of Florence,   
   Giuseppe Betori, and the members of the Italian Episcopal Conference, and   
   thanked the detainees who had constructed the altar. He then transferred by car   
   to the "Luigi Ridolfi" stadium where he departed by helicopter to return to the   
   Vatican.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Holy See at UNESCO: the importance of education on climate change   
    Vatican City, 11 November 2015 (VIS) - Archbishop Francesco Follo, Holy See   
   permanent observer at UNESCO, addressed the 38th General Conference of this   
   body, which took place from 25 October to 10 November in Paris.   
    "UNESCO is heavily involved in the preparations for the United Nations   
   Conference on Climate Change (COP 21) and I am sure that the Organisation,   
   through its Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development,   
   plays and will continue to play a very important role in making education in   
   climate change a central and visible element of the international response to   
   this theme. Therefore, the Holy See welcomes with satisfaction ... the UNESCO   
   Road   
   Map for the implementation of the programme. Its objective is to help people   
   understand the impact of global warming and to familiarise the young, in   
   particular, with climate change. In order to achieve this, the programme   
   strengthens Member States' capacity to guarantee a quality education in climate   
   change, to encourage innovative education approaches to incorporating education   
   in climate change in school curricula, and to promote awareness of climate   
   change as well as the strengthening of informal education programmes through   
   the   
   communication media, networks and associations".   
    Archbishop Follo commented that the 70th anniversary of UNESCO offered a good   
   opportunity to take stock of our history and to reflect on our common future,   
   responding to the Holy Father's urgent invitation to engage in a "new dialogue   
   on the way in which we are constructing the future of the planet" and to   
   promote   
   "an 'ecological' education that must take into account the ethics of life and   
   dialogue".   
    This dialogue begins with "becoming aware that inhabiting the earth means   
   living 'in her' with respect, sobriety and simplicity in terms of what we   
   require, take and receive from her". But we should also live 'with her and care   
   for her'. ... A human attitude that derives from work and the assumption of   
   responsibility is required.   
    Indeed, it is important not to forget that the relationship between humanity   
   and nature "is synthesized by work. In effect, on the one hand nature is the   
   expression of a design of love and truth. It precedes us and was given to us by   
   God as a living environment, Who established it according to an intrinsic order   
   to guide man in cultivating and maintaining it". With regard to responsibility,   
   "in simple terms, we all know where we area, and in equally simple terms, we   
   all   
   know where we wish to go: we must leave the earth habitable, or render it newly   
   habitable for future generations if we have ransacked it".   
    "This purpose is inspired by the encyclical "Laudato si'" that Pope Francis   
   dedicated to our common home", concluded Archbishop Follo, citing Pope emeritus   
   Benedict XVI, who had encouraged the development of a "human ecology", since   
   "intelligence requires us to respect others as well as the home where we live.   
   ...   
   Pope Francis says that intelligence also commands us to respect our common home   
   as by doing so, we demonstrate our love for our neighbour".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 11 November 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:   
    - appointed Fr. Karel Choennie as bishop of Paramaribo (area 163,829,   
   population 505,580, Catholics 115,221, priests 18, permanent deacons 4,   
   religious 16), Suriname. The bishop-elect was born in Suriname in 1958 and was   
   ordained a priest in 1985. He holds a licentiate in pastoral theology from the   
   Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, and has served in a number of pastoral   
   roles in the diocese of Paramaribo, including parish priest, episcopal vicar,   
   member of the diocesan curia and vicar general. He is currently pastor of the   
   St. Clement parish.   
    - accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of the archdiocese of   
   Detroit, United States of America, presented by Archdiocese Francis R. Reiss,   
   upon reaching the age limit.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)