powers. From Africa, slaves were taken to America, and sold. There are powers   
   that seek only to take the great wealth of Africa. I don't know, it is possibly   
   the richest continent. ... But they do not think of how to help countries   
   grow, to   
   promote work, so that everyone has work. ... Exploitation! Africa is a martyr.   
   She   
   is a martyr to exploitation in history. Those who say that from Africa is the   
   home of all calamities and all wars do not understand well, perhaps, the damage   
   that humanity has done to certain forms of development. And it is for this   
   reason that I love Africa, because Africa has been a victim of other powers".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Cardinal Parolin at the COP 21: Reach a global and transformational agreement   
    Vatican City, 1 December 2015 (VIS) - Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro   
   Parolin spoke yesterday at the opening of the 21st Conference of States Parties   
   to the Convention COP 21, held in Paris from 30 November to 11 December. After   
   communicating Pope Francis' greetings and encouragement to the the participants   
   in the hope of a fruitful outcome, the Cardinal mentioned the Holy Father's   
   address to the United Nations Office at Nairobi on 26 November, when he   
   expressed his hope that the Paris conference result in the adoption of a   
   "global   
   and transformational" agreement, based on the principles of solidarity,   
   justice,   
   equality and participation, orientated towards the attainment of three complex   
   and interdependent objectives: mitigating the effects of climate change,   
   combating poverty, and promoting the dignity of the human person.   
    He went on to list the three pillars of this "global and transformational"   
   agreement. "The first consists in the adoption of a clear ethical orientation,   
   inspiring the motivations and aims of the Agreement to be implemented. We are   
   well aware that the people most vulnerable to the impact of the phenomenon of   
   climate change are the poorest and future generations, who suffer the gravest   
   consequences, often without bearing any responsibility. ... Faced with the   
   urgency   
   of a situation that requires the broadest collaboration possible so as to reach   
   a common plan, it is important that this Agreement be focused on the   
   recognition   
   both of the ethical imperative to act in a context of global solidarity, and of   
   the common but differentiated responsibilities of all actors in accordance with   
   their respective capacities and conditions".   
    "The second pillar regards the fact that the Agreement should not only   
   identify   
   the methods for its implementation, but should also and above all transmit   
   clear   
   signs to guide the behaviour of all the actors involved, beginning with   
   governments, but also local authorities, the world of business, the scientific   
   community and civil society. ... This necessitates undertaking with conviction   
   the   
   road towards a low-carbon economy and full human development. ... In this   
   regard,   
   the countries with greater resources and capacities should set a good example,   
   contributing resources to those countries in greater need so as to promote   
   sustainable development policies and programmes. For instance, the promotion of   
   renewable energy and dematerialisation, as well as the development of energy   
   efficiency, come to mind, or the correct management of forests, transport and   
   waste; the development of a circular model for the economy; the implementation   
   of appropriate, sustainable and diversified programmes for food safety and to   
   combat food waste; strategies against speculation and ineffective or indeed at   
   times harmful subsidies; and the development and transfer of suitable   
   technologies".   
    The third and final pillar is the vision of the future. "COP 21 is not a   
   moment   
   of arrival or a starting point, but rather a crucial path in a process that   
   without doubt will not end in 2015", emphasised Cardinal Parolin. "An agreement   
   with a long term perspective of this type should provide for processes for the   
   revision of commitments and transparent, effective and dynamic follow-ups, able   
   to progressively increase the level of ambition, as well as to guarantee   
   suitable control. Furthermore, it is necessary to take into serious   
   consideration the implementation of sustainable models of production and   
   consumption, new attitudes, and new lifestyles. Here we enter the fundamental   
   fields of education and training, unfortunately often situated at the margins   
   of   
   negotiations for international agreements. Technical solutions are necessary,   
   but they are not enough if they do not consider education in sustainable life   
   styles and responsible awareness".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    How did the Council Fathers experience Vatican Council II?   
    Vatican City, 1 December 2015 (VIS) - This morning in the Holy See Press   
   Office, a press conference was held to present the International Study   
   Convention "Vatican Council II and its protagonists in the light of the   
   archives" (Vatican City, 9 to 11 December 2015), organised by the Pontifical   
   Committee for Historical Sciences. The speakers were Fr. Bernard Ardura, O.   
   Praem., and Professor Philippe Chenaux, respectively president and member of   
   the   
   Committee.   
    Fr. Ardura explained that the event is a follow-up to the Convention held in   
   2012, with the collaboration of the Centre for Research and Study on the   
   Council, on the theme "Vatican Council II: starting again from the archives",   
   which offered the exceptional opportunity to bring together archivists and   
   university teachers to present the very diverse situations of conservation,   
   cataloguing and use of the legacy of the conciliar Fathers. This second event   
   is   
   dedicated instead to the protagonists of the Council, "casting light on the   
   various networks of opinions that had a not insignificant role in forming the   
   convictions of many Council Fathers, both at the level of the episcopal   
   conferences, and at the level of communities of thought. Indeed, the personal   
   notes of many of the Council Fathers enable us at times to follow the evolution   
   of their thought and their opinions gradually over the passage of time,   
   highlighting the guiding themes that were consolidated in the sixteen documents   
   drawn up by the Council".   
    "In the programme of this Convention, we have also tried to take into account   
   not only the diversity, but also the divergences which emerged during the   
   Council. The unanimity Paul VI strongly desired for the approval of the   
   conciliar documents left in the shade the opinions of a minority that was   
   however well-organised; therefore we wanted some of the protagonists of this   
   current to be presented in these days".   
    Philippe Chenaux reiterated that the most arduous task for the historian in   
   the   
   interpretation of this event is the change of majority between the beginning   
   and   
   the end of the council. "To explain this 'inversion of tendency', without   
   falling into the trap of conspiratorial hypotheses, reference to the concept of   
   the 'conciliar experience' would appear fundamental. As St. John Paul II said a   
   number of times, the council had an unique and unrepeatable meaning for those   
   who took part. This represented, for many bishops, not only an extraordinary   
   experience of fraternal communion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but   
   also a school of theological renewal".   
    "How did the Council Fathers experience the Council? What was their personal   
   experience of the event? In what way did the conciliar experience condition   
   their way of understanding the Church and their way of being bishops? Should we   
   speak about a simple 'evolution', or a full 'conversion'?" are some of the   
   questions that this Convention endeavours to answer. "Solving the great   
   'interpretative enigma' - 'what happened during Vatican Council II? - means the   
   precise and meticulous reconstruction of the activity of its protagonists",   
   comments Chenaux.   
    The first session on 10 December is entitled "The protagonists revealed in the   
   archives". The second session on the same day will be dedicated to "Networks of   
   contacts and opinions", and will evaluate the consistency of the networks for   
   contact and the exchange of opinions established between the participants. The   
   third session, on 11 December, is entitled "Evolutions during the Council", and   
   will explore the theme of the evolution of thought among participants. There   
   will be two further working sessions, the inauguration and introduction, and   
   the   
   conclusion, appraising the three sessions mentioned above.   
    In the inaugural session on 9 December, after Fr. Ardura's introduction, five   
   reports of a general nature will be presented: by Cardinal Laurent Monsegwo   
   Pasinya, archbishop of Kinshasa, who will speak on Cardinal Malula and his   
   "African vision" of the Council; Bishop Filaret of Lviv and Galicia, of the   
   Ukrainian Orthodox Church, will speak about Vatican Council II and the Russian   
   Orthodox Church; and three historians, Professors John O'Malley of Georgetown   
   University (United States of America) Michael Quisinsky of the University of   
   Fribourg (Switzerland), and Philippe Chenaux.   
    The final session on 11 December will commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of   
   the conclusion of the Council. There will be a round table discussion chaired   
   by   
   Fr. Ardura, with interventions by Cardinal Georges Cottier, O.P., theologian   
   emeritus of the Papal Household, and representatives of various Christian   
   churches: Bishop Filaret, Fr. Alexei Dikarev, delegate of the Department for   
   External Ecclesiastical Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow; His Grace   
   Archbishop David Moxon, representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury at the   
   Holy See and director of the Anglican Centre in Rome; and Philippe Chenaux. A   
   message from the chief rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni, will also be read.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 1 December 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:   
    - accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Nueve de   
   Julio, Argentina, presented by Bishop Martin de Elizalde, O.S.B., upon reaching   
   the age limit. He is succeeded by Bishop Ariel Edgardo Torrado Mosconi,   
   currently coadjutor of the same diocese.   
    - appointed Fr. J. Victor Alejandro Aguilar Ledesma and Fr. Herculano Medina   
   Garfias as auxiliaries of the archdiocese of Morelia (area 18,000, population   
   2,612,300, Catholics 2,455,618, priests 565, religious 1,268), Mexico.   
    Bishop-elect Aguilar Ledesma was born in San Guillermo, Mexico in 1965 and was   
   ordained a priest in 1989. He holds a licentiate in family pastoral ministry   
   from the Pontifical Lateran University and has served in a number of pastoral   
   roles, including parish vicar, chaplain of the Clarissian Sisters and diocesan   
   coordinator of family pastoral ministry. He is currently parish priest,   
   episcopal vicar, member of the college of consultors and professor at the major   
   seminary of Morelia.   
    Bishop-elect Medina Garfias was born in Rincon de Cedenos, Mexico in 1967, and   
   was ordained a priest in 1996. He holds a licentiate in social doctrine of the   
   Church from the Padre Alberto Hurtado University in Santiago, Chile. He has   
   served in a number of roles, including spiritual director and professor in the   
   archdiocesan seminary and chaplain of various religious communities. He is   
   currently bursar of the major seminary of Morelia.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)