VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXV - # 216   
   DATE 02-12-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Francis recalls his apostolic trip to Africa and praises missionaries   
   - The Pope explains the motives and expectations of the Jubilee of Mercy   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Francis recalls his apostolic trip to Africa and praises missionaries   
    Vatican City, 2 December 2015 (VIS) - The catechesis of today's Wednesday   
   general audience was dedicated to the Holy Father's apostolic trip to Kenya,   
   Uganda and the Central African Republic from 25 to 30 November. "How beautiful   
   Africa is!" he said, before explaining the details of the trip to the thousands   
   of faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square.   
    The first country he visited, Kenya, "is a country that represents very well   
   the global challenge of our time: protecting creation while reforming the model   
   of development, so that it may be equitable, inclusive and sustainable", he   
   said. "All this is reflected in Nairobi, the largest city in East Africa, where   
   wealth and poverty coexist. But this is a scandal! Not only in Africa: even   
   here, everywhere. The coexistence of wealth and poverty is a scandal, it brings   
   shame upon humanity".   
    The Pope recalled that on many the occasions he encouraged Kenyans to cherish   
   the great wealth of their country: their natural and spiritual wealth, made up   
   of the resources of the land, the new generations and the values that form the   
   wisdom of the people. In this context, so dramatically relevant today, I had   
   the   
   joy of bringing the Jesus' Word of hope: be firm in faith, do not be afraid.   
   This was the motto of the visit. A word that is lived every day by many humble   
   and simple people, with noble dignity; a word that was demonstrated tragically   
   and heroically by the young people of the University of Garissa, killed on 2   
   April because they were Christians. Their blood is the seed of peace and   
   fraternity for Kenya, for Africa, and for the whole world".   
    In Uganda, the second country, the fiftieth anniversary of the canonisation of   
   the nation's martyrs by Blessed Paul VI set the tone for the visit. "For this,   
   the motto was, 'You will be my witnesses'. ... The entire visit to Uganda took   
   place in the fervour of witness animated by the Holy Spirit. Witness in the   
   explicit sense of the service of catechists ... the witness of charity ... that   
   involves many communities and associations in service to the poorest, the   
   disabled, and the sick. There was witness of the young who, in spite of   
   difficulties, safeguard the gift of hope and seek to live according to the   
   Gospel and not according to the world, thus going against the grain. There was   
   the witness of the priests and consecrated persons who day by day renew their   
   total 'yes' to Christ and devote themselves with joy to the service of God's   
   holy people. ... All this multiform witness, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is a   
   leaven for all society, as is shown by the effective work carried out in Uganda   
   in the battle against AIDS and in the welcome to refugees".   
    The third stage in the Pope's trip was the Central African Republic, the   
   geographical heart of the continent, the heart of Africa. "This visit was in   
   reality the first in my intentions, as it is a country that is trying to come   
   out of a very difficult period, of violent conflicts and great suffering among   
   the population. For this reason I wanted to open there, in Bangui, a week ahead   
   of time, the Holy Door of the Jubilee of Mercy, as a sign of faith and hope for   
   the people, and symbolically for all the African peoples who are most in need   
   of   
   redemption and consolation."   
    Christ's invitation to His disciples - to go over to the other side - was the   
   theme of this leg of the journey. "Passing to the other side, in the civil   
   sense, means leaving behind war, divisions and poverty, and choosing peace,   
   reconciliation, development. But this presupposes a 'passage' that takes place   
   in the conscience, in the attitudes and intentions of the people. And at this   
   level, the contribution of religious communities is decisive. For this reason I   
   met with the Evangelical and the Muslim communities, sharing in prayer and   
   commitment to peace. ... And finally, in the final Mass in the Bangui stadium   
   ... we   
   renewed our commitment to following Jesus, our hope, our peace, the face of   
   Divine Mercy. This final Mass was marvellous: it was full of young people, a   
   stadium full of the young! Half the population of the Central African Republic   
   is less than eighteen year old; a promise for the future".   
    The Pope also spoke about missionaries, "the men and women who left their   
   homeland, when they were young, leading a life of work, at times sleeping on   
   the   
   ground". Francis mentioned that when he was in Bangui he met an Italian   
   religious sister aged 81, who had been in Africa since she was 24, and had come   
   to Bangui from her home in nearby Congo by canoe, accompanied by a child. "This   
   is how missionaries are: brave", he said. She was a nurse who then became a   
   midwife, and had delivered 3,280 babies. "All a life, spent for life, for the   
   life of others. And there are many more like her, many: nuns, priests, men and   
   women religious who spend their life proclaiming Jesus."   
    "I would like to say a word to the young", he concluded. "Think about what you   
   do with your lives. Think about that religious sister and the many others like   
   her, who have given their lives, and so many others like her have died there.   
   Being a missionary is not about proselytism: she told me that Muslim women came   
   to her because they knew that religious sisters were good nurses who cure well,   
   without giving catechesis to convert them! Bearing witness: then offering   
   catechesis to those who want it. Witness is the great heroic missionary act of   
   the Church. Announcing Jesus Christ with your own life. I ask the young: think   
   about what you want to do with your life. It is the moment to think and ask the   
   Lord to let you hear His will. But do not exclude, please, this possibility of   
   becoming a missionary, to take love, humanity and faith to other countries. Not   
   to proselytise: no. Those who do that are seeking something else. Faith is   
   preached first in witness and then in words. Slowly".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope explains the motives and expectations of the Jubilee of Mercy   
    Vatican City, 2 December 2015 (VIS) - The Italian magazine "Credere" today   
   published an interview with Pope Francis ahead of the imminent opening of the   
   Jubilee Year of Mercy, in which the Holy Father explains the motives and   
   expectations of this convocation. The following are extensive extracts from the   
   interview:   
    "The theme of mercy has been strongly accentuated in the life of the Church,   
   starting with Pope Paul VI. John Paul II underlined it firmly with Dives in   
   Misericordia, the canonisation of St. Faustina and the institution of the feast   
   of Divine Mercy on the Octave of Easter. In line with this, I felt that it was   
   as if it was the Lord's wish to show His mercy to humanity. It was not   
   something   
   that came to my mind, but rather the relatively recent renewal of a tradition   
   that has however always existed. ... It is obvious that today's world is in   
   need   
   of mercy and compassion, or rather of the capacity for empathy. We are   
   accustomed to bad news, cruel news and the worst atrocities that offend the   
   name   
   and the life of God. The world needs to discover that God is the Father, that   
   there is mercy, that cruelty is not the way, that condemnation is not the way,   
   because it is the Church herself who at times takes a hard line, and falls into   
   the temptation to follow a hard line and to underline moral rules only; many   
   people are excluded. The image of the Church as a field hospital after a battle   
   comes to mind here: it is the truth, so many people are injured and destroyed!   
   ...   
   I believe that this is the time for mercy. We are all sinners, all of us carry   
   inner burdens. I felt that Jesus wanted to open the door to His heart, that the   
   Father wants to show us his innate mercy, and for this reason he sends us the   
   Spirit. ... It is the year of reconciliation. On the one hand we see the   
   weapons   
   trade ... the murder of innocent people in the cruellest ways possible, the   
   exploitation of people, of children. There is currently a form of sacrilege   
   against humanity, because man is sacred, he is the image of the living God. And   
   the Father says, 'stop and come to me'".   
    In response to the second question on the importance of divine mercy in the   
   life of Pope Francis, who has repeatedly affirmed his awareness of being a   
   sinner, he says:   
    "I am a sinner ... I am sure of this. I am a sinner whom the Lord looked upon   
   with mercy. I am, as I said to detainees in Bolivia, a forgiven man. ... I   
   still   
   make mistakes and commit sins, and I confess every fifteen or twenty days. And   
   if I confess it is because I need to feel that God's mercy is still upon me".   
   Francis recalled that he felt this sensation in a particular way on 21   
   September   
   1953, when he felt the need to enter a church and confess to a priest he did   
   not   
   know, and from then his life was changed; he decided to become a priest and his   
   confessor, who was suffering from leukaemia, accompanied him for a year. "He   
   died the following year", said the Pope. "After the funeral I cried bitterly, I   
   felt totally lost, as if with the fear that God had abandoned me. This was the   
   moment in which I came across God's mercy, and it is closely linked to my   
   episcopal motto: 21 September is the feast day of St. Matthew, and the   
   Venerable   
   Bede, when speaking of the conversion of St. Matthew, says that Jesus looked at   
   him 'miserando atque eligendo'. ... The literal translation would be 'pitying   
   and   
   choosing'".   
    "Can the Jubilee of Mercy be an opportunity to rediscover God's 'maternity'?   
   Is   
   there an almost 'feminine' aspect of the Church that must be valued?" is the   
   third question.   
    "Yes", the Holy Father replies. "God Himself affirms this when He says in the   
   Book of Isaiah that a mother could perhaps forget her child, even a mother can   
   forget, but 'I will never forsake you'. Here we see the maternal dimension of   
   God. Not everyone understands when we speak about God's maternity, it is not   
   part of 'popular' language - in the good sense of the word - and may seem   
   rather   
   elitist; for this reason I prefer to speak about the tenderness, typical of a   
   mother, God's tenderness that comes from his innate paternity. God is both   
   father and mother".   
    In response to a question on whether the discovery of a more merciful and   
   emotional God, Who is moved to tenderness for mankind, should lead to a change   
   of attitude towards others, Francis says: "Discovering this leads us to have a   
   more tolerant, more patient, more tender attitude. In 1994 during the Synod, in   
   a group meeting, I said that it was necessary to begin a revolution of   
   tenderness ... and I continue to say that today the revolution is that of   
   tenderness, because justice derives from this. ... The revolution of   
   tenderness is   
   what we must cultivate today as the fruit of this year of mercy: God's   
   tenderness towards each one of us. Each one of us must say, 'I am a wretch, but   
   God loves me as I am; so, I must love others in the same way'".   
    The journalist recalls St. John XXIII's famous "Sermon to the moon", in which   
   greeting the faithful one night, he told them to give a caress to their   
   children. "This image became an image of the Church's tenderness. In what way   
   does the theme of mercy help our Christian communities to convert and renew   
   themselves?"   
    "When I see the sick, the elderly, the caress comes to me spontaneously. ...   
   The   
   caress is a gesture that can be interpreted ambiguously, but it the first   
   gesture that a mother and father offer a newborn child, this gesture that says   
   'I love you, I wish well to you'".   
    Finally, " is there a gesture you intend to make during the Jubilee to show   
   God's mercy?"   
    "There will be many gestures, but one Friday each month I will make a   
   different   
   gesture", the Holy Father concludes.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 2 December 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:   
    - appointed Msgr. Rodolfo Luis Weber, prelate of Cristalandia, Brazil, as   
   metropolitan archbishop of Passo Fundo (area 12,000, population 550,000,   
   Catholics 436,000, priests 142, religious 543), Brazil.   
    - accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Santo   
   Amaro, Brazil, presented by Bishop Fernando Antonio Figueiredo, O.F.M., upon   
   reaching the age limit. He succeeded by Bishop Giuseppe Negri, P.I.M.E.,   
   coadjutor of the same diocese.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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