in which the rail service contributes to keeping the country united, not only   
   in   
   a geographical sense, but also at a social level". Another important initiative   
   is the Termini Station hostel, dedicated to Don Luigi Di Liegro, founder of   
   Caritas Roma, renovated by the Ferrovie dello Stato in collaboration with   
   Caritas. A structure that welcomes hundreds of visitors on a daily basis, and   
   which is preparing a day service to receive people seeking shelter.   
    "May the Holy Year, which began just a few days ago, teach us this, above all,   
   and impress it in our mind and our heart that mercy is the first and truest   
   medicine for humanity, that every one of us urgently needs. It flows   
   continuously and in superabundance from God, but we must become able to give it   
   in turn, so that each person can live fully his or her humanity. This is what   
   is   
   communicated to us by the Holy Doors, which are opened in all the dioceses of   
   the world in these days. That of the Termini Station Hostel has become the Holy   
   Door of Charity: those who pass through with love will find forgiveness and   
   consolation, and will be driven to give and give themselves with greater   
   generosity, for their salvation and that of their brothers. Let us allow   
   ourselves to be renewed by passing through this spiritual door, so that it   
   marks   
   our inner life. Let us get involved in the Jubilee of Mercy, so as to renew the   
   fabric of all our society, to make it fairer and more fraternal.   
    At the end of the audience the Bishop of Rome referred to the last monograph   
   in   
   the series "L'Italia del Treno", a collection of photographs depicting the   
   Pontiffs' journeys by train, and expressed his hope that "the esteem that links   
   us, of which this day is a sign, may be strengthened during this Holy Year, so   
   that Italy and all the countries of the world may become places of fraternal,   
   more truly human networks, increasingly capable of rejoicing in God's love and   
   mutual communion".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope opens the Holy Door of Charity and repeats that Heaven cannot be   
   bought with money or honours   
    Vatican City, 19 December 2015 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon Pope Francis   
   another   
   Holy Door, that was not however located in a church or cathedral. It was the   
   entrance to the Caritas hostel at Termini Station, Rome, where the frailest   
   members of society receive welcome and assistance. This door, in the hostel   
   named after its founder Don Luigi Di Liegro, is now called the Door of Charity   
   and, passing through it, the Pope entered the refectory dedicated to St. John   
   Paul II, where he was awaited by two hundred men and women, accompanied by the   
   volunteers from the Centre. He celebrated Holy Mass and pronounced a homily in   
   which he reaffirmed that power is not the path of salvation and the Heaven   
   cannot be bought with money.   
    "God comes to save us, and He finds no better way to do so than to walk with   
   us, to make our life His", said Francis."And the moment of choosing the path,   
   He   
   did not choose a great city of a great empire; He did not choose as a mother a   
   princess, a countess, an important person; He did not choose a luxurious   
   mansion. It seems that all of this was done intentionally almost in secret.   
   Mary   
   was a girl aged just sixteen or seventeen, in a remote village in the outskirts   
   of the Roman Empire, that nobody knew of. Joseph was boy who loved her and who   
   wished to marry her, a carpenter who worked for a living. In total simplicity   
   ...   
   And when he repudiated her - because they were engaged, and in such a small   
   village, you know how gossip circulates. All in secret, in spite of slander and   
   gossip. And Joseph realised that she was pregnant, but he was righteous. All   
   hidden, despite the slander and gossip. And the Angel explains the mystery to   
   Joseph: "'This Son that your fiancee carries in her womb is the work of God,   
   the   
   work of the Holy Spirit. When Joseph awoke from his dream, he did what the   
   Angel   
   of the Lord had ordered him to do: he went to Mary and took her as his wife.   
   But   
   all in secret, all humbly. The great cities of the world knew nothing of this.   
   In this way God came in our midst. If you want to find God, seek in in   
   humility,   
   in poverty, look for Him where He is hidden: in those most in need, in the   
   sick,   
   the hungry, the imprisoned".   
    "When Jesus speaks about life, He also tells us know we will be judged. He   
   will   
   not say, come to me because you ... are a benefactor of the Church. ... No.   
   You do   
   not pay your way to Heaven. He will not say, you are very important, you have   
   studied a lot and have many honours, come to Heaven. No. Honours do not open   
   the   
   door to Heaven. What will Jesus say to open to us the door to Heaven? 'For I   
   was   
   hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a   
   stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and   
   you   
   visited me, I was in prison and you came to me'. Jesus is in humility".   
    "Jesus' love is great", the Pope exclaimed. "Therefore today as I open this   
   door, I would like the Holy Spirit to open the heart of all Romans, and let   
   them   
   see the way to salvation! It is not luxury, it is not the way of great riches,   
   it is not the route of power. It is the road of humility. The poorest, the   
   sick,   
   the imprisoned - Jesus says even more - the greatest sinners, if they repent,   
   will precede us in Heaven. They have the key. He who acts in charity is the one   
   who allows himself to be embraced by God's mercy".   
    "Today we open this Door and we ask for two things. First, that the Lord open   
   the door of our heart. We are all in need of this as we are all sinners; we all   
   need to hear the Word of the Lord. ... Second, may the Lord help us understand   
   that the path of presumptuousness, the road of wealth, the road of vanity, the   
   road of pride, are not roads to salvation. May the Lord let us understand that   
   in His caress as a Father, there is His mercy, His forgiveness, and when we   
   draw   
   close to those who suffer, those who are discarded by society: there we find   
   Jesus. This Door, that is the Door of Charity, the Door where may people are   
   helped, many who are discarded, shows us that it would be good if all of us,   
   all   
   Romans, to know what it means to be discarded, and to feel the need for God's   
   help. Today let us pray for Rome, for all the inhabitants of Rome, starting   
   with   
   me, that the Lord may give us the grace to feel discarded, that we have no   
   worth; only He can give us mercy and grace. To approach that grace we must draw   
   closer to the rejected, the poor, those who are most in need, because it is on   
   this closeness that we will be judged".   
    May the Lord today, opening this door, give this grace to all of Rome, to   
   every   
   inhabitant of Rome, so as to move forward in that embrace of mercy, in which   
   the   
   father takes his wounded son, but the wounded one is the father: God is wounded   
   by love, and for this reason He is able to save all of us. May the Lord grant   
   us   
   this grace".   
    After the Mass, the Pope greeted the participants and commented that Christmas   
   is drawing hear and the Lord is now close. "But when he was born, in that   
   manger, no-one realised that He was God. This Christmas, I would like the Lord   
   to be born in the heart of every one of us ... hidden, as if nobody knew it,   
   but   
   He was there. This is what I would like, this close of the Lord. Pray for me,   
   and I will pray for you".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audiences   
    Vatican City, 21 December 2015 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in   
   audience Bishop Vincenzo Pisanello of Oria, Italy.   
    On Saturday 19 December the Holy Father received in audience:   
    - Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops;   
    - Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, apostolic nuncio in India and Nepal;   
    - Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, apostolic nuncio in the Federal Republic of   
   Germany.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 21 December 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed:   
    - Stefano D'Agostini, Italy, technical head of the Vatican Television (CTV),   
   as   
   director of the CTV. - Gregory Burke, communications adviser at the Secretariat   
   of State, as deputy director of the Holy See Press Office.   
    On Sunday 20 December, the Holy Father accepted the resignation from the   
   office   
   of auxiliary of the diocese of Orange, United States of America, presented by   
   Bishop Dominic Mai Luong upon reaching the age limit.   
    On Saturday 19 December the Holy Father appointed:   
    - Fr. Joseph Raja Rao Thelegathoti, S.M.M., as bishop of Vijayawada (area   
   8,374, population 5,898,011, Catholics 283,062, priests 229, 1,132 religious),   
   India. The bishop-elect was born in Peddautapally, India in 1952, gave his   
   religious vows in 1980 and was ordained a priest in the same year. He holds a   
   licentiate in biblical theology from the Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram in Bangalore,   
   India and a doctorate in spiritual theology from the Pontifical Gregorian   
   University, Rome. He has served in a number of roles, including rector of the   
   minor seminary and of the Montfort Theologate in Bangalore, provincial   
   counsellor, provincial superior, deputy president of the Conference of   
   Religious   
   of India, director of the Anugraha Institute for Poor Girls, director of the   
   Montfort Marian Centre, Bangalore, and procurator general and postulator of the   
   Congregation of Montfort Fathers in Rome. He is currently provincial of his   
   congregation in Rome.   
    - Msgr. Leszek Leszkiewicz as auxiliary of Tarnow (area 7,566, population   
   1,097,479, Catholics 1.091,829, priests 1,455, religious 1.145), Poland. The   
   bishop-elect was born in Gorlice, Poland in 1970 and was ordained a priest in   
   1996. He holds a licentiate in missiology from the Pontifical Urbanian   
   University in Rome, and has served in a number of roles including parish vicar,   
   missionary in Ecuador, deputy director of the department for missions of the   
   diocese of Tarnow, and prefect of discipline in the major seminary of Tarnow.   
   He   
   is currently vicar forane and pastor of the parish of St. Nicholas, and   
   custodian of the shrine to the Blessed Virgin in Bochnia.   
    - Cardinal Vinko Puljic, archbishop of Vrhbosna, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as   
   his   
   special envoy to the celebrations to be held on 3 February 2016 to commemorate   
   the 17th centenary of the martyrdom of St. Blaise, patron of the diocese of   
   Dubrovnik, Croatia, and the 600th anniversary of the abolition of slavery by   
   the   
   Republic of Ragusa.   
    - Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the Pontifical Council for Health   
   Care Workers (for Health Pastoral Care) as his special envoy to the celebration   
   of the 24th World Day of the Sick, to be held in Nazareth on 11 February 2016.   
    - Msgr. Paul Tighe, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social   
   Communications, as adjunct secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture,   
   elevating him to the dignity of bishop.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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