VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXVI - # 15   
   DATE 25-01-2016   
      
   Summary:   
   - Spread the joy of the Gospel in the simplicity of life   
   - Holy See Press Office communique: Pope to participate in joint Reformation   
   commemoration   
   - Joint ecumenical commemoration of the Reformation   
   - Angelus: the mission of the Christian community is to evangelise the poor   
   - Cardinal Puljic, Pope's special envoy to Dubrovnik   
   - Audiences   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Spread the joy of the Gospel in the simplicity of life   
    Vatican City, 25 January 2016 (VIS) - "You are preparing to respond to that   
   impulse from the Spirit, to be the 'future of the Church', in accordance with   
   God's heart; not with individual preferences or passing fashions, but as the   
   announcement of the Gospel requires", said the Pope this morning as he received   
   in audience the Pontifical Community of the Lombard Seminary in Rome, in the   
   Clementine Hall. "To prepare oneself well requires not only extensive work, but   
   also an inner conversion, basing daily ministry on the first call of Jesus, and   
   reviving it in the personal relationship with Him, as did the apostle Paul,   
   whose conversion we remember today".   
    The pope went on to mention St. Charles Borromeo, whose life is presented as   
   "a   
   constant movement of conversion, reflecting the image of the Pastor. He   
   identified with this image, and he nurtured it with his life, aware that   
   discourse becomes reality at the price of blood: the sanguinis ministri were   
   for   
   him the true priests. He achieved this image by losing himself in it; he   
   applied   
   all his passion to reproducing it. In this way, the great work of the   
   theologians of the time, the Council of Trent, was carried out by holy pastors   
   like Borromeo".   
    Francis also emphasised that they were the heirs of and witnesses to a great   
   history of sainthood, "rooted in your patrons, the bishops Ambrose and Charles;   
   and in more recent times your alumni have included three Blesseds and three   
   Servants of God. This is the goal to strive for. Often, though, a temptation   
   appears on the way, to be rejected: that of 'normality', of a pastor for whom a   
   'normal' life is enough. This priest then begins to content himself with any   
   attention he receives, judges his ministry on the basis of his successes and   
   gradually goes in search of what he likes, becoming lukewarm and without true   
   interest in others. The 'normality' for us is instead pastoral holiness, the   
   giving of life. If a priest decides merely to become a normal person, he will   
   be   
   a mediocre priest, or worse".   
    "The words of life can be announced only those who make their own life into a   
   constant dialogue with the Word of God, or better, with God who speaks. In   
   these   
   years you have been entrusted with the mission of training in this dialogue of   
   life: the knowledge of the various disciplines you study is not an end in   
   itself, but must instead be made concrete in the conversation of prayer and in   
   the real encounter with people. It is not beneficial to form oneself in a   
   compartmentalised fashion, as prayer, cultural and pastoral ministry are the   
   cornerstones of the same edifice: they must remain steadfast and united to   
   support each other, well cemented together, so that the priests of today and   
   tomorrow will be spiritual men and merciful pastors, unified within by the love   
   of the Lord and able to spread the joy of the Gospel in the simplicity of   
   life".   
    The Pope also remarked that to be a good priest, it is essential to maintain   
   contact and closeness with the bishop. "The characteristic of the diocesan   
   priest is precisely his diocesan nature, and the cornerstone of this is   
   frequent   
   contact with the bishop, in dialogue and discernment with him. A priest who   
   does   
   not maintain a close relationship with his bishop is slowly isolated from the   
   diocesan group and his fruitfulness diminishes, precisely because he does not   
   participate in dialogue with the Father of the Diocese". He concluded by asking   
   those present to "cultivate the beauty of friendship and the art of   
   establishing   
   relations, so as to create a priestly fraternity, made stronger by its   
   particular diversities".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Holy See Press Office communique: Pope to participate in joint Reformation   
   commemoration   
    Vatican City, 25 January 2016 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office today   
   announced   
   that His Holiness Francis intends to participate in a joint ceremony of the   
   Catholic Church and the World Lutheran Federation to commemorate the 500th   
   anniversary of the Reformation, scheduled to take place in Lund, Sweden on   
   Monday 31 October 2016.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Joint ecumenical commemoration of the Reformation   
    Vatican City, 25 January 2016 (VIS) - Pope Francis, Bishop Munib A. Younan and   
   the Rev. Martin Junge, respectively president and general secretary of the   
   World   
   Lutheran Foundation, will preside at a joint commemoration of the Reformation   
   on   
   31 October in Lund, Sweden, according to a press release issued today by the   
   World Lutheran Foundation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian   
   Unity (PCPCU).   
    This event, ahead of the 500 th anniversary of Luther's Reformation in 2017,   
   will highlight the solid ecumenical developments between Catholics and   
   Lutherans   
   and the joint gifts received through dialogue and will include common worship   
   based on the recently published Catholic-Lutheran "Common Prayer" liturgical   
   guide.   
    "The LWF is approaching the Reformation anniversary in a spirit of ecumenical   
   accountability," says LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge. "I'm carried   
   by the profound conviction that by working towards reconciliation between   
   Lutherans and Catholics, we are working towards justice, peace and   
   reconciliation in a world torn apart by conflict and violence."   
    Cardinal Koch, President of the PCPCU explains further: "By concentrating   
   together on the centrality of the question of God and on a Christocentric   
   approach, Lutherans and Catholics will have the possibility of an ecumenical   
   commemoration of the Reformation, not simply in a pragmatic way, but in the   
   deep   
   sense of faith in the crucified and resurrected Christ.   
    The Lund event is part of the reception process of the study document From   
   Conflict to Communion, which was published in 2013, and has since been widely   
   distributed to Lutheran and Catholic communities. The document is the first   
   attempt by both dialogue partners to describe together at international level   
   the history of the Reformation and its intentions.   
    Earlier this year, the LWF and PCPCU sent to LWF member churches and Catholic   
   Bishops' Conferences a jointly prepared "Common Prayer", which is a liturgical   
   guide to help churches commemorate the Reformation anniversary together. It is   
   based on the study document From Conflict to Communion: Lutheran-Catholic   
   Common   
   Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017, and features the themes of   
   thanksgiving, repentance and commitment to common witness with the aim of   
   expressing the gifts of the Reformation and asking forgiveness for the division   
   which followed theological disputes.   
    The year 2017 will also mark 50 years of the international Lutheran-Catholic   
   dialogue, which has yielded notable ecumenical results, of which most   
   significant is the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ).   
   The JDDJ was signed by the LWF and the Catholic Church in 1999, and affirmed by   
   the World Methodist Council in 2006. The declaration nullified centuries' old   
   disputes between Catholics and Lutherans over the basic truths of the doctrine   
   of justification, which was at the centre of the 16th century Reformation.   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)