VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 38   
   DATE 24-02-2016   
      
   Summary:   
   - General audience: mercy and power   
   - Audiences   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    General audience: mercy and power   
    Vatican City, 24 February 2016 (VIS) - Mercy and power were the theme of Pope   
   Francis' catechesis in this week's Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's   
   Square, attended by more than twenty thousand faithful and pilgrims.   
    The Holy Father explained that various passages of the Bible speak about kings   
   and men of power, and also of their arrogance and abuses, demonstrating that   
   "wealth and power can be good and useful for the common good if placed at the   
   service of the poor and of all, with justice and charity. However if, as often   
   occurs, if lived as a privilege, with selfishness and arrogance, they become   
   tools of corruption and death".   
    An example of this unjust privilege is found in the account of the vineyard of   
   Naboth. The king Ahab wishes to acquire it since it was situated adjacent to   
   the   
   royal palace, but Naboth refuses since for Israel the land is God's, and   
   receives His blessing which is handed from generation to generation. Ahab is   
   indignant at receiving this refusal, which he perceives as an offence to his   
   power, undermining his authority. His wife, Jezebel, which also considered   
   royal   
   power to be absolute, decides to eliminate Naboth and makes false witnesses   
   accuse him before the elders and the authorities of having blasphemed and   
   spoken   
   ill of the king, crimes which carried the death penalty. Naboth was executed   
   and   
   the king inherited his vineyard.   
    "Recalling these events, Jesus tells us: 'You know that the rulers of the   
   Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.   
   It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your   
   servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave'. If the   
   dimension of service is lost, power transforms into arrogance and oppression".   
   The story of Naboth, continued the Pope, "is not a story of other times; it is   
   also the story of today, of the powerful who exploit the poor, exploit the   
   people, to have more money. It is the story of human trafficking, of slave   
   labour, of poor people who work illegally and with the minimum salary to enrich   
   the powerful. It is the story of corrupt politicians who want more and more".   
    The episode of Naboth's vineyard teaches us "where the exercise of authority   
   without respect for life or justice and without mercy leads us. And here we see   
   where the thirst for power leads: it becomes avarice, the desire to possess   
   everything". Francis gave the example of the words of the prophet Isaiah, "who   
   was not a communist", when he observed the avidity of the rich landowners who   
   sought to acquire more and more houses and land. "Woe to those who join house   
   to   
   house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to   
   dwell alone in the midst of the land".   
    However, "God is greater than evil, and the dirty games human beings play, and   
   in His mercy He sends the prophet Elijah to help Ahab convert. The king, faced   
   with his sin, is humbled and asks for forgiveness. How good it would be if   
   today's powerful exploiters were to do likewise!", exclaimed Francis. "The Lord   
   accepts his penance, but an innocent man was killed and this inevitably has   
   consequences. Indeed, the evil committed leaves painful traces, and the history   
   of mankind bears the scars".   
    In this case too, mercy shows the path to follow as it is able to cure wounds   
   and change history. "Divine mercy is stronger than the sin of men. It is   
   stronger, this is the example of Ahab! We know its power, when we remember the   
   coming of the Innocent Son of God Who made Himself man to destroy evil with His   
   forgiveness. Jesus Christ is the true king, but His power is completely   
   different. His throne is the cross. He is not a king who kills, but on the   
   contrary gives His life. His approach to all, especially the weakest, defeats   
   solitude and the destiny of death that sin leads to. Jesus Christ, with His   
   closeness and tenderness, leads sinners into the space of grace and   
   forgiveness.   
   And this is God's mercy".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audiences   
    Vatican City, 24 February 2016 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon the Holy Father   
   received in audience Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munchen und   
   Freising,   
   Germany, coordinator of the Council for the Economy.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 24 February 2016 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed Msgr.   
   Zenildo Luiz Pereira da Silva, C.SS.R., as prelate coadjutor bishop of Borba   
   (area 98,650, population 157,900, Catholics 127,600, priests 11, religious 15),   
   Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Linhares, Brazil in 1968, gave his   
   religious vows in 1997 and was ordained a priest in 2001. He has served as   
   parish priest and superior of the Redemptorist vice-province of Amazonia, and   
   is   
   currently parish priest of the cathedral of "Santana e Sao Sebastiao" in the   
   diocese of Coari.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
   For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:   
   www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va   
      
   Copyright (VIS):  the news contained in the services of the Vatican   
   Information Service may be reproduced wholly or partially by quoting   
   the source:  V. I. S. - Vatican Information Service.   
   http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/vis/vis_en.html   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)