effective and distribute the weight evenly. This is why we need to focus firmly   
   and unreservedly on negotiations".   
    "At the same time." he added, "I have hopefully welcomed the news about the   
   cessation of hostilities in Syria and I invite all to pray so that this window   
   of opportunity can give relief to those suffering , encouraging the necessary   
   humanitarian aid and opening the way to dialogue and a much desired peace".   
    Pope Francis also expressed his nearness to the people of Fiji, hard hit by a   
   devastating cyclone. "I pray for the victims and for those who are committed to   
   relief operations". Before leaving, the pontiff recalled that today marks "Rare   
   Disease Day" and directed his special prayers and encouragement to all   
   associations that offer help in this area.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Pope Francis receives president of the Argentine Republic   
    Vatican City, 27 February 2016 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican Apostolic   
   Palace, Pope Francis received in audience Mauricio Macri, president of the   
   Argentine Republic, who subsequently met with Cardinal Secretary of State   
   Pietro   
   Parolin, accompanied by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for   
   Relations with States.   
    During the cordial discussions, which demonstrated the good bilateral   
   relations   
   between the Holy See and the Argentine Republic, themes of common interest were   
   considered, such as assistance for integral development, respect for human   
   rights, the fight against poverty and drug trafficking, justice, peace and   
   social reconciliation. In this context, the positive contribution of the   
   episcopate and Catholic institutions in Argentine society was reiterated,   
   especially in the fields of human promotion and the formation of the new   
   generations, and particularly in the current economic climate.   
    Finally, reference was made to various issues of broader significance and   
   interest at regional and global levels.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Pope to businesspeople: seek a new humanism of work   
    Vatican City, 27 February 2016 (VIS) - This morning in the Paul VI Hall Pope   
   Francis received in audience seven thousand Italian members of Confindustria   
   (the General Confederation of Italian Industry). It was the first encounter in   
   the Vatican in the history of the association, and took place within the   
   context   
   of the Jubilee Year of Mercy. The Holy Father observed that with this meeting,   
   the men and women of Italian business confirm their commitment to contributing   
   to a more just society, to reflecting together on the ethics of business, and   
   to   
   strengthening their attention to values, the "spinal column" of projects that   
   offer a concrete alternative to the consumerist model of profit at any cost.   
    The theme "working together" inspires collaboration, sharing and preparing the   
   way for relations regulated by a sense of joint responsibility. "In the complex   
   world of business, working together means investing in projects able to involve   
   those who are often forgotten or neglected, especially families. ... And,   
   alongside them, we cannot forget the weakest and most marginalised categories,   
   such as the elderly, who may still have the resources and energy for active   
   collaboration, but are too often discarded as useless and unproductive. Then   
   there are potential workers, especially the young who, imprisoned by   
   uncertainty   
   or long periods of unemployment, do not receive offers of work providing them   
   with not only an honest salary but also the dignity that they are often   
   deprived   
   of".   
    Working together means "basing work not on the solitary genius of an   
   individual, but on the collaboration of many. It means, in other words,   
   building   
   a network to bring to the fore the gifts of all, without however neglecting the   
   unique qualities of each person. At the centre of every business, therefore, is   
   the person: not abstract, ideal or theoretical, but a real person with dreams,   
   needs, hopes and hardships. ... Faced with the many barriers of injustice,   
   solitude, distrust and suspicion that continue to be built in our times, the   
   world of work, in which you are on the front line, is required to take   
   courageous steps so that encountering each other and working together is not   
   merely a slogan, but rather a plan for the present and the future".   
    The Holy Father reminded those present of their "noble vocation, directed to   
   producing wealth and improving our world", for which they are called to be   
   builders of the common good and promoters of a "new humanism of work".   
    "You are called to safeguard professionalism, and at the same time to pay   
   attention to the conditions in which work is carried out", he said. "May you   
   always be guided by justice, which refuses the shortcuts of favouritism, and   
   the   
   dangerous deviations of dishonesty and easy compromise. May the supreme law   
   always be attention to the dignity of others, an absolute and indispensable   
   value. May this aim of altruism always distinguish your work: it will lead you   
   to refuse categorically the infringement of the dignity of the person in the   
   name of productive demands, which mask individualistic short-sightedness, sad   
   selfishness and thirst for profit".   
    The Pope concluded by urging the members of Confindustria to represent,   
   instead, a business open to the "broader meaning of life", allowing them "truly   
   to serve the common good, by striving to increase the goods of this world and   
   to   
   make them more accessible to all", so that it is "not insensitive to the gaze   
   of   
   those in need. This is truly possible, provided that the simple proclamation of   
   economic freedom does not prevail over the real freedom of man and his rights,   
   that the market is not absolute, but rather honours the needs of justice and,   
   in   
   the final analysis, of the dignity of the person. There is no freedom without   
   justice and no justice without respect for the dignity of every person".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Friday of Mercy: Pope pays surprise visit to San Carlo drug rehabilitation   
   community   
    Vatican City, 27 February 2016 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon the Pope paid a   
   surprise visit to the San Carlo rehabilitation centre, near Castel Gandolfo,   
   which belongs to the Italian Solidarity Centre, founded by Fr. Mario Picchi to   
   prevent and combat exclusion, especially of those affected by drug abuse. The   
   visit forms part of the Holy Father's "Friday of mercy" programme, in which he   
   performs one of the corporal or spiritual works of mercy every Friday   
   throughout   
   the Jubilee Year of Mercy.   
    The San Carlo Community houses 55 people, mostly young, following a   
   rehabilitation programme to free themselves from drug dependency. Francis'   
   visit   
   was unannounced and was a great surprise to all present. He spoke to the guests   
   and staff, listened to their stories and expressed his closeness, urging them   
   not to let themselves be devoured by the "metastasis" of drugs. He embraced   
   them   
   and explained that the path they have undertaken in the centre will offer them   
   a   
   real possibility of starting a new life worthy of a human being. Francis   
   emphasised the need always to trust in the strength of mercy that continues to   
   sustain our pilgrimage and, accompanying us even in our darkest hours, lets us   
   feel the warmth of His presence and clothes man in dignity.   
    Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting   
   New Evangelisation, linked this "Friday of Mercy" to the Pope's recent trip to   
   Mexico, characterised by his strong and unequivocal condemnation of drug   
   trafficking. "It worries me greatly that, seduced by the empty power of the   
   world, they exalt chimeras and don their macabre symbols to trade in death.   
   ... I   
   implore you not to underestimate the ethical and anti-civic challenge that drug   
   trafficking represents for young people and for society as a whole, including   
   the Church", said Francis during the trip.   
    Just a few days after his return to Rome, added Archbishop Fisichella, the   
   Pope   
   has given a visible and concrete sign of the affirmation he made in the   
   Cathedral of Mexico City regarding the need for pastors of the Church not to   
   seek refuge in generic condemnations, but rather to reach out to the human and   
   existential peripheries of the cities and to involve families, schools,   
   institutions, the political community and the forces of order in a serious   
   pastoral project aiming at the prevention of a phenomenon that destroys many   
   lives.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    IX World Day of Rare Diseases: Message of Pontifical Council for Health   
   Pastoral Care   
    Vatican City, 29 February 2016 (VIS) - Today marks the IX World Day of Rare   
   Diseases. On the occasion, Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the   
   Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers (for Health Pastoral Care) wrote a   
   message entitled "The Patient's Voice at the Centre. Join Us in Making the   
   Voice   
   of Rare Diseases Heard". It emphasises how, for years, this dicastery has   
   closely followed the various initiatives for those affected by such diseases,   
   as   
   well as focusing on their families, who are sometimes the only ones who give   
   voice to a problem that should not be ignored by the various civil, scientific,   
   and pastoral agencies.   
    "This global initiative", the prelate explained, "which aims to give proper   
   emphasis to these diseases and to increase knowledge, also finds growing   
   interest in the Church, so that those who, although suffering from diseases   
   whose incidence is minimal or rare numerically, are not abandoned or isolated.   
   They certainly cannot leave us indifferent. Indeed, their condition, as the   
   theme chosen for this 9th day indicates, cannot but find echo in our hearts and   
   in appropriate research and care".   
    "In particular", he specified, "this means making these persons more and more   
   the protagonists, equipped with the necessary reference points and, at the same   
   time, raising the awareness of the competent authorities, health professionals,   
   pharmaceutical industry, and anyone who has a sincere interest in rare   
   diseases.   
   All in order to break the curtain of silence or exclusivity that is likely, in   
   many cases, to hide a problem that, however, concerns the whole of society".   
    "The Church also feels involved in this commitment, constantly spurred by Pope   
   Francis to grow and walk in solidarity. ... By means of this dicastery, the   
   Church, as the voice that can from many places have the leverage to achieve the   
   common good and justice in the social and health care field, intends to bring   
   the attention of its pastoral outreach in the area of rare and neglected   
   diseases - defined as diseases that particularly call for solidarity - to this   
   area and to the various scientific research institutions".   
    "This ecclesial attention will have a specific expression at the next   
   international conference organized by the Pontifical Council for Health Care   
   Workers, which will take place at the Vatican from 10 to 12 November, 2016.   
   This   
   initiative, almost at the conclusion of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy,   
   will   
   be a further occasion for highlighting the work of corporal mercy that is   
   assistance to the sick. It will be a sign of solidarity with persons affected   
   by   
   rare diseases as well as with the poor and vulnerable populations marked by   
   neglected diseases, who usually live in the most remote rural areas of the   
   world".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audiences   
    Vatican City, 29 February 2016 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father met separately   
   with:   
    - three prelates from the Puerto Rican Episcopal Conference: Archbishop   
   Roberto   
   Octavio Gonzalez Nieves, O.F.M., of San Juan de Puerto Rico, president,   
   accompanied by Bishop Alvaro Corrada del Rio, S.J., of Tyler, vice president,   
   and by Bishop Eusebio Ramos Morales of Fajardo-Humacao, secretary general.   
    - Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington, USA,   
    - Bishop Paul Tighe, adjunct secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture   
   with members of his family, and   
    - Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy.   
    On Saturday 27 February the Holy Father received in audience:   
    - Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, and   
    - Bishop Carlos Jose Tissera of Quilmes, Argentina.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 27 February 2016 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father appointed:   
    - Cardinal Francesco Monterisi, archpriest emeritus of the Papal Basilica of   
   St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, as his special envoy to the concluding celebration   
   of the Innocentian Year, commemorating the fourth centenary of the birth of   
   Pope   
   Innocent XII, to be held in Spinazzola, Italy on 13 March.   
    - Msgr. Maurizio Bravi, nunciature counsellor, as Holy See Permanent Observer   
   at the World Tourism Organisation.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Notice to VIS subscribers   
    Vatican City, 29 February 2016 (VIS) - From tomorrow, Tuesday 1 March 2016,   
   the   
   Vatican Information Service newsletter will not be transmitted. Below is the   
   link via which the web page including a synthesis in English of the official   
   Holy See Press Office Bulletin may be consulted.   
      
   http://press.vatican.va/salastampa/en/bollettino.html   
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
   For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:   
   www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va   
      
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