Subject: VISnews 110325
Organization: VIS - Ufficio Stampa della Santa Sede
From: Vatican Information Service - Eng - txt
VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
TWENTY FIRST YEAR - N. 58
ENGLISH
FRIDAY, 25 MARCH 2011
SUMMARY:
- Holy Father Receives Prelates of Syro-Malankar Church
- The Pedagogical Value of Confession
- Pope Writes to the New Maronite Patriarch
- Audiences
- Other Pontifical Acts
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HOLY FATHER RECEIVES PRELATES OF SYRO-MALANKAR CHURCH
VATICAN CITY, 25 MAR 2011 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican the Holy
Father received prelates of the Syro-Malankar Church, who have just
completed their five-yearly "ad limina" visit.
"The apostolic traditions which you maintain enjoy their full spiritual
fruitfulness when they are lived in union with the Church universal", said
the Pope in his English-language remarks. "In this sense, you rightly follow
in the footsteps of the Servant of God Mar Ivanios, who led your
predecessors and their faithful into full communion with the Catholic
Church. Like your forefathers, you too are called, within the one household
of God, to continue in firm fidelity to that which has been passed down to
you".
"The deposit of faith handed down from the Apostles and faithfully
transmitted to our times is a precious gift from the Lord", said the Holy
Father, noting that "due to its ancient roots and distinguished history,
Christianity in India has long made its proper contribution to culture and
society, and to its religious and spiritual expressions. It is through a
determination to live the Gospel ... that those whom you serve will make a
more effective contribution to the entire body of Christ and to Indian
society, to the benefit of all. May your people continue to flourish by the
preaching of God's word and by the promotion of a fellowship based on the
love of God".
Benedict then turned to consider the challenges facing the prelates in
their work, especially the shortage of parish priests. In this context he
encouraged them not to lose heart because "small Christian communities have
often, as you know, given outstanding witness in the history of the Church.
... It is this divine presence which must remain at the centre of your
people's life, faith and witness, and which you their pastors are called to
watch over so that, even if they must live far from their community, they
will not live far from Christ".
"One of the ways in which you exercise your role as teachers of the faith
to the Christian community", the Pope concluded his remarks to the bishops,
"is through catechetical and faith formation programmes. ... Since
'instruction should be based on Holy Scripture, Tradition, liturgy, and on
the teaching authority and life of the Church', I am pleased to note the
variety and number of programmes that you currently employ. Along with the
celebration of the Sacraments, such programmes will help ensure that those
in your care will always be able to give an account of the hope which is
theirs in Christ".
AL/ VIS
20110325 (440)
THE PEDAGOGICAL VALUE OF CONFESSION
VATICAN CITY, 25 MAR 2011 (VIS) - This morning Benedict XVI received
participants in an annual course on the "internal forum" organised by the
Apostolic Penitentiary. The penitentiary is presided by Cardinal Fortunato
Baldelli and its regent is Bishop Gianfranco Girotti O.F.M. Conv.
In his address to the participants the Holy Father spoke of the
"pedagogical value of sacramental Confession" for both priests and for the
penitents themselves.
On the subject of priests he said: "The priestly mission represents a
unique observation point from which we are daily granted the privilege of
contemplating the splendour of divine mercy. ... By administering the
Sacrament of Penance we can receive profound lessons of humility and faith.
For each priest, this is a powerful call to an awareness of his own
identity. Never could we hear the confessions of our brothers and sisters
merely on the strength of our own humanity. If they come to us it is only
because we are priests, configured to Christ, the Supreme and Eternal
Priest, and granted the capacity of acting in His Name and Person, so as to
make present the God Who forgives, renews and transforms.
"The celebration of the Sacrament of Penance has a pedagogical value for
the priest, which concerns his faith, the truth and poverty of his person;
and it nourishes in him an awareness of his sacramental identity", the Pope
added.
"Sacramental reconciliation is certainly one of the moments in which
individual freedom and self-awareness are called to express themselves
particularly clearly", he went on. "It is perhaps for this reason too that,
in an age of relativism and of the consequent reduced awareness of self, the
practice of this Sacrament should also have diminished. The examination of
conscience has an important educational value. it teaches us to look
sincerely at our own lives, to compare them with the truth of the Gospel and
to evaluate them with parameters that are not only human but drawn from
divine Revelation. Comparison with the Commandments, with the Beatitudes,
and above all with the Precept to love, represents the first great 'school
of penance'", he said.
"Dear priests", the Holy Father concluded, "do not fail to give
appropriate space to exercising the ministry of Penance in the confessional.
To be welcomed and heard is also a human sign of God's welcome and goodness
towards His children. Integral confession of sin also helps penitents to be
humble, to recognise their own fragility and, at the same time, to achieve
an awareness of the need for God's forgiveness and the belief that divine
Grace can transform life".
AC/ VIS
20110325 (440)
POPE WRITES TO THE NEW MARONITE PATRIARCH
VATICAN CITY, 25 MAR 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father has granted the
"Ecclesiastica Communio" requested of him in accordance with canon 76 para.
2 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches by His Beatitude Bechara
Rai, canonically elected as Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites by the
Synod of Bishops of the Maronite Church meeting in Bkerke, Lebanon, on 15
March.
For the occasion, Benedict XVI has also written a Letter to the new
patriarch in which he says: "May the Blessed Mother of God, Our Lady of
Lebanon, the Virgin of the Annunciation whose name you bear make you a
messenger of unity, so that the Lebanese nation (thanks also to all the
religious communities present in your country and to their ecumenical and
inter-religious dynamism) may accomplish her mission of solidarity and
peace, in the East and in the entire world".
.../ VIS
20110325 (160)
AUDIENCES
VATICAN CITY, 25 MAR 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate
audiences:
- Bishop Vincent Paulos Kulapuravilai of Marthandom of the Syro-Malankars,
India, on his "ad limina" visit.
- Bishop Joshua Ignathios Kizhakkeveettil of Mavelikara of the
Syro-Malankars, India, on his "ad limina" visit.
- Bishop Yoohanon Chrysostom Kalloor of Pathanamthitta of the
Syro-Malankars, India, on his "ad limina" visit.
- Bishop Thomas Naickamparampil, apostolic exarch of the apostolic
exarchate for Syro-Malankar faithful in the United States of America, and
apostolic visitor for Syro-Malankar faithful in Canada and Europe.
This evening he is scheduled to receive in audience Cardinal William
Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
AL:AP/ VIS 20110325
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
VATICAN CITY, 25 MAR 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father:
- Appointed Bishop Valter Dario Maggi, auxiliary of Guayaquil, Ecuador, as
bishop of Ibarra (area 4,986, population 347,000, Catholics 332,800, priests
101, permanent deacons 1, religious 263), Ecuador. He succeeds Bishop Julio
Cesar Teran Datari, S.J., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the
same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
- Appointed Bishop Vincenzo Bertolone, S.d.P. of Cassano allo Jonio, Italy,
as metropolitan archbishop of Catanzaro-Squillace (area 1,806, population
248,000, Catholics 244,300, priests 182, permanent deacons 17, religious
212), Italy. The archbishop-elect was born in San Biagio Platani, Italy in
1946, he was ordained a priest in 1975 and consecrated a bishop in 2007. He
succeeds Archbishop Antonio Ciliberti, whose resignation from the pastoral
care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the
age limit.
- Appointed Fr. Paul Sueo Hamaguchi, pastor of the cathedral church of
Takamatsu, Japan, as bishop of Oita (area 14,071, population 2,376,414,
Catholics 6,288, priests 50, religious 228), Japan. The bishop-elect was
born in Higashi Shutsu, Japan in 1948 and ordained a priest in 1975.
- Appointed John Eijro Suwa of the clergy of Osaka, Japan, moderator and
pastor of the pastoral zone of Kochi Takamatsu, as bishop of Takamatsu (area
18,903, population 4,031,481, Catholics 5,100, priests 46, religious 84),
Japan. The bishop-elect was born in Kobe, Japan in 1947 and ordained a
priest in 1976. He succeeds Bishop Francis Xavier Osamu Mizobe, S.D.B.,
whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father
accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
- Granted the confirmation requested of him in accordance with canon 153 of
the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches by Archbishop Sviatoslav
Schevchuk, canonically elected as major archbishop of Kyiv-Halyc, Ukraine,
by the Synod of Bishops of the Greek-Catholic Ukrainian Church meeting in
Lviv, Ukraine, on 23 March.
NER:RE/ VIS 20110325
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