Subject: VISnews 110504
Organization: VIS - Ufficio Stampa della Santa Sede
From: Vatican Information Service - Eng - txt
VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
TWENTY FIRST YEAR - N. 83
ENGLISH
WEDNESDAY, 4 MAY 2011
SUMMARY:
- Pope Begins Series of Catecheses on Christian Prayer
- Defend and Promote Right to Freedom of Religion
- Other Pontifical Acts
___________________________________________________________
POPE BEGINS SERIES OF CATECHESES ON CHRISTIAN PRAYER
VATICAN CITY, 4 MAY 2011 (VIS) - Today, Benedict XVI began a series of
catecheses that will focus on the theme of Christian payer.
Addressing the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square, the Pope
explained
that, beginning this Wednesday, "drawing near to Sacred Scripture, the
great
tradition of the Church Fathers, the masters of spirituality, and the
liturgy, we will seek to learn how to live even more intensely our
relationship with the Lord, as if it were a type of "School of Prayer".
"We know", he said, "that prayer should not be overlooked. It is
necessary
to learn how to pray, almost learning this art ever anew. Even those who
are
very advanced in their spiritual lives always feel the need to attend
the
school of Jesus in order to learn how to truly pray".
In this first catechesis, Benedict XVI offered a few examples of
prayer
that were present in ancient cultures, "to highlight how, almost always
and
everywhere, we have turned to God. In ancient Egypt, for example, a
blind
man asking the divinity to return his sight, testifies to something
universally human, which is the pure and simple prayer of someone who is
suffering".
"In those sublime, all-time masterpieces of literature that are the
Greek
tragedies, even today, after 25 centuries, prayers expressing the desire
to
know God and adore His majesty are read, reflected on, and performed".
The Pope emphasized that "every prayer always expresses the truth of
human
creatures, who on the one hand experience a certain weakness and
indigence
and who, therefore, ask assistance from heaven and, on the other, who
are
endowed with an extraordinary dignity because able to prepare themselves
to
receive divine Revelation, discovering themselves capable of entering
into
communion with God".
"Persons of every age pray because they cannot stop asking themselves
the
meaning of their existence, which remains obscure and discouraging if
they
are unable to enter into relationship with the mystery of God and His
plan
for the world. Human life is a mixture of good and evil, of unwarranted
suffering and of joy and beauty that, spontaneously and irresistibly,
move
us to ask God for the inner light and strength to sustain us on earth,
revealing a hope that goes beyond the limits of death".
Benedict XVI concluded, asking that the Lord, "at the beginning of
this
journey in the School of Prayer, enlighten our minds and our hearts so
that
our relationship with Him in prayer be always more intense,
affectionate,
and constant. One more time let us ask Him: 'Lord, hear our prayer'".
AG/ VIS
20110504 (420)
DEFEND AND PROMOTE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF RELIGION
VATICAN CITY, 4 MAY 2011 (VIS) - Today was made public the Pope's
message to
Mary Ann Glendon, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social
Sciences,
and the members of that institution at the closure of their seventeenth
plenary assembly held in Rome from 29 April to 3 May on the theme:
"Universal Rights in a World of Diversity: The Case of Religious
Freedom".
The Holy Father writes that the freedom of religion and of worship
that
suffered the "systematic denial by atheistic regimes of the twentieth
century ... are again under threat from attitudes and ideologies which
would
impede free religious expression. Consequently, the challenge to defend
and
promote the right to freedom of religion and freedom of worship must be
taken up once more in our days".
"Since man enjoys the capacity for a free personal choice in truth,
and
since God expects of man a free response to his call", he writes, "the
right
to religious freedom should be viewed as innate to the fundamental
dignity
of every human person, in keeping with the innate openness of the human
heart to God. In fact, authentic freedom of religion will permit the
human
person to attain fulfillment and will thus contribute to the common good
of
society".
Benedict XVI emphasized that "every state has a sovereign right to
promulgate its own legislation and will express different attitudes to
religion in law. So it is that there are some states which allow broad
religious freedom in our understanding of the term, while others
restrict it
for a variety of reasons, including mistrust for religion itself. The
Holy
See continues to appeal for the recognition of the fundamental human
right
to religious freedom on the part of all states, and calls on them to
respect, and if need be protect, religious minorities who, though bound
by a
different faith from the majority around them, aspire to live with their
fellow citizens peacefully and to participate fully in the civil and
political life of the nation, to the benefit of all".
This afternoon, in the Holy See Press Office, the president of the
academy, Mary Ann Glendon, summarized the plenary's acts of these days,
which focused on four main areas. The first, she said was the "state
coercion and persecution of religious believers"; the second, "state
restrictions upon the religious liberties of religious minorities;
third,
"societal pressure on religious minorities that may or may not be state
sanctioned, but nonetheless curtails the liberties of those minorities",
and
fourth, "the growth of secular fundamentalism in Western counties which
considers religious believers a threat to secular, liberal democratic
politics".
MESS/ VIS
20110504 (430)
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
VATICAN CITY, 4 MAY 2011 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father appointed:
- Archbishop Janusz Bolonek, apostolic nuncio to Bulgaria, as apostolic
nuncio to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
- as members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints: Cardinal
Velasio
De Paolis, C.S., president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of
the
Holy See; Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity; Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the
Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers;
Bishop
Ambrogio Spreafico, of Frosinone-Veroli-Ferentino, Italy; and Archbishop
Santos Abril y Castello, vice-chamberlain of the Apostolic Chamber.
- Archbishop Joseph Augustine Di Noia, O.P., secretary of the
Congregation
for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, as consultor of
the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
- Bishop Dimas Lara Barbosa, auxiliary bishop of SE3o SebastiE3o do
Rio de
Janeiro, as metropolitan archbishop of Campo Grande (area 43,762,
population
2,336,000, Catholics 1,763,000, priests 110, permanent deacons 1,
religious
292), Brazil. He succeeds Archbishop Vitorio Pavanello, S.D.B., whose
resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy
Father
accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
- Fr. Wilson Luis Angotti Filho, of the clergy of the diocese of
Jaboticabal, as auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Belo Horizonte
(area
7,240, population 4,767,000, Catholics 3,411,312, priests 645, religious
2,007), Brazil. The bishop-elect, previously assessor of Commission for
the
Doctrine of the Faith of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil,
was
born in Tarquaritinga, Sao Paulo in 1958 and was ordained a priest in
1982.
- Fr. Julio Endi Akamine, S.A.C., provincial superior of the Sao Paulo
province of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (Pallottines), as
auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Sao Paulo (area 1,645, population
7,511,000, Catholics 5,484,000, priests 858, permanent deacons 50,
religious
2,735), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Garca, Sao Paulo in 1962
and
was ordained a priest in 1988.
- Fr. Jose Aparecido Hergesse, C.R., procurator general of the
Congregation
of Clerics Regular (Theatines) in Rome, Italy, as auxiliary bishop of
VitF3ria (area 7,234, population 3,210,000, Catholics 2,010,000,
priests 138,
religious 264), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Paranapanema, Sao
Paulo
in 1957 and was ordained a priest in 1985.
- Fr. Edgar Aristizabal Quintero, of the clergy of the diocese of
Cartago,
Colombia and Fr. Hugo Alberto Torres Marin, of the clergy of the diocese
of
Santa Rosa de Osos, Colombia, as auxiliary bishops of the archdiocese of
Medellin (area 687, population 3,416,000, Catholics 2,969,000, priests
1,037, permanent deacons 44, religious 4,025), Colombia. Bishop-elect
Aristizabal, previously director of the Department of Doctrine and
Ecumenism
of the Colombian Bishops' Conference, was born in Cartago, Colombia in
1965
and was ordained a priest in 1990. Bishop-elect Torres, previously
rector of
the major seminary of the diocese of Santa Rosa de Osos, was born in
Briceno, Colombia in 1960 and was ordained a priest in 1987.
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