Subject: VISnews 110902
Organization: VIS - Ufficio Stampa della Santa Sede
From: Vatican Information Service - Eng - txt
VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
TWENTY FIRST YEAR - N. 143
ENGLISH
FRIDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 2011
SUMMARY:
- Shared Challenges for Catholics and Orthodox
- Activities of Pope Benedict XVI in August
- Holy See-Related Activity in August
- Audiences
___________________________________________________________
SHARED CHALLENGES FOR CATHOLICS AND ORTHODOX
VATICAN CITY, 2 SEP 2011 (VIS) - Benedict XVI has written a message to
Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting
Christian Unity, for the twelfth Inter-Christian Symposium, which is being
held in the Greek city of Thessaloniki from 30 August to 2 September on the
theme: "The witness of the Church in the modern world". The event has been
promoted by the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality at the "Antonianum"
Pontifical Athenaeum in Rome and by the Orthodox Theological Faculty at the
Aristotle University in Thessaloniki.
Commenting on the choice of theme, the Pope writes: "Over the course of
the centuries the Church has never ceased to proclaim the salvific mystery
of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet today that announcement
needs to be renewed in many of the regions which first accepted it, and
which are currently experiencing the effects of a secularisation capable of
impoverishing the most profound aspects of man".
The Holy Father goes on: "In the modern world we are witnessing two
contradictory phenomena. On the one hand there is a widespread disinterest,
even a lack of sensibility, towards transcendence while, on the other, many
signs suggest that a profound nostalgia for God persists in the hearts of
many, expressing itself in various ways".
The current cultural, social and economic environment "presents the same
challenges to both Catholics and Orthodox. The ideas that emerge from this
symposium will, then, have an important ecumenical impact. ... Reciprocal
understanding of one another's traditions and sincere friendship are, in
themselves, a contribution to the cause of Christian unity".
Finally Benedict XVI, recalling how the city of Thessaloniki is
indissolubly associated with the preaching of the Apostle of the Gentiles,
expresses the hope that the evangelisers of the modern world will be moved
by the same apostolic zeal as St. Paul.
MESS/ VIS
20110902 (320)
ACTIVITIES OF POPE BENEDICT XVI IN AUGUST
VATICAN CITY, 2 SEP 2011 (VIS) - Following is a list of Pope Benedict's
activities during the month of August. It includes the Angelus, general and
private audiences, other pontifical acts, letters, messages, telegrams and
other news. The activities are presented in chronological order under their
respective headings.
ANGELUS
- 31 July: Commenting on the Gospel narrative of the feeding of the
multitude, the Holy Father highlights how Christ "reminds us that we cannot
remain indifferent in the face of those who suffer hunger and thirst, and
calls on us to share our bread with those in need".
- 7 August: The Pope expresses his concern at violence in Syria. He invited
Catholics to pray for peace and calls for peaceful coexistence and respect
for the legitimate aspirations of citizens. He also mentions the conflict in
Libya, exhorting international organisations and people in positions of
political and military authority to relaunch a peace plan for the country.
- 14: Benedict XVI focuses on St. Maximilian Kolbe, who was martyred in the
concentration camp of Auschwitz seventy years ago today. The saint's heroic
love is a sign of the victorious presence of God in the human drama of
hatred, suffering and death.
- 15: The Holy Father explains that today's Solemnity of the Assumption of
the Blessed Virgin represents a mystery of hope and joy for us all, because
Mary is the goal for everyone who follows Jesus.
- 21: At the closing Mass for World Youth Day (WYD) in Madrid, the Pope
prays the Angelus with young people and announces that the next WYD will be
held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2013.
- 28: At the final Angelus of August, Benedict XVI recalls the importance of
taking up our cross to follow Christ, humbly accepting the Word and allowing
ourselves to be transformed internally in order to discern the will of God.
WEDNESDAY GENERAL AUDIENCES
- 3: The Pope invites faithful gathered at the Apostolic Palace of
Castelgandolfo to read the Bible during this holiday period, focusing both
on the Gospel narratives and on less familiar passages.
- 10: Continuing a series of catecheses on the subject of prayer, Benedict
XVI turns his attention to the monasteries, "oases of the spirit" where
mediation is facilitated by silence and by the beauty of creation.
- 17: The Holy Father focuses his catechesis on prayer and on dedicating
time to God, as fundamental elements for spiritual growth.
- 24: Benedict XVI recalls the recent World Youth Day in Madrid, describing
it as a magnificent expression of faith, both for Spain and for the whole
world. He also announces the themes of forthcoming World Youth Days. Next
year, when WYD will be celebrated at the diocesan level, the theme will be
"Joy always in the Lord", while WYD 2013 in Rio de Janeiro will have as its
theme: "Go and make disciples of all nations".
WORLD YOUTH DAY
Between 18 and 21 August the Holy Father made an apostolic trip to Madrid,
Spain, where he presided at the twenty-sixth World Youth Day. Arriving at
the airport of Barajas, he was greeted by the king and queen of Spain as
well as by Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, archbishop of Madrid, by
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and by other ecclesiastical and
civil authorities.
In his remarks during the welcome ceremony, Benedict XVI said that he had
come to Madrid "to motivate the commitment to build up the Kingdom of God in
the world among us. ... The discovery of the living God inspires young
people and opens their eyes to the challenges of the world in which they
live. ... They know that, without God, it would be hard to confront these
challenges and to be truly happy. ... World Youth Day brings us a message of
hope like a pure and youthful breeze, with rejuvenating scents which fill us
with confidence before the future of the Church and the world".
At 7.30 p.m. he went to Plaza de Cibeles where youth from all over the
world were gathered. He greeted them in a number of languages, inviting them
above all "to seek the Truth, which is not an idea or an ideology or a
slogan, but a person: Christ".
On Friday 19 August, after celebrating Mass privately in the chapel of the
apostolic nunciature, Benedict XVI paid a courtesy visit to the monarchs in
the Palacio de la Zarzuela. He then went on to the basilica of San Lorenzo
de El Escorial where he met with thousands of religious from various
congregations, including contemplative orders. "Your lives", he told them,
"must testify to the personal encounter with Christ which has nourished your
consecration, and to all the transforming power of that encounter. This is
all the more important today when we see a certain 'eclipse of God' taking
place, a kind of amnesia which, albeit not an outright rejection of
Christianity, is nonetheless a denial of the treasure of our faith".
At the basilica of San Lorenzo de El Escorial the Pope also had occasion
to meet young academics who were participating in WYD. "The university has
always been, and is always called to be, the 'house' where one seeks the
truth proper to the human person", he told them. "Consequently it was not by
accident that the Church promoted the universities. ... The university thus
embodies an ideal which must not be attenuated or compromised, whether by
ideologies closed to reasoned dialogue or by truckling to a purely
utilitarian and economic conception". Catholic university professors must be
"committed to teaching the faith and making it credible to human reason. And
we do this not simply by our teaching, but by the way we live our faith and
embody it. ... Young people need authentic teachers: persons open to the
fullness of truth".
That evening, having met with Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the Pope
returned to Plaza de Cibeles where he presided at the Way of the Cross.
After the ceremony he addressed the young people present, encouraging them
to help the less fortunate. "You are open to the idea of sharing your lives
with others, so be sure not to pass by on the other side in the face of
human suffering, for it is here that God expects you to give of your very
best: your capacity for love and compassion".
Benedict XVI began Saturday 20 August by hearing confession from a number
of pilgrims in Madrid's Jardines del Buen Retiro. The Jardines were hosting
the Festival of Forgiveness with more than 200 mobile confessionals in which
priests from all over the world were hearing confession from young people.
At 10 a.m. that day the Holy Father presided at a Mass for seminarians in
the cathedral of Santa Maria la Real de la Almudena. The years of
prreparation for the priesthood, said the Pope in his homily, "should be
years of interior silence, of unceasing prayer, of constant study and of
gradual insertion into the pastoral activity and structures of the Church. A
Church which is community and institution, family and mission, the creation
of Christ, ... as well as the result of those of us who shape it through our
holiness and our sins. God, Who does not hesitate to make of the poor and of
sinners His friends and instruments for the redemption of the human race,
willed it so. ... We have to be saints so as not to create a contradiction
between the sign that we are and the reality that we wish to signify".
That afternoon the Pope met with the WYD organising committees at the
apostolic nunciature before going on to visit the Fundacion Instituto San
Jose which serves people with physical and mental disabilities. "These
witnesses", he said in his remarks, "speak to us, first and foremost, of the
dignity of all human life, created in the image of God. No suffering can
efface this divine image imprinted in the depths of our humanity".
At 8.30 p.m. Benedict XVI presided at a prayer vigil with young people at
the airport of Cuatro Vientos. "Be afraid neither of the world, nor of the
future, nor of your weakness", he told them. "The Lord has allowed you to
live in this moment of history so that, by your faith, His name will
continue to resound throughout the world".
On Sunday 21 August, the Holy Father presided at the closing Mass for
World Youth Day. He invited young people to consolidate their faith and to
place Christ at the centre of their lives, bearing witness to Him in all
times and places.
Following an afternoon meeting with WYD volunteers, whom he thanked for
their services, the Pope left Spain calling on young people to spread
throughout the world the profound and joyful experience of faith they had
had in Madrid.
LETTERS, MESSAGES AND TELEGRAMS
- 22: Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. sends a telegram,
in the name of the Holy Father, to participants in the thirty-second
"Meeting for Friendship among Peoples" which is being held in Rimini, Italy,
from 22 to 28 August.
- 23: Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone sends a message, in the name of the Holy
Father, to participants in the forty-second Italian National Liturgical
Week, being held in Trieste from 22 to 26 August.
- 24: Benedict XVI sends a letter to Cardinal Jan Chryzostom Korec S.J.,
bishop emeritus of Nita, Slovakia, for the sixtieth anniversary of his
consecration as bishop.
- 27: Telegrams of condolence to Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the
United Nations and to Goodluck Jonathan, president of Nigeria, for an attack
against a United Nations facility in Abuja which caused scores of deaths and
injuries.
- 27: Publication of three Letters, all dated 2 July, in which the Holy
Father appoints: Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect emeritus of the
Congregation for Bishops, as his special envoy to the twenty-fifth Italian
National Eucharistic Congress, due to take place in the city of Ancona from
3 to 11 September; Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, president emeritus of
the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, as his special envoy to
celebrations marking the millennium of the abbey of Santissima Trinita di
Cava, Italy, due to take place on 4 September, and Cardinal Jozef Tomko,
prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, as
his special envoy to the closing celebrations of the Jubilee year marking
the 600th anniversary of the "Eucharistic miracle of Ludbreg", due to take
place at the shrine of Ludbreg in the diocese of Varazdin, Croatia, on 4
September.
- 27: Telegram of condolence for the death of Cardinal Aloysius Matthew
Ambrozic, archbishop emeritus of Toronto, Canada.
OTHER NEWS
- 9: Concert at the Apostolic Palace of Castelgandolfo in honour of the Holy
Father and his brother Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, to mark the sixtieth
anniversary of their ordination to the priesthood.
- 15: For the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin, the Pope celebrates
Mass and pronounces a homily in the parish church of St. Thomas of Villanova
in Castelgandolfo.
- 28: The Holy Father presides at Mass in the Mariapoli centre of
Castelgandolfo, to mark the close of the traditional summer seminar of his
ex students (the "Ratzinger Schulerkreis"), which this year focused on the
theme of new evangelisation.
- 31: Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci, former director of the Choir of the
Sistine Chapel, offers a concert in honour of the Holy Father at the
Apostolic Palace of Castelgandolfo.
AUDIENCES
- 30 July: The Holy Father receives in audience a delegation from the
municipal council of Traunstein, Germany.
- 13 August: The Holy Father receives in audience Archbishop Robert
Zollitsch of Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, president of the German
Episcopal Conference, accompanied by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of
Munich and Freising, Bishop Franz-Josef Hermann Bode of Osnabruck, and
Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck of Essen.
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
- 4: Appointment of Bishop Stefan Secka, auxiliary of Spis, Slovakia, as
bishop of the same diocese. He succeeds Bishop Frantisek Tondra, whose
resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father
accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
- 6: Appointment of Archbishop Bruno Musaro, apostolic nuncio to Peru, as
apostolic nuncio to Cuba. Appointment of Bishop Salvador Pineiro
Garcia-Calderon, military ordinary for Peru, as archbishop of Ayacucho,
Peru. He succeeds Archbishop Luis Abilio Sebastiani Aguirre S.M., whose
resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father
accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
- 8: Resignation of Bishop Alberto Campos Hernandez O.F.M. from the pastoral
care of the apostolic vicariate of San Jose de Amazonas, Peru, in accordance
with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law. Appointment of Bishop
Miguel Olaortua Laspra O.S.A., apostolic vicar of Iquitos, Peru, as
apostolic administrator "sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis" of the same
apostolic vicariate.
- 11: Resignation of Archbishop Karl Hesse M.S.C. from the pastoral care of
Rabaul, Papua New Guinea. He is succeeded by Coadjutor Archbishop Francesco
Panfilo S.D.B.
- 13: The Holy Father gives his assent to the canonical election carried out
by the Synod of Bishops of the Maronite Church of Msgr. Hanna Alwan M.L.,
prelate auditor of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, and of Fr. Camille
Zaidan, "protosincellus" (vicar general) of the archieparchy of Antelias of
the Maronites, Lebanon, as curial bishops.
- 15: Appointment of Archbishop Joseph Chennoth, apostolic nuncio to
Tanzania, as apostolic nuncio to Japan. Appointment of Bishop Chibly
Langlois of Fort-Liberte, Haiti, as bishop of Les Cayes, Haiti.
- 20: Resignation of Bishop Michael Gower Coleman from the pastoral care of
Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the
Code of Canon Law. Appointment of Fr. James Brendan Deenihan as apostolic
administrator "sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis" of the same diocese.
- 27: Appointment of Bishop Ulises Antonio Gutierrez Reyes of Carora,
Venezuela, as metropolitan archbishop of Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela. He
succeeds Archbishop Medardo Luis Luzardo Romero, whose resignation from the
pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having
reached the age limit. Appointment of Bishop Thierry Brac de la Perriere,
auxiliary of Lyon, France, as bishop of Nevers, France. He succeeds Bishop
Francis Deniau, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese
the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
- 29: Resignation of Cardinal John Patrick Foley from the office of grand
master of the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre of
Jerusalem. Appointment of Archbishop Edwin Frederick O'Brien of Baltimore,
U.S.A. as pro-grand master of the same Order.
- 30: Appointment of Bishop Rafael Zornoza Boy, auxiliary of Getafe, Spain,
as bishop of Cadiz y Ceuta, Spain. He succeeds Bishop Antonio Ceballos
Atienza, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the
Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
BXVI-ACTIVITIES AUGUST/ VIS 20110902 (2500)
HOLY SEE-RELATED ACTIVITY IN AUGUST
VATICAN CITY, 2 SEP 2011 (VIS) - Following is a chronological presentation
of Holy See-related activities for the month of August:
- 2: The Holy See Press Office releases a communique on the controversy
between the Croatian diocese of Porec i Pula, and the Benedictine monastery
of Praglia in Italy. The communique, explaining that the issue is purely
ecclesiastical, refers back to the decision approved by the Pope in December
2010.
.../ VIS
20110902 (80)
AUDIENCES
VATICAN CITY, 2 SEP 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate
audiences eight prelates of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, on
their "ad limina" visit:
- Bishop Lourdes Daniel of Nashik.
- Bishop Thomas Dabre of Poona, accompanied by Bishop emeritus Valerian
D'Souza.
- Archbishop-Bishop Felix Anthony Machado of Vasai.
- Bishop Edwin Colaco of Aurangabad.
- Bishop Thomas Ignatius Macwan of Ahmedabad.
- Bishop Godfrey de Rozario, S.J., of Baroda.
Yesterday afternoon he received in audience Cardinal Joachim Meisner,
archbishop of Cologne, Germany.
AL.AP/ VIS 20110902
(90)
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