Subject: VISnews 120120
Organization: VIS
From: Vatican Information Service - Eng - txt
VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
TWENTY SECOND YEAR - N. 15
ENGLISH
FRIDAY, 20 JANUARY 2012
SUMMARY:
- Priestly Life Requires Ever-Increasing Thirst for Sanctity
- Holy Father Meets with Members of Neo-Catechumenal Way
- Approval for Celebrations of Neo-Catechumenal Way
- Audiences
___________________________________________________________
PRIESTLY LIFE REQUIRES EVER-INCREASING THIRST FOR SANCTITY
VATICAN CITY, 20 JAN 2012 (VIS) - This morning in the Clementine Hall the
Holy Father received seventy professors and students of the diocesan
seminary of Rome, the "Almo Collegio Capranica". Tomorrow the 555 year-old
college will be celebrating the feast of its patroness St Agnes, and it was
on that third-century virgin and martyr that the Holy Father focused his
remarks.
"For St. Agnes martyrdom meant agreeing to spend her young life,
generously and freely, completely and without reserve, so that the Gospel
could be announced as the truth and beauty which illuminates existence. ...
In martyrdom Agnes also confirmed the other decisive element of her life:
her virginity for Christ and the Church. Her path to the compete gift of
self in martyrdom was, in fact, prepared by her informed, free and mature
choice of virginity, testimony of her desire to belong entirely to Christ.
... While still young Agnes had learned that being a disciple of the Lord
means loving Him, even at the cost of one's life".
"Formation for the priesthood likewise requires integrity, maturity,
asceticism, constancy and heroic fidelity in all aspects. All this must be
founded upon a solid spiritual life animated by an intense relationship with
God, as individuals and in the community, with a particular care for
liturgical celebrations and frequent recourse to the Sacraments. Priestly
life requires an ever-increasing thirst for sanctity, a clear 'sensus
Ecclesiae' and an openness to fraternity without exclusion or bias", said
the Holy Father.
"Part of a priest's journey of sanctity is his decision to develop, with
God's help, his own intellect, his own commitment: an authentic and solid
personal culture which is the fruit of constant and impassioned study. Faith
has an indispensable rational and intellectual element. ... Those who also
achieve maturity in this global cultural formation will be more effective
educators and animators of that worship 'in spirit and in truth' about which
Jesus spoke to the woman of Samaria. Such worship ... must become ... a
process whereby man himself, as a being gifted with reason, becomes worship
and glorification of the living God".
"Always maintain a profound sense of the history and traditions of the
Church", the Pope told his audience. "Here you have the opportunity to open
yourselves to an international horizon. ... Learn to understand the
situations of the various countries and Churches of the world. ... Ready
yourselves to approach all the men and women you will meet, ensuring that no
culture is a barrier to the Word of life, which you must announce even with
your lives".
"The Church expects a lot from young priests in the work of evangelisation
and new evangelisation. I encourage you in your daily efforts that, rooted
in the beauty of authentic tradition and profoundly united to Christ, you
may bring Him into your communities with truth and joy".
AC/ VIS
20120120 (490)
HOLY FATHER MEETS WITH MEMBERS OF NEO-CATECHUMENAL WAY
VATICAN CITY, 20 JAN 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience
more than 7,000 members of the Neo-Catechumenal Way. During the course of
the ceremony, the Holy Father sent out seventeen new "ad gentes" missions of
the Way: twelve to Europe, four to America and one to Africa. Each mission
is made up of three or four large families, members of the Neo-Catechumenal
Way who, accompanied by a priest, go to live in an area where Christian
practise has lapsed or where the Gospel has never been announced.
Extracts from the Holy Father's address to the group are given below.
"Over these decades of life of the Way, your firm commitment has been to
proclaim the Gospel of the risen Christ, ... often abandoning personal and
material security. ... Bringing Christ to mankind and mankind to Christ is
what animates all evangelising work. You achieve this on a path which helps
those who have already been baptised to rediscover the beauty of the life of
faith, the joy of being Christian. ... We know that this is not always easy.
Sometimes you find yourselves in places in which a first announcement of the
Gospel is needed: the 'missio ad gentes'. At other times you are present in
areas which, though they have known Christ, have become indifferent to the
faith, areas in which laicism has eclipsed the sense of God and obscured
Christian values. May your commitment and witness be as a leaven which -
patiently, respecting times and with 'sensus Ecclesia' - causes the dough to
rise.
"The Church has recognised in the Way a special gift which the Holy Spirit
has given to our times. The approval of the Statutes and of the
'Catechetical Directory' are a sign of this. I encourage you to make your
original contribution to the cause of the Gospel. In your vital work, always
seek profound communion with the Apostolic See and with the pastors of the
particular Churches of which you are a part. For the world in which we live,
the unity and harmony of the ecclesial body are an important testimony to
Christ and His Gospel".
"You have just listened to the reading of a decree granting approval to
the celebrations contained in the 'Catechetical Directory of the
Neo-Catechumenal Way' which are not strictly liturgical but are part of the
itinerary of growth in the faith. This is a further element showing you that
the Church accompanies you attentively and with patient discernment, that
she understands your richness but also looks to the communion and harmony of
the entire 'Corpus Ecclesiae'. .... The risen Christ is actively present in
the Church's liturgical activity, making the paschal Mystery real and
effective for our salvation today. ... This work of the Lord Jesus, this
entering into the paschal Mystery, which is the true content of the liturgy,
is also the work of the Church which, being His body, is a single entity
with Christ"
"This holds true particularly for the celebration of the Eucharist which,
being the pinnacle of Christian life, is also the key to its rediscovery,
which is also the aim of the neo-catechumenate. As your Statutes say: 'The
Eucharist is essential to the neo-catechumenate which is a post-baptismal
catechumenate, lived in small communities'.
"Precisely in order to foment a renewal of the richness of sacramental
life among people who have distanced themselves from the Church, or who have
not received adequate formation, the members of the Neo-Catechumenal Way can
celebrate the Sunday Eucharist in small communities".
"Celebration in small communities, regulated by the books of the liturgy
which must be accurately followed, and with the particular features approved
in the Statutes of the Way, helps the followers of the Neo-Catechumenal Way
to perceive the grace of being part of Christ's salvific mystery. ... At the
same time the progressive maturity in faith of individuals and small
communities must favour their insertion into the life of the ecclesial
community as a whole, which has its ordinary form in the liturgical
celebrations in parishes, in which and for which the neo-catechumenate is
implemented.
"Yet even during the journey it is important not to separate oneself from
the parish community, and particularly in the celebration of the Eucharist
which is the true place of universal unity, where the Lord embraces us in
our various states of spiritual maturity and unites us in the one bread that
makes us one body".
In conclusion the Holy Father thanked the neo-catechumens for their
expressions of affection and asked them to remember him in their prayers.
AC/ VIS
20120120 (780)
APPROVAL FOR CELEBRATIONS OF NEO-CATECHUMENAL WAY
VATICAN CITY, 20 JAN 2012 (VIS) - The Pontifical Council for the Laity today
published a decree approving the celebrations contained in the Catechetical
Directory of the Neo-Catechumenal Way. The decree is dated 8 January, Feast
of the Baptism of the Lord, and bears the signatures of Cardinal Stanislaw
Rylko and Bishop Josef Clemens, respectively president and secretary of the
council.
The text published today reads: "By a decree of 11 May 2008 the Pontifical
Council for the Laity gave definitive approval to the Statutes of the
Neo-Catechumenal Way. Subsequently, following due consultation with the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, by a decree of 26 December 2010,
the council gave approval to the publication of the Catechetical Directory
as a valid and binding instrument for the catechesis of the Neo-Catechumenal
Way.
"Now, pursuant to articles 131 and 133 paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Apostolic
Constitution 'Pastor Bonus' on the Roman Curia, the Pontifical Council for
the Laity, having received the 'nulla osta' of the Congregation for Divine
Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, grants approval to those
celebrations contained in the Catechetical Directory of the Neo-Catechumenal
Way which are not, by their nature, already regulated by the liturgical
books of the Church".
CON-L/ VIS 20120120
(220)
AUDIENCES
VATICAN CITY, 20 JAN 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience
Archbishop Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the
Evangelisation of Peoples.
AP/ VIS
20120120 (30)
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