hope. This occurs because death concerns humanity today exactly as it did
then; and even if many things from the past have become foreign to us, death
has remained the same”.
“But how can we Christians respond to the question of death? We
respond with our faith in God, with a firm hope based on the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thus death opens the way to life, eternal life,
which is not infinite
repetition of the present, but something completely new. Faith tells us that
the true immortality to which we aspire is not an idea, a concept,
Subject: VISnews121105
From: Vatican Information Service - Eng - txt
but rather a relationship of full communion with the living God: it means
abiding in His hands, in His love,
and in Him becoming at one with all our brothers and sisters whom He created
and redeemed. ... This is life which reaches fullness in God; a life that we
can now only glimpse just as we catch sight of a clear sky through the
fog”.
“The pastors we remember today served the Church with faith and love,
at times facing difficult challenges in order to ensure the flock entrusted to
their care received the necessary care and attention. In the variety of their
respective gifts
and tasks, they showed perseverance and vigilance, wisdom and zealous
dedication to the Kingdom of God, offering a valuable contribution in the
period following Vatican Council II, a time of renewal throughout the
Church”.
The Eucharistic banquet they attended, first as the faithful and then,
daily, as ministers, foretells most eloquently what the Lord promised in the
Sermon on the Mount: the possession of the Kingdom of Heaven, participation in
the banquet of the
heavenly Jerusalem. Let us pray that this might be accomplished for everyone.
Our prayer is nourished by the firm hope that 'does not disappoint', because
it is guaranteed by Christ Who chose to experience death in order to triumph
over it through the
prodigious event of the Resurrection”.
___________________________________________________________
CARDINAL MURPHY-O'CONNOR, SPECIAL ENVOY TO DHAKA
Vatican City, 3 November 2012 (VIS) – Made public today was the
letter – written in Latin and dated 12 October – in which the Holy
Father appoints Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, archbishop emeritus of
Westminster, England as his
special envoy to celebrations marking the 125th anniversary of the archdiocese
of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and the fourth centenary of the evangelisation of the
Bengal territory, which will be celebrated on 9 and 10 November.
The cardinal will be accompanied by a mission composed of Fr. Abel B.
Rozarios and Fr. Adam Pereira C.S.C.
___________________________________________________________
BENEDICT XVI PRAYS FOR DECEASED POPES
Vatican City, 3 November 2012 (VIS) – Yesterday afternoon, as is
traditional on All Souls' Day, the Holy Father went down to the Vatican
Grottoes to pray privately for the Popes buried there, and for all
deceased.
___________________________________________________________
THE POPE SPEAKS OF THE DYNAMISM OF COMMUNION WITH THE SAINTS
Vatican City, 1 November 2012 (VIS) – The Solemnity of All Saints
encourages us to reflect “on the dual horizon of humanity, symbolically
expressed in the words 'earth' and 'heaven': the earth represents the path of
history, while heaven
represents eternity, the fullness of life in God”, said the Pope to the
faithful gathered in St Peter's Square at midday to pray the Angelus.
“This feast reminds us of the Church in its dual dimension: the
Church on its journey through time and the Church which celebrates an eternal
feast, the heavenly Jerusalem. These two dimensions are united by the
'communion of saints', which
begins here on earth and is completed in heaven. On earth, the Church
represents the beginning of this mystery of communion which unites humanity, a
mystery centred entirely upon Jesus Christ: it was He Who introduced this new
dynamism into humankind, a
movement that brings us towards God, and at the same time towards unity,
towards profound peace. ... Being Christian, belonging to the Church, means
opening to this communion, just as a seed opens within the earth, dying and
germinating, reaching up
towards heaven”.
The saints – those proclaimed as such by the Church, but also all
those known only to God, whom we also celebrate today – have experienced
this dynamism intensely. Christ presented Himself to each one of them in a
very personal way,
thanks to His Spirit which works through the Word and the Sacraments. Indeed,
being united with Christ in the Church, does not nullify personality, but
rather opens it out and transforms it through the force of love, giving it an
eternal dimension,
already here on earth. In essence, it means conforming to the image of the Son
of God, fulfilling the plan of God Who created man in His image and likeness.
But entering into Christ also opens us to communion with other members of the
mystic Body that
is the Church, a communion that is perfect in 'heaven' where there is no
isolation, competition or separation”.
In the saints we see “the victory of love over egoism and death: we
see that following Christ leads to life, to eternal life, and gives meaning to
the present, ... filling it with love and hope. Only faith in eternal life can
enable us to love
history and the present, but without attachment, with the freedom of the
pilgrim who loves the earth because his heart belongs to heaven. May the
Virgin Mary give us the grace to believe firmly in eternal life and to enter
into true communion with our
beloved deceased”.
___________________________________________________________
THE SISTINE CHAPEL: A STORY OF LIGHT AND SALVATION
Vatican City, 31 October 2012 (VIS) – This afternoon Benedict XVI
presided at the first Vespers of the Solemnity of All Saints in the Sistine
Chapel. The ceremony was intended to repeat a gesture of Pope Julius II who,
on this day in 1512,
inaugurated the chapel following the completion of the ceiling decoration by
Michelangelo.
"Why", the Pope asked, "are we recalling this artistic-historical event
with a liturgical celebration? Firstly, because the Sistine Chapel is, by its
nature, a place of liturgy, the 'Cappella magna' of the Vatican Apostolic
Palace. Furthermore,
because the works of art that decorate it, especially the cycle of frescoes,
find in the liturgy their living environment, the context in which they best
express all their beauty, their richness and their fullness of meaning.
… In brief, the
Sistine Chapel, contemplated in prayer, becomes even more beautiful, more
authentic; it is revealed in all its richness”.
Referring to Giorgio Vasari, who defined the Sistine Chapel as the light of
art that illuminates the world, the Pope noted that "the light comes not only
from the skilful use of colour, or from the movement that animates
Michelangelo's masterpiece,
but from the idea that permeates the great vault: it is the light of God which
illuminates these frescoes, and indeed the entire chapel; … that light
whose power conquers chaos and obscurity, bringing light through creation and
redemption. The
Sistine Chapel narrates this story of light, of liberation, of salvation; it
speaks of God's relationship with humanity.
"With Michelangelo's work of genius, our gaze is drawn to the message of
the Prophets, to the pagan Sybils awaiting Christ, and finally to the origin
of all: 'In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth'. With a unique
expressive intensity, the
great artist depicted God the Creator, His action, His power, to show that the
world is not the product of obscurity, of chance or of the absurd, but that it
derives from intelligence, freedom and from a supreme act of love. In that
encounter between
the hand of God and the hand of Adam, we perceive the contact between heaven
and earth; in Adam God enters into a new relationship with His creation, and
man is in direct contact with God, is called by Him, and is the image and
likeness of God.
"To pray this evening in the Sistine Chapel, enveloped in the history of
God's journey with man, admirably represented in the frescoes above and around
us, is an invitation to worship", concluded the Holy Father.
___________________________________________________________
AUDIENCES
Vatican City, 5 November 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in
audience:
- Francis C. Okeke, the new ambassador of Nigeria to the Holy See, for the
presentation of his Letters of Credence.
- John Anthony Gerard McCarthy, the new ambassador of Australia to the Holy
See, for the presentation of his Letters of Credence.
- German Cardona Gutierrez, the new ambassador of Colombia to the Holy See,
for the presentation of his Letters of Credence.
- Miguel Humberto Diaz, ambassador of the United States of America,
accompanied by his wife, on his farewell visit.
On Friday 2 November the Holy Father received in audience Cardinal
Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow, Poland.
___________________________________________________________
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican City, 5 November 2012 (VIS) The Holy Father appointed Msgr. Carmelo
Pellegrino, relator of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, as promoter
of the faith of the same dicastery.
On Saturday 3 November it was made public that the Holy Father:
- Appointed Cardinal Franc Rode C.M., prefect emeritus of the Congregation
for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, as his
special envoy to the concluding celebration for the five-hundredth anniversary
of the archdiocese of
Ljubjuana, Slovenia, which will take place on Sunday 9 December.
- Appointed Msgr. Guido Pozzo, secretary of the Pontifical Commission
“Ecclesia Dei”, as almoner of His Holiness, at the same time
elevating him to the dignity of archbishop. The archbishop elect was born in
Trieste, Italy in 1951 and
ordained a priest in 1977. He has served as an official of the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith since 1987 . He succeeds Archbishop Felix del
Blanco Prieto, whose resignation from the same office the Holy Father
accepted, upon having reached
the age limit.
- Appointed Fr. Pius Thomas D'Souza, chancellor of the diocese of Bareilly,
India, as bishop of the diocese of Ajmer (area 146,681, population 17,595,585,
Catholics 9,190, priests 43, religious 423), India. The bishop-elect was born
in Mangalore,
India in 1954 and ordained a priest in 1982. He studied in India and Rome,
and, among other things, has worked as professor of philosophy at St. Joseph's
regional seminary in Allahabad. He succeeds Bishop Ignatius Menezes, whose
resignation from the
pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having
reached the age limit.
___________________________________________________________
Per ulteriori informazioni e per la ricerca di documenti consultare il
sito: www.wisnews.org e www.vatican.va
Il servizio
del VIS viene inviato soltanto agli indirizzi di posta
elettronica che
ne hanno
fatto richiesta. Se per qualunque motivo
non si desidera continuare a
riceverlo, si prega di visitare nostra pagina
dinizio:
http://212.77.1.245/news_services/press/v
s/italinde.php
Copyright (VIS): Le notizie contenute nei servizi del Vatican
Information Service possono essere riprodotte parzialmente o totalmente
citando la fonte: V.I.S. - Vatican Information Service.
| 