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(Vatican Radio) Wherever there is violence and conflict, Christians are called to work patiently to restore concord and hope. That was Pope Francis’ message on Friday to members of the Joint International Commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches.

The group, which is meeting in the Vatican this week, includes representatives of the six ancient Churches of the East which have been separated from the rest of the Christian world since the middle of the fifth century.

Listen to Philippa Hitchen's report: 

In his words to the Catholic and Oriental Orthodox leaders, Pope Francis noted that many of them belong to Churches that witness daily the spread of violence and “brutality perpetrated by fundamentalist extremism”. We are aware, he said, “that situations of such tragic suffering more easily take root in the context of great poverty, injustice and social exclusion”

This is due to instability, often created by foreign interests, he said, or by earlier conflicts that have made it easier to manipulate and incite people to hatred. The Pope said Christians are called to draw near to those who suffer, to sow concord and to work patiently together to restore hope by offering the consoling peace that comes from the Lord.

Pope Francis said he joined with the Church leaders in praying for an end to conflict and for God’s closeness to those who have suffered so much, especially children, the sick and the elderly.  In a particular way, he said his “heart goes out to the bishops, priests, consecrated men and women, and the lay faithful who have been cruelly abducted, taken hostage or enslaved”.

The martyrs and saints of all traditions, the Pope said, can inspire us to hasten along the path to full unity. Wherever violence begets more violence, he said, there our response must be to shun strategies of power and bring the peace and reconciliation of the risen Christ.

Please find below the full text of Pope Francis’s address to the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches

Dear Brothers in Christ,

            In offering you a joyful welcome, I thank you for your presence and for the kind words that Metropolitan Bishoy addressed to me on your behalf.  Through you, I send cordial greetings to the Heads of the Oriental Orthodox Churches, my venerable brothers.

            I am grateful for the work of your Commission, which began in 2003 and is now holding its fourteenth meeting.  Last year you began an examination of the nature of the sacraments, especially baptism.  It is precisely in baptism that we rediscovered the basis of communion between Christians.  As Catholics and Oriental Orthodox, we can repeat the words of the Apostle Paul: “For in the one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body” (1 Cor 12:13).  In the course of this week, you have further reflected on historical, theological and ecclesiological aspects of the Holy Eucharist, “the source and summit of the whole Christian life”, which admirably expresses and brings about the unity of God’s people (Lumen Gentium, 11).  I encourage you to persevere in your efforts and I trust that your work may point out helpful ways to advance on our journey.  It will thus facilitate the path towards that greatly desired day when we will have the grace of celebrating the Lord’s Sacrifice at the same altar, as a sign of fully restored ecclesial communion.

            Many of you belong to Churches that witness daily the spread of violence and acts of brutality perpetrated by fundamentalist extremism.  We are aware that situations of such tragic suffering more easily take root in the context of great poverty, injustice and social exclusion, due to instability created by partisan interests, often from elsewhere, and by earlier conflicts that have led to situations of dire need, cultural and spiritual deserts where it becomes easy to manipulate and incite people to hatred.  Each day your Churches, in drawing near to those who suffer, are called to sow concord and to work patiently to restore hope by offering the consoling peace that comes from the Lord, a peace we are obliged together to bring to a world wounded and in pain.

            Saint Paul also writes: “If one member suffers, all suffer together” (1 Cor 12:26).  Your sufferings are our sufferings.  I join you in praying for an end to the conflict and for God’s closeness to those who have endured so much, especially children, the sick and the elderly.  In a particular way, my heart goes out to the bishops, priests, consecrated men and women, and the lay faithful who have been cruelly abducted, taken hostage or enslaved.

            May the Christian communities be sustained by the intercession and example of our many martyrs and saints who bore courageous witness to Christ.  They show us the heart of our faith, which does not consist in a generic message of peace and reconciliation but in Jesus himself, crucified and risen.  He is our peace and our reconciliation (cf. Eph 2:14; 2 Cor 5:18).   As his disciples, we are called to testify everywhere, with Christian fortitude, to his humble love that reconciles men and women in every age.  Wherever violence begets more violence and sows death, there our response must be the pure leaven of the Gospel, which, eschewing strategies of power, allows fruits of life to emerge from arid ground and hope to dawn after nights of terror.

            The centre of the Christian life, the mystery of Jesus who died and rose out of love, is also the point of reference for our journey towards full unity.  Once more the martyrs show us the way.  How many times has the sacrifice of their lives led Christians, otherwise divided in so many things, to unity!  The martyrs and saints of all ecclesial traditions are already one in Christ (cf. Jn 17:22); their names are written in the one common martyrology of God’s Church.  Having sacrificed themselves on earth out of love, they dwell in the one heavenly Jerusalem, gathered around the Lamb who was slain (cf. Rev 7:13-17).  Their lives, offered as a gift, call us to communion, to hasten along the path to full unity.  Just as in the early Church the blood of the martyrs was the seed of new Christians, so in our own day may the blood of so many martyrs be a seed of unity between believers, a sign and instrument of a future of communion and peace.

            Dear brothers, I am grateful for the efforts you make towards attaining this goal.  In thanking you for your visit, I invoke upon you and your ministry the blessing of the Lord and the loving protection of the Holy Mother of God.

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Vatican Weekend for January 28th, 2017 features a report on Vespers presided over by Pope Francis to mark the Conversion of St Paul along with a look at an ecumenical musical partnership between the Sistine Chapel choir and the Westminster Abbey choir, a review of the Pope’s general audience on January 25th, the Vatican official sent as the Pope’s delegate to the Syrian city of Aleppo talks about his visit and the former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See shares with us his insights into this unique posting.

Listen to this program produced and presented by Susy Hodges:  

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(Vatican Radio) God frees us from the sin that paralyzes us as Christians: faintheartedness, being afraid of everything, which keep us from having memory, hope, courage, and patience. That was the message of Pope Francis during the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta on Friday.

Remembering the God’s work of salvation in my life

Pope Francis said the day’s Reading from the Letter to the Hebrews exhorts us to live the Christian life with three points of reference: the past, the present, and the future. First, it invites us to remember, because “the Christian life does not begin today: it continues today.” Remembering is “to recall everything”: the good things, and those that are less good, and putting my own story “before the sight of God”: without covering up or hiding it:

“‘Brothers, call to mind those first days’: the days of enthusiasm, of going forward in the faith, when you began to live the faith, the anguished trials… You don’t understand the Christian life, even the spiritual life of each day, without memory. Not only do you not understand: You can’t live in a Christian way without memory. The memory of the salvation of God in my life, the memory of my troubles in my life; but how has the Lord saved me from these troubles? Memory is a grace: a grace to ask for. ‘Lord, may I not forget your step in my life, may I not forget the good moments, also the ugly; the joys and the crosses.’ The Christian is a man of memory.”

Living in the hope of encountering Jesus

The author of the Letter then makes us understand that “we are on the journey in expectation of something,” in expectation of “arriving at a point: an encounter; encountering the Lord.” “And he exhorts us to live by faith”:

“Hope: Looking to the future. Just as one cannot live a Christian life without memory of the steps taken, one cannot live a Christian life without looking to the future with hope… of the encounter with the Lord. And he uses a beautiful phrase: ‘just a brief moment…’ Eh, life is a breath, eh? It passes. When one is young, he thinks he has so much time before him, but then life teaches us that those words that we all say: ‘But how time passes! I knew this person as a child, now they’re getting married! How time passes!’ It comes soon. But the hope of encountering it is a life in tension, between memory and hope, the past and the future.”

Living in the present with courage and patience

Finally, the Letter invites us to live in the present, “often times painful and sad,” with “courage and patience”: that is, with frankness, without shame, and enduring the events of life. We are sinners, the Pope explained – all of us. “He who is first, and he who is later… if you want, we can make the list later, but we are all sinners. All of us. But we go forward with courage and patience. We don’t remain there, stopped, because this would not make us grow.”

The sin that paralyzes Christians: Faintheartedness

Finally, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews urges us not to commit the sin that takes away memory, hope, courage, and patience: faintheartedness (It.: pusillanimità, “pusillanimity”). “It is a sin that doesn’t allow us to go forward, through fear.” Jesus, though, says, “Don’t be afraid.” The fainthearted are those “who always go backward, who guard themselves too much, who are afraid of everything”:

“‘Not taking risks, please, no… prudence…’ All the commandments, all of them… Yes, it’s true, but this paralyzes you too, it makes you forget so many graces received, it takes away memory, it takes away hope, because it doesn’t allow you to go forward. And the present of a Christian, of such a Christian, is how when one goes along the street and an unexpected rain comes, and the garment is not so good and the fabric shrinks… Confined souls… This is faintheartedness: this is the sin against memory, courage, patience, and hope. May the Lord make us grow in memory, make us grow in hope, give us courage and patience each and free us from that which is faintheartedness, being afraid of everything…  Confined souls in order to save ourselves. And Jesus says: ‘He who wills to save his life will lose it.’”

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Vatican Weekend for January 29th, 2017 features our weekly reflection on the Sunday gospel reading, “There’s More in the Sunday Gospel than Meets the Eye,” and a feature report that shines the spotlight on the long and fascinating history of papal coins and medals and Vatican stamps and examines some of the most famous and unusual examples from this rich heritage.

Listen to this program produced and presented by Susy Hodges:  

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(Vatican Radio)  Kenneth Francis Hackett, the last U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, completed his three and a half years’ service on January 19, 2017.

Like all other American diplomats serving abroad he stepped down from his post just before the inauguration of the U.S’s new President, Donald Trump.

A former President of Catholic Relief Services, Hackett was appointed as the US’s Ambassador to the Vatican in the summer of 2013.

Before leaving Rome, he shared with Linda Bordoni his insights into this unique posting and into the intense and busy lifestyle an ambassador to the Holy See inevitably ends up leading.

Listen to the interview:

Former Ambassador Kenneth Hackett recalled some of the special highlights that defined his three and a half years in office: “Pope Francis’ visit to the United States, the Cuba opening, the many issues that we have dealt with that are not very public on various countries around the world that are troubled like Venezuela, Congo, Burundi, Somalia, Philippines, China…”  

“So the portfolio that we engage in with the Holy See is global, and that was fun for me” he said.

Fun, but also important, he said “because the issues of war and peace and poverty and inequity and persecution are all important things to try and bring a resolution to”.

Hackett recalled many beautiful liturgies in which he participated during his term of office and his interaction with the community of diplomats accredited to the Holy See where, he says, he has made many friends.

He also mentions the many hardworking and dedicated people who work in the various offices of the Vatican saying there is much talent and commitment on the part of those who work and foster the positions of the Holy See and of the Church around the world.

As regards professional relations Hackett said “what was unexpected is the fact that  the Vatican has its own special way:  it’s a bit mysterious, and three and a half years is not long enough to fathom its depths”.

Pointing out that those who work in the Vatican are not simply executing a 9-to-5 job, but are motivated by their faith and want to make a difference, Hackett said “this really does make a difference and they work very hard.”

As an ambassador to the Holy See does, Hackett had the opportunity to meet with Pope Francis on more than one occasion. 

“He’s so affable, so engaging, so warm,” sincerely interested in the person he is talking to” he said.

Hackett says before coming here he knew Bergoglio as a Jesuit Provincial and he said he continued to see that trait in him: “a very smart, committed leader, who listens and then makes a decision, doesn’t equivocate. I admire that!”

Giving us some little known insight into the workings of the diplomatic corps here in the Vatican, Hackett said ambassadors and their staff primarily engage with the Secretary of State’s second section: “that’s on a very frequent and current basis. We have a number of people who come in and brief the Vatican on a number of issues – anything from religious freedom to nuclear disarmament to human rights to civil unrest in various countries. We also deal with those curial offices and dicasteries that deal with things like human rights and poverty and climate change and trafficking in persons”.

He says they have frequent engagement with various Pontifical Councils on issues like interreligious dialogue, with Caritas, with Cor Unum, with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and of course the new Dicastery for Integral Human Development.

He recalls in particular a conference sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences that brought the Presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, to Rome.

“It’s a wide range, we don’t deal in doctrinal or worship issues, those are not our purview” he said.

Hackett highlighted the deep engagement the Obama administration promoted in the fight against human trafficking and mentioned the many occasions during which the US Embassy to the Holy See was able to spearhead the effort to eliminate the terrible scourge.

“I hope, Hackett concludes, the new administration finds the same level of engagement that the Obama administration did. We are hopeful.”

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The Apostolic Nuncio to South Africa says he is happy the Bishops of Southern Africa have proclaimed special activities to mark the feast of St. Bakhita.

The Church in South Africa plans to celebrate Saint Bakhita Day with prayer and reflection on 8 February; a marching parade and Interfaith Service on 9 February. This is according to information made available by the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC). The marching and interfaith celebrations are meant to raise awareness about the serious problem of Human Trafficking in Africa.

Organisers have planned for marchers to gather in Pretoria at 229 Jorissen Street in the Sunnyside area on 9 February. The marching parade will then proceed to Pretoria's Sacred Heart Cathedral situated at the corner of Bosman and Nana Sita streets in the Central Business District (CBD).

According to the SABC website, “Saints are the icons of faith.  They inspire us to live life beyond the obvious in serving God in His Vineyard. St Josephine Bakhita is one of our own who persevered the injustices imposed by humanity to become the victor of faith.”

8 February is the actual feast day of St. Bakhita. Activities are also planned in various dioceses.

St. Josephine Bakhita was born in Sudan’s embattled Darfur region in 1868. Captured at the age of 9 years, she was sold into slavery, first in her country and later to Italy. After life as a slave, she eventually became a Canossian religious sister in Italy and worked for 45 years. She died in 1947.

In the year 2000, she was declared a saint by Pope St. John Paul II.  Saint Bakhita is the patron saint of Sudan but is now also promoted as a patron saint of victims of slavery and trafficked persons.

According to SABC, Saint Bakhita has become the patron for those who suffer in the same way she suffered. 

“Let us celebrate the Day of St Josephine Bakhita with honour, praying for our brothers and sisters who find themselves under the barbaric experience of being trafficked and all the victims of Human Trafficking, and mostly let us pray for an end to Human Trafficking, especially by also praying for the conversion of the agents of this terrible practice,” say the Bishops’ Conference of South Africa.

Addressing the Bishops of Southern Africa, this week, during the opening session of their Plenary, the Apostolic Nuncio to Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland, Archbishop Peter Wells, told them that he was pleased the SACBC planned to celebrate the feast day of St Josephine Bakhita with prayer and fasting.

“When we talk about those who are suffering, I am happy to note that the SACBC has proclaimed the feast day of St Josephine Bakhita on February 8 as a day of prayer and reflection on the continuing scourge of the abuse of women and children, particularly with regard to human trafficking. I think it is timely that we refer to this topic,” the Apostolic Nuncio said. 

(Fr. Paul Samasumo, Vatican Radio)

Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va

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Rome, Italy, Jan 27, 2017 / 03:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- When St. John Paul II was shot in St. Peter Square May 13, 1981, his car rushed into the Vatican and had to turn around the back of St. Peter’s Basilica to get to the Apostolic Palace. There, his personal doctor Renato Buzzonetti was waiting for him. Only after Buzzonetti made the first examination was St. John Paul II sent to Gemelli Hospital for the surgery that would save his life.

It was Buzzonetti himself who recounted this story, years after, in an interview with the newspaper Il Messagero.

Buzzonetti died Jan. 21 at the age of 92.

He was the personal doctor of St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI, but he also served John Paul I during his short pontificate. He was the doctor who was at Bl. Paul VI’s side when he died in August 1978.
 
Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz came from Krakow to celebrate Buzzonetti’s funeral Jan. 23, despite his busy schedule preparing the Jan. 28 installation Mass of his successor in Krakow, Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski.
 
Cardinal Dziwisz showed due respect to the man who, like himself, worked under the entire pontificate of St. John Paul II.

 

#news #RT Morto Renato Buzzonetti, medico dei Papi: Archiatra pontificio con Wojtyla e Ratzinger, dal 1978 al 2009 #photography #fashion pic.twitter.com/0zRX5TPPws

— SagittarioCase (@SagittarioCase) January 21, 2017  

 
Buzzonetti was born in Rome Aug. 23, 1924. He later married and had two children. He entered the Vatican medical service in 1974, under Bl. Paul VI, as a deputy of the Pope’s doctor Mario Fontana. His service was so appreciated that Bl. Paul VI gave him a legacy gift: a golden rose, along with a personal and moving letter.
 
After the short pontificate of John Paul I, he was called to the service of St. John Paul II. Not only was he the doctor who made the first examination after the Ali Agca shooting, he was also the doctor who provided initial first aid in Fatima, one year later, May 12, 1982, when St. John Paul II was stabbed by the ultra-conservative Spanish priest Juan Fernandez Krohn.
 
Buzzonetti also provided care to St. John Paul II when he became sick from an infectious disease after a blood transfusion at Gemelli Hospital. He suggested the appendectomy that St. John Paul II underwent in the mid-1990s. He diagnosed the Pope's Parkinson's disease and cared for him, preparing him step by step for his long period of infirmity.
 
Among his other patients was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who then became Benedict XVI. He served this Pope for four years before retiring. When the doctor retired, Benedict XVI gave him the honorific title of “pontifical archiater emeritus,” meaning “physician emeritus of the Pope.”

 

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Vatican City, Jan 27, 2017 / 05:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a speech to Catholic and Orthodox leaders, Pope Francis pointed, as he often does, to the example of Christian martyrs from various Churches, saying that in their death, those killed for their faith bear witness not only to Christ, but also the unity he prayed for.

On the path toward full unity, “the martyrs show us the way,” the Pope said Jan. 27. “How many times has the sacrifice of their lives led Christians, otherwise divided in so many things, to unity!”

Those who have given their lives in fidelity to Christ, no matter their rite or tradition, are already united, he said, adding that “their names are written in the one common martyrology of God’s Church.”

“Just as in the early Church the blood of the martyrs was the seed of new Christians, so in our own day may the blood of so many martyrs be a seed of unity between believers, a sign and instrument of a future of communion and peace,” he said.

Francis spoke to members of the International Mixed Commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Churches, established in 2003, during their annual meeting in Rome.

While last year’s discussion centered on the nature of the sacraments, specifically baptism, this year participants focused on the historical, theological and ecclesiological aspects of the Eucharist.

In his speech, Pope Francis noted that many of the attendees belong to Churches that suffer “the spread of violence and acts of brutality” inspired by fundamentalist extremism on a daily basis.

Such tragic suffering, he said, is often rooted in the poverty, injustice and social exclusion generated by “an instability created by partisan interests, often from elsewhere, and by earlier conflicts that have led to situations of dire need.”

The result is that “cultural and spiritual deserts” are created “where it becomes easy to manipulate and incite people to hatred,” the Pope said, insisting that those on the ground are called “to sow concord and to work patiently to restore hope” by offering the peace that can only come from God.

Pointing to the passage in St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians that says “if one member suffers, all suffer together,” Francis assured the Orthodox leaders present that “your sufferings are our sufferings.”

He drew specific attention to those who have suffered due to violence, saying “my heart goes out” in a special way to the bishops, priests and laity, particularly children and elderly, who have been “cruelly abducted, taken hostage or enslaved.”

Kidnappings and ransoms have in the past two years become a norm for extremist groups such as ISIS, who frequently take hostages to instill fear and to use them in order to raise money to fund their destructive projects.

While many of hostages have been freed once a ransom is paid, there are several still missing and who have been for years, including Italian Jesuit Fr Paolo Dall’Oglio, who disappeared in Syria July 29, 2013.

Also still missing are Aleppo’s Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Boulos Yazig, who were abducted while on the way to negotiate the release of two other kidnapped priests, Fr Michel Kayal and Greek Orthodox Fr Maher Mahfouz, both of whom were taken captive Feb. 9, 2013.

None of the clerics have been heard from since their disappearances. Pope Francis has appealed for their release on other occasions, asking during his July 26, 2015, Angelus address for the release of Dall’Oglio and the two archbishops, asking faithful to “to remember them in our prayers.”

In his speech to the Commission, the Pope prayed that all Christian communities would be “sustained by the intercession and example of our many martyrs and saints who bore courageous witness to Christ.”

The martyrs, he said, “show us the heart of our faith, which does not consist in a generic message of peace and reconciliation but in Jesus himself, crucified and risen. He is our peace and our reconciliation.”

As Jesus’ disciples, all Christians are called to bear witness to his humble and reconciling love, he said, adding that “wherever violence begets more violence and sows death, there our response must be the pure leaven of the Gospel.”

Doing this, he said, eschews “strategies of power” and “allows fruits of life to emerge from arid ground and hope to dawn after nights of terror.”

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Vatican City, Jan 27, 2017 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- With Pope Francis set to visit Ireland in 2018 – making him the first Pope to visit the country in nearly 40 years – Ireland's ambassador to the Holy See said it's an important trip, especially given the shared interest between the Vatican and Irish government on a number of key issues.

“It has been almost 40 years since a Papal visit to Ireland, the last visit being that of Pope John Paul II in 1979,” Irish ambassador Emma Madigan told CNA in an interview. So a papal visit in 2018 “would be hugely significant.”

Of particular interest to the Irish people is the constant attention Pope Francis gives to issues such as migration and reaching out to the poor and marginalized, she said, adding that this “resonates very much with the Irish people.”

“In engaging with Pope Francis directly, his clear commitment to tackling issues such as social exclusion, youth unemployment and the migration crisis is striking,” she said, noting that on a personal level, “I have found Pope Francis to be very warm each time we meet.”

These topics were all major talking points between Pope Francis and Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny T.D. during the latter's visit to the Holy See in November, in addition to unemployment and challenges posed by the recent referendum in the U.K. on its membership in the European Union.

While the political, social and ecclesial situation in Ireland has changed significantly since John Paul II's visit, there are hopes that Pope Francis will make the step the Polish Pope wasn't able to do, and cross the border into Northern Ireland.

Ambassador Madigan said the possibility is still being discussed, but stressed that the Pope's primary reason for visiting Ireland is for the World Meeting of Families (WMOF) in Dublin, an event the Irish government took the opportunity to “warmly welcome” during Kenny's visit.

The government, she said, will “provide every appropriate assistance” for both the Pope's visit and the WMOF, which is being organized by “a good Dublin man, Cardinal Kevin Farrell,” who heads the Vatican office for Laity, Family and Life, as well as Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.

In addition to the Pope's trip and the WMOF, which were both big points of discussion during the Irish bishops’ recent ad limina visit to Rome, Madigan also offered her reflections on her tenure as ambassador to the Holy See, key points of collaboration, and what the Pope’s presence in Ireland could mean in the aftermath of Brexit.

Below is the full text of CNA's interview with Ambassador Madigan:

You have been in Rome for two years. How has your experience been so far working with Pope Francis?

I have been very privileged to work in this position now for just over two years – it is a fascinating assignment. The Holy See has a huge global network and, I think, a unique insight into societies and developments across the world.  It has views on regional issues in the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, Ukraine, Colombia and Venezuela and situations of tension around the globe as well as on broader questions of migration, human rights, protection of religious minorities and promoting sustainable development.

In engaging with Pope Francis directly, his clear commitment to tackling issues such as social exclusion, youth unemployment and the migration crisis is striking. On a personal level, I have found Pope Francis to be very warm each time we meet.  

What are the greatest areas of collaboration between the Holy See and Ireland? Are there any specific projects now, or being planned for the future?

Ireland and the Holy See are both firm believers in the need for effective multilateral cooperation among nations to face global challenges. We are believers in a peaceful rules-based world and in the power of dialogue. Our long-standing relationship takes in many global issues of mutual interest, including human rights, sustainable development, eradicating hunger, climate change, disarmament, migration and human trafficking, freedom of religion or belief, and peaceful resolution of conflicts.

In particular during the recent visit of the Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Mr. Enda Kenny T.D. to the Holy See last November, subjects discussed included recent developments in Europe, in particular the migration and refugee crisis, the task facing the European Union in tackling social exclusion and youth unemployment and political and institutional challenges including those arising from the recent referendum in the UK on its membership of the European Union.

During the visit, the Taoiseach took the opportunity to warmly welcome the decision by Pope Francis to hold the 2018 World Meeting of Families in Dublin and expressed the Government’s full support for the invitation issued by the Irish Bishops’ Conference for him to visit Ireland. The Taoiseach assured Pope Francis that the Government would provide every appropriate assistance for such a visit. Planning for the World Meeting of Families is being undertaken by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life – led of course by a good Dublin man, Cardinal Kevin Farrell – and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin as bishop of the host diocese.

Pope Francis has said that he (or his successor) will come to Ireland in 2018 for the World Meeting of Families. What would a papal visit signify for the country?

It has been almost 40 years since a Papal visit to Ireland, the last visit being that of Pope John Paul II in 1979 and therefore I think a visit in 2018 would be hugely significant. Pope Francis’ focus on issues such as migration and helping the poor and marginalised resonates very much with the Irish people.  

It's rumored that he wants/plans to cross the border into North Ireland. How do you think that gesture would be received on either side?

Pope John Paul II was unable to visit Northern Ireland in 1979 but the situation in Northern Ireland has been transformed since then. The principal purpose of the Pope’s visit to Ireland would be to attend the World Meeting of Families and possible plans to widen that schedule would be looked at in due course in conjunction with the Bishops’ Conference.

The Pope's visit will fall in the aftermath of Brexit. As someone constantly speaking about unity, could his message perhaps help to ease the situation depending on how the border is handled?

Negotiations on the UK’s exit from the EU will begin as soon as possible after the UK triggers Article 50 of the EU Treaties, which is expected by the end of March. There will then be two years for completing the negotiations. The Irish Government has been clear about its priorities as we move ahead and these remain our citizens, our economy, Northern Ireland, our Common Travel Area (with the UK) and the future of the EU itself. A key goal is to work to ensure that the work of the peace process is preserved. To this end, the Irish Government will continue to work closely with the Northern Ireland Executive, as we have done for many years, including through the North South Ministerial Council (a Good Friday Agreement institution). The EU has played a key role in progressing the peace process in Northern Ireland and continues to be a strong supporter. Ireland is a proud member of the EU and our membership, based on the values we share with our European Partners, has been central to Ireland’s economic and social development over the past 40 years.

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