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(Vatican Radio) ‘Pope Francis in His Own Words’ was the title of a new documentary screened in the Vatican on Tuesday that includes direct filmed testimony from the Pope about his family, his vocation and his vision of the Church. The 46-minute documentary includes video coverage of a series of key events where the Pope has spoken about himself over the past three years during his travels and his meetings with people. It also includes the history of his vocation to the priesthood, the role of his grandmother in his faith journey, the importance of forgiveness in his life and his dreams as a seminarian. In addition to covering the Pope’s in-flight press conferences, the documentary shows pictures of the house where Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born, the primary school he attended and the church where he discerned his vocation. One of the highlights of the documentary was Pope Francis’s pastoral visit to the U.S. where he addressed both houses of Congress and attended the World Meeting of Families.   

The project was produced by the TV news agency Rome Reports that specializes in video news about the Pope and the Church and included collaboration from the Mideast Theological Forum of Chicago.  

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(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis on Tuesday sent a message to the ‘Reinventing Peace’ meeting organized by UNESCO, the UN’s cultural heritage arm, and the Focolari Movement.

The meeting celebrates the 20th anniversary of Chiara Lubich being awarded the UNESCO Peace Education Prize.

The Holy Father encouraged the meeting’s participants to “research and develop effective ways to ‘reinvent’ a peace which is the fruit of integral development for all and of an effective awareness of the universal community founded upon respect, listening, attention to the needs of each person, justice, dialogue, and sharing”. 

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(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis sent a video message to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on Tuesday during their annual fall General Assembly regarding the Fifth National Hispanic Pastoral Encuentro.

The Holy Father called on his brother bishops to ‘create a culture of encounter’ and to ‘break down walls and build bridges’.

Listen to Devin Watkins’ report:

In his video message, Pope Francis commended the upcoming ‘Fifth National Hispanic Pastoral Encuentro’ taking place in the dioceses of the United States from January 2017 to September of 2018.

He said the Encuentro, or encounter, is a programme designed to ‘acknowledge and value the specific gifts that Hispanic Catholics have offered and continue to offer, to the Church’ in the US.

Pope Francis reminded US bishops that the Church in America is called to ‘go out’ and ‘build bridges’.

“Our great challenge is to create a culture of encounter, which encourages individuals and groups to share the richness of their traditions and experiences, to break down walls and to build bridges.  The Church in America, as elsewhere, is called to ‘go out’ from its comfort zone and to be a leaven of communion.”

He also said the Church must become “ever more fully a community of missionary disciples” and a “sign and prophecy of God’s plan for the entire human family”.

“We are called to be bearers of good news for a society gripped by disconcerting social, cultural and spiritual shifts, and increasing polarization. It is my hope that the Church in your country, at every level, will accompany the Encuentro with its own reflection and pastoral discernment.”

The Holy Father concluded by expressing his hope that ‘local Churches can best respond to the growing presence, gifts and potential of the Hispanic community’.

The full text of the video message can be found here.

Watch the Pope's video message:

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a video-message to the General Assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB):

The full text of the Pope’s message can be found below:

Video Message of His Holiness Pope Francis
To the General Assembly of the USCCB
14-17 November 2016

Dear Brother Bishops,

I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak to you.  Just a year ago, I was with you during my Pastoral Visit to the United States.  There I was impressed by the vitality and diversity of the Catholic community.  Throughout its history, the Church in your country has welcomed and integrated new waves of immigrants.  In the rich variety of their languages and cultural traditions, they have shaped the changing face of the American Church.

In this context, I would commend the coming Fifth National Hispanic Pastoral Encuentro.  The celebration of this Fifth Encuentro will begin in your Dioceses in this coming January and conclude with a national celebration in September 2018. 

In continuity with its predecessors, the Encuentro seeks to acknowledge and value the specific gifts that Hispanic Catholics have offered, and continue to offer, to the Church in your country.  But it is more than that.  It is part of a greater process of renewal and missionary outreach, one to which all of your local Churches are called.

Our great challenge is to create a culture of encounter, which encourages individuals and groups to share the richness of their traditions and experiences, to break down walls and to build bridges.  The Church in America, as elsewhere, is called to “go out” from its comfort zone and to be a leaven of communion.  Communion among ourselves, with our fellow Christians, and with all who seek a future of hope. 

We need to become ever more fully a community of missionary disciples, filled with love of the Lord Jesus and enthusiasm for the spread of the Gospel.  The Christian community is meant to be a sign and prophecy of God’s plan for the entire human family.  We are called to be bearers of good news for a society gripped by disconcerting social, cultural and spiritual shifts, and increasing polarization. 

It is my hope that the Church in your country, at every level, will accompany the Encuentro with its own reflection and pastoral discernment. In a particular way, I ask you to consider how your local Churches can best respond to the growing presence, gifts and potential of the Hispanic community.  Mindful of the contribution that the Hispanic community makes to the life of the nation, I pray that the Encuentro will bear fruit for the renewal of American society and for the Church’s apostolate in the United States. 

With gratitude to all engaged in the preparation of the Fifth Encuentro, I assure you of my prayers for this important initiative of your Conference.  Commending you, and the clergy, religious and lay faithful of your local Churches, to the prayers of Mary Immaculate, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of grace and peace in the Lord.

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Rome, Italy, Nov 16, 2016 / 12:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- While rarely talked about, Neglected Tropical Diseases are the most widespread ailment among the world's poorest of the poor – yet also ironically the most prevalent in top global economies, experts say.

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are “the most important diseases you've never heard of. These are the most common afflictions of the world's poor,” Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, told CNA Nov. 11.

“Every single person who lives in poverty, profound poverty, has at least one of these diseases,” he said, noting that since they typically don't lead to death, they are “neglected but they’re not rare,” with many people suffering not just from “a single disease, they have multiple diseases at the same time.”

Hotez is President of Sabin Vaccine Institute and Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. He also serves as the U.S. Science Envoy.

Founded in 1993, the institute is nonprofit that focuses on medical research to reduce the impact of vaccine-preventable and neglected tropical diseases. Scientists, researchers and advocates are all part of the team seeking to end needless suffering through these ailments.

Joined by hundreds of others, Hotez was in Rome for a Nov. 10-12 conference organized by the Pontifical Council for Healthcare Workers titled “For a culture of welcoming and supportive health at the service of people with rare and neglected diseases.”

The conference was held in two different sessions, one focusing on rare diseases, while the other, at which Hotez was a keynote speaker, focused on NTDs, which infect over 1 billion of the world’s across the globe.

Specifically addressed were the 18 most prominent NTDs, including Ascariasis, Hookworm Disease, Schistosomiasis, Dengue, Chagas disease, Onchocerciasis, Rabies and Hansen’s Disease (leprosy).  

In his comments to CNA, Hotez noted that when the Sabin Institute was founded the primary focus was in poor countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and poverty-stricken countries in Latin America, the problem has shifted.

“One of our new findings is that it’s the poor living among the wealthy that paradoxically account for most of the world’s neglected tropical diseases,” he said.

“If you look on the total numbers basis, it’s the G20 countries, the 20 largest economies together with Nigeria...that now account for the world’s neglected tropical diseases,” he said, stressing that the diseases are spread among the poor, so “it’s the concentration of intense poverty.”

NTDs “reinforce poverty” in that they often consist of debilitating conditions that make people too sick to work, disproportionately affect women and children and in some cases “actually shave IQ off of kids to ruin their future wage-earning potential.”

Pointing to Brazil as an example, Hotez noted that although Brazil is the largest economy in Latin America, the northeast is plagued by intense poverty, and therefore disease.

“That’s where you have Zika, and Zika arose out of there not by coincidence but because of poverty,” he said.

Hotez said recent data also shows that Catholic countries “are disproportionately suffering from these diseases,” and stressed the need for the Church to be involved as part of the solution.

Pope Francis has made his “intense drive to do something about poverty” known, he said, adding that if we want to take on poverty, “the most cost-efficient way to do it is to take on the poverty-promoting disease.”

He voiced his hope that the Church would take action in addressing the problem of NTDs, advocating to G20 leaders to promote medical treatments that already exist and to push for further research and development to come up with vaccines.

One strong sign of the Church’s commitment to the fight against NTDs was the presence of Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin at the conference, who “seems very committed to this,” Hortez said.

Increased collaboration with Cardinal Peter Turkson and his new dicastery for Integral Human Development is also part of the plan, he said, explaining that Sabin Institute will likely be providing “the background information and being a conduit for that dicastery to make it actually happen.”

“The action that I would like to see is engagement by the Church of the G20 leaders. And if anybody can do it, it’s this Pope.”

Pope Francis spoke to conference participants on the last day of the gathering, telling them that each person, “above all a person who suffers, because of a ‘rare’ or ‘neglected’ disease as well, without any hesitation deserves every kind of commitment in order to be welcomed, treated and, if possible, healed.”

He praised the efforts of doctors and researchers in looking for solutions and further cures, and stressed the need to care for the environment in order to better care for the poor.

“The relationship between these diseases and the environment is decisive,” he said, noting that while many of the diseases have a genetic cause, for others “environmental factors have a major importance.”

“Even when the causes are genetic, a polluted environment acts as a multiplier of damage. And the greatest burden falls on the poorest populations,” he said, stressing the need to have greater respect for “our common home.”

He also spoke of the need for justice in the sense that while care for those suffering from rare or neglected diseases typically centers around an impersonal, doctor-patient relationships, “it is equally true that the approach, at a social level, to this health-care phenomenon requires a clear application of justice, in the sense of ‘giving to each his or her due.’”

This basically means “equal access to effective care for equal health needs, independently of factors connected with socio-economic, geographical or cultural contexts,” he added, and assured of his prayer and blessing for all those suffering from disease, as well as those present and their work. 

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