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(Vatican Radio) The Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Greg Burke, is accompanying Pope Francis on the Holy Father’s journey to Georgia and Azerbaijan this weekend. Burke spoke with Vatican Radio late in the afternoon on Saturday, to share his impressions of the day’s events.

“It’s been an intense day-and-a-half,” Burke said, before identifying two distinct, though related keys to understanding the Pope’s purpose and focus in Georgia: pastoral solicitude for the small Catholic community in the country, and strengthening ecumenical ties. “This is a country with a very tiny Catholic population, and [Pope Francis] is here to take care [for] it,” Burke explained, noting the strong charitable presence of the Church, especially through the Camillian order, which cares for several hundred disabled and vulnerable people, with whom the Holy Father met Saturday Afternoon.

Click below to hear Greg Burke's extended conversation with Vatican Radio's Gabriella Ceraso

On the ecumenical side of things, Burke followed Pope Francis in frankly recognizing the progress that needs to be made, while emphasizing the great strides that have been taken and good work that has been done in the cause of Christian unity. “An incredible amount of good will from the Patriarch [Ilia II] himself,” Burke said, describing the visit of the Pope and the Patriarch in the Patriarchal cathedral as, “splendid,” noting, “signs of real affection, one for the other – and a promise to pray for one another.”

Burke also told Vatican Radio the Holy Father’s particular pastoral strengths were on display throughout the day.

“He was really strong,” Burke said, “as a catechist: as [the carrier of] a sort of basic, ‘Let’s remember how to live the Christian faith – let’s go back to the basics,’ [message], and finding the joy in living the Christian faith.” 

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Vatican City, Oct 1, 2016 / 10:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a special message to his fellow countrymen, Pope Francis said that despite his great desire to return home, he won’t be able to go in 2017, as previously hoped, due to commitments in Asia and Africa.

Francis had previously expressed his desire to return to his native Argentina for the country’s bicentenary anniversary, as well as the coming beatification of Mama Antula and canonization of Cura Brochero, known as the “Gaucho priest” and who will be the first saint who was born and died in Argentina.

The canonization and beatification, he said, are events “that make our history” and which are “very important and very strong, and which I greatly value.”

“Needless to say I had wanted to go to Argentina to beatify Mama Antula and to canonize Cura Brochero, but I couldn’t do it, it’s not possible,” he said.

The Pope stressed that “you know how much I would like to see you,” but relayed that he isn’t able to go next year either “because there are already commitments fixed for Asia and Africa,” though he didn’t give details.

Plus, “the world is larger than Argentina,” he said, adding that he would leave it in God’s hands “to tell me the date” of a possible future visit.

Francis made the announcement in a video message that was released by the Vatican paper L’Osservatore Romano’s local, Argentinian version, which is the first national edition of the publication.

In his message, the Pope said he continues to feel like an Argentinian, and still travels with an Argentine passport.

As a people, Argentinians “are the greatest treasure our homeland has,” he said. The Pope said he feels joy and consolation whenever he receives letters from his fellow countrymen, and that he prays for “each one of you, for your needs,” at Mass.

He encouraged them to work toward a culture of encounter capable of overcoming “all these cultures of waste that are offered everywhere in today’s world.”

This type of culture, he said, would be one in which each person has their place and in which “the whole world can live with dignity and each can peacefully express themselves without being insulted or condemned, attacked or discarded.”

Prayer and good will are the primary tools needed in order to achieve this culture, he said, and encouraged his countrymen to do at least one work of mercy every day, or every two days if everyday is impossible.

Listing out the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, Francis said they are concrete acts that each person can do. “If each of us does one a day or one every two days, what good we will do for our people!” he said.

The Pope assured his closeness to the Argentine people, particularly on the occasion of the coming beatification of Mama Antula and the canonization of Cura Brochero, “two people, a man and a woman, who worked for the homeland and for evangelization.”

“So in the midst of all this I greet you, I give you my love and I tell you – it seems a bit odd, but time has stretched like elastic – see you soon, and don’t forget to pray for me.”

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Tbilisi, Georgia, Oct 1, 2016 / 10:28 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Speaking to Georgia's religious and civil authorities on Saturday, Pope Francis affirmed the country's Christian identity, and called the Georgian Orthodox Church to recall the unity of baptism among Christian believers.

“Those baptized in Christ, as Saint Paul teaches, have been clothed in Christ,” the Pope said Oct. 1 at Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta, located just 15 miles northwest of Tbilisi, the Georgian capital.

“Thus, notwithstanding our limitations and quite apart from all successive cultural and historical distinctions, we are called to be 'one in Christ Jesus' and to avoid putting first disharmony and divisions between the baptized, because what unites us is much more than what divides us.”

The cathedral is the seat of the Patriarchate of Georgia, one of 14 autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches. Pope Francis was addressing Patriarch Ilia II, along with religious and civil authorities and representatives of the diplomatic corps and the academic and cultural world.

The Pope made his remarks at the cathedral during his Sept. 30-Oct. 2 visit to Georgia and Azerbaijan. Focused largely on the topics of peace, ecumenism, and interreligious dialogue, the trip is seen as a conclusion of his Caucasus tour, following his visit to Armenia in June.

Pope Francis' visit to Georgia finds a country where dialogue among Christians is particularly difficult, with cool relations between the Georgian Orthodox Church and the country’s tiny Catholic minority.

The Georgian Orthodox Church – to which more than 80 percent of Georgians adhere – is considered part of the national identity. While it is not an established religion, the Georgian constitution does acknowledge Georgian Orthodoxy's special role in the nation. Catholics, meanwhile, constitute only one percent of Georgia's population.

Pope Francis thanked the Georgian people for their welcome of him and their witness of faith, and told Ilia, “the Lord has granted us the joy of meeting one another and of exchanging a holy kiss; may he pour out upon us the fragrant balm of concord and bestow his abundant blessings upon our path.”

He commended the Georgian language for its “meaningful expressions which describe fraternity, friendship and closeness among people” and asked that such a fraternal attitude might “mark the way ahead for our journey together.”

Svetitskhoveli Cathedral is traditionally held to hold the relics of St. Sidonia, who was buried with Christ's seamless tunic. Reflecting on this, Pope Francis said the cathedral “invites us to remember the past,” saying this is “more necessary than ever.”

Georgia's history “relates holy testimonies and Christian values which have forged the soul and culture of the country,” and expresses openness, welcome, and integration.

“These are most precious and enduring values, both for this land and the entire region,” he said. “Such values express the Christian identity, which is maintained when deeply rooted in faith, and also when it is open and ready, never rigid or closed.”

“The Christian message – as this holy place recalls – has for centuries been the pillar of Georgian identity: it has given stability through so many upheavals, even when, sadly not infrequently, the fate of the nation was bitterly left to fend for itself,” Pope Francis reflected.

“But the Lord never abandoned the beloved land of Georgia, because he is 'faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds; he upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.'”

He said God's “tender and compassionate closness” is shown particularly by Christ's tunic, “'without seam, woven from top to bottom', [which] has attracted the attention of Christians from the beginning.”

He referred to St. Cyprian of Carthage, who called the tunic a sign of Christian unity, “which could not be definitively rent.” Francis said the tunic “exhorts us to feel deep pain over the historical divisions which have arisen among Christians,” calling them “the true and real lacerations that wound the Lord’s flesh.”

“At the same time, however, 'that unity which comes from above', the love of Christ which has brought us together … urge us to not give up but rather to offer ourselves as he did” and to “sincere charity and to mutual understanding, to bind up wounds, with a spirit of pure Christian fraternity.”

He added that this “requires patience nurtured through trusting others and through humility” and “rejoicing in the certainty which Christian hope allows us to enjoy.”

This certainty helps us believe “differences can be healed and obstacles removed,” he said, and “invites us never to miss opportunities for encounter and dialogue, and to protect and together improve what already exists.”

He pointed to baptism's profound role in Georgian culture, noting that the Georgian word for “education” comes from the same root and “thus relates strictly to baptism.”

“The elegance of the language helps us think of the beauty of Christian life that, from its radiant beginnings, is maintained when it remains in the light of goodness, and when it rejects the darkness of evil,” he said.

“Such beauty of the Christian life is preserved when, by guarding faithfulness to its own roots, it does not give in to closed ways of thinking which darken life, but rather remains well-disposed to welcome and to learn, to be enlightened by all that is beautiful and true.”

He assured Georgians of his prayers, that the Lord might “deepen the love between all believers in Christ and the enlightened pursuit of everything which brings us together, reconciles us and unites us.”

“May prayer and love make us ever more receptive to the Lord’s ardent desire, so that everyone who believes in Him, through the preaching of the Apostles, will 'be one'.”

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ first engagement on Saturday afternoon in the Georgian capital was a meeting with priests, religious and seminarians in Tbilisi’s Church of the Assumption. In an off-the-cuff address to the gathering, the Pope warned against what he termed “a global war to destroy marriage” in contemporary society, saying the great enemy of marriage nowadays was "gender theory."

In his wide-ranging address to priests, religious and seminarians gathered in Tbilisi’s Church of the Assumption, Pope Francis spoke about being strong in our faith, the threats facing the institution of marriage and warned about the dangers of proselytizing with our “Orthodox brothers.”

Picking up on the testimony offered by a group of Catholics, the Pope stressed the importance of being strong in our faith and passing it on to the next generation, noting that in many cases it is the grandparents who perform the valuable task of helping to transmit the faith to the young.

Turning next to the issue of marriage and the threats against it mentioned by one of the speakers, Pope Francis said that nowadays there is “a global war to destroy marriage,” saying the great enemy of marriage today is “gender theory.” This war, he explained, is not “being waged with weapons but with ideas,” describing them as ideological colonizations. He warned his listeners against them and said if a couple is arguing and facing problems in their marriage, they must make peace before the end of day.  Don’t forget, said the Pope, that there are three golden expressions that can help keep a marriage afloat. These are “May I, thank you and sorry.”

The question of ecumenism and the problems it can pose, was another issue discussed by the Pope that had been mentioned earlier by one of the speakers. Pope Francis told his listeners never to argue with their Orthodox friends or neighbours and especially warned Catholics never to try “to convert them.” He described proselytism as “a big sin against ecumenism” and encouraged his audience to be on friendly terms with Orthodox believers, to perform works of charity together and never to condemn them or refuse to greet them on account of who they are.

Pope Francis concluded his address by touching on the dangers of worldliness, reminding that Jesus had “spoken out strongly” against this ever present danger facing believers. May the Lord free us from worldliness, he said, and keep us strong in the faith that "we received from our mothers and grandmothers." 

Listen to this report by Susy Hodges (includes clips of the Pope's voice):  

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis' final engagement on Saturday in Georgia was a visit to the Svietyskhoveli Patriarchal Cathedral in the ancient capital of Mtskheta, the seat of the Orthodox Church of Georgia.

In his address, the Pope spoke of Christian identity which, he said, “is maintained when deeply rooted in faith, and also when it is open and ready, never rigid or closed. ”Reminding we are called to be “One in Jesus Christ,” the Pope said we must avoid “putting first disharmony and divisions between the baptized” and urged Christians to avoid “giving in to closed ways of thinking which darken life.”  

Please find below an English translation of the Pope’s address at the Svietyskhoveli Patriarchal Cathedral in Mtskheta:

Address of His Holiness Pope Francis
Visit to the Svietyskhoveli Patriarchal Cathedral
Mtskheta, 1 October 2016

Your Holiness,
Mr Prime Minister,
Distinguished Authorities and Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Dear Brother Bishops and Priests,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

                At the end of my pilgrimage to Georgia, I thank God for the opportunity to spend prayerful time in this holy temple.  I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude for the welcome I have received, for your moving witness of faith, for the goodness of the Georgian people.  Your Holiness, the words of the psalmist come to mind: “Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!  It is like the precious oil upon the head” (Ps 133:1-2).  Dear Brother, the Lord has granted us the joy of meeting one another and of exchanging a holy kiss; may he pour out upon us the fragrant balm of concord and bestow his abundant blessings upon our path, and on the path of this beloved people.

                The Georgian language is rich in meaningful expressions which describe fraternity, friendship and closeness among people.  There is one expression, both noble and genuine, which evokes a readiness to exchange places with another, the will to bear their burden, the desire to say wholeheartedly, “I wish to be in your place” (shen genatsvale).  Sharing the joys and sorrows in the communion of prayer and in the union of souls, and carrying each other’s burdens (cf. Gal 6:2): may this fraternal attitude mark the way ahead for our journey together.

                This magnificent Cathedral, which houses so many treasures of faith and history, invites us to remember the past.  This is more necessary than ever, as “a people’s fall begins where its memory of the past ends” (Ilia Chavchavadze, “People and History”, in Iveria, 1888).  The history of Georgia is like an ancient book that, with each page, relates holy testimonies and Christian values which have forged the soul and culture of the country.  This esteemed book, no less so, speaks to us of deeds of great openness, welcome and integration.  These are most precious and enduring values, both for this land and the entire region.  Such values express the Christian identity, which is maintained when deeply rooted in faith, and also when it is open and ready, never rigid or closed.

                The Christian message – as this holy place recalls – has for centuries been the pillar of Georgian identity: it has given stability through so many upheavals, even when, sadly not infrequently, the fate of the nation was bitterly left to fend for itself.   But the Lord never abandoned the beloved land of Georgia, because he is “faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds; he upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down” (Ps 145:13-14).

                The Lord’s tender and compassionate closeness is especially represented here in the sign of the sacred tunic.  The mystery of the tunic, “without seam, woven from top to bottom” (Jn 19:23), has attracted the attention of Christians from the beginning.  One of the early Church Fathers, Saint Cyprian of Carthage, declared that in the undivided tunic of Jesus there appears that “bond of concord inseparably cohering”, that “unity which comes from above, that is, from heaven and from the Father, which could not be definitively rent” (De Catholicae Ecclesiae Unitate, 7: SCh 1 [2006], 193).  The holy tunic, a mystery of unity, exhorts us to feel deep pain over the historical divisions which have arisen among Christians: these are the true and real lacerations that wound the Lord’s flesh.  At the same time, however, “that unity which comes from above”, the love of Christ which has brought us together, giving us not only his garment but his very body, urge us to not give up but rather to offer ourselves as he did (cf. Rom 12:1): they urge us to sincere charity and to mutual understanding, to bind up wounds, with a spirit of pure Christian fraternity.  Naturally, all this requires patience nurtured through trusting others and through humility, without fear and discouragement, but rather rejoicing in the certainty which Christian hope allows us to enjoy.  This gives us the incentive to believe that differences can be healed and obstacles removed; it invites us never to miss opportunities for encounter and dialogue, and to protect and together improve what already exists.  I am thinking, for example, of the current dialogue of the International Joint Commission and other propitious occasions for exchange.

                Saint Cyprian stated also that Christ’s tunic – “one, undivided, all in one piece, indicates the inseparable concord of our people, of us who have been clothed in Christ” (De Cath., 195). Those baptized in Christ, as Saint Paul teaches, have been clothed in Christ (cf. Gal 3:27).  Thus, notwithstanding our limitations and quite apart from all successive cultural and historical distinctions, we are called to be “one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28) and to avoid putting first disharmony and divisions between the baptized, because what unites us is much more than what divides us.

                In this Patriarchal Cathedral, many of our brothers and sisters receive Baptism, which in the Georgian language, beautifully expresses the new life received in Christ, evoking the light which gives meaning to everything, as it leads out of the darkness.  In Georgian, the word “education” comes from the same root, and thus relates strictly to Baptism.  The elegance of the language helps us think of the beauty of Christian life that, from its radiant beginnings, is maintained when it remains in the light of goodness, and when it rejects the darkness of evil.  Such beauty of the Christian life is preserved when, by guarding faithfulness to its own roots, it does not give in to closed ways of thinking which darken life, but rather remains well-disposed to welcome and to learn, to be enlightened by all that is beautiful and true. May the resplendent riches of this people be known and esteemed!  May we always increasingly share the treasures that God gives to each person, for our mutual enrichment, and to help one another grow in what is good!

                I sincerely assure you of my prayers, so that the Lord, who makes all things new (cf. Rev 21:5), through the intercession of the Holy Brothers and Apostles Peter and Andrew, of the Martyrs and of all the Saints, may deepen the love between all believers in Christ and the enlightened pursuit of everything which brings us together, reconciles us and unites us.  May fraternity and cooperation increase at every level!  And may prayer and love make us ever more receptive to the Lord’s ardent desire, so that everyone who believes in Him, through the preaching of the Apostles, will “be one” (cf. Jn 17:20-21).

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