Catholic News 2

(Vatican Radio) The United Nations is hosting a summit of world leaders on Monday to tackle global issues around refugees and migrants, with the aim of bringing countries together behind a more humane and coordinated approach.

The one day meeting at the UN headquarters in New York marks the first time the General Assembly has called for a summit on this issue. Organisers hope it will point the way towards a more responsible and predictable system for responding to large movements of refugees and migrants.

Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, is heading the Holy See delegation at the summit and he’s also speaking at a high-level side event on the role of faith based organisations in supporting all people on the move. The event is sponsored by the Vatican’s Permanent Observer mission to the UN, together with Caritas Internationalis and the Geneva based International Catholic Migration Commission.

Philippa Hitchen spoke to Mgr Robert Vitillo, secretary general of the ICMC to find out more ….

Listen: 

Mgr Vitillo says some 120 heads of state and other experts will be attending the summit so the Holy See is taking this opportunity to organize an event that will be focused on 'Responsibility and Solution Sharing'. The Church and other faith groups, he notes, are often in the forefront of responding to the needs of migrants and refugees, both in the emergency phases, as well as in the search for long term solutions for those who cannot return to their homes.

Mgr Vitillo, who is part of the Holy See delegation, points out that Pope Francis has taken a vital global leadership role on this issue, in words but also in deeds, by sponsoring refugee families in Vatican City and challenging every Catholic parish and religious order to do the same.

The message of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, he adds, is that all major global problems today cannot be solved by governments alone, but require a “solidarity approach” with governments working together alongside civil society and faith based structures.

Mgr Vitillo underlines the summit’s recognition that this is global issue. While media attention has largely been focused on Europe, he says, this meeting will show that it’s only a small part of problem, with developing countries continuing to shoulder the greatest burden of taking in refugees. He also hopes the summit will look at migrants and refugees, not just as a problem, but as a necessity for many high income countries and a source of cultural enrichment for all.

UN documents, Mgr Vitillo comments, are often seen as the lowest common denominator in order to achieve consensus and many civil society organisations are already disappointed with the document that's due to be approved by heads of state on Monday. Rather than being seen as an end it itself, he says it should be seen as the beginning of a process to get states to implement what they’ve signed up to, working with civil society to monitor and evaluate solutions.

Another positive development he points to is the fact that refugees fleeing from persecution were previously considered separately from migrants, but this document talks about both, recognizing that other factors like  climate change, abject poverty, or long term displacement force people to leave their homes. By looking at this as a holistic problem, he concludes, “I hope some holistic solutions can flow from it”.

Full Article

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has asked for prayers for peace in a world in which war is everywhere.

Speaking on Sunday morning after the Angelus prayer, the Pope said that on Tuesday he will travel to the Umbrian town of Assisi to participate in the Day of Prayer for Peace.

“Today, more than ever, we need peace in this war which is everywhere in the world. Let us Pray for peace!” he said.   

Explaining that he is going to Assisi in the footsteps of Saint John Paul II who called for this International Day of Prayer for Peace thirty years ago, he invited all parishes, all ecclesial associations and individual believers across the world to participate in the event with their prayers.

“Following the example of Saint Francis of Assisi, a man of brotherhood and meekness, we are all called to offer a strong testimony to the world of our common commitment twoards peace and reconciliation between peoples” he said.

And he appealed to everyone to join in prayer on Tuesday: “may each of us take some time to pray for peace. The whole world united”.

Full Article

Vatican City, Sep 18, 2016 / 03:23 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday Pope Francis celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Vatican Gendarme by thanking the security force for their tireless service, and warned against modern crimes linked to exploitation and corruption.

“Crooks love the scam and hate honesty. Crooks love bribes, agreements done in the dark. This is worse than anything, because he believes he's being honest,” the Pope told members of the Vatican Gendarme Sept. 18.

The crook “loves money, loves wealth,” he said, and, calling wealth an “idol,” noted that crooks “trample on the poor” with no concern or second thought.

He noted how there are many people throughout the world today who have large, large industries of slave labor. In the world today slave labor is a management style.”

The responsibility of the Vatican Gendarme, then, is to serve by fighting against “scams, against crooks, against exploiters…Your responsibility is to deal with those who do bad things, like the exploiter and the crook. Your responsibility is to defend honesty,” he said, and thanked them for their tireless service.

Pope Francis celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the Corps of the Vatican Gendarmes, a civilian police and security force overseen by Vatican City, on the occasion of their 200th anniversary.

In his homily, the Pope pointed to the day’s readings, noting how they present three different types of people, which he named “the exploiter, the crook and the faithful man.”

The exploiter, described by the Prophet Amos in the First Reading, is someone “taken in by a manic form of gain” to the point they become annoyed and impatient by liturgical days of rest, because “they break the fast pace of business,” he said.

For the person who exploits, “his only God is money, and his way of acting is dominated by fraud and exploitation at the expense are above all the poor and destitute,” Francis said, noting that this type of person still exists today.

On the other hand, the crook, as seen in the parable of the dishonest steward from the day’s Gospel from Luke, is someone who lacks fidelity and uses scams and deception as his business method, the Pope continued.

Asking how the steward got to the point of cheating and stealing from his master, Pope Francis said it wasn’t from one day to the next, but “little by little. Maybe one day a tip here, another day a bribe there, and so little by little he arrives to corruption.”

While the master praises the steward for his “cleverness” in making up the funds after realizing his steward had been stealing from him, “it’s a completely worldly and strongly sinful cleverness, which does a lot of bad,” Francis observed.

However, he noted that there is a type of Christian cleverness that knows how to do things in a wise and honest way, rather than a worldly one. To be as wise as serpents but as pure as doves, he said, is a grace from the Holy Spirit that we must ask for.

Turning to the figure of the faithful man, the Pope said this is the one who follows Jesus and is “a man of prayer, in the double sense that he prays for others and trusts in the prayer of others for him.”

This type of person knows how to be faithful in the small things and in the big, he said, noting that unfortunately the world today is still full of crooks and corrupt people.

“It strikes me how corruption pervades everywhere,” he said, and noted how the day’s Gospel passage leads to the final choice that no one can serve two masters, “because either he will hate one and love the other, or will be devoted to one and despise the other.”

Francis thanked the Vatican Gendarme Corps for their “vocation,” often times being poorly paid. He recognize that “many times you must fight against temptations of those who want to buy you,” and said he is proud that the Gendarme style is one of saying “'no, I have nothing to do with this.”

“I thank you for these two centuries of service, and I wish for all of you that the society of Vatican City, that the Holy See, from the lowest to the highest, recognize your service.”

This is a service “which guards, a service which seeks not only to do things justly, but also with charity, with tenderness and even risking your own lives,” he said, and asked for God to bless them.

Shortly after celebrating Mass Pope Francis led faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square in praying the Angelus.

Reflecting on similar themes, he told pilgrims before the prayer that as Christians, we must respond to worldly cleverness with Christian astuteness, which is "a gift of the Holy Spirit."

While worldliness is manifested in attitudes of corruption, deception and abuse of power that lead down the path of sin, Christian cunning is "a serious, but full of joy, and commited lifestyle marked by honesty, correctness, respect for others and for their dignity, and by the sense of duty."

Francis stressed that it's important "to decide which direction to take," but that when we seek to follow the logic of the Gospel and of fraternity, "we become artisans of justice and open horizons of hope for humanity."


This article was updated at 12:10p.m. local time with the Pope's words during his Angelus address.

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article