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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday during the General Audience said God is telling everyone to “Rise up,” and that the Holy Door of the Jubilee is the door where the pain of humanity and the compassion of God meet.

The Holy Father was recounting the story of the Widow whom Jesus met at the city gate of Nain, which the Pope compared to the Holy Door. She was leaving the city in the funeral procession of her son, whom Jesus raised from the dead with the words “Rise up!”

“The passage of Luke's Gospel we have heard presents us with a truly great miracle of Jesus, the resurrection of a young boy,” – Pope Francis said – “Yet, the heart of this story is not a miracle, but Jesus' tenderness towards the mother of this boy. Here, mercy takes the name of great compassion towards a woman who had lost her husband and now travels to the cemetery with her only son. The great pain of this mother moves Jesus and causes the miracle of the resurrection."

The Holy Father said “great compassion guided the actions of Jesus, [who] decides to face death, as it were, face to face. And he confronts it definitively, face to face, on the Cross."

He said this is why he wanted this year’s Jubilee of Mercy to be celebrated in every particular Church, and not only in Rome. [This year every Diocese has established Holy Doors, in which the faithful may cross.]

“During this Jubilee Year, it would be a good thing, as they enter the Holy Door, the Gate of Mercy, that pilgrims remember this episode of the Gospel which took place at the Gate into Nain,” – Pope Francis said  – “ When Jesus saw this mother in tears, she entered his heart! At the Holy Door everyone arrives bringing their life; joys and sufferings, projects and failures, doubts and fears, and presents them to the mercy of the Lord. We are confident that, at the Holy Door, the Lord is there near to us, to encounter each one of us, to bring and offer his powerful words of comfort: ‘Do not cry!’”

The Holy Father continued, saying this is “the door of where the suffering of humanity encounters the compassion of God.”

“Crossing the threshold we perform our pilgrimage in the mercy of God who, just as he said to the dead boy, tells everyone: ‘I say to you, rise up!’” – Pope Francis said – “To each of us he says: ‘Rise up’. God wants us to stand. He created us to be on our feet.”

The Holy Father said “the powerful word of Jesus can raise us and we also operate in the passage from death to life. His word revives us, gives us hope, restores tired hearts, opens us to a view of the world and of life that goes beyond suffering and death.”

The Pope went on to say that “mercy, both in Jesus and in us, is a journey that starts from the heart to goes to the hands.”

“What does this mean? Jesus looks at you, heals you with his mercy, tells you: ‘Get up!’, and your heart is new,” – Pope Francis explained – “What does it means to take a journey from the heart to the hands? It means that with this new heart, this heart healed by Jesus, he can do the works of mercy through his hands, trying to help, to heal the many that are in need. Mercy is a journey that starts in the heart and travels to the hands, that is, to works of mercy.”

At the end of his Audience, Pope Francis told the story of a bishop who established two Holy Doors: One an entrance, the other an exit.

“Why? To enter and cross the first door is to ask pardon and to receive the mercy of Jesus; and when you exit the other door, it is the outpouring of mercy, to then bring mercy to others, with the works of mercy,” he said.

“Isn’t he smart, this bishop?” the Pope Francis said.

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The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) has made a last-minute plea urging Zambians to desist from violence as they go to the polls. In a statement released, in Lusaka ahead of voting Thursday, Lusaka’s Archbishop and President of ZCCB, Telesphore-George Mpundu, encouraged Zambians to turn out in numbers and vote for a President that they consider professionally competent on political, economic and social programmes.

The election is seen as too tight to call between the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) party led by President Edgar Lungu and the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) led by Hakainde Hichilema. There has been an unprecedented climate of violence and intimidation between the two rival political parties which could affect voter turn-out.

Zambian voters for the first time will each have a handful of ballot papers as they are asked to elect a president, vice president, members of parliament, councillors and give a yes or no vote to an amendment in a constitutional referendum.

The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops is spearheading a monitoring coalition group that consists of various Christian denominations. Known as the Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG), the coalition comprises the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ); Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) and the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR). Almost all Christian denominations are represented in this group. JCTR is a Catholic Church-affiliated civil society organisation.

The Zambian Catholic Bishops delegated Caritas Zambia to be the Secretariat for the CCMG. In a report to the media, Wednesday, the CCMG said it has deployed 1,674 trained and accredited monitors across the country.  CCMG  will also conduct a Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) for the 2016 election in every province, district, and constituency of the country.

The African Union (AU) has chosen former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan to head the Election Observer Mission (EOM) to Zambia. Several other regional, European and international observer missions have already deployed in Zambia ahead of the general elections.

In another development, the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) and the Nairobi-based African Media Initiative (AMI) have both criticised the Zambian Government for shutting down operations of a Zambian daily newspaper, the Post newspaper in June this year, at the height of election campaigns. In a new report released this week, IPI says its investigations show that the Zambian government’s action against the newspaper was a politically motivated attempt to silence a persistent critic.

 (Fr. Paul Samasumo, Vatican Radio)

Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va

Find below the full statement from the Catholic Bishops of Zambia:

MESSAGE OF THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS ON THE EVE OF THE 11TH AUGUST 2016 GENERAL ELECTIONS

1. My brothers and Sisters! Tomorrow, Zambia goes to the polls to elect civic leaders and decide on the referendum question.

2. On behalf of the Zambia Conference of the Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) or ZEC, I wish to reiterate our ‘call to peaceful, credible and transparent elections’ as expressed in the recent Pastoral Statement: “No longer will violence be heard in your land” (Isaiah 60:18).

3. The Bishops have always maintained that it is the duty of Catholics and people of goodwill to elect leaders. You also have a God-given responsibility to maintain peace before, during and after the polling day. Democracy requires in the first place that all citizens exercise their right to vote in a free and peaceful environment. Therefore, we your shepherds once more call upon all Zambians who registered as voters to turn up tomorrow and cast their votes. Never get tired of voting, as your apathy will only give greater chance to opportunists to carry the day.

4. As you go to vote, remember to vote for a candidate who should have the following qualities: Professionally competent on political, economic and social programmes, courage to speak out the truth, concern for social justice, desire to work for the common good instead of self-enrichment, disposition to use power for service, especially service of the poor and under-privileged, openness to dialogue, honesty, integrity, transparency and accountability to the electorate (Cf. Building for Peace, # 11). Remember not to vote for candidates who are arrogant with a propensity to use violence, people without honesty and integrity, those with proven record of corruption and abuse of power and public resources and those who put narrow sectarian or ethnic interest before national interest and the common good.

5. We further hope that all the organisations that will be monitoring the elections are adequately prepared for the task. As we stated in our earlier statement, “They should be equally independent and free from manipulation and give the public truthful information about the proceedings of the elections.”

6. In addition, we call upon the media, both public and private, to adhere to the principle and ethics of fairness and truth, and to be “professional, ensuring full and fair coverage of all political parties” (Cf. Let there be Peace Among Us – A ZEC Pastoral Statement issued on 23rd January, 2016, #s 27 & 28).

7. As the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) conducts the polls tomorrow, the bishops urge the honourable Commissioners and ECZ staff to remain resolute and professionally conduct their business in providing the necessary mechanisms in the electoral process that will guarantee free and fair elections. The ECZ officers must remember that “The Lord demands fairness in every business deal; he sets the standards” (Prov. 16:11).

8. Not only that, we hereby challenge the youths to be architects of a better Zambia by being agents of peace and reconciliation. We therefore appeal to you to “refuse to be used as mere tools of violence by unscrupulous politicians” (Let there be peace among us, # 26).

9. In conclusion, we again extend our earnest appeal to all Zambians to realise that voting is one of their fundamental rights and duties. It is also a Christian duty. We thus pray that all citizens enter the August 11 general elections with a spirit of honesty, avoiding bribes and cheating. We also pray that all voters, political party leaders and their cadres may have at heart, the needed passion and commitment to build for peace and avoid all forms of violence. As St. Paul exhorts us, “Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody” (Romans 12:18).

May God bless our nation!

Most Rev. T-G Mpundu Archbishop of Lusaka

ZCCB PRESIDENT

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Bishop Erkolano Lodu Tombe of the Catholic Diocese of Yei in South Sudan has called on the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGNU) to reach out to bodies representing the international community in resolving the nation’s challenges.

Addressing the faithful during Holy Mass at Christ the King Cathedral in Yei on last Sunday, Bishop Tombe encouraged South Sudan’s political leadership to collaborate with bodies such as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the African Union (AU) in addressing the country’s protracted conflict.

According to a report by Easter Radio of the Catholic Radio Network (CRN), Bishop Tombe cautioned international partners against the tendency to “force peace” but instead help “the nation in resolving the crisis” and giving “citizens hope for peace and safety.”

(Father Don Bosco Onyalla, CANAA in Nairobi)

Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va

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Three Iraqi deacons were ordained to the priesthood in a refugee camp in Erbil on August 5 and one in Baghdad in July.

Momika, Emad, Petros and another seminarian named Paul were all forced to flee Qaraqosh when ISIS attacked in 2014.

Before being forced to leave, Momika and his sister were among the victims wounded in a 2010 bombing of buses transporting mainly Christian college students from the Plains of Nineveh to the University of Mosul, where they were enrolled in classes.

Since the Qaraqosh seminary was closed following the 2014 attack, the then-seminarians were sent to finish their studies at the Al-Sharfa Seminary in Harissa, Lebanon. After completing their studies in Lebanon, they returned to Iraq for their deaconate ordination, which took place March 19.

Since then, Paul decided to serve in Baghdad, and was ordained there roughly 20 days ago, while Fr. Momika and the others were ordained in Erbil.

Archbishop Yohanno Petros Moshe of Mosul ordained the priests for the Syriac Catholic Church. The ceremony took place in the Aishty 2 refugee camp, which is now the home for about 5,500 people who were driven out of their homes when the Islamic State seized Mosul and the surrounding area.

Father Roni Salim Momika, one of the newly ordained priests, told the Catholic News Agency said the event has turned the dreary mood of displaced Christians into one of joy, which he hopes will give them the strength to stay in their homeland.

Fr. Momika, who is from Qaraqosh, noted how Aug. 6 marks the exact two-year anniversary since ISIS attacked his hometown, driving out inhabitants who didn’t meet their demands to convert to Islam, pay a hefty tax or face death.

“We left Qaraqosh during this time two years ago,” he said, explaining that it’s been “a time of challenge” and “a time of sadness” for the Christians.

As a newly ordained priest surrounded by violent persecution, Fr. Momika said that he wants “to stand with the refugees” despite the “the danger (in their) lives.”

He said he wants to give the Christians “power, hope, and courage to continue their lives and stay with the poor people” and those who are suffering, adding that for him, the essence of his role and vocation is “to give Christ to the people.” (CNA)

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Rome, Italy, Aug 10, 2016 / 06:06 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A Catholic charity is launching a campaign to support the studies of 1,000 seminarians around the world in honor of a French priest who was killed by ISIS sympathizers while celebrating Mass two weeks ago.

The Italian chapter of the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need announced the campaign, which will help fund the education of future priests in 21 dioceses around the world.  

“Support for the formation of new priests is a concrete response to fundamentalism, because especially in countries where the extremist threat is the greatest, the ministers of God must possess the appropriate tools to promote dialogue and contribute to a peaceful coexistence between all the religious groups, putting an end to the conflicts,” said Alessandro Monteduro, director of the group in Italy.

The campaign comes in response to the July 26 murder of Father Jacques Hamel, an 84-year-old priest who was killed while celebrating Mass in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, France.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, in which two armed gunmen stormed the church, taking the priest and four others hostage. They slit Fr. Hamel’s throat and critically injured another of the hostages before being shot dead by police.

Aid to the Church in Need Italy said on its website that it will offer support to seminarians belonging to dioceses in Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia. Monteduro explained that “we chose the seminaries that had the greatest need for aid, to allow them to accommodate more students and form what we consider to be the new 'soldiers of the faith.'”

According to the agency, there are a great number of young men who want to become priests in areas experiencing great poverty and persecution, despite the difficulties they face.

The pontifical foundation also noted that the Church is the first to promote religious dialogue as well as to offer the young people alternatives to violence. In this sense, the group said, the contribution of Catholic schools is crucial in spreading the values of peace and mutual respect.

It is because of this, Monteduro concluded, that “forming well-prepared priests in a powerful weapon against fundamentalism” as well as “the Christian presence being visible, especially in those societies under attack by the extremists.”

 

 

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Stephanie Lecocq, EPA

By Dale Gavlak

AINKAWA, Iraq (CNS) -- Iraqi Christians appear divided about whether they will be able to return home after Islamic State militants are flushed out of the battle-scarred Ninevah Plains region. They say their safety must be guaranteed at all costs.

"If the liberation of the Ninevah Plains region is successful, infrastructure is rebuilt and there is security, I would want to be among the first to return," said Fadi Yousif, who teaches displaced children in the Ashti II camp for displaced Christians in Ainkawa, near Irbil. "It's my home. I love that place. But what is absolutely essential is that we have real security there."

Housed in an unfinished concrete building, Yousif and other displaced people live in containers that take the place of homes lost to the Islamic State. He said his home region would be a different place from what he remembers due to the dispersal of friends and family abroad because of the long wait to rid the area of the Islamist extremists.

"About 60 percent of my friends are now living in exile, whether in neighboring countries or Europe. My mother, father and two sisters are now in Lebanon. I have a brother in Jordan. My uncle is in the United States. Only another brother and I are still in Iraq," he said. It was unclear whether Yousif's family would regather in Iraq following the liberation.

Um Fadi, a 37-year-old Chaldean Catholic mother, also is concerned about safety. She and her family of six live in Ashti II.

"I swear, I never saw something like this except in a horror film. But I actually witnessed people being killed and saw dead bodies with my own eyes," she said of her escape from the Islamic State's assault on her village of Qaraqosh two years ago.

"Of course, we are frightened to return. What are we going back to? The houses and churches have been bombed. My children, particularly my youngest son, is very frightened about the idea of returning there," Um Fadi told Catholic News Service.

Other Christians like, Saif Haney, told CNS they will never go back home because they heard that Islamic State militants used their family houses as execution dens.

Some Iraqi Christian political leaders are calling for the inclusion of armed Christian militias to participate in the liberation of Mosul and the Ninevah Plains, their ancestral homeland, alongside U.S.-led coalition forces, Iraqi troops and Kurdish fighters.

Although that may not happen, Christian political leaders such as Yousif Yaqoob Matti want to see Christian defense forces built up to protect Mosul and the Ninevah Plains after their liberation. They said this is necessary because although many Christians would prefer to have an international force, such as U.N. peacekeepers in the area, this is unlikely to happen.

"The battle for the Ninevah Plains against Islamic State will be complex, but the military forces involved must perform as one, unified entity," Matti told CNS. "After the liberation, demining efforts will take place and electricity, water and other necessary infrastructure will need to be rebuilt. It is hoped that after four months, people may be able to return safely."

Bahman Maalizadeh of the North Carolina-based Norooz Foundation has traveled to Mosul's frontline villages ahead of the offensive. His and other nongovernmental organizations have provided badly needed food and medicine to displaced Christians and Yezidis.

"There is a small Christian force left to protect so many lands," Maalizadeh told CNS. "It is so important for the international community to help these forces to not only protect the land, which they have, but once the area is liberated, to provide security to ensure that Christians can return home."

A man who identified himself only as John, a Syriac Catholic from Hamdaniyya, is Um Fadi's neighbor in Ashti II camp. Although he and his family are desperate to forget the past and to leave Iraq, that might not be possible.

"We can't leave Iraq, but we want to. Although Kurdistan has been kind to us, there is really no work here, so we have run out of money," he told CNS. "We have to have a future for ourselves and our kids, so we need to go somewhere else. We don't see that happening in Iraq because so many wars and conflicts have erupted here."

He and his family have already been displaced already twice: They had to flee the capital, Baghdad, for safety to Hamdaniyya and then escape to Ainkawa following the Islamic State takeover of their area.

"Frankly, money isn't the objective. The only thing we want in life is what everybody else wants," he told CNS. "It's to be able to live in your own home without any concern about what can happen to your kids. I want my children to grow up that way, feeling secure."

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Max Rossi, Reuters

By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- God's mercy is infectious and must be shared with others, Pope Francis said.

Mercy is "a journey that departs from the heart to arrive at the hands," the pope said Aug. 10 at his weekly general audience.

In his main audience talk, Pope Francis focused on the Gospel story of Jesus raising from the dead the son of the widow of Nain, giving renewed hope not just to the woman and her son, but to all.

"The powerful word of Jesus can make us rise again and takes us, too, from death to life," the pope said. "His word revives us, gives hope, refreshes weary hearts and opens us to a vision of the world and of life that goes beyond suffering and death."

Pope Francis ended his main talk by insisting that "Jesus watches you, heals you with his mercy and says, 'Arise,' and your heart is new."

"And what do I do now with this new heart healed by Jesus?" he asked. "I do the works of mercy with my hands and I try to help, to heal the many who are in need. Mercy is a journey that departs from the heart and arrives at the hands, at the works of mercy."

Greeting Italian visitors at the end of the audience, the pope returned to his point about how the experience of mercy must lead Christians to concrete acts of mercy toward others.

Recently, he said, a bishop told him that in his cathedral, there is not just one Holy Door designated for the Year of Mercy, but two.

One Holy Door is an entrance, the doorway people pass through to ask for God's forgiveness and receive it in the sacraments. The other door is an exit, "to go out and bring God's mercy to others with the works of mercy. This bishop is intelligent, isn't he?" the pope said.

"In our hearts we receive the mercy of Jesus, who gives us pardon because God forgives everything, everything," the pope said. "He raises us up. He gives us new life and he also infects us with his compassion. From our hearts forgiven and healed, and with the compassion of Jesus, the journey toward our hands begins, that it, toward the works of mercy."

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Follow Wooden on Twitter @Cindy_Wooden

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Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

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