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Vatican City, Jun 10, 2016 / 02:13 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Physician-assisted suicide is part of a “throwaway culture” that offers a “false compassion” and treats a human person as a problem, Pope Francis told medical leaders on Thursday.

“True compassion does not marginalize anyone, nor does it humiliate and exclude – much less considers the disappearance of a person as a good thing,” the Pope said. He criticized “those who hide behind an alleged compassion to justify and approve the death of a patient.”

“You are well aware of the meaning of the triumph of selfishness, of this ‘throwaway culture’ that rejects and dismisses those who do not comply with certain canons of health, beauty and utility,” he said.

The Pope addressed the managers of the Medical Orders of Spain and Latin America in the Apostolic Palace on June 9.

According to Vatican Radio’s translation, he described compassion as “the just response to the immense value of the sick person.” This response is composed of respect, understanding and tenderness “so that the sacred value of the life of the patient does not disappear or become obscured, but instead shines with greater splendor precisely in suffering and helplessness.”

Compassion is a necessary part of the medical profession, Pope Francis stressed.

“The doctor’s identity and commitment depends not only on scientific knowledge and technical competence, but principally on the attitude of compassion and mercy towards those who suffer in body and spirit. Compassion does not mean pity, it means ‘suffering with’,” he said.

Technological and individualistic culture does not always consider compassion well, he said. It even disdains it and regards it as humiliation.

“Frailty, pain and infirmity are a difficult trial for everyone, including medical staff. They call for patience, for ‘suffering-with.’ Therefore, we must not give in to the functionalist temptation to apply rapid and drastic solutions, moved by false compassion or by mere criteria of efficiency or cost-effectiveness,” he added.

“The dignity of human life is at stake. The dignity of the medical vocation is at stake.”

“Nothing must prevent you from ‘putting more heart into your hands’,” the pontiff told the medical leaders, citing St. Camillo de Lellis.

Pope Francis reflected on the theological aspects of health and medicine. In the biblical tradition, there is a close link between health and salvation.

“The Fathers of the Church used to refer to Christ and His work of salvation with the title ‘Christus Medicus’ (Christ the Doctor),” the Pope explained. “He is the Good Shepherd who cares for the wounded sheep and comforts the sick. He is the Good Samaritan who does not pass by the injured person at the roadside, but rather, moved by compassion, cures and attends to him.”

The Pope added he likes to bless doctors’ hands as a sign to recognize “this compassion that becomes the caress of health.”

 

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By Cindy Wooden

ROME (CNS) -- No matter how complicated it is to do, all children have a need and a right to religious education and access to the sacraments, said a priest who was born deaf and became blind 16 years ago.

Opening the Jubilee Year of Mercy celebration for the sick and persons with disabilities, Redemptorist Father Cyril Axelrod insisted sign language, tactile sign language and body language are "gifts of the Holy Spirit" meant to help Christians share the Gospel with all people.

Standing in the sanctuary of a Rome church June 10, the priest from South Africa used International Sign Language for brief introductory remarks, then took questions from the congregation that was made up mostly of Italian Catholics who are deaf and their family members.

The Italians signed their questions in Italian Sign Language, and a translator took both of Father Axelrod's hands and signed the questions for him using the tactile form of the language. She then stepped aside to watch his reply and relay it to those present.

One man wanted to know how Father Axelrod, who was born Jewish and deaf, ended up becoming a Catholic priest. A deaf man from Turin asked how to get a local parish to provide catechism classes to children with disabilities. And the mother of a deaf girl in Rome told Father Axelrod that a parish priest refused to allow her daughter into a first Communion class, saying "she wouldn't understand it anyway."

Father Axelrod's hands began to fly.

"Jesus is a gift for all," he said. "Don't worry about words, words, words. Give the children holy Communion!"

His remarks were greeted by applause from those who could hear and by waving hands on the raised arms of those who were participating with sign language.

"Catechesis must be available for people of all ages and all abilities," he insisted. "But it is not easy. Each child who is deaf or blind or has another disability may need tailor-made faith formation. But any person filled with faith will learn to rely on the Holy Spirit and the Spirit's gifts to communicate joy, love and a belief that Jesus, who loved human beings so much that he died for them, is present in the Eucharist.

"Many years ago, before I was Catholic, I was Jewish," he said. "I would notice how deaf people did not know anything about the faith, so I wanted to become a rabbi. But God chose something different for me and I became Catholic."

At the time in South Africa, he said, there were no special services for deaf Catholics and there was no signing at Mass.

"I felt strongly that they needed to hear God's message and that I was called by God to bring the Good News to all people," Father Axelrod said. "My vocation is to help deaf people open their hearts to see how powerful God is in their lives."

The Redemptorist travels the world ministering to other deaf Catholics and advocating on their behalf. He encourages parents of deaf children to help them learn advanced sign language so that they can continue to grow in their understanding and expression of their faith.

But he has also worked with deaf children who have severe physical and developmental difficulties and, he said, he brings the Gospel to them as well. And not only that, he said he prepares them for first Communion and gives them the Eucharist -- even when that means by intinction, dipping the consecrated host in the consecrated wine so it is soft enough for those with swallowing difficulties to ingest.

All children learn about God first of all from watching their parents, he said. Deaf children are particularly attentive to body language and facial expressions. They recognize joy, love, awe, sorrow and gratitude.

They can learn that Jesus, who is all-loving, is present in the Eucharist. And they can be taught to express sorrow for their sins before opening their hands and their mouths to receive the one who loves them, Father Axelrod said.

"You can see when they understand that Jesus is there," he said. "The joy is on their face."

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Vatican City, Jun 10, 2016 / 09:57 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Faithful to the wish of Pope Francis, a new decree has bumped the liturgical celebration honoring St. Mary Magdalene from a memorial to a feast, putting her on par with the apostles.

The reason, according to Archbishop Arthur Roche, is that she “has the honor to be the first witness of the Lord’s resurrection.”

“She is the witness to the risen Christ and announces the message of the Lord’s resurrection just like the rest of the Apostles,” he said, explaining that for this reason “it is right that the liturgical celebration of this woman should have the same rank of Feast as that given to the celebration of the Apostles in the General Roman Calendar.”

Archbishop Roche is secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. He issued a letter on the decision June 10, the same day as the decree officiating the decision was published.

Calling Mary Magdalene “an example and model for all women in the Church,” the archbishop said she had a special mission, to which the new rank of feast does justice.

The decree, dated June 3 and published in Latin, was signed by both Archbishop Roche and the congregation’s president, Cardinal Robert Sarah. It says Mary Magdalene can be seen as “the paradigm of the ministry of women in the Church.”

On the Church’s liturgical calendar, saints are honored with either a “memorial” a “feast,” or a “solemnity.” Solemnities rank the highest, with feasts coming in second and memorials in third.

While there are 15 other memorials on Mary Magdalene’s July 22 feast, hers was the only obligatory one to celebrate. Now, after being elevated to the level of a feast, the celebration bears a more significant weight.

For example, when Mass is celebrated on her feast day, rather than using the normal formula for a daily Mass, as is done with memorials, the Gloria will be sung and special prayers dedicated specifically to Mary Magdalene will be offered, which only happens on feasts and solemnities.

In his letter, Archbishop Roche said that given the current ecclesial context, the decision to honor Mary Magdalene with a feast “seeks to reflect more deeply upon the dignity of women, on the new evangelization and on the greatness of the mystery of God’s Mercy.”

As the first person to see the empty tomb, to hear the truth about the Lord’s resurrection from Jesus himself, and as the first person to announce this message to the apostles, Mary “is an example of a true and authentic evangelizer.”

While some have imagined Mary Magdalene as either a prostitute or the wife of Jesus, Western Christianity since the time of St. Gregory the Great has traditionally identified her with three women in the New Testament: the sinful woman who anoints Jesus’ feet with fragrant oils and washes them with her tears; Mary of Magdala; and Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha of Bethany.

While opinions vary on just exactly who she was, Archbishop Roche said that “what is certain is that Mary Magdalene was part of the group of Jesus’ disciples, she accompanied him to the foot of the Cross and, in the garden where she met him at the tomb, was the first witness of Divine Mercy.”

Pope Francis’ decision to elevate her memorial to a feast during the Jubilee of Mercy, he said, was done in order to emphasize the importance of this woman, “who so loved Christ and was so greatly loved by Christ.”

Noting how Mary Magdalene was the first eyewitness to the Risen Christ and the first to announce his resurrection to the apostles, Archbishop Roche hailed her as “the Apostle to the Apostles” – a phrase coined by St. Thomas Aquinas.

St. Mary Magdalene, the archbishop said, “announces to the apostles what in turn they will announce to the whole world.”

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IMAGE: CNS/Nancy Wiechec

By Junno Arocho Esteves

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Recognizing St. Mary Magdalene's role as the first to witness Christ's resurrection and as a "true and authentic evangelizer," Pope Francis raised the July 22 memorial of St. Mary Magdalene to a feast on the church's liturgical calendar, the Vatican announced.

A decree formalizing the decision was published by the Congregation for Divine Worship June 10 along with an article explaining its significance.

Both the decree and the article were titled "Apostolorum Apostola" ("Apostle of the Apostles").

In the article for the Vatican newspaper, Archbishop Arthur Roche, secretary of the congregation, wrote that in celebrating "an evangelist who proclaims the central joyous message of Easter," St. Mary Magdalene's feast day is a call for all Christians to "reflect more deeply on the dignity of women, the new evangelization and the greatness of the mystery of divine mercy."

"Pope Francis has taken this decision precisely in the context of the Jubilee of Mercy to highlight the relevance of this woman who showed great love for Christ and was much loved by Christ," Archbishop Roche wrote.

While most liturgical celebrations of individual saints during the year are known formally as memorials, those classified as feasts are reserved for important events in Christian history and for saints of particular significance, such as the Twelve Apostles.

In his apostolic letter "Dies Domini" ("The Lord's Day"), St. John Paul II explained that the "commemoration of the saints does not obscure the centrality of Christ, but on the contrary extols it, demonstrating as it does the power of the redemption wrought by him."

Preaching about St. Mary Magdalene, Pope Francis highlighted Christ's mercy toward a woman who was "exploited and despised by those who believed they were righteous," but she was loved and forgiven by him.

Her tears at Christ's empty tomb are a reminder that "sometimes in our lives, tears are the lenses we need to see Jesus," the pope said April 2, 2013, during Mass in his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

Pope Francis also mentions her specifically in the prayer he composed for the Year of Mercy: "Your loving gaze freed Zacchaeus and Matthew from being enslaved by money; the adulteress and Magdalene from seeking happiness only in created things; made Peter weep after his betrayal, and assured paradise to the repentant thief."

Archbishop Roche explained that in giving St. Mary Magdalene the honor of being the first person to see the empty tomb and the first to listen to the truth of the resurrection, "Jesus has a special consideration and mercy for this woman, who manifests her love for him, looking for him in the garden with anguish and suffering."

Drawing a comparison between Eve, who "spread death where there was life," and St. Mary Magdalene, who "proclaimed life from the tomb, a place of death," the archbishop said her feast day is a lesson for all Christians to trust in Christ who is "alive and risen."

"It is right that the liturgical celebration of this woman has the same level of feast given to the celebration of the apostles in the general Roman calendar and highlights the special mission of this woman who is an example and model for every woman in the church."

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Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju.

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