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(Vatican Radio)  The story of the Good Samaritan and its lesson of “love thy neighbour” were at the heart of Pope Francis’ catechesis during the General Audience on Wednesday 27 April.

Below, we publish the Holy Father’s message to the English speaking pilgrims present in Saint Peter’s Square:

Dear Brothers and Sisters:  In our catechesis for this Holy Year of Mercy, we now turn to the parable of the Good Samaritan.  Jesus had taught the great commandment of love for God and neighbour.  In reply to the question: “Who is my neighbour?”, he recounts the story of the priest and the levite who pass by a man in need at the side of the road.  Their religiosity is ultimately inauthentic, for it does not find expression in service to others.  Love, the Lord tells us, is never abstract or distant; it “sees” and it responds.  The compassion shown by the Samaritan is an image of the infinite mercy of God, who always sees our needs and draws near to us in love.  The command to love God and neighbour, then, is supremely practical; it entails caring for others even to the point of personal sacrifice.  By the end of the parable, we see that the “neighbour” is not so much the man in need, but rather the one who responded to that need with compassion.  Jesus tells all of us to be neighbours in this sense: “Go and do likewise”.  He himself is the model of the Good Samaritan; by imitating his love and compassion, we show ourselves truly to be his followers.

I greet the English-speaking visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly the pilgrims from England, Sweden, Slovakia, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, the Philippines, Canada and the United States of America.  In the joy of the Risen Lord, I invoke upon you and your families the loving mercy of God our Father.  May the Lord bless you all!

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(Vatican Radio) This coming Friday, 29 April, is the feast day of one of the Church’s best loved saints, and Doctors of the Church, St Catherine of Siena. Born in 1347 in the Tuscan city of Siena, she was to live only 33 years; but like her Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, in those few brief years, she changed the course of history. Counsellor to Popes and Princes; to a Europe which had been tearing itself apart, she was instrumental in helping to start a process which would usher in a more stable continent. For this reason, she is not only hailed as a Patron Saint of Italy, but also a Co-Patron of Europe itself.

Listen here as Deacon Phil Andrews discovers more about St Catherine's enduring legacy in the promotion of mercy, and realized in the practise of faith, hope, and love:

However, it is perhaps her spiritual legacy which still affects us in the twenty-first century. The two-fold truth as taught by Jesus to St Catherine was quite simply this: we are created, wounded and broken, yet we are also loved infinitely by Christ. Within these statements lies an important value, that of respect for all human life, and for each other. The legacy of St Catherine enables us to gain a clearer understanding of ourselves, and also the opportunity to know Christ. When this has been attained, then we may look with the loving eyes of Christ, learning to recognize in the other, one who whilst broken, is profoundly loved. St Catherine shows us, therefore, how to understand each other – to be merciful - and to love them with the love of Christ.

Between the main entrance of Vatican Radio’s Rome studios, and the historic Mausoleum of Hadrian, now known as Castel Sant’Angelo, is a monument which honours St Catherine. The image of the saint herself – leaning forward as if to suggest rapid motion - reveals one who is earnestly about the Lord’s business. To the saint’s side is a stone tablet, depicting in bas relief, various stories associated with the saint. For the many Jubilee of Mercy pilgrims who commence their pilgrimage from this location towards the basilica of St Peter half a mile away, these images convey the importance of practising mercy, and it is St Catherine who teaches this lesson. Here is but one remarkable example:

In 1998, a young drug addict, and murderer, Jonathan Wayne Nobles, was executed by the State of Texas for a savage double murder committed some 12 years earlier. Whilst on death row, however, his short life changed forever. Within the prison where he was incarcerated, there was a Lay Dominican Chapter dedicated to St Martin de Porres. He came to know some of the members of this group, and was received into it. It wasn’t long after that he himself set about introducing other prisoners to the Chapter.

The fruits of this became apparent: he made peace with the mother of one of his two victims, and even tried, unsuccessfully, to offer his organs for transplant so that some good might come of his death.

On his final day, he eschewed the customary last meal, preferring to fast in preparation for the longed for Holy Communion that he would receive shortly before being injected with a lethal combination of drugs. Indeed, the prison records listed his last meal as “The Eucharist”; and the day of his execution was to be 8th October, the Feast of the Holy Rosary — the prayer of which had long been part of his daily devotions.

His last recorded words were from the 13th chapter of St Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians:

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.” He concluded with verse 13, “So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

What could have moved Jonathan Wayne Nobles to effect such a change in his life, and to devote instead his final years on death row to Christ and his Blessed Mother? The answer lies in one of those bas relief images depicted on the monument to St Catherine, where pilgrims seeking mercy now gather here in Rome.

Like Jonathan, St Catherine of Siena had become a Third Order Dominican, and so naturally he would have taken an interest in the stories associated with St Catherine, but one in particular. Although separated by over six centuries, the story of her conversion of the young Perugian, Niccolò di Toldo. He, like Jonathan, had also to face the executioner for the crime of murder, albeit committed during a time of civil disturbance in Siena.

Like Jonathan, Niccolò had been ravaged with despair, furious about the direction his life had taken. However, St Catherine, a woman of radical hope, expressed in charity, and promoted by faith, enabled God to free Niccolò from a raging anger against his judges, and indeed, God Himself.

In her hands, Niccolò experienced a conversion so sweet, that he begged her to be at his side during the execution. A promise she kept. In St Catherine’s own words:

“He was so comforted and consoled that he confessed his sins and prepared himself very well. I promised to be with him and was. He received Holy Communion. His will was in accord with God’s will. … I said courage my dear brother for you shall soon reach the wedding feast. All the fear in his heart disappeared. He said ‘What is the source of such a grace for me that my soul's sweetness will wait for me at the holy place of execution?’… I placed his neck on the block and reminded him of the blood of the Lamb. His mouth said nothing apart from ‘Jesus’ and ‘Catherine’.

Then was seen the god-man as one sees the brilliance of the sun. His side was open and he received the man’s blood into his own blood. He received his soul as well into his side. He was receiving him only through grace and mercy and not for anything that he had done.

With what tenderness and love he awaited that soul. The eye of his mercy turned towards him. As for Niccolò, he made a gesture sweet enough to charm a thousand hearts. He was already tasting the divine sweetness. It was like a bride turning to those who have led her to the wedding night, and who then looks back to thank those who have brought her there.”

St Catherine gently laid his head on the block, and kept hold of it, so that as the axe fell, his head did not fall to the ground, but was received with exquisite love into her hands; but she knew that at that same moment, it would truly be the hands of Christ which would be holding Niccolò in so deep an embrace, that he would fear for nothing, ever again.

Her simple, yet beautiful mission had been nothing more than to reveal the love, and mercy of God.

For the pilgrims gathered today in Rome, and around the world, as Christian disciples, they may not be able to take away the trials and sorrows of those whom they find themselves serving; but, in the example of St Catherine, they can show those in their charge the profound, and immeasurable depths of God’s love and mercy.

This is the rationale of the Jubilee Year of Mercy.

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(Vatican Radio) A number of causes for canonization were advanced on Tuesday, including an Italian diocesan priest. A miracle attributed to Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco clears the way for his canonization. 

Another miracle, attributed to the intercession of the Venerable John Sullivan, an Irish Jesuit, was also recognized. 

The decrees also recognize the martyrdom of several victims of Communism, including the Servants of God Fr José Antón Gómez, OSB, along with three other Benedictine priests, who were killed during the Spanish civil war; and Archbishop Nikollë Vinçenc Prennushi of Durrës (Durazzo), and 37 companions, killed under the Communist regime in Albania between 1945 and 1974. Pope Francis honoured the martyrs of Albania during his visit to that country in 2014. 

Another country recently visited by the the Holy Father also saw one of its sons advanced along the path toward canonization, as the Congregation recognized the heroic virtues of Father Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, a Korean priest.

Below, please find Vatican Radio's translation of the announcement of the promulgation of decrees concerning the Causes of Saints: 

Pope Francis on Tuesday received in private audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, S.D.B., the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

During the audience, the Holy Father authorized the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees regarding:

• the miracle, attributed to the intercession of Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan Priest, Founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St John the Baptist; born 23 March 1839, died 6 February 1910;

• the miracle, attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed Priest of the Society of Jesus; born 8 May 1861, died 19 February 1933;

• the martyrdom of the Servant of God Nikollë Vinçenc Prennushi, of the Order of Friars Minor, Archbishop of Durrës (Durazzo), and 37 companions, killed between 1945 and 1974;

• the martyrdom of the Servant of God José Antón Gómez, and three companions, priests of the Order of St Benedict, killed in 1936;

• the heroic virtue of the Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan Priest; born 1 March 1821, died 15 June 1861;

• the heroic virtue of the Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed Priest of the Order of Friars Minor, Founder of the Congregation of Little Handmaids of Christ the King; born 28 December 1885, died 27 January 1952;

• the heroic virtue of the Servant of God Venantius Katarzyniec (né Joseph), professed Priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual; born 7 October 1889, died 31 March 1921;

• the heroic virtue of the Servant of God Maria Consiglio dello Spirito Santo (née Emilia Pasqualina Addatis), Foundress of the Congregation of Sister Servants of the Sorrowful Mother; born 5 January 1845, died 11 January 1900;

• the heroic virtue of the Servant of God María de la Encarnación (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), Foundress of the Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis of the Rebaño de María; born 24 March 1840, died 24 November 1917;

• the heroic virtue of the Servant of God Maria Laura Baraggia, Foundress of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; born 1 May 1851, died 18 December 1923;

• the heroic virtue of the Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, Foundress of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist; born 4 October 1897, died 23 March 1977;

• the heroic virtue of the Servant of God María Montserrat Grases García, Laywoman, of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and of Opus Dei; born 10 July 1941, died 26 March 1959.

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(Vatican Radio) In light of increasing gang violence and murder in Dublin, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin calls upon the people of the city to form an alliance to fight against hatred and evil.

Archbishop Martin issued the statement yesterday after two gun murders occurred within two hours of each other. These are the sixth and seventh deaths on the streets of Dublin this year connected to gangland feuds, organized crime and personal disputes.

“Everyone has a responsibility,” he says. “Those who cultivate violence thrive on our silence.  We have to unite to undermine them and their business and not close our eyes to what we know.” 

Below find the full text of Archbishop Diarmuid’s statement.

26th April 2016

Pope Francis recently quoted Martin Luther King on the theme of putting an end to violence.  King had said that in the face of senseless violence in the end: “somewhere somebody must have a little sense”.  And then he adds: “[The sensible person] is the strong person.  The strong person is the person who can cut off the chain of hate, the chain of evil”.

Dublin needs a courageous coalition of strong people who are not afraid to call violence what it is: evil. Dublin needs a coalition of strong people who are not afraid to call the sponsors of this violence what they are: despicable and evil.

Hatred and evil easily become a chain and those who resort to such violence feel that they are the strong ones.  We need to form a strong alliance of all those who oppose violence on our streets.  We cannot abandon the good honest men, women and children of parts of our inner city.  The elderly live in fear.  Their children are exposed to carnage on their streets. Their neighbourhood is being vilified; they are held to ransom by despicable people involved in the rackets of death.  The promoters of violence think that they can impose their interests on society: we have to show them that together we are stronger than them and that we can bring them down.

Everyone has a responsibility.  Those who cultivate violence thrive on our silence.  We have to unite to undermine them and their business and not close our eyes to what we know.  There is plenty of intelligence on the streets; we need to create a culture which will enable those who have information to get that information to the Gardaí.

Once again families have lost loved ones. Their tears and their loss will not be compensated for with more violence.  We have to break the chain of hate and evil. 

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(Vatican Radio ) I'm sure you remember Saint John Paul II's invitation to us not to be afraid. Certainly he himself was not afraid to stand up to the trials of life in defense of others, neither as Pope nor as priest back in Poland. To mark two years since his canonisation Veronica Scarisbrick shares with you a programme focusing on his life in Poland under the communist regime which features interviews done at the time of his pontificate. 

Listen to this programme presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick:

 
As you'll discover in this archive programme no one ever doubted the courage of Pope John Paul, certainly not his closest advisors. Among them Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze who specifies how .."Pope John Paul II put the Church on the map of the world and in the corridors of those who make policies as perhaps no other pope in our time...you know where he stands on major problems touching church and society...he is not afraid."

Some of those who personally knew him before he was elected Pope back in Poland testify how courageous he was . Among them a fellow school chum, a student of the future pope's at University, a personal friend and a Polish countess. All of whom recall the courage and moral strength of Karol Wojtyla both as a private and public figure. In a special way when he stood up to the repressive communist regime offering solidarity to those around him.

An impression of courage and moral strength reinforced by the Pope's own words which you can hear in this programme, such as when he denounced the injustice of poverty: "...the poor people ..poor in different ways, not only lacking food but also deprived of freedom and other human rights.. ", condemning those: " ...who take these goods away from them amassing to themselves the imperialistic monopoly of economic and political supremacy at the expense of others ..".Or again when he spoke of the importance of solidarity: .." for the disciple of Christ solidarity is a moral duty stemming from the spiritual union of all human beings who share a common origin, a common dignity and a common destiny ..".

 

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Beijing, China, Apr 27, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Two members of a Chinese church demolition crew have been detained by police after they allegedly bulldozed the wife of a Christian pastor who had attempted to halt the destruction of her church.

Bob Fu, president of the NGO China Aid, said that Christianity has become a “major target” in culture and is treated as “a political and security threat to the regime,” he told CNA April 25.

“Bulldozing and burying alive Ding Cuimei, a peaceful and devout Christian woman, was a cruel, murderous act,” Fu said in a previous statement from China Aid.

“This case is a serious violation of the rights to life, religious freedom and rule of law. The Chinese authorities should immediately hold those murderers accountable and take concrete measures to protect the religious freedom of this house church’s members.”

Ding Cumei and her husband Li Jiangong were pushed into a ditch and buried alive by the bulldozer as congregants watched. Her husband was able to dig his way out, but she was not.

Li headed Beitou Church in the city of Zhumadian in central China's Hena province.

A government-backed company had sent the demolition crew to the church after a local developer wished to take the property, China Aid said.

One member of the crew allegedly said “Bury them alive for me…I will be responsible for their lives.”

An officer at the local police station told China Aid that the two members of the crew were detained but the officer did not disclose their alleged crimes.

Local Christians said that the government departments in charge of the area were not present to oversee the demolition. Li said that police took an unusually long time to arrive after the murder was reported.

Fu told CNA that the situation for Christians in China has changed under President Xi Jinping, who took office in 2013. He likened the situation to a “new Cultural Revolution.”

Under the previous presidential administrations of Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, Fu said, “officially Christianity was not overtly regarded as a national security threat.”

Suspicion and crackdowns instead focused on unregistered churches in both Protestant and Catholic churches.

Now, even registered churches have faced increased scrutiny and persecution. Church leaders at government sanctioned churches have faced heavy criminal sentences.

“Christians, including Catholics have been asked to change into a different version of belief under the banner of ‘Sinicization of religion’ in order to make Christianity compatible with socialism,” Fu said.

David Curry, president and CEO of Open Doors USA, told Fox News that there has been a change from previous trends to recognize Christians as productive members of Chinese society.

“China has the goal of nationalizing Christians,” he said.

Curry’s organization monitors anti-Christian persecution around the world. He said there are many ways to marginalize China’s Christian churches, including rezoning church properties to allow for demolition. Some local pastors are required to meet weekly with local officials to discuss their sermons.

“It has had a chilling effect on religious freedom in China,” he said.

Fu added that China’s constitution guarantees freedom of religious belief. “Religious freedom is a universal, fundamental first freedom,” he said. “Religious freedom for Christianity can foster a more stable less volatile and more prosperous China.”

Photo credit: www.shutterstock.com.

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Vatican City, Apr 27, 2016 / 05:17 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday Pope Francis said that just because someone is an expert in God’s law and a strict adherent to the rules doesn’t necessarily mean they know how to love and serve others.

“It’s not automatic that whoever frequents the House of God and knows his mercy knows how to love their neighbor. It’s not automatic,” the Pope said April 27.

“You can know the bible, you can know all the liturgical norms, you can know theology, but ‘to know’ is not automatically ‘to love,’” he said, explaining that “to love has another path, with intelligence, but it has something more.”

While knowledge and worship are good, they are false unless they are “translated into service of others,” Francis stressed.

“Let us never forget: in front of the suffering of so many people exhausted by hunger, violence, injustice, we cannot remain spectators. To ignore the suffering of man means to ignore God!”

Pope Francis spoke to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience, which he has dedicated to the topic of mercy as seen in scripture for the Jubilee of mercy.

In his speech, the Pope focused on the Gospel passage in Luke in which Jesus recounts the parable of the Good Samaritan.

After telling the crowd that they must “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and will all your mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself,” Jesus is questioned by a doctor of the law, who presses him on who qualifies as a neighbor.

What this doctor of the law is looking for, Francis said, is “a clear rule that permits him to classify the others into ‘neighbor’ and ‘non-neighbors.’ Those who can become neighbors and those who cannot become neighbors.”

Jesus then responds with a parable including a priest, a Levite and a Samaritan. The first two are linked to their worship at the temple, while the third, the Samaritan, is “a schismatic Jew, considered as a stranger, a pagan and impure.”

Francis noted that the Law of the Lord obliged the priest and the Levite to help the suffering, injured man, yet they both pass without stopping. The despised Samaritan, on the other hand, doesn’t walk by the wounded man like the other two, but instead had compassion.

“That is the difference,” Pope Francis said. “The other two saw, but their hearts remained closed, cold. Instead the heart of the Samaritan was in tune with the heart of God.”

Compassion is “an essential characteristic of God’s mercy,” the Pope continued, explaining that the compassion shown by the Good Samaritan is the same that God shows to each one of us.

The Lord, he said, “doesn’t ignore us, he knows our pains, he knows how much we need help and consolation. He comes close to us and never abandons us.”

In taking the wounded man to a hotel, caring for him and paying the bill, the Samaritan teaches us that love and compassion “are not a vague feeling,” but mean taking care of one another even to the point of paying the expense in person.

“It means to compromise oneself taking all the steps needed in order to draw close to the other, to the point of immersing yourself with them,” he added.

Pope Francis then turned to Jesus' question at the end of the passage, when he asks the doctors of the law which figure in the parable was a neighbor to the wounded man. The unanimous answer, he noted was “the one who had compassion.”

Francis noted that this answer differed from what they initially said at the beginning. Namely that for the priest and the Levite, their neighbor was the dying man. However, at the end, the neighbor became the Samaritan, “who drew near.”

“Jesus reverses the prospective,” he said, explaining that rather than sitting by and classifying who is a neighbor and who isn’t, “you can become the neighbor of anyone you meet in need, and you will be if in your heart you have compassion.”

The Pope closed his speech saying the parable is “a stupendous gift” and a commitment for all to take into consideration.

“We are all called to follow the same path of the Good Samaritan, who is the figure of Christ,” he said, adding that “Jesus bent down over us, became our servant, and in doing so saved us, so that also we can love one another as Jesus loved us. In the same way.”

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