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 WASHINGTON-Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York called on everyone "concerned about the tragedy of abortion" to recommit to a "vision of life and love, a vision that excludes no one" on January 14. His statement marks the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Cardinal Dolan chairs the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"Most Americans oppose a policy allowing legal abortion for virtually any reason - though many still do not realize that this is what the Supreme Court gave us," wrote Cardinal Dolan. "Most want to protect unborn children at later stages of pregnancy, to regulate or limit the practice of abortion, and to stop the use of taxpayer dollars for the destruction of unborn children. Yet many who support important goals of the pro-life movement do not identify as 'pro-life,' a fact which should lead us to examine how we present our pro-life vision to others."

"Even as Americans remain troubled by abortion," wrote Cardinal Dolan, a powerful and well-funded lobby holds "that abortion must be celebrated as a positive good for women and society, and those who cannot in conscience provide it are to be condemned for practicing substandard medicine and waging a 'war on women'." He said this trend was seen recently when President Obama and other Democratic leaders prevented passage of the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act, "a modest measure to provide for effective enforcement" of conscience laws.

"While this is disturbing," said Cardinal Dolan, "it is also an opportunity." Pro-life Americans should reach out to "the great majority of Americans" who are "open to hearing a message of reverence for life." He added that "we who present the pro-life message must always strive to be better messengers. A cause that teaches the inexpressibly great value of each and every human being cannot show disdain or disrespect for any fellow human being." He encouraged Catholics to take part, through prayer and action, in the upcoming "9 Days for Life" campaign, January 16-24. More information on the campaign is available online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxJwfcefUiU

He also cited the Year of Mercy called by Pope Francis as a time for women and men to find healing through the Church's Project Rachel post-abortion ministry.

The full text of Cardinal Dolan's message is available online.
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Keywords: Roe v. Wade, anniversary, Pro-Life, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, 9 Days for Life, USCCB, U.S. bishops, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Year of Mercy, Project Rachel, Pope Francis
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The Holy Father, has appointed Fr. Christudas Rajappan, of the diocese of Trivandrum, India of the Latin Rite as the new Auxiliary bishop of the same diocese on February 2.    Currently Fr. Christudas  was serving as  the Rector of St. Vincent’s Seminary of the said diocese, Director at Board for Clergy and Religious and Parish Priest at Kochuthura ( Puthukurichy) St. Thomas Aquinas Church.

Fr. Christudas Rajappan was born on 25th Nov 1971 and after completing his studies in Philosophy and Theology at the Papal Seminary in Pune was ordained a priest on 25th Nov 1998 for the Archdiocese of Trivandrum of the Latins.  He pursued his studies in Rome and secured a Doctorate in Missiology at the Pontifical Urban University Rome.

After his ordination  he held the Following positions:

1998-1999: Parish Administrator of the St. Nicholas Church, Neerody;

1999-2001: Secretary of the Bishop and the Chaplain of the Catholic Jubilee Memorial Hospital & Hostel;

2000-2003: Director of KCYM, Trivandrum;

2001-2007: Chaplain of the Catholic Hostel;

2002-2004: Parish Priest at St. Magdalene Church, Parthiyoor;

2004-2009: Doctorate student  in Rome;

2010-2013: Spiritual Director and teacher at St. Joseph's Pontifical Seminary, Alwaye.

The Archdiocese of Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram) is one of the biggest diocese of Kerala having a Catholic population of nearly 2,50,000 people, even after the bifurcation of the Diocese of Neyyattinkara four years ago. The 75 parishes and 44 Mission stations of the Diocese are grouped together into 8 Vicariates in 3 Episcopates. At present there are  133 incardinated priests in the Archdiocese including those retired, studying and working for other Dioceses and 27 religious priests.

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(Vatican Radio) German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the European Union should renew its sanctions against Russia in response to Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and the Kremlin’s support for pro-Russian separatists that are fighting Ukrainian government forces in eastern Ukraine.

Listen to Stefan Bos' report: 

Her views are shared by Kiev amid concerns over fresh ceasefire violations and the disappearance of a rights activist and other Ukrainians.

Merkel, who met Ukraine's president on Monday in Berlin, expressed concern about reports of renewed fighting in eastern Ukraine. She urged the European Union to maintain sanctions against Russia as the West has accused Moscow of supporting pro-Russian separatists with weapons and troops. "You know that the sanctions have to be extended, because the Minsk peace agreement is not implemented to the foreseen process," she said. "And we believe that it would be good for all the parties involved for it [the agreement] to be implemented and thereby fulfill the requirements in order to lift the sanctions, but unfortunately we are not there yet," Merkel added.

RUSSIAN TROOPS

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko agrees. He said Russia has recently been sending troops and weapons into eastern Ukraine, also known as Donbass, threatening the fragile peace deal. "It is terrible that after the Minsk [peace] agreement, we have passed one-and-a-half year and unfortunately we still face serious security problems on Donbass, which must have been cleared [in] the first place," he said.

"Regardless of our endeavours, Russia and its proxies do not observe the ceasefire," Poroshenko added. "Sanctions against Russia must stay in place until Russia and its proxies fully implement the Minsk Agreement and Russia gets out of Donbass, take their troops, take their weapons, and renew the borders," he said. 

The cease-fire agreements aimed at ending the conflict between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists were signed in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, in September 2014 and February last year.

More than 9,000 people have died in nearly two years of fighting in the east.

UKRAINIANS DISAPPEARING

Additionally, Ukrainians have disappeared in the area, including prominent humanitarian activist Maryna Cherenkova who was reportedly detained over the weekend by separatist security forces in the eastern city of Donetsk.

Earlier pro-Russian separatists detained respected religious-studies professor Ihor Kozlovskiy. His relatives say he was taken from his home in Donetsk on January 28 and has not been heard from since.

While the EU was expected to discuss sanctions soon, the United States announced overnight that it has slapped sanctions on another five Russians for human rights violations under a 2012 U.S. law named for Russian whistle-blower and Sergei Magnitsky.

The Russian lawyer alleged in 2008 that organized criminals colluded with a Russian government official to claim a fraudulent $230 million tax rebate. His death in prison in 2009 prompted widespread criticism from human rights activists and spurred U.S. and European efforts to punish Russian officials complicit in human rights abuses.

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(VIS/Vatican Radio)  A press conference was held in the Holy See Press Office on Monday to present the book "Witnesses of the Resurrected", the proceedings of the annual formation course for new bishops organised by the Congregation for Bishops, edited by the Vatican Publishing House (LEV). The speakers were Cardinal Marc Ouellet, P.S.S., Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops; Archbishop Ilson de Jesus Montanari, secretary of the same Congregation, and Archbishop Francesco Cacucci of Bari-Bitonto, rapporteur of the Course.

"This experience began from afar", said Cardinal Ouellet. "Indeed, the Synods held during the last decades have shown that there is a need for the formation of all those who form part of the Church: laypeople, priests, men and women religious, and also bishops. … In the light of these declarations, the Congregation for Bishops, after careful discernment, began its experience of the course for new bishops. The first event, coordinated by the then-prefect, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, was carried out in late June and early July 2001. The next will therefore be the sixteenth edition. Bishops from all over the world will travel to Rome for this initiative, under the patronage of the Congregation for Bishops, in collaboration with the Congregation for the Oriental Churches and, occasionally, the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples".

"This means that more than 1500 bishops have started their pastoral mission via this experience of eight or nine days of cohabitation, fraternal exchange, conferences, debates and, above all, encounters with the Holy Father and representatives of the Curia Romana and the episcopate worldwide. The content shared in this course is published in this book and made available to the public, to allow observations and suggestions to be made that may be useful for improving the experience".

Archbishop Francesco Cacucci explained that "in a moment of hyperactivity and fragmentation, the bishop is called upon today more than ever to be a man of synthesis and to help priests, "brothers and friends", to share the essential. … The Congress of Italian Churches, held in Florence last November, was encouraged by the Holy Father to live an effective synodality. Walking together (synod) with priests, consecrated persons and laypeople may be tiresome but it is an expression of love, of the communion in the Church. It may be said, after St. Augustine, that when one loves, even hardship is beloved. Therefore, to be a 'witness of the Resurrecetd', the bishop is called upon to be a man of prayer, especially of prayer for intercession".

Archbishop Ilson de Jesus Montanari added that during these sixteen years the number of bishops participating has always been more than a hundred, and explained that after the first meetings, the Congregation for Oriental Churches joined in the experience, sending more bishops. "This presence has enabled us to obtain a better knowledge of the situation of these churches, which often face problems or are in minority situations, so as to strengthen fraternal relations with them", he concluded.

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(Vatican Radio) The Prefect of the recently established Secretariat for Communications, Monsignor Dario Edoardo Viganò, has refuted press reports claiming Pope Francis “will play himself” in an upcoming film.

The film production company ENVI Pictures issued a statement on Monday saying Pope Francis will appear in the film “Beyond the Sun.”

“The Pope is not an actor,” Msgr. Viganò said.

He added that no scenes for the movie were filmed “for purpose,” although he does not exclude “as has happened before, video clips of the Pope  could appear in the film.”

Any profits from the film are being used to support two Argentinian charities for children.

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(Vatican Radio) The Church in the United States is observing the week of January 31 – February 6 as National Catholic Schools Week 2016. This year's theme, "Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service," focuses on the important faith-building, academic and societal contributions provided by a Catholic education.

Bishop Christopher Coyne of Burlington, Vermont is the chairman of the Committee on Communications for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He spoke with Christopher Wells about the significance of National Catholic Schools Week.

He said it’s important to celebrate both the history of Catholic schools in the United States, but also “to strengthen and foster” Catholic schools “and commit ourselves once again to maintaining the excellent Catholic schools that we have in the country.”

Bishop Coyne said the theme of this year’s week promotes the idea that Catholic schools are not concerned simply with giving children knowledge, but with forming “the whole person – spiritually, pastorally, and in terms of their education” not just in terms of religion, but in terms of “education for life.” The theme, he said, “captures what is really so good about Catholic schools, that we’re not about education so much as we’re about formation.”

Catholic schools, he said, are especially important both in the United States and throughout the first world in a culture that has become increasingly secularized, that is “becoming less and less connected with religion, that often sees it as something to avoid.” Catholic schools offer the opportunity not only to educate children, but also to form and evangelize them.

Listen to Vatican Viewpoints, featuring the interview of Bishop Christopher Coyne with Christopher Wells:

The observance of Catholic Schools Week began in 1974. Schools and parishes around the country will hold activities such as Masses, open houses and pot luck gatherings to celebrate the communities they represent. The week also highlights the educational and community successes of Catholic schools around the county. One example is that an estimated 98 percent of students graduate from high school and 86 percent of Catholic school graduates attend college. This percentage has been consistent over the past 20 years.

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis called China a “great country,” and said  the world should not “fear” China’s growing power, but that the “true balance of peace is realized through dialogue.”

The Holy Father was speaking in an interview about China with the Asia Times, an online newspaper based in Hong Kong.

Pope Francis told the interviewer, Asia Times columnist and China Renmin University senior researcher Francesco Sisci, he had been fascinated by China from a young age.

“For me, China has always been a reference point of greatness. A great country,” Pope Francis said. “But more than a country, a great culture, with an inexhaustible wisdom.”

Click below to hear our report

When asked about the challenges faced by the rising influence of the country, the Holy Father said the rest of the world should not react with “fear.”

“But when a people moves forward, this does not worry me because it means they are making history,” the Pope said. “And I believe that the Chinese people are moving forward and this is their greatness.

Pope Francis said the Western world, the Eastern world, and China all have the capacity and strength to maintain the balance of peace, and this balance will be found through “dialogue,” and no other way.

“Encounter is achieved through dialogue,” Pope Francis said. “The true balance of peace is realized through dialogue.”

The Holy Father also commended China for recently loosening its “one-child” policy.

“The problem for China of not having children must be very painful; because the pyramid is then inverted and a child has to bear the burden of his father, mother, grandfather and grandmother,” Pope Francis said. “And this is exhausting, demanding, disorientating. It is not the natural way.”

Pope Francis concluded the interview by sending good wishes to the Chinese nation for the upcoming celebrations marking the Chinese New Year of the Monkey.

“On the eve of the New Year, I wish to convey my best wishes and greetings to President Xi Jinping and to all the Chinese people,” he said.

“And I wish to express my hope that they never lose their historical awareness of being a great people, with a great history of wisdom, and that they have much to offer to the world,” – Pope Francis continued – “The world looks to this great wisdom of yours. In this New Year, with this awareness, may you continue to go forward in order to help and cooperate with everyone in caring for our common home and our common peoples. ”

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Denver, Colo., Feb 2, 2016 / 03:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Whether fans are rooting for the Denver Broncos or the Carolina Panthers in the upcoming NFL Super Bowl 50, Catholic Charities of Denver, Colorado and Charlotte, South Carolina are uniting to host a friendly Charity Bowl Challenge that any football fan can cheer for.

Executive directors from both cities announced the wager last week, betting that the online fundraising challenge could bring their charities $50,000 by the end of the Feb. 7 game.

"It's a worthy cause that will have a major impact on the lives of the poor and needy in each of our communities," said Catholic Charities of Charlotte CEO Gerry Carter in a recent press release.

"All of our team's fans and Catholic Charities in the Carolinas look forward to this challenge, and the inevitable victory that will be ours," Carter said.

The Charity Bowl is an online fundraiser that started at midnight on January 31. All donations made between then and the end of the Super Bowl game will be counted towards the $50,000 goal.

The outcome of the Charity Bowl will be determined by the amount of money raised, not by the score of the football game. The face-off can be tracked online at www.CharityBowl50.org or through social media with the hashtag #CharityBowl50.

More than bragging rights are at stake for each of the charities. The losing charity’s CEO will dress in the opposing team's colors, sending congratulatory messages to the winning team. The victors will also hold a celebration where the winning charity's CEO will endure a cold sports drink dump.

"Through Charity Bowl 50, Denver football fans have a real opportunity to show they have the best team spirit and a passion for serving others," noted Denver Catholic Charities CEO, Larry Smith.

"This challenge is a true win for both Denver and Charlotte, but there's no doubt we will seize the victory," Smith continued.

Should Charlotte raise more money than Denver, the proceeds will benefit Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Charlotte, which annually serves more than 19,000 people a year with a focus on poverty, disaster relief, refugee assistance and education. They also provide pregnancy support, counseling and family outreach to the local community.

However, if Denver wins the Charity Bowl 50, the money will be used to support Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver, which assists thousands of people each year through their women's services, family outreach, and homeless shelters.

Even those who aren’t cheering for a team in the Super Bowl are encouraged to participate in the Charity Bowl 50 to raise money for Catholic Charities.

Donations are accepted online at www.CharityBowl50.org and the final tally will be published an hour after the Super Bowl ends.

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Vatican City, Feb 2, 2016 / 05:59 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As the Chinese New Year approaches, Pope Francis has granted an interview to Hong Kong’s Asia Times in which he touches on an array of topics including the country’s rapid rise to power and a realistic balance of work and family life.

With many families facing division and even separation due to the heavy emphasis that is often place on work-efficiency in China, Pope Francis has suggested “a healthy realism” regarding one’s responsibilities at work and in the home as a remedy.

“Reality must be accepted from wherever it comes,” he said in the interview, published Feb. 2. “Reality must be accepted for what it is. Be realistic. This is our reality.”

First, one has to accept reality for what it is, he said, adding that even if it's ideal, "if I don’t come to terms with it, I won’t be able to do anything."

Then the second step, he said, "is to work to improve reality and to change its direction.”

Pope Francis spoke with Asia Times columnist and senior researcher at China’s Renmin University Francesco Sisci Jan. 28 at the Vatican.

In the course of the lengthy interview, the Pope sent special greetings to China’s president, Xi Jinping, as well as all the Chinese people in honor of their new year, which will be celebrated Feb. 8.

In addition to expressing his esteem and respect for the Chinese people and their culture, Francis also touched on sensitive topics such as China’s rapid growth, the country’s One Child policy, which has recently been amended allowing families to have two children, as well as challenged related to the overbearing emphasis that is often placed on work.


Below is the full text of Pope Francis’ interview with Asia Times:

Sisci: What is China for you? How did you imagine China to be as a young man, given that China, for Argentina, is not the East but the far West? What does Matteo Ricci mean to you?

Pope Francis: For me, China has always been a reference point of greatness. A great country. But more than a country, a great culture, with an inexhaustible wisdom. For me, as a boy, whenever I read anything about China, it had the capacity to inspire my admiration. I have admiration for China. Later I looked into Matteo Ricci’s life and I saw how this man felt the same thing in the exact way I did, admiration, and how he was able to enter into dialogue with this great culture, with this age-old wisdom. He was able to “encounter” it.

When I was young, and China was spoken of, we thought of the Great Wall. The rest was not known in my homeland. But as I looked more and more into the matter, I had an experience of encounter which was very different, in time and manner, to that experienced by Ricci. Yet I came across something I had not expected. Ricci’s experience teaches us that it is necessary to enter into dialogue with China, because it is an accumulation of wisdom and history. It is a land blessed with many things. And the Catholic Church, one of whose duties is to respect all civilizations, before this civilization, I would say, has the duty to respect it with a capital “R.” The Church has great potential to receive culture.

The other day I had the opportunity to see the paintings of another great Jesuit, Giuseppe Castiglione – who also had the Jesuit virus (laughs). Castiglione knew how to express beauty, the experience of openness in dialogue: receiving from others and giving of one’s self on a wavelength that is “civilized” of civilizations. When I say “civilized,” I do not mean only “educated” civilizations, but also civilizations that encounter one another. Also, I don’t know whether it is true but they say that Marco Polo was the one who brought pasta noodles to Italy (laughs). So it was the Chinese who invented them. I don’t know if this is true. But I say this in passing.

This is the impression I have, great respect. And more than this, when I crossed China for the first time, I was told in the aircraft: “within ten minutes we will enter Chinese airspace, and send your greeting.” I confess that I felt very emotional, something that does not usually happen to me. I was moved to be flying over this great richness of culture and wisdom.

Sisci: China, for the first time in its thousands of years of history, is emerging from its own environment and opening to the world, creating unprecedented challenges for itself and for the world. You have spoken of a third world war that is furtively advancing: what challenges does this present in the quest for peace?

Pope Francis: Being afraid is never a good counselor. Fear is not a good counselor. If a father and a mother are fearful when they have an adolescent son, they will not know how to deal with him well. In other words, we must not fear challenges of any kind, since everyone, male and female, has within them the capacity to find ways of co-existing, of respect and mutual admiration. And it is obvious that so much culture and so much wisdom, and in addition, so much technical knowledge – we have only to think of age-old medicinal techniques – cannot remain enclosed within a country; they tend to expand, to spread, to communicate. Man tends to communicate, a civilization tends to communicate. It is evident that when communication happens in an aggressive tone to defend oneself, then wars result. But I would not be fearful. It is a great challenge to keep the balance of peace. Here we have Grandmother Europe, as I said in Strasbourg. It appears that she is no longer Mother Europe. I hope she will be able to reclaim that role again. And she receives from this age-old country an increasingly rich contribution. And so it is necessary to accept the challenge and to run the risk of balancing this exchange for peace. The Western world, the Eastern world and China all have the capacity to maintain the balance of peace and the strength to do so. We must find the way, always through dialogue; there is no other way. (He opens his arms as if extending an embrace.)

Encounter is achieved through dialogue. The true balance of peace is realized through dialogue. Dialogue does not mean that we end up with a compromise, half the cake for you and the other half for me. This is what happened in Yalta and we saw the results. No, dialogue means: look, we have got to this point, I may or may not agree, but let us walk together; this is what it means to build. And the cake stays whole, walking together. The cake belongs to everyone, it is humanity, culture. Carving up the cake, as in Yalta, means dividing humanity and culture into small pieces. And culture and humanity cannot be carved into small pieces. When I speak about this large cake I mean it in a positive sense. Everyone has an influence to bear on the common good of all. (The Pope smiles and asks: “I don’t know if the example of the cake is clear for the Chinese?” I nod: “I think so.”)

Sisci: China has experienced over the last few decades tragedies without comparison. Since 1980 the Chinese have sacrificed that which has always been most dear to them, their children. For the Chinese these are very serious wounds. Among other things, this has left enormous emptiness in their consciences and somehow an extremely deep need to be reconciled with themselves and to forgive themselves. In the Year of Mercy what message can you offer the Chinese people?

Pope Francis: The aging of a population and of humanity is happening in many places. Here in Italy the birth rate is almost below zero, and in Spain too, more or less. The situation in France, with its policy of assistance to families, is improving. And it is obvious that populations age. They age and they do not have children. In Africa, for example, it was a pleasure to see children in the streets. Here in Rome, if you walk around, you will see very few children. Perhaps behind this there is the fear you are alluding to, the mistaken perception, not that we will simply fall behind, but that we will fall into misery, so therefore, let’s not have children.

There are other societies that have opted for the contrary. For example, during my trip to Albania, I was astonished to discover that the average age of the population is approximately 40 years. There exist young countries; I think Bosnia and Herzegovina is the same. Countries that have suffered and opt for youth. Then there is the problem of work. Something that China does not have, because it has the capacity to offer work both in the countryside and in the city. And it is true, the problem for China of not having children must be very painful; because the pyramid is then inverted and a child has to bear the burden of his father, mother, grandfather and grandmother. And this is exhausting, demanding, disorientating. It is not the natural way. I understand that China has opened up possibilities on this front.

Sisci: How should these challenges of families in China be faced, given that they find themselves in a process of profound change and no longer correspond to the traditional Chinese model of the family?

Pope Francis: Taking up the theme, in the Year of Mercy, what message can I give to the Chinese people? The history of a people is always a path. A people at times walks more quickly, at times more slowly, at times it pauses, at times it makes a mistake and goes backwards a little, or takes the wrong path and has to retrace its steps to follow the right way. But when a people moves forward, this does not worry me because it means they are making history. And I believe that the Chinese people are moving forward and this is their greatness. It walks, like all populations, through lights and shadows. Looking at this past – and perhaps the fact of not having children creates a complex – it is healthy to take responsibility for one’s own path. Well, we have taken this route, something here did not work at all, so now other possibilities are opened up. Other issues come into play: the selfishness of some of the wealthy sectors who prefer not to have children, and so forth. They have to take responsibility for their own path. And I would go further: do not be bitter, but be at peace with your own path, even if you have made mistakes. I cannot say my history was bad, that I hate my history. (The Pope gives me a penetrating look.)

No, every people must be reconciled with its history as its own path, with its successes and its mistakes. And this reconciliation with one’s own history brings much maturity, much growth. Here I would use the word mentioned in the question: mercy. It is healthy for a person to have mercy towards himself, not to be sadistic or masochistic. That is wrong. And I would say the same for a people: it is healthy for a population to be merciful towards itself. And this nobility of soul … I don’t know whether or not to use the word forgiveness, I don’t know. But to accept that this was my path, to smile, and to keep going. If one gets tired and stops, one can become bitter and corrupt. And so, when one takes responsibility for one’s own path, accepting it for what it was, this allows one’s historical and cultural richness to emerge, even in difficult moments.

And how can it be allowed to emerge? Here we return to the first question: in dialogue with today’s world. To dialogue does not mean that I surrender myself, because at times there is the danger, in the dialogue between different countries, of hidden agendas, namely, cultural colonizations. It is necessary to recognize the greatness of the Chinese people, who have always maintained their culture. And their culture – I am not speaking about ideologies that there may have been in the past – their culture was not imposed.

Sisci: The country’s economic growth proceeded at an overwhelming pace but this has also brought with it human and environmental disasters which Beijing is striving to confront and resolve. At the same time, the pursuit of work efficiency is burdening families with new costs: sometimes children and parents are separated due to the demands of work. What message can you give them?

Pope Francis: I feel rather like a “mother-in-law” giving advice on what should be done (laughs). I would suggest a healthy realism; reality must be accepted from wherever it comes. This is our reality; as in football, the goalkeeper must catch the ball from wherever it comes. Reality must be accepted for what it is. Be realistic. This is our reality. First, I must be reconciled with reality. I don’t like it, I am against it, it makes me suffer, but if I don’t come to terms with it, I won’t be able to do anything. The second step is to work to improve reality and to change its direction.

Now, you see that these are simple suggestions, somewhat commonplace. But to be like an ostrich, that hides its head in the sand so as not to see reality, nor accept it, is no solution. Well then, let us discuss, let us keep searching, let us continue walking, always on the path, on the move. The water of a river is pure because it flows ahead; still water becomes stagnant. It is necessary to accept reality as it is, without disguising it, without refining it, and to find ways of improving it. Well, here is something that is very important. If this happens to a company which has worked for twenty years and there is a business crisis, then there are few avenues of creativity to improve it. On the contrary, when it happens in an age-old country, with its age-old history, its age-old wisdom, its age-old creativity, then tension is created between the present problem and this past of ancient richness. And this tension brings fruitfulness as it looks to the future. I believe that the great richness of China today lies in looking to the future from a present that is sustained by the memory of its cultural past. Living in tension, not in anguish, and the tension is between its very rich past and the challenge of the present which has to be carried forth into the future; that is, the story doesn’t end here.

Sisci: On the occasion of the upcoming Chinese New Year of the Monkey, would you like to send a greeting to the Chinese people, to the Authorities and to President Xi Jinping?

Pope Francis: On the eve of the New Year, I wish to convey my best wishes and greetings to President Xi Jinping and to all the Chinese people. And I wish to express my hope that they never lose their historical awareness of being a great people, with a great history of wisdom, and that they have much to offer to the world. The world looks to this great wisdom of yours. In this New Year, with this awareness, may you continue to go forward in order to help and cooperate with everyone in caring for our common home and our common peoples. Thank you!

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