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(Vatican Radio) In his annual allocution to the Roman Rota, delivered on Friday, Pope Francis touched on two major themes: the role of faith in making a marriage, and the complementarity of truth and mercy – especially as the Church’s marriage law is concerned in practice.

The Roman Rota is the highest ordinary appellate court in the Catholic Church’s legal system, and deals primarily with cases of marital nullity.

One of the judges – Prelate-auditors is their official title – of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, Msgr. David Maria Jaeger, OFM, told Vatican Radio the speech struck many of the Canon Law experts who heard it as a corrective to more-or-less widespread misconceptions about the way that faith “works” to make a marriage valid, and about the way that the twin objects of justice and mercy are served through the Church’s judicial organs.

“In speaking afterwards with professors of Canon Law,” said Msgr. Jaeger, “I have heard this comment: that particularly striking was the Holy Father’s corrective to the idea – of some – that a person must be a particularly zealous, active, practicing Christian [in order] to be able to contract marriage in the Church; ‘this is not so,’ the Holy Father says.”

Click below to hear our extended conversation with Msgr. David Maria Jaeger, OFM, Prelate-auditor of the Roman Rota

Msgr. Jaeger went on to tell Vatican Radio that the Holy Father was concerned in the speech to make clear the Church’s constant teaching through the centuries with regard to what does and does not constitute a valid marriage. “For marriage to be null in a particular case, it is not enough not to have active, explicit, zealous faith, but it is required that [one] person has actively rejected the sacramentality of marriage or excluded something essential to marriage from the marriage consent.” Msgr. Jaeger said, “Otherwise, the natural consent [of the parties], as the Church has always taught – the Holy Father insists on this – is sufficient to make a marriage, which between two baptized parties is also a sacrament.”

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met with the CEO of Apple Inc., Tim Cook, on Friday. The private audience took place in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, and followed a week after the Holy Father's meeting with the long-time CEO of tech giant Google Inc., Eric Schmidt. 

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Washington D.C., Jan 22, 2016 / 09:15 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pro-lifers must make their lives a Nativity scene where they provide a welcoming witness and  see Christ in the faces of the unborn, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said at the Jan. 21 March for Life vigil Mass in Washington, D.C.
 
“In the tiny baby, born or pre-born, we see the infant Jesus; in that child’s mother, especially when confused, scared, and hopeless, we see Mary at the crib of Bethlehem,” he said in his homily.
 
An estimated crowd of 9,000 attended the Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest church in North America. The Mass started an all-night prayer vigil for life on the eve of the annual March for Life.
 
Thirty-three cardinals and bishops, along with some 250 priests, concelebrated the Mass. Sixty deacons and 400 seminarians were also in attendance.
 
Friday, Jan. 22 marks the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that declared a woman’s legal right to have an abortion. The March for Life has been held every year on or around the Jan. 22 anniversary since 1973, a pro-life rally attended by hundreds of thousands of participants.
 
The theme of the 2016 march is “Pro-Life and Pro-Woman Go Hand-in-Hand.”
 
Cardinal Dolan, who chairs the Committee on Pro-Life Activities for the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference, echoed that theme in his story of a young Mexican woman who during Advent of 2015, placed her newborn child in an empty manger at the nativity scene of Holy Child Jesus parish in Queens, New York.
 
The anonymous 18-year-old mother, who told her story to the New York Post, said she was scared to find out she was pregnant but decided to have the child. She ultimately put the baby in God’s hands by placing it in the manger, because she knew the parish would care for the child.
 
Cardinal Dolan praised both her courage to have the child and the parish for setting such a Christ-like example that she decided to bring the child there.
 
“True story, and I submit it to you the jury this evening as Exhibit A in our case for promoting the culture of life,” the cardinal remarked.
 
“God bless that little baby – who I hear is doing well and is named José after the foster father of Jesus,” he said. “God bless that frightened, young mom who refused to believe in what Pope Francis has termed the ‘throw away culture’; God bless Holy Child Jesus Parish in Queens, for radiating such a spirit of welcome and joy and warmth and outreach that this Mexican mother spontaneously knew her baby would be safe there; God bless this culture of life!”
 
The outcome, he insisted, could have been quite different – the mother could have visited Planned Parenthood or encountered a “cold” reception at a Catholic parish or one that was locked “with a sign that was telling her, probably in English, to come back during office hours,” and she could have terminated the pregnancy.
 
“In a world that so often sadly says ‘sorry, no room at the inn’ to those in need, she found a manger, a sanctuary, in her Church,” he said, exhorting the faithful to give the same witness.
 
“My brother and sister apostles in the culture of life: let every parish in our nation be Holy Child Jesus Parish!...Let all our people be like those parishioners whose smile and greeting and welcome and sense of love assured our young mom that her baby would be safe there!”
 
Just as Pope Francis, in his visit to Greccio, Italy, exhorted Catholics to make their lives like a Nativity set – warm, welcoming, and Christ-centered – the faithful must do this by placing Christ at the center of their lives and seeing Him in the poor, “especially the tiniest and the most fragile, the baby in the womb” Cardinal Dolan insisted.
 
“God’s word at Mass this evening tells us about a dramatic conversion of heart: Jonathan was able to convert his father, King Saul, from a fixation on death to a choice for life, convincing him not to murder David,” he continued. “We’re summoned to be such agents of conversion.”
 
This is done “by reasoned and compelling argument…by advocacy…in law and political action…by prayer and fasting,” he added.

But political advocacy alone is not enough, the cardinal continued.
 
A culture of life is “most successfully” brought about “by imitating those priests and parishioners at Holy Child Jesus Parish in New York City, by acknowledging that little José, that abandoned newborn baby, was nowhere more at home than in the empty manger of their parish nativity scene, because he, too, is a child of God,” he said.

 

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By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Use the power of communication to build bridges and heal wounds, not generate hatred or misunderstanding, Pope Francis said.

The Catholic Church, too, must proclaim the truth and denounce injustice without alienating everyone in need of God's help, he said in his message for World Communications Day.

"We can and we must judge situations of sin -- such as violence, corruption and exploitation -? but we may not judge individuals, since only God can see into the depths of their hearts," he said. "It is our task to admonish those who err and to denounce the evil and injustice of certain ways of acting for the sake of setting victims free and raising up those who have fallen."

To coincide with the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis dedicated this year's message to the theme, "Communication and Mercy: A Fruitful Encounter." The message, released Jan. 22, was dated Jan. 24, the feast of St. Francis de Sales, the patron saint of journalists. Most dioceses will mark World Communications Day May 8, the Sunday before Pentecost.

In his message, the pope said that what people say, how they say it and what actions they take must all "express God's compassion, tenderness and forgiveness for all." Only by giving witness to and preaching with Jesus' warmth and mercy can the words of faith come alive to touch people's hearts and sustain them on the journey toward fullness of life, he said.

And since everyone is a child of God, no one must exclude another -- "without exception" -- from dialogue, he said.

The church and her ministers need to communicate in a way that never implies "a prideful and triumphant superiority over an enemy, or demean those whom the world considers lost and easily discarded."

"May our way of communicating help to overcome the mindset that neatly separates sinners from the righteous," he said, since mercy is what helps alleviate "life's troubles and offer warmth to those who have known only the coldness of judgment."

Truth is to be upheld with love, he said, and "only words spoken with love and accompanied by meekness and mercy can touch our sinful hearts. Harsh and moralistic words and actions risk further alienating those whom we wish to lead to conversion and freedom, reinforcing their sense of rejection and defensiveness."

Those who feel a world rooted in mercy would be "hopelessly idealistic or excessively indulgent" should think about the beauty of love between parents and their children in which love is never dependent on meeting certain conditions.

"I would like to encourage everyone to see society not as a forum where strangers compete and try to come out on top, but above all as a home or a family, where the door is always open and where everyone feels welcome."

"How beautiful it is when people select their words and actions with care, in the effort to avoid misunderstandings, to heal wounded memories and to build peace and harmony," he said.

Pope Francis said merciful communication applies also to all digital platforms and social networks, which are public meeting-places "where we can either encourage or demean one another, engage in a meaningful discussion or unfair attacks."

"The Internet can help us to be better citizens" and can build a world that is "healthy and open to sharing."

Words and actions should "help us all escape the vicious circles of condemnation and vengeance which continue to ensnare individuals and nations, encouraging expressions of hatred. The words of Christians ought to be a constant encouragement to communion and, even in those cases where they must firmly condemn evil, they should never try to rupture relationships and communication," he said.

The pope made special mention of people engaged in politics and those who help form public opinion, saying they must be especially careful about "the way they speak of those who think or act differently or those who may have made mistakes."

"It is easy to yield to the temptation to exploit such situations to stoke the flames of mistrust, fear and hatred," he said.

Courage and creativity are needed to guide people toward reconciliation and to offer "real solutions to ancient conflicts and the opportunity to build lasting peace."

Msgr. Dario Vigano, prefect of the Secretariat for Communications, told reporters that the pope's message again underlines the importance of the church living Gospel truths in words and deeds as a key part of the way it communicates.

"The church we are called to be can only live according to Jesus' words, which proclaim a mercy that surpasses every law, and can only mirror Jesus' approach by taking on his feelings, attitude and conduct" so that the church can reveal "the merciful face of God in Christ," he said in his written address.

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The text of the pope's World Communications Day message in English is available online at: http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/communications/documents/papa-francesco_20160124_messaggio-comunicazioni-sociali.html

The text of the pope's World Communications Day message in Spanish is available online at:http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/es/messages/communications/documents/papa-francesco_20160124_messaggio-comunicazioni-sociali.html

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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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IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller

By Mark Pattison

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Bishop David A. Zubik of Pittsburgh urged Massgoers preparing to rally in Washington for the annual March for Life to "connect the dots" linking all manner of life issues.

At a Jan. 22 Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Bishop Zubik invoked his fifth-grade teacher, Sister Mary Richard, who "taught me how to be a pro-lifer."

The nun "did it in an interesting and an unexpected way," he said. "If you have any hopes of getting to the sixth grade," he remembered her saying, "you'd better know more than just the Hail Mary. You'd better know the prepositions" -- at which point Bishop Zubik reeled off a string of prepositions in alphabetical order, from "above" to "with." "Needless to say," he added, "I made it to the sixth grade."

But prepositions, he said in his homily during the Mass, "give sentences their meaning." He added, "Every one of us is called by God to be prepositions in life."

Bishop Zubik said that while people engage in fasting, often interpreted as giving up something valuable to them, God has no interest in that. Instead, the bishop added, one has to go to the root of the word "sacrifice" -- in Latin, "sacrum facere," or to make holy.

The way to do that, Bishop Zubik said, is to "connect the dots" of life issues as prepositions connect the key words and phrases in a sentence.

"To connect the dots in 2016 takes on its own flavor," he said, "to make holy all of life, by connecting the dots to every single person," from the unborn to the born to the elderly, to those "suffering from human trafficking" and those "exploited by pornography," and "to the unemployed and the underemployed, looking not so much for a hand out as a lift up."

Connecting the dots to all persons is what God intended, Bishop Zubik said, "to see each other as God sees us all."

He lamented the Supreme Court decisions of Jan. 22, 1973, that legalized abortion virtually on demand, as it "opened the door" to a host of other legal, legislative and proposed initiatives that reduce the sanctity of human life.

He suggested twice -- during the homily and in a post-Communion reflection -- that Massgoers think about the people who brought them to Washington on the anniversary date. "Not by wheels and wings" to come to Washington, Bishop Zubik said, but by their example and formation. Bishop Zubik offered as one such example -- his own mother -- who he said "taught me to get down on my knees" to pray at bedtime each night, and upon waking, "to get down on my knees again" at the same bedside. He also exhorted them to "make sure you're very careful" as threatening weather approached.

Fears of a storm system dumping a foot or more of snow in the Washington area kept attendance down for the closing Mass as it had for the Jan. 21 Mass that started the overnight vigil. For this Mass, many pews were not packed shoulder-to-shoulder with people, and even a few pews in a far transept were empty.

Even so, the size of the national shrine's upper church ensured that there were thousands of people attending.

Msgr. Walter Rossi, rector of the national shrine, in welcoming remarks shortly after the Mass began, said, "We are pleased to have so many of you who have braved the threat of Winter Storm Jonas."

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