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Rome, Italy, Dec 19, 2015 / 11:44 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Speaking at a Rome homeless shelter, Pope Francis has said the humility of Jesus Christ’s birth shows that mankind can find God in poverty.

The Pope was at the shelter to open a special Holy Door for the homeless during the Year of Mercy.

“This is the door of the Lord,” the Pope said Dec. 18 as he opened the Holy Door. “Open the gates of justice. For your great mercy will enter into your house, O Lord.”

The Pope then paused in prayer and proceeded in to celebrate Mass at the homeless shelter in Rome’s Termini – John Paul II train station. About 200 people were in the congregation, representing all the Caritas centers in Rome.

In his impromptu homily, the Pope stressed that Jesus was not born to a princess in a palace. Rather, he came in humility to a simple young girl who lived on the outskirts of the Roman Empire.

There is a lesson here on where to find God, Pope Francis said.

“If you want to find God, look him for humility, look for him in poverty. Seek him where he is hidden: in the most needy, the sick, the hungry, the imprisoned,” he said, according to Vatican Radio.

“This is not luxury, this is not the way of great wealth, this is not is the way of power. This is the way of humility,” he continued.

“Today we pray for Rome, for all the inhabitants of Rome, for everyone, starting with me, because the Lord give us the grace to feel ourselves rejected, because we do not have any merit: only he gives us mercy and grace,” he said. “To get closer to that grace, we must approach the rejected, the poor, to those who need it most.”

He also voiced his desire for a spiritual renewal at Christmas.

"This Christmas I wish that the Lord is born in the heart of each of us, hidden so that no one realizes,” Pope Francis said.

Another day, another Holy Door! This time at a homeless shelter in Rome. https://t.co/U15luxeikh

— Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) December 18, 2015 The homeless shelter is named for the 20th century Italian priest Don Luigi di Liegro, who founded the Rome diocese’s Caritas organization.

The Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year of Mercy began Dec. 8. Pope Francis declared the event to help encourage acts of faith, charity, and mercy.

The Holy Doors of the Rome diocese are only opened during jubilee years so that pilgrims can enter through them in order to gain the plenary indulgence that is connected with the jubilee.

Four Holy Doors have been opened in the Rome diocese, including the homeless shelter’s door. Pope Francis opened the Holy Doors at St. Peter’s Basilica and the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran. American Cardinal James Harvey opened the Holy Door at St. Paul’s Outside-the-Walls. On Jan. 1 Pope Francis will open the Holy Door at St. Mary Major Basilica.

The Pope has asked the Catholic bishops of the world to designate Holy Doors at churches in their dioceses.

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 WASHINGTON- The United States has a moral obligation to protect unaccompanied children and families from persecution in Central America, said Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, October 21. Bishop Seitz is an advisor to the USCCB Committee on Migration and a member of the board of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC).

The humanitarian outflow, driven by organized crime in the northern triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, continues, with nearly 40,000 unaccompanied children and an equal number of mothers with children having arrived in the United States in Fiscal Year 2015.

"If we do not respond justly and humanely to this challenge in our own backyard, then we will relinquish our moral leadership and moral influence globally," Bishop Seitz said.

Bishop Seitz pointed to the human consequences of U.S. policies which are designed to deter migration from the region, including U.S. support for Mexican interdiction efforts which are intercepting children and families in Mexico and sending them back to danger, in violation of international law.

Bishop Seitz recommended an end to these interdictions and the introduction of a regional system which would screen children and families for asylum in Mexico and other parts of the region. He also called for Congress to approve and increase a $1 billion aid package proposed by the Administration.

"If we export enforcement," Bishop Seitz said, "we also must export protection."

Bishop Seitz recalled the words of Pope Francis before Congress in September, when he invoked the golden rule in guiding our nation's actions toward those seeking safety in our land.

Quoting the Holy Father, Bishop Seitz repeated to the committee, "'The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us.'"

"Mr. Chairman, I pray that time, and history, will conclude that we honored this rule in meeting this humanitarian challenge," Bishop Seitz concluded.

Bishop Seitz' testimony can be found at http://www.usccb.org//about/migration-policy/congressional-testimony/upload/seitz-ongoing-migration.pdf

Keywords: Bishop Mark J. Seitz, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Congress, Senate, Committee on Migration, migration, unaccompanied children, violence, Pope Francis
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Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias has received the news of Mother Teresa’s clearance for sainthood with ‎enthusiasm.  “I am delighted and overjoyed for this great gift, which is the epitome of the highest ‎mercy,” he told AsiaNews.  He recalled he had a very intense friendship with her saying, “Every time ‎we met, we shared our deepest joys and our greatest concerns.”   “Mother is India’s gift to the world, ‎to the secular world as well as the Christian world. Everyone, without distinction of religious ‎affiliations, loves her,” said Cardinal Gracias, who is Archbishop of Bombay.  “Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, ‎Jains, Buddhists, non-believers, even atheists love Mother intensely,” he said, adding, “They love her ‎and her voice of compassion and passionate love for the poor and the marginalised.”   “Her ‎canonization will concretely highlight the call to mercy in the 21st century.”  “Mother is a model we all ‎have to follow. This is the best Christmas present I ever received,” Cardinal Gracias added.‎  (Source: AsiaNews)

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Bishop Tesfassilessie, the Eparch of Adigrat Eparchy has called on the Catholic faithful in Ethiopia to begin acts of Mercy within their families. He said that the Church in Ethiopia and particularly the Eparchy of Adigrat will be encouraging separated married couples to sort out their differences and reconcile during the Jubilee Year of Mercy.

“The Extraordinary Jubilee year of Mercy give us the opportunity to stand back and evaluate our lives in terms of how merciful we have been towards others. It is a time we can indeed practice being merciful like the Father, whom we ask to be Merciful towards us,” he said.

Bishop Tesfassilassie said that the Eparchy of Adigrat has already drawn a plan of action for the year and prepared a booklet in the local language Tigrigna to be distributed among the faithful to guide the activities for the year of Mercy. The Door of Mercy has also been opened at the Holy Savior Catholic Cathedral in the town of Adigrat and it will be open to the faithful throughout the year in accordance with the instructions of the Holy Father Pope Francis.

According to the Eparch of Adigrat pilgrims and other spiritual activities will be organised for the faithful as a community and at the same time the Church will also encourage the faithful to practice engaging in Corporal and Spiritual Acts of Mercy throughout the year. He said practicing such acts of Mercy in this Jubilee year will encourage the people to make Corporal and Spiritual Acts of Mercy part of their lives even long after the year of Mercy ends.

Bishop Tesfassilassie called on the faithful to look at the year of Mercy as a time of spiritual renewal.

The Eparchy of Adigrat consists of the Tigray and Afar Regional States in the Northern part of Ethiopia where a significant number of Catholic faithful are present.

(Makeda Yohannes in Addis Ababa)

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(Vatican Radio)  Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, visited Rome’s Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital on Saturday, thanking the staff for their gift of love for the patients, most of whom are children.

The purpose of the Cardinal Secretary of State’s visit was to offer his and Pope Francis’ traditional Christmas wishes. 

He also took the opportunity to remind the staff that their true mission is to give sick children their gift of a love full of tenderness.

“I come here with the desire to perform an act of mercy,” he said. “Works of mercy are above all for the benefit of the one who performs them. The Lord promised that every act of charity which we perform for the least of our brothers – and these are especially sick children, who have a greater need – would receive the recompense of His love and of Himself.”

Cardinal Parolin thanked them for their dedication to the works of mercy, saying “A very big thank you. Thank you for what you do; thank you for the passion which sets you apart.”

He also reminded them of Pope Francis’ care and gratitude for them and their work.  “Know that you are watched, followed, and supported by the interest and gratitude of the Vicar of Christ. Here there are many, wonderful people who take care of this hospital. The Pope has faith in them because their work is done with intelligence, wisdom, and research for the best cures to give an equitable and satisfactory solution to a multitude of problems.”

After speaking to the children, their families, and the staff, Cardinal Parolin made his rounds of the hospital. 

He made a special stop at the chapel as the nuns and chaplains of the hospital showed him the ‘Holy Door of Hope’, realized in occasion of the Jubilee Year and based on drawings by some of the hospital’s patients.

Another Holy Door was opened in the Bambino Gesù Polidoro campus on Thursday.

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The government of India has assured the country's Christian community of justice and protection against persecution.  "We have always been with the Christian community and will always remain with them. There should be no confusion regarding this," said India’s home minister, Rajnath Singh.   He was speaking at a Christmas dinner organized by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) in New Delhi Dec. 17.  Among those present at the event were Cardinals Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, Baselios Cleemis Major Archbishop of Trivandrum, Telesphore Placidus Toppo, Archbishop of Ranchi, officials from the Vatican embassy, members of parliament and several other ambassadors.

Speaking about recent church attacks in the national capital, he said the incidents could be a conspiracy or a coincidence.  "All the attacks happened just before the Delhi assembly elections and now they have suddenly stopped. I am not able to understand this," he said.  Church attacks began with the burning of St. Sebastian Church in New Delhi on Nov. 30, 2014, followed by a two-months series of incidents of vandalism and possible arson.  Since the ruling pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party assumed power in May 2014, the party has been accused of ignoring India's minority communities. Christian leaders have blamed these attacks on religious hardliners, who operate with the tacit approval of the government.  Singh said that there might be some people trying to spread hate among communities but "the religion to which I belong preaches love and peace."  He said Indian traditions and cultures are similar to Christianity to a large extent.  Noting that Christianity first arrived in India in the first century, Singh said, "India has always been accommodative and inclusive. This is the character of India."  

Cardinal Cleemis, CBCI president, said that despite religious and cultural tensions in India "there is a common ground on which human society can build its dreams and aspirations, and that is love."  But he also called on the government to take "all efforts to keep its citizens in peace and tranquility."  He urged that anxieties felt by Indians, particularly ethnic and religious minorities, be taken seriously by the government in order to promote peace, joy and justice.  (Source: UCAN) 

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