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(Vatican Radio) The Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, on Monday said “it is the obligation of the international community, in accord with the U.N. Charter, to protect civilians and their critical infrastructure from the brutality and barbarity of terrorist groups.”

The Vatican diplomat was speaking during a debate on Protection of Critical Infrastructure against Terrorist Attacks.

“This common goal will be achieved most quickly and effectively through an unselfish sharing of critical information and best practices, of resources and technologies among States, in particular with those States least capable of protecting their critical infrastructure and populations from terrorist attacks,” Archbishop Auza said.

The full text of Archbishop Auza's intervention is below

Intervention of H.E. Archbishop Bernardito Auza

Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations United Nations Security Council Open Debate on Protection of Critical Infrastructure against Terrorist Attacks

New York, 13 February 2017

Mr. President,

The open-ended litany of terrorist attacks in cities and villages continues to remind us of the threat of terrorist attacks to civilian infrastructure and thus to civilians populations. This wave of terror, which considers innocent civilians as legitimate targets of violence either directly or indirectly through the destruction of the civil infrastructure on which they depend, must be counteracted by the actions of a unified International Community.

Recent conflicts in the area of ancient Mesopotamia have had a devastating impact on ancient ethnic, religious and cultural minorities that for millennia have inhabited the region. Parties to these conflicts have purposefully sought to destroy the cultural fabric and the historical rootedness of these communities in the region by destroying their religious and cultural heritage sites. The intentional destruction of the infrastructure critical to the survival of these communities — such as schools, hospitals, water supplies and places of worship — has become a strategy to annihilate them collectively, immiserating and eradicating them by attacking the structures that give them a modicum of communal existence.

It is the obligation of the international community, in accord with the U.N. Charter, to protect civilians and their critical infrastructure from the brutality and barbarity of terrorist groups. Part of this obligation is to heighten public awareness of this terrorist tactic and to urge States to maintain a high level of critical infrastructure protection and resilience, as well as public preparedness in case of an attack, to prevent as much as possible the disruption of critical services and the loss of human life.

More effective and lasting measures to protect critical infrastructure against terrorist attacks must therefore be based on policies that reject the unfettered pursuit of profit and narrow geopolitical interests, even at the cost of the destruction of critical civil infrastructure. In this regard, my delegation wishes to reiterate the Holy See’s appeal to weapon-producing nations severely to limit and control the manufacture and sale of weapons, ammunitions and technologies to unstable countries and regions of the world where the likelihood of their illegal use or their falling into the hands of non-State actors remains a real and present danger.

The International Community must also address the role of organized crime in the sale or barter of weapons capable of destroying critical infrastructure. States should be urged to collaborate in this area at both the international and regional levels through the sharing of information and best practices, coordinated policies and joint border controls.

The world must act to prevent terrorists from having access to financial support by terror sponsors. The borderless nature of the terrorist groups perpetrating the destruction of critical infrastructure requires the international community to control cyber technologies that violent groups use to recruit new adherents, finance their activities and coordinate terror attacks.

Mr. President,

Pope Francis has spoken on a number of occasions of our age as a time of war, namely, “a third world war that is being fought piecemeal, one in which we daily witness savage crimes, brutal massacres and senseless destruction,”1 like the destruction of infrastructures critical to the existence of entire populations.

The International Community must come together as one to put an end to this “war fought piecemeal.” This unity is necessary if the International Community is going to achieve the shared objective of protecting critical infrastructure against terrorist attacks. This common goal will be achieved most quickly and effectively through an unselfish sharing of critical information and best practices, of resources and technologies among States, in particular with those States least capable of protecting their critical infrastructure and populations from terrorist attacks.

Thank you, Mr. President.

1 Pope Francis. Visit to the Military Memorial of Redipuglia (Italy) on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, 13 September 2014. Also Pope Francis, Homily on the Divine Mercy Sunday, Rome, 2015.

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(Vatican Radio) The feast of St Valentine is being celebrated around the world this 14th February, not least at the Dublin church which houses a number of his relics.

St Valentine is known as the patron saint of couples in love and Bishop Denis Nulty of Kildare and Leighlin on Tuesday blessed an engaged couple at the Shine to this Saint at the Carmelite Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, known to Dubliners as “Whitefriar Street”.

Bishop Nulty, who is President of Accord, the Irish Catholic Marriage Care Service, also launched on Tuesday the Accord 2016 figures for sacramental marriage preparation and for marriage and relationship counselling. 

Lydia O’Kane spoke to the Bishop about this venerated Saint and the importance of marriage preparation in today’s world.

Listen: 

Speaking on the blessing of engaged couple Carol Dignam and Tim Boylan at the Shrine, Bishop Nulty said that, “Accord have been doing this for many years and it’s a great focus on marriage as a sacrament and its contribution to Irish society.”

On St Valentine’s day itself, his relics are put on the main altar for veneration. There is also a book on the altar in which people can write down their requests, prayers and hopes, not just for themselves but for others too.

The Bishop described having these relics in Ireland as “wonderful”, and pointed out that although the skull of the Saint maybe in Rome, his heart is most certainly in Dublin.

As well as celebrating the feast of St Valentine, the Irish Catholic Marriage Care Service, Accord launched its 2016 figures. So how important is marriage preparation? According to Bishop Nulty “it’s crucially important.” He noted that statistics show that the programme that Accord runs has never been so much in demand.

Asked about the reason for the increase in demand from 2015 to 2016, the Bishop said the course which is offered, “sticks to fundamentals.”  He added that those who are getting married, want something that is, “worthwhile, something that’s good, something that’s solid… and we welcome that as an agency of the Catholic Church and the Bishops in Ireland welcome it warmly…”

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(Vatican Radio) Courage prayer, and humility: these are the traits that distinguish the great “heralds” who have helped the Church to grow in the world, who have contributed to its missionary character. Pope Francis was speaking at the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta, taking his inspiration from the Liturgy and from the example of Sts Cyril and Methodius, the patrons of Europe, who are honoured today.

Cyril and Methodius have made Europe stronger

There is need of “sowers of the Word,” of “missionaries, of true heralds to form the people of God, like Cyril and Methodius, “good heralds,” intrepid brothers and witnesses of God, patrons of Europe who have made Europe stronger. Pope Francis began his homily with these reflections, and then looked at three personality traits of an “envoy” who proclaims the Word of God. He spoke of the day’s first Reading, with the figures of Paul and Barnabas; and of the Gospel from St Luke, with the seventy-two disciples sent out two-by-two by the Lord.

The Word of God is not a suggestion; courage is necessary in order for it to sink in

The first trait of the “envoy” highlighted by Pope Francis is “frankness,” which includes “strength and courage.”

“The Word of God cannot be given as a proposal – ‘well, if you like it…’ – or like good philosophical or moral idea – ‘well, you can live this way…’ No! It’s something else. It needs to be proposed with this frankness, with this force, so that the Word penetrates, as Paul says, ‘to the bone.’ The Word of God must be proclaimed with this frankness, with this force… with courage. The person who doesn't have courage – spiritual courage, courage of heart, who is not enamoured of Jesus, and from there comes courage! – No, you will say, yes, something interesting, something moral, something that will do you good, a good philanthropy, but this is not the Word of God. And this is incapable, this word, of forming the people of God. Only the Word of God proclaimed with this frankness, with this courage, is capable of forming the people of God.”

Without prayer the Word of God becomes a conference

From the Gospel of St Luke, Pope Francis takes two other traits proper to a “herald” of the Word of God. The day’s Gospel is “a little strange” the Pope said, because it is rich in elements concerning the proclamation. “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few. So ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest,” the Pope said, repeating the words of Christ. The second trait, then, after the courage of missionaries, is “prayer.”

“The Word of God should be proclaimed with prayer, also. Always. Without prayer, you could have a good conference, good instruction: good, good! But it is not the Word of God. The Word of God can only come from a heart in prayer. Prayer, so that the Lord might accompany this sowing of the Word, so that the Lord might water the seed so that the Word will sprout. The Word of God should be proclaimed with prayer: the prayer of the one who proclaims the Word of God.”

The true preacher is humble, otherwise things end badly

In the Gospel there is also a third interesting trait: The Lord sends His disciples “like lambs amid wolves”:

“The true preacher is the one who knows he is weak, who knows that he cannot defend himself. ‘You are going out like a lamb among wolves’ – ‘But Lord, why would they eat me?’ – ‘You are going! This is the journey.’ And I think it was Chrysostom who has a very profound reflection, when he says: ‘But if you do not go like sheep, but you go like a wolf among wolves, the Lord, will not defend you: you’ll have to fend for yourself.’ When the preacher believes he is too intelligent, or when the one who is responsible for carrying forward the Word of God tries to be clever – ‘Ah, I can get along with these people’ – just so, it will end badly. Or you will bargain away the Word of God: to the powerful, to the proud…”

And to emphasize the humility of the great heralds, Pope Francis recalled a story told to him by someone “who boasted of preaching the Word of God well, and who felt he was a wolf.” After a good sermon, the Pope said, “he went to the confessional, and found there a ‘great fish,’ a great sinner, and he wept,… he wanted to ask for forgiveness.” And “this confessor,” the Pope continued, “began to swell up with pride” and “curiosity” and asked him which word had touched him so much “that he was moved to repent.” “It was when you said,” the Pope concluded, “let’s move on to another topic.” “I don’t know if it’s true,” the Pope clarified, but it certainly is true that you will finish badly if carry the Gospel “feeling sure of yourself, and not like a lamb, whom the Lord will defend.

Going forth courageously, with prayer and humility, like Cyril and Methodius

And so, the Pope concluded, this is the missionary character of the Church and of the great heralds, “who have planted and have helped the Church to grow in the world. They were courageous, men of prayer, and humble.” He concluded his homily with the prayer: May Sts Cyril and Methodius, help us “to proclaim the Word of God” according to these criteria, as they did. 

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Bishop George Desmond Tambala of Zomba Diocese and the Bishop-Chairperson for Religious men and women in Malawi has challenged religious sisters to adapt to the social, economic and political changes that the world and Malawi, in particular, is experiencing.

Bishop Tambala was speaking when he officially opened the 57th Plenary Session of the Association of Women Religious in Malawi (AWRIM) taking place for four days in the capital, Lilongwe.

The Bishop said the current society of Malawi is undergoing profound changes that religious women need to be aware of and adapt to.

“These are social changes that are affecting the way we think about God and our moral values. These Changes are founded on the denial of God from public life, stress on personal rights and freedom, over-emphasis on pleasure and cult of the body, democracy and loss of a sense of history and the future,” said Bishop Tambala.

The Bishop of Zomba who is also a religious, belonging to the Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCD) said the commercialisation of politics on the part of politicians and parties is also a crucial matter. Instead, politics should be taken as a positive driving force for change in society.

AWRIM Secretary General Sister Mary Magdalen Ndawala said the plenary which was held under the theme; ‘Impact of the changing world on religious life,’ was crucial because it was attended by 28 Superiors from different congregations of religious women serving the Lord in various dioceses of Malawi.

“Basically, the objective was to empower the Sisters with what is happening in the world. Superiors as leaders have to know the changes in the world so that they (can) exercise their duties as leaders of Congregations,” said Sister Ndawala.

She said as Sisters who are found in the social setting of society; they are equally affected by the economic, social and political changes happening hence the need for a shared approach on how to address these.

“We expect the Superiors to share this with Sisters in their respective congregations. On economic change, we want them to advance resource mobilisation drive and be independent. Again, on social change, let them embrace the modern technologies, but that should be done responsibly so as to advance evangelisation. Finally, we are non-partisan, but we are mandated to advise politicians where necessary hence our engagement with politics,” Sister Ndawala said.

Among the facilitators during the plenary was Fr. Andrew Kaufa, from the Society of Montfort Missionaries (SMM) and Director of Luntha Television and Fr. Emmanuel Chikaya of the Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCD).

(Prince Henderson in Malawi)

(Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va)

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Vatican City, Feb 14, 2017 / 02:17 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his preface for a book written by a survivor of clerical sex abuse, Pope Francis once again lamented the “monstrosity” of the act, calling the author, Daniel Pittet, courageous for his willingness to forgive his abuser and to share his story with the world.

“For those who have been victims of a pedophile it is difficult to talk about what they have been through and describe the trauma that still persist after many years,” the Pope said in the preface, published earlier this month.

Because of this, “Daniel Pittet’s testimony is necessary, treasured and courageous.”

In his 240-page book, titled “I forgive you, father: surviving a broken childhood,” Pittet shares the story of his difficult childhood, during which he and his siblings were shuffled around different foster homes after their parents’ separation before eventually meeting the friar who would abuse him.

At the age of nine, Pittet was lured by a Capuchin friar into the convent attached to his parish, where he would from that day be raped on a weekly basis for four years, with those around him in denial.

Pittet’s book details not only the tragic suffering he endured, but also the long path he has taken to forgiveness, culminating in the civil and ecclesial recognition of his abusers crimes, and his own ability to move forward in building a family and a professional career.

Not only is the book unique for the author of its preface, but another unprecedented quality is the fact that it ends with an interview conducted with the friar who abused Pittet, marking one of the rare occasions when a pedophile speak publicly.

In his preface, Pope Francis thanked Pitett for sharing his story, “because testimony like his break down the wall of silence that covered scandals and suffering, shedding light on a terrible dark area in the life of the Church.”

These type of testimonies, he said, “open the way to a just mending and to the grace of reconciliation, helping pedophiles to become aware of the terrible consequences of their actions.”

Francis said he had originally met Pittet at the Vatican during the Year for Consecrated Life in 2015, and that the author had wanted to give heavy promotion to a book called “To love is to give everything,” which was a collection of the testimonies of priests, religious and consecrated men and women.

At the time, “I could not have imagined that this enthusiastic and passionate Christian man had been the victim of abuse by a priest,” Francis said, adding that “yet this is what he told me, and his suffering struck me very much.”

In hearing Pittet’s story, the Pope said he saw once again both “the tremendous damage caused by sexual abuse” and the “long and painful journey that awaits the victims.”

“I am happy that others can read his testimony today and discover how far evil can enter the heart of a servant of the Church,” he said, asking how a priest committed to serving Christ and his Church “cause so much harm.”

“How can someone who devoted their life to lead children to God, end up instead to devour them in what I called ‘a diabolical sacrifice’ that destroys both the victim and the life of the Church?”

Francis noted that some victims of abuse have committed suicide. “These deaths weigh on my heart, on my conscience and that of the whole Church,” he said, and, addressing their families, said “I offer my feelings of love and pain and humbly, I ask forgiveness.”

Clerical sex abuse “is an absolute monstrosity, a horrible sin, radically against everything that Christ has taught us,” the Pope said, and pointed to his June 4, 2016, motu proprio “Like a loving mother.”

In the document, in which the Pope deemed that negligence on the part of a bishop in handling cases of abuse is enough to oust him from office, it was stressed that the Church “must take care and protect with special love the weak and the helpless” with the tenderness of a mother.
 
“We have stated that it is our duty to be extremely strict with the priests who betray their mission, and with their hierarchy, bishops or cardinals, who might protect them, as has happened in the past,” Francis saod.

However, the Pope noted that despite the various trials Pitted endured as a child, he also “met another face of the Church, and this allowed him to not lose hope in men and in God.”

“(Pittet) tells us of the power of prayer that he has never abandoned, and that has comforted him in the darkest hours,” he said, pointing to the fact that the author chose to meet his “tormentor” 44 years later, wanting “to look into the eyes of the man who has hurt him in the depths of his soul.”

Instead of condemning the friar, Pittet “lent him his hand,” Francis said, noting that “the wounded child is now a standing man, fragile but standing.”

Pointing to a line written by Pittet in the book, the Pope said he was impressed by the author’s declaration that “many people fail to understand the fact that I do not hate him. I have forgiven him and I built my life on that forgiveness.”

Francis closed his preface saying that he prays for Pittet and “for all those who, like him, were wounded in their innocence, may God lift them and heal them, and give us all his forgiveness and mercy.”

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Washington D.C., Feb 14, 2017 / 03:36 am (CNA/EWTN News).- It’s Valentine’s Day, and in countries across the world, people are focused on love and marriage. But for the Catholic Church, the celebration of – and support for – marriage is not limited to one day, but all year round.

“Marriage is not private,” explained Rev. Richard Kramer, Director of Family Life and Pastoral Resource Development for the Archdiocese of Washington. “It’s personal, but it’s not private.”

Marriage is not only between two people, but involves God as well, and so “it’s a public act,” he told CNA. As a result, “marriage always needs the support of culture, it needs the support of society, it needs the support of friends and families. It needs the support of the Church itself.”

While love and marriage exist throughout history around the world, and not just in the Church, their universality points to God’s plan for love and marriage, the priest said.

He pointed out that society is built upon families. Jesus was born into a family, he raised marriage to a sacrament, and his fist miracle was performed at the Wedding at Cana. Christ’s love for the Church is compared to the love between spouses.

Because of this importance of marriage, the Catholic Church seeks specifically to offer support for couples as they live out the sacrament, Fr. Kramer said. At the heart of these efforts is the parish priest.

One of Fr. Kramer’s first lessons for young priests is to “make them understand that their life is not separated from marriage, but that they are integral to it.” He explained that Matrimony and Holy Orders, while distinct, are similar in their orientation to self-sacrifice and love for others. Both ultimately have the same goal – getting people to heaven.

Laity too should view their parish priest as a resource and someone who can accompany them through their marriage. “Something that I would like couples to understand is that by the virtue of a priest being pastor of a parish, he has a keen and almost expert insight to family life because he’s integral in every part of the family.” Fr. Kramer said, pointing to a pastor’s involvement through catechesis, marriage formation, confession and counseling.

“I think couples do themselves a disservice if they buy the line ‘Father doesn’t know anything about marriage because he’s celibate’,” Fr. Kramer warned, pointing back to a priest’s role in a family’s life as well as his position as Father of a parish.

“What I’d hope couples would do is to invite Father more intimately into their marriages, into their homes, to help him see and know that the priest is a man of the family.”

A call to love

“Every single human being has a vocation, a call to love,” Fr. Kramer said, and for most people, this call is to the Sacrament of Matrimony.

Preparation for marriage begins at birth, in the family, where one first learns about love, he said. But in a culture where so many marriages and families are broken, it can be difficult to understand what it truly means to love someone.

“We see a time when there’s more need to make sure that couples who are preparing for the sacrament have a good formation so that they can live their marriages in the whole of their lives,” said Fr. Kramer.

Before marriage in the Catholic Church, couples are typically required to take a marriage preparation course and talk with the parish where they will be married and the priest who is preparing them.

The engagement period is a time for evangelization if the couple has been away from the Church and the sacraments, Fr. Kramer said. Even for couples who are already involved in the Church, marriage preparation and counseling is a good opportunity to deepen one’s knowledge and relationship with Christ and to become more involved in their parish’s life.

Bethany Meola, assistant director in the Secretariat on Laity Marriage, Family Life and Youth at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, pointed to the conference’s online resource “For Your Marriage,” which contains contact information for marriage preparation and support programs for dioceses around the country.

The website also contains a wealth of online resources, such as Church teachings on various topics surrounding marriage and family life, relationship and parenting advice, Natural Family Planning resources, wedding planning guides, and book reviews.

In addition to their online resources, the office is engaged in virtual outreach to Catholics around the country through their virtual retreat for National Marriage Week. This year’s retreat focuses on the theme of “Life and Love,” and is running via Facebook from Feb. 7 through Valentine’s Day. Each day, the office posts a reflection from the new apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia” – or “Joy of Love” – and invites couples to pray and reflect on the passages together.

The office is also celebrating the lighter side of marriage and love through their “Joy of Love” social media contest: each day couples are invited to engage online with National Marriage Week by answering a question posed by the Secretariat. Every day, winning couples will receive a pair of matching “Mr.” and “Mrs.” coffee mugs.

Offline, while the office doesn’t directly oversee any marriage program, it does provide support and aid dioceses across the country and the marriage programs happening in their parishes. Meola told CNA that around the country, the bishops are seeing “a lot of energy” going into marriage preparation. “I think we’re at a really exciting time.”

In addition, dioceses are trying to implement the insights from Amoris Laetitia into their marriage preparation and support programs. This, in turn, is refocusing attention on parishes as the “first responders” to marriages in crisis, and the role of marriage in evangelizing the broader culture.  

Finding healing

While love and preparation can help build the foundation for a strong marriage, every marriage inevitably faces challenges and obstacles, Fr. Kramer said. And when these difficulties arise, the Church does not abandon couples.

When struggling couples approach him for advice, the first question Fr. Kramer asks is whether they have been attending Mass and going to Confession. The sacraments, he said, form the core of our lives and relationships, and the graces of the sacraments have a key place in marriage as well.  

“People always have financial difficulties, they’ll always have difficulty communicating, but if they’ve separated themselves from the Church or from the sacraments,” Fr. Kramer said, “then it’s difficult to live that out in their life.”

In addition to the sacraments, Fr. Kramer noted, parish priests can offer guidance or counseling. And some dioceses also offer marriage enrichment programs like “Three to Stay Married,” “Marriage Encounter,” and “ReFOCCUS” to help couples revitalize their relationship with God and with each other.

Many couples who previously used contraception also report that learning and using Natural Family Planning can help heal divisions and can bring about new life in a relationship, he said.

The Church can also help find aid for those struggling with separation from a spouse, addictions such as pornography, or healing for other struggles like infertility or miscarriage. Finally, the archdiocese offers a support group called “Post-Cana” for widows and widowers grieving after a marriage has ended because of death.

In some of the more difficult situations, where couples have sought aid from other resources to no avail, there is still support and hope for healing. Denise Felde, a presenter for Retrouvaille of Maryland / Washington DC, spoke to CNA about her organization, which has been helping heal marriages since the late 1970s.

Started by Guy and Jeannine Beland in French-speaking Quebec, Retrouvaille – which means “reunion” in French – seeks to address severe struggles couples may face that cannot be adequately supported by other marriage enrichment programs. The program states in its online description that it “is not a retreat, marriage counseling, or a sensitivity group. There are neither group dynamics nor group discussions on the weekend. It is not a time for hurting; it is a time for healing.”

“Retrouvaille is surgery to get rid of the bad and to deal with the problems in a calm and loving manner,” Felde said.

The program begins with an intense weekend experience led by three couples who have also been through a period of intense struggle in their relationship. A Catholic priest or other minister is also typically present as well.

Throughout the weekend, attendees go through series of presentations and have chances to talk with their spouse, and typically there are also opportunities for confession, Mass and prayer. Afterwards, the couples meet for 12 follow up sessions, typically occurring over the span of 6 weeks.

In the program, “we teach couples how to talk to each other to help each other understand where the other is coming from,” Felde explained. Organizers place a focus on listening to one another and accepting their spouse’s feelings without judgment. This approach “helps people to speak to one another without being angry, being calm and accepting.”

Every couple has challenges in their marriage, Felde said, but the problems faced by many Retrouvaille participants – such as adultery, drug abuse, mental illness, and pornography – “are more severe.”

“It’s very hard. It’s extremely hard work,” she acknowledged, but added that healing is possible. Many times, Retrouvaille leaders also help couples find referrals for expert help and counseling. “If it’s a problem we can’t help them with, we have a list of places.”

Since the program’s beginning, it has spread throughout the world to countries including South Korea, Zimbabwe, Argentina, Portugal and elsewhere. The program has a 92 percent success rate worldwide in helping couples heal their marriages.

After the main program is over, couples are invited to continue growing in their relationship through the support group CORE – or “Continuing our Retrouvaille Experience” – once a month. Couples can attend any support group anywhere in the world for the rest of their lives.

Felde explained that like many fellow presenting couples, she feels called to help other couples find healing in their marriages because of how Retrouvaille helped heal her own marriage. “For my husband and I, Retrouvaille saved our marriage 20 years ago,” she said. “We believe in giving back.”

Everyone is part of a family

While marriage is a key focus for the Church, it’s not only those who are married who have something to give to family life, Fr. Kramer said. “Every person from every walk of life is a part of a family.”

“It’s wrong to think that because a person is single they don’t fit in to the parish as part of a family,” he noted. “Every person is a son or daughter, a sister or a brother and has a role to play in the family,” and in supporting marriage and family life.

The priest encouraged all Catholics to pray for and support marriage and its vocation of love. “Pray for marriage, pray for strong marriages and pray for the healing of families who are facing struggles or challenges.”

 

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(Vatican Radio) The eighteenth meeting of the Holy Father with the Council of Cardinals began on the morning of Monday13 February. The works of the so-called “C-9” group of Cardinal advisors will continue until Wednesday 15 February.

At the beginning of the day's meeting, Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, coordinator of the group, after greeting the Holy Father, thanked Pope Francis on behalf of all the Members for his words in the Christmas address to the Roman Curia on 22 December 2016, acknowledging his encouragement and guidance for the work of the Council.

In relation to recent events, the Council of Cardinals pledged its full support for the Pope’s work, assuring him at the same time of its adhesion and loyalty to the figure of the Pope and to his Magisterium.

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Vatican City, Feb 14, 2017 / 12:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A special invitation to visit Egypt was delivered to Pope Francis by Coptic Catholic bishops during their ad limina visit Feb. 6, during which they also gave a report on the state of the Church in their country.

“It was a formal invitation put in written form, that followed other invitations to Egypt,” Bishop Emmanuel Bishay of Luxor told CNA.

The Pope has also received an invitation to visit Egypt from the country’s president and from the Grand Imam of al Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb, who occupies a prestigious place in the Sunni Muslim world.

It is widely speculated that the Pope might go to South Sudan in November. There is a possibility he could use the occasion for a longer trip, with a stop in Egypt.

Bishop Bishay was one of the bishops who took part in the meeting with the Pope. The bishop, who is a former official at the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, described the meeting as “marvelous.”

“Previously, ad limina visits included a papal speech that gave the highlights of the situation of the country and provided recommendations. But now there are no more speeches, and each of us was invited to freely speak about the situation in his diocese,” Bishop Bishay recounted.
 
He said the Pope welcomed Egypt’s Catholic bishops.

“It reminded me of that passage of the Gospel when Jesus sent the apostles to make disciples, and, when they are back, asks them to tell their experience,” the bishop said.
 
Bishop Bishay said that the bishops, beyond the particular issues of each diocese, talked about the fruits of the Catholic Church’s Year of Mercy and about the daily life of the Church in Egypt.

The Pope “encouraged us to carry on our mission in the Church and at the service of Egyptian society, with a particular reference to education and dialogue,” the bishop reported.
 
In the Coptic Eparchy of Luxor, education is a major concern.

“We established two catechetical institutes, one in Luxor and one in Aswan, and classes are attended by about 250 people. We launched a vocational year last Dec. 8, placing it under the Virgin Mary’s protection,” he said.
 
Already there are five boys discerning a vocation who could begin seminary next year.
 
Terrorism is another concern for the Church in Egypt.

“Egyptians are very attentive, as they know that terrorism aims at undermining the unity of our country as well as our shared life with Muslims brothers,” Bishop Bishay said.
 
Despite incidents in which many churches were burned by extremists, “no reaction against the Muslim community came from the Catholic Church,” the bishop reported.

The government of Egypt understands the issue and helps restore the destroyed churches. Christmas 2014 also marked a new outreach from President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who visited a Coptic Orthodox cathedral.

“For the first time ever a president of the Republic of Egypt spent the Christmas night at Mass,” Bishop Bishay said.
 
Egyptian society was also profoundly shocked by the beheading in Libya of 20 Orthodox Coptic faithful and a companion by Islamic State militants in February 2015.
 
“On one hand, this wound does not only affect the Egyptian society, but the whole world. What has happened is part of a war that is fed by the instrumentalization of religions,” the bishop said, denouncing efforts to kill in the name of God.
 
On the other hand, he continued, “the example of the Coptic martyrs gave strength and courage to all of us. Instead of creating divisions within the country, the message of the martyrs bore more unity. So much that people do not speak about the shedding of Christian blood, but about the shedding of Egyptian blood.”
 
Despite apparent improvements, Christians still have some difficulties in getting permission to build new churches. Bishop Bishay is truly optimistic. He pointed to the passage of new legislation that regulates the construction and the restoration of churches as well as the right to have places of worship where none have been built.

“We look forward to having this bill be fully understood and applied,” the bishop said.
 
Coptic Christians are composed of Catholics and Oriental Orthodox. Ecumenical dialogue is going on at a good pace, the bishop reported.

“We are living at a time of a positive momentum, as Patriarch Tawadros pushes a lot for Christian unity,” he said. “Back in 2013, he spent one week in Rome, and met with Pope Francis May 10. Ever since, on May 10 there is a festival of Catholics and Orthodox together. There is still a long path to go, but we are walking the path for sure.”

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