Pope Telephones School in Area Targeted by the Mafia

Local Sister and Pupils Sent Holy Father Box of Picture Postcards

ROME, November 19, 2013 (Zenit.org) - Pope Francis has telephoned an Italian religious sister after she and the pupils of her school sent the Holy Father a box of postcards, each with a photo of a child who had died of cancer.
"I pray for all of you and especially bless the children," the Holy Father told Sister Teresa, superior of Daughters of St. Anne in Casal di Principe near Naples, in a telephone call last Thursday.

The sisters run a kindergarten and primary school in the town, located in a region called the “land of fire”. Its name derives from the illegal dumping of toxic waste there by the camorra, a local mafia gang.
For decades the countryside has been plagued by industrial, toxic and nuclear waste from northern Italy and northern Europe. The burning of it has led to a high rate of cancers, especially in children, and breast and thyroid cancers in young women. A local priest, Fr. Peppe Diana, was killed by the camorra twenty years ago, Avvenire said in a Nov. 19th report.

“Together with the children, we sent the Pope postcards with pictures of the children who have died of cancer and their moms,” recounted Sister Teresa. “Every family gave a small contribution to pay for the shipping. I also included the school phone number.”

Then the unexpected phone call came. "I still don’t believe it,” Sister Teresa said. “He told me it is Papa Francesco and he wanted to thank the children for the postcards”, adding his prayers and his blessing, especially for children and their families. “I didn’t know how to respond.”

At that time, Sister Teresa was in a class with young children. "They quickly realized as soon as I said ‘Papa Francesco'. They were happy, they made a big fuss and almost prevented me from understanding all the words.”
The postcards are part of an in-depth study on the topic of waste. "We've talked a lot in class, we have discussed with the children, they are very careful and sensitive,” she explained.

Avvenire reported that the news of the call immediately went around the area, including the feuding clans of the camorra. 

Pope personally calls Traditional Catholic writer, says he considers it important to be criticized

"Yes, it's true. I received the telephone call by the Pope. It happened two weeks ago, November 1st, All Saints. But I naturally kept it to myself. No one was supposed to have known it, it was a conversation of an absolutely private nature. But considering that the [news] agencies have mentioned it..."

Mario Palmaro, the Italian traditional Catholic writer and journalist who has authored many books and articles together with his friend Alessandro Gnocchi (many of which have been posted in translation here on Rorate) told Italian daily Libero about the fact. In September and October, after a very critical article published in Il Foglio, Palmaro and Gnocchi were summarily fired by Catholic broadcaster Radio Maria after several years of work in the station.

The phone call, Libero describes, was first reported by Traditionalist website Papale Papale with no mentioned names, and then by VinoNuovo, which mentioned Palmaro, who is currently very ill, by name.

Palmaro's declarations to Libero on the matter are all mentioned below:

"It bothers me that the news has been made public, and if it had been up to me, and Alessandro, to whom I revealed it immediately, it would never have been known. Also because the Pontiff obviously had no intention that his gesture be made public, as well as the contents of our conversation".

"Pope Francis told me that he was very close to me, having learned of my health condition, of my grave illness, and I clearly noticed his deep empathy, the attention for a person as such, beyond ideas and opinions, while I live through a time of trial and suffering."

"I was astonished, amazed, above all moved: for me, as a Catholic, that which I was experiencing was one of the most beautiful experiences in my life. But I felt the duty to remind the Pope that I, together with Gnocchi, had expressed specific criticisms regarding his work, while I renewed my total fidelity [to him] as a son of the Church. The Pope almost did not let me finish the sentence, saying that he had understood that those criticisms had been made with love, and how important it had been for him to receive them." [These words] "comforted me greatly."

[The main duty for Palmaro and Gnocchi] "is that of being lucid and watchful regarding the contents of the Catholic doctrine, and, even in what we wrote in Il Foglio, fidelity to the Pope was never called into question."

[Palmaro says that] "the removal of the interview granted by Pope Francis to [Italian journalist Eugenio] Scalfari from the Vatican website makes us think that something was wrong in the contents of that text, as we had remarked, among other things."

"Our intention is that of keeping steady on the path that we have always followed, answering before our conscience. This without ever faltering in fidelity to the Pope and the Church, but precisely because of this fidelity and love."

Pope Francis Endorses Critique of the "Bologna School" That Accuses Vatican II of "Hermeneutic of Rupture

Pope Supports "Hermeneutic of Continuity" Approach to Vatican II in Letter

Praises Archbishop Marchetto as "Best Interpreter" of the Council

VATICAN CITY, November 15, 2013 (Zenit.org) - Pope Francis has written a warm letter of commendation to the author of a book on the Second Vatican Council which criticizes the “Bologna School” – an approach that considers the Council to be a “hermeneutic of rupture.”

The author is Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, a former Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People and distinguished scholar of Vatican II, who wrote the famous work: ‘The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council: A Counterpoint for the History of the Council.'

In common with the position of Benedict XVI, the book supports the notion that the Council represented a "hermeneutic of reform, of renewal in continuity" with the Church's tradition rather than one of rupture between the pre- and post-conciliar periods.

The letter, sent to the prelate on October 7, 2013, was made public on November 12, on the occasion of the presentation in Campidoglio of the book published by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana (LEV), entitled “Papal Primacy and Episcopate: From the First Millennium to the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council – Studies in Honor of Archbishop Agostino Marchetto.”

Following is the unabridged text of the Letter. Translation by ZENIT.

* * *

Dear Monsignor Marchetto,

With these lines I wish to make myself close to you and to join the ceremony of the presentation of the book “Papal Primacy and the Episcopate: From the First Millennium to the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council.” I ask you to feel me spiritually present.

The theme of the book is a tribute to the love you have for the Church, a loyal and at the same time poetic love. Loyalty and poetry are not objects of commerce: they are not bought or sold, they are simply virtues rooted in the heart of a son who feels the Church as Mother, or to be more precise, and to say it with an Ignatian family “air,” as “the hierarchic Holy Mother Church.”

You have manifested this love in many ways, including correcting an error or imprecision on my part, -- and for this I thank you from my heart --, but above all it has been manifested in all its purity in the studies made on Vatican Council II.

Once I said to you, dear Monsignor Marchetto, and today I wish to repeat it, that I consider you the best interpreter of Vatican Council II. I know that it is a gift of God, but I also know that you have made it fructify.
I am grateful to you for all the good you to us with your witness of love for the Church and I ask the Lord to reward you abundantly.

I ask you, please, not to forget to pray for me. May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin protect you.

Vatican, October 7, 2013

Fraternally,
Francis

The Need For the Genius of Female Perception

Pope Francis repeatedly has called for stronger roles for women in the church, obviously wanting to kick-start a conversation about what those roles might look like. Two of the voices he's most likely to listen to on this front recently appeared on the front page of the Vatican newspaper,L'Osservatore Romano, with some interesting things to say.

On Monday, L'Osservatore carried a front-page piece titled "Women in the Church." It was penned by Lucetta Scaraffia, a widely respected correspondent and columnist who often writes on women's issues, concerning a recent interview with Maria Voce, president of the international Focolare movement.

As Scaraffia notes, the Focolare, founded by Italian laywoman Chiara Lubich, have made it a principle of their statutes that the president must be a woman. For that reason, and because the Focolare are among the largest movements, Scaraffia describes Voce as "the most eminent woman in the Catholic world."

Scaraffia argues that for too long, women were willing to accept a "subaltern" status in the church, but that today, "the situation is changing rapidly." She quotes with approval Voce's line that the church needs not only to appreciate what have been traditionally defined as "female gifts," such as the capacity to form loving relationships, but also that it must "seek out, and listen to, the thinking of women."

Three possible new roles for women emerge in the L'Osseravtore piece:

• A "not too small" entrance into "organisms of consultation, thought and decisions" in the church. Presumably, though Scaraffia doesn't quite say this out loud, this implies in part more women at decision-making levels in the Vatican.
• The creation of a consultative body to the pope similar to the Council of Cardinals but composed of both laywomen and men. Such a group, Voce says, "would make me enthusiastic."
• Allowing movements such as the Focolare to incardinate priests who have been ordained elsewhere. Up to now, Voce reports, permission has been denied -- perhaps, she says, because someone is afraid of putting a priest under the authority of a woman.

"The words of Maria Voce make clear that legitimate requests for true recognition of the feminine presence in the church don't come just from groups of radicals demanding women's ordination, but from authoritative and moderate figures," Scaraffia writes.

"Behind those requests," she adds, "is certainly the majority of women who belong to the church."

Of course, the conversation about what "stronger roles" for women means won't end with this piece. As a beginning, however, it puts some interesting possibilities on the table -- and coming from the likes of Scaraffia and Maria Voce, those possibilities seem likely to be taken seriously.

* * *

The Logic of the Pre-Existent Christ

 "Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish in his sight in love. He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ as his sons according to the purpose of his will..." (Ephesians. 1, 4). God did not think Adam, and then think Christ. First He thought Christ, and then, before the creation of the world, he thought us, predestining us in Christ.

Vatican II: Gaudium et spes #22: “The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of Him Who was to come, namely Christ the Lord.”[1]

   Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God Who received the human nature/body from the Virgin in time. But because He is the Creator-Person outside time, the assumption of the human nature/body exists outside time, and hence the enfleshed Son of the living God "pre-exists" the creation of the world.

Biblical Witness to the Idea of Preexistence: Christoph Schonborn

“Belief in the preexistence of Christ did not just ‘fall from heaven’’ even in Jewish belief there are a variety of concepts of preexistent realities. Thus, for instance, in the time of Jesus the idea was current that the Torah was preexistent that it was there ‘before the foundation of the world.’ The same is true of the Wisdom of God, of his Word, the Logos, and finally, also, of the Messiah himself. His name was being kept hidden beneath the throne of God. The boundaries between a purely ‘notional’ or ‘ideal’ preexistence in the thought of God and a ‘real’ preexistence are fluid.[2] Even in relation to the son of man, we find the notion of his preexistence in apocalyptic literature. ‘According to a Jewish theologoumenon that was widely handed down, seven (or sometimes, six) things existed ‘before the creation of the world’ … the Torah, Penitence, the Garden of Eden, Gehenna, the Throne of Glory, the Sanctuary, and the Name of the Messiah.’

            Rabbinic traditions concerning the preexistence of the Messiah are of particular interest here, for instance that in the midrash Pesikta Rabbati: ‘What is the evidence that the Messiah has existed since the beginning of the world’s creation? And the Spirit of God hovered.’ That is the messiah king! For it is said: ‘And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him (Is. 11, 2).’ Therefore the Messiah is present at the creation of the world. It is equally striking that in Pes. R. 36:1, the original light of creation (Gen. 1, 4) is identified with the light of the Messiah that God is hiding beneath his throne. Who could fail to think of John 8, 12) ‘I am the light of the world’? The introduction of the idea of preexistence is thus not a startling invention, still less a Hellenistic overgrowth, but took place from an inner necessity.’… It is not the concept of preexistence in itself that is new and unusual, but the fact that the preexistent being ‘was in the form of God.’ Torah, Wisdom, Logos, and Messiah are created entities. Enoch and Elijah are creatures. But in Judaism, as soon as this fundamental dividing line is threatened, voices are raised in warning… It was not preexistence that was the problem, or even the sending of a heavenly, preexistent figure, his descent from the heavenly into the earthly realm. All of that was known to Jewish theology in the speculations concerning the Shekinah. The unusual thing about the Christian proclamation is that this preexistent Messiah and Son of man, Logos and Wisdom, Son of God, stands ‘no longer  simply on the side of creatures, but at the same time also on the side of God.’[3] Judaism is, to be sure, familiar with heavenly entities who stand alongside God, such as personified characteristics of God like justice and mercy. In the Talmud, God prays that his mercy may get the better of his wrath. But that some personal entity, a preexistent Son of God, should himself be God, that is singular and new,”[4]

---

[1] Footnote 20 of GS 22: Romans 5, 14: “(Y)et death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin after the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a figure of him who was to come.” Tertullian: “The shape that the slime of the earth was given was intended with a view to Christ, the future man;” De Carnis resurrectione 6.

[2] See Martin Hengel, “The Son of God…” pp. 108-109.

[3] M. Hengel, “Son of God,” 119 (German).

[4] Christoph Schonborn, “God Sent His Son” Ignatius (2010) 71-73.

Francis: Continuing Catechesis on the Creed: "I believe in one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins."

VATICAN CITY, November 13, 2013 (Zenit.org) - 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In the Creed, through which every Sunday we make our profession of faith, we affirm: “I believe in one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” It is the only explicit reference to a Sacrament within the Creed. In fact Baptism is the “door” of faith and of the Christian life. The Risen Jesus left this task to the Apostles: “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved” *Mark 16:15-16). The mission of the Church is to evangelize and to remit sins through the baptismal sacrament. But let us return to the words of the Creed. The expression can be divided in three points: “I believe”; in one Baptism”; “for the remission of sins.”

1) “I believe.” What does this mean? It is a solemn term that indicates the great importance of the object, namely Baptism. In fact, by pronouncing these words we affirm our true identity as children of God. In a certain sense, Baptism is the identification card of the children of God, his certificate of birth, it is the birth certificate of the Church. All of you know the day you were born and celebrate your birthday, right? We all celebrate our birthday. I will ask you a question, that I have asked other times before, but I will ask again: Who among you remembers the date of their Baptism? Raise your hand: there are very few (and I won’t ask the Bishops to not embarrass them…). But let us do something: today, when you return home, ask what day you were baptized, search, because this is your second birthday. The first birthday is when you were born into life and the second birthday is when you were born into the Church. Will you do this? It is a task to do at home: to look for the day in which you were born into the Church and thank the Lord because on the day of your Baptism the doors of the Church were opened to you. At the same time, Baptism is linked to our faith in the remission of sins. The Sacrament of Penance or Confession is, in fact, like a “second Baptism,” which refers always to the first to consolidate and renew it. In this sense the day of our Baptism is the point of departure of a journey of conversion that lasts our whole life and which is continually sustained by the Sacrament of Penance. Think of this: when we go to confess our weaknesses, our sins, we are asking forgiveness of Jesus, but we also go to renew our Baptism with this forgiveness. And this is beautiful, it is like celebrating the day of your Baptism in every Confession. Therefore, Confession is not being seated in a torture room, rather it is a feast. Confession is for the baptized! To keep clean the white garment of our Christian dignity!

2) Second element: “in one Baptism.” This expression recalls that of Saint Paul: “one Lord, one faith, one Baptism” (Ephesians 4:5). The word “baptism” means literally “immersion,” and, in fact, this Sacrament constitutes a true spiritual immersion in the death of Christ, from which we are raised with Him as new creatures (cf. Romans 6:4). It is a cleansing of regeneration and illumination. Regeneration because it effects that birth of water and the Spirit without which no one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven (cf. John 3:5). Illumination because, through Baptism, the human person is filled with the grace of Christ, “true light that enlightens every man” (John 1:9) and scatters the darkness of sin. For this reason, in the Baptismal ceremony, the parents are given a lit candle, to signify this illumination; Baptism illuminates us from within with the light of Jesus. In virtue of this gift, the baptized is called to become himself “light” - the light of the faith they have received for his brothers, especially for those who are in darkness and do not perceive glimmers of light on the horizon of their life.

Let us ask ourselves: is Baptism for me an event of the past, isolated in one date, that which you will search today, or a living reality, that concerns my present in every moment? Do you feel strong, with the strength given to you by Christ with His death and His Resurrection? Or do you feel beaten, without strength.  Do you feel illuminated, with that light that comes from Christ? Are you a man or woman of light? Or are you a dark person, without the light of Jesus? You must take the grace of Baptism, that is a gift, and become light for all!

3) Finally, a brief reference to the third element: “for the remission of sins.” In the Sacrament of Baptism all sins are remitted, original sin and all personal sins, as well as all punishment for sin. With Baptism the door opens to an effective newness of life that is not oppressed by the weight of a negative past, but now feels again the beauty and the goodness of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is a powerful intervention of the mercy of God in our life, to save us. This salvific intervention does not take away from our human nature its weakness - we are all weak and we are all sinners -; and it does not take away the responsibility to ask for forgiveness every time that we err! I cannot be baptized more times, but I can confess myself and renew the grace of Baptism. It is as if I made a second Baptism. The Lord Jesus is so good and he never tires of forgiving us. Even when the door that Baptism opened to enter into the Church is closed a bit because of our weakness and our sins, Confession reopens it, because it is like a second Baptism that forgives us all and illuminates us to go forward with the light of the Lord.  Let us go forward, joyful, because life is lived with the joy of Jesus Christ; and this is a grace of the Lord.

Pope Francis: "sinners, yes, everyone, here!... Corrupt, no."

Reflects on Christ's Forgiveness of Repentant Sinners During Morning Mass

By Junno Arocho Esteves

VATICAN CITY, November 11, 2013 (Zenit.org) - During his homily at Casa Santa Marta today, the Holy Father warned of those who pretend to be Christian while calling on the faithful to recognize themselves as sinners so as not to be corrupt.

Drawing from today’s Gospel from St. Luke, Pope Francis underlined Christ’s example in forgiving a repentant sinner. However, Jesus also gives a word of warning to those who are a cause of scandal. “What is the difference between sinning and scandalizing?” the Holy Father asked.

“The difference is that one who sins and repents, asks forgiveness, feels weak, feels like a son of God, humbles himself, and asks for salvation from Jesus. But the other who scandalizes, what is it that scandalizes? That he does not repent. He continues to sin, but pretends to be a Christian: the double life. And the double life of a Christian does much harm, so much harm. ‘But I am a benefactor of the Church! I put my hand in my pocket and I give to the Church.’ But with the other hand, he robs: the State, the poor...he steals. He is unjust. This is the double life. And this merits - says Jesus, not myself - that a millstone be placed around his neck and thrown to the sea. He does not speak of forgiveness here.”

The one who scandalizes deceives, he continued, and where there is deception, there is no Spirit of God. The Holy Father stated that such is the difference between one who is a sinner and one who is corrupt. One who is corrupt will continue to lead a double life while a repentant sinner will admit his weakness and will go to the Lord.

“And we should call ourselves sinners, yes, everyone, here!, we all are. Corrupt, no. One who is corrupt is fixed on a state of sufficiency, he does not know what is humility,” the Pope said. “Jesus, to these corrupt ones, says: ‘Their beauty is of ‘whitewashed sepulchres’, that appear beautiful, on the exterior, but within are full of dead bones and decay. And a Christian who boasts about being a Christian, but does not live the Christian life, is one of these corrupt ones.”

“We all know one person,” he continued, “who is in this situation and how much damage they do to the Church! Corrupt Christians, corrupt priests...How much harm they do to the Church! Because they do not live in the spirit of the Gospel, but in the spirit of worldliness.”

Pope Francis stressed to those present that entering into this worldliness can take one to live a double life, calling the life one who is corrupt as a “varnished decay.” Concluding his homily, the Holy Father noted the beauty of Christ’s example who called on his disciples to forgive those who are repentant.

“That is what [Jesus] does with sinners. He does not tire of forgiving, only on the condition of not living this double life, to go to Him repentant: ‘Forgive me, Lord, I am a sinner!’. ‘Go forward, go forward,: I know.’ And such is the Lord. Let us ask today the grace of the Holy Spirit that flees from every deception, let us ask the grace to recognize ourselves sinners: we are sinners. Sinners, yes. Corrupt, no.”

How strong is Pope Francis?

New Yorker blogs, 11/7/2013

Right now, this is the Most Popular and Most emailed post on the New Yorker blogs.

On Wednesday, Pope Francis went into St. Peter’s Square, where a crowd had gathered, and saw a pilgrim who has certainly been met in his life with averted gazes, and worse. His skin was covered with hundreds, maybe thousands, of bulbous tumors that contorted his features. Francis embraced him, touched his face, and prayed with him. There is a picture of him kissing the man’s head, where there is no unmarked skin and tumors push through his thin hair. (This is the result of a disease called neurofibromatosis.) The image was electrifying, in a way that mercy can be. But it took on more significance as a stage in what many people are hoping is Francis’s own pilgrimage.

The New Evangelization

Response to Carl Olsen: Pope Francis Teaching "the New Evangelization"

Carl Olsen of CWR recently wrote: “To state what should be obvious, a pope in 2013 simply needs to be as precise and clear as possible. Fuzzy language, half-formed concepts, and failure to make important distinctions will eventually result in confusion and frustration. Do they also "give ammunition to the enemy," as at least three readers have insisted in e-mails? I think so, mindful that there are some folks who will misrepresent what the pope says, no matter how clearly, simply, and slowly he speaks. And Francis, it should be noted, has admitted (in the first interview), "I am a really, really undisciplined person." There comes point when the off-the-cuff remarks go from being "fresh" and "explosive" to problematic and puzzling, and that line was probably crossed, in my estimation, in the second interview. 

“This concern only increases with the breaking news that the pope's interview with 89-year-old journalist Scalfari was apparently carried out without a recording or even hand-written notes. As John Allen reports today, this led Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi to lamely refer to (in Allen's words) "a new genre of papal speech that’s deliberately informal and not concerned with precision." Does anyone in their right mind think that papal statements unconcerned with precision should be served up to readers who are, or at least should be, looking for reasonable precision and clarity from the Vicar of Christ—even in remarks made in informal settings?”

   One could perhaps remark that at an historical juncture as this when the crisis seems to be, according to Joseph Ratzinger as Cardinal and as Pope, the experience of God,[1] the problem is not really the precision of concepts but the experience of what is really real. It is apples and oranges, although there is a necessary complementarity of the two.  And as Benedict wrote in 2008 (Oct. 6), the really real is the Word of God, that is, the Person of Christ. To be precise where it is important to be precise, the problem is not a precision about objects, but the difference between Subject and object.

   And when the Subject we are talking about is a Trinity of Relations (Persons) Who can be known only by becoming like them by an exodus from the self (which is Christian prayer) the pope is giving us a most  startling lesson in the Theology of Theos (God) by his exuberant self-giftedness of racing through crowds to embrace the crippled, calling up atheists to speak giftedly and openly person to person with a stammering imprecision of language. He is showing us the way of the “New Evangelization.” He is showing us what “faith” is. De Lubac wrote in his “The Christian Faith:”

“When I believe in God, when I give him my faith, when in answer to his initiative I turn myself over to him from the bottom of my being, there is established been him and me a bond of reciprocity of such a kind that the same word, faith, can be applied to each of the partners: ‘The faith of the two parties, ‘writes St. John of the Cross with a certain audacity, speaking of the relationship of the believing soul with God. For what we have here indeed is ‘the encounter of two persons offering themselves to each other in a fullness of presence, a total engagement.’”[2]  And that self giving to God must be lived out among ourselves  since God has taken the same flesh as we all have.

---

[1] See his “New Evangelization” to Catechists 2000, Rome

[2] H. De Lubac, “The Christian Faith,” Ignatius (1986) 147-148.

The Most Beautiful Photo: Pope Francis Kissing a Disfigured Man

By Elizabeth Dias @elizabethjdiasNov. 06, 201316 Comments

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Claudio Peri / ANSA / ZUMAPRESS.com

This morning Pope Francis kissed and blessed a man suffering from severe facial disfigurement during his audience in St. Peter’s Square. We may not know the words the Holy Father prayed, but it is a living reminder of this story from the Gospel of Matthew:

When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; and there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” –Matthew 8:1-4

Read more: The Most Beautiful Photo: Pope Francis Kissing a Disfigured Man | TIME.com http://nation.time.com/2013/11/06/the-most-beautiful-photo-pope-francis-kissing-a-disfigured-man/#ixzz2k0BmIP8k

Pope Francis and Naomi

Often we are too dry, indifferent, detached and rather than transmitting brotherhood, we transmit bad temper, coldness, selfishness. And with bad temper, coldness and selfishness the Church cannot grow; the Church grows only by the love that comes from the Holy Spirit. The Lord invites us to open ourselves to communion with him, in the Sacraments, in the charisms and in charity, to live our Christian vocation with dignity!

And now let me ask you for an act of charity: relax, it is not a collection! Before coming into the Square I went to see a little girl, a year and half old, who is gravely ill. Her father and mother are praying, and asking the Lord to heal this beautiful little girl. Her name is Noemi. The poor little dear was smiling! Let us perform an act of love. We do not know her, but she is a baptized child, she is one of us, she is a Christian. Let us perform an act of love for her and in silence ask the Lord for his help in this moment and that he give her health. In silence one moment, and then we will pray the “Hail Mary”. And now all together let us pray to Our Lady for the health of Noemi. Hail Mary.... Thank you for this act of charity.

                                         

* * * * * *

2013-11-07 

Someone wept this morning in St. Peter's Square. He wept as the surreal silence which took hold the square turned into prayer. Pope Francis requested this prayer for a little girl who is about to return home to heaven. “Her name is Noemi,” the Pope said. “This morning I went to see her” and “the poor little one was smiling!”. “Let us offer this act of love for her” even “if we do not know her,” for “she is one of us”. 

As the faithful prayed for her, Noemi was already returning to her home town in the province of Chieti. It is there that for the last sixteen months, that is since she was born, that she has been waiting for the genetic disease of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA ) to complete its course.

Beside her, only the love of her father Andrea and her mother Tahereh. And since October 14 of this year, when Andrea Sciarretta's phone rang, Pope Francis' love has also been at the foot of her little of pain. And he has never left her alone. He asked his almoner, Archbishop Krajewski, to follow the family closely. Since then there has been frequent contact, most recently when Archbishop Krajewski went to visit them in Abruzzo on the Solemnity of All Saints. The Pope wanted him personally to bring the family his best wishes and to pray with them as though he himself were there.

Then yesterday morning, a distressing phone call came in to the almoner's mobile: “Father, it's Andrea. There's no more time. Noemi is dying ...”. “Come, come now” Archbishop Krajewski replied. “The Pope will certainly receive you”. Time enough to get organized and then, this morning, they journeyed to Rome. At 9am Pope Francis was holding Noemi to himself. He caressed her tenderly, he kissed her deeply moved, he blessed her with the same joy that illumined Noemi's little face. Of course she did not fully realize what was happening, and especially why it was happening to her, but in her eyes could be seen that light which, as her father wrote in a letter sent to the Pope in early October, communicates “courage and the will to live” to all those who look upon her.

At the General Audience the Pope speaks about communion in the Church

Sacraments, charisms and acts of love

The Holy Father asked the faithful to join him in “an act of love for Noemi”, this morning at the General Audience, 6 November, in St Peter's Square. Recalling the dramatic story of a little girl who has been diagnosed with an incurable neurodegenerative disorder, the Pontiff asked the faithful to pray for her and to rediscover that communion “that renders us capable of entering into the joy and sorrow of others to make it sincerely our own”. The following is a translation of the Pope's catechesis, which was given in Italian.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good Morning!

Last Wednesday I spoke about the communion of saints, understood as a communion among holy people, that is among us believers. Today I would like to go in depth into the other aspect of this reality: you will remember that there were two aspects: one is communion, unity, among us, and the other aspect is communion in holy things, in spiritual goods. These two aspects are strictly connected to each other, in fact, communion among Christians grows through the sharing of spiritual goods. In particular we will consider: the Sacraments, charisms and charity(cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, nn. 949-953). We grow in unity, in communion, through: the Sacraments, the charisms given to each of us by the Holy Spirit, and charity.

First of all, the communion of the Sacraments. The Sacraments express and realize an effective and profound communion among us, for in them we encounter Christ Saviour and, through him, our brothers and sisters in faith. Sacraments are not appearances, they are not rituals, but the power of Christ; Jesus Christ is present in the Sacraments. When we celebrate the Eucharist it is the living Jesus that brings us together, makes us into a community, leads us to adore the Father. Each one of us, in fact, through Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist, is incorporated into Christ and united to the entire community of believers. Therefore, if, on the one hand, it is the Church that “makes” the Sacraments, on the other, it is the Sacraments that “make” the Church, that build her up, by generating new children, by gathering the holy people of God, by consolidating their membership.

Every encounter with Christ, who in the Sacraments gives us salvation, invites us to “go forward” and communicate to others the salvation that we were able to see, touch, encounter and receive, and which is truly credible because it is love. In this way, the Sacraments spur us to be missionaries and the Apostolic commitment to carry the Gospel to every setting, including those most hostile, is the most authentic fruit of an assiduous sacramental life, in that it is participating in God's salvific initiative, who desires to bring salvation to all human beings. The grace of the Sacraments nourishes in us a strong and joyful faith, a faith that knows how to wonder at the “marvels” of God and how to resist the idols of the world. That is why it is important to take Communion, it is important that children be baptized early, that they be confirmed, because the Sacraments are the presence of Jesus Christ in us, a presence that helps us. It is important, when we feel we are sinners to approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Someone might say: “But I am afraid that the priest will chastise me”. No, the priest will not chastise you. Do you know who you will encounter in the Sacrament of Reconciliation? You will encounter Jesus who pardons you! Jesus is waiting for you there; and this is a Sacrament that makes the whole Church grow.

A second aspect of the communion in holy things is the communion of charisms. The Holy Spirit dispenses to the faithful a multitude of spiritual gifts and graces; this - let us call it - “inventive” wealth of gifts of the Holy Spirit has as its end the edification of the Church. The charisms – that world is a little difficult – are gifts that the Holy Spirit gives us, talents, possibilities.... Gifts given not to be hidden but that they may be shared with others. They are not given for the benefit of the one who receives them, but for the use of the People of God. If a charism, one of these gifts, serves instead as self-affermation, then it is doubtful that we are dealing with an authentic charism or one faithfully lived out. The charisms are special graces, given to some for the good of many others. They are attitudes, inspirations and interior drives, that are born in the consciences and experiences of certain people, who are called to put themselves at the service of the community. In particular, these spiritual gifts further the sanctity of the Church and her mission. We are all called to respect them in us and in others, to receive them as serving the Church's fruitful presence and work. St Paul warns: “Do not quench the Holy Spirit” (1 Thess 5:19). Let us not quench the Spirit who gives us these gifts, these abilities, these very beautiful virtues that make the Church grow

What is our attitude to the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Are we aware that the Spirit of God is free to give them to whomsoever he wishes? Do we consider them as a spiritual help, through which the Lord sustains our faith and reinforces our mission in the world?

And we come to the third aspect of communion in holy things, that is, the communion in charity,unity among us creates charity, love. The gentiles, observing the early Christians, said: how they love each other, how they wish one another well! They do not hate, they do not speak against one another. This is the charity, the love of God that the Holy Spirit puts in our hearts. The charisms are important in the life of the Christian community, but they are always a means for growth in charity, in love, which St Paul sets above the charisms (cf. 1 Cor 13:1-13). Without love, in fact, the most extraordinary gifts are in vain; this man heals people, he has that power, this other virtue... but does he have love and charity in his heart? If he does then all is well, but if he does not he is no servant of the Church. Without love no gift or charism could serve the Church, for where there is not love there is emptiness that becomes filled with selfishness. And I ask myself: if we all were egotistical, could we live in communion and peace? No, it's not possible, that is why it is necessary that love unite us. Our smallest gesture of love benefits everyone! Therefore, to live unity in the Church and the communion of charity means not to seek one's own interests but to share the suffering and the joy of one's brothers (cf. 1 Cor 12:26), ready to carry the weight of the poorest and the weakest. This fraternal solidarity is not a figure of speech, a saying, but an integral part of the communion among Christians. If we live it, we are a sign to the world, the “sacrament” of God's love. This is what we are one for the other and what we are for all! It is not just petty love that we can offer one another, but something much more profound: it is a communion that renders us able to enter into the joy and sorrow of others and make then sincerely our own.