When we see a car advertisement, we become aware of the marketing strategies. They usually talk about lifestyles, finished design, comfort, in short, image. These are important aspects but somehow peripheral, not essential. No matter how beautiful a car is, if there is no good engine and mechanics, it will end up failing.
Neil Landau, in this book, is like the one who tells us about a car but opening the hood. He shows us the engine and mechanics of the series. We often focus on the actors, music, photography, etc., but the author goes to the engine of the series, the script and its development. He does not lack experience. Many years dedicated to being a producer and screenwriter, in addition to teaching at UCLA. He has been an executive script consultant for Sony Pictures Television and Columbia Pictures.
His animated films include The Adventures of Tadeo Jones, which won him the Spanish Academy "Goya" Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Tadeo Jones and the Secret of King Midas (he is currently working on the third part of the saga), Catch the Flag, for Paramount, and Sheep & Wolves for Wizart Animation. He wrote the best-selling 101 Things I Learned in Film School, which was the first book sponsored by the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE).
Our society demands that we be efficient. Then, when we hear the evangelical call to bear much fruit, we think it is about being productive. And we confuse community life with teamwork, expecting to achieve impeccable performance. Then, when the results are not what we expected, we become discouraged.
However, Jesus has come to speak to us about something else, about his life in the Trinity, a community of love. It is important to be effective, but without forgetting that the key is to treat each other with affection. Community is built with personal ties, establishing bonds, in short, cultivating communion.
"See how they love each other." is the watchword of the Gospel so that the world may believe. The first Christian community enjoyed the sympathy of the people, which is why it was so attractive. Of course, there were miracles and the preaching of the kerygma was fundamental, but surely the people felt challenged when they saw how they related to each other.
We are all afraid of loneliness. A fear that, deep down, expresses the nostalgia we feel for God, our Father, the only one who quenches our thirst for affection. Community is a balm for this inner restlessness. God's infinite affection for each one of us is incarnated in the concrete faces of our close community. Through the frank treatment of the brothers, often inscribed in small details, we feel loved by God, but, above all, capable of loving and responding to our vocation. Sometimes, obsessed with image, with being efficient and productive, we forget what is important: love.
The Church offers us many opportunities to live in community: the family, the parish, the school, the religious community, the apostolate group or the team involved in a social action. It is important that we bear much fruit, that the group functions, but this will be given to us as a bonus. We need to share life with people who make us feel loved, respected, valued and cared for. And, at the same time, in order to truly convert and free ourselves from the bonds of our selfishness, we cannot be alone, making efforts in vain. Of course, not everything is idyllic. In living together we become aware of our limits. Relationships are a constant challenge that makes us come out of our worries to open ourselves to the problems of others. They are, in short, a space of conversion.
Sometimes the community is like the desert where Jesus was led by the Spirit to be tempted. Indeed, friction occurs. We Christians are not safe from backbiting, judgmentalism and backbiting. They are the poison of community life. Scandalized, we can withdraw and think that we are better off alone. But without others we can do little. The community is the school where the Lord teaches us to love.
Christian life demands of us an examination of conscience, full transparency, so as not to deceive ourselves. Community life also, but the reward is enormous. We participate, in spite of our defects and weaknesses, in the life of the Trinity. We are an echo of eternity, even without being perfect.
Then we want to be together, to celebrate our joys, to support each other in our sorrows, to share what we have and what we are. And people sense something special. It attracts attention. They want to participate in this feast that is faith. Then, the community becomes something provocative, an authentic evangelizing agent because it lives the Gospel and transmits it.
Auxiliary Bishop of Barcelona and Vicar General. In his priestly ministry he has combined parish work with catechetical and educational pastoral ministry. In the Episcopal Conference of Tarragona he is President of the Interdiocesan Secretariat of Catechesis, and in the Spanish Episcopal Conference he is a member of the Episcopal Commission for Evangelization, Catechesis and Catechumenate.
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In the days in which the annual assembly of media delegates from all over Spain was scheduled, postponed due to the worsening of the pandemic, we received the sad news of the death of the military archbishop and president of the Episcopal Commission for the Media of the Spanish Episcopal Conference.Juan del Río.
The information about his hospital admission due to the coronavirus had reached us a few days before the feast of the patron saint of journalists, St. Francis de Sales, and all of us who share this dual vocation for communication and the Gospel were able to pray for him at the various Eucharistic celebrations organized for this occasion in the different dioceses.
In the great days of ecclesial communication in Spain, one of the greatest in Catholic communication passed away. He dedicated his entire life as a priest, 46 years, to this difficult pastoral mission. Those of us who were first-hand witnesses of his apostolic and journalistic zeal have no doubts: he was passionate about the Gospel and the use of the media to transmit it.
In an interview during the confinement for the program Latest Questions TVE, said that, although in this time of pandemic men and women of communication have to narrate situations of pain and disease, it is necessary that we go out to the public and show the world that we are not alone in our work. "to tell true stories of miracles, of hope, of good news that in the midst of the pandemic are happening."
As I write this, my first article in this new communicative venture that is OmnesI can't stop thinking about this prophetic phrase. Del Rio's death, we have no choice but to rejoice at the good news, full of hope, of the re-launching of a means of communication in which all those daily miracles that also happen around us in times of Covid will be narrated.
In that same interview, the archbishop spoke of the importance of communication in order for society to "continue to grow in freedom and truth because, if not, we will be dominated by a culture of lies".
The fact is that no one can consider himself informed only by what he receives from the media groups. Whatsappwhere rumors and rumors are widespread. fake news. The commitment to professional media committed to the truth is the only way to protect ourselves from the virus of misinformation that damages our relationships so much. That is why this new media is such good news.
Here we will narrate stories of joy and tears, of victories and defeats in the face of the virus, of death and resurrection... The story of God intermingled in the particular life of each and every man and woman. Today death is not the end, as the hymn to the fallen of the Armed Forces sings, but the beginning of history. Thank you, Father Juan, for encouraging us to tell the good news and for having been Good News for everyone.
Journalist. Graduate in Communication Sciences and Bachelor in Religious Sciences. He works in the Diocesan Delegation of Media in Malaga. His numerous "threads" on Twitter about faith and daily life have a great popularity.
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Consecrated life, a parable of fraternity in a wounded world
On the 25th anniversary of the World Day for Consecrated Life, Bishop Luis Ángel de las Heras reminds us that those who embrace this way of life continue and must continue to be a prophetic parable of grace.
January 28, 2021-Reading time: 3minutes
On February 2, 1997, the first World Day for Consecrated Life was celebrated, instituted by St. John Paul II for the purpose of "to help the whole Church to value ever more highly the witness of those who have chosen to follow Christ closely through the practice of the evangelical counsels." The Pope also wanted the Day to be a propitious occasion for consecrated persons to renew their resolutions and rekindle the sentiments that should inspire their dedication to the Lord.
Objectives
St. John Paul II set three objectives. The first was to praise and thank the Lord for the great gift of consecrated life, which enriches and rejoices the Christian community with the charisms and fruits of lives dedicated to the cause of the Kingdom. The second, to promote among the people of God the knowledge and esteem of consecrated life. The third is to invite consecrated persons to celebrate together the wonders that the Lord works in them.
On February 2, 2021, we will commemorate the 25th anniversary of this event. To celebrate this silver jubilee, the slogan chosen in Spain The book "Consecrated Life, a Parable of Fraternity in a Wounded World" reflects current events and the evangelical appeals of Pope Francis.
This motto is one of the prophetic names of consecrated life at this moment in history. With the same problems, hopes and challenges as the rest of the members of the people of God and of our society, consecrated life continues and must continue to be a prophetic parable of grace.
Light Bearers
Rejecting any defeatist perspective, consecrated persons, clothed in Jesus Christ, are bearers of His light, as Benedict XVI affirmed a few days before his resignation: "Do not join the prophets of woe who proclaim the end or the meaninglessness of the consecrated life in the Church of our day; rather, put on Jesus Christ and bear the arms of light, as St. Paul exhorts (cf. Rm 13:11-14)-, remaining awake and vigilant". These words were quoted by Pope Francis in his Apostolic Letter on the Occasion of the Year of Consecrated Life(2014).
Consecrated persons become fewer and older, but always imbued with the love of God and the Gospel of Jesus, witnesses and prophets of the joy and hope that spring from an encounter with the Lord. United among themselves, with Him at their center, they are able to sail to other shores where they are needed. Their life and mission consecrate them to carry out a singular project that implies going, seeing and dwelling where Christ places the center, that is, in the peripheries, because the Kingdom of God has as its capital the shores of this world.
During the pandemic
Some of these shores have been, in recent months, the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences. On the peripheries of pain, precariousness, depression, uncertainty and death, consecrated persons have been fraternally committed, showing themselves to be experts in the Gospel and humanity, especially with the most vulnerable.
His parable of fraternity in a wounded world has shone like a light of calm and hope in this humanitarian emergency. In nursing homes where the virus has taken its toll; in hospitals alongside health professionals, or as part of them; living with minors without families, people with addictions, disabilities or mental illnesses; welcoming the homeless and victims of abuse, prostitution and human trafficking; responding to the challenges of education; accompanying and consoling in loneliness; going to any region of need; praying with hope.
As we bishops of the CLCEC said in the message for the XXV World Day on February 2, the entrails satellite dish of the consecrated becomes oil and wine for the wounds of the world, bandage and home of God's health. Let us thank God for them and with them, weavers of Samaritan bonds inward and outward, close followers of Jesus Christ, Good Samaritan.
The authorMsgr. Luis Ángel de las Heras, CMF.
Bishop of León and president of the Episcopal Commission for Consecrated Life.
Archbishop Juan del Rio, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, dies
Archbishop Castrense of Spain and president of the Episcopal Commission for Social Communications, died this morning at about 11:00 a.m. at the Central Defense Hospital "Gómez Ulla" as a result of the affections caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus.
The military Archbishop had been admitted last Thursday to the Gómez Ulla hospital and since then his condition has worsened until today's fatal outcome, according to the military Archbishopric. The Archbishop's office has also thanked the health personnel for their efforts and professionalism in the care of the prelate.
The military chaplains, the government teams of the Archbishopric and the "St. John Paul II" Seminary, the seminarians and the staff of the Curia join the family in these moments of sorrow and raise their prayers for the eternal rest of their shepherd.
A few weeks ago, he addressed the team and readers of Omnes on the occasion of the launch of the new information project.
Biography of Bishop Juan del Río
Juan del Río Martín was born in Ayamonte (Huelva) on October 14, 1947. He studied high school at the Instituto Laboral in his hometown, and Philosophy and Theology at the Metropolitan Seminary and Center for Theological Studies in Seville (1973). He graduated from the University of Granada (1975) and received his Bachelor, Licentiate and Doctorate in Theology from the Gregorian University of Rome (1979-1984).
Ordained a priest on February 2, 1974 in Pilas (Seville), during his long ministry he held, among others, the following positions.
Formator and professor at the Minor Seminary of Pilas (1974-79). Pastor of St. Mary the Major of Pilas (1976-79). Vice-rector of the Metropolitan Major Seminary of Seville (1984-87). Professor of Theology at the Center for Theological Studies of Seville and Spiritual Director of the Brotherhood of Students (1984-2000). Professor of Religion at the "Ramón Carande" High School in Seville (1984-87). Pastor of Nuestra Señora de Valme and Beato Marcelo Spínola of Dos Hermanas (1987). Diocesan Delegate for University Ministry (1987-2000). Director of the Religious Assistance Service of the University of Seville, and Director of the Information Office of the Bishops of Southern Spain (1988-2000). Professor of the Institute of Liturgy "San Isidoro" of Seville (1993-2000). Professor of Theology at the University of Seville (1994-2000). Secretary of the Presbyteral Council of the Diocese of Seville (1995-2000).
Appointed Bishop of Asidonia-Jerez on June 29, 2000, he was ordained in the Cathedral of Jerez de la Frontera on September 23. On June 30, 2008, he received the appointment of Archbishop of Spain and Apostolic Administrator of Asidonia-Jerez. He took office as Archbishop Castrense on September 27, 2008. On April 22, 2009, he was appointed member of the Executive Committee of the EEC and on June 1, 2009, of the Central Council of Military Ordinaries.
The land of Abraham, the Iraq the Pope wants to visit
The apostolic journey to Iraq, a land of millenary faith linked to the memory of Abraham, prophet of Christians, Muslims and Jews, bathed a thousand times in blood and pain, was fervently desired by the Pope.
Rafael Miner-January 28, 2021-Reading time: 8minutes
Jesus' expression, "You are all brothers"taken from a verse from the Gospel of St. Matthew (Mt 23:8), was chosen as the official motto for Pope Francis' visit to Iraq, scheduled for March 5-8. These words of Jesus, written in Arabic, frame the logo of the visit, unveiled by the Chaldean Patriarchate in Baghdad in mid-January, and reflect the background of the papal visit.
The logo, on a white background, shows a photo of the Pope waving, next to a drawing of the map of Iraq, crossed by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The image of a palm tree and a white dove next to the flags of the Republic of Iraq and of the Vatican, bearing the olive branch, symbol of peace, complete the symbolism of the logo, which intentionally refers to the title of Pope Francis' latest encyclical, "Brothers all" (Fratelli tutti).
In his message for the World Day of Peace on January 1 of this year, the Holy Father Francis recalled that ".2020 was a difficult year for everyone, especially due to the impact of the pandemic and conflicts."and later on he specifically mentioned Iraq: "On this day I ask you to pray for peace to come into the hearts of men in Iraq, in the Middle East and throughout the world, and for the walls of hatred and violence to fall forever.".
On the occasion of this message, the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Baghdad and president of the Iraqi Bishops' Conference, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, expressly asked: "The message was sent to the Iraqi Bishops' Conference.Pray for the success of Pope Francis' visit to our country, so that Iraq may find in it the necessary strength to be a new nation, different from what it was before", and so that "the walls of hatred and violence fall down forever".
In addition, the Chaldean Patriarch, in a message addressed to "to Christians and to all Iraqis"He had expressed the hope that the announced apostolic visit of Pope Francis to Iraq would be for the baptized Iraqis and for the whole of the Middle East a providential opportunity to make an "pilgrimage"and a "return to our earliest sourcesThe Fides news agency reported that the "new" missionaries have been able to "announce with greater enthusiasm the salvation promised in the Gospel, for the benefit of all".
"Father in the faith" by autonomasia.
In explaining the context of this apostolic journey, some observers recall that St. John Paul II wished to visit Iraq in December 1999. The visit to Ur of the Chaldees was to be the first stage of his Jubilee pilgrimage for the year 2000. But it could not take place, because President Saddam Hussein decided to postpone it. "Conscious of their inseparable bond with the ancient people of the Covenant, Christians recognize in Abraham the "father in faith" par excellence, and are happy to imitate his example, following in his footsteps."St. John Paul II said at the General Audience of February 16, 2000. After making some considerations, he added: "In the name of the whole Church, I would have liked to go to Ur of the Chaldeans, the place from which Abraham set out on his journey, to pray and reflect. Since it has not been possible for me, I would like to make, at least spiritually, a similar pilgrimage.". And he did it a few weeks later, in March, during a special celebration in the Paul VI Hall, where the most important moments of Abraham's faith experience were relived.
Encouraging the Christian community
Twenty years later, visiting the land of Abraham is one of the main motives for Pope Francis' trip, perhaps the most remote and profound, looking at the whole of Christianity. Among the closest, it is certainly to encourage the Christian community.
As is well known, "in recent years Christians and Yazidis, especially from the Nineveh Plain and Mosul and neighboring towns and cities, have been forcibly displaced to various countries around the world as a result of terrorist acts carried out by ISIS (also called Daesh) at the time."Rif 'at Bader, director of the Catholic Center for Studies and Media (CCSM).
Consequently, "Pope Francis is coming to Iraq first and foremost to encourage the Christian community in Iraq which has withstood the political turbulence that has taken place including foreign wars or internal strife. There is still a bright and glorious Christian presence despite the dramatic decline in numbers.". "Encouraging those who remain steadfast in the land of their ancestors despite successive disasters."Bader adds, "....especially during his scheduled visit to the city of Erbil, where there are currently a good number of forcibly displaced people from Mosul and the villages of the Nineveh plain. His Holiness will also visit Mosul and Qaraqosh municipality to further encourage forcibly displaced people living abroad to return if possible to the land of their ancestors and grandparents".
In Iraq, before 2003, the year of the conflict that led to the fall of Saddam Hussein, the number of Christians ranged between 1.3 and 1.4 million people. Then, between 2014 and 2017, the war and the Daesh occupation of the Nineveh Plain reduced that number to around 400,000 people. Now, President Barham Sali has stressed the value of Christians and their role.
In the same vein is the Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, who has invited Christians who fled Iraq because of the violence to return to contribute to the reconstruction.
A gesture in the face of challenges
However, the construction of peace, security and stability remains open. Proof of this is the recent attack in Baghdad that left at least 32 people dead and more than 100 wounded. Moreover, the economic crisis and unemployment, which affect more than 1.5 million internally displaced persons, are putting development projects to the test.
The Covid-19 pandemic, which is also being an obstacle to the visit, to the point of making the Pope himself doubtful, has left thousands of victims. "Pope Francis is an open man, a seeker of peace and fraternity. Everyone in Iraq, Christians and Muslims, esteem him for his simplicity and closeness.", declared Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako to the SIR agency a year ago. "His words touch the hearts of all because they are those of a shepherd. He is a man who can bring peace. Many millions of Muslims followed the Pontiff's visit to Abu Dhabi. It will be like that also in Iraq". There is no doubt that the trip represents a gesture of closeness to the entire Iraqi population.
The Pope already expressed his intention to visit Iraq on June 10, 2019, during an audience with participants in the meeting of Aid Works for the Eastern Churches. "An insistent thought accompanies me thinking about Iraq.", he said, "so that it can look forward through the peaceful and shared participation in the construction of the common good of all the components, also religious, of the society and fall back on tensions that come from the never appeased conflicts of the regional powers.".
This visit, which could not take place in 2020, seemed to become more concrete when, on January 25 last year, Pope Francis received President Barham Salih at the Vatican, who also met with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Monsignor Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See. During the meeting, they discussed, among other issues, challenges such as "to promote stability and the reconstruction process, encouraging the path of dialogue and the search for appropriate solutions in favor of the citizens and with respect for national sovereignty"The Vatican Press Office said in a press release.
In Mosul, Ur of the Chaldeans...
Bishop Basil Yaldo, auxiliary bishop of Baghdad and general coordinator for the visit in Iraq, told Asia News that ".the Pope's visit is the confirmation that the country enjoys greater stability, thanks also to the work done by the current Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and President Barham Salih, which has been instrumental in improving many critical situations of the past.". In his words he emphasized, in a particular way, the great attention shown by the Head of State for Pope Francis, confirmed by the "two official visits" made in little more than a year. "The Pope's visit was a dream for us and the role of coordinator is a great responsibility for me", continues Msgr. Yaldo.
This news item, "It conveys courage to all the Iraqi people, not only to Christians, and is a sign of deep solidarity, peace and fraternity for the whole nation.". As for Muslims, he stresses that, "If that were possible, they are happier than we are... The whole country is happy. The Muslim leaders have been asking me for a long time when the Pope would come, and the time has finally come. We are a small flock, but of great value.".
With regard to the program of the visit, still incomplete at the time of writing, the prelate emphasizes "the desire to go to Mosul, long the stronghold of the Islamic State and the place where the worst barbarities of the jihadist madness were consummated.". "Pope wants to go to Mosul and pray for the victims of ISIS, and for all the violence that has occurred there". But "the heart" of the journey, adds Msgr. Yaldo, "will be the visit to Ur of the Chaldeans, because for us, Christians, Muslims and Jews, Abraham is the prophet of all religions. He represents the sign of unity for all of us who inhabit this land, for those of us who live in Iraq. Seeing Abraham's house will be a very strong symbol of unity for all the religions that share it.".
The preliminary program also includes a visit to Qaraqosh. In September 2019, this magazine reported that the images of the city after the passage of Daesh were "horrifying. Houses bombed, destroyed, burned. Christian temples razed to the ground. Their inhabitants fled as best they could, leaving everything behind. Especially to Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, and to the surrounding cities.".
Qaraqosh was the largest city in the area known as the Nineveh Plain. With a Christian majority, it was home to 50,000 inhabitants, and was literally destroyed. A year and a half ago, homes, schools and temples were slowly beginning to be rebuilt, thanks in large part to the coordinated action of the main local Christian churches, with the collaboration of the Help Them Return campaign launched by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Now, many families want to return, they want to stop being refugees and regain their lives, their jobs, their homes, their dignity. But confidence must be restored.
Trust, fraternity
The Pope's visit will be "an injection of encouragement"Cardinal Fernando Filoni, current Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre and former Prefect of the Dicastery for the Evangelization of Peoples, now presided over by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, wrote in L'Osservatore Romano. In his article, Cardinal Filoni defines Iraq as a "hinge" land between the Middle East and Central-West Asia; and assures that "Iraq is a "hinge land" between the Middle East and Central-West Asia.Pope Francis will bring with him a novelty. The possibility of a coexistence based on that fraternity that he wanted to sign in Abu Dhabi on February 4, 2019. It is not a sequel that this will happen after this event and that it will bring those principles of coexistence that the land of Abraham, the Iraq of today, absolutely needs.".
Indeed, during his visit to the United Arab Emirates, the Pope signed with the Imam of the University of Al-Azhar the "Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Coexistence". Two months later, he was in Morocco and signed an appeal with the Alawite King on Jerusalem. Will a new document be released in Mesopotamia, some observers wonder, while others point directly to the encyclical Fratelli tutti, dated October 3 last year in Assisi, the eve of the feast of the Poverello.
Apostolic Letter in the form of "motu proprio" Spiritus Domini of the Supreme Pontiff Francisco on the modification of can. 230 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law about the access of women to the instituted ministry of the Lectorate and the Acolyte.
The Spirit of the Lord Jesus, the perennial source of the Church's life and mission, distributes to the members of the People of God the gifts that enable each one, in different ways, to contribute to the building up of the Church and the proclamation of the Gospel. These charisms, called ministries for being publicly recognized and instituted by the Church, are placed at the disposal of the community and its mission in a stable manner.
In some cases this ministerial contribution has its origin in a specific sacrament, Holy Orders. Other tasks, throughout history, have been instituted in the Church and entrusted through a non-sacramental liturgical rite to the faithful, in virtue of a particular form of exercise of the baptismal priesthood, and in aid of the specific ministry of bishops, priests and deacons.
Following a venerable tradition, the reception of the "lay ministries," which St. Paul VI regulated in the Motu Proprio Ministeria quaedam(August 17, 1972), preceded as a preparation for the reception of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, although such ministries were conferred on other suitable male members of the faithful.
Some assemblies of the Synod of Bishops have highlighted the need to deepen doctrinally the theme, so that it responds to the nature of these charisms and the needs of the times, and offers timely support to the role of evangelization that concerns the ecclesial community.
Accepting these recommendations, recent years have seen a doctrinal development that has highlighted how certain ministries instituted by the Church have as their foundation the common condition of being baptized and the royal priesthood received in the sacrament of Baptism; these are essentially distinct from the ordained ministry received in the sacrament of Holy Orders. Indeed, a consolidated practice in the Latin Church has also confirmed that these lay ministries, being based on the sacrament of Baptism, can be entrusted to all the suitable faithful, whether male or female, as is already implicitly provided for in canon 230 § 2.
Consequently, after having heard the opinion of the competent Dicasteries, I have decided to proceed with the modification of canon 230 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law. Therefore, I decree that canon 230 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law in the future will have the following wording:
"Lay persons of the age and conditions determined by decree of the Episcopal Conference may be called to the stable ministry of lector and acolyte, by means of the prescribed liturgical rite; however, the collation of these ministries does not entitle them to be supported or remunerated by the Church.".
I also provide for the modification of the other elements, with the force of law, that refer to this canon.
The deliberations of this Apostolic Letter in the form of a Motu Proprio, I order that they shall have firm and stable force, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, even if worthy of special mention, and that they shall be promulgated by publication in L'Osservatore RomanoThe new law will become effective on the same day, and then be published in the official commentary on the Acta Apostolicae Sedis.
Given at St. Peter's, Rome, on January 10, 2021, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the eighth of my Pontificate.
Francisco
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José Miguel Granados recommends the book "Great expectations", one of the best novels by Charles Dickens.
José Miguel Granados-January 28, 2021-Reading time: 3minutes
"Great Expectations", High hopes, one of Dickens' best novels, tells the story of a boy who loses his innocence in his presumptuous attempt to escape his low social status. The central theme is the distinction between true and false promises, which generate, correlatively, real or substitute hopes.
The young Pip, nephew of an honest and simple village blacksmith, allows himself to be dragged - confused by a series of situations, which he interprets in the wrong way - by the vain dream of becoming a gentleman ("...").gentleman"), someone important on the social ladder. He is induced to do so by the attractive and cruel Estela, whose extravagant aunt, scorned and maddened by the abandonment of her fiancé on the wedding day, keeps the filthy table of the feast intact, wears since then the tattered wedding dress, and expires vengeful rancor towards men.
During his affluent life in London, the pretentious young man lives frivolously, disowning his humble origins and ashamed of his loved ones. In time, Pip will discover the identity of his mysterious benefactor: a convict he helped as a child, who treats him like a son, but for whom the young man now feels deep disgust. However, overcoming his initial dislike, he will be able to reciprocate his selfless love by helping him in his need. It is then that the best of Pip's heart comes to the surface.
Returning to the village, ruined and humiliated, Pip finds the compassionate welcome of his uncle, and decides to start a new existence, based now on the true meaning of life, discovered after his profound mistake. And the same will happen to Estela, whose false perception of life also led her to a great disappointment, when she married an abuser.
After much suffering, caused by the attainment of the false expectationsthe two young men discover which are the most important valuable pledges that offer the hope that does not disappoint and orient their lives according to the right choices, in accordance with goodness and love of neighbor.
Finally, the protagonist -transformed by the painful purification, which has made him wise- comes to affirm: "Suffering has been stronger than all other teachings, and it has taught me to understand what your heart was like. I have been bent, broken, but I have become - I hope - a better person.".
All the yearnings of the human heart contain a promise that generates hope. The reciprocal attraction of masculinity and femininity -the eros- constitutes the desire to engender in beauty (Plato). The spousal significance of the human body (John Paul II), established by the Creator, contains the gift and vocation to build an interpersonal communion of beautiful and fruitful love between a man and a woman. The sacrament of Christian marriage brings the original plan to its fullness, overcoming the fracture of sin with the power of grace.
The reductive and false interpretationsThe results are that the noble, original attraction, advocated by some fashionable ideologies, reduces the end of the noble original attraction to the mere physical and chemical of selfish and utilitarian pleasure, or to the romantic idolatry of a kind of pyrotechnics of fleeting emotions. The inevitable result is frustration and existential emptiness, division and confrontation that ruin people and societies.
It is urgent to recover the genuine sense of human love of surrenderinscribed by the Creator in the grammar of affectivity (Benedict XVI): a generous and faithful love, formed in the forging of human and Christian virtues; a love that gives life and builds warm homes, constituted as the cradle and school of human life; an authentic and integral love that regenerates civilizations according to God's plan.
This is the exciting mission of Christian couples, sent as good news to the world: to recover the joy of love (Francis) that the Church, family of families, must offer today to a disoriented culture. It will be audacious and holy couples who will bring to our society the great Christian hope of family love that everyone dreams of.
The authorJosé Miguel Granados
University of San Dámaso
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Bishop Celestino Aós: "It is time to build a Latin America of greater solidarity".
Omnes interviews Archbishop Celestino Aós, Archbishop of Santiago de Chile, created cardinal by Pope Francis in the last consistory. He answers questions on current issues in Chile and Latin America.
Celestino Aós, born in Navarra (Spain) in 1945, entered the novitiate of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin at the age of eighteen. In 1968 he was ordained a priest. In 1980-1981 he studied psychology at the Catholic University of Chile and returned to his native country. In 1983 he returned to Chile, where he lives until now. He has exercised various pastoral works in different cities. He was working in a parish served by his religious order, in the Diocese of Santa Maria de los Angeles, when surprisingly in 2014 he was appointed Bishop of Copiapo, in the north of the country.
In March 2019, the Pope appointed him Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile. Nine months later he was appointed Archbishop of that see. Last November he was created cardinal by Pope Francis. In the midst of his abundant work, he has been kind enough to answer these questions for our magazine.
Monsignor, you have been in Chile for almost 40 years. What has it meant for your life as a Capuchin religious to move from a parish in Los Angeles to become Bishop of Copiapo in 2014 and Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Santiago in April 2019 and Bishop of the same in December of the same year?
In life I have been meeting the God of surprises; in the end it turns out that He and I appear where I least expected (of course, I trust that He knows well where the road goes). Surprise to go from cooperator vicar in the Parish of St. Francis of Assisi in Los Angeles to Bishop of Copiapo; without intermediate steps of administrator or auxiliary. And I was worried about what it would be like to be far from the religious community, and what the desert would be like, and how I was going to meet the priests and deacons and religious. Although the project of sending Capuchins to Copiapó was not achieved, I always counted on their closeness and help. Also the presbytery, the deacons and the religious and the people welcomed me very well, and I have to thank them for their affection....
A new world was opening up in my mind and in my heart: the poor, the miners, the sick, etc. How would I have to serve them, would I come to love them? It seems that the ground was hard, or it could be because of the years, and I was getting into this task when, another surprise: Apostolic Administrator of Santiago. And here the panorama was complicated and the dimensions gigantic compared to those of Copiapó. But I brought the same challenge: "to love and serve". And God still had another surprise to give me: the Pope named me Cardinal... In the end, I am still in the same situation: circumstances change and Santiago and Chile explodes in rage and violence, and opens windows of hope with participatory social processes such as the Constituent. And I, in the same: "To love and to serve".
The Archdiocese of Santiago is the most populous in Chile, with almost 4 million Catholics. You have three auxiliary bishops, less than 270 priests and around 380 permanent deacons to attend 214 parishes in a vast territory. Faced with such an overflowing pastoral work, what are your pastoral priorities in the short and medium term?
All this. But there is more: the archdiocese is not mine; when things are so big and the problems seem so great that they are going to crush me, I refer him to the Good Jesus: "Sacred Heart of Jesus, in You I trust". We have a special point: in a retreat house there is another auxiliary bishop who is sick; as on the cross, and he prays and offers his pains for the archdiocese and for the Church.
I publicly stated that my intention was to always put Jesus Christ at the center of life and pastoral activity, to listen to God in the people of the church and society, to care for and accompany priests and deacons, and the seminary; that I want to seek ways for the formation of the laity, men and women, because being a Christian is not just a matter of a few moments of worship; it is the whole of life; and we need witnesses and not propagandists; and I want to be with the sick, the imprisoned, the poor, with the victims of injustice and abuse.... The pandemic has taken care to limit my spaces and lock my feet. I hope it does not limit me or lock my heart, and that everyone will fit in there.
The shortage of priestly vocations is evident in your diocese and throughout the country. Probably an important cause is the discredit of the Catholic priesthood due to the sexual abuse crisis of recent years. What can be done to re-enchant young Catholics with this vocational path?
I am certain of two things: that the topic and problem of vocations is not the exclusive concern of the bishop, nor of priests, religious and deacons. It belongs to the families, it belongs to every Christian. We must pray: "Give us, Lord, holy priests". And we must work: it is beautiful to take care of priests, not to deify them, but neither to mistreat them with our insulting criticisms; it is a beautiful task to help priests we see in difficulty (just as we must help each other, whether we are married or single: if someone is in difficulty, we must support him, guide him, help him). Second: these questions are troubling us and we are looking for ways; any contribution you can give us will be welcome. And you must be a good vocation promoter: a Christian who lives his faith with serenity and joy leaves new horizons in his wake, because he does not advertise himself, but opens others to meet Jesus who is the one who invites them to follow him in one way or another.
The convinced Christians, the saints, those who arouse the interest, the enthusiasm, the joy of approaching Jesus and following him in the vocation that we discover for each one of us. The vocation ministry is capable of inviting young people and accompanying them in their discernment, but always with respect for the decisions and answers that each one gives. Yes, the issue of voting worries me and sometimes even hurts, but it is the same Jesus who gives me my vocation, who will call others....
In recent years several parishes and chapels in Santiago and other cities and towns have been destroyed by acts of vandalism (arson and destruction), especially in La Araucanía. How can we react to this repeated destruction of churches, which serve all the faithful, by those who show a real contempt or perhaps hatred for the Catholic religion and also for other evangelical communities?
There is an episode in the Gospel that enlightens me and that marked the apostles: they believed that Jesus was going to praise them and he almost slapped them. They had not wanted to receive them in that village of Samaritans because they saw that they were Jewish pilgrims to Jerusalem. Horrible sin in the Jewish culture, to close the door, to deny hospitality to the stranger! The apostles said to Jesus, "Do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven to burn these wicked people?" How many times Jesus had to repeat to them that evil is overcome with good, hatred with love, violence with peace! "You do good to those who persecute and slander you".
That is the core of the Gospel: to do good to all, to love all and always. They will destroy our temples; it hurts us a lot, but they will not be able to destroy this Gospel: with Jesus I am able to love you too.
In December the Chamber of Deputies passed a fairly liberal euthanasia law (the Senate vote is still pending) and now the same Chamber is discussing a bill for free abortion up to the 14th week of pregnancy. What will Catholic pastors do in the face of this onslaught of moral liberalism that, like an avalanche, has arrived in Chile?
Neither abortion, nor euthanasia, nor corruption, nor violence, nor lust, etc. are matters for "Catholic bishops or pastors". They are values that are beyond a creed, they are human values. I say that one should not steal what belongs to another or to all, that one should not hurt or kill a woman, an old man or a child in his mother's womb, etc. Not because I am a Christian or a priest or a bishop. I say it because I am a person, because I am human and I feel it. To destroy a human being, be it physically with a surgical or chemical technique, to destroy him by poisoning him with drugs, to make him idiotic with attractions is not to advance, it is not to humanize; it is simply to dehumanize.
For me, life is sacred from fertilization to natural death; and we must take care of it and ensure that it can develop properly; and we must accompany it and help it at the end without euthanasia, which is always death sought or surgical incarnation. Can I die in peace or will I be afraid if I am going to be euthanized? With abortion and euthanasia, life is not worth anything; neither those "discarded" lives, nor ours (maybe today we are and tomorrow we will be useless, not useful).
The bishops and all of us who think like this must unite to demand that our rights are respected and that these cruelties are not imposed on us. We want to organize a Chile where each and every one of us has respect, help and dignity. Is it giving us dignity to value our lives in a utilitarian way and eliminate us if it suits some people? Is that what God wants?
You are the eighth Cardinal created for Chile, which implies new responsibilities in the Holy See. How will you combine your work as Archbishop with these new responsibilities?
New responsibilities are likely to come. In fact, Pope Francis has already appointed me as a member of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. The pandemic, which is punishing Chile and the whole world, makes travel difficult; today technology allows us to hold meetings by zoom, etc. Let us thank God for these technical marvels at our disposal. Latin America is a beautiful and fascinating continent, full of virtuous people, but also with great problems and challenges, and with other people who add to crime, corruption, etc.
How to make a better Latin America? By trying to be a little better myself... the world will have improved a little. It is not so much a matter of demanding and censuring but of committing ourselves to goodness and justice.
The moment we are living in Latin America is very propitious to build a civilization and a culture of life, solidarity, dialogue and understanding; we have already experienced and learned where the paths of selfishness, disqualification, violence and taking advantage of others lead.
We can and must build a beautiful and united Latin America, united and great. It is time to work together and build together, taking care of the weakest and most needy, in the midst of so much death and selfishness it is so beautiful to announce and work for life and love!
January 22, 2021, is an important date for humanity. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (CTBT)which some fifty countries of the United Nations had ratified last October, finally comes into force. It is the first legally binding agreement prohibiting the development, testing, production, stockpiling, transfer and use of nuclear weapons. It is no coincidence that the signatory countries do not include the traditional major nuclear powers, so the road to real and effective disarmament has only just begun.
An immoral act
In November 2019, from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, it was Pope Francis who condemned without "appeal" the use of atomic energy for war purposes, an act that is totally "immoral"that threatens the freedom of populationsdenies peace and causes so much suffering.
"No more wars, no more noise of weapons, no more suffering.", was the Pontiff's cry, reiterating how this approach is ultimately "a crime, not only against man and his dignity, but also against any possibility of a future in our common home.".
One of the Pope's first interventions along the lines of the appeal for a world free of nuclear weapons was dated July 2014, with a message addressed to the president of the Anti-Personnel Landmine Convention, in which he called for putting "thehe human person, women and men, girls and boys, at the center of our disarmament efforts.."
A few months later, in December, writing to the chairman of the Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, he denounced the "waste of resourcesHe concluded with the wish that "it would be more appropriate to spend on integral human development, education, health and the fight against poverty. He concluded with the wish that "nuclear weapons should be banned once and for all".
He made a repeated appeal in his visit to the UN in September 2015, and in other messages to the same UN Conference in 2017, 2019 and 2020, in several Angelus from the window of St. Peter's Square, in meetings with the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, in the Plenaries of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences, and in recent Messages for the World Day of Peace.
Disarmament at Fratelli tutti
All these concerns were summed up in n. 262 of the last letter encyclical Fratelli tuttiwhere it is clearly explained - showing precisely the interconnection and complexity of all the events that characterize the current era - that the option of disarmament is functional for "...".to eliminate hunger once and for all and for the development of the poorest countries, so that their inhabitants do not resort to violent or deceitful solutions and are not forced to leave their countries in search of a more dignified life.".
Celebrating the importance of this day, last Wednesday, at the end of the general audience, the Holy Father encouraged the States to courageously undertake the path of disarmament, thus contributing to "to the advancement of peace and multilateral cooperation, which mankind needs so much today.".
Several personalities of the Catholic Church, presidents of bishops' conferences of various countries of the world, bishops of important dioceses, as well as religious and lay people, have signed a joint declaration for the occasion, collected by the international Catholic movement for peace. Pax Christi, expressing their satisfaction with the important initial objective achieved by the United Nations and urging those governments that have not yet done so to sign and ratify the Treaty.
The gift of peace
"We believe that God's gift of peace acts to discourage war and overcome violence."They write in the document, which significantly has as its first signatory the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa.
On the part of the Holy See, in an interview granted to Vatican News, the Secretary for Relations with States, Paul Richard Gallagheracknowledging that it is a "cornerstone"and that there is still a long way to go, he invited "avoid forms of reciprocal recrimination and polarization that hinder dialogue instead of favoring it.".
Rather, because as humankind we have the capacity, in addition to freedom and intelligence, to "drive the technology", of "setting limits to our power"and to commit all efforts to progress".more humane, social and integral".
Pope Francis has established that the commemoration of St. John of Avila be inscribed in the general Roman calendar on May 10, as a free memorial. In Spain, the feast of the Doctor of the Church was already celebrated as an obligatory memorial.
Manuel Belda-January 26, 2021-Reading time: 4minutes
St. John of Avila was born on January 6, 1499, in Almodovar del Campo (Ciudad Real). At the age of 14 he began studying law at the University of Salamanca, which he abandoned at the end of the fourth year due to a spiritual conversion experience, so he decided to return to his family home.
With the purpose of becoming a priest, in 1520 he began his studies of Arts and Theology at the University of Alcalá de Henares, and was ordained in 1526. He decided to go as a missionary to America and for this purpose he moved to Seville to embark for the New World.
However, the bishop of this city, convinced of the great qualities of the young priest, asked him to remain in his service. Because of a misinterpreted preaching, in 1531 he was denounced to the Inquisition and imprisoned. Once absolved in 1533, he moved to Cordoba and was incardinated in this diocese. Concerned about the formation of candidates for the priesthood, he founded several minor and major colleges which, after the Council of Trent, became Seminaries. He also founded the University of Baeza (Jaén), which for centuries was an important point of reference for the formation of clerics and laymen.
After having traveled through Andalusia and other regions of Spain preaching, in 1554 he retired definitively to Montilla (Córdoba). Accompanied by his disciples and friends, with a Crucifix in his hands, he died in that city on May 10, 1569.
He was beatified by Leo XIII on April 6, 1894. Named Patron of the Spanish secular clergy by Pius XII on July 2, 1946. Canonized by St. Paul VI on May 31, 1970. On October 7, 2012 Benedict XVI proclaimed St. John of Avila a Doctor of the Church.
His writings
Although he was above all a great preacher and spiritual director, he also made masterful use of the pen to expound his teachings. His main work is entitled Audi, filiaa systematic and complete treatise on the spiritual life, which has become a classic of spirituality. The Catechism or Christian Doctrineis a pedagogical synthesis of the content of faith. In the Treatise on the love of GodThe mystery of the Incarnate Word and Redeemer is profoundly penetrated by the mystery of the Incarnate Word and Redeemer. The Treatise on the priesthood is a compendium of priestly spirituality.
There are two reform submissions Memorials to the Council of Trent and the Warnings to the Council of Toledo. The Sermons y Talksas well as the EpistolaryHis biblical commentaries - from the Letter to the Galatians to the First Letter of John - are systematic expositions of remarkable biblical depth and great pastoral value. His biblical commentaries - from the Letter to the Galatians to the First Letter of St. John - are systematic expositions of remarkable biblical depth and great pastoral value.
Ecclesiastical influence of his magisterium
St. John of Avila exerted a great ecclesial influence, not only through his writings, but also through his disciples, a large group of almost one hundred, which has been called "the priestly school of Master Avila", who spread the doctrine of the Master with their preaching and catechesis throughout Spain. His most important disciple is Fray Luis de Granada (†1588), who quotes him often and extensively. It was he who wrote 19 years after the saint's death his first biography: "Vida del Padre Maestro Juan de Ávila" (Madrid 1588).
St. John of Avila was the most consulted priest in 16th century Spain. Almost all the great Spanish saints of the Golden Age received his advice and in some cases, he was their spiritual director. For example, St. Teresa of Jesus, in difficult times, asked him for his opinion on the "Book of Life" (1562). After having read the manuscript, he wrote her a letter in which he approved her doctrine and recognized the divine origin of the extraordinary mystical phenomena of the saint. This letter consoled her a lot and after having received it, she wrote: "Master Avila writes to me at length, and he is satisfied with everything; he only says that it is necessary to declare some things more and to change the words of others, which is easy".
Master Avila was invited to participate in the second convocation of the Council of Trent (1551) by the Archbishop of Granada, but he was unable to attend because of his illness. The influence of his doctrine in this Council was highlighted by St. Paul VI in the homily of the Mass for the Canonization (May 31, 1970), where he affirmed: "He could not participate personally in the Council because of his precarious health; but his is a well known Memorial, entitled Reformation of the Ecclesiastical State (1551), which the Archbishop of Granada, Pedro Guerrero, will make his own at the Council of Trent, with general applause. The Council of Trent adopted decisions that he had advocated long before".
The writings of St. John of Avila have left an indelible mark on the life of the Church. From his most widely read book, Audi, filiaAs Cardinal Astorga, Archbishop of Toledo, said: "This book has converted more souls than it has letters".
About the priesthood
His doctrine on the priesthood has been widely disseminated, both directly and indirectly, by means of a treatise that was an enormous success, entitled Instruction for priests, taken from Sacred Scripture, the Holy Fathers and the Holy Doctors of the Church. (Burgos 1612), by the Carthusian Antonio de Molina (†1619). In this book, the author continually quotes the works of the saint and copies entire paragraphs without quoting him explicitly, and says of Master Avila: "A holy and venerable man, a man of great perfection, and very high spirit, and rare wisdom, a holy and apostolic man, who with the very high spirit he had, and the great light with which the Holy Spirit enlightened him, showed how important and necessary it is for priests to be very given to the spirit of prayer".
The influence of Master Avila can also be seen in other successful spiritual authors, such as the Jesuit Luis de la Puente (†1624), who, in the third volume of his work Of the perfection of the Christian in all his states (Pamplona 1616), takes many things from the saint's doctrine. Also St. Francis de Sales (†1622) often quotes paragraphs from the Audi, filiain its Introduction to the devotional life. He is also frequently cited in the works of St. Alphonsus Liguori (†1787). Finally, one more example of this influence is found in the works of St. Anthony Mary Claret (†1870), who quotes abundantly from Master Avila.
The novena to the Infant Jesus of Prague in the town of Aguilar de la Frontera, Cordoba, ended this year in a very special way: with the delivery of small crosses to the attendees, who have experienced difficult moments these weeks with the demolition and trashing of the cross that presided over the so-called "llanito de las Descalzas" (little plain of the Barefoot Nuns).
"Come after me." The words of the Gospel of the third Sunday in Ordinary Time seemed chosen to end the novena to the Infant Jesus of Prague in the midst of some difficult weeks for the faithful of the Cordovan town of Aguilar de la Frontera.
In spite of the sorrow that this insult to their religious feelings has caused to hundreds of Aguilarenses, the Archconfraternity of the Infant Jesus of Prague, Pablo Lora, wanted to rekindle the love for the Cross that is proper to Christians.
For this reason, at the end of the closing Mass of the Novena to this dedication, the priest gave some crosses to the attendees, reminding them of the words of the Gospel read during the Mass: "Take up your cross and follow him."
The priest has highlighted in Omnes that this painful event "has been a revulsive in part, many people have realized the need to defend their faith and their story of Salvation, which is what the Cross means. Defend the cross because it is the sign of our faith and represents our religious sentiments. The cross belongs to Christ, outside of ideologies".
In giving these crosses at the end of the novena to the Infant Jesus of Prague, as the parish priest points out "we remember that we followed Jesus from Child and until his death and resurrection and from the Cross he also invites us to follow him.".
The Barefoot Cross
The town of Aguilar de la Frontera saw, as last January, by order of the City Council was demolished the Cross located next to the Convent of the Barefoot Carmelites. Cross that, as recalled by the parish priest in the letter to his parishioners "had been devoid of any political content for more than thirty years. A whole generation of Aguilarenses has grown up around the Cross as a sign of love and surrender, forgiveness and mercy. I deeply regret that the next generations will be deprived of this precious religious symbol that helps us to build a better world"..
The image of the cross thrown in a rubbish dump has deeply hurt the feelings of these aguilarenses who have participated, as far as possible by health measures, in the acts of atonement made since then. In fact, both from the parish and several individuals, had asked to guard the Cross once removed from the place. This request was not met at any time.
Archconfraternity of the Infant Jesus of Prague
As stated in the portal of the diocese of CórdobaThe origin of this brotherhood dates back to 1920. After four decades of his last outing, a group of young people returned to resume the tradition of one of the most important brotherhoods of Aguilar, the hand of a large number of companions, mostly children, who participated in the processional procession.
On January 25, 2015 took place the first procession of this new stage, organized by this group of young people, after re-founding the brotherhood in August 2014, with the support of the Congregation of Carmelite Nuns of the Convent of San José and San Roque de Aguilar and the priests of the town. Since then, there are numerous young people who exalt the Infant Jesus of Prague with the firm purpose of consolidating the recovery of a tradition rooted in Aguilar de la Frontera.
Disenchantment and re-enchantment: by erasing God, modernity has given way to false spiritualities. As Chesterton said, he who does not believe in God, believes in anything. It is time to rediscover the true mystery of faith.
January 25, 2021-Reading time: < 1minute
"Disenchantment of the world" is a famous expression of the sociologist Max Weberwhich even deserves a Wikipedia page. Modern reason has expelled the irrational from the world, magic and gods. And Christianity rightly prides itself on having contributed to a healthy disenchantment, having clearly distinguished God from the world.
The forces of the world are only natural, unmixed with the supernatural. There is no place for magic, the search for dialogue and handling of occult forces. Although God can act wherever he wants.
However, it is evident that today's culture, having removed the true God and sought a natural, materialistic (and previously Marxist) explanation for everything, has gone too far. That is why false charms of soothsayers and reincarnations and guides enter through the back door.
As I said ChestertonHe who does not believe in God is liable to believe in anything. The Christian mission is urgent to restore to life the true charm of the mystery of God, of his Word, of his Liturgy, of his presence, of his salvation. Our life needs charm, but true charm.
Professor of Theology and Director of the Department of Systematic Theology at the University of Navarra. Author of numerous books on theology and spiritual life.
Rafa Nadal: "For me the most important thing is to be a good person".
The San Pablo CEU University Foundation has presented its "CEU Ángel Herrera Awards" in recognition of the social, teaching and research work of individuals and organizations.
The delivery of the CEU Angel Herrera Awards The award in the category of the "Best of the Best" took place this morning. The award in the category of Ethics and ValuesThe prize, ex aequo, has been awarded this year to the Little Sisters of the Poor and in the tennis player Rafa NadalHe wanted to address a few words to the congregation with which he shares the award, thanking them for their work. The tennis player also wanted to point out that, "although all awards are welcome, they are especially so when they are not only for sporting causes, as in this case, because for me the most important thing is to be a good person"..
José María Álvarez-Pallete received the award given to the following companies Telefónica in the category of Business Collaboration in the Education SectorThe company is committed to corporate action with values and responsibility. On the other hand, the Educational Innovation in the Technology Sector Awardo in this edition went to LinkedIn.
The San Pablo CEU University Foundation has also awarded two of its best Alumni: in the category of "Best Alumni" and "Best Alumni" in the category of "Best Alumni. Junior Alumni, the founder of Adopt A GrandparentAlberto Cabanes, and in the category Senior Alumnithe creator of the Starlite FoundationSandra García-Sanjuán.
Cooperation and culture
Also awarded was the Nazareth Home in the category of Solidarity, Cooperation for Development and Social Entrepreneurship for its project "Rescue houses for children in the Peruvian Amazon".
The award for journalistic work in the world of education went to the journalist Olga R. Sanmartínfor his article entitled "Schools that nurture families" and the "Schools that nurture families" award for his article entitled "Schools that nurture families". Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa and the Edades del Hombre Foundation share, this year the CEU Angel Herrera Award for the Dissemination of Catholic Culture.
In the previous article in this series, on the occasion of the Year of St. Joseph convoked by Pope Francis, we asked ourselves what is the greatness of St. Joseph, and we concluded that it lies in the fact that he is the husband of Mary and father of Jesus. We have already commented on his nuptiality, and now we turn to his paternity.
The holy patriarch - as he is also called - was absolutely aware of the divine condition of Jesus, for he knew that he was the son of God, born of Mary by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Obviously, St. Joseph was aware that God assumed human nature, choosing his wife as his mother, who was always a virgin: before, during and after childbirth.
Far from keeping his distance from this Child begotten by the Holy Spirit, he would welcome him as a good father, and would give him all his affection and teachings. He had the courage to assume his role as the legal father of Jesus, once the angel revealed to him in a dream (Mt 1:21) the divine origin of the Child and his saving mission.
Thus, Joseph's paternity had its uniqueness, because he, as well as Jesus and Mary, knew that he was the son of God. But this did not prevent him from being an authentic father -very human- and that in order to be a father he learned "the trade" -and the benefit- of being a father.
Jesus was recognized by his contemporaries as the son of Joseph, or of the carpenter. And not in any other way. This is reflected in the Holy Gospels. That is to say, what was relevant for the friends and neighbors of the Holy Family was that paternal-filial relationship, precisely, as the most evident characteristic of that divine Child, son of his fellow citizens Myriam and Joseph.
True father to his Son
With what love would Joseph love Jesus, but with a full love, as a true father who knew himself to be his son?
We can then imagine the pain that Joseph felt when he heard from the angel in a dream (Mt 2:13) that Herod was looking for the Child, his son, in order to kill him. And, likewise, the joy that would have produced for him to have saved him from that murder by taking refuge in Egypt until the death of that ruler. Or the disconsolate search for the lost Child (Lk 2:44-45) until they found him and Mary in the temple teaching the doctors of the law.
In any case, also as a good husband of Mary, he would go with her, contrasting everything he perceived from God and how much he would afflict her. A wife like no other, on whom the one entrusted to him would lean, whom he would love unconditionally and from whom he would perceive that total love. A wife in whom to trust, with whom to walk, to educate and love both, well united, the Son of God.
The love that Joseph would lavish on his son would be inspired by the various references to tenderness in Sacred Scripture (Ps 103:13; Ps 145:9) as the Holy Father makes clear in the Patris Corde. The tenderness of a father, that is what Joseph would lavish on Jesus. At the same time he would be, as it is said, "....through thick and thin"For educating is both joyful and costly at the same time, and that joy and cost would not be spared to the holy patriarch.
Sacred Scripture (Lk 2:52) emphasizes that Jesus grew in stature and wisdom before God and mankind. This is thanks to St. Joseph, who exercised his fatherhood responsibly and conscientiously, and taught the Child everything in his power to form the Man who would carry out the mission of the only-begotten Son of God. He would introduce him to the experience of life; he would form him, after all, in freedom and responsibility.
Faithful instrument
The "littleness" that a simple carpenter or craftsman would feel before the greatness of the work that God entrusted to him - to be the legal father of his Son, that is, to be the father of God - would make him entrust himself totally to the Creator, who had arranged for it to be so.
Only abandoned into God's hands could he carry out his mission. Hence his attitude of generous acceptance of the divine will in order to fulfill the plan laid out; hence, in his dreams, he listened attentively to what was being said to him so that he could carry it out as faithfully as possible.
A humble man, hardly mentioned in the New Testament: in the passages of the Nativity of the Lord and in the sequence referring to the moment when Jesus got lost and was found by his parents in the temple preaching. Moreover, he left no trace of his future, since we do not know when or how he died.
He was not rich, he was just one of his own; no doubt with a strong and determined personality to do what he did, not afraid or scared of life, resolute in the face of the tasks that the Lord was entrusting to him.
Faithful and dedicated to his mission, he would never dispute the will of God, which sometimes came to him through the angels: he obeyed. And this in spite of the costly changes of plans that it implied, of the interruption of bonds of friendship, of the rootedness in different places, since each change of city - Bethlehem, Egypt, Nazareth... - would mean cutting with the previous and starting all over again. But always trusting in divine providence!
Javier Segura describes the project A world at peace, carried out in a high school in Berriozar, with the aim of healing wounds and generating communion within the educational community itself.
Javier Segura-January 20, 2021-Reading time: 3minutes
As January 30 approaches, schools usually carry out various actions to join UNICEF's initiative to promote a school day to develop a culture of non-violence and peace.
This day marks the anniversary of the death of Mahatma Gandhi (India, 1869-1948), a pacifist leader who defended and promoted nonviolence and peaceful resistance to injustice. His thought "there is no way to peace: peace is the way" has become the motto for the various educational actions aimed at promoting among students this desire for peace and commitment to justice.
I believe that today more than ever we need a real education for peace and coexistence. We live in a society that is tense and fragmented, less cohesive than in previous generations. A society that needs to rediscover that path to peace of which we have taken Gandhi as a reference and of which we Christians have an unsurpassable example in St. Francis of Assisi. And, of course, in Jesus Christ himself.
In order to work in depth on a culture of peace, it is necessary to educate men and women who are capable of living in peace with themselves and in peace with others. A desire that should not remain a mere gesture of pigeons painted on the wall or balloons released into the sky. We all know that these gestures are fine, but they do not represent a true education for peace. They do not bring about real change.
My personal experience in this area takes me back to the year 2000, when an ETA terrorist murdered Francisco Casanova in the town of Berriozar, Navarre. Little did I know when I heard the news that summer that I would end up being a religion teacher in the school where his children were studying.
The experience of finding myself as a Religion teacher in a school struck by death, where students were studying in Basque and Spanish, led me to propose to the faculty the realization of an educational project called World at peace that would serve to heal wounds and generate communion within the educational community itself. This was not easy in the midst of such a tense socio-political environment. But precisely for that reason it was especially necessary. And as a teacher of Religion and as a Christian I felt called to promote it.
The project was developed throughout the school year, with the participation of students from different educational levels, from elementary school to the fourth year of ESO. We took as a reference a sculpture by the Guipuzcoan sculptor Manuel Iglesias that symbolized the desire for a peaceful world. The lower part reflected a house destroyed by an attack, in the middle a ball of the world, in the upper part five figures symbolizing the five continents and that in its hollow drew the dove of peace.
Each of these parts of the sculpture served to work throughout the term, from different subjects, on aspects such as peace at home, conflict resolution, peace in the world, diversity of cultures, the need for justice, peace as solidarity and as a spiritual gift. We carry out a wide range of activities involving the whole school: conferences, exhibitions, sports olympics, concerts, editing a record...
But perhaps the most significant aspect of the project was the fact that all the young people worked together to raise funds to erect the sculpture that served as a reference point at the door of their high school. Being able to work with others, to put a face to them, to remove ideologies... is the best way to learn to respect and love them.
Twenty years later, the six-meter-high sculpture erected by those students is still standing at the door of the high school. Covered by a snow that fuses it with nature, it leads me to think that we educators, and especially Religion teachers, have much to contribute to this path of peace. A quiet, silent and fruitful work.
Like that of the snow that fertilizes the earth and leaves us with an immense peace.
In a letter addressed to the faithful and made public today, January 20, Bishop Ángel Fernández Collado remember that "As Christians, people of faith and hope, even now we can and must continue to help in this fight against the pandemic, with charitable love, and with such a natural and substantial tool among us as prayer. We must pray to God, our Father, so that this pandemic, which is causing so much evil and so many deaths, may cease and disappear".
In this regard, a proposal has been addressed to the priests and is included in the Diocesan Action Plan for "that a Mass may be celebrated during the week, or on Sundays in Ordinary Time, "by way of a rogation", at the usual times of the parish, making known to the faithful the specific day of the week and the time it will be celebrated, in which the main intention is: to ask the Lord for the cessation and disappearance of the Covid-19 pandemic.".
The celebrations will continue throughout the year except, as is evident, the Solemnities and Sundays of Advent, Lent and Easter, the days of the octave of Easter, the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed, Ash Wednesday and the fairs of Holy Week.
In his letter, Bishop Fernández Collado reminded us that, as Christians, we have a commitment to citizen action, following the "appropriate measures that are being demanded of us". and also, "on our part, with the effective and powerful help of faith in God and prayer".
A mother participates in the Project for the care of women during pregnancy and childbirth in Monkole (Kinshasa). The Friends of Monkole Foundation funds this project, which aims to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates.
Pope Francis has granted a long interview to the Italian sports daily "La Gazzetta dello Sport" and closely addresses the link between spiritual faith and faith in soccer, showing how it is necessary, first of all, to train the heart to achieve true happiness.
A "lay encyclical" on sport. This is how they defined it - "sympathetically"- those who made it. It is about the first interview granted by a Pontiff to a sports newspaper. "La Gazzetta dello Sport"The Italian newspaper dedicated its first edition of the new year to this interview with the Holy Father.
Pope Francis, always close to sportsmen and sports topics, met in December at his residence in Casa Santa Marta with the editor and deputy editor of the famous Milanese newspaper - which has almost one hundred and thirty years of history and an average daily circulation of more than 150,000 copies-. answering about thirty questions y underlining some key wordsranging from loyalty to commitment, sacrifice, inclusion, team spirit, asceticism and redemption.
Rag ball
But the most genuine aspects that emerge from the interview conducted by Pier Bergonzi are certainly those that bring back memories of Jorge Mario Bergoglio's childhood and youth. He goes through memories from the days spent at the stadium with his family, cheering on "your San Lorenzo"to the famous "rag ball"that as poor - "leather was expensive" - they played the role of children "to have fun and perform, almost, miracles playing in the placita close to home".
Hard foot
The Pope also comments on another aspect that has certainly marked his personality: the fact that he always put himself at "playing in the goalbecause he was one of those who in Argentina were called "...".hard leg", read awkward: "but being a goalkeeper was a great school for me. The goalkeeper has to be ready to respond to the dangers that can come from all sides...".
The people's experience
In sport, the Pontiff also glimpsed several aspects of his apostolate, such as the concept of ".membership", "to admit that alone it is not so beautiful to live, to exult, to celebrate"so that it is necessary to share fun moments with others. In this regard, there is no shortage of references to Fratelli tutti. Somehow, Francis also says that "sport is the experience of the people and their passions, it marks the personal and collective memory."elements that even authorize us to speak of a ".sporting faith".
A better world
He also made reference during the interview to personal stories that have characterized the sports world and have left their mark on people's hearts, as the "Righteous among the nations"Gino Bartali -that is how he is recognized at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem-, the Italian cyclist who during the Nazi regime, with the excuse of training on his bicycle, carried from one city to another dozens of false documents hidden in the frame of his bicycle. These documents were used to help Jews escape and thus save themselves from the Holocaust. Sports Stories "that are not an end in themselves, but that try to leave the world a little better than they found it.".
A tidy heart
The secret not to disperse talent, whether in the life of sport or of faith... and to keep the heart trained: "an orderly heart is a happy heart, in a state of grace, ready for challenge"which automatically leads to "a happiness to share". And in this the Church has certainly been a pioneer, with the numerous experiences in the shadow of the bell towers, such as the reality of the Salesian oratories, which encourage every young person "to give the best of oneself, to set a goal to reach, to not get discouraged, to collaborate as a group".
Redemption of the poor
How could it be otherwise, Francis also made reference to the poor and the weak, who are a great example of not giving up in life, but also in the spiritual life: "The poor and the weak are a great example of not giving up in life, but also in the spiritual life.a man does not die when he is defeated: he dies when he gives up, when he stops fighting.". And the poor are masters at this: in spite of the evidence of indifference, "continue to fight to defend their lives".
All this because it is not enough to dream of success, you have to work hard. The poor thirst for redemption: "offer them a book, a pair of shoes, a ball and they are capable of unthinkable actions.". True hunger, in fact, Pope Francis concludes, "is a real hunger".is the most formidable motivation for the heart: it is showing the world that you are worthy, it is taking the only chance you are given and playing for it.".
Pope Francis expands women's service in the liturgy
By motu proprio Spiritus Dominipublished on January 10, 2021, Pope Francis has modified can. 230 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law. This opens the possibility for women to exercise in a stable way the ministry of the Lectorate and Acolyte. These are two ministries or assignments: the first is linked to the ministry of the Word, while the second is linked to the ministry of the Altar.
Pope St. Paul VI instituted the so-called "lay ministries" through his motu proprio. Ministeria quaedam (1972). Thus the distinction between minor orders ended (Ostiarius, Lectorate, Exorcised and Acolyte) and major orders (Subdiaconate, Diaconate and Presbyterate) that had existed in the Church for a long time. In doing so, he sought to adapt to the demands of the times, which did not mean breaking with or surpassing the precendent tradition, but rather responding to the challenges of the times, while remaining faithful to the revealed deposit. According to the motu proprio of Paul VI, which was later reflected in can. 230 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law, such ministries were reserved for the male lay faithful.
Distinction between ministries
In the letter of Pope Francis to Card. Ladaria, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on the occasion of the motu proprio we are commenting on, it is explained that these ministries were reserved only for men since minor orders constituted a path leading to major orders, and since the sacrament of Holy Orders was reserved for men, this also applied to minor orders. However, a clearer distinction between what we know today as non-ordained (lay) ministries and ordained ministries makes it possible to end the reservation of the former to men alone.
Expression of the common priesthood
However, this is not only a question of the kind we have mentioned above, but also a matter of we are dealing with the exercise or expression of the common priesthood of the faithful.. Thus, a correct and healthy application of the m.p. Spiritus Domini should take this into account, i.e., that lay ministries arise from the priestly and royal condition of every baptized member of the faithful.while the ordained ministries correspond to some of the members of the Church that have received the mission -through a sacrament - to act in the person of Christ the Head.
Thus, a certain clericalization of the lay faithful is avoided, which is based on the idea that in order to be in the Church, it is necessary to exercise a ministry or commission, when "...".The common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood, although different in essence and not only in degree, are nevertheless ordered to each other, since both participate in their own way in the one priesthood of Christ."(Lumen gentium, n. 10).
Men and women, lay people
Therefore, with the entry into force of the motu proprio Spiritus Domini, men and women may be constituted as readers and acolytes.to exercise this service of the Word and of the Altar respectively. All this The bishop's mandate and public recognition of the bishop's commitment to the lay faithfulwhether male or female, to exercise this ministry in the service of the Church. For this reason, Pope Francis, in the aforementioned letter, makes the norm even more precise, pointing out that it is up to the Episcopal Conferences to establish adequate criteria for the discernment and preparation of candidates for the ministry of the Lectorate and Acolyte.as already provided for by motu proprio Minsteria quaedamThe members of the Order, with the prior approval of the Holy See and in accordance with the needs of evangelization in their territories.
Christian Unity. "Abide in my love and you will bear abundant fruit."
January 14, 2021-Reading time: 4minutes
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2021
Since 1908, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has been celebrated every year from January 18 to 25. It was the first ecumenical initiative supported and encouraged by the Catholic Church.
The target The main objective of this proposal is to double. First, it is a a propitious time to know and feel the pain and the drama of the divisions within the Church of Christ.. These divisions, which have arisen throughout history mainly because of the sin of Christians themselves, but also because of complicated historical, cultural, social and theological processes, wound the ecclesial being and are a scandal to the world.
On the other hand, this week of prayer, as its name suggests, is a week of prayer. an invitation to pray, to implore, to beseech, to ask for the grace of unity for all Christians in the certainty that this is a gift from heaven, it is the work of the Spirit in us. Only from a dynamic of ever deeper and more sincere conversion to God of each of the faithful and of the Churches and Christian communities, will we be able to reorient our lives towards the Unity that is the life of the Trinity and that flows from it as grace for the world. Thus, with this annual ecumenical event, it is underlined that other possible ecumenical initiatives, at the theological, social and testimonial levels, find their foundation and encouragement in spiritual ecumenism.
Each year the material to guide prayers and meditation keys The daily Mass is prepared by a group of Christians of various denominations, generally from the same region or country. This year, 2021, it was the Community of Grandchamp who took on this task. The chosen theme introduces us to the Heart of Christ, to his life of communion with the Father and his desire for communion with mankind, by orienting us towards the so-called "farewell discourses" of the Gospel of John, in chapters 14 to 17. Specifically, the quotation is from Jn 15:5-9, in which the image of the vine and the branches symbolizes communion with Christ as the only way to communion among brothers and sisters. "Abide in my love and you will bear abundant fruit.".
This year we are also invited to get to know the ecumenical witness of the Grandchamp community. A female religious community born in the heart of the Protestant Reformation in the midst of the Second World War. The birth of an experience of religious life is, in the history of the Reformation, an event of grace of the Spirit, which in its creativity continues to give rise to new evangelical experiences and to renew the life of the faithful. Since the abolition of the religious vows by Luther in the 16th century, religious life had disappeared in Protestantism, and yet, at such a crucial moment in history as the first half of the 20th century, in response to the terrible humanitarian drama of the Second World War, with a strong ecumenical and contemplative imprint there arose, very much in harmony with the Taizé Community, This experience of monastic inspiration within the Churches of the Reformation, thus ratifying what the Second Vatican Council will declare as ecclesial elements that are present outside the visible enclosure of the Catholic Church and that, since they come from Christ and belong by right to the Church of Christ, show that we are already living a unity among Christians, not complete, but real and true.
Settled in Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Neuchâtel, the community of Grandchamp began thanks to a small group of women who felt a growing desire to open up paths of spirituality for themselves and others through retreats, prayer meetings and spiritual formation. These were held sporadically in Grandchamp, but they became so serious and strong that some of them felt called to start a community life dedicated mainly to prayer, work and hospitality.
In 1940, the first of these women settled in Grandchamp and was joined almost immediately by another. In 1944, Geneviève Micheli arrived and led the community in its first steps until she passed the baton to Sr. Minke de Ivres, who was responsible for the community for almost thirty years from 1970, accompanying and supporting the difficult years of maturing and consolidation of the community. In the early years, the sisters elaborated their rule of life under the protection of the Taizé Community and under the influence of the book of the great Protestant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Community living.
The community has been growing, and is currently made up of more than fifty sisters from different countries and Christian denominations, with some missionary or mercy experiences in other parts of the world, especially those most marked by poverty or injustice.
The hayloft of the old farmhouse that was once the monastery of Grandchamp is the present chapel of the community. It is a precious icon of this life: the image of the Trinity of Rublov in the center, the Word always open, a large wooden cross, simple and poor as was the life of Christ on this earth, beautiful and harmonious in fraternity, open to the world, joyful and full of color. Its evangelical style, inspired by the first Christian communities of Jerusalem, has made of this place and this fraternity of life a space of communion and unity where every Christian can feel recognized, welcomed and loved unconditionally.
Prioress of the Monastery of the Conversion, in Sotillo de la Adrada (Avila). She is also a professor in the Faculty of Theology at the San Dámaso Ecclesiastical University in Madrid.
Solidarity, the key after the pandemic. Fratelli tutti's proposal
The year in which we wish to overcome the pandemic and some of its consequences has just begun. Some have even been positive: it has exposed other elements of a deeper crisis, pointing the way forward. We have the opportunity to bet on the key elements, some of which can be found in the recent encyclical of Pope Francis Fratelli tutti.
"Only by recognizing the dignity of every human person, can we revive a worldwide desire for brotherhood among all of us." (FT 8). Pope Francis has given the Church his third encyclical entitled Fratelli TuttiAll brothers and sisters". Developed in eight chapters, it constitutes a compendium on fraternity and social friendship. It was inspired mainly by St. Francis of Assisi and his testimony of love for all people that knew no boundaries.
An encyclical of the time
Fratelli tutti addresses the novelty of the times in which we are livingThe world is becoming increasingly divided between the impoverished and the affluent. It also alerts us to the consequences of the global pandemic We are living through (exposing our false securities, the inability to act together, the discarding of the poor and weak for the sake of profitability). On the other hand, the Covid-19 has also accelerated the the call to universal fraternity that the Gospel and the Social Doctrine of the Church insistently make to us..
The Holy Father speaks to us of dreams that have been shattered into pieces, such as fraternity and equality, and that have not been extended to all humanity. True wisdom must involve an encounter with reality. It is necessary to put concrete faces to the affirmations we make.
Like the Good Samaritan
When we read this encyclical, we will all feel challenged and upset. In the face of so much pain in our world, in the face of so many wounds, the only way out is to be like the good samaritan. We all have something of the wounded man on the road, the Good Samaritan or those who pass by. It is about propose an encounter with those who are fallen on the road and adopt the attitude of the Good Samaritan.
If we are truly aware that we are all brothers and sisters, those who come to our land must be welcomed as such. We must have a heart open to the whole world and the Pope emphasizes how to bring the local into dialogue with the universal.
The key to solidarity
Among other virtues, the encyclical stresses solidaritywhich "is to think and act in terms of community, of prioritizing the life of all over the appropriation of goods by some. It is also fighting structural causes of poverty, inequality, lack of jobs, land and housing, denial of social and labor rights. It is to confront the destructive effects of the Empire of money. [...] Solidarity, understood in its deepest sense, is a way of making history." (FT 116). Solidarity is also one of the points of support to channel it precisely at the present time.
The Pope warns us that a capitalism of discarding seems to be triumphingprecarious work and subsidies. Freedom and equality are in danger. Let us not expect everything from those who govern us.Let's start from the bottom and one by one, to the last corner of the world. Let us dream as one humanityEach one with his own voice, all brothers and sisters. Many of us who recognize ourselves as children and call God our Father want to be a sign and instrument of this exciting project.
Duni Sawadogo promotes the "Women and Science" project in her country and fights against the trafficking of counterfeit medicines that especially affect the most vulnerable.
– Supernatural Ivorian Ivorian scientist, Duni Sawadogohas been recognized, this year, with the Award Harambee to the Advancement and Equality of African Women.
Sawadogo in her country by promoting the training of women university students and scientists, and also by promoting the Women and Science" project. Another of the aspects that have made it worthy of this award is the fight against trafficking in counterfeit medicines which mainly affects the most vulnerable, such as the poorest women and children, and which, according to Dr. Sawadogo, generates more money than drugs and has a special and worrying incidence in Africa.
Awarding of the prize
The award will be presented, at a online gala on March 4by H.R.H. Doña Teresa de Borbón dos Sicilias, Honorary President of Harambee and D. Nicolas Zombré, Group Chief Executive Officer Pierre Fabre in Spain, which sponsors this award.
Biography of Duni Sawadogo
Duni Sawadogo, D. in Pharmacy from the University of Abidjan. y Ph.D. in Cell Biology and Hematology from the University of Navarra is Professor of Biological Hematology and Principal Investigator at the School of Pharmacy of the University of California, Berkeley, USA. Felix Houphouet Boigny University, of Abidjan. During the pandemic, Dr. Sawadogo has been appointed as a member of the Steering Committee for the AIRP (Autorité Ivoirienne de Régulation Pharmaceutique). A body similar to the European Medicines Agency, which has approved covid-19 vaccines.
Similarly, AIRP makes safe, effective and inexpensive medicines available to the population, because in Côte d'Ivoire, as in most developing countries, there is a large market for counterfeit and substandard medicines sold outside the official distribution circuit. It also works to promote the creation and development of the pharmaceutical industry.
Harambee Project
Harambee -which in Swahili means all together- is an international project of solidarity with sub-Saharan Africa that collaborates with educational, health or assistance projects, promoted and carried out by Africans themselves in their own countries. All its volunteers work in solidarity, without receiving any remuneration. In 2021, Harambee will develop projects in Cameroon, Congo, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda.
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The Holy Father continued his catechesis on prayer, commenting on the prayer of praise on this cold Roman Wednesday. The Audience took place in the Library of the Apostolic Palace, as usual due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"Jesus praises the Father". Pope Francis began the catechesis by underlining the example of Christ, which we must all imitate. Throughout the Gospel we see how Jesus praises the Father because he feels he is a son of the Most High. In this sense, we should also follow his life and praise the Lord, an attitude proper to the "....the simple, humble people who welcome the Gospel". The small children are aware of their own limitationsand in God the Father all recognize each other as brothers and sisters.
Whom does praise serve?
The Pope poses the question: who does praise serve, us or God? For indeed, "the prayer of praise is useful to us. The Catechism defines it as follows: "He participates in the beatitude of pure hearts that love him in faith before seeing him in glory".".
In the same vein, Francis refers to difficult situations, to contradictions, such as those that many people are suffering in recent times. It is then - the Pope advises - that we have to follow Jesus more closely, because in those moments of difficulty, Jesus also praises the Lord. In such cases, prayer of praise purifies the soul, helps us to look far away.
The example of San Francisco
Already at the end of the catechesis, the Pope wanted to make use of the teachings of St. Francis, who ".He praises God for everything, for all the gifts of creation, and also for death, which he courageously manages to call "sister". The saints show us that we can always be praised, in good times and in bad, because God is the faithful Friend, and his love never fails.".
The year 2021 marks the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Dominic of Guzman, one of the great holy priests of the Middle Ages, a man of deep prayer who "only talked to God or about God". With him we begin a series that will review some of the holy priests in the history of the Church.
Manuel Belda-January 13, 2021-Reading time: 3minutes
St. Dominic of Guzman is one of the great holy priests of the Middle Ages. He was born around 1172 in Caleruega (Burgos). At the age of fourteen he went to study Liberal Arts and Sacred Scripture at the University of Palencia. There he manifested his charity towards the poor, for during a period of terrible famine, he sold his books to give the money obtained to the poor. This meant parting with valuable codices, painstakingly collected during years of laborious study, giving up a patrimony that would be almost impossible to rebuild later.
His beginnings in the priesthood
He was ordained a priest at the age of 25, forming part of the chapter of canons regular of the cathedral of Osma (Soria). In 1203 he accompanied his bishop, Diego de Acebes, on a delicate mission to arrange the marriage of the son of King Alfonso VIII of Castile with a Danish princess. On their return from Denmark, in 1206, they met in the French city of Montpellier the papal legates, Pedro de Castelnau and Raul de Fontroide, sent by the Pope to repress the heresy of the Cathars or Albigensians, and convinced them that for their preaching to be effective, they had to give an example of evangelical poverty and renounce the ostentatious luxury they displayed. The bishop and Dominic stayed in the south of France to preach against this heresy.
The Order of Preachers
Bishop Diego soon returned to his diocese to recruit new preachers and died there in 1207, so Dominic had to continue the preaching work by himself, but soon after he was joined by a group of priests, attracted by his evangelical ideal. In 1215 he founded his first religious house in Toulouse with his first two disciples, who joined him by religious profession to form a community. The same year the bishop of the diocese, Folco, officially approved it, which represents the origin of the Order of Preachers. The next step was to obtain pontifical approval, since at that time the only institutionalized preachers were bishops. To this end he accompanied Bishop Folco to Rome for the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), and there he met Pope Innocent III, who encouraged him to put into practice his program of religious and pastoral life. In 1216 he returned to Rome, where Pope Honorius III definitively approved the new Order of Preachers.
In 1218 the two main convents of the Order were founded, the one in Paris and the one in Bologna, since these two cities were the main centers of the culture of the time. The General Chapter of 1220 confirmed the election of Dominic as Superior General, who in the Dominicans is called "Master of the Order", a position he held until a few months before his death. The last year of his life was dedicated, by order of the Pope, to organize two convents in Rome, one for nuns, San Sisto, and another for friars, Santa Sabina, which later became the generalate house of the Order.
Death and spiritual legacy
He died on August 6, 1221 in Bologna. Shortly before his death he said to his spiritual children: "Do not weep; I will be more useful to you and bear more fruit for you after my death than with all that I have done in my life." He was canonized by Gregory IX in 1234. His contemporaries present St. Dominic as a man of deep prayer, with a phrase that has become a classic: "He only talked to God or about God."
No work of his has been preserved. Of his correspondence, which must have been numerous, only a letter in Latin to the Dominican nuns of Madrid has come down to us.
St. Dominic's personal spirituality is transmitted through his foundational charism to the Order of Preachers. As George Bernanos writes: "If we could raise a single and pure gaze on the works of God, this Order would appear to us as the very charity of St. Dominic, realized in space and time, as if his prayer had become visible."
The desire for the salvation of souls
This spirituality is characterized by the common end, which consists in the desire for the salvation of souls. This requires a specific end, preaching, which is subordinate to the previous one. The preacher gives to others the treasure he has accumulated in contemplation. This is the fundamental difference between the Order of Preachers and the previous monastic Orders, which "spoke to God" and often "of God", but did not have a directly apostolic orientation, but their specific end was the contemplative life. In the Order of Preachers, on the other hand, the apostolic end is placed at the same level as the contemplative end. Later St. Thomas Aquinas would summarize this fact with the phrase: Contemplata aliis tradereto give to others the fruit of one's contemplation.
If the common end of the Order of Preachers is the salvation of souls and its specific end is preaching, the indispensable means to reach both ends is the assiduous study of the Sacred Sciences, which replaced the manual work of the monks in the Orders previous to that of St. Dominic. Study constitutes the dominant passion of this Order. The liturgy defines the saint as Doctor Veritatis,y Veritas is the motto of the Order of Preachers.
Starting a family, secondary for 3 out of 4 young people
Starting a family continues to lag far behind career advancement and travel for a large majority of young Spaniards, according to the barometer of families in Spain. GAD3presented today by The Family Watch.
Rafael Miner-January 12, 2021-Reading time: 3minutes
Photo credit: Jessica Rockowitz/Unsplash
The formation of a family continues to be a "chimera" for most young people, according to the barometer. 83 % of respondents under 45 think that there are greater difficulties than in previous generations. to do so.
The percentage is high. And when this age group was asked about their priorities for the next five years, the following stand out in this order: to prosper professionally (89 %), to further their studies (62 %), and to travel and learn about other cultures (59 %), ahead of starting a family, which only 26.3 percent, or one in four, plan to do so.
Twelve months ago, this percentage was 40 percent, a decrease of almost 14 percent, according to fieldwork by the consulting firm GAD3first in a pandemic situation.
María José Olestigeneral director of the foundation The Family Watch, think-tank of family studies, has stated that These data explain, in part, the reasons for the profound demographic crisis affecting our country, something that, together with the current pandemic situation and its economic consequences, does not predict that it will change in the coming years".".
The youth perspective may have something to do with another piece of information from the barometer: a large majority of respondents (85 %) say that the economic situation in Spain is bad. On the other hand, the loss of purchasing power affects half of Spanish families (50 %) but especially those who have lost their jobs (72 %). Despite the difficulties resulting from the pandemic, the majority of families (56 %) say that they have provided help to family, friends and NGOs during this time.
In response to several questions, María José Olesti pointed out that "Maternity is not given the importance it has in social, political and labor life... On the contrary, women who want to be mothers are penalized. It is necessary to continue with the aids in social policies, in which we are at the bottom in Europe".
Reconciliation, a pending issue
One of the questions in the survey asked how easy it is for them to reconcile their work with their personal and family life. 17.8 percent answered "a lot", 43.9 "quite a bit"and 29.4 percent "little", percentages quite similar to those of the previous year. Sara Morais, research director at GAD3recalled that every year the fertility rate in Spain is reduced, which stood at 1.24 in 2019. Two years earlier, in 2017, the rate was 1.3, according to official data.
Internet and minors
Another of the issues of most concern to families, according to The Family WatchThe main issues that the company is concerned about are Internet use, access to gambling and adult content, such as pornography, and the styles and behaviors of minors on the Internet.
Despite recent measures promoted by both the gaming industry and the authorities, almost 9 out of 10 households still consider that minors have very easy access to online gambling and video games.
The study indicates that 8 out of 10 households consider that "controls" what minors view on the network, and 78 % establish rules for use and schedules. 65 % of respondents acknowledge that adult content has been accessed during the pandemic months.
An important measure for 74 % of the surveyed families would be that when contracting an Internet lineThe company has been asking operators and political parties for years to limit access to certain content (pornography, online games, etc.), something it has been requesting from both operators and political parties"..
In his opinion, "It would be a quick and easy way for parents to protect their children and prevent them from accessing content that does nothing to help their development as people, without having a high level of knowledge of the Internet. In countries such as France and Italy it has already been implemented and Spain should follow the same path", they say.
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– Supernatural Missionary Childhood Day, The event, which will be held on January 17, focuses this year's campaign on the Church's work with abandoned, malnourished and witchcraft-accused children in the Yendi area (Ghana).
The director of OMP SpainJose Maria Calderon, Jose Maria CalderonIn this year dedicated to the figure of St. Joseph, the missionary childhood campaign is framed in the return of the Holy Family from Egypt to Nazareth, a way to involve children and families in the missionary work of Catholic identity.
Msgr. Vincent Sowa Boi-Nai, Bishop of Yendi (Ghana) was the first of the guests to take the floor to explain the situation of children in his diocese.
The bishop distinguished four types of children that the Church, through the projects promoted with the help of the Pontifical Mission Societies, attends to: abused children, children with birth defects: blindness, lameness..., abandoned minors and "brilliant" children who need help to succeed in order to continue their studies.
In the first group, Msgr. Vincent Sowa Boi-Nai, has highlighted the work of the Sisters of St. Gilda who teach mothers how to grow their own vegetables, raise goats and sheep and prepare nutritious meals for the children.
Regarding children with birth problems, the bishop pointed out the lack of access to prenatal and perinatal care and the danger of certain traditional pseudo-medicinal practices that endanger their lives or cause them further problems and deformities.
Another group, also mentioned by Sister Therese Stan, the second participant in the press conference, is the high number of children abandoned on the streets, some of whom are accused of being possessed after suffering, many times, from the wrong health care.
This nun, who has taken in children accused of witchcraft in the Nazareth Home by Yendi, has narrated the harshness of many of the lives of these children who, at just a few years old, are abandoned or threatened in their own family environments.
The Nazareth Home is, for many of them, the only possibility to live and receive the necessary medical care. A work that, as she emphasizes, is carried out thanks to faith.
A common point of all those who have presented this campaign has been to point out how the Church, through the institutions and congregations working in this fieldis, for these children, "the real and sometimes the only family they have".".
This year's Missionary Childhood Day, like the World Mission Sunday, will have a strong presence in digital channels. On the web https://infanciamisionera.es testimonies of missionaries and recipients of aid and projects that can only go ahead with the generosity of all. In addition, the way to collaborate has been facilitated, either through a donation by transfer or bizum.
All the materials of this campaign can be downloaded from the same website so that children can be aware and participate in this work.
The current bishop of Teruel and Albarracín assumes the assistance in diocesan governance together with Msgr. Adolfo González MontesThe company has been headquartered in Almeria since 2002 and will be 75 years old next November.
Bishop Gómez Cantero is currently bishop of Teruel and Albarracínwhich joins the current vacancies on the Spanish map.
The Holy See thus responds to the request of the Bishop of Almeria, Msgr. Adolfo Gónzalez Montesto have a coadjutor bishop in the diocese.
Short biography
Bishop Antonio Gómez Cantero was born in Quijas (Cantabria) on May 31, 1956. He studied high school at the minor seminary of Carrión de los Condes and ecclesiastical studies at the major seminary of San José de Palencia. He was ordained a priest on May 17, 1981. He obtained a licentiate in Systematic-Biblical Theology in the Catholic Institute of Parisin 1995.
The November 17, 2016 Pope Francis makes public his appointment as bishop of Teruel and Albarracín. He received episcopal ordination on January 21, 2017.
At the time of his episcopal appointment he was vicar general and curial moderator (2008-2017) of the. diocese of Palencia, of which he was diocesan administrator from May 8, 2015 until June 18, 2016.
According to the code of canon lawThe coadjutor bishop immediately becomes bishop of the diocese to which he was appointed when the diocese becomes vacant. It also determines that he is to be appointed vicar general by the diocesan bishop.
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The first issue in which our magazine has the new masthead of Omnes marks an exciting moment, the first step of a great project... and at the same time assumes the stupendous trajectory of the magazine Palabra, which continues its numbering.
Notes the time to look ahead, after having highlighted in the November issue the continuity of the with the story that began in September 1965.
We are facing the new definition of a multiplatform religious information media, which will have its main bases in the printed magazine and in a digital portal, omnesmag.com along with their social networks.
What's new in Omnes is not the new name, nor an updated website; nor is it about eliminating the printed magazine or replacing it with a digital version. This is a new approach to the whole of our environment.
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In fact, inform about the Church as you wish to do so Omnes is a necessity with which many people, who feel the desire to to promote an "outgoing" Christianity, that is to say, one that is open, joyful and positiveThe Pope, the Church and the faith, which is missed when reading so much information about the Pope, the Church and the faith that underlines the scandalous and disturbing, or that is biased or distorted; and which meets the needs of those who - more and more - are grateful to be informed about things as they are, going, whenever possible, to the original sources and words, without looking for an easy echo by encouraging divisions.. This is also why it is addressed to all, to Omnesof any situation, condition or age.
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Both Pope Francis' visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and his visit to Morocco at the end of March represent a profound intensification of the peace dialogue with Islam. The Pope celebrated the first ever public Mass in the Arabian Peninsula.
Pope Francis' trips, like those of his predecessors, take place at the planned destinations, but they could not be properly understood without the Holy Father's words on the outbound and especially on the return flight with journalists. In the visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), whose main cities are Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the same thing happened.
On the return flight, the Pope introduced the dialogue in this way: "Hahas beenatraveltoobriefbutformehashas beenagreatexperience.I wantthateachtravelbeWe want each of our days to be for the writing of daily history. No story is small, every story is big and worthy. And even if it is ugly, dignity is hidden and can always emerge.".
Pope Francis then referred to the UAE: "Heseen ata modern country, I was struck by the city. Even the cleanliness of the city, I wondered how they water the flowers in this desert. It is a modern country, it welcomes many people and it is a country that looks to the future: for example, in the education of children. They educate looking to the future. Then I was struck by the water problem: they are looking for the near future to take water from the sea and make it drinkable, even water from the humidity and make it drinkable. Always looking for new things. I have also heard them say: we will run out of oil and we are getting ready. It has seemed to me an open country, not closed. Also the religiosity: it is an open Islam, of dialogue, a fraternal Islam, of peace. I underline the vocation for peace that I felt I had, in spite of the problems of some wars in the area"..
In the spirit of Vatican II
An open Islam, of dialogue, fraternal, said the Holy Father. Indeed, a relevant aspect of the conversation with the media focused on the document on human fraternity signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb. The declaration is an invitation to reconciliation and fraternity among all believers, also between believers and non-believers, and among all people of good will. Thus the Pope commented: "One thing I want to say and I repeat it clearly: from the Catholic point of view, the document has not moved a millimeter beyond the Second Vatican Council. Nothing. The document has been produced in the spirit of Vatican II.". The Holy Father also referred to possible divergences among Muslims. "In the Islamic world there are different opinions, some more radical, some not. Yesterday, in the Council of the Wise there was at least one Shiite and he spoke well. There will be discrepancies between them..., but it is a process, processes must mature, like flowers, like fruit."
Intrahistory of the document
The Pope explained that the text "wasprepared withmuchreflectionand also praying. Both the great Imam with his team and I with mine, have prayed so much to achieve this document, which is born of faith in God, who is the Father of all and the Father of peace. It condemns all destruction, all terrorism, from the first terrorism in history, which is that of Cain. It is a document that has been developed in almost a year, with back and forth, prayers... it has been left to mature, a little confidential, not to give birth to the child before its time. For it to be mature", reported Andrea Tornielli from the plane.
As for other impressions of the visit and its results, the Pope told the media: "For me it was very touching to meet with the wise men of Islam, a profound encounter, they were from different places and various cultures. This also indicates the openness of this country to a certain regional, universal and religious dialogue. Then I was impressed by the interreligious convention: it was a strong cultural event. And I mentioned in the speech, what you did here last year on the protection of children on the Internet. Today, child pornography is an 'industry' that makes a lot of money and preys on children. This country has realized this. There will also be negative things... But thank you for the welcome." On the papal flight, not all the questions were soft Vaseline. For example, this one: "The Grand Imam Al-Tayyib emphasized the issue of Islamophobia - why wasn't something also said about Christianophobia, about the persecution of Christians?"
This was the Pope's response: "II have talked about it. Not at that time, but I am frequently talking about it. I think the document was more about unity and friendship. But it condemns violence and some groups that call themselves Islamic - even though the sages say that's not Islam - persecute Christians. I remember that father in Lesbos with his children. He was thirty years old, he cried and told me: I am a Muslim, my wife was a Christian and the Isis terrorists came, saw his cross, asked him to convert and after his refusal they cut his throat in front of me. This is the daily bread of terrorist groups:thedestructionfromtheperson.Bythat thedocumenthashas beenfromstrongconviction.
Confirmation in faith
Although it is difficult to have exact data, it is estimated that the Catholic faithful number around one million people between UAE, Oman and Yemen, which make up the Apostolic Vicariate of South Arabia, all of them immigrants. Some 80 % are of Latin rite and the rest from various Eastern countries, from more than a hundred countries of origin and with a strong presence from Southeast Asia. At the end of the Holy Mass, which was attended by some 150,000 people (including several thousand Muslims), the Holy Father greeted some of the religious authorities (the Maronite Patriarch, the Armenian Patriarch, bishops from various countries and rites, etc.) and civil authorities. He also greeted the boys and girls who had helped at the Mass. The last person he greeted, without being planned, was Eugene, an Italian Capuchin priest of 90 years, of which he has spent 60 years in different countries of the Arabian Peninsula. It was a greeting-homage; an embrace of the Pope to one of the priests who arrived at the beginning of the modern history of the Church in this part of the world. It was a silent, long embrace, lasting more than a minute, as the Armenian Patriarch pointed out, an emotional embrace, in which Pope Francis kissed Eugene's hand, while those who were there kept a great silence. This meeting seems to me a good summary of one of the two reasons for the Holy Father's trip to Abu Dhabi: to confirm in the faith the hundreds of thousands of Catholics living in the Emirates and, with them, the several million who live in the entire Arabian Peninsula. To help give them visibility.
Year of Tolerance
The first reason for the visit was the invitation to participate in the interreligious meeting on peace, on the occasion of the "Year of the Tole- rancia" promoted by the Emirati government in 2019. The meeting was also attended by the Grand Mufti of the Cairo Mosque, whom Pope Francis referred to as a brother and friend. At the end of the meeting they signed the aforementioned declaration, a historic document on human fraternity. The Pope was not just another guest. This is evidenced by the many details on the part of the civil authorities (from the involvement in covering the organizational needs to the welcoming and farewell ceremonies). And it is also proven by the joy of so many Emiratis (police, military and civilians who participated in the organization of the Mass). The UAE is proud to be a pioneer in religious coexistence. They have maintained diplomatic relations with the Holy See since 2007. In 2017, they created the Ministry of Tolerance, headed by Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, and have declared the current Year of Tolerance. The Pope's visit comes at the invitation of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. In addition to the Pope, the Emirates has invited the Grand Mufti of Al-Azhar, one of the highest authorities in Sunni Islam, head of the Al-Azhar Mosque and University in Cairo. The Holy Father recently recalled: "I will soon have the opportunity to visit two Muslim-majority countries, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. These will be two important occasions to further enhance interreligious dialogue and mutual understanding between the faithful of both religions, on the eighth centenary of the historic meeting between St. Francis of Assisi and Sultan al-Malik al-Kāmil.".
First public Mass
For the first time a public Mass has been held and the Abu Dhabi government has granted holiday to those who were to attend. "We Muslims recognize the importance of Pope Francis' impending visit. This trip signals that tolerance, compassion and dialogue enable understanding and peace. Pope Francis will admire the beauty of a peaceful global community composed of people from some 200 countries. He joins all of us in praising our Creator for making us a unique individual and bridging our differences with universal values." explained the Minister of Tolerance before the visit. The Holy Father took the opportunity to recall the need to truly live in respect for diversity while recognizing differences. And in the homily of the Mass, commenting on the beatitudes, he encouraged Catholics especially to be sowers of peace. Referring to relations with non-Christians, he explained: "IvisitciteSt. Francis, when he gives instructions to his brothers on how to present themselves to the Saracens and non-Christians. He writes: 'Do not engage in litigation or strife, but be subject to every human creature for God's sake and confess that you are Christians'".
Encouragement and gratitude to the faithful
The Pope celebrated the Mass according to the Latin rite, but he kept in mind the variety and richness of the Church in this land. This diversity was also felt in the languages used (English, Italian and Latin by the Holy Father, in addition to Arabic, French, Tagalog, Konaki..., in the prayers of the faithful).
"You here know the melody of the Gospel and live the enthusiasm of its rhythm. You are a choir composed of a variety of nations, languages and rites. [in reference also to the choir that sang during the Eucharist, which manifested the diversity of which the Pope spoke].A diversity that the Holy Spirit loves and wants to harmonize more and more, to make a symphony. This joyful symphony of faith is a witness that you give to all and that builds up the Church", he said in his homily.
He also wanted to encourage the faithful. Many are far from their families, fatigued by work schedules, far from the nearest church: "Certainly,foryouIt is not easy to live far from home and perhaps to feel the absence of the most beloved people and the uncertainty about the future. But the Lord is faithful and does not abandon his own. [Faced with a trial or a difficult period, we may think that we are alone, even after being with the Lord for so long. But at such times, even if he does not intervene quickly, he walks beside us and, if we go forward, he will open up a new path. For the Lord is a specialist in making things new, and he knows how to open new paths in the desert.
The Pope had words of thanks to the faithful: "A Church that perseveres in the word of Jesus and in fraternal love is pleasing to God and bears fruit. I ask for you the grace to preserve peace, unity, to take care of one another, with that beautiful fraternity which means that there are no first- and second-class Christians. Jesus, who calls you blessed, gives you the grace to go forward without discouragement, growing in mutual love and love for all".
The Holy See's delegate to the World Medical Association and member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Pablo Requena, analyzes the morality of the use of Covid-19 vaccines.
Pablo Requena-January 4, 2021-Reading time: 4minutes
If someone were asked on the street if they thought that the whole issue of the pandemic caused by Covid-19 was a simple matter, few would answer in the affirmative.
More than a year has passed since the first cases of what has quickly become a worldwide epidemic were described, and many questions remain unanswered, despite the fact that a large part of the global scientific world has set to work on it in a way that is difficult to find precedents in the history of medicine and scientific research.
It is striking that so many categorical statements appear on social networks about the characteristics of the virus, the immunological reaction it provokes or the management that should be made of the pandemic. In addition to all these questions, there have been some that refer to the ethical aspects of coronavirus infection.
The morality of vaccines
In recent months much has been written about Covid-19 vaccines and their connection with abortion. The subject is a serious one and for this reason the Note published on December 21 last year by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the morality of the use of certain Covid-19 vaccines. In reality, what this Note says, at a theoretical level, had already been said by the same Congregation in 2008, in numbers 34 and 35 of the Instruction Dignitas personaein dealing with the use of illicit human "biological material" of illicit origin. However, it was opportune to remember it, because many Catholics are unaware of this text and have doubts about the morality of the use of vaccines against Covid-19..
Different degrees of responsibility
The Note writes something that has been recalled in recent documents of the Magisterium on bioethics: that the Church has no particular competence in scientific matters, and all it does is to offer a light for the discernment of ethical questions. In this case, the question that arises is whether it is licit to use a vaccine in whose production or validation process cell lines from fetal tissue derived from induced abortions have been used.
The brief Note explains, following Dignitas personaewhich in the use of cell lines derived from abortion there are different degrees of liabilityHe gives as an example the different moral assessment of possible actions within a large pharmaceutical company, depending on whether it is the managers who propose its use in certain research or the professionals who do not have decision-making power over the materials to be used.
It then offers the answer to the moral problem that some Christians put on pointing out that it is "morally acceptable to use Covid-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process."provided that alternative vaccines are not available. made without the use of such cell lines of illicit origin. This condition is currently met in most cases, as potential users cannot choose the type of vaccine, as it depends on the governmental organization.
Could there be cooperation to evil?
The reason used in the document to justify this response is that the type of cooperation in the wrongdoing that could be incurred is remote. When speaking of cooperation to evil (the document uses the moral category "passive material cooperation"), it is not assumed that using the vaccine today implies any causal link with the abortion that was performed thirty or forty years ago, but rather that the use of these cell lines may in some way promote the use of embryonic or fetal material in laboratories.and justify or make more tolerable the destruction of embryos or abortions related to such use.
Moreover, the Note goes on to explain, the moral duty to avoid this type of cooperation is not binding if there is a serious cause, as in this case to avoid the spread of the infection with all its negative consequences. It is important to understand that the reasoning of the Vatican Congregation is not of a proportionalist type, since it starts from the consideration that the object of the act being carried out, that is, the immunization of the population, is morally good. Moreover, as is also explained, this response does not legitimize either the abortions that gave rise to these cell lines or the use of these cell lines..
Is vaccination mandatory?
Another issue addressed by the Note is that of mandatory vaccination.. Here it is important to distinguishing the legal level from the ethical level. The first refers to the indications that the public authority requires from citizens. For the time being, in countries where the vaccine has begun to be used, it is not required by law: it is simply advised. But in some places, or for certain categories of subjects, the public authority could make vaccination compulsory if it considers it necessary for the public good. From an ethical point of view, it is clear that there is a certain moral obligation to avoid infecting others and, as in other infectious diseases, the safest way would be vaccination.. For this reason, the Note states that "the morality of vaccination depends not only on the duty to protect one's own health, but also on the duty to protect one's own health. duty to pursue the common good".
Formation is not only an intellectual occupation, but a process that embraces all the dimensions of the person. It implies a certain balance between the different human powers, and a work of moral and spiritual education.
January 4, 2021-Reading time: 3minutes
In recent years we have often heard about the risks of voluntarism in the moral and spiritual education of people, especially the young. This is an important issue, because the will is the faculty with which we exercise our freedom. If education consists in teaching how to use freedom, the first thing to do is to form the will well.
The thought of William of Ockham is often pointed to as the origin of the deformation of moral life that is voluntarism. In fact, the English theologian proposed the so-called divine voluntarism which, for the purposes of this article, can be summarized as follows: something is either good or evil because God says so, and not the other way around. In this approach, reason is not capable of knowing what good it achieves by following the moral law, beyond knowing that with its will it is obeying God. However, and apart from the concrete historical development of moral theology, I believe that this association between Ockham and voluntarism obscures rather than illuminates the current meaning given to this spiritual phenomenon.
In my opinion, it would help to distinguish between "theological voluntarism" (Ockham's, on why an act is good or due), "spiritual voluntarism" (which refers to a certain way of experiencing the effort to be better) and "rationalism" or moral intellectualism (which considers that it is enough to know the good in order to do it). Rationalism is clearly opposed to theological voluntarism, since it considers that what is decisive is the capacity of human reason to know the good. The moral law is fulfilled because and why obeying God is a good thing to do is well. What is striking is that, in this scheme, "spiritual voluntarism" is closer to moral intellectualism than to Ockham's position.
The voluntarist person is rather rationalist, since it is his reason that directs - in a despotic way - the will. He is clear about what is good and does it, even if he is not attracted to that particular good. What is lacking is to develop the capacity to love the good. Therefore, the problem is not one of inflation, but of atrophy of the will. The voluntarist needs more will, but in the sense that I will explain below.
Following a venerable tradition that goes back at least as far as St. Augustine, we can distinguish two dimensions of will, which I will call the will "as motor" and the will "as heart", both of which are necessary for personal growth, but each has its own function. If we were to consider them as two extremes, we would have that if someone only developed the will as a motor, he would have a technical conception of the human being, centered on the efficiency of achieving what he proposes, without needing anyone. From the moral point of view, what he would seek is his own perfection. At the other extreme, cultivating the will as the heart would lead to understanding the person as someone incarnated, interested in making his life fruitful, aware that what is truly valuable can only be received as a free gift from others or from God. In the moral sphere, the goal would be love.
The distinction serves to explain that the problem of spiritual voluntarism consists in reducing the function of the will to being a motor, that is, to the capacity to carry out correct actions. On the other hand, the risk of understanding the will only as the heart would be to end up in a kind of spiritual quietism, as if there were no need to make an effort to achieve the good and to grow morally.
The will as heart is not to be understood in a "sentimental", changeable or superficial way, but as it is understood, for example, by Hildebrand in The heart. There he refers to the heart as the spiritual center of the person and the organ of his affectivity. Precisely what the voluntarist needs to do is to cultivate his affections, so that he not only does good because sabe that it is the right thing to do, but because it ama and identifies with him. This is possible because the good always bears someone's name: the good are actions that we perform for or with other people.
Spiritual voluntarism leads one to organize one's own life without - in the end - needing the help of others. On the other hand, those who cultivate the will as a heart face difficulties together with others, counting on their help. He trusts especially in God, as Torelló explains in He first loved us. The voluntarist is easily discouraged, because he sees the limitations of his motor. He needs to grow in hope, which is the virtue that prepares the will to fully receive the gift of God, grace.
The key to the education of the will is that the person discovers that goods (friendship, love, service or justice) fill his life and fill his heart. Certainly, this is a process in which, especially at the beginning, willpower (the motor) is very necessary. But it alone is not enough to keep on doing good, especially as time goes by. Engines get old and break down. On the other hand, if affective identification with the goods of one's own life is achieved, it will require less and less effort to remain faithful to them.
The authorJosé María Torralba
Director of the Core Curriculum Institute of the University of Navarra
Three major themes appear in the Pope's teachings these weeks: he continues his catechesis on prayer, an ecumenical Vademecum for the local Churches has been published under his blessing, and he has written an apostolic letter on St. Joseph.
In this article we focus on the letter Patris corde, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the declaration of St. Joseph as patron of the universal Church.
Beginning the "Year of St. Joseph".
With the letter Patris corde (December 8, 2020) the Pope calls for a "Year of St. Joseph" until December 8, 2021. He says his goal is to "that love for this great saint may grow, so that we may be impelled to implore his intercession and imitate his virtues.".
Secondly, the figure of St. Joseph takes on the role of the pandemic prominenceby placing Francisco not only as a "intercessor, support and guide" in these times of difficulty, but as a special representative and patron of those "ordinary people"They have worked, they have instilled hope and they have prayed, holding us all in their hands. In many cases, they have even given their lives for others.
"Jesus saw the tenderness of God in Joseph." (n. 2), who also taught him to pray. Also for us "it is important to encounter the Mercy of God, especially in the sacrament of Reconciliation, having an experience of truth and tenderness". (ibid.). There God welcomes us and embraces us, sustains us and forgives us.
In a manner similar to that of Mary, Joseph said. "be it done" to God's will, even if it only manifested itself to him in dreams. And so he was able to "teach" obedience to Jesus: "In the hidden life of Nazareth, under the guidance of Joseph, Jesus learned to do the will of the Father." (n. 3) that passed through the Passion and the Cross (cf. Jn 4:34; Phil 2:8; Heb 5:8). The Pope even says: "I wish to imagine that Jesus took from Joseph's attitudes the example for the parable of the prodigal son and the merciful father (cf. Lk 15:11-32).".
José "welcomed" The role of husband of Mary and father of Jesus, which God asked of him, was a very important part of his life. And that shaped his inner life: "Joseph's spiritual life does not show us a way that explainsbut a way that welcomes" (n. 4).
Although God's plans surpassed his expectations, he acted with fortitude, taking on with "creative courage". even those that seemed contradictory, unexpected or even disappointing. On these occasions, God often brings "to bring out resources in each of us that we didn't even think we had." (n. 5).
Custodian of Jesus and Mary, the Church and the Needy
Specifically, José "I knew how to transform a problem into an opportunity, always putting trust in Providence first.". Thus he was able to guard and serve Jesus and Mary (cf. Homily at the beginning of the Petrine ministry19-III-2013). And it is now the custodian of the ChurchThe motherhood of the Church is manifested in the motherhood of Mary.
Consistently, as Jesus himself expressed (cf. 25:40), Joseph continues to care for the most needy, because in them he continues to see the "Child" that is Jesus and Mary, who (as mother of mercy and spouse of Christ) also identifies with them. "That is why St. Joseph is invoked as protector of the indigent, the needy, the exiled, the afflicted, the poor, the dying." (Patris corde, n. 5). "From Joseph" -The Pope proposes "we must learn the same care and responsibility: to love the Child and his mother; to love the sacraments and charity; to love the Church and the poor. In each of these realities there is always the Child and his mother." (ibid.).
Model and employer of workers
Since Leo XIII (cf. Enc. Rerum novarum, 1891), the Church proposes St. Joseph as a model worker and patron of workers. In contemplating the figure of St. Joseph, Francis points out in his letter, we can better understand the meaning of work, which gives dignity, and the important place of work in the plan of salvation. On the other hand, today we should all reflect on fatherhood.
"The work" -writes the Pope. "it becomes an occasion of fulfillment not only for oneself, but above all for that original nucleus of society which is the family." (Patris corde, n. 6).
And in relation to the current situation, he points out: "The crisis of our time, which is an economic, social, cultural and spiritual crisis, can represent for everyone a call to rediscover the meaning, importance and necessity of work in order to give rise to a new 'normality' in which no one is excluded. The work of St. Joseph reminds us that God made man himself did not disdain work. The loss of work that affects so many brothers and sisters, and which has increased in recent times due to the Covid-19 pandemic, should be a call to review our priorities." (ibid.).
What does it mean to be a parent?
In the last part of his letter, the Pope pauses to consider how Joseph knew how to be a father "in the shadows" (citing Jan Dobraczyński's book, The shadow of the Father, 1977, Palabra, Madrid 2015).
Today, Francis believes, we need fathers everywhere. In our society, children often seem to have no father. And the Church also needs fathers, both in the literal sense, good family fathers, and in a broader sense, spiritual fathers of others (cf. 1 Cor 4:15; Gal 4:19). ¿But what does it mean to be a parent? The Pope explains suggestively: "To be a parent means to introduce the child into the experience of life, into reality. Not to hold him, not to imprison him, not to possess him, but to make him capable of choosing, of being free, of going out." (n. 7). And he thinks that the word "castísimo"The Christian tradition, which places Joseph next to Joseph, expresses that "logic of freedom" that every parent must have in order to love in a truly free way.
From "self-sacrifice" to gift of self
Francis observes, introducing a decisive reflection, that all this would not be considered by St. Joseph as a "self-sacrifice"This could give rise to a certain frustration; but rather, with greater maturity, as a gift of self, as the fruit of trust in God. That is why St. Joseph's silence does not give rise to complaints but to gestures of trust. This is the way it is. Today's language, typical of a culture in which the Christian perspective fails, no longer sees sacrifice as a gift of self, but only as a costly path, and does not discover its connection with life and joy. At the same time, it needs parents who give themselves generously to the education of their children.
"The world" -he points out- "needs parents, reject the masters, that is: reject those who want to use the possession of the other to fill their own emptiness; refuse those who confuse authority with authoritarianism, service with servility, confrontation with oppression, charity with assistentialism, force with destruction." (ibid.).
Francis invites us to overcome this (merely human) logic of sacrifice and to rediscover the gift of selfThe path to happiness and self-fulfillment, with all its beauty and joy, is the path to happiness and self-fulfillment. It is necessary to change logic, because "the logic of love is always a logic of freedom." (ibid.).
In the present educational moment, this proposal of the Pope, as a fruit of the contemplation of St. Joseph, is a powerful light source: to reject the logic of possession and to exchange it for the logic of love, which consists in giving oneself. In the case of parents, at the service of the care, education and true freedom of the children entrusted to them by God.
After a first fascicle where we began to investigate the presence of God in the poetry of Jorge Luis Borges, we continue in this second article until we conclude that "he leaves an open door to a God in whom the essence of his life could lie".
Antonio Barnés-January 2, 2021-Reading time: 4minutes
We continue following the clues of the concept of God in the Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges. In the collection of poems, In Praise of the ShadowWe extract some verses from "Fragments of an apocryphal gospel":
12. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they see God.
15. Let the light of a lamp be lighted, though no man see it. God will see it.
32. God is more generous than men and will measure them with another measure.
49. Happy are those who keep in memory the words of Virgil or of Christ, for they will give light to their days.
In these fragments, Borges carries out a kind of imitation of some evangelical phrases, and the 32 could be a variation of "with the measure you measure you will be measured", but to say that God is more generous than men and will measure them with another measure is a distinctly Christian and biblical thought: God's mercy, God's love and God's intelligence far exceed our expectations.
At The eye of the tigers (1972) we read a fragment of the poem "Religio medici, 1643":
Defend me, Lord. (The vocative does not imply Nobody. It is only one word of this exercise that reluctance carves out.
From time to time Borges wants to make it clear that he is an agnostic, that he doubts, that he ignores what the word actually means. Mr.In other cases, however, it is used without any kind of footnote.
At The Deep Rose (1975) there is a poem titled very significantly "De que nada se sabe" (Of which nothing is known):
Perhaps human destiny of short joys and long sorrows is an instrument of Another. We ignore it; giving God's name does not help us.
He writes "it does not help us", but in Borges there is a serene search without stridency throughout his life. There is an inquiry, a speculation about meaning, time, eternity, death, life.
At The Iron Coin (1976) we read in a poem entitled "The End":
God or Maybe or Nobody, I ask you
its inexhaustible image, not oblivion.
He doubts but does not deny, he doubts but seeks: "I ask you / his inexhaustible image, not oblivion". Here he does not want oblivion. Here he asks for non-forgetfulness. Perhaps Spinoza has taught him oblivion and perhaps his own mind, his own readings, and his own freedom of thought make him think that it cannot all end in oblivion.
In the poem "Einar Tambarskelver" we read:
Odin or the red Thor or the White Christ... Little matter the names and their gods; there is no other obligation but to be brave
This thought again has a stoic aftertaste: I don't know who he is, but I'm looking for him.
"In Iceland the dawn," another poem, we read:
It is the shadow glass in which you look God, he doesn't have a face.
God does not have a face, the God of the philosophers certainly does not have a face. The God of the Old Testament does not have a face either, although he sometimes presents himself with anthropomorphic attitudes. The only face that God really has is Christ, the visible image of the invisible God. But Borges's philosophical aftertaste tends to impose itself.
In "Some Coins" there is a short poem inspired by a verse from Genesis:
GENESIS, IX, 13
The arc of the Lord crosses the sphere
and blesses us. In the great pure arc
are the blessings of the future,
but there is also my love, who waits.
It is a poem inspired by Genesis and therefore fully in tune with the biblical text, and Borges glosses it because he is also rewriting in some way a book that fascinates him: the Bible.
There is a poem dedicated to Baruch Spinoza.
Someone builds God in the twilight. A man begets God. [...]
The sorcerer insists and carves God with delicate geometry; from his illness, from his nothingness, continues to erect God with the word.
We can consider this poem by Borges quite sincere in that he is probably describing what Spinoza or many philosophers do: construct a God to their measure, to their rational measure, to their geometric measure, and perhaps -following Borges with the perhaps- it is not the authentic God.
Another poem: "For a version of I King".
The path is fatal as the arrow but in the cracks is God, who lurks.
He stresses once again the force of destiny, but in that crack "there is God".
In "You are not the others":
There is no pity in the Fairy and God's night is infinite.
The same idea of infinite dissolution that we saw at the beginning of our tour through Borges' poetry.
At La Cifra -In 1981, we read a curious poem dedicated to an angel with many biblical resonances:
Lord, that at the end of my days on earth I did not dishonor the Angel.
It seems that it is the angel of paradise, the angel that expels Adam and Eve, and ends the poem with this authentic prayer: "Lord, at the end of my days on Earth, may I not dishonor the Angel". In another poem of the same collection of poems The figure entitled "To run or to be" we read:
Perhaps on the other side of death
I will know if I have been a word or someone.
This text seems to us decisive: "a word or someone". What sediment has Occam's nominalism really had in modern and contemporary philosophy? Perhaps it is a cliché, but perhaps because it is a cliché it is true. "Whether I have been a word or someone": all that diatribe of universals. But Borges says "perhaps" on the other side of death I will know if I have been a word, a flatus vocis or someone. Because if God exists and God is on the other side, and I am in His mind not as a file in a computer memory, but I am in His mind as a being dear to Him, I will have regained a full identity.
The Conjured (1985), the last collection of poems, we read in a poem entitled "La tarde":
it may well be that our short life
is a fleeting reflection of the divine.
It seems that at the end of his life Borges' search for meaning, his search for God, is becoming more and more accentuated. And in one of his last poems entitled "Góngora" he writes:
Such spoils
have banished God, who is Three and is One,
of my awakened heart. [...]
Who will tell me if in the secret archive
of God are the letters of my name?
I want to get back to the common things:
Water, bread, a pitcher, roses...
He returns to the previous idea of whether I am a word or someone: Who will tell me if the letters of my name are in God's secret archive? Until the end of his life, Borges, starting from an agnosticism induced by his father's education, by his readings, leaves an open door to a God in whom the essence of his life may lie.
World Day of Peace: Prophets and witnesses of the "culture of care".
A new horizon of peace for humanity is discovered through a "culture of care" which, while caring for the weakest and most vulnerable, makes us aware that we belong to the same human family. Pope Francis explains this in his Message for the World Day of Peace, which is celebrated on January 1.
To eradicate the culture of indifference, discarding and confrontation, and thus build a society based on fraternal relationships, giving priority to the care of others and of creation, through a generalized protagonism of women. It is with this desire-certainly not a new one-that Pope Francis' reflection at the beginning of the year 2021 to heads of state, heads of international organizations, spiritual leaders and the faithful of the various religions and to all people of good will is born.
The occasion is offered by the Message for the celebration of the World Day of Peace, which for 54 years has been celebrated on January 1 by intuition of the Holy Predecessor, Pope Paul VI, having as its theme "....The culture of care as a path to peace".
The culture of care
The Pontiff develops this culture in seven points, beginning with the model of ".Creator God"recalling how in many religious traditions there are narratives in which it is evident that the human creature is entrusted with a special vocation".in the care of". With a series of historical references, the first quintessential example of this "God's project for humanity"The Pope's commentary is set out in the Book of Genesis, which recounts Adam's commission to cultivate and guard the Garden of Eden, both to make the earth productive and to protect it by preserving its capacity to sustain life.
Likewise, Scripture presents God as "....model of care"The Prophets also emphasize the importance of the individual human being as well as the harmony of creation, starting with the poorest of the poor.
This closeness of the Father - Pope Francis explains - was also manifested in the ministry of Jesus, who with compassion "He came to the sick in body and spirit and healed them; he forgave sinners and gave them new life."He healed us by freeing us from the slavery of sin and death.
Today, therefore, it is up to the followers - the Christians - to show this adherence to the "....culture of careas did the core of the first generation, practicing generosity so that none of them would be in need, making the community "...".a welcoming home, open to all human situations, ready to take care of the most fragile of people".
The social doctrine of the Church
To illuminate this path "of spiritual and corporal mercy"The Holy Father proposes some principles of the Church's social doctrine, a precious patrimony".from which to extract the "grammar"of carethe promotion of the dignity of the human person - "the promotion of the dignity of the human person" - "the promotion of the dignity of the human person".an end in itself, never a mere instrument to be appreciated only for its utility."solidarity with the poor and the helpless - which is seen as "not as a statistic, or a means to be exploited and then discarded when it is no longer useful, but as our neighbor, our companion on the road."concern for the common good, taking into account "....its effects on the entire human family, bearing in mind the consequences for the present and for future generations"and the safeguarding of creation, as is abundantly explained in the encyclicalLaudato si'.
This "compass" of principles is offered by the Pope to all those responsible for nations, for the economic and scientific world, for communication and education, in order to give a new direction to the process of globalization, as something that challenges all of us together".to become prophets and witnesses of the culture of care, to overcome so many social differences". The Pontiff then says he is convinced that all this will be possible ".only with a strong and broad protagonism of women in the family and in all social, political and institutional spheres.".
This document makes a new appeal to stop investing in arms and other military expenditures, and to allocate these resources to a world fund for the definitive elimination of hunger, thus contributing to the development of the poorest countries, as already requested last October at the World Food Day.
A family task
This whole process of inculturation cannot do without education, which, according to the Pope, must necessarily be promoted in the family - which "... must be a family, a community, a community of believers...".it is necessary to put the family in a position to fulfill this vital and indispensable task."- in collaboration with schools, universities, but also the subjects of social communication, "called upon to transmit a system of values"The Church's role in the world must be respected, with respect for all peoples, all traditions and the fundamental rights that derive from them, without forgetting the role of the Church in the world.
All these aspects, brought together and carried out in a global and interdependent manner, can truly advance all peoples".towards a new horizon of love and peace, of fraternity and solidarity, of mutual support and hospitality.".
Joseph's example
Taking a step back, references to this approach to care also appear in the recent Apostolic Letter Patris CordePope Francis inaugurated the Year of St. Joseph last December 8, with which he pronounced beautiful words for every Christian to follow.
In this context, referring to Mary's spouse, the Pope emphasizes his "creative courage"This is demonstrated on all those occasions when the family of Nazareth was faced with difficulties, from the lack of lodging before giving birth to the flight into Egypt. On all the occasions when Joseph - as God does with each of his children -, animated by this desire to "take care" (of the wife, of the child) preserves those treasures that the Lord had entrusted to him, he shows the true meaning of responsibility and stewardship.
The precedents
If one considers the previous seven years of his pontificate and the messages suggested by Pope Francis for this special World Day that has turned fifty, a common thread stands out in the themes that are emphasized-emblematically-beyond the actuality of the human phenomenon in its historical context: aspects related precisely to care.
In the first two years, 2014 and 2015, "fraternity" was in fact the key theme of the Pope's reflection at the beginning of each calendar year. Then, the need to overcome indifference, to overcome violence, to take care of migrants and refugees, also through good politics, as well as dialogue, reconciliation and ecological conversion, last year.
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On this occasion, the Pope has focused on the prayer of thanksgivingusing the passage where Jesus heals ten lepers, but only one returns to thank and praise God for the grace received.
The Eucharist, thanksgiving
"For us Christians, -says Francisco- the giving of thanks has given name to the most essential Sacrament there is: the Eucharist.". Continuing along these lines, the Pope explains that precisely the Greek word Eucharist means that, thanksgiving. He then develops a series of reflections around gratitude, starting from the first reason for which we are indebted: the gift of life.
To dilate the heart before the coming of the Savior
Encountering and dealing with Jesus leads us to broaden our sense of gratitude. "This "grace", which the Christian shares with everyone, is extended in the encounter with Jesus. The Gospels testify that the passage of Jesus often gives rise to joy and praise to God in those who encounter him.". In fact, the Christmas stories are permeated with people with this heart dilated by the arrival of the Savior: "And we too have been called to participate in this immense exultation.".
Joy, fruit of prayer
The Pope encourages us to foster this encounter with Jesus, that leads us to true joy and deep. "Let us try to be always in the joy of the encounter with Jesus. We cultivate joy. However, the devil, after having deceived us, always leaves us sad and alone. If we are in Christ, no sin and no threat can ever prevent us from continuing our journey with joy, together with so many companions on our journey.".
Finally, the Holy Father encourages us to never stop giving thanks. "If we are bearers of gratitude, the world also becomes better, maybe just a little, but it is enough to transmit a little hope. Everything is united and connected, and everyone can do his or her part wherever he or she is. The path to happiness is the one that St. Paul described at the end of one of his letters: "The path to happiness is the one that St. Paul described at the end of one of his letters: "Pray constantly. In everything give thanks, For this is what God, in Christ Jesus, wants from you. Do not extinguish the Spirit"."
The pilgrim cross and the icon of Our Lady "Salus Populi Romani" are scheduled to arrive in the Portuguese capital in a month's time. On January 27th they will be welcomed by the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) and the Portuguese dioceses at the Cathedral of Lisbon.
The arrival of the WYD symbols is a moment of special relevance in the calendar of the next World Youth Day, to be held in Lisbon in 2023.
Welcoming of symbols
Only the representatives of each diocese and the members of the Local Organizing Committee will be able to be present at the celebration of the reception of the Cross and the icon in the Lisbon Cathedral. These symbols were given to the Portuguese delegation on November 22, Christ the King Sunday, in a celebration presided over by Pope Francis at the Vatican.
After their arrival in Lisbon and official welcome, they will begin the traditional pilgrimage through the Portuguese and some Spanish dioceses and communities.
Since the election of Lisbon as the next venue for WYD, the Portuguese dioceses are promoting various activities of preparation, prayer and volunteering, in preparation for this world event.
XXVIII World Youth Day
This will be the 28th edition of the World Youth Days and, for the first time, it will take place in Portugal. An essentially Marian WYD, in the land of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, and whose chosen theme for this meeting is "Mary arose and departed without delay." (Lk 1:39), which presents Mary simultaneously as a woman of charity and as a missionary woman.
In fact, the logo of this WYD has the Cross as a central element. It is crossed by a path where the Holy Spirit appears and Mary is always present through the Rosary, a prayer that she expressly asked to be prayed in her apparitions to the little shepherds of Fatima. The colors (green, red and yellow) evoke the Portuguese flag.
The pilgrim cross
Standing 3.8 meters high, the pilgrim cross, built for the Holy Year in 1983, was entrusted by John Paul II to young people on Palm Sunday of the following year, to be carried around the world. Since then, the pilgrim cross, made of wood, began a pilgrimage that has already taken it to five continents and almost 90 countries. It has become a true sign of faith.
He has traveled through several nations on foot, by boat and even using unusual means such as sleds, cranes or tractors. He has gone through the jungle, visited churches, juvenile detention centers, prisons, schools, universities, hospitals, monuments and shopping malls. During his travels he has faced many obstacles: from air raids to transportation difficulties, such as the impossibility of traveling because he could not fit in any of the available airplanes.
He established himself as a sign of hope in particularly sensitive places. In 1985, he traveled to Prague, in what is now the Czech Republic, at a time when Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain, becoming a sign of communion with the Pope. Shortly after 9/11, he traveled to Ground Zero in New York, where the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people took place. He also visited Rwanda in 2006, after the country suffered a devastating civil war.
The icon of Our Lady Salus Populi Romani
Since the year 2000, the pilgrim cross has been accompanied by the icon of Our Lady. Salus Populi Romaniwhich depicts the Virgin Mary with the Child in her arms. This icon was also introduced by Pope John Paul II as a symbol of Mary's presence among the young.
Measuring 1.20 meters high and 80 centimeters wide, the icon of Our Lady of the Salus Populi Romaniis associated with one of the most popular Marian devotions in Italy.. There is an ancient tradition of carrying it in procession through the streets of Rome to ward off dangers and misfortunes or to ward off plagues.
The original icon is in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, where Pope Francis goes to pray and lay a bouquet of flowers before and after each apostolic journey.
At the end of a year that will be marked by the coronavirus pandemic, the Holy See continues to work in all areas. And today we have been able to see another of its fruits: has been enacted the law in the form of motu proprio regulating certain competences in economic matters and financial reform of the Holy See, which closes another stage of the long-awaited reform of the Curia.
The Pope assures that "a better organization of the administration, control and supervision of the economic and financial activities of the Holy See, in order to guarantee a transparent and efficient management and a clear separation of competencies and functions, is a fundamental point in the reform of the Curia".
In this way, and based on this principle, the Holy Father affirms that the Secretary of StateThe Roman Curia, which supports it more closely and directly in its mission, and represents an essential point of reference for the activities of the Roman Curia, should not perform these functions in economic and financial matters already attributed by competence to other Dicasteries..
Transfer of assets
Therefore, this new apostolic letter issued today by Pope Francis takes up in a concrete way what he had already announced:
As of January 1, ownership of funds and bank accountsand real estate investments, including participations in investment companies and funds. will be transferred to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA)..
The Secretariat of State will transfer, no later than February 4, all its liquid availability in current accounts attributed to the Institute for the Works of Religion in foreign bank accounts.
The APSA shall establish a budget appropriation called ".Papal Funds"This will be part of the consolidated balance sheet of the Holy See, for greater transparency. And it will have a separate accounting for the "St. Peter's obolus"and the "Holy Father Discretionary Fund".
Towards total transparency
All funds and economic-financial management will be supervised by the Secretariat for the Economy.as defined by its own statute and by the regulations in force, with the sole exception of those entities for which the Holy Father has provided otherwise.
Finally, the so-called Administrative Office of the Secretary of State maintains only the human resources necessary to carry out activities related to its internal administration, the preparation of its budget and final accounts, and other non-administrative functions performed to date.
Therefore, it is clear that the path towards total transparency in the economic and financial management of the Holy See.The reform of the Roman Curia is being carried out by Pope Francis.
The Compostela Holy Year 2021 will begin next December 31, starting at 4:30 p.m. with the opening of the Holy Door of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
The ceremony of the Opening of the Holy Door in the Cathedral of Santiago marks the beginning of this Compostela Year 2021. It will be the last day of this year 2021, December 31, when this Holy Door of the Jacobean cathedral will be opened.
From that moment on, the Holy Year will begin and, therefore, the plenary indulgence of the Jacobean Jubilee will be granted. As is tradition, the requirements to obtain it are: to visit the Cathedral, to receive the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist and to pray for the Pope's intentions. The indulgence can be applied for oneself or for a deceased person.
Opening Ceremony
Due to pandemic-driven restrictions, the celebration will be limited in terms of attendeesIn fact, as already announced by the Archdiocese, a group of authorities and a representation of the diocesan life of Santiago will be able to be inside the basilica.
The ceremony, which will begin at 4:30 pm. can be followed, both through Televisión de Galicia and through the Youtube channel. of this television channel.
After the opening of the Gate, the procession of authorities, pilgrims and representatives of various Jacobean entities will take place. Afterwards, the Holy Mass will be celebrated inside the Cathedral presided by the Archbishop of Santiago, Monsignor Julián Barrio.
Other celebrations
After the Opening Eucharist, outside the church, there will be the projection of a video welcoming the Compostela Holy Year, which can also be seen on the channels that will broadcast the entire event. Finally, the celebration will conclude with a performance of traditional Galician music in the Plaza de la Quintana.
What is a Compostela Holy Year
The Holy Year of Compostela is a time in which the Church grants singular spiritual graces to the faithful. It is Compostela Holy Year when July 25, the Commemoration of the Martyrdom of St. James, falls on a Sunday.. It occurs with the periodicity 11, 6, 5, 6 years. It has its origin in 1122, with Pope Calixtus II, later confirmed by Pope Alexander III in the Bull "Regis aeterni" of 1179, conferring perpetuity.
On the occasion of the celebration of this Compostela Holy Year 2021, the Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, Julián Barrio Barrio, has written the Pastoral Letter "Get out of your land! The Apostle Santiago is waiting for you!"in which he highlights the "opportunity to rediscover the vitality of faith and mission received in Baptism" that this event represents. He also recalls that those who make the pilgrimage to Santiago do not seek "above all a route full of scenic charm and historical heritage, but the path of conversion towards God and towards men. The pilgrimage is a manifestation of popular piety. You walk with the Church to be challenged by the Word of God and thus be salt, leaven and light for others".
The Discalced Carmelites of the Monastery of St. Joseph of Avila share with us their deep devotion to St. Joseph in this year dedicated to the holy patriarch.
The figure of Joseph of Nazareth is as sympathetic as he is popular. Today thousands of devotees and admirers follow him, pray to him, invoke him. But it was not always so.
Perhaps few today remember who was the promoter of this unique devotion so forgotten for centuries: St. Teresa of Jesus, the wanderer of God, the great mystic of Carmel. Miraculously cured by him of an irreversible paralysis at the age of twenty-five, she remained so grateful to him all her life, so fond of him, that she placed almost all her foundations under his patronage, celebrating his memory with a great feast.
The Discalced Carmelites of the first Teresian foundation have long experience of this. St. Joseph of Avila is the first monastery in the world to have the holy Patriarch as its titular. We have always considered him the master, the father, the owner, the protector, and our mouths are full when naming him with that endearing invocation, so typical of the Order of Carmel: Our Father St. Joseph.It is even recounted in the canonization processes of the saint how, among the first discalced women, it was not uncommon for them to sometimes feel him walking among them. Her feast has always been celebrated in this monastery with great enthusiasm and solemnity.
As for images, there are two in our convent that have a peculiar history. The one on the façade, the work of Giraldo de Merlo, which represents the saint holding the Infant Jesus by the hand -who in turn holds a carpenter's saw in his hand- was a personal gift from King Philip III. And the one that presides over the altarpiece of our church -from the school of Manuel Pereira- was canonically crowned at the end of the IV Centenary of the Teresian Reform in 1963, and is one of the only two images of Saint Joseph crowned in Spain.
Devotions and other practices of piety have never been lacking in our community, such as the Seven Sundays, the recitation of his sorrows and joys on the 19th day of each month. or the Month of St. Joseph, being constant nourishment for our prayer life. In our community there is the custom, on the first day of March, to place on the altar of the choir, under a beautiful image of the saint, a case that serves as a pedestal where the sisters introduce their petitions in the form of a personal letter with this address: N. P. S. José. El Cielo. In them we express to the holy Patriarch the intentions that we carry deepest in our hearts, echoing also the needs of the whole world, among which stand out those of our relatives, friends and devotees who ask us to entrust them to us.
But perhaps where this endearing love for the father of Jesus is most evident is in the constant recourse to his father. In a year of severe and persistent drought, the sisters made a procession through the orchard, each one carrying a picture of St. Joseph. In a year of severe and persistent drought, the sisters made a procession through the orchard, each one carrying a picture of St. Joseph (in all the cells we have a very simple one) and obtained the desired rain.
It happens to all of us, When we began our novitiate in this convent, we noticed something very special about the figure of St. Joseph.. Other saints - be they of the Carmelite Order or those of the universal Church - are loved, prayed to and given as gifts. But with N. P. S. Joseph we all have a trust and a predilection that can only be compared to the love for Christ and his Blessed Mother. For us, St. Joseph is as if he were a kind father to whom we all turn when other resources fail. His image always presides in the altar of the choir and even when we place another image because it is a feast of another devotion, we always add a small image or a small picture so that St. Joseph is never missing.
As for more spiritual aspects, there is no doubt that the example and presence of St. Joseph have profoundly marked the history of the community. As the Saint says in her writings: "Let us be somewhat like our King, who had no home except in the portal of Bethlehem where he was born and the cross where he died. These were houses where one could have little recreation" (Road to Perfection 2, 9). Or, as St. Peter of Alcantara added when he contemplated the first dovecote, on the eve of his foundation: "Truly this house of St. Joseph is proper, because it represents to me the little hospice of Bethlehem". St. Joseph has always been like the little house of Nazareth, a poor convent, small, silent, with little noise. When one reads the biographical sketches of our ancient mothers - of some of them very little is known - one realizes that they all followed this humble path, without glitter, without exteriority. Just like the great saint of silence, the saint without prominence who was N. P. S. Joseph. There is nothing in this house that calls the attention, but a life of prayer, work, obedience and joy as the life of the Holy Family of Jesus could have been. Here there are no flashy things, no extraordinary events, but the sanctification of everyday life to the rhythm of the Gospel, in that quiet and hidden heroism that forges the saints who will never ascend to the altars, but who are no less saints for that. And that style of life is, without a doubt, the one that Our Blessed Mother dreamed for us, following in the footsteps of the Father of Christ.
N. P. S. Joseph is the Father and Protector of our monastery. He is the one who gets us out of trouble, the one who serves as our salvation in the face of any serious or minor need. He is our model of virtues and the best teacher of prayer. This is your house. That is why we know that he takes good care of it and that, in four and a half centuries, he has never allowed anything to happen that could seriously harm the community. The great Saint already said, when she narrated the foundation of St. Joseph of Avila: "He (St. Joseph) would keep us at one door and our Lady at the other" (Life 32, 11).
We thank Pope Francis for his precious inspiration to dedicate a year to St. Joseph. We hope that many will take advantage of the graces of this Jubilee year and that love for this great saint will grow.
Bishop Omella recalls that "St. Joseph could not celebrate the birth as he wished".
The Archbishop of Barcelona and president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference addressed a Christmas message broadcast on Trece TV to all the Spanish faithful.
Bishop Juan José Omella wanted to emphasize, in this message, that it is Christ "who gives meaning to our joys and sorrows, who accompanies us when things are going well and who sustains us when things go wrong", words that are especially meaningful at the present time.
The teachings of Christmas
During this message, the president of the EEC underlined the teachings contained in "that first Christmas". He summarized these teachings in the following points:
Humility. With the vision of a helpless child, the Archbishop of Barcelona wondered if all Christians should not learn to become small and put ourselves on the same level as the smallest ones.
The example of Joseph. Before a year marked by the figure of the patriarchal saint, the president of the EEC wanted to highlight the figure of St. Joseph, a man who, like many families "Nor was he able to celebrate Christmas where he wanted to, nor with those he wanted to. The people of the place could not welcome them or did not want to welcome them. They thought that, with them, they could not fit them all and they left out the best, the most needy (...) Leaving them out, they missed the best. May this not happen to us".
Finally, he referred to the pastorssimple men, who "once again they are setting an example for us, practicing that special solidarity that exists among those who suffer."
Christmas of a hard year
Bishop Omella wanted to emphasize that "we are celebrating the Christmas Eve of a very hard year.", marked by "a pandemic that has caused a lot of pain and has taken the lives of many people". and that has brought about situations of isolation or loneliness in these days, a pain to which Bishop Omella has invited "to put the best of ourselves so that those who suffer from this sadness feel the warmth of our company".
Call to serve the common good
Likewise, with an eye on the uncertain economic outlook of our country, the President of the EEC asked the political leaders and the public and private institutions "to provide the necessary means so that this new social and economic crisis passes as soon as possible. This is now the concrete expression of their vocation to serve the common good, without which there is no true political charity" and he offered the help of the Church "called, at this time, to reach out to the last home to bring company, comfort and help".
Bishop Omella expressed his special gratitude for the work of the The people in charge of health care, doctors, priests in hospitals, the military in nursing homes, those responsible for logistics, cleaning, basic services, workers in supermarkets, schools, etc.," he said. So many people and social institutions". who have shown "greatness of spirit", going out to help the other ".on many occasions, risking their own safety".
Charity with the most needy
Finally, the Cardinal Archbishop of Barcelona called on the faithful to live, "a more solicitous charity, a more intense prayer, a stronger commitment, especially to the poorest and neediest".while, for those who do not share the gift of faith, he has encouraged them to "to build an open fraternity, which allows to recognize, value and love each person beyond the physical proximity, beyond the place in the universe where he/she was born or where he/she lives." .
Bishop Omella concluded his message by recalling that ".In the midst of pain we celebrate Christmas, we relive the mystery of a God who became one of us to show us his tenderness and love. The authentic Christmas is and will always be a source of hope.
It is a reflection with a eminently spiritual background that Pope Francis expressed this year to the Cardinals and members of the Roman Curia on the occasion of the exchange of Christmas greetingson December 21. On this basis, he built a broad reflection around the "meaning of the crisisThe "pandemic" the world is experiencing as a result of the pandemicThe Church, but which encompasses all spheres of history at the same time, including, of course, the Church and its members.
As we have been accustomed to since its inauguration, with the first years in which it began to list the famous "...".diseases"In this year as well, the Pope invited those who render an operative service to the spread of the Gospel through the Vatican organs to broaden their horizons. the Pontiff did not skimp on his fatherly counselThis time, it is aimed at overcoming any form of conflict, or rather, at extract from the many crisis situations the best seeds for evangelization.
Crises in salvation history
We were talking about the spiritual background, with ample reference to the crises experienced by so many of us. biblical characters who, with their ability to recognize the signs of the times, were the great protagonists of salvation history. From Abraham, who was in crisis because he had to leave his land; or Moses, who had lost his self-confidence; to Elijah, who was gripped by doubt about the messianic identity of Jesus; to the emblematic Paul of Tarsus, who was in crisis about his security and became the one who later pushed the Church beyond the confines of Israel. Even Christ himself, through the many experiences of crisis lived in the temptations, in Gethsemane in solitude, or on the Cross feeling abandoned.
The key to hope
There is an element that the Pope sees in the teaching of all these experiences, and it is that of the hopeThe first is to show how we cannot stop at a superficial analysis of situations, even tragic ones, because this would be unrealistic. God, in fact, "continues to grow the seeds of his Kingdom among usas evidenced by the numerous testimonials of work "...".humble, discreet, silent, loyal, professional, honest"that many do in the Roman Curia itself.
In the light of the Gospel
The crises, therefore, must be seen in the light of the Gospel - that among other things "is the first to put us in crisisthat is, as a time of the Spirit, in which we learn to nourish "..." - that is, as a time of the Spirit, in which we learn to nourish "...".an intimate confidence that things are about to take on a new shape, arising exclusively from the experience of a Grace hidden in the darkness". For as Sirach says, "gold is tested by fire, and men are welcome in the crucible of pain.".
Critical situations are then welcome, including "scandals, falls, sins, contradictions, short-circuits in witnessing"as long as they are taken as something that makes us "dying to a certain way of being, reasoning and acting that does not reflect the Gospel". The crisis, in fact, "is movement, it is part of the journey".
Here the Pope recalls, for example, the reform of the Roman Curia, warning that it should not be understood as ".a patch from an old dress"or the simple drafting of a new Document, but rather to ensure that "our fragility should not become an obstacle to the proclamation of the Gospel.".
One of the obstacles to this acting in grace and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit that Pope Francis warns of in his address is represented by the "conflictswhich always create contrast, competition and antagonism: the guilty on one side and the righteous on the other, as well as dividing the Church into categories, betraying its true nature, "...".a Body perpetually in crisis precisely because it is alive".
What to do during the crisis?
In addition to accepting it as a time of grace -suggests the Pope-, we must not tire of praying with confidencewith great peace and serenity, waiting in hope, as the Apostle to the Gentiles reminds us, and keeping us away from conflicts (gossip, gossip, self-references).
Pope Francis' latest invitation to all members of the Roman Curia and their collaborators is. that this Christmas they take a generous interest in the poorbecause "to truly know God, one only needs to know those who welcome the poor who come from below with their misery.".
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The Pope announces the "Amoris Laetitia Family Year".
The Special Year dedicated to the family will begin on March 19 and will last until the 10th World Meeting of Families in Rome, scheduled for June 2022.
The Holy Father summons the Special Year dedicated to the familywhich will be inaugurated on March 19, 2021, the fifth anniversary of the publication of the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia. A time that presents itself as an opportunity to reflect on and deepen the rich content of the Apostolic Exhortation, the fruit of an intense synodal journey that is still continuing at the pastoral level.
Among its objectives are:
To make families the protagonists of the family ministry.
Raising awareness among young people of the importance of formation in the truth of love and self-giving, with initiatives dedicated to them.
Broadening the outlook and action of family pastoral care to become transversal, to include spouses, children, young people, the elderly and situations of family fragility.
The initiative, which bears the name of Year "Amoris Laetitia Family"It will be marked by pastoral proposals and instruments that will be made available to ecclesial realities and families, will conclude with the celebration of the 10th World Meeting of Families in Rome in June 2022.
We begin a series of articles on St. Joseph, which will help us to deepen our understanding of the figure of the holy patriarch, and to "grow in love for this great saint, so that we may be led to implore his intercession and imitate his virtues, as well as his resolve," as Pope Francis encourages us.
In his apostolic letter of December 8, 2009, he wrotePatris Corde- Pope Francis invites us to live a year dedicated to the spouse of Mary and, therefore, father of Jesus Christ: St. Joseph. This on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his declaration as patron of the universal Church.
A very special espousal and paternity, since he was a man of great faith and many other virtues, some of which we will address in this first fascicle and others.
A "normal" man, an exemplary man
First of all, we should consider what would be the first impression of a "normal" man, just one more among his own people, who finds himself involved in the great mission of carrying out the double vocation of spouse of the Mother of God and father of the Son of God. For a first impression would be astonishment and gratitude, for sure. Because he was a man of God, and only from that condition we understand that he embraced with generosity the plan traced for him from Above; but amazed before such an exalted mission, and in any case grateful for the trust that the Lord had placed in him.
In what does the greatness of this saint consist? In that he was the husband of Mary and father of Jesus.
Evidently his behavior is an example to follow, and very accessible, because, as we said, he was a normal, simple man. Although the Lord endowed him with many virtues, and to a supreme degree, he did not have the divine gifts that his immaculate wife and his son, redeemer of humanity, did receive.
Good husband, committed and free
The Jewish tradition of the time led Myriam -who would be the Blessed Virgin- to marry Joseph, the artisan of Nazareth. The relatives with whom Myriam lived at that time would be in charge of the preparations for the wedding ceremony, since her parents, Joachim and Anna, had probably already passed away.
Joseph belonged to the house of David, and the holy Gospel says -Mt. 1:19- that he was a righteous man. That man was entrusted to Mary as her husband, without prejudice to the firm determination of the young Jewish girl to remain a virgin forever, as we can deduce from the answer she gave to the Archangel Gabriel -Lk. 1:34- when he offered her to be the Mother of God: How is this to be done? Because I do not know a man. Thus, Joseph would unite himself to his wife by submitting to the virginity that she would propose to him, thus consecrating himself as her virginal husband.
The chastity of St. Joseph, fruit of his pure and generous heart, must be united, as Pope Francis suggests to us in the Patris Cordeto his free spirit, for chastity".is in being free from the desire to possess in all areas of life. Only when a love is chaste is it a true love.". He loved because he wanted to, and in this way, accepting Mary in and from her circumstances.
From his purity and freedom he fully accepted Mary, who was in a state in the space of time between their betrothal union and the moment when, according to Jewish tradition, the husband should take his wife and take her to his own home. He humbly assumed the pregnancy of his wife, accepted the divine plan for him and Mary, which was that he should limit himself to being the legal father of Jesus, and no more.
From the moment he received the commission to take care of the Virgin, marrying her, Joseph put that mission - freely, because he wanted to - before any other project that he had in hand, that he had planned for the future. Generous, dedicated, in love.
A good husband, a committed husband, a free husband.
The scarce presence these days of physicians specialized in palliative care is striking. Dr. Carlos Centeno, director of Palliative Medicine at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra, claims: "To the patient who asks for help, we can give it. Let us be allowed to help, to relieve, what we doctors have done all our lives."
"Today euthanasia is demanded in society, even in law, for many things that have a solution. Medicine also has many things to say in the face of suffering that at times can be intolerable. Medicine has something, and I know it is effective, because I have seen it in action so many times".
This is how the Dr. Carlos Centeno, Director of Palliative Medicine of the Clinic and of the Atlantes research team of the Culture and Society Institute of the University of Navarra.. "Certainly some patients may come to ask for help that we can't give. That can happen. In our country it is going to happen in the near future, it may happen that a patient may ask us for help to advance death, and a physician cannot do that, that is what I think. A physician is there to serve life, and he is there to alleviate. The 'ethos' of medicine is to be at the patient's side to relieve him. We exist because there are people who suffer"..
"Our society, for thousands of years, has spawned a profession, or several professions, of people dedicated to alleviating human suffering." adds the palliativist. "Ojo, we also like to cure. We like to heal when we can. We feel like doctors there too. But where we really identify ourselves, where we see our identity, is when we relieve those we can't cure.. In suffering we are still there to alleviate"..
Dr. Centeno, with many years of experience in Palliative Medicine, addresses the difficulties. Especially of understanding and a good understanding of what Palliative Care is.. "There are many things on which we all agree. But there may be things on which there is no agreement, points of view that concern principles or the way of understanding society, or the way of understanding autonomy without any other consideration; but there are many other principles on which we will agree. And, of course, we are going to agree on how to act, on how to act. Let us be there; we do not want to confront anyone, we do not want to challenge anyone; we do not want to contradict those who think differently from us; no. We have to be physicians, we can help. We have to be doctors, we can help.
Comprehensive care
Last Wednesday, the specialistwas a speaker, together with members of his team, at a conference organized by the Core Curriculum Institute of the University of Navarra, titled Science and values of palliative care, with more than five hundred participants.
In one of his speeches, Carlos Centeno played a video of an interview conducted by Jordi Évole on laSexta Dr. Carlos Gómez Sancho, who commented, among other things, that the patients who had requested euthanasia were very few: three or four out of many thousands.
When asked what pain medication they were taking, they said two or three Nolotil a day. As soon as they were given some morphine, and treated appropriately, the desire to die disappeared, the doctor said.
This point was addressed at the conference by Dr. Ana Serranowhich analyzed the main myths of palliative care, as a treatment intended only for dying patients, in the last moment of their life. In reality, he said, they are part of the integral process of patient treatment, where they should "The patient's choice, even at home, can be made by all professionals and in the place of his choice. Contrary to the myth, palliative care does not consist of being drugged with morphine until the end", noted.
The advancement of specialized palliative care, ie, "treat patients earlier", is another aspect that Centeno insists on, based on various studies on quality of life in different groups of patients. Moreover, he adds, patients with early palliative care live on average several months longer. His summary is "the sooner the better".
The specialist recalls that more than 20 clinical trials analyze how palliative care improves the patient's quality of life and reduces anxiety and depression.improving their mood. "Palliative medicine does not focus only on treating the disease, but offers comprehensive care, including the family." points out.
Euthanasia and palliative care
Dr. Centeno calls for understanding of the sick and their families who ask for help in dying. And at the same time he explains that "When you listen to them openly, what they ask for is the security of assistance, help to get rid of pain, fear or anguish, and not to prolong their suffering. And in all this we can help, states.
In their conversation, the medical director qualified as false the expression palliative care versus euthanasia'.. In his opinion, "What is optional is to euthanize someone; this person will be euthanized, this one will not, that is optional. Some want it and others do not want it. However, palliative medicine is not optional. Palliative medicine is obligatory..
He went on to elaborate on the argument: "Palliative medicine is for everyone, for everyone who has intense suffering from a serious illness. It is advanced end-of-life medicine. What cannot be done is not to apply it. That is why palliative care is for everyone, not for a few, and they are mandatory. There is no one, doctor, nurse, who can approach someone who is suffering at the end of life and not do what a palliative medicine team does, which is to take care of them in a comprehensive way, work as a team with others, alleviate the symptoms they are having, provide wellness with quality of life.".
The conference highlighted the cost savings of palliative care in health care, and the lack of investment in palliative medicine in Spain. compared to European countries.
The means are always the same, but the channels change over time and expand the possibilities. Now there are many resources in the digital world, and among them WhatsApp and Instagram, which are the ones used by the initiative we are presenting.
The home confinement that we experienced in Spain and in many other latitudes a few months ago revealed the tremendous spiritual need we have for God. And the fact is that, many times... we seek and do not find. Or rather, it is difficult for us to know where the sources to look for are. Because the means are always the same: the word of God, prayer and the sacraments. But the channels change with time and need to be adapted to the personal circumstances of each one.
In this sense, in recent months there has been a vast proliferation of digital resources that try to bring God closer to people and people closer to God. However, this is not the case of the network that concerns us today. The network @rezandoconbelen has been in operation for a year. Its promoter, Belén, tells us about her motivations for starting this adventure.
The origins
The chats @rezandoconbelen can be better understood if I tell a little of my life story. Because, in the end, it is an initiative that arose from my personal prayer. I am neither a priest nor a nun, nor do I belong to any ecclesial movement; I am simply a woman who wants to live in love with Jesus Christ, a laywoman who is clear about her baptismal commitment, understood as the universal call to holiness and the living out of Our Lord's command: "Go and preach the Gospel.". But, above all, the word that resonates most strongly within me has been and will continue to be this: "Give freely what you have received freely".
I have not done anything special: I have simply put at the service of others what I have received from the Lord. I have understood that we are all a true and authentic gift of God for others; each one of us has been created in his image and likeness, we come from Love and we are destined to Love. This is well understood when we discover, in a personal way, the restlessness that St. Augustine expressed so beautifully: "You made us Lord, for you, and our heart is restless, until it rests in you.".
Since I was young I dreamed of doing great things; I have had an intense professional and personal life. I am an architect by training and, after completing an MBA in Economics and Business Management, I have dedicated 25 years to management.
I am married and have 2 wonderful children, and I am the first born of a large family, which is one of my greatest prides. I have always considered my family as an emotional breakwater, which has made me strong and resilient in hardship. A few years ago I published my first personal development book. As I tell in those pages, I am proud of many things; everything good has been a gift and the bad, tests that make you stronger and purify you.
However, at this moment in my life, what excites me and warms my heart is this evangelization initiative. I see it as one way, among many, of setting in motion thehe Church on the way out Pope Francis is asking so much of us. In this sense, the chats @rezandoconbelen were born in a natural way, as a need to communicate the greatness of Christ's love, the beauty of the Word of God. Also the wonder of a Church that is mother and teacher, even though it can so often be obscured by the miseries of us Christians.
Our faith is not irrational but supernatural, and there are many reasons to believe and it is necessary to understand them and make them known. On the other hand, God is not reached only by reason but above all by the heart; I advocate an intelligent love, based on a good religious formation and knowledge of the doctrine of the Catholic Church; but, above all, in prayer, in dealing with the Lord in the Eucharist and devotion to Our Heavenly Mother, Mary. To be a Christian, more than fulfilling precepts is, above all, to love. And, above all, to let oneself be loved by the Lord, to let oneself be molded by the Holy Spirit, like clay in the hands of the potter.
A three-course menu
For some time now, I myself have been a member of several Spanish and Latin American groups that disseminate a wide variety of digital initiatives, especially via WhatsApp. Usually one receives a daily content: the Gospel commentary, a reflection, a video, etc. However, it seemed necessary to me to create a daily spiritual menu for each soul, because what may help some may not be useful to others..
That is how I came up with the initiative to set up my chats. @rezandoconbelen as a three-course spiritual menu that, usually consists of: -an audio (elaborated by me) about the holiday or the theme of the day, together with some supporting material (usually pictures, articles, catechesis of the Pope, etc.); -a commentary on the Gospel of the day; -a prayer.
Depending on the special times, there may be a fourth point. For example, in November, a catechesis on the blessed souls in purgatory has been incorporated; in Advent it is a preparation for Christmas. The theme has a common thread, linked to the liturgical moment celebrated by the Church: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, etc. There are also special months: May and October are more dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the devotion of the holy rosary; June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart, etc.
It is important to make it clear that the variety of daily content is not intended to be heard or followed in everything, but rather that everyone can choose what best suits his or her soul.
A chat for every age
At the moment there are four chats running through WhatsApp. Three of them (Praying with Bethlehem, Youth y Pills) have the aforementioned structure and, at this time, the content is very similar among the three, with the exception of the Gospel commentary, which is always different.
The most recent project to join this network was Children praying with Bethlehem. It is intended for children from 4 to 12 years old. It also has three points, which vary according to the rhythm of the liturgical season. Although the structure is similar to that of the adults, the Gospel commentary is only sent on Sundays. The second point is usually a formative video.
This chat is especially intended for parents and grandparents, priests and catechists, who can find in it a reinforcement in the wonderful work of helping the little ones to grow in faith and in the love of Jesus and Mary.
The four chats @rezandocobelen are silent WhatsApp groups, with free entry and exit. Only the administrator sends material, to avoid distractions and communication among participants, who usually do not know each other. People join by receiving a link, which can be shared to all those who may be interested in this content.
I also have a profile on Instagram, called @rezandoconbelenThe audio is only a reminder of certain liturgical feasts or some news of the Church. In the future, I do not rule out opening a YouTube channel or similar to post there, at least, the daily audios.
From these lines, I wish everyone a happy Advent and a beautiful Christmas, in the midst of this pandemic that speaks to us of our indigence and the need to be more humble and more fraternal.
The euthanasia bill has prompted numerous pro-life initiatives and arguments in Spain. In parallel, the Netherlands is becoming another argument before the promoters of compassionate euthanasia.
Rafael Miner-December 16, 2020-Reading time: 4minutes
It was February 11, 2019, feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, a day that the Church dedicates in a special way to care and prayer for the sick. On that date, a bill on euthanasia, promoted by the current government, was presented and approved in the Spanish Parliament.
Most were probably oblivious to what was coming. A law that sought to give the green light to conduct aimed at ending the life of a person with a serious or irreversible illness, for "compassionate" reasons and in a medical context.. This is how the Spanish Society of Palliative Care defines euthanasia. What was beginning to take shape was what very few countries in the world have approved: Holland, Belgium, recently Canada....
In the Netherlands, for example, nearly 5 percent of deaths in 2018 were due to euthanasia, reported the Holy See's delegate to the World Medical Association (WMA), Pablo Requena, in a ForumWord. The extension of euthanasia in the Netherlands, once it has been legalized, has grown to such an extent that some physicians and other experts, such as the Protestant theologian and bioethicist Theo Boer, have ended up opposing these policies, and have stated that "A considerable number of people already consider euthanasia as the only good death. Nor has another objective of the law been achieved, to bring to light the cases that occurred in the gray zones. There are still thousands of cases of termination of life-some even without prior request-that are neither declared nor evaluated by the committees. I think we have seen that supply creates demand."
In the Netherlands "charity has disappeared", y "the law has effects on the whole society", "in 20 years you will be like in Holland", said Theo Boer inAlpha and Omega. Another interesting case is that of Dr. Berna van Baarsen, a specialist in medical ethics, who resigned from one of the five regional evaluation committees to oversee euthanasia in the Netherlands, says Tomás Chivato Pérez, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at CEU San Pablo University.
Sliding slope
Professor Chivato Pérez has called the Dutch experience with euthanasia as that of a "slippery slope". In other words, euthanasia is first decriminalized for incurable diseases; then for chronic diseases with intractable pain; then for mental illnesses, and now they are studying its application to healthy people over 70 years of age who request it.
Demand to be helped
Now, after nearly two years, the bill may become law, and it seems appropriate to know both the main arguments put forward by the promoters of euthanasia and assisted suicide, as well as the attitude of Christians to pain and suffering.
In November 2019, the Episcopal Subcommission for the Family and the Defense of Life of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) published the document.Sowers of hope. Welcoming, protecting and accompanying in the final stage of this life.The text, elaborated with a pedagogy of questions and answers, was presented by the then Bishop of Bilbao and president of the Episcopal Subcommission for the Family and Defense of Life, Msgr. Mario Iceta, the physician Jacinto Bátiz, who has been in charge of the Palliative Care Unit of the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Santurce (Vizcaya) for more than 25 years, and the nurse Encarnación Isabel Pérez.
Monsignor Iceta recalled that "The relationship between the patient and the health professionals is based on trust", and stressed that "There is no demand to die, there is a demand to be helped. The human being has been created to be happy, therefore, to refuse pain is fair and not reprehensible. Nowadays medicine offers a good therapeutic arsenal for suffering".
He then stressed the importance of "palliative medicine in the face of terminal illness".because, as stated by Dr. Jacinto Bátiz, who now directs the Instituto para Cuidar Mejor, "Palliative medicine eliminates the suffering of the sufferer, (while) euthanasia eliminates the person who suffers" (El Debate de hoy)
The document Sowers of hope, by its nature "vital", is not a document dedicated only to the ethical condemnation of euthanasia, "It shows that the Christian faith is capable of illuminating the final moments of earthly life. In this sense, it is a profoundly optimistic document."Iceta concluded.
Responses
The main postulates that are used to promote euthanasia and assisted suicide, according to Sowers of hopeare four: unbearable suffering, compassion, dignified death and the concept of absolute autonomy.
Ante unbearable sufferingThe solution is palliative care, because it is the duty of physicians and healthcare personnel to alleviate the patient's suffering and pain, the text states.
Compassion. As Dr. Bátiz pointed out, the most humane thing to do is not to provoke death, but to welcome the patient and support him or her in times of difficulty, providing the necessary means to alleviate suffering and suppress pain, not the patient, as euthanasia claims.
Death with dignity refers to the concept of freedom (I die when I want to) and quality of life. In reality, a person's life has dignity because he or she is a person, and not because of the quality of his or her life.
Absolute autonomy. The dignity of the person cannot be conceived only from the point of view of autonomy, because then human beings who do not have autonomy (children, the mentally handicapped, coma patients...) will not have dignity. Autonomy is not absolute, and finds its limitations in the disease itself, in medication and in other situations of the patient's life.
As Christmas draws ever closer, Pope Francis has continued to reflect on prayer at Christmas. catechesis that he is carrying out at the Wednesday audience. As we approach the final stretch of Advent, the Holy Father reminds us of the importance of intercessory prayerto pray from the Heart of Christ.
Next to the Nativity Scene
"Who prays, never turns his back on the world". Thus begins the address of Pope Francis on Wednesday, December 16. The Holy Father addressed all Christians from the Library of the Apostolic Palace. accompanied by the Mystery - the ensemble of the Holy Family - and the Christmas tree..
The Pope recalled that the Christian's prayer excludes no oneeven those who do not pray or those who are distant. Christians - the Pontiff said - "sometimes withdraw from the world, in the secret of one's own room, as Jesus himself recommends (cf. Mt 6:6), but wherever they are, always have the door of their heart openAn open door for those who pray without knowing that they pray; for those who do not pray at all but carry within them a stifled cry, a hidden invocation; for those who have made a mistake and have lost their way..."Just as God leaves no one aside, the Christian prays for everyone, even for himself.
In tune with the Heart of Mercy
True prayer is in tune with the merciful Heart of God. In this sense, Francis reminds us that Christ is the principal intercessor before God. And that whoever prays imitates Christ and is in tune with Him, so that he also intercedes for others or for himself.
Referring to the parable of the prayer of the Pharisee and the publicanFrancis warns us of a false prayer. A prayer like that of the Pharisee is a prayer that closes the heart, that moves away from the true humility that brings us closer to the heart of Christ.
Seeing with the eyes and heart of Christ
Those who have a responsibility, the Pope reminds us, have the mission of look with the eyes and heart of Christ. To pray tenderly for all those around us, for one another. "The Church, in all its members, has the mission to practice intercessory prayer. In particular, it is the duty of those who are in a role of responsibility: parents, educators, ordained ministers, community superiors.... Like Abraham and Moses, they sometimes have to "defend" before God the people entrusted to them. In reality, it is a matter of looking with the eyes and heart of God, with the same invincible compassion and tenderness as God.".
Finally, before imparting the apostolic blessing especially to children, the elderly and the suffering, the Pope has encouraged to speed up the pace towards Christmas. Remembering that the birth of Jesus took place in the midst of difficulties, such as those we are suffering in recent times, he encouraged us to prepare ourselves with joy.
Why are they accelerating the promotion of euthanasia?
Rafael Miner-December 16, 2020-Reading time: 4minutes
The defense of the life of the most vulnerable, in this case the elderly and the sick, and the protagonism of families and society in education (the social demand), are principles that have come to the forefront of attention of the Spanish bishops, observing the speed with which the government coalition is promoting its social agenda.
-Text Rafael Miner
Indeed, thesedays in the Congress of Deputies the successive approvals of one of the objectives of the current parliamentary majority take place: the legal regulation of euthanasia, known by its promoters as "euthanasia". "death with dignityThe aim is to configure as the public provision, by the State, of an alleged "public service". "right to die".
The regulation of euthanasia by organic law must still pass through the Senate, but its processing continues with unusual speed, as if its approval were an endorsement. progressive to management,and without taking into account weighty arguments, such as the urgency of promoting palliative care in Spain, in accordance with European standards.
Processing without dialogue
"The processing has been carried out in a suspiciously accelerated manner, in a time of pandemic and state of alarm, without listening or public dialogue."The Spanish bishops denounced a few days ago in a Note, reported by this website. For the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), "the fact is particularly serious, since it establishes a moral rupture; a change in the aims of the State: from defending life to being responsible for the death inflicted; and also of the medical profession, 'called as far as possible to cure or at least to relieve, in any case to console, and never to intentionally provoke death'".
In the letter, the bishops expressly added their support to the words of Pope Francis: "Euthanasia and assisted suicide are a defeat for everyone. The answer to which we are called is nonever abandon those who suffer, never give up, but care and love in order to give hope".
On the occasion of the XXVIII World Day of the Sickthe Pope himself sent a letter to the professionals of the messagein which it can be read: "Dear health care workers, every diagnostic, preventive, therapeutic, research, treatment or rehabilitation intervention is aimed at the sick person, where the noun 'person' always comes before the adjective 'sick'. Therefore, let your action constantly keep in mind the dignity and life of the person, without giving in to acts that lead to euthanasia, assisted suicide or to ending life, even when the state of the disease is irreversible.".
Responsible decisions
Following the messages of Francis and the Holy See, the Spanish bishops issued their Note on very specific aspects: 1) "We invite to respond to this call with prayer, care and public witness. that favor a personal and institutional commitment in favor of life, care and a genuine good death in company and hope".. 2)"We ask those who have responsibility for making these serious decisions to act in conscienceaccording to truth and justice". Y 3) "We call Spanish Catholics to a Day of Fasting and Prayer on Wednesday, December 16, 2010.e, to ask the Lord to inspire laws that respect and promote the care of human life. We invite as many people and institutions to join this initiative".
The bishops recalled that the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "with the express approval of Pope Francis, published the Letter Samaritanus bonuson the care of persons in the critical and terminal phases of life. This text illuminates the reflection and moral judgment on this type of legislation. Also the Spanish Episcopal Conference, with the document Sowers of hope. Welcoming, protecting and accompanying in the final stage of this life, offers some clarifying guidelines on the issue".
The most vulnerable, disadvantaged
In a colloquium organized by ForumWordThe delegate of the Holy See to the World Medical Association, Pablo Requena, stated that, in his opinion, "It is not a question of right or left. Moreover, a person on the left should realize that the most vulnerable are going to be disadvantaged with a law of this type." said Requena at the forum, held at Banco Sabadell's headquarters in Madrid. "Sometimes these laws are presented as a way to build a freer society..., but is it true? Freer perhaps for a few, but less free for many who find themselves in a situation of helplessness, alone, without the necessary conditions to live with dignity the last moments of their lives....", added physician and theologian Pablo Requena.
It is also worth mentioning the opinion of the Spanish Bioethics Committee (CBE), the government's advisory body, which unanimously rejected the grounds for the euthanasia bill in early October. of the Executive. Among other things, he stated that "there are solid health, ethical, legal, economic and social reasons to reject the transformation of euthanasia into a subjective right and a public service". At the same time, he cautioned that legalizing euthanasia as a right "may affect the future of the most vulnerable people".", y The "means to start a path of devaluation of the protection of human life whose borders are very difficult to foresee, as the experience of our environment shows us".
Progressive issue?
The Committee also rejected that euthanasia could be considered as a "progressive achievement" [...], the network reported Cope October 9. "Neither euthanasia nor aiding suicide are signs of progress, but a retrogression of civilization. In a context in which the value of human life is often conditioned by criteria of social utility, economic interest, family responsibilities, and public burdens or expense, the legalization of early death would add a new set of problems." said the experts.
Among other media that echoed the report, El País spoke with Federico de Montalvo, president of the Bioethics Committee and professor at the University of Comillas, who told the newspaper: "We consider that neither ethically nor legally there is a right to die. Law and freedom are different things. In his opinionIn the cases that occur, there are two options. One, of a legal nature, is already being complied with to a certain extent because the Penal Code regulates compassionate homicide in a very benevolent manner. The second, of a medical nature, is not fully developed and explored in Spain: palliative care and, within this, the protocolization of palliative sedation, which not only refers to terminal illnesses, but also to those who are in a situation of distress or chronicity".
Spanish Catholics are called tomorrow, December 16, to a day of fasting and prayer to "ask the Lord to inspire laws that respect and promote the care of human life".
The Day, promoted by the Spanish Episcopal Conference, aims to unite in prayer the Catholics of Spain and all those who wish to adhere to it, in order to "ask the Lord to inspire laws that respect and promote the care of human life". This was stated by the Spanish bishops in the note published on December 11, titled"Life is a gift, euthanasia a failure.".
The imminent approval of the law on euthanasia is a serious setback for Spanish society, which urgently needs to promote the study and practice of palliative care and not the economist and anti-humanist bet that the legislative text on euthanasia implies.
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Death in Salisbury
