he was awaited by more than sixty thousand people to participate in the Holy
Mass. The readings were dedicated to peace and justice, and the ceremony took
place in the Croatian language. In his homily (which he pronounced in Italian,
with translations in Croatian), the Holy Father emphasised that peace is God's
plan for humanity, and again denounced those who seek confrontation between
cultures and civilizations; citing the prophet Isaiah, he reiterated that if
the
work of justice is peace, then that peace is built by hand, day by day. The
following is the full text of his homily.
"The word peace echoes several times through the Scripture readings which we
have just heard. It is a powerful, prophetic word! Peace is God's dream, his
plan for humanity, for history, for all creation. And it is a plan which always
meets opposition from men and from the evil one. Even in our time, the desire
for peace and the commitment to build peace collide with the reality of many
armed conflicts presently affecting our world. They are a kind of third world
war being fought piecemeal and, in the context of global communications, we
sense an atmosphere of war.
"Some wish to incite and foment this atmosphere deliberately, mainly those who
want conflict between different cultures and societies, and those who speculate
on wars for the purpose of selling arms. But war means children, women and the
elderly in refugee camps; it means forced displacement of peoples; it means
destroyed houses, streets and factories; it means, above all, countless
shattered lives. You know this well, having experienced it here: how much
suffering, how much destruction, how much pain! Today, dear brothers and
sisters, the cry of God's people goes up once again from this city, the cry of
all men and women of good will: no more war!
"Within this atmosphere of war, like a ray of sunshine piercing the clouds,
resound the words of Jesus in the Gospel: 'Blessed are the peacemakers'. This
appeal is always applicable, in every generation. He does not say: 'Blessed are
the preachers of peace', since all are capable of proclaiming peace, even in a
hypocritical, or indeed duplicitous, manner. No. He says: 'Blessed are the
peacemakers', that is, those who make peace. Crafting peace is a skilled work:
it requires passion, patience, experience and tenacity. Blessed are those who
sow peace by their daily actions, their attitudes and acts of kindness, of
fraternity, of dialogue, of mercy... These, indeed, 'shall be called children
of
God', for God sows peace, always, everywhere; in the fullness of time, he sowed
in the world his Son, that we might have peace! Peacemaking is a work to be
carried forward each day, step by step, without ever growing tired.
"So how does one do this, how do we build peace? The prophet Isaiah reminds us
succinctly: 'The effect of righteousness will be peace'. Opus justitiae pax
('the work of justice is peace'), from the Vulgate version of Scripture, has
become a famous motto, even adopted prophetically by Pope Pius XII. Peace is a
work of justice. Here too: not a justice proclaimed, imagined, planned ... but
rather a justice put into practice, lived out. The Gospel teaches us that the
ultimate fulfilment of justice is love: 'You shall love your neighbour as
yourself'. When, by the grace of God, we truly follow this commandment, how
things change! Because we ourselves change! Those whom I looked upon as my
enemy
really have the same face as I do, the same heart, the same soul. We have the
same Father in heaven. True justice, then, is doing to others what I would want
them to do to me, to my people.
"St. Paul, in the second reading, shows us the attitude needed to make peace:
'Put on then ... compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness and patience,
forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving
each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive'. These are
the attitudes necessary to become artisans of peace precisely where we live out
our daily lives. But we should not fool ourselves into thinking that this all
depends on us! We would fall into an illusive moralising. Peace is a gift from
God, not in the magical sense, but because with his Spirit he can imprint these
attitudes in our hearts and in our flesh, and can make us true instruments of
his peace. And, going further, the Apostle says that peace is a gift of God
because it is the fruit of his reconciliation with us. Only if we allow
ourselves to be reconciled with God can human beings become artisans of peace.
"Dear Brothers and Sisters, today we ask the Lord together, through the
intercession of the Virgin Mary, for the grace to have a simple heart, the
grace
of patience, the grace to struggle and work for justice, to be merciful, to
work
for peace, to sow peace and not war and discord. This is the way which brings
happiness, which leads to blessedness".
___________________________________________________________
Decrees for the Causes of Saints
Vatican City, 6 June 2015 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon the Holy Father Francis
received in private audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, S.D.B., prefect of the
Congregation for the Causes of Saints, during which he authorised the
Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
MIRACLES
- attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God Francesco de
Paola Victor, Brazilian diocesan priest (1827-1905);
- attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God Klara Ludwika
Szcz?sna, Polish co-founder of the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Most
Sacred Heart of Jesus (1863-1916).
MARTYRDOM
- Servant of God Frederic de Berga (nΘ Martø TarrΘs Puigpelat) and 25
companions, Spanish priests and lay brothers of the Order of Friars Minor
Capuchin, killed in hatred of the faith in 1936;
- Servant of God Joseph Thao TiΩn, diocesan priest, and ten companions,
professed priests of the Society of the Paris Foreign Missions and the Oblates
of Mary Immaculate, and four lay companions, killed in hatred of the faith in
Laos between 1954 and 1970.
HEROIC VIRTUES
- Servant of God Antonino Celona, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the
Handmaids of Reparation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1873-1952);
- Servant of God Ottorino Zanon, Italian priest and founder of the
Congregation
of the Pious Society of St. Cajetan (1915-1972);
- Servant of God Marcello Labor, Italian diocesan priest (1890-1954);
- Servant of God Maria Antonia of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (nΘe Rachele
Lalia), Italian founder of the Dominican Sisters of St. Sisto Vecchio
(1839-1914).
___________________________________________________________
Audiences
Vatican City, 6 June 2015 (VIS) - In the afternoon of Friday 5 June the Holy
Father received in separate audiences:
- Cardinal Angelo Amato, S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation of the Causes of
Saints;
- Bishop Jorge Eduardo Lozano of Gualeguaychu, Argentina;
- Bishop Vicente Bokalic Iglic of Santiago del Estero, Argentina.
___________________________________________________________
Other Pontifical Acts
Vatican City, 6 June 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed Fr. Jose
Alberto Gonzalez Juarez as bishop of Tuxtepec (area 6,000, population 781,000,
Catholics 738,000, priests 50, permanent deacons 10, religious 34), Mexico. The
bishop-elect was born in El Parral, Mexico in 1967 and was ordained a priest in
1995. He holds a licentiate in philosophy from the Pontifical University in
Mexico, and has served in a number of pastoral roles in the archdiocese of
Tuxtla Gutierrez, including parish vicar, parish priest, superior of the
preparatory course and teacher in philosophy, and rector of the seminary. He is
currently parish of the Church of the Immaculate Conception and episcopal vicar
for consecrated life.
___________________________________________________________
For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:
www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va
Copyright (VIS): the news contained in the services of the Vatican
Information Service may be reproduced wholly or partially by quoting
the source: V. I. S. - Vatican Information Service.
http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/vis/vis_en.html
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* Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)
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