VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 069
DATE 13-04-2015
Summary:
- Ninth meeting of the Council of Cardinals
- Mass for the centenary of the Armenian Metz Yeghern: Jesus fills the abyss of
sin with the depth of His mercy
- Pope's message to the Armenians
- Regina Coeli: "Invited to contemplate Divine Mercy in the wounds of the Risen
Christ"
- Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy: path of forgiveness and mercy
- Summary of the "Misericordiae Vultus", Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary
Jubilee of Mercy
- The Pope "in harmony" with the theme of the Seventh Summit of the Americas:
"Prosperity with equity"
- To formators of consecrated persons: not only teachers, but also witnesses of
following Christ
- Audiences
- Other Pontifical Acts
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Ninth meeting of the Council of Cardinals
Vatican City, 13 April 2015 (VIS) - This morning the ninth meeting of the
Council of Cardinals, to be attended by the Holy Father, began in the Vatican.
The Council will continue its work until Wednesday, 15 April.
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Mass for the centenary of the Armenian Metz Yeghern: Jesus fills the abyss of
sin with the depth of His mercy
Vatican City, 12 April 2015 (VIS) - On the second Sunday of Easter, or Divine
Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis celebrated Holy Mass in St. Peter's Basilica to
commemorate the centenary of the "martyrdom" (Metz Yeghern, or Great Evil) of
the Armenian People, and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church St. Gregory of Narek
(c. 951 - c. 1003), Armenian monk, theologian, poet and philosopher, whose
feast
day is celebrated on 27 February.
His Beatitude Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenian
Catholics concelebrated with the Holy Father, in the presence of His Holiness
Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians and His Holiness
Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia. The president of the Republic
of Armenia, Serz Sargsyan, also attended the Mass.
In his homily, the Pope commented on the Gospel of St. John, who was in the
Upper Room with the other disciples on the evening of the first day after the
Sabbath, and who tells us that "Jesus came and stood among them, and said,
'Peace be with you!' and He showed them His hands and His side; He showed them
His wounds. And in this way they realised that it was not an apparition: it was
truly Him, the Lord, and they were filled with joy. On the eighth day Jesus
came
once again into the Upper Room and showed His wounds to Thomas, so that he
could
touch them as he had wished to, in order to believe and thus become himself a
witness to the Resurrection".
To us also, on this Sunday which Saint John Paul II wished to dedicate to
Divine Mercy, "the Lord shows us, through the Gospel, his wounds. They are
wounds of mercy. It is true: the wounds of Jesus are wounds of mercy. 'With His
stripes we are healed'. Jesus invites us to behold these wounds, to touch them
as Thomas did, to heal our lack of belief. Above all, He invites us to enter
into the mystery of these wounds, which is the mystery of His merciful love".
"Through these wounds, as in a light-filled opening, we can see the entire
mystery of Christ and of God", said Pope Francis: "His Passion, His earthly
life
- filled with compassion for the weak and the sick - His incarnation in the
womb
of Mary. And we can retrace the whole history of salvation: the prophecies -
especially about the Servant of the Lord, the Psalms, the Law and the Covenant;
to the liberation from Egypt, to the first Passover and to the blood of the
slaughtered lambs; and again from the Patriarchs to Abraham, and then all the
way back to Abel, whose blood cried out from the earth. All of this we can see
in the wounds of Jesus, crucified and risen; with Mary, in her Magnificat, we
can perceive that, 'His mercy extends from generation to generation'". He
continued, "Faced with the tragic events of human history we can feel crushed
at
times, asking ourselves, 'Why?'. Humanity's evil can appear in the world like
an
abyss, a great void: empty of love, empty of goodness, empty of life. And so we
ask: how can we fill this abyss? For us it is impossible; only God can fill
this
emptiness that evil brings to our hearts and to human history. It is Jesus, God
made man, Who died on the Cross and Who fills the abyss of sin with the depth
of
His mercy".
The saints teach us that "the world is changed beginning with the conversion
of
one's own heart, and that this happens through the mercy of God. And so,
whether
faced with my own sins or the great tragedies of the world, 'my conscience
would
be distressed, but it would not be in turmoil, for I would recall the wounds of
the Lord: "He was wounded for our iniquities". What sin is there so deadly that
it cannot be pardoned by the death of Christ?'".
"Keeping our gaze on the wounds of the Risen Jesus, we can sing with the
Church: 'His love endures forever'; eternal is his mercy. And with these words
impressed on our hearts, let us go forth along the paths of history, led by the
hand of our Lord and Saviour, our life and our hope", concluded the Pontiff.
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Pope's message to the Armenians
Vatican City, 12 April 2015 (VIS) - At the end of the Holy Mass celebrated in
St. Peter's Basilica to commemorate the centenary of the Armenian "martyrdom"
(Metz Yeghern) and the proclamation of St. Gregory of Narek as Doctor of the
Church, the Pope met with His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House
of Cilicia, His Beatitude Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, Patriarch of Cilicia of
the Armenian Catholic Church, and the president of the Republic of Armenia,
Serz
Sargsyan. He handed to each of them a signed copy in Italian of his message he
read at the beginning of the celebration, with a translation in Armenian. The
following is the full text of his message.
"On a number of occasions I have spoken of our time as a time of war, a third
world war which is being fought piecemeal, one in which we daily witness savage
crimes, brutal massacres and senseless destruction. Sadly, today too we hear
the
muffled and forgotten cry of so many of our defenceless brothers and sisters
who, on account of their faith in Christ or their ethnic origin, are publicly
and ruthlessly put to death - decapitated, crucified, burned alive - or forced
to leave their homeland.
Today too we are experiencing a sort of genocide created by general and
collective indifference, by the complicit silence of Cain, who cries out: 'What
does it matter to me? Am I my brother's keeper?'.
In the past century our human family has lived through three massive and
unprecedented tragedies. The first, which is widely considered 'the first
genocide of the twentieth century' (John Paul II and Karekin II, Common
Declaration, Etchmiadzin, 27 September 2001), struck your own Armenian people,
the first Christian nation, as well as Catholic and Orthodox Syrians,
Assyrians,
Chaldeans and Greeks. Bishops and priests, religious, women and men, the
elderly
and even defenceless children and the infirm were murdered. The remaining two
were perpetrated by Nazism and Stalinism. And more recently there have been
other mass killings, like those in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia. It
seems that humanity is incapable of putting a halt to the shedding of innocent
blood. It seems that the enthusiasm generated at the end of the Second World
War
has dissipated and is now disappearing. It seems that the human family has
refused to learn from its mistakes caused by the law of terror, so that today
too there are those who attempt to eliminate others with the help of a few and
with the complicit silence of others who simply stand by. We have not yet
learned that 'war is madness', 'senseless slaughter'.
Dear Armenian Christians, today, with hearts filled with pain but at the same
time with great hope in the risen Lord, we recall the centenary of that tragic
event, that immense and senseless slaughter whose cruelty your forebears had to
endure. It is necessary, and indeed a duty, to honour their memory, for
whenever
memory fades, it means that evil allows wounds to fester. Concealing or denying
evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it!
I greet you with affection and I thank you for your witness. With gratitude
for
his presence, I greet Mr Serz Sargsyan, the President of the Republic of
Armenia. My cordial greeting goes also to my brother Patriarchs and Bishops:
His
Holiness Kerekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; His
Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, His Beatitude Nerses
Bedros XIX, Patriarch of Cilicia of Armenian Catholics; and Catholicosates of
the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Patriarchate of the Armenian Catholic
Church.
In the certainty that evil never comes from God, Who is infinitely good, and
standing firm in faith, let us profess that cruelty may never be considered
God's work and, what is more, can find absolutely no justification in his Holy
Name. Let us continue this celebration by fixing our gaze on Jesus Christ,
risen
from the dead, victor over death and evil".
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Regina Coeli: "Invited to contemplate Divine Mercy in the wounds of the Risen
Christ"
Vatican City, 13 April 2015 (VIS) - At midday on Divine Mercy Sunday,
following
the celebration of Holy Mass in the Vatican Basilica for the faithful of
Armenian Rite, Pope Francis appeared at the window of his study to pray the
Regina Coeli with the faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square.
Before the Marian prayer, the Pontiff addressed those present.
"Today is the eighth day after Easter, and the Gospel of St. John tells of the
two appearances of the Resurrected Jesus to the apostles gathered in the Upper
Room. ... The first time, the Lord shows the disciples the wounds on His body.
...
But Thomas was not present that evening, and he did not believe the account
given by the others. ... Eight days after - precisely like today - Jesus
returned
among them and turned immediately to Thomas, inviting him to touch the wounds
on
His hands and on His side. He reaches out to his incredulity so that, through
the signs of the Passion, he is able to reach the fullness of Paschal faith:
faith in the resurrection of Jesus".
"Thomas is a person who is not easily satisfied, a seeker who wishes to check
in person, to attain his own personal experience. After his initial resistance
and uneasiness, he too finally reaches the point of believing. ... Jesus awaits
him patiently and is attentive to the difficulties and insecurities of the last
man to arrive. ... [Thomas] was able to 'touch' the paschal Mystery that fully
demonstrates God's salvific love, rich in mercy. And like Thomas, we too, on
this second Sunday of Easter, are invited to contemplate, in the wounds of the
Risen Christ, the Divine Mercy that overcomes every human limit and shines
through the darkness of evil and sin".
Francis explained that the upcoming Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy will be an
intense and prolonged period for welcoming the immense wealth of God's merciful
love, and emphasised that the Face of Mercy is Jesus Christ. "Let us keep our
gaze upon Him, He Who always seeks us, awaits us, forgives us ... and may the
Virgin Mary help us to be merciful towards others, as Jesus is with us".
After the Marian prayer, the Pope greeted those present, especially pilgrims
attending the Holy Mass in the Church of the Holy Spirit in Sassia, centre for
devotion to Divine Mercy. He mentioned the neocatechumenical communities of
Rome, which are beginning a special mission in the city's squares to pray and
offer witness of their faith, and congratulated the Oriental Churches which,
according to their calendar, celebrate Easter. Finally, he gave thanks for the
many Easter greetings that he has received from all over the world.
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Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy: path of forgiveness and mercy
Vatican City, 12 April 2015 (VIS) - The Pope presided at the first vespers of
the second Sunday of Easter - Divine Mercy Sunday - in St. Peter's Basilica at
5.30 p.m. yesterday, Saturday 11 April. The celebration included the
consignment
and reading of the official Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of
Mercy, to begin on 8 December 2015 and to close on 16 November 2016.
The Holy Father, accompanied by the cardinals, transferred to the entrance of
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* Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)
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