Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) - This morning in the Clementine Hall the
Pope
received in audience the two hundred members of the newly-recomposed High
Council of the Italian Magistrature (CSM). During his address, Pope Francis
spoke about the complexity of legislation in current times and the variety of
cases which must be responded to, bearing in mind the phenomenon of
globalisation that may at times be a vehicle for concepts and norms far from
the
roots of a given social fabric.
"In this context of deep shocks to cultural roots, it is important for the
public authorities, including those of a legal nature, to use the space
allocated to them to provide stability and to make the foundations of human
co-existence more solid through the recovery of fundamental values".
Starting from these bases, it is possible to effectively counteract phenomena
such as "the spread of criminality, even in its economic and financial forms,
and the scourge of corruption, which affects even the most evolved
democracies".
Therefore, "it is necessary to intervene not only at the moment of repression,
but also in an educational way, addressing in particular the new generations,
offering an anthropology and a model of life able to respond to the highest and
most profound aspirations of the human heart".
All those in legal office "contribute to this work of construction, on the
front line", the Pope continued. "Although magistrates are required to
intervene
in the presence of a violation of the law, it is also true that the
reaffirmation of the rule is not an act directed solely at the single person,
but rather goes beyond the individual case to affect the community as a whole.
In this sense, every judicial pronouncement goes beyond the single procedure,
opening up to become an opportunity for all the community ('the people', in
whose name the sentence is pronounced) to assume this rule, to reaffirm its
value and in this way, even more importantly, to identify with it".
"In our times, and rightly so, particular emphasis is given to the issue of
human rights, which constitute the fundamental nucleus of the recognition of
the
essential dignity of man. This must be done without abusing this category, for
instance by allowing practices and forms of behaviour that, instead of
promoting
and guaranteeing human dignity, in reality threaten or even violate it. Justice
is not done in an abstract sense, but rather by always considering the person
in
terms of his or her real value, as a being created in the image of God and
called upon to be, here on earth, His semblance".
The Holy Father concluded by mentioning Vittorio Bachelet, the deputy
president
of the CSM assassinated by the Red Brigades in 1980, and he invited the
magistrates to follow his example "as a man, as a Christian and and a jurist in
serving justice and the common good".
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God's tenderness: theme of the Pope's homily at the Third Worldwide Priests'
Retreat
Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) - Today the homily in Spanish pronounced by
the Pope last Friday in the Basilica of St. John Lateran during the Third
Worldwide Priests' Retreat, organised by the International Catholic Charismatic
Renewal Services (ICCRS) and the Catholic Fraternity, dedicated to the theme
"Called to sanctity for the new evangelisation" based on the apostolic
exhortation "Evangelii gaudium". Before the Eucharistic celebration, the Holy
Father reflected with those present on the theme "Transformed by love and for
love", and answered five questions from attendees. The following is an extract
from the homily, which focused on God's tenderness.
"How good it is to listen to God Who teaches me to progress, the Almighty Who
stoops down to me and teaches me to walk. ... And God's closeness is this
tenderness: He taught me to walk, and without Him I would not know how to walk
in the Spirit.
"How often I think that we are afraid of God's tenderness, and since we are
afraid of God's tenderness, we do not allow ourselves to experience Him and as
a
result are at times hard, harsh and punishing; we are pastors without
tenderness. What does Jesus tell us in Luke Chapter 15, about that pastor who
noticed that he had only ninety-nine sheep and that one was missing? He locked
them up safely and went looking for the other one, which was entangled in
thorns. He did not hit or reprimand her; he took her in his arms, put her on
his
shoulders, took her home and healed her. Do you do likewise with your
parishioners, when you notice that one is missing from the flock, or are we
accustomed to being a Church with one sheep in the flock and ninety-nine lost
on
the mountain?
"Today I ask you during this retreat to be pastors with God's tenderness, to
leave the whip in the sacristy and to be tender pastors, even with those who
cause you the most problems. It is a grace, it is a divine grace. We do not
believe in an ethereal God - we believe in a God made flesh, with a heart, and
this heart says to us today, 'they come to me if they are tired, overwhelmed,
and I soothe them; treat my little ones with tenderness, with the same
tenderness with which I treat them". The heart of Christ tells us this today,
and it is what I ask of you and of myself in this Mass today".
During the Eucharistic celebration the Pope entrusted the missionary mandate
to
the priests.
___________________________________________________________
Former nuncio Jozef Wesolowski committed to trial
Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) - The President of the Tribunal of Vatican
City State, Professor Giuseppe Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, by decree
of 6 June 2015 in response to the request submitted by the Office of the
Promoter of Justice, has ordered the trial of the former apostolic nuncio to
the
Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski. The first hearing of the trial is
scheduled for 11 July 2015. The ex-prelate is accused of a number of offences
committed both during his stay in Rome from August 2013 until the moment of his
arrest (on 22 September 2014) and in the period he spent in the Dominican
Republic, during the five years in which he held the office of apostolic nuncio
(he was appointed as nuncio to the Dominican Republic on 24 January 2008 and
apostolic delegate to Puerto Rico, offices from which he resigned on 21 August
2013).
With regard to the period spent in Rome, the nuncio is charged with the
offence
of possession of child pornography under Law VIII of 2013 introduced by Pope
Francis. The allegations referring to the preceding period are based on
evidence
transmitted by the judicial authorities of the Dominican Republic in relation
to
the sexual abuse of minors.
These serious allegations will be scrutinised by the competent judicial body
which will be assisted by both technical appraisals of the IT systems used by
the defendant and, if necessary, international legal cooperation for the
evaluation of testimonial evidence from the competent authorities in the
Dominican Republic. This will be a delicate and detailed procedure, requiring
the most careful observations and insights from all parties involved in the
trial.
___________________________________________________________
Audiences
Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in
audience:
- Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department of External
Church Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow;
- Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, apostolic nuncio in Nicaragua;
- Enrique Garcia, executive president of the "Banco de Desarrollo de America
Latina";
On Saturday 13 June the Holy Father received in audience Cardinal Marc
Ouellet,
P.S.S., prefect for the Congregation for Bishops.
___________________________________________________________
Other Pontifical Acts
Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:
- accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the archdiocese of Saint
Paul and Minneapolis, U.S.A., presented by Archbishop John C. Nienstedt, in
accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law. He has appointed
Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda, coadjutor of Newark, U.S.A., as apostolic
administrator "sede vacante" of the Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
- appointed Archbishop Petar Rajic, currently apostolic nuncio in Kuwait,
Bahrain, Yemen, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and apostolic delegate to
the
Arabian Peninsula, as apostolic nuncio in Angola and Sao Tome and Principe.
On Saturday 13 June, the Holy Father appointed Fr. Wieslaw Spiewak, C.R., as
bishop of Hamilton (area 54, population 64,237, Catholics 9,340, priests 6,
religious 2), Bermuda. The bishop-elect was born in Krakow, Poland in 1963 and
was ordained a priest in 1990. He holds a master's degree in theology from the
Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, and a licentiate in spiritual theology
from the Salesian Fathers in Rome. He has served in a number of roles within
the
Congregation of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and is currently
provincial superior in Poland and a member of the Episcopal Commission for
migrants. He succeeds Bishop Robert Joseph Lurtz, C.R., whose resignation from
the pastoral care of the same diocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted
by the Holy Father.
___________________________________________________________
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www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va
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