ZENIT, Daily dispatch
The World Seen From Rome
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VATICAN DOSSIER
* Mennonites Hear Benedict XVI's Call for Unity
* Congolese Prelates Urged to Promote Families
* Tanzanian and Pope Discuss Relations With Muslims
* Job Security Is Key for Society, Says Pontiff
* Holy See Working for Release of Iraqi Priests
WORLD FEATURES
* Cardinal Praises Muslims for "Eloquent" Letter
* Indian Prelate Eager to Serve as Cardinal
NEWS BRIEFS
* Irish Prelate Hoping for Papal Visit
SPIRITUALITY
* Christ's Parable About the Need to Pray Always
DOCUMENTS
* Papal Address to Mennonite Delegation
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VATICAN DOSSIER
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Mennonites Hear Benedict XVI's Call for Unity
Benedict XVI Meets With Christian Delegates
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 19, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The Mennonite and Catholic search for the unity of the Lord's disciples is important, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope said this today when he received in audience the delegates from the Mennonite World Congress.
The Holy Father said: "In the ecumenical spirit of recent times, we have begun to have contacts with each other after centuries of isolation.
"Since it is Christ himself who calls us to seek Christian unity, it is entirely right and fitting that Mennonites and Catholics have entered into dialogue in order to understand the reasons for the conflict that arose between us in the 16th century. To understand is to take the first step towards healing."
"Mennonites are well known for their strong Christian witness to peace in the name of the Gospel, and here, despite centuries of division, the dialogue report 'Called Together to be Peacemakers' has shown that we hold many convictions in common," affirmed the Pontiff.
He added: "We both emphasize that our work for peace is rooted in Jesus Christ 'who is our peace, who has made us both one making peace that he might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross.'
"We both understand that 'reconciliation, nonviolence and active peacemaking belong to the heart of the Gospel.'"
But, cautioned the Pope, "Our witness will remain impaired as long as the world sees our divisions. Above all, what impels us to seek Christian unity is our Lord's prayer to the Father 'that they may all be one so that the world may believe that you have sent me.'"
The Holy Father concluded, "It is my hope that your visit will be another step towards mutual understanding and reconciliation."
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Congolese Prelates Urged to Promote Families
Pope Encourages Bishops in Formation of Couples and Priests
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 19, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI urged Congolese bishops to promote the Christian family, despite cultural obstacles such as the exorbitant cost of dowries.
The Pope made that appeal today when he received in audience eight prelates from the Congolese bishops' conference, who were completing their five-yearly visit.
The Holy Father addressed a variety of topics relevant to the situation in Congo.
He emphasized "the specific and concrete contribution of bishops in establishing peace and reconciliation in the country," and made a call "to Christians and to the entire population to open the way to reconciliation so that ethnic and social differences, experienced with mutual respect and love, become a shared wealth and not a cause for division."
The Pontiff referred to the bishops' report that a "real dynamism" is needed in local Churches. He said that the witness of charity is a key element.
"Places in which the Gospel is lived and charity -- especially with the poor -- is practiced, demonstrate a form of pastoral care based on the idea of proximity, and also constitute a strong bulwark against the sects," he said.
Key points
Benedict XVI gave special attention to the issue of Christian families in Congo, and the formation of priests.
He urged the prelates to concern themselves "with the initial and permanent Christian formation of the faithful, ensuring they understand the Christian mystery, and base themselves on the reading of Scripture and sacramental life." And he asked them to help priests to lead "an ever more dignified and holy existence, rooted in a profound spiritual life and an emotional maturity lived in celibacy."
"By remaining close to priests," the Pope continued, "you will be for them models of priestly life and help them to a greater awareness of the sacramental fraternity that comes into being with ordination.
"I call upon the many Congolese priests who live outside their country to give serious consideration to the pastoral needs of their dioceses, and to take the necessary decisions in response to the urgent appeals of their diocesan Churches," he added
The Pontiff said that "the noticeable reduction in the number of canonical marriages is a real challenge facing the family. ... Civil legislation, the weakening of the family structure, and the weight of certain traditional practices, especially the exorbitant cost of dowries, are a real brake on young people's commitment to marriage."
"What is needed," the Holy Father concluded, "is a profound pastoral reflection in order to promote the dignity of Christian marriage, the reflection and realization of Christ's love for his Church. It is important to help couples to achieve the human and spiritual maturity necessary to undertake ... their mission as Christian spouses and parents, reminding them that their love is unique, indissoluble, and that marriage contributes to the full realization of their human and Christian vocation."
About half of the country's 65 million inhabitants are Catholic.
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Tanzanian and Pope Discuss Relations With Muslims
President Will Attend Interreligious Meeting in Naples
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 19, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI and Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete discussed the need for peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims during the African leader's visit to the Vatican.
Kikwete and other civil leaders from Tanzania today visited the Pope, who was accompanied by his secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for relations with states.
The president is in Italy also to attend the 21st International Encounter of Peoples and Religions, organized by the Catholic lay Sant'Egidio Community and the Archdiocese of Naples. The Holy Father will inaugurate the encounter on Sunday.
The Vatican press office, reporting on the papal audience, said: "In the course of the discussions, having recalled the role that for many years Tanzania has played in the pacification of the Great Lakes region of Africa, attention turned to relations between state and Church, ever marked by mutual respect and esteem, and to the contribution Catholics make to the progress of the Tanzanian people, especially in the fields of education, healthcare and other forms of social work.
"Other areas of common interest were examined, such as the importance of peaceful coexistence and collaboration between believers of all religions, in particular between Christians and Muslims. For its part, the Holy See reiterated the commitment of the Catholic Church and her institutions to work for an integral and harmonious development of all the Tanzanian people."
Of the nearly 40 million inhabitants of Tanzania, some 35% are Muslim and 30% Christian. A large percentage of the population follows the beliefs of traditional religions.
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Job Security Is Key for Society, Says Pontiff
Affirms That the Family Is Not Just a Catholic Value
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 19, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says a lack of job security, which inhibits young people from starting a family, affects the authentic development of society.
The Pope made that affirmation in a message sent to the president of the Italian episcopal conference, Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, on the occasion of the 45th Social Week of Italian Catholics, under way through Sunday.
The Holy Father affirmed that the social week should be "considered and promoted also in the context of international relations. ... Precisely because of the social foundations of human life, the good of each individual is naturally interconnected with the good of all humanity."
The task of laypeople, he said, is "to work for a correct ordering of society ... and to cooperate in the just organization of social life together with all other citizens, each according to their skills and under their own autonomous responsibility."
The Pontiff also mentioned the importance of the family, a topic hotly debated in Italy in recent months. He said that questions involving the "respect for life and the attention that must be given to the needs of the family based on marriage between a man and a woman" are important.
"These are not just 'Catholic' values and principles, but shared human values to be protected and safeguarded, like justice, peace and the defense of creation."
Development
Benedict XVI urged Italian Catholics to respond to the challenge of job security "not by giving up and withdrawing into themselves but, on the contrary, with renewed dynamism, opening themselves trustingly to new relationships and not neglecting any of the energies capable of contributing to cultural and moral growth."
He said that "when lack of job security does not allow young people to build their own family, the authentic and complete development of society is seriously compromised."
The Holy Father concluded his message by turning his attention to the relationship between religion and politics.
He said: "The absolute novelty brought by Jesus is that he opened to way to a freer and more human world, with full respect for the distinction and autonomy that exists between what is of Caesar and what is of God.
"The Church, then, if on the one hand she recognizes she is not a political player, on the other she cannot but concern herself with the good of the entire civil community, in which she lives and operates. To that community she offers her particular contribution, forming the political and business classes in a genuine spirit of truth and honesty, with the aim of searching for the common good and not for individual profit."
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Holy See Working for Release of Iraqi Priests
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 19, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The Holy See is following closely the situation of two kidnapped priests from Iraq, missing since last Saturday.
Vatican Radio reported Thursday that Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, said: "We are doing everything possible, and the Pope has as well, launching an appeal for their liberation last Sunday in the Angelus.
"Moreover, we are awaiting information to see what can be done through the apostolic nuncio."
The nuncio is in Baghdad and in contact with Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly of Babylon of the Chaldeans.
Fathers Mazen Ishoa and Pius Afas were kidnapped by gunmen in the al-Thawra neighborhood.
Syrian-Catholic Archbishop Basilios Georges Casmoussa of Mosul told the missionary agency Misna that the new deadline set by the kidnappers for the payment of a $1 million ransom is Saturday.
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WORLD FEATURES
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Cardinal Praises Muslims for "Eloquent" Letter
Says Good Will Can Help to Overcome Prejudices
PARIS, OCT. 19, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue praised the recent letter sent by 138 Muslim scholars as "an eloquent example of a dialogue among spiritualities."
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran said this in an interview published today by the French Catholic daily La Croix, in which he commented on the letter sent last week. The text was addressed to Benedict XVI and the heads of Christian churches, and proposed that the two faiths cooperate in establishing peace and understanding in the world.
The 138 signatories of the letter offered an open invitation to Christians to unite with Muslims over what is most essential to their respective faiths -- the commandment of love.
The appeal was welcomed by Anglican, Lutheran and evangelical leaders and the World Council of Churches.
Cardinal Tauran called the letter a "positive initiative, insofar as the text proposes cooperation based on common values: acknowledgement of one God, love of God for all mankind and the necessity to love one's neighbor."
"One aspect that struck me in a particular way is that, perhaps for the first time, the text signed by the Muslims presented Jesus of the Gospel with citations from the New Testament, and not from citations of the Koran," he added.
Eloquence
The cardinal also praised the appeal as "an eloquent example of a dialogue among spiritualities." He noted that the text was signed both by Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and "demonstrated that with good will and respectful dialogue, we can rise above prejudices."
The president of the dicastery said, however, that theological dialogue with Muslims would be difficult: "Muslims do not accept that one can question the Quran, because it was written, they say, by dictation from God. With such an absolute interpretation, it is difficult to discuss the contents of faith."
Cardinal Tauran commented on the 21st International Encounter of Peoples and Religions, which will take place Sunday. Benedict XVI will preside over the meeting's opening Mass in Naples' Piazza del Plebiscito. This year's meeting has the theme "Toward a World Without Violence: Religions and Cultures in Dialogue." 

The international encounters were inspired by the World Day of Prayer for Peace convened by Pope John Paul II in Assisi in October 1986.

For the cardinal, interreligious meetings such as the one in Naples "allow the 'spirit of Assisi' to survive." He added that the gatherings are also reminders of the goal of peace, and that religion should be a factor in that process.
"If believers were consistent with their faith," he said, "maybe the world would be different. Because it is not religion that makes war, but men. In the end, religions are accused because of those who use religion for terrorist activities. Religion created fear because it was perverted by terrorism."
Limits
Cardinal Tauran didn't comment on what Benedict XVI's message will be for Sunday's meeting, but did recall that in a letter to the bishop of Assisi in 2006, the Pontiff spoke of " the limitations of these interreligious meetings."
"I believe that this was always very clear," he added, "and even from the beginning: each one prays a different way. This is not syncretism. The dialogue itself presupposes an otherness, a difference. Otherwise, if we were in accord, there wouldn't be dialogue.
"Hence, each party must be concerned with its own spiritual identity. We ourselves have, as Christians, to manifest that Jesus Christ reveals God in a complete and definitive manner."
Regarding dialogue with other religions, Cardinal Taruan said: "The discourses of the Pope are very clear. He said, in Cologne: 'Dialogue with Islam it not an option, but a vital necessity upon which depends our future.' Furthermore, a text like 'Dominus Iesus' puts the parameters to avoid religious syncretism.
"We must not put our flag in our pocket, and we should clearly show in whom we believe. Also, when we look at the teachings of the Pope, the themes of reflection with the non-Christian religions emerge: the sacred character of life; to cultivate the fundamental values, for example, the family, the place of religion in education."
Cooperation
Regarding the organization of his dicastery, the president of the interreligious council said: "Improvements should be made in the relationships between organisms such as the Pontifical Institute for Arabic Studies and Islam, the Secretariat of State, the Congregation for Eastern Churches and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
"The situation of Christians living in Muslim-majority countries is very different depending on the physiognomy of the country: The Christian living in Indonesia is not in the same situation as the one living in Morocco and Lebanon. There are different ways of incarnating Islam, and we should have this diversity in mind in our dialogue."
Cardinal Tauran also addressed the problem that Muslims can build mosques in Europe while many Islamic states limit or ban church building: "In a dialogue among believers, it is fundamental to say what is good for one is good for the other."
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Indian Prelate Eager to Serve as Cardinal
A Known Promoter of Interreligious Dialogue
BOMBAY, India, OCT. 19, 2007 (Zenit.org).- A promoter of interreligious dialogue is one of those who will be elevated to the status of cardinal in the next consistory, an appointment which Archbishop Oswald Gracias said absolutely surprised him.
Archbishop Gracias of Bombay is one of the 23 men who will be made cardinal Nov. 24, Benedict XVI announced Wednesday.
Archbishop Gracias called the appointment a chance to "better fulfill the divine service but also an honor, serving the universal Church, and assisting the Holy Father," AsiaNews reported. "This appointment came unexpectedly and now I feel very humbled by the choice the Holy Father made. I hope I can bring faith from the periphery to the center of everyone's life."
The 62-year-old prelate is known as a promoter of interreligious dialogue and religious freedom.
"Only this type of dialogue can eliminate potential causes of tensions and disagreements between the religious and ethnic groups that make up India," the archbishop said. "Dialogue is vital and fundamental. As Catholics, we must celebrate the richness of the Word of God incarnate in our life, families and communities. This will help everyone."
"Evangelical values must permeate our lives," he added. "In a world increasingly shaped by the imperatives of globalization, it is necessary to engage in a profound dialogue, but one that is not impoverished by syncretism. Mutual respect must develop in light of one's own charisma."
Archbishop Gracias was a leader in launching the "Save the Farmers, Save India" program last spring in response to the rising suicide rate among Indian farmers, increasing burdened by debt.
The prelate is chairman of India's Episcopal Commission for Social Communications. "Today the media revolution is profoundly influencing language and social relations," he said. "The Church cannot ignore this fact; for this reason, Catholic media have a prophetic role, speaking out against the false gods of materialism, hedonism, consumerism and narrow nationalism."
Oswald Gracias was born in Bombay on Christmas Eve, 1944. He was ordained a priest in 1970 and a bishop in 1997. Last December, he succeeded Cardinal Ivan Dias at the helm of the Archdiocese of Bombay.
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NEWS BRIEFS
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Irish Prelate Hoping for Papal Visit
DUBLIN, Ireland, OCT. 19, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The archbishop of Dublin offered his congratulations to Archbishop Sean Brady of Armagh, who shall soon be made a cardinal.
At the inaugural Irish Institute of New York lecture at Glucksman House in Greenwich Village on Thursday, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin said that his brother archbishop "has quietly, day by day, used his wonderful talents as a listener and a bridge builder in sustaining the peace process."
The Dublin prelate, former secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, also speculated that Benedict XVI's decision to elevate Archbishop Brady to cardinal was a sign that the Pontiff would like to visit Northern Ireland.
Archbishop Martin said, "Such a visit, alongside one of Queen Elizabeth to Dublin, would have symbolic meaning of ending an era of our history and opening to something new, North and South."
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SPIRITUALITY
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Christ's Parable About the Need to Pray Always
Gospel Commentary for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap
ROME, OCT. 19, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Sunday's Gospel begins thus: "Jesus told them a parable about the need to pray always and not to lose heart." The parable is the one about the troublesome widow. In answer to the question "How often must we pray?" Jesus answers, "Always!"
Prayer, like love, does not put up with calculation. Does a mother ask how often she should love her child, or a friend how often he should love a friend? There can be different levels of deliberateness in regard to love, but there are no more or less regular intervals in loving. It is the same way with prayer.
This ideal of constant prayer is realized in different forms in the East and West. Eastern Christianity practiced it with the "Jesus Prayer": "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!"
The West formulated the principle of constant prayer in a more flexible way so that it could also be proposed to those who do not lead a monastic life. St. Augustine teaches that the essence of prayer is desire. If the desire for God is constant, so also is prayer, but if there is no interior desire, then you can howl as much as you want -- to God you are mute.
Now, this secret desire for God, a work of memory, of need for the infinite, of nostalgia for God, can remain alive, even when one has other things to do: "Praying for a long time is not the same thing as kneeling or folding your hands for a long time. In consists rather in awakening a constant and devout impulse of the heart toward him whom we invoke."
Jesus himself gave us the example of unceasing prayer. Of him, it is said that he prayed during the day, in the evening, early in the morning, and sometimes he passed the whole night in prayer. Prayer was the connecting thread of his whole life.
But Christ's example tells us something else important. We are deceiving ourselves if we think that we can pray always, make prayer a kind of respiration of the soul in the midst of daily activity, if we do not set aside fixed times for prayer, when we are free from every other preoccupation.
The same Jesus who we see praying always, is also the one who, like every other Jew of his period, stopped and turned toward the temple in Jerusalem three times a day, at dawn, in the afternoon during the temple sacrifices, and at sundown, and recited ritual prayers, among which was the "Shema Yisrael!" -- "Hear, O Israel!" On the Sabbath he also participated, with his disciples, in the worship at the synagogue; different scenes in the Gospels take place precisely in this context.
The Church -- we can say, from its first moment of life -- has also set aside a special day dedicated to worship and prayer: Sunday. We all know what, unfortunately, has happened to Sunday in our society: Sports, from being something for diversion and relaxation, have often become something that poisons Sunday ... We must do whatever we can so that this day can return to being, as God intended it in commanding festive repose, a day of serene joy that strengthens our communion with God and with each other, in the family and in society.
We modern Christians should take our inspiration from the words that, in 305, St. Saturnius and his fellow martyrs addressed to the Roman judge who had them arrested for participating in the Sunday rite: "The Christian cannot live without the Sunday Eucharist. Do you not know that the Christian exists for the Eucharist and the Eucharist for the Christian?"
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Father Raniero Cantalamessa is the Pontifical Household preacher. The readings for this Sunday are Exodus 17:8-13a; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2; Luke 18:1-8.
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DOCUMENTS
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Papal Address to Mennonite Delegation
"Christ Himself Calls Us to Seek Christian Unity"
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 19, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a copy of the address Benedict XVI made to the delegation members of the Mennonite World Conference whom he received in audience today.
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Dear Friends,
"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Cor 1:2). I am happy to welcome you to Rome, where Peter and Paul bore witness to Christ by shedding their blood for the Gospel.
In the ecumenical spirit of recent times, we have begun to have contacts with each other after centuries of isolation. I am aware that leaders of the Mennonite World Conference accepted the invitation of my beloved predecessor, Pope John Paul II, to join him in Assisi both in 1986 and in 2002 to pray for world peace at a great gathering of leaders of Churches and Ecclesial Communities and other world religions. And I am pleased that officials of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity have responded to your invitations to attend your world assemblies in 1997 and 2003.
Since it is Christ himself who calls us to seek Christian unity, it is entirely right and fitting that Mennonites and Catholics have entered into dialogue in order to understand the reasons for the conflict that arose between us in the sixteenth century. To understand is to take the first step towards healing. I know that the report of that dialogue, published in 2003 and currently being studied in several countries, has placed special emphasis on healing of memories.
Mennonites are well known for their strong Christian witness to peace in the name of the Gospel, and here, despite centuries of division, the dialogue report "Called Together to be Peacemakers" has shown that we hold many convictions in common. We both emphasize that our work for peace is rooted in Jesus Christ "who is our peace, who has made us both one making peace that he might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross (Eph 2:14-16)" (Report No. 174). We both understand that "reconciliation, nonviolence, and active peacemaking belong to the heart of the Gospel (cf. Mt 5:9; Rom 12:14-21; Eph 6:15)" (No. 179). Our continuing search for the unity of the Lord's disciples is of the utmost importance. Our witness will remain impaired as long as the world sees our divisions. Above all, what impels us to seek Christian unity is our Lord's prayer to the Father "that they may all be one so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (Jn 17:21).
It is my hope that your visit will be another step towards mutual understanding and reconciliation. May the peace and joy of Christ be with all of you and with your loved ones.
[Original text: English]
© Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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