ZENIT, Daily dispatch
The World Seen From Rome
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VATICAN DOSSIER
* Pope Says Missionary Work Has Only Just Begun
* Vatican: World Still Needs "Populorum Progressio"
WORLD FEATURES
* Cardinal Hails U.N. Vote on Death Penalty
* Adoption Agencies See Glimmer of Hope
* Confraternities Urged Toward "Ecclesial Maturity"
* Argentina and Chile Hope for '08 Papal Visit
NEWS BRIEFS
* Africa's New Forms of Slavery in Focus
* Chinese Catholics Prepare for Scripture Synod
SPIRITUALITY
* If Anyone Will Not Work, Let Him Not Eat
DOCUMENTS
* Papal Address to Missionaries
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VATICAN DOSSIER
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Pope Says Missionary Work Has Only Just Begun
Notes Cooperation of Laypeople Adds Needed Spark
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says the Church's missionary task is only just beginning, and a promising sign of its future is the interest among laypeople to cooperate in missions.
The Pope said this today when he received in audience some 100 superiors-general from missionary societies of apostolic life. The religious are in Rome to participate in a meeting organized by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples."Your assembly," the Holy Father told the group, "bears eloquent witness to the continuing vitality of the missionary impulse in the Church and the spirit of communion uniting your members [...] to the Successor of Peter and his universal apostolic ministry."
He continued, "Within the hierarchical unity of the Body of Christ, enriched by the variety of gifts and charisms bestowed by the Spirit, communion with the successors of the apostles remains the criterion and guarantee of the spiritual fruitfulness of all missionary activity. For the Church's communion in faith, hope and love is itself the sign and foretaste of that unity and peace which is God's plan in Christ for the whole human family."
"One of the promising indications of a renewal in the Church's missionary consciousness in recent decades," added the Pontiff in his English-language address, "has been the growing desire of many lay men and women [...] to cooperate generously in the 'missio ad gentes.' As Vatican Council II stressed, the work of evangelization is a fundamental duty incumbent upon the whole People of God.
"Given the extent and the importance of the contribution made by [laypeople] [...] the proper forms of their cooperation should naturally be governed by specific statutes and clear directives respectful of each institute's proper canonical identity."
Benedict XVI expressed his gratitude to all the missionaries who, "today as in the past [...] continue to leave their families and homes, often at great sacrifice, for the sole purpose of proclaiming the good news of Christ and serving him in their brothers and sisters. Many of them, also in our time, have heroically confirmed their preaching by the shedding of their blood, and contributed to establishing the Church in distant lands."
Despite the "decrease in the number of young people who are attracted to missionary societies, and a consequent decline in missionary outreach [...] the mission 'ad gentes' is still only beginning," he affirmed. "While conscious of the challenges you face, I encourage you to follow faithfully in the footsteps of your founders, and to stir into flame the charisms and apostolic zeal which you have inherited from them, confident that Christ will continue to work with you and to confirm your preaching with signs of his presence and power."
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Vatican: World Still Needs "Populorum Progressio"
Justice and Peace Council to Study 40-Year-Old Document
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Pope Paul VI's encyclical "Populorum Progressio" turned 40 this year, and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace thinks it is as valid today as it was four decades ago.
Scholars and experts will gather Nov. 20-24 in Rome to consider the problems and prospects of human development 40 years after "Populorum Progressio," a dicastery communiqué reported. The theme will be considered at the pontifical council's plenary assembly Nov. 20-21 and at the second world congress of ecclesial organizations active in the sector of justice and peace from Nov. 22-24.
According to the communiqué, pontifical council members and consultors "will reflect on the current validity of the historic papal document, with particular emphasis on the moral aspects of development, on new forms of poverty and globalization, on conflicts and disarmament, and on safeguarding and protecting human rights." Cardinal Renato Martino and Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, respectively president and secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, will lead the plenary assembly.
More than 300 delegates from more than 80 countries are expected to participate in the second world congress of ecclesial organizations active in the sector of justice and peace. The specific theme of their meeting will be "The 40th Anniversary of 'Populorum Progressio': The Development of All of Man, the Development of All Mankind."
The congress "will study the new situations that have come into being in the world since the publication of the historic document, and the current challenges of development in the light of the Church's social doctrine, in particular the questions of human ecology, pluralism and intercultural dialogue, and new forms of government in the context of globalization," the communiqué reported. "Particular attention will also be given to the Church's pastoral commitment to integral and solidary development in the world today."
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WORLD FEATURES
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Cardinal Hails U.N. Vote on Death Penalty
Recommendation for Moratorium a
ROME, NOV. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Cardinal Renato Martino thinks that the U.N. vote in favor of an international moratorium on capital punishment is "a relevant step."
Thursday's vote ended with 99 in favor, 52 against and 33 abstentions after days of debate.
The resolution expresses concern for the continued application of the death penalty and urges countries that apply this punishment to "establish a moratorium on executions, looking to abolish them."
The president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace said, "I am truly content." He affirmed to Vatican Radio: "I was the Holy See's representative at the United Nations for 16 years, and during that time, I saw the attempts made in the '90s in favor of this moratorium.
"I worked a lot, and was disappointed when these proposals were withdrawn because they lacked the necessary votes."
"This time, the number was sufficient, and I am very content," Cardinal Martino added. "It is a relevant step, but it is only a moratorium and the decision of the U.N. and the General Assembly is only an exhortation, since it is not a convention to which states must adhere. These decisions from the General Assembly are nonbinding.
"Still, this is already something important and I can affirm with satisfaction that many Catholic organizations have worked for this and have the right to be satisfied."
A total of 133 member states have abolished the death penalty in legislation or in practice, and only 25 states performed executions in 2006.
Amnesty International reports that during 2006, at least 1,591 people were executed in 25 countries. In the United States, 53 prisoners were executed in 12 states in 2006.
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Adoption Agencies See Glimmer of Hope
Bishops Welcome Step to Soften Impact of Equity Act
LONDON, NOV. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The bishops of England and Wales welcomed a government offer to partially fund research into the possibility of Catholic adoption agencies maintaining their principles within the limits of a new law favoring same-sex couples.
The Equity Act, approved at the beginning of this year, forces all adoption agencies to consider homosexual couples as possible adoptive parents. Catholic agencies immediately expressed their concern that the decision would force them to close. The Church was denied an exemption.
In a statement released Thursday, the bishops' conference of England and Wales reiterated the gravity of the problem now facing Catholic agencies.
They said the issue is entirely the result of a government decision, and it places in peril the future of some of society's most vulnerable children.
The statement said: "The excellent work of Catholic adoption agencies in England and Wales is at the service of many of the most vulnerable children in our society. This work is a manifestation of the Gospel in action, founded on the Church's moral and social teaching including the Catholic understanding of the vocation of marriage.
"The threat that now hangs over the future work of our agencies is entirely the result of the government's decision to include adoption work within the scope of the sexual orientation regulations, and then to refuse a reasonable exemption. It is a problem not of our making."
Identity
The bishops affirmed the Church's desire to find a solution, but without losing Catholic identity.
"We welcome the government's offer of limited financial assistance to agencies to pay for further work to be done to explore whether within the law there might yet be ways found which will enable the adoption work to carry on and for our agencies to continue to be Catholic agencies," the statement said.
Noting the government indication that funding would be more readily granted to joint applications, the bishops asked adoption agency directors to submit a proposal by the end of this month.
The research would "explore all feasible ways in which the moral and doctrinal requirements of the Church and the practical requirements of the law can be met, including the legal, practical and financial implications of any recommendations," the bishops explained.
"In the event of an irreconcilable position, to recommend the most appropriate ways forward in the interests of the children and adoptive parents, of the staff and future work of the agencies, and to set out the employment, financial and other implications of such recommendations," the statement added.
The bishops asked that a moral theologian be part of the group representing the agencies. "Any report commissioned as a result of a joint application made by, or on behalf of, the agencies will naturally be addressed to the agencies themselves, and in the end it will be for the trustees of each agency, in conjunction with the local bishop, to decide the future of their agency's adoption work," they concluded. "It will also, however, be important that, before such final decisions are made, the bishops' conference has the opportunity to consider the recommendations."
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Confraternities Urged Toward "Ecclesial Maturity"
Council President Notes Old Charisms Shouldn't Be Forgotten
MURCIA, Spain, NOV. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The president of the Pontifical Council of the Laity encouraged religious brotherhoods and confraternities in Spain to tend toward "ecclesial maturity."
Cardinal-designate Stanislaw Rylko said this Wednesday as he presided over the opening Mass for the 2nd International Congress of Brotherhoods and Confraternities. The congress was organized around the theme "The Processional Image: Art and Devotion," and was organized by the St. Anthony Catholic University of Murcia, and the chapter of confraternities of Murcia.
Religious brotherhoods and confraternities are voluntary associations of the faithful, established to promote special works of Christian charity or devotion. These lay organizations in Spain organize the Holy Week processions in towns such as Seville and Malaga.In his homily, Cardinal-designate Rylko asked the confraternities to respond "to the great expectations of the Church," and to face the task Pope John Paul II entrusted to all lay associations: to tend toward "ecclesial maturity."
According to the prelate, this maturity is obtained through fulfilling one's Christian duty: unconditional obedience to the magisterium of the Church, obedience and communion with the pastors in dioceses and parishes, announcing Christ to the world and transforming society from within.
"Following these fundamental principles, your confraternities could really be converted into schools of formation for a mature and missionary laity, capable of responding generously to the dramatic challenges that the Church should face in our time," he added.
Vanguard
Religious brotherhoods and confraternities have been present in the Church from medieval times, said Cardinal-designate Rylko. "They have been the first forms of associations for the Catholic laity, developing a very important function throughout the centuries," he said.
The prelate said that today there is a "widespread rediscovery of popular piety, characterized in particular by the flourishing of brotherhoods."
He said that, despite the emergence of new movements, the Church cannot forget "the 'old' charisms that, in spite of the passing of the centuries, have known how to conserve until today their extraordinary vitality and strength."
The Church owes you so much!" said Cardinal-designate Rylko. "Through the centuries the fraternities truly have been schools of Christian life and sanctity, of deep spirituality and ardent devotion to Christ."
The president of the Vatican laity council urged the participants to serve "the Church's mission in our times," and not to remain "only a memory of a glorious and meritorious past [...] or a type of 'museum exhibit' to admire with nostalgia."
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Argentina and Chile Hope for '08 Papal Visit
Journey Would Mark Anniversary of Vatican's Role in Resolving Beagle Conflict
BUENOS AIRES, NOV. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Argentina's president-elect and Chile's president want Benedict XVI to visit their countries in 2008, to mark the 30th anniversary of the Vatican's role in helping the two nations to avoid war.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Pope's secretary of state, accompanied by the apostolic nuncio to Argentina, Archbishop Adriano Bernardini, made this announcement at the Casa Rosada, after a protocol meeting in the presidential office with President Néstor Kirchner and the first lady.
The Pope's secretary of state visited Argentina for the beatification of Ceferino Namuncurá. He announced Wednesday the hopes of Argentinian President-Elect Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.
Cardinal Bertone said he offered the first couple the cordial greeting of the Holy Father, and he discussed with them the work with youth, education, and the task of the Salesians in Patagonia, which he defined as an "extraordinary and heroic mission."
"The president and the new president have recognized the social work and the Salesian religious," he stated.
After affirming that his five-day visit to their country had been "very good," he highlighted the "good things that the Argentinian people have," above all "Argentinian good will and spirit."
The Beagle Conflict was a border dispute between Argentina and Chile regarding the islands located south of the Beagle Channel and the adjacent maritime areas.
It could have resulted in war if it had not been for the intervention of Pope John Paul II beginning in 1978, who, assisted by Cardinal Antonio Samoré as leader of the mediations, helped the two countries reach an agreement, finalized in 1984.
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NEWS BRIEFS
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Africa's New Forms of Slavery in Focus
CAPE COAST, Ghana, NOV. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Though forced labor in Africa was abolished 200 years ago, bishops of that continent and Europe are considering new forms of slavery endured by the African people.
The Council of European Bishops' Conferences and the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar have jointly organized a conference called "I Know the Suffering of My People," under way through Sunday in Cape Coast. The Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples is supporting the conference.
In the course of the meeting there will be numerous visits to local communities and on the final day, a commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Africa.
"Many people, in Europe and Asia, are still slaves of poverty and injustice, above all because of the lack of an equal distribution of the planet's resources," said Cardinal Josip Bozanic of Zagreb, Croatia, vice president of the European bishops' conference.
Participants are considering themes ranging from slavery in the Bible, a culture of life and family, reconciliation and the healing of memories, and continued collaboration between the Church in Africa and Europe.
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Chinese Catholics Prepare for Scripture Synod
HONG KONG, NOV. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Participants in a worldwide meeting for Chinese Catholics on the Bible expressed a commitment to deepen their spiritual life and witness to the word of God in preparation for the next world Synod of Bishops.
Delegates made these commitments at the Hong Kong-based United Chinese Catholic Biblical Association conference in Macau last Nov. 1-5. The conference was titled "Experiences of Community Building with the Word of God."
Over 110 Chinese-speaking participants from more than 15 countries took part in the Macau meeting, and decided to coordinate their pastoral initiatives with the universal Church, specifically the Pauline Year from June 2008-2009, and the October Synod of Bishops on Scripture, reported a Nov. 12 statement.
Participants also decided to make better use of technology and mass media to popularize Bible reading and share resources by setting up a fund for countries with limited resources.
In his letter to the conference, Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon, Philippines, executive committee moderator of the Catholic Biblical Federation, expressed his hopes that the word of God would continue to inspire the Chinese people.
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SPIRITUALITY
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If Anyone Will Not Work, Let Him Not Eat
Gospel Commentary for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap
ROME, NOV. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- This Sunday's Gospel is one of the famous discourses on the end of the world, which are characteristic of the end of the liturgical year.
It seems that in one of the first Christian communities, that of Thessalonica, there were believers who drew mistaken conclusions from these discourses of Christ. They thought that it was useless to weary themselves, to work or do anything since everything was about to come to an end. They thought it better to take each day as it came and not commit themselves to long-term projects and only to do the minimum to get by.St. Paul responds to them in the second reading: "We hear that some are conducting themselves among you in a disorderly way, by not keeping busy but minding the business of others. Such people we instruct and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and to eat their own food." At the beginning of the passage, St. Paul recalls the rule that he had given to the Christians in Thessalonica: "If anyone will not work, let him not eat."
This was a novelty for the men of that time. The culture to which they belonged looked down upon manual labor; it was regarded as degrading and as something to be left to slaves and the uneducated. But the Bible has a different vision. From the very first page it presents God as working for six days and resting on the seventh day. And all of this happens in the Bible before sin is spoken of. Work, therefore, is part of man's original nature and is not something that results from guilt and punishment. Manual labor is just as dignified as intellectual and spiritual labor. Jesus himself dedicates 17 years to the former -- supposing he began to work around 13 -- and only a few years to the latter.
A layman has written: "What sense and what value does our ordinary work as laypeople have before God? It is true that we laypeople also do a lot of charity work, engage in the apostolate, and volunteer work; but we must give most of our time and energies to ordinary jobs. If this sort of work has no value for heaven, we will have very little for eternity. No one we have asked about this has been able to give us satisfactory answers. They say: "Offer it all to God!" but is this enough?
My reply: No, the value of our work is not only conferred on it by the "good intention" we put into it or the morning offering we make to God; it also has a value in itself, as a participation in God's creative and redemptive work and as service to our brothers. We read in one of the Vatican II documents, in "Gaudium et Spes," that it is by "his labor [that] a man ordinarily supports himself and his family, is joined to his fellow men and serves them, and can exercise genuine charity and be a partner in the work of bringing divine creation to perfection. Indeed, we hold that through labor offered to God man is associated with the redemptive work of Jesus Christ" (No. 67).
The work that one does is not as important as that for which he does it. This re-establishes a certain parity, beneath distinctions -- which are sometimes unjust and scandalous -- in position and pay. A person who has done the most humble jobs in life can be of greater "value" than those people who hold positions of great prestige.
It was said that work is a participation in the creative action of God and in the redemptive action of Christ and that it is a source of personal and social growth, but we know that it is also weariness, sweat and pain. It can ennoble but it can also empty and wear down. The secret is to put one's heart into what one's hands do. It is not so much the amount or type of work done that tires us out, as much as it is the lack of enthusiasm and motivation. To the earthly motivations for work, faith adds eternal motivations: "Our works," the Book of Revelation says, "will follow us" (14:13).
[Translation by ZENIT]
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Father Raniero Cantalamessa is the Pontifical Household preacher. The readings for this Sunday are Malachi 4:1-2a; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19.
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DOCUMENTS
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Papal Address to Missionaries
"The Baptized Are Called to the Spreading of the Gospel"
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is the text of the address Benedict XVI delivered today in English to superiors general of missionary societies, in Rome for a meeting organized by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
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Your Eminence,
Your Excellencies,
Dear Fathers,
It is a particular pleasure for me to greet you, the Superiors General of Missionary Societies of Apostolic Life, meeting here in Rome at the invitation of the Congregation for the Evangelization of People. Your assembly, which brings together the Superiors of the fifteen Missionary Societies of pontifical right and the six of diocesan right, bears eloquent witness to the continuing vitality of the missionary impulse in the Church and the spirit of communion uniting your members and their manifold activities to the Successor of Peter and his universal apostolic ministry.
Your meeting is also a concrete sign of the historic relationship between the various Missionary Societies of Apostolic Life and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. In these days you have sought to examine new ways of consolidating and strengthening this privileged relationship. As the Second Vatican Council observed, Christ's command to preach the Gospel to every creature applies primarily and immediately to the College of Bishops, cum et sub Petro (cf. "Ad Gentes," 38). Within the hierarchical unity of the Body of Christ, enriched by the variety of gifts and charisms bestowed by the Spirit, communion with the successors of the Apostles remains the criterion and guarantee of the spiritual fruitfulness of all missionary activity. For the Church's communion in faith, hope and love is itself the sign and foretaste of that unity and peace which is God's plan in Christ for the whole human family.
One of the promising indications of a renewal in the Church's missionary consciousness in recent decades has been the growing desire of many lay men and women, whether single or married, to cooperate generously in the missio ad gentes. As the Council stressed, the work of evangelization is a fundamental duty incumbent upon the whole People of God, and all the baptized are called to "a lively awareness of their personal responsibility for the spreading of the Gospel" ("Ad Gentes," 36). While some Missionary Societies have had a long history of close collaboration with lay men and women, others have only more recently developed forms of lay association with their apostolate. Given the extent and the importance of the contribution made by these associates to the work of the various Societies, the proper forms of their cooperation should naturally be governed by specific statutes and clear directives respectful of each institute's proper canonical identity.
Dear friends, our meeting today gives me a welcome opportunity to express my gratitude to you and to all the members of your Societies, past and present, for your enduring commitment to the Church's mission. Today, as in the past, missionaries continue to leave their families and homes, often at great sacrifice, for the sole purpose of proclaiming the Good News of Christ and serving him in their brothers and sisters. Many of them, also in our time, have heroically confirmed their preaching by the shedding of their blood, and contributed to establishing the Church in distant lands. Today, changed circumstances have led in many cases to a decrease in the number of young people who are attracted to missionary societies, and a consequent decline in missionary outreach. All the same, as the late Pope John Paul II insisted, the mission ad gentes is still only beginning, and the Lord is summoning us, all of us, to be committed wholeheartedly to its service (cf. "Redemptoris Missio," 1).
"The harvest is great!" (Mt 9:37) While conscious of the challenges you face, I encourage you to follow faithfully in the footsteps of your founders, and to stir into flame the charisms and apostolic zeal which you have inherited from them, confident that Christ will continue to work with you and to confirm your preaching with signs of his presence and power (cf. Mk 16:20).
With great affection, I commend you, together with the members and associates of your various Societies, to the loving protection of Mary, Mother of the Church. To all of you I willingly impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of wisdom, strength and peace in the Lord.
© Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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