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ANGELUS TODAY
The demonstrators are seeking the Pope's help for something they are protesting to the Berlusconi government.
At the noon Angelus today, the Holy Father spoke before the prayers about the meaning of Baptism to a Christian. Afterwards, before greeting the various language groups, he spoke in behalf of more humane treatment of immigrants, and in behalf of the persecuted Christian communities in various parts of the world.
This was his greeting in English:
Today, on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the Church invites us to contemplate Jesus as the Messiah, the beloved Son of the Father, who gives us a share in the divine life through the gift of the Holy Spirit in the waters of Baptism.
May all of us be renewed in the grace of our own Baptism and strengthened in faithful witness to the Gospel and its promises! Upon you and your families I invoke the Lord’s blessings of joy and peace.
Here is a full translation of the Holy Father's words at the Angelus today:
Dear brothers and sisters:
This morning, at Holy Mass celebrated in the Sistine Chapel, I administered the Sacrament of Baptism to some newborn babies. This custom is linked to the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which concludes the liturgical season of Christmas.
Baptism evokes very well the global significance of the Christmas festivities, in which a dominant element is the subject of becoming children of God thanks to the assumption of our humanity by his only-begotten Son.
He became man so that we may become children of God. God was born so that we can be reborn. These concepts continually return in the liturgical texts for Christmastide and constitute a fascinating reason for reflection and hope.
Let us think of what St. Paul wrote to the Galatians: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption" (Gal 4,4-5); or St. John in the Prologue to his Gospel: "But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God" (Jn 1,12).
This stupendous mystery of our 'second birth' - the rebirth of a human being from 'on high', from God (cfr Jn 3,1-8) - is realized and epitomized in the sacramental sign of Baptism.
With this sacrament, man becomes truly a son of God. From then on, the goal of his existence is to reach, freely and consciously, that which has always been man's destiny from the beginning.
"Become what you are" is the basic educational principle for the human being who has been redeemed by grace. This principal has many analogies with human growth, where the relationship of parents with their children passes - through detachments and crises - from total dependence to the awareness of being children, acknowledging the gift of life received, of maturity, and the capacity to give one's life.
Generated by Baptism into a new life, the Christian begins his journey of growth in the faith, which will lead him to consciously invoke God as 'Abba' - Father, to address him with gratitude and to live the joy of being his child.
Baptism also gives rise to a model of society: that of brotherhood. This cannot be established through an ideology, much less by decree of any constituted power. We recognize each other as brothers from the humble but profound consciousness that we are children of the one heavenly God.
As Christians, thanks to the Holy Spirit whom we receive at Baptism, our destiny is the gift and task of living as children of God and as brothers, so that we may be 'yeast' to a new humanity that is solidly fraternal and rich with peace and hope.
In this, we are helped by the awareness that we have, besides our Father in heaven, a mother, the Church, of which the Virgin Mary is the perennial model.
Let us entrust to her the newly baptized children and their families, and let us ask for the joy of being reborn every day 'from on high', from God's love who makes us his children and brothers among ourselves.
After the prayers, he said:
Two things have particularly called my attention in the past few days: the condition of migrants who seek a better life in countries which, for different reasons, need their presence; and the situations of conflict in various parts of the world where Christians are targets of attacks, including violent ones.
One must begin at the heart of the problem, One must begin with the meaning of the person. An immigrant is a human being - different in origin, culture adn traditions, but a person to be respected, with rights and duties, especially in the area of employment, where the temptation to exploit them is easy, but also in their concrete living conditions.
Violence should never be - for anyone - the way to resolve difficulties. The problem is human above all! I call on everyone to look at the face of the other and to discover that he has a soul, a history and a life - he is a person, and God loves him as he loves me.
I wish to make the same considerations for men as it concerns their religious diversity. Violence aginst Christians in some countries has aroused the contempt of many, especially because it has been manifested on the holiest days of the Christian tradition.
Institutions, political and religious, must not fail, I repeat, to carry out their own responsibilities. There cannot be violence in the name of God, nor can one think of honoring him by offending the dignity and freedom of one's own peers
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Jan. 11, 2009
P.S. Here is the AP report on the Pope's Angelus message regarding the migrant problem that erupted in southern Italy. It provides good background material:
Pope denounces clashes with immigrants
in southern Italian town
By NICOLE WINFIELD
VATICAN CITY, Jan. 10 (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI denounced the riots last week between immigrants and Italians in southern Italy, saying Sunday that migrants have rights, must be respected, and are equally loved by God.
Benedict made the unusual commentary on current events during his weekly noon blessing, clearly coming down on the side of the migrants in exhorting Italians to see them as human beings and not just labor to be exploited.
"I invite everyone to look in the face of the other and discover that there is a soul, a history, a life, a person whom God loves as he loves me," Benedict said.
The riots by hundreds of African migrant workers erupted Thursday night in Rosarno, a town in the underdeveloped agricultural region of Calabria, after two migrants were wounded in a shooting.
Dozens were injured in the two days of clashes, which officials say may have been provoked by the region's powerful organized crime group - the 'ndrangheta.
The violence underscored the simmering tensions between immigrants and Italians, many of whom resent the foreigners yet rely on their labor to do the agricultural, domestic or factory work that many Italians refuse to do.
"Every migrant is a human being - different because of provenance, culture and tradition - but a person to be respected and having rights, particularly in work, where the temptation to exploit is easy," Benedict said.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni concurred Sunday with the hypothesis that the 'ndrangheta may have provoked the riots, either in reaction to anti-mob crackdown efforts or to show the mafia's strength in the region.
Earlier this month, a bomb exploded in front of the regional courthouse in what was seen as the 'ndrangheta response to the recent arrests of major bosses and efforts to shore up Calabrian law enforcement.
Newspaper analysts have suggested that Rosarno residents, who have long lived peacefully with the seasonal migrants, turned to their local 'ndrangheta bosses when the migrants' numbers increased yet field work dried up.
"It's one of the possible (hypotheses), the investigations are under way," Maroni told Sky TG24.
The U.N. refugee agency has said many of Rosarno's migrants came recently from Italy's north after factory jobs dried up last year because of the economic crisis. That influx added to the town's existing migrant population.
Maroni faulted local authorities for not having intervened sooner, particularly considering the wretched conditions in which the migrants were living in an abandoned cheese factory. He also blamed local businessmen for paying migrants low wages under the table.
According to Italian law, migrants must have a job lined up before stepping foot on Italian soil.
Premier Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government has taken a hard line on illegal migration, sending back migrants found at sea even before screening them for possible asylum and repatriating those who reach Italy if they don't have a job or fail to qualify for asylum.
Maroni, a leading member of the anti-immigrant Northern League party and the enforcer of the get-tough strategy, said Italy had forcibly repatriated 40,000 people in the last two years, and that the numbers of foreigners trying to reach Italy had fallen as a result. In 2008, 30,000 illegal migrants arrived in Italy; in 2009 only 3,000, he said.
In the wake of the Rosarno riots, several hundred of the town's migrants were bused out of the region to shelters in other parts of Italy. Maroni said those who didn't have valid work documents or asylum applications would be expelled.
The Pope said immigrants to Italy were looking for a better life in a country that needs them, yet he also denounced the recourse to riot, saying: "Violence must never, for anyone, be the way to resolve differences."
Pope speaks up for immigrants
ROSARNO, Italy, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict XVI called on Italians to respect the rights of immigrants in the wake of violence against African farmworkers in which 70 people were injured.
Police have moved hundreds of African farmworkers by bus from Rosarno, a town in Calabria in southern Italy, after clashes with police, the BBC reported Monday.
"An immigrant is a human being, different only in where he comes from, his culture and tradition," he told pilgrims in St Peter's Square at the Vatican. "I invite everyone to look in the face of those nearby and see their soul."
Many of the migrants from North and West Africa work as fruit and vegetable pickers in an area the BBC said is controlled by a local crime family.
Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni drew criticism from the opposition by saying the violence resulted from failure to address the issue of illegal workers in the country.
"There's a difficult situation in Rosarno, like in other places, because, for years, illegal immigration -- which feeds criminal activities -- has been tolerated and nothing effective has ever been done about it," Italy's La Repubblica quoted Maroni as saying.
Opposition leader Pierluigi Bersani dismissed Maroni's comments, saying, "We have to go to the root of the problem: Mafia, exploitation, xenophobia and racism."
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 05/02/2010 23:22] |