BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

Friday, June 21, 2013, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
MEMORIAL OF ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA

Third and fourth from left: St. Aloysius in Glory, by Tiepolo; and St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Aloysius adoring the Immaculate Heart of Mary, by a 17th-century Spanish painter.
ST. ALOYSIUS (LUIGI) GONZAGA (Italy, 1568-1591), Jesuit, Patron of Christian Youth
When a young priest was presented to Benedict XVI During his visit to Padre Pio's shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo on this day in 2009, the Pope remarked to the priest named Luigi for today's saint that they were both celebrating their name day because his own second name is Alois, so HAPPY NAME DAY, HEILIGE VATER!*... Born in the family castle near Mantua of the House of Gonzaga, one of Italy's most storied noble families, young Aloysius grew up in the full splendor of Renaissance courts and the best education possible. As a teenager, he served as a page in the court of Spain's Philip II when his family lived in Spain for two years. He was always very pious from childhood; by age 7, his prayers included the Daily Office of priests; and at 9, he vowed himself to chastity, and received first Communion from the future St. Carlo Borromeo, then a cardinal. After a four-year battle of wills with his father who wanted him to be a soldier, he renounced his inheritance and joined the Jesuit order in Rome, where his confessor was the future saint and Doctor of the Church Robert Bellarmine. One condition for his acceptance was that he should reduce his level of self-mortification in order not to alienate his fellow seminarians. He was ordained in 1589. In 1590, he had a vision of the Archangel Gabriel who told him he would die within a year. In 1591, plague broke out in Rome. Aloysius helped in a hospital and caught the disease himself. He was always sickly, suffering from kidney disease. Although he recovered from the plague, he was weaker than ever. He told Bellarmine that he would die in the Octave of Corpus Christi which fell on June 21 that year. He seemed well that day, but he was given Extreme Unction. He died just before midnight. He was beatified just 14 years after his death, and was canonized in 1626 along with Stanislaus Kostka, another young Jesuit. Benedict XIII proclaimed him the patron of students in 1729, and in 1926, Pius XI named him patron of Christian youth. He was buried in the Church of St. Ignatius in Rome, but his head is now enshrined in the Basilica named after him in Castiglione, his hometown.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062113.cfm

NB: The Pope's second baptismal name 'Alois' is the German form of Aloysius, which means 'famous warrior'. Fascinating combination of patron saints: Joseph the gentle carpenter and foster father, and Alois, the boy saint who did not become a soldier ('famous warrior') as his father was and wanted him to be! I remarked in 2009, that of all people, the ultra-secular then Prime Minister of Spain, Jose Luis Zapatero, bears the Spanish form of our Pope's baptismal names! Jose Luis is a favorite combination of male names in the Hispanic world.


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

Pope Francis met with-
Participants in the Day for Papal Representatives (Apostolic Nuncios) marked in the context of the Year of Faith. Address in Italian.
Vatican Radio's English translation may be found here:
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/06/21/pope_to_nuncios:_be_pastors_who_carry_christ_to_the_world/en1-703615

and in the afternoon with
- Mons. Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (weekly meeting).


L'Osservatore Romano marked the 50th anniversary today of the election of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini who reigned as Pope Paul VI, with a special issue. OR editor Giovanni Maria Vian is a Church historian who has specialized in the life and Pontificate of Paul VI.


A news conference was held at the Vatican Press Office by officials of the Rome-based Fondazione Vaticana JosephRatzinger-Benedtto XVI to report on the Foundation's activities in 2013, particularly a symposium to be held October 24-26 at the Pontifical Lateran University on "The Gospels: History and Christology in the Writings of Joseph Ratzinger".

The Foundtion also announced the winners of the third annual Premio
Ratzinger in theology: Richard Burridge, Anglican minister, Biblical exegete, and Dean of King's College, London - the first non-Catholic to be awarded this prize; and Christian Schaller, lay professor of dogmatic theology and vice-director of the Regensburg-based Institut Papst Benedikt XVI, publisher of the 16-volume Collected Writings of Joseph Ratzinger.


One year ago...
Benedict XVI met with H.E. Filip Vujanović, President of Montenegro, with his wife and delegation; Mons. Nikola Eterović, Secretary-General of the Bishops' Synod. who presented the working document for the General Assembly of the Bishops' Synod on the New Evangelization scheduled in October 2012; and participants of the annual meeting of the ROACO (Riunione delle Opere per l’Aiuto alle Chiese Orientali)[Assembly of Works to Aid the Oriental Churches].

A news conference was held, presided by Mons. Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, to present the program of the major events for the Year of Faith (Oct. 11, 2012 - Nov. 24, 2013), along with the Year of Faith website and its logo.




Addressing group aiding Oriental Churches,
Pope issues new appeal on Syria
and looks forward to Lebanon trip
June 21, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI today addressed participants in the annual meeting of ROACO (Riunione delle Opere in Aiuto delle Chiese Orientali), an umbrella group operating under the Congrgeation for Oriental Churches for various aid efforts in behalf of the Oriental Churches.

Here is the Vatican translation of an address that was delivered in Italian, French, English and German:

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Dear Cardinals, Your Beatitudes,
Venerable Brother Bishops and Priests,
Dear Members and friends of ROACO,

I am very happy to welcome and greet you at this regular gathering. I extend greetings to the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches and President of ROACO and I thank him for the kind words that he addressed to me.

I also thank the Archbishop Secretary, the Under-Secretary, the other officials and all those present. I renew my gratitude to the institutions represented here, to the Churches from Europe and America that support them and to the many benefactors. I assure you of my prayers to the Lord, in the consoling certainty that he "loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor 9:7).

Above all it is my hope that you will persevere in "that movement of charity which, by Papal mandate, the Congregation oversees, so that the Holy Land and other Eastern regions may receive material and spiritual support in an ordered and just way so as to meet the demands of their ordinary ecclesial life and other special needs" (Address to the Congregation for Eastern Churches, 9 June 2007).

In these words I expressed myself five years ago while visiting the Dicastery for Eastern Churches and I now wish to reiterate firmly that same exhortation so as to underline the urgent needs of the present moment.

The present economic and social situation, all the more sensitive on account of its global dimensions, continues to create problems in economically developed areas of the world, and, more seriously, spills over into less affluent regions, seriously compromising their present and their future.

The East, the motherland of ancient Christian traditions, is especially affected by this process, which engenders uncertainty and instability that also has an impact on the Church and in the ecumenical and inter-religious fields.

These factors tend to reopen the endemic wounds of history and they have a damaging effect on dialogue and peaceful cohabitation among peoples. They also weaken authentic respect for human rights, especially the right to personal and community religious freedom. This right should be guaranteed in its public profession, not only in terms of worship, but also in relation to the pastoral, educational, charitable and social activities that are indispensable for its effective exercise.

The representatives of the Holy Land, including the Apostolic Delegate Archbishop Antonio Franco, the Vicar of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and Father Custodian, all regular participants in ROACO, are joined this year by the two Major Archbishops, His Beatitude Cardinal George Alencherry of the SyroMalabar Church of India and His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk of the Greek Catholic Church of Ukraine.

Also present are the Apostolic Nuncio to Syria, Archbishop Mario Zenari, and the Bishop President of Caritas Syria. This gives me the opportunity to open up the gaze of the Church of Rome to the universal dimension that is so deeply rooted and constitutes one of the essential marks of the mystery of the Church.

It also gives me the opportunity to reaffirm my closeness to the sufferings of our brothers and sisters in Syria, especially innocent children and the defenceless.

May our prayer, our commitment and our active brotherhood in Christ, as an oil of consolation, help them not to lose sight of the light of hope in this moment of darkness, and obtain from God wisdom of heart for all in positions of responsibility so that bloodshed and violence, that only bring pain and death, may cease and give way to reconciliation, harmony and peace.

Every effort should be made, including by the international community, to bring Syria out of the present situation of violence and crisis, which has already lasted a long time and risks becoming a wider conflict that would have highly negative consequences for the country and the whole region.

I also issue an urgent and heartfelt appeal, in view of the extreme need of the population, that the necessary humanitarian assistance be guaranteed, and extended to the many persons who have been forced to leave their homes, some of them becoming refugees in neighbouring countries. The precious gift of human life must always be defended.

Dear friends of ROACO, the Year of Faith, which I have instituted to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the inauguration of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, will offer fruitful suggestions to Aid to the Eastern Churches, that are a providential witness to what we read in the Word of God: that faith without works withers and dies (cf. Jas 2:17).

May you always be eloquent signs of the charity that flows from the heart of Christ and presents the Church to the world in her true mission and identity by placing her at the service of God who is Love.

Today in the Latin Rite we celebrate Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, whom I ask to sustain our thanksgiving to the Holy Spirit and to pray with us so that the Lord may also raise up in our days exemplary agents of charity towards others.

May the intercession of the Most Holy Mother of God always accompany the Eastern Churches in their homeland and in the diaspora, bringing them encouragement and hope for a renewed service to the Gospel.

May she also watch over the coming journey which – God willing – I will make to Lebanon for the solemn closing of the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops. I look forward to offering the Lebanese Church and Nation my paternal and fraternal embrace.

In the meantime I am pleased to impart to your Organizations, to all present, to your dear ones, and to the communities entrusted to your care, my affectionate Apostolic Blessing.

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The following is information about ROACO from a CNS backgrounder in 2005:
Created by the Congregation for Eastern Churches, ROACO coordinates nearly 20 U.S. and European agencies and organizations that provide assistance to Eastern Catholic communities in Asia, Northern Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Coordinating the vast amounts of aid and the projects to be funded is essential in order to avoid overlapping efforts on the part of both the Church and its donors.

ROACO acts like a clearinghouse, taking in requests for aid and support from the Eastern churches all over the world. Eastern Catholic churches are often a minority in overwhelmingly Muslim or Orthodox Christian nations and are located sometimes in very poor countries.

At the same time, ROACO serves as a bridge linking the Holy See and Christians of the Latin tradition to those of the Eastern Catholic churches. The Eastern churches have their own distinctive liturgical and legal systems, but enjoy the same dignity, rights, and obligations as members of the Latin rite.

Though ROACO addresses the needs of the Eastern churches across three continents, it also comes to the aid of the Latin-rite communities in the Middle East, particularly the Holy Land.