Rsass

Rsass

Tuesday 30 May 2017

Pope Francis postponed his visit to South Sudan

The Vatican has postponed a trip by Pope Francis to war-torn South
Sudan planned for later this year, which the pope had hoped to
undertake together with Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Justin
Welby.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke told journalists that while the trip is
still being considered it is "not for this year." Burke did not say
when the trip, which had been tentatively planned for October, might
now take place.

Postponement of the visit comes after Italian media reports that
Francis was forced to cancel his plans due to security concerns. Il
Messaggero, Rome's daily newspaper, reported May 29 that the pope made
the decision reluctantly "after the information coming to his desk
left him with few alternatives."

South Sudan is the world's newest country, forming after it gained
independence from Sudan in 2011. A political struggle broke out in the
country in 2013, leading to a civil war in which an estimated 300,000
people have died and some 3 million have been displaced.

Francis had hoped to make a visit to the country in a push for peace,
much like his earlier visit to the Central African Republic in 2015. A
trip with Archbishop Justin would have been the first time the leaders
of the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches had traveled in such a way
together.


Don't miss our podcast, NCR In Conversation! Catch a new episode each Friday.

Vatican officials had been in South Sudan earlier this month to assess
the possibility of a papal visit.

Services available in South Sudan at the moment are minimal. The
arrivals section at the Juba airport, where Francis would likely have
to land, is currently a small outdoor area with wooden planks covering
muddy soil.

An official with knowledge of the preparations for the possible visit
said Francis had been presented with the possibility of making a short
several hour trip to the country as a stop-over while visiting another
nearby nation.

The source also said the pope balked when he was told that given the
security concerns it would not be possible for him to leave the Juba
airport, believing that if he made a visit only to the airport it
would present a bad symbol to the country.

It is unclear what other African country or countries Francis might
have been considering visiting. Before heading to the Central African
Republic in 2015, the pope made stops in Kenya and Uganda. Ethiopia's
Catholic community has also invited the pope to visit.

Francis had a private meeting with South Sudan President Salva Kiir
during his Uganda visit two years ago. The two leaders spoke for 15
minutes in an encounter arranged by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

The only papal trip abroad currently confirmed by the Vatican for the
rest of 2017 is a visit to Colombia set for Sept. 6-11. There is also
discussion of a possible visit to India and Bangladesh, which is
currently unconfirmed.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/vatican-postpones-pope-s-trip-south-sudan

Thursday 11 May 2017

A precious gift to the People of God

My dear brothers and sisters, may this message find you well.

As all of you know by now, we are once again experiencing a time of particular tension in our beautiful country South Sudan; let us not be caught by negative feeling, let us raise up our spirit and once again let us shake the heavens with our prayers.

As we all agreed during the General Assembly I simply remind you and strongly recommend that in each and all our communities prayer for peace and reconciliation and nonviolent solutions shall be celebrated every month. Let’s not pass a single day in which we do not intercede for our brothers and sisters of South Sudan “for through you we beat down our foes, in your name we trampled our aggressors. For it was not in my bow I trusted nor yet was I saved by my sword: it was you who saved us […] All day long our boast was in God and we praised your name without ceasing” (psalm 44).
As religious we are called to “stay with him” and to be sent into the world.

Let us contemplate God to better and more deeply understand this country; let us pray for our enemies, and for the ones who persecute us and our brothers and sisters.






Let us begin this love in our own communities because even if a small match cannot illumine a whole forest, yet it can bright the countenance of our brother and sister living with us.







We all share the responsibility of being at the heart of the Church:
In effect, the consecrated life is at the very heart of the Church as a decisive element for her mission, since it "manifests the inner nature of the Christian calling" and the striving of the whole Church as Bride towards union with her one Spouse. […] the consecrated life has not only proved a help and support for the Church in the past, but is also a precious and necessary gift for the present and future of the People of God, since it is an intimate part of her life, her holiness and her mission. (Vita Consecrata n°3)

This is the trust that God has on each and all of us. Let us not be trapped into worldly allures; we are rooted into our own orders, congregations or institutions in virtue of our profession and rule of life each one of us has been called to follow. God wants our happiness and our well-being and there is nothing in this world able to stop this desire of God.

Love and faithfulness meet together;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.

Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.

The Lord will indeed give what is good,
and our land will yield its harvest.

Righteousness goes before him

and prepares the way for his steps





Fr. Federico

Tuesday 2 May 2017

Interesting article on NONVIOLENCE

An appeal to the Catholic Church
to re-commit to the centrality of Gospel nonviolence

As Christians committed to a more just and peaceful world we are called to take a clear stand for creative and active nonviolence and against all forms of violence. With this conviction, and in recognition of the Jubilee Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis, people from many countries gathered at the Nonviolence and Just Peace Conference sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and Pax Christi International on April 11-13, 2016 in Rome.

Our assembly, people of God from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania included lay people, theologians, members of religious congregations, priests, and bishops. Many of us live in communities experiencing violence and oppression. All of us are practitioners of justice and peace. We are grateful for the message to our conference from Pope Francis: "your thoughts on revitalizing the tools of nonviolence, and of active nonviolence in particular, will be a needed and positive contribution".

Looking at our world today

We live in a time of tremendous suffering, widespread trauma and fear linked to militarization, economic injustice, climate change, and a myriad of other specific forms of violence. In this context of normalized and systemic violence, those of us who stand in the Christian tradition are called to recognize the centrality of active nonviolence to the vision and message of Jesus; to the life and practice of the Catholic Church; and to our long- term vocation of healing and reconciling both people and the planet.

We rejoice in the rich concrete experiences of people engaged in work for peace around the world, many of whose stories we heard during this conference. Participants shared their experiences of courageous negotiations with armed actors in Uganda and Colombia; working to protect the Article 9, the peace clause in the Japanese Constitution; accompaniment in Palestine; and countrywide peace education in the Philippines. They illuminate the creativity and power of nonviolent practices in many different situations of potential or actual violent conflict. Recent academic research, in fact, has confirmed that nonviolent resistance strategies are twice as effective as violent ones.

The time has come for our Church to be a living witness and to invest far greater human and financial resources in promoting a spirituality and practice of active nonviolence and in forming and training our Catholic communities in effective nonviolent practices. In all of this, Jesus is our inspiration and model.

Jesus and nonviolence

In his own times, rife with structural violence, Jesus proclaimed a new, nonviolent order rooted in the unconditional love of God. Jesus called his disciples to love their enemies (Matthew 5: 44), which includes respecting the image of God in all persons; to offer no violent resistance to one who does evil (Matthew 5: 39); to become peacemakers; to forgive and repent; and to be abundantly merciful (Matthew 5-7). Jesus embodied nonviolence by actively resisting systemic dehumanization, as when he defied the Sabbath laws to heal the man with the withered hand (Mark 3: 1-6); when he confronted the powerful at the Temple and purified it (John 2: 13- 22); when he peacefully but determinedly challenged the men accusing a woman of adultery (John 8: 1-11); when on the night before he died he asked Peter to put down his sword (Matthew 26: 52).

Neither passive nor weak, Jesus' nonviolence was the power of love in action. In vision and deed, he is the revelation and embodiment of the Nonviolent God, a truth especially illuminated in the Cross and Resurrection. He calls us to develop the virtue of nonviolent peacemaking.

Clearly, the Word of God, the witness of Jesus, should never be used to justify violence, injustice or war. We confess that the people of God have betrayed this central message of the Gospel many times, participating in wars, persecution, oppression, exploitation, and discrimination.

We believe that there is no "just war". Too often the "just war theory" has been used to endorse rather than prevent or limit war. Suggesting that a "just war" is possible also undermines the moral imperative to develop tools and capacities for nonviolent transformation of conflict.

We need a new framework that is consistent with Gospel nonviolence. A different path is clearly unfolding in recent Catholic social teaching. Pope John XXIII wrote that war is not a suitable way to restore rights; Pope Paul VI linked peace and development, and told the UN "no more war"; Pope John Paul II said that "war belongs to the tragic past, to history"; Pope Benedict XVI said that "loving the enemy is the nucleus of the Christian revolution"; and Pope Francis said "the true strength of the Christian is the power of truth and love, which leads to the renunciation of all violence. Faith and violence are incompatible". He has also urged the "abolition of war".

We propose that the Catholic Church develop and consider shifting to a Just Peace approach based on Gospel nonviolence. A Just Peace approach offers a vision and an ethic to build peace as well as to prevent, defuse, and to heal the damage of violent conflict. This ethic includes a commitment to human dignity and thriving relationships, with specific criteria, virtues, and practices to guide our actions. We recognize that peace requires justice and justice requires peacemaking.

Living Gospel Nonviolence and Just Peace

In that spirit we commit ourselves to furthering Catholic understanding and practice of active nonviolence on the road to just peace. As would-be disciples of Jesus, challenged and inspired by stories of hope and courage in these days, we call on the Church we love to:

  • continue developing Catholic social teaching on nonviolence. In particular, we call on Pope Francis to share with the world an encyclical on nonviolence and Just Peace;

  • integrate Gospel nonviolence explicitly into the life, including the sacramental life, and work of the Church through dioceses, parishes, agencies, schools, universities, seminaries, religious orders, voluntary associations, and others;

  • promote nonviolent practices and strategies (e.g., nonviolent resistance, restorative justice, trauma healing, unarmed civilian protection, conflict transformation, and peacebuilding strategies);

  • initiate a global conversation on nonviolence within the Church, with people of other faiths, and with the larger world to respond to the monumental crises of our time with the vision and strategies of nonviolence and Just Peace;

  • no longer use or teach "just war theory"; continue advocating for the abolition of war and nuclear weapons;

  • lift up the prophetic voice of the church to challenge unjust world powers and to support and defend those

    nonviolent activists whose work for peace and justice put their lives at risk.

    In every age, the Holy Spirit graces the Church with the wisdom to respond to the challenges of its time. In response to what is a global epidemic of violence, which Pope Francis has labeled a "world war in installments", we are being called to invoke, pray over, teach and take decisive action. With our communities and organizations, we look forward to continue collaborating with the Holy See and the global Church to advance Gospel nonviolence.

Pax Christi International, Rue du Progrès, 323, 1030 Brussels, Belgium. Phone: ++32 (0)2 502.55.50

www.paxchristi.net www.nonviolencejustp 

Monday 1 May 2017

Pope says: "Religious Leader MUST unmask violence and hatred"

Pope at Al-Azhar; religious leaders must 'unmask' violence and hatred

Pope Francis and Sheik Al-Tayeb at the International Peace Conference in Al-Azhar University on Friday - RV

Calling for respectful interreligious dialogue, Pope Francis said the only alternative to a culture of civilized encounter is "the incivility of conflict". Recalling the visit of St Francis to the Sultan in Egypt eight centuries ago, he called for dialogue based on sincerity and the courage to accept differences.
Speaking of the covenant which God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai, the Pope said that religion cannot simply be relegated to the private sphere but, at the same time, religion must not be confused with the political sphere or tempted by worldly powers that seek to exploit it.
Faith and violence are incompatible
At the heart of the law given to Moses, the Pope continued, is the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill'. Violence, he stressed, "is the negation of every authentic religious expression" and religious leaders are called to "unmask" violence and selfishness masquerading as sanctity. Together, he insisted, "Let us affirm the incompatibility of violence and faith, belief and hatred", upholding instead "the sacredness of every human life".
Weapons 'feed the cancer of war'
Echoing the words of Sheik Al-Tayeb, Pope Francis also reiterated his appeal for an end to the arms trade, saying that if weapons are produced and sold, "soon or later they will be used". Only by bringing to light "the murky manoeuvrings  that feed the cancer of war can its real causes be prevented", he said.
Peacemakers, not populism
Finally the Pope stressed the importance of working to eliminate poverty and to combat the current rise of populism that does not promote stability and peace. Every unilateral action that does not promote constructive and shared solutions, he warned, is "a gift to the proponents of radicalism and violence". What our world needs, he said, is peacemakers, not fomenters of conflict; firefighters, not arsonists; preachers of reconciliation, not instigators of destruction".
Please find below the full address of Pope Francis at the International Conference for Peace in Cairo's Al-Azhar Conference Centre
As-salamu alaykum!    Peace be with you!
I consider it a great gift to be able to begin my Visit to Egypt here, and to address you in the context of this International Peace Conference.  I thank the Grand Imam for having planned and organized this Conference, and for kindly inviting me to take part.  I would like to offer you a few thoughts, drawing on the glorious history of this land, which over the ages has appeared to the world as a land of civilizations and a land of covenants.
A land of civilizations 
From ancient times, the culture that arose along the banks of the Nile was synonymous with civilization.  Egypt lifted the lamp of knowledge, giving birth to an inestimable cultural heritage, made up of wisdom and ingenuity, mathematical and astronomical discoveries, and remarkable forms of architecture and figurative art.  The quest for knowledge and the value placed on education were the result of conscious decisions on the part of the ancient inhabitants of this land, and were to bear much fruit for the future.  Similar decisions are needed for our own future, decisions of peace and for peace, for there will be no peace without the proper education of coming generations.  Nor can young people today be properly educated unless the training they receive corresponds to the nature of man as an open and relational being.
Education indeed becomes wisdom for life if it is capable of "drawing out" of men and women the very best of themselves, in contact with the One who transcends them and with the world around them, fostering a sense of identity that is open and not self-enclosed.  Wisdom seeks the other, overcoming temptations to rigidity and closed-mindedness; it is open and in motion, at once humble and inquisitive; it is able to value the past and set it in dialogue with the present, while employing a suitable hermeneutics.  Wisdom prepares a future in which people do not attempt to push their own agenda but rather to include others as an integral part of themselves.  Wisdom tirelessly seeks, even now, to identify opportunities for encounter and sharing; from the past, it learns that evil only gives rise to more evil, and violence to more violence, in a spiral that ends by imprisoning everyone.  Wisdom, in rejecting the dishonesty and the abuse of power, is centred on human dignity, a dignity which is precious in God's eyes, and on an ethics worthy of man, one that is unafraid of others and fearlessly employs those means of knowledge bestowed on us by the Creator. 
Precisely in the field of dialogue, particularly interreligious dialogue, we are constantly called to walk together, in the conviction that the future also depends on the encounter of religions and cultures.  In this regard, the work of the Mixed Committee for Dialogue between the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Committee of Al-Azhar for Dialogue offers us a concrete and encouraging example.  Three basic areas, if properly linked to one another, can assist in this dialogue: the duty to respect one's own identity and that of others, the courage to accept differences, and sincerity of intentions.
The duty to respect one's own identity and that of others, because true dialogue cannot be built on ambiguity or a willingness to sacrifice some good for the sake of pleasing others.  The courage to accept differences, because those who are different, either culturally or religiously, should not be seen or treated as enemies, but rather welcomed as fellow-travellers, in the genuine conviction that the good of each resides in the good of all.  Sincerity of intentions, because dialogue, as an authentic expression of our humanity, is not a strategy for achieving specific goals, but rather a path to truth, one that deserves to be undertaken patiently, in order to transform competition into cooperation.
An education in respectful openness and sincere dialogue with others, recognizing their rights and basic freedoms, particularly religious freedom, represents the best way to build the future together, to be builders of civility.  For the only alternative to the civility of encounter is the incivility of conflict.  To counter effectively the barbarity of those who foment hatred and violence, we need to accompany young people, helping them on the path to maturity and teaching them to respond to the incendiary logic of evil by patiently working for the growth of goodness.  In this way, young people, like well-planted trees, can be firmly rooted in the soil of history, and, growing heavenward in one another's company, can daily turn the polluted air of hatred into the oxygen of fraternity.
In facing this great cultural challenge, one that is both urgent and exciting, we, Christians, Muslims and all believers, are called to offer our specific contribution: "We live under the sun of the one merciful God…  Thus, in a true sense, we can call one another brothers and sisters… since without God the life of man would be like the heavens without the sun".   May the sun of a renewed fraternity in the name of God rise in this sun-drenched land, to be the dawn of a civilization of peace and encounter.  May Saint Francis of Assisi, who eight centuries ago came to Egypt and met Sultan Malik al Kamil, intercede for this intention.
A land of covenants 
In Egypt, not only did the sun of wisdom rise, but also the variegated light of the religions shone in this land.  Here, down the centuries, differences of religion constituted "a form of mutual enrichment in the service of the one national community".   Different faiths met and a variety of cultures blended without being confused, while acknowledging the importance of working together for the common good.  Such "covenants" are urgently needed today.  Here I would take as a symbol the "Mount of the Covenant" which rises up in this land.  Sinai reminds us above all that authentic covenants on earth cannot ignore heaven, that human beings cannot attempt to encounter one another in peace by eliminating God from the horizon, nor can they climb the mountain to appropriate God for themselves (cf. Ex 19:12).
This is a timely reminder in the face of a dangerous paradox of the present moment.  On the one hand, religion tends to be relegated to the private sphere, as if it were not an essential dimension of the human person and society.  At the same time, the religious and political spheres are confused and not properly distinguished.  Religion risks being absorbed into the administration of temporal affairs and tempted by the allure of worldly powers that in fact exploit it.  Our world has seen the globalization of many useful technical instruments, but also a globalization of indifference and negligence, and it moves at a frenetic pace that is difficult to sustain.  As a result, there is renewed interest in the great questions about the meaning of life.  These are the questions that the religions bring to the fore, reminding us of our origins and ultimate calling.  We are not meant to spend all our energies on the uncertain and shifting affairs of this world, but to journey towards the Absolute that is our goal.  For all these reasons, especially today, religion is not a problem but a part of the solution: against the temptation to settle into a banal and uninspired life, where everything begins and ends here below, religion reminds us of the need to lift our hearts to the Most High in order to learn how to build the city of man.
To return to the image of Mount Sinai, I would like to mention the commandments that were promulgated there, even before they were sculpted on tablets of stone.   At the centre of this "decalogue", there resounds, addressed to each individual and to people of all ages, the commandment: "Thou shalt not kill" (Ex 20:13).  God, the lover of life, never ceases to love man, and so he exhorts us to reject the way of violence as the necessary condition for every earthly "covenant".  Above all and especially in our day, the religions are called to respect this imperative, since, for all our need of the Absolute, it is essential that we reject any "absolutizing" that would justify violence.  For violence is the negation of every authentic religious expression.
As religious leaders, we are called, therefore, to unmask the violence that masquerades as purported sanctity and is based more on the "absolutizing" of selfishness than on authentic openness to the Absolute.  We have an obligation to denounce violations of human dignity and human rights, to expose attempts to justify every form of hatred in the name of religion, and to condemn these attempts as idolatrous caricatures of God: Holy is his name, he is the God of peace, God salaam.   Peace alone, therefore, is holy and no act of violence can be perpetrated in the name of God, for it would profane his Name.
            Together, in the land where heaven and earth meet, this land of covenants between peoples and believers, let us say once more a firm and clear "No!" to every form of violence, vengeance and hatred carried out in the name of religion or in the name of God.  Together let us affirm the incompatibility of violence and faith, belief and hatred.  Together let us declare the sacredness of every human life against every form of violence, whether physical, social, educational or psychological.  Unless it is born of a sincere heart and authentic love towards the Merciful God, faith is no more than a conventional or social construct that does not liberate man, but crushes him.  Let us say together: the more we grow in the love of God, the more we grow in the love of our neighbour. 
            Religion, however, is not meant only to unmask evil; it has an intrinsic vocation to promote peace, today perhaps more than ever.   Without giving in to forms of facile syncretism,  our task is that of praying for one another, imploring from God the gift of peace, encountering one another, engaging in dialogue and promoting harmony in the spirit of cooperation and friendship.  For our part, as Christians, "we cannot truly pray to God the Father of all if we treat any people as other than brothers and sisters, for all are created in God's image".   Moreover, we know that, engaged in a constant battle against the evil that threatens a world which is no longer "a place of genuine fraternity", God assures all those who trust in his love that "the way of love lies open to men and that the effort to establish universal brotherhood is not vain".   Rather, that effort is essential: it is of little or no use to raise our voices and run about to find weapons for our protection: what is needed today are peacemakers, not fomenters of conflict; firefighters and not arsonists; preachers of reconciliation and not instigators of destruction.
            It is disconcerting to note that, as the concrete realities of people's lives are increasingly ignored in favour of obscure machinations, demagogic forms of populism are on the rise.  These certainly do not help to consolidate peace and stability: no incitement to violence will guarantee peace, and every unilateral action that does not promote constructive and shared processes is in reality a gift to the proponents of radicalism and violence.
            In order to prevent conflicts and build peace, it is essential that we spare no effort in eliminating situations of poverty and exploitation where extremism more easily takes root, and in blocking the flow of money and weapons destined to those who provoke violence.  Even more radically, an end must be put to the proliferation of arms; if they are produced and sold, sooner or later they will be used.  Only by bringing into the light of day the murky manoeuvrings that feed the cancer of war can its real causes be prevented.  National leaders, institutions and the media are obliged to undertake this urgent and grave task.  So too are all of us who play a leading role in culture; each in his or her own area, we are charged by God, by history and by the future to initiate processes of peace, seeking to lay a solid basis for agreements between peoples and states.  It is my hope that this noble and beloved land of Egypt, with God's help, may continue to respond to the calling it has received to be a land of civilization and covenant, and thus to contribute to the development of processes of peace for its beloved people and for the entire region of the Middle East.
    As-salamu alaykum!  Peace be with you!