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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

Canadian Prelate Presents '08 Eucharistic Congress

APARECIDA, Brazil, MAY 29, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The 2008 International Eucharistic Congress in Canada will be an opportunity to promote a continentwide mission being called for by the prelates meeting in Brazil, says the archbishop of Quebec.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet presented the preparations for the 49th International Eucharistic Congress during an address at the 5th General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean in Aparecida.

The June 15-22, 2008, congress in Quebec will focus on the theme "The Eucharist, Gift of God for the Life of the World."

"The theme will be an extension of what we have discussed during this 5th general conference," explained Cardinal Ouellet during a press conference.

The mystery

The 62-year-old cardinal said the Eucharistic congress will promote the mission shared by the entire American continent.

"It will elaborate on certain doctrinal aspects of the Eucharist in an original way, with emphasis on the sacrament's Trinitarian and missionary nature as a ecclesiological key to highlight the New Covenant and the nuptial symbolism of the Eucharistic mystery," the cardinal explained.

The congress coincides with the 400th anniversary of the founding of the city of Quebec as the seat of the first Catholic diocese north of Mexico.

The Eucharistic congress, Cardinal Ouellet said, will be a "kairos," that is, a magnificent opportunity to promote the great continental mission of the combined Americas.

To register for the Eucharistic congress, visit www.cei2008.ca.

Code: ZE07052910

Date: 2007-05-29

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

Aid to the Church in Need President Also Joins Council

VATICAN CITY, MAY 29, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI named 12 people to the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, the dicastery which oversees the Church's charitable activities around the world.

The new members include:

-- Archbishop Joseph Ngô Quang Kiêt of Ha Noi, Vietnam

-- Bishop Jean-Bosco Ntep of Edea, Cameroon

-- Bishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik of Daejeon, South Korea

-- Prince Karl von Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, of the Diocese of Aquisgrana, Germany

Representing Catholic aid organizations, the Pope named:

-- Father Adam Deren, of the Archdiocese of Wroclaw, general director of Caritas Poland

-- Larry Snyder, of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, president of Catholic Charities

-- Sister Mary Sujita Kallupurakkathu, superior-general of the Notre Dame Sisters, representing the International Union of Superiors-General

-- Hans Peter Röthlin, president of Aid to the Church in Need

-- Marina Costa, of the Archdiocese of Genoa, president of the International Association of Charities

-- Rafael del Río Sendino, president of Caritas in Spain

-- Jean-Luc Moens, of Belgium, president of Fidesco

-- Begoña de Burgos López, of Spain, president of Manos Unidas.

The Pontifical Council Cor Unum was established in 1971.

The council acts as the executive instrument of the Pope for humanitarian initiatives in cases of disaster or in an integral promotion of humanity. It also promotes catechesis and information networking.

Code: ZE07052903

Date: 2007-05-29

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Letter Recalls Life of St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi

VATICAN CITY, MAY 29, 2007 (Zenit.org).- St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi is a symbolic figure of living love that recalls an essential dimension of every Christian life, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope said this in a letter to the Cardinal Ennio Antonelli of Florence, Italy, in honor of the 400th anniversary of the Carmelite mystic's death (1566-1607).

"She did not let herself be conditioned by the world; the world, though Christian, did not satisfy her desire to become ever more similar to her crucified Spouse," wrote the Holy Father.

Born in Florence on April 2, 1566, into a noble family, she was baptized with the name Catherine. The future saint entered the Monastery of San Giovannino of the Dames of Malta.

It was there, on March 25, 1576, that she received her first Communion, and then a few days later, she made a vow of perpetual virginity.

When she was 16, she entered the cloistered Carmelite Monastery of St. Mary of the Angels and took the name Mary Magdalene.

In March 1584, she fell ill, but was able to make her religious profession later that year on the feast of the Holy Trinity.

Ecstasies

"Thus began an intense mystical period from which would come her fame as a great ecstatic," recalled the Pope.

Her confessors, in order to determine if these ecstasies where divinely inspired, obliged her to tell her superiors everything that she was experiencing. Her sisters wrote down her words during and after the ecstasies.

Benedict XVI described these as intense experiences "that, at only 19 years old, rendered her capable of understanding the mystery of salvation -- from the incarnation of the Word in Mary's womb to the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost."

These experiences were published as "Forty Days" (1584), "Discussions" (1585), and "Revelations and Understandings" (1585).

The volumes describe "eight days of wonderful ecstasy from the vigil of Pentecost to the Feast of the Trinity," wrote the Holy Father.

He continued: "Five years of interior purification were to follow -- Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi spoke of it in her book 'Probation,' in which the Word, her Spouse, removed from her the feeling of grace and left her, like Daniel in the lions' den, to suffer many trials and temptations.

"Her great desire for Church reform was born during this time, after witnessing rays of light from on high in the summer of 1586, showing her the true state of the Church in the era after the Council of Trent.

"Like Catherine of Siena, she felt 'compelled' to write letters to the Pope, cardinals of the Curia, her archbishop and other Church leaders, encouraging them to work for the 'Renewal of the Church,' as the title of the manuscript says."

Calvary

Eventually, tuberculosis forced her to slowly withdraw from the active life of the community.

"Purified love, which beat so strongly in her heart, opened her to the desire for full conformity with Christ, her Spouse, even unto sharing with him the 'nudo patire' [naked suffering] of the cross," the Pope continued. "The last three years of her life were a true Calvary of sufferings for her."

She died on May 25, 1607. Her incorrupt body is under the altar of the Church of the Monastery of St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi in Careggi, Florence.

She was beatified on May 8, 1626, by Pope Urban VIII, also from Florence, and was canonized by Pope Clement IX on April 28, 1669.

Benedict XVI added: "During her life she would ring the bells and exhort her fellow sisters saying: 'Come to love Love!'

"The great mystic from Florence, from her convent and from the Carmelite monasteries that aspire to her, we pray that we may still hear her voice in the entire Church, spreading the proclamation of God's love for every human creature."

Code: ZE07052901

Date: 2007-05-29

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

Releases Message for 81st World Day

VATICAN CITY, MAY 29, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Faced with an increasingly secularized culture, every baptized person must become active in the Church's missionary activity, says Benedict XVI.

This appeal was made in the Pope's message for the 81st World Mission Day, which will be celebrated on Oct. 21 with the theme: "All the Churches for All the World."

In the text, published today by the Vatican press office, the Holy Father "invites local Churches on all continents to a joint awareness of the urgent need to relaunch missionary activity to meet the many grave challenges of our time."

The Pontiff directed his remarks to all "the Churches of ancient tradition that, in the past, have supplied the missions not only with material resources but also with consistent numbers of priests, religious and lay people, thus engendering effective cooperation between Christian communities."

"Faced with an increasingly secularized culture, which seems to be penetrating Western societies more and more, in light of the crisis of the family, the lack of vocations and a progressively aging clergy," the Pope explained, these ancient Churches "run the risk of closing in on themselves, of looking to the future with reduced hope and of lessening their missionary efforts."

"Yet this is precisely the moment to open trustingly to the providence of God, who never abandons his people and who, through the power of the Holy Spirit, guides them towards the accomplishment of his eternal plan of salvation," the Holy Father said.

Exchange of gifts

The papal message addresses recently evangelized Churches, "though beset by many difficulties and obstacles in their development, these communities are constantly growing."

Benedict XVI added: "Some have an abundance of priests and consecrated persons, many of them, despite the many local needs, are still sent to carry out their pastoral ministry and their apostolic work abroad, even to the lands of ancient evangelization.

"We witness a providential 'exchange of gifts' that benefits the entire Mystical Body of Christ. I pray that missionary cooperation may intensify, making full use of everyone's potentials and charisms."

The message, signed by the Pope on May 27, Pentecost Sunday, points out that the missionary challenge of today "is no longer simply to collaborate in the activity of evangelization, but to make people feel that that they are protagonists and share responsibility for the Church's mission."

"This shared responsibility," the Holy Father concluded, "requires greater communion between communities and an increase in reciprocal help for priests, religious and lay volunteers, in using the means necessary today to evangelize."

Code: ZE07052902

Date: 2007-05-29

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

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Vatican, May. 28, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI met on May 28 with Major Archbishop Issac Cleemis Thottunkal of Trivandrum, The Indian prelate was visiting Rome for the first time since becoming the head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church.

In paying tribute to the Syro-Malankara Catholic tradition, Pope Benedict said that he was "most grateful" to the Indian archbishop for his "eager wish to 'see Peter.'"

Archbishop Thottunkal was named in February to head the Trivandrum archdiocese, and thus the leader of the world's 500,000 Syro-Malankara faithful. Pope Benedict noted: "The precious heritage of your ecclesial tradition was placed in the hands of your Beatitude through the act of canonical election conducted by the Fathers of the Syro-Malankara Synod." The Pope offered his prayers for the welfare of the Eastern Church, and said that fidelity to the Syro-Malankara tradition "will enable the whole Church to benefit from what, in his manifold wisdom, 'the Spirit is saying to the churches.'"

The Syro-Malankara Church boasts a heritage stretching back to St. Thomas the Apostle, whose missionary activity reached to the subcontinent. The "Thomas Christians" eventually became Nestorians, affiliated with the Assyrian Church. But when Catholic explorers from Portugal colonized India, European missionaries restored ties with the Holy See. During the 17th century, Indian Christians, resentful of the Portuguese influence which they felt was destroying their Assyrian tradition, left the Catholic Church. However, they did not re-establish their relationship with the Assyrian church. Instead, when the Syrian Orthodox patriarch offered to take the Indian Christians under his care, they agreed--at the price of adopting the Syrian liturgy, and leaving behind their Assyrian heritage.

The resulting Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church was itself split early in the 20th century, and one group of bishops sought to be reconciled with Rome. By the middle of the century the trickle had become a flood, and the Syro-Malankara Church was growing rapidly. Today the number of Syro-Malankars is approaching 500,000--nearly all of them living in the Indian state of Kerala.

In 2005, Pope John Paul II raised Archbishop Cyril Mar Baselios Malancharuvil of Trivandrum, the head of the Syro-Malankara Church, to the title of Major Archbishop. His death in January 2007 led to the appointment of Archbishop Thottunkal.