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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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Calls His Support in Favor of World's Hungry "Invaluable"
VATICAN CITY, MAY 28, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI met with the executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, who thanked him and expressed her wishes that collaboration with the Church can continue and be strengthened.
Josette Sheeran said of today's meeting: "It is a great honor to express in person my gratitude to His Holiness for his invaluable support in favor of the world's hungry.
"I hope that the already excellent collaborative work with the Catholic Church which, like WFP, is an institution with truly global reach, can be strengthened further."
A number of Catholic organizations work with the WFP. The list includes Caritas Internationalis, which distributed 85,000 tons of food in 2006.
Sheeran said: "In crisis and conflict areas around the world -- as in Darfur, Somalia, Chad, the Occupied Palestinian territories -- WFP staff often work in dramatic situations where their own safety may be at risk, to help those who are most vulnerable.
"The moral authority of the Holy Father and his appeals for peace, justice and security are highly encouraging for us. We know we can always count on the partnership and precious help of Catholics and Catholic organizations."
During the audience, Sheeran invited the Pope to visit WFP's headquarters in Rome. Afterward, she met with Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for relations with states.
Code: ZE07052818
Date: 2007-05-28
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Says Evangelization Is Top Priority
VATICAN CITY, MAY 28, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Evangelization is the first priority for bishops, Benedict XVI told the prelates of Mozambique, who were in Rome for their five-yearly visit.
During the meeting on Saturday, the Pope reminded the bishops from Mozambique that they are responsible "for announcing the word of God throughout the area entrusted to you," including everything "from the celebration of the liturgy, formation in prayer and in preparation for the sacraments."
Bishops are also responsible for "the organic unity of the diocese and its charitable, educational and apostolic institutions," he said.
"For this reason you were clothed with pastoral authority," the Holy Father observed, pointing out that this authority "takes the form of a servant that offers his life, his time, his strength and his heart for his sheep."
The Pontiff added: "One providential avenue to create a new missionary impulse is the ecclesial movements and new communities.
"Welcome and promote them in your dioceses, because the Holy Spirit is using them to reawaken and deepen the faith in people's hearts and to proclaim the joy that comes from belief in Jesus Christ."
The Pope told the bishops he was aware of the great challenges they face because of "a modern society full of sensuality and individualism," which will not get better without "a dynamic and well-rooted pastoral plan to promote families, which is based on family associations coordinated at the diocesan and national level."
Benedict XVI said that other areas which require the bishops' attention includes "assistance to the poor, sick and the marginalized, countering the advance of sects and developing the social communications media."
Code: ZE07052806
Date: 2007-05-28
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Affirms Value of Eastern Tradition and Union With Holy See
VATICAN CITY, MAY 28, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI received in audience the leader of the Syro-Malankars, and encouraged him to maintain both the union with the Apostolic See and the specifically Eastern features of that tradition.
This morning in the Vatican, the Pope received Major Archbishop Issac Cleemis Thottunkal, major archbishop of Trivandrum of the Syro-Malankars, India.
The archbishop was elected to his current office by the Synod of the Syro-Malankar Church on Feb. 8.
The Holy Father told him: "Now the universal Church, together with all those who belong to your ecclesial tradition, is counting upon Your Beatitude to ensure that the Malankar community can proceed along a twofold path.
"On the one hand, through faithfulness to the Apostolic See you will always participate fully in the universal breath of the one Church of Christ; on the other hand your fidelity to the specifically Eastern features of your tradition will enable the whole Church to benefit from what in his manifold wisdom the Spirit is saying to the Churches.'"
The Pontiff said: "Now is a time of new evangelization, a time of constantly renewed and convinced dialogue with all our brothers and sisters who share our Christian faith, a time of respectful and fruitful encounter between religions and cultures for the good of all, and especially the poorest of the poor.
"Our commitment to evangelization needs to be constantly renewed, as we strive to build peace, in justice and solidarity, for the whole human family."
Code: ZE07052803
Date: 2007-05-28
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Tells Them People Are Businesses' Most Important Resource
VATICAN CITY, MAY 28, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Workers are the most precious resource of any business, explained Benedict XVI to young entrepreneurs.
The Pope met with young people from Confindustria, the General Confederation of Italian Industry, on Saturday, and told them that as entrepreneurs they are not only the future of the Italian economy, but also the present.
During his address, the Holy Father underlined that "human life, and the values of human life, must always be the foundation and the final aim of the economy."
As a result, "all business enterprises are to be considered primarily as groups of people, whose rights and dignity must be respected," he added.
Citing the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, the Pontiff noted that business managers must see beyond the economic objectives of a company. "It is also their precise duty to respect concretely the human dignity of those who work within the company," he said.
These workers, added Benedict XVI, are the "most precious resource of any business," and "the decisive factor of production."
He continued, "In important decisions concerning strategy and finances, in decisions to buy or sell, to resize, close or to merge a site, financial and commercial criteria must not be the only considerations made."
The Pope affirmed that the effort must be made "for working activity to become once again an area in which people can realize their potential and make the most of their individual capacities and genius."
"And it depends upon you," he said, "dear business people, to create the most favorable conditions to bring this about."
Code: ZE07052804
Date: 2007-05-28
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Interview 28 May 2007 - In anticipation of a regular meeting of the Joint Orthodox-Catholic Theological Commission to take place in Italy, the Russian Orthodox Church representative to European international organizations Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria, in his interview with the Interfax-Religion, has warned in advance that at the forthcoming meeting the Moscow Patriarchate intends to assert its own view of the problem of primacy and conciliarity in church authority.
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chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it
by Sandro Magister
ROMA, May 28, 2007 – In Iraq’s bloody war, which is being fought primarily by Muslim groups against other Muslims and “infidels,” the Iraqi Christians are the only ones who are not using weapons or bombs, not even to defend themselves. There aren’t any armed Christian militias in Iraq. In fact, they are the most vulnerable and persecuted group. In 2000, they were more than a million and a half, 3 percent of the population. Today it is estimated that fewer than 500,000 remain.
In an official statement released on May 24, the Iraqi government promised protection for the Christian families threatened and chased out by terrorist Islamic groups. Some Muslim exponents have expressed solidarity. The government’s action – which, however, is devoid of concrete initiatives – follows the dramatic appeal issued on May 6 by Emmanuel III Delly, patriarch of the Chaldeans, the most numerous Iraqi Catholic community, in the homily for the Mass celebrated in the church of Mar Qardagh, in Erbil, Kurdistan.
Click here to read the story at chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it (new window will open).