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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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VATICAN CITY, APR 15, 2007 (VIS) - Today, the second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, the Pope presided at a Eucharistic concelebration in St. Peter's Square to mark his own 80th birthday which falls tomorrow, April 16. The event was attended by 50,000 people.
Concelebrating with the Pope were 60 cardinals, archbishops and bishops of the Roman Curia, as well as auxiliary bishops and a representative of the priests of the diocese of Rome. Also present at the Mass was Metropolitan Ioannis (Zizioulas) of Pergamo, the envoy of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople.
Opening his homily, Benedict XVI recalled how Servant of God John Paul II had wished this Sunday to be dedicated to Divine Mercy. In the word "mercy" said Pope Benedict, John Paul II "saw the entire mystery of the Redemption summarized and newly interpreted for our times. ... He had a profound experience of the shadows that threaten the world even in our own time. But he also experienced, and no less strongly, the presence of God Who opposes all these forces with His power that is completely different and divine: with the power of mercy."
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VATICAN CITY, APR 15, 2007 (VIS) - In St. Peter's Square, at the end of the Eucharistic celebration marking his 80th birthday, the Holy Father prayed the Regina Coeli with the pilgrims gathered there.
The Pope thanked those present and noted how over these days "the entire Church, as a true family," was surrounding him with affection.
The Holy Father then went on to recall that it was Servant of God John Paul II who instituted Divine Mercy Sunday, and that he died on the eve of that Feast.
"This Sunday," said Pope Benedict, "marks the end of the week - or more correctly the 'Octave' - of Easter, which the liturgy considers as a single day, 'the day that the Lord has made.' It is not a chronological time, but a spiritual time that God opened in the fabric of the days when He raised Christ from the dead. The Creator Spirit, infusing new and eternal life into the buried body of Jesus of Nazareth, brought the work of creation to completion giving rise to a 'novelty', the novelty of a new humanity which, at the same time, is a novelty of a new world and a new era.
"This renewal of the world," he added, "can be summarized in a word: the word that the Risen Christ pronounced to His disciples as a greeting and, even more so, as an announcement of His victory: 'Peace be with you.'
"Peace is the gift that Christ left to His friends as a blessing intended for all men and all peoples. Not peace as a balance of power according to the mentality of the 'world,' but as a new reality, fruit of God's Love and of His Mercy. This is the peace that Jesus Christ bought at the price of His Blood and that He communicates to those who believe in Him."
Benedict XVI called upon Mary, "incarnation of Divine Mercy," to help us "allow ourselves to be renewed by the Spirit in order to cooperate in the work of peace that God is achieving in the world," a work "that makes no noise, but is accomplished in the innumerable gestures of charity of all His children."
ANG/DIVINE MERCY/...VIS 070417 (380)
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VATICAN CITY, APR 16, 2007 (VIS) - Today, his 80th birthday, Benedict XVI dedicated the morning to audiences, during which he received a number of his fellow countrymen. At 1 p.m. he had lunch with members of the College of Cardinals in the Sala Ducale of the Vatican Apostolic Palace.
In the evening, in the Paul VI Hall, a concert was held in the Holy Father's honor, given by the Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) of Stuttgart, Germany. The orchestra, directed by the Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, played pieces by Giovanni Gabrieli (1554/57-1612), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904).
At the end of the concert, the Pope thanked the conductor and musicians, expressing his conviction that music "truly is the universal language of beauty, capable of uniting men and women of good will all over the world, bringing them to raise their gaze to the Heights and aspire to absolute Good and Beauty, the ultimate source of which is God Himself.
"In looking back over my own life," he added, "I thank God for having given me music which, almost as a travelling companion, has always brought me comfort and joy."
The Holy Father also expressed his gratitude "to the people who, from the earliest years of my infancy, introduced me to this source of inspiration and serenity. I thank those who unite music and prayer in harmonious praise of God and His works. They help us to glorify the Creator and Redeemer of the world."
"This is my desire," he concluded: "that the greatness and beauty of music may also give you, dear friends, a new and continual inspiration to build a world of love, solidarity and peace."
After the concert, those present sang "Happy Birthday" to the Pope in Italian and German.
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NEW YORK, APRIL 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is the statement delivered April 10 by Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Holy See's permanent observer to the United Nations, at the 40th session of the Commission on Population and Development of the U.N. Economic and Social Council.
The topic was the changing age structures of populations and their implications for development.
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Mr. Chairman,
Indicators continue to suggest that by 2050 the world's population should stabilize at about 9 billion. Although this implies that national populations will not need to be regulated as proposed by radical opinion in the past, this commission should continue to serve a useful purpose in monitoring the demographic trends in all parts of the world. In this regard, policy goals and the means to achieve them must remain sound and focused on the dignity of the human person.
This 40th session of the commission coincides with the 40th anniversary of a document on population and development written by the late Pope Paul VI, known as "Populorum Progressio," that is, "The Progress of Peoples."
At a time when the world was commonly divided into two blocs, East and West, the document focused instead on peoples and societies, whose conditions were marked not by being Eastern or Western, but by the levels of development and well-being in some parts of the world, in contrast to the degree of poverty and underdevelopment in others.
The emphasis placed by the document on the individual and on societies, both as the primary focus of development policies and as protagonists of their own development, even today provides a sure guide for demographic policies to promote a culture respectful of the rights of the least-protected members of our human family, especially before birth and in extreme old age.
The reports made to the commission this year suggest that dependency ratios are set to soar in some places, where an increasing number of elderly people will lay a heavier burden on the active population. It is to be hoped that states will work to foster respect for human life in all its stages and to find solutions that are right and just, not merely pragmatic. Here in particular, promoting solidarity between generations will be very valuable.
While by 2050 Europe is set to have an elderly dependency ratio similar to that of Africa's in the 1960s, Africa is set to have the lowest dependency ratio in the world. This projection should hand that continent an unprecedented advantage in economic terms, as a young and numerous work force should be available to it until at least 2050, while the demographic dividend in most other regions will have run out.
To assure that Africa will not miss this window of opportunity for economic development, it must be helped, inter alia, to invest in its human capital and infrastructure to underpin economic growth. Because many of this future work force are already born and are already of school age, my delegation believes that the most decisive investment to be made here is in education.
The U.N. Secretariat estimates that to achieve primary education for all by 2015 would cost $9 billion estimated in 1998 dollar value. By any estimate, this can hardly be considered a high price to pay for such a prize.
Moreover, education, especially for girls and young women, can have a notable impact on population growth. As women become better educated, they gain greater respect; they become breadwinners; they acquire maturity in parental responsibility and a greater say in family affairs. Investing in people in this way, especially in education, is surely to be preferred to legal imposition of limits, to artificial corrective measures and drastic policies, and to the unacceptable practice of eliminating fetuses, especially females, in order to limit population growth.
Finally, since this commission's 39th session last year, important initiatives have been both completed and launched, in particular concerning migrants, a topic of no small importance in relation to the changing age structures of populations. My delegation regards last year's High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development as having been useful and welcomes the offer of Belgium and other countries to maintain its momentum in the form of the forthcoming Global Forum on Migration and Development.
It is to be hoped that the Forum will build upon what was achieved during the high-level dialogue. There is almost no country in the world untouched by migration and it has become an extremely important source both of labor and of remittances depending on each country's circumstances. Therefore, it is in the interests of all states -- not to mention the migrants themselves -- that the forum be allowed room to succeed.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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Code: ZE07041628
Date: 2007-04-16
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LONDON, APRIL 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The recent flux of immigrants into Britain's Catholic community is not only a great challenge, but also a great opportunity for the Church, says an auxiliary bishop of Westminster.
Bishop Alan Hopes, who is responsible for ethnic chaplaincies in the archdiocese, made this comment to ZENIT in connection with the release of the Von Hugel Institute's report on the needs of immigrants in London's Catholic community.
The report, entitled "The Ground of Justice," was co-commissioned by the three dioceses in London.
In this interview, Bishop Hopes comments on the effects immigration has had on the Church in London, and throughout the United Kingdom, and how its pastors are struggling with the new challenges presented by the new ethnic communities.
Q: Your responsibilities include coordinating foreign language chaplaincies in London's Archdiocese of Westminster. Have you been surprised by the scale of Catholic immigration recently, especially from Poland and other new European Union member countries?
Bishop Hopes: The U.K.'s government estimated that 15,000 Poles would come here after their country's accession to the European Union in May 2004, but we have had at least 10 times that number in London and South East England alone. So, everyone has been surprised, and now migration is becoming a core part of everyday life.
Last year, 220,000 new migrants came to the U.K., and the government expects 180,000 more each year. We live in a new "global village," and it is one for which the Catholic Church is particularly well-suited.
Q: Why do you say that the Catholic Church in England is particularly well-suited to accept immigrants into its community, and is there any reluctance in some quarters?
Bishop Hopes: Almost alone among English Christian denominations, the Catholic community has been very successful at welcoming people of all social backgrounds within the country and from a huge range of national origins too. This is one of our greatest strengths.
We have excellent roots in the country, but a strong historical memory of former migrations that added energy to our life. These two strands of our experience give me new hope today.
Although we are a united Catholic Church, and a united episcopal conference, bishops have pastoral responsibility for very different geographical areas. My judgment is that there is a broad welcome for immigration, and the form it takes arises from reflection on the needs of particular places which can be so very different, geographically and socially, even within our island.
For my part, I am greatly encouraged that the three Catholic dioceses in London -- Westminster, Southwark and Brentwood -- are now striving to collaborate more closely to support the invaluable work of our ethnic chaplaincies.
Both before and since the research of the Von Hugel team, which our three dioceses jointly commissioned, we have been working very hard to respond to the guidance provided by the Holy See on these issues in its document "Erga Migrantes Caritas Christi" -- "The Love of Christ Toward Migrants."
Q: The Von Hugel Institute's report suggests that in some places the Church has been overwhelmed by the scale of the influx. Would you agree?
Bishop Hopes: What they mean is that some individual priests have been overwhelmed by the numbers and the sheer scale of the need they have had to respond to. This is true, and we know this. This is why the bishops of the three London dioceses commissioned the report, so that we could find new ways to support priests.
We know that we need to find new lay helpers, to coordinate what we already do in a fresh way, and, in time, to find ways in which other bodies can pull their weight as well to support both these overburdened priests and the migrants themselves.
Having said that, the report is clear about the good work that is going on. Indeed, only last week one of its authors told all the ethnic chaplains that the experience of being among them for a year, watching their dedication, had inspired the research team and made them even more proud to be Catholics themselves.
So, there is much hope and much that, in due course, we will be able to do together -- grounded, as it will be, in our existing commitment and enthusiasm.
Q: The report states that the recent influx could be the Church's "greatest threat" or its "greatest opportunity." What are these threats, and how can they be made into opportunities?
Bishop Hopes: I know the research team would prefer simply "opportunity" and "challenge." Immigration is a wonderful opportunity because of the vitality of the faith that migrants bring. The report shows just how devout many of them are and how much they love the Church.
The challenge is, without doubt, a pastoral challenge to make sure that these mostly younger people can have access to the sacraments, Catholic schools and proper pay and living conditions -- in a society which, generally perhaps, regards the Church as old and declining and sometimes out of touch with the young.
It is also a challenge to find fresh ways to support families which have been divided between the U.K. and their countries of origin. The report observes that our ethnic chaplains feel this especially.
But it is important to stress that the needs uncovered by the report are a challenge to all those concerned for the common good -- not just bishops. When pay at work can be as low as £2 [$3.87] an hour, a society needs to look into its own heart and ask what is going wrong.
Q: The influx of Catholic immigrants is centered upon London, which is already a global and cosmopolitan city. Do you think its effects will be felt farther afield across the country?
Bishop Hopes: It is already doing so. The other day Cardinal Keith O'Brien of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, president of the Scottish bishops' conference, said he would be reflecting on the needs of the large Polish community in Glasgow.
In Crewe, in northwest England, Poles are the fastest growing ethnic minority; in Southampton, on England's southern coast, they represent nearly 15% of the city population, and even in rural areas big changes are taking place as farms and market gardens draw in European migrants to do many jobs that local people no longer want to do. I know there is a very similar picture in Ireland as well; in Dublin, Polish is now said to be the second most-spoken language.
The Von Hugel Institute is now carrying out research in other dioceses across England because bishops have recognized the needs that arise among the people in their care. Immigration is something that concerns us all, and it is here to stay.
Code: ZE07041627
Date: 2007-04-16
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The Bibles are a gift from the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
The book, called "God Speaks to His Children" will be distributed to the faithful in the Archdiocese of Dhaka as well as in the dioceses of Rajshahi, Mymensingh, Chittagong, Khulna and Dinajpur.
Archbishop Paulinus Costa of Dhaka, writing to ACN, said: "We all think strongly that the children's Bible will be a very effective means of imparting catechism to our children, catechumen and newly converted people.
"This Bible will also help us to teach through pictures."
In Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries, some 300,000 Catholics living among 147 million people. Approximately 88% are Muslims, and 10% are Hindus.
Code: ZE07041626
Date: 2007-04-16