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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday met with members of Rome’s Jewish community to mark the 70th anniversary of the deportation of the city’s Jewish population during the Nazi occupation. Among those present was the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Dr. Riccardo Di Segni, the President of the Jewish Community of Rome , Dr. Riccardo Pacifici, and the President of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities , Dr. Renzo Gattegna.
Pope Francis began by expressing his closeness to Rome’s Jewish community, which is the oldest in Western Europe, having a continued presence in the city of over two thousand years.
“For many centuries…the Jewish community and the Church of Rome have lived in our city , with a history - as we well know - which was often transversed by misunderstandings and even true grievances,” Pope Francis said. “However, it is a story , that with the help of God , has for many decades experienced the development of friendly and fraternal relations.”
The Pope then turned to the occasion of the visit. The deportation of over one thousand Roman Jews on October 16, 1943, during the Nazi occupation of Rome. They were sent to Auschwitz, and only 16 ever returned to the homes.
“We will remember in a few days the 70th anniversary of the deportation of the Jews of Rome. We will remember and pray for the many innocent victims of human barbarity , for their families,” said Pope Francis.
“It will also be an opportunity to keep vigilant so that, under any pretext, any forms of intolerance and anti-Semitism in Rome and the rest of the world not come back to life,” the Holy Father said.
“I've said it other times and I would like to repeat it now: It’s a contradiction that a Christian is anti-Semitic: His roots are Jewish,” said the Pope. “A Christian cannot be anti-Semitic ! Let Anti-Semitism be banished from the heart and life of every man and every woman!”
Pope Francis also said the anniversary offers a chance to remember how the Christian community responded during this “hour of darkness” to the needs of his brother in difficulty.
“We know how many religious institutions, monasteries and Papal Basilicas, interpreting the will of the Pope, opened their doors in a brotherly welcome , and how many ordinary Christians offered what help they could give, however big or small,” he said.
“The vast majority were not aware of the need to update the Christian understanding of Judaism, and perhaps knew very little about the life of the Jewish community,” Pope Francis continued.
“But they had the courage to do what at that time was the right thing : to protect their brother, who was in danger. I would like to emphasize this aspect , because if it is true that it is important, on both sides, to study, in depth, theological reflections through dialogue, it is also true that there is a dialogue of life, that of everyday experience , which is no less important . Indeed, without this , without a real and concrete culture of encounter , which leads to authentic relationships , which exist without prejudice and suspicion, the engagement in the intellectual field would serve little purpose. Here also, as I often like to underline , the People of God has its own intuition and realizes the path God asks them to travel. In this case, the path of friendship, closeness and fraternity,” the Pope said.
Pope Francis concluded by mentioning his friendship with the Jewish community of Buenos Aires, and recalling that Christians and Jews have the Decalogue in common, to be used as a solid foundation and source of life for society, “so disoriented by an extreme diversity of choices and positions, and marked by a relativism which does not have many firm or safe points of reference.”
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday met with the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schultz. During the meeting, the two men discussed the situation with migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea, especially in light of the tragedy off the island of Lampedusa in which over 300 people died in a shipwreck.
“I share the view that for the richest part of the world it is a shame that people, just some metres in front of our borders, or coasts, died. So what the European Union must do, and the member-states of the Union especially, is reform our whole system of immigration,” Martin Shultz said. We have the Dublin II Convention which is covering exclusively political asylum, but temporary protection for refugees from civil war regions, from regions of natural disasters, or even a system of legal immigration, is missing in Europe.”
Pope Francis on Friday also met with Jean-Claude Mignon, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has declared a new saint and advanced seven other causes for sainthood, the latter including a North American religious sister and two laymen. A statement, issued Friday by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, said the Pope has recognized the sainthood of Medieval mystic Blessed Angela da Foligno and “enrolled her” on the Church’s official “catalogue of saints”.
A laywoman and member of the Secular Franciscan Order, Blessed Angela was born in a well-to-do family in Foligno, Italy, circa 1248; she died on 4 January 1309. A wife, mother and widow, she lived a deep spiritual conversion in 1285. Attracted by the ideals of St. Francis of Assisi, she joined the Secular Franciscan Order six years later. Her visions were recorded by her spiritual director.
The statement says the Pope “extended the liturgical cult in honour of Angela da Foligno to the Universal Church”, after having received a report from the prefect of the Congregation, Cardinal Angelo Amato, sdb, on 9 October.
The Pope also authorized a decree, attributing a miracle to the intercession of Venerable Maria Assunta Caterina Marchetti (1871-1948), Italian co-foundress of a community of religious sisters, the Congregazione delle Suore Missionarie di San Carlo.
The decree also recognizes the heroic virtues of:
Bishop Pio Alberto Del Corona (1837-1912), Italian founder of the Dominican Sisters of the Holy Spirit
- Attilio Luciano Giordani (1913-1972), Italian layman, father, and Salesian Cooperator
- Sr. Maria Eleonora Giorgi (1882-1945), Italian religious sister of the Sisters Servants of Our Lady of Sorrows
- Amato Ronconi (c. 1226-1292), Italian layman, Secular Franciscan and founder of a hospice for the poor in Rimini, Italy
- Sr. Marie Elisabeth Turgeon (1840-1881), Canadian foundress of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary
- Sr. Maria Jane Wilson (1840-1916), Indian foundress of the Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Vic
(Vatican Radio) Christians must always guard against the deceit of the devil, said Pope Francis at Friday’s morning Mass in Casa Santa Marta. The Pope underlined that Christians cannot follow the victory of Jesus over evil “halfway”, nor confuse or relativize truth in the battle against the devil.
Jesus casts out demons, and then someone offers explanations “to diminish the power of the Lord,” he said. The Pope focused his homily on the day’s Gospel and immediately underlined that there is always the temptation to want to diminish the figure of Jesus, as if he were “a healer at most” and so as not to take him “so seriously”. It is an attitude, he observed, that has “reached our present day”.
“There are some priests who, when they read this Gospel passage, this and others, say: ‘But, Jesus healed a person with a mental illness’. They do not read this, no? It is true that at that time, they could confuse epilepsy with demonic possession; but it is also true that there was the devil! And we do not have the right to simplify the matter, as if to say: ‘All of these (people) were not possessed; they were mentally ill’. No! The presence of the devil is on the first page of the Bible, and the Bible ends as well with the presence of the devil, with the victory of God over the devil.”
For this reason, he warned, “we should not be naïve”. The Pope observed that the Lord gave us certain criteria to “discern” the presence of evil and to follow “the Christian way when there are temptations”. One of the criteria is “not to follow the victory of Jesus” only “halfway”.
“Either you are with me, says the Lord, or you are against me,” the Pope said. Jesus, he added, came to destroy the devil, “to give us the freedom” from “the enslavement the devil has over us”. And, he cautioned, this is not “exaggerating”.
“On this point,” he said, “there are no nuances. There is a battle and a battle where salvation is at play, eternal salvation; eternal salvation” of us all.
There is criteria for watchfulness. “We must always be on guard,” exhorted the Pope, “on guard against deceit, against the seduction of evil”.
“And we can ask ourselves the question: Do I guard myself, my heart, my feelings, my thoughts? Do I guard the treasure of grace? Do I guard the presence of the Holy Spirit in me? Or do I let go, feeling secure, believing that all is going well? But if you do not guard yourself, he who is stronger than you will come. But if someone stronger comes and overcomes, he takes away the weapons in which one trusted, and he shall divide the spoil. Vigilance! Three criteria! Do not confuse the truth. Jesus fights the devil: first criterion. Second criterion: he who is not with Jesus is against Jesus. There are no attitudes in the middle. Third criterion: vigilance over our hearts because the devil is astute. He is never cast out forever. It will only be so on the last day.”
When the impure spirit leaves man, the Pope pointed out, “it wanders in deserted places, and seeking rest and finding none, says: ‘I will return to my house, from which I left’.”
And when he finds it “swept clean and adorned”, then he goes, “takes another seven spirits worse than he, who come and make their homes”. And, this way, “the last state of man becomes worse than the first”.
“Vigilance,” he said, “because his strategy is this: ‘You became Christian. Advance in your faith. I will leave you. I will leave you tranquil. But then when you are used to not being so watchful and you feel secure, I will come back’. The Gospel today begins with the devil being cast out and ends with the devil coming back! St. Peter would say: ‘It is like a fierce lion that circles us’. It is like that. ‘But, Father, you a little ancient. You are frightening us with these things…’ No, not me! It is the Gospel! And these are not lies: it is the Word of the Lord!
“Let us ask the Lord for the grace to take these things seriously. He came to fight for our salvation. He won against the devil! Please, let us not do business with the devil! He seeks to return home, to take possession of us… Do not relativize; be vigilant! And always with Jesus!”
