Pope Francis thanks Cardinal Bertone for years of service

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis sent a message of thanks and held a farewell ceremony for the Vatican’s Secretary of State emeritus, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, SDB, on Tuesday. The 78 year-old Cardinal Bertone served in the office from his appointment by Benedict XVI in June of 2006. In remarks to the gathered officials and staff of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, the Secretary emeritus remembered the seven years’ service and more with his collaborators, who, he said, “[served with] dedication and sometimes with sacrifice.” He thanked Pope Francis for his benevolence and offered best wishes to his successor as Secretary, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, who was not in attendance due to a medical procedure and is due to assume his duties.

Pope Francis spoke briefly to thank Cardinal Bertone, saying, “[I]n teaching, in your ministry as diocesan bishop, and in your service in the Curia, including your service as Secretary of State, it seems that the fil rouge was constituted precisely by that Salesian priestly vocation, which has signed your life from earliest childhood, and which has brought you to carry out all of the assignments you have received, without exception, with profound love for the Church, great generosity, and with that typical[ly] Salesian mixture that unites a sincere spirit of obedience and a great liberty of initiative and personal inventiveness.”

The Holy Father concluded with expressions of gratitude to the whole Secretariat of State, asking everyone present for continued prayers and assuring them of his own. 

Pope Francis: Message to Cardinal Bertone

(Vatican Radio) Please find a Vatican Information Service translation of Pope Francis' Message of thanks to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B., Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, who ended his mandate as Secretary of State on Tuesday, below.
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“It is time for you, dear brother, to 'pass the baton' in the service of secretary of State. I therefore wish to join with you spiritually in giving thanks to God for the good that he has allowed you to achieve in this, such a delicate and challenging role. The memory of St. Theresa of Jesus, whom we celebrate on this date, invites you to turn your gaze to God: “Let nothing disturb you”, says the great saint of Avila, “let nothing frighten you; whoever has God lacks nothing”.
“On this occasion I feel the need to express my deep gratitude for the diligence which you have brought to your work over these seven years; and I do so also on behalf of the beloved Pope Benedict XVI, who called you from Genoa, where you were archbishop, to return to Rome and entrusted to you the role of secretary of State from 15 September 2006, and therefore also that of Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church. Seven years of hard work, lived with great generosity and in the spirit of service. I too have benefited to this day from your expert collaboration.
“There is an aspect for which I wish to express to you my appreciation in a particular way, and it is your faithfulness to the spirit of Don Bosco, the Salesian spirit, that you have been able to conserve and bear witness to in spite of being absorbed in the many commitments connected to the task of assisting Peter's Successor. With the enterprise and love for the Pope characteristic of the sons of St. John Bosco, you have always carried out with dedication your task of guiding the international relations of the Holy See, so important in the exercise of the ministry of the Bishop of Rome. At the same time, you have spared no efforts in taking the Papal Magisterium and the Apostolic blessing everywhere: to all countries, dioceses, parishes, universities, institutions, associations. Our Lady, Help of Christians has been close to you and has always assisted you in your valuable ministry. May her maternal intercession ensure for you the heavenly rewards and graces dearest to your heart. May there be a pledge of peace and spiritual joy in the blessing I impart to you, and which I extend with heartfelt gratitude also to your colleagues and loved ones”.

Vatican unveils new focus on sporting events for Year of Faith

(Vatican Radio) The Pontifical Council for Culture announced on Tuesday a number of new sporting events aimed at raising the importance of sports during this year of faith. These include the launch of the Vatican’s very own cricket team and a race that will take place next Sunday up to St Peter’s Square, where participants will be greeted by Pope Francis following the Angelus prayer. 

‘I have finished the race: I have kept the faith’ Those words of St Paul in his second letter to Timothy are at the heart of a number of initiatives announced by the Vatican’s Council for Culture in order to raise the profile of sports within the Catholic world. It’s not just St Paul’s sporting quotations either, since the New Testament is full of different words and expressions comparing our journey through life to a race or a competition, to which we must dedicate our minds and train our bodies.
Noting how last year’s London Olympics featured many athletes who spoke openly about their faith, Council officials have organised a 100 metres relay race up the Via della Conciliazione leading to St Peter’s Square for Sunday October 20^th. Msgr Melchor Sanchez de Toca is undersecretary of the Council for Culture:

“We wanted to bring sports to the place where St Peter gave his confession of faith, to bring the attention of the Church on sports and to bring sports into the Church…
It connects the City of Rome with the Vatican ….I think it would be a very powerful image to see a bishop or cardinal in a track suit running….the Pope will greet participants at the end of the Angelus..”

The race features facilities for disabled athletes and commentary by well-known sporting personalities, keen to shift the focus from growing financial interests back to the more traditional values of sport as an expression of harmony between body and spirit.
But this race is just the beginning of a new sporting focus for the Vatican: also announced on Tuesday was a high level event for Olympic athletes in 2014, plus the launch of the Holy See’s own cricket team – watch this space for more details on who’ll be going in to bat and who’ll be behind the wicket 

Pope Francis: Beware of idolatry and hypocrisy

(Vatican Radio) Idolatry and hypocrisy do not spare even the Christian life. Pope Francis put us on guard against both these vices in his homily at this morning’s Mass at the Casa Santa Marta. In order not to give in to the dangers of these sins, he said, it is necessary to put into practice the commandments of love of God and love of neighbour.

Once again, the liturgy of the Mass elicits from Pope Francis a reflection on the traps that punctuate the life of faith: To become an apostle of one’s own ideas, or a devotee of one’s own well-being, rather than that of God; speaking ill about someone because he does not conform to certain formalities, forgetting that the “new” commandment of Christianity is love of neighbour without ifs and buts. From the words of St. Paul, the Pope goes on to condemn the sin of idolatry, that of people who – as the Apostle says – “for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give Him thanks” preferring to worship “the creature rather than the creator.” It is an idolatry, the Pope said, that “stifles the truth of the Faith” in which “is revealed the righteousness of God”:

“But since we all have need to worship – because we have the imprint of God within us – when we do not worship God, we worship creatures. And this is the passage from faith to idolatry. These people, idolaters, have no excuse: because having known God, they have neither glorified nor worshipped Him as God. And what is the way of idolatry? He says clearly: ‘they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened.’ The selfishness of their own thoughts, the omnipotent thought, that which I think is true: I think the truth, I make the truth with my thought.”

The critics of Saint Paul, two thousand years ago, went to the idolaters who prostrated themselves before reptiles, birds, and four-legged creatures. And here, Pope Francis immediately responds to the objection that this problem doesn’t arise, because no one goes around worshipping statues. It’s not so, the Pope replied: idolatry has found new forms and fashions:

“Even today, there are so many idols, and even today there are so many idolaters, so many who think they are wise. But even among us, among Christians, eh? I’m not speaking about them, I respect them, those who aren’t Christians. But among us – we’re speaking within the family – they think they’re wise, they know everything... They’ve become foolish and exchange the glory of the incorruptible God with an image: myself, my ideas, my comforts . . . Today, all of us – I go ahead, eh! It’s not only something historic – even today, along the way there are idols, even a step forward . . . We all have within ourselves some hidden idol. We can ask ourselves, in the sight of God: what is my hidden idol? What takes the place of God?”
If Saint Paul calls the idolaters foolish, in the day’s Gospel Jesus says the same thing about the hypocrites, in the person of the Pharisees who are scandalized because the Master hadn’t washed as was the norm before sitting down at table. “You Pharisees!” Jesus replied. “Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil.” And He adds, “But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.”

“Jesus counsels: don’t look at appearances, go by the truth. The plate is the plate, but what is important is what’s on the plate: the meal. But if you are vain, if you are a careerist, if you are ambitious, if you are a person that always puts himself forward or likes to advance yourself, because you think you are perfect, give a little bit of alms and that will heal your hypocrisy. This is the way of the Lord: it is to worship God, to love God above all things and to love your neighbour. It’s so simple, but so difficult! This can only be done with grace. Let us ask for this grace”.

APSA announces Supervisory Board, outside financial review

Home > Church >  2013-10-15 17:05:09

(Vatican Radio) The presidency of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See (APSA) has announced a new supervisory board and a review to be conducted by an independent firm.The APSA is the office of the Roman Curia that handles the properties, real and personal, of the Holy See, in order to provide the funds necessary for the Holy See to function. Below, please find Vatican Radio's translation of the statement from the APSA

In implementation of the presented this past July to the Council of Cardinals for the Study of Organizational and Economic Problems of the Holy See in the report of the Consultors of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), it appeared appropriate to review the functions of Consultors themselves through the creation of a “Supervisory Board” of the APSA’s Extraordinary Section, for which the same Consultors have given their availability.
As is known, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See - Extraordinary Section has the exclusive function of administering its own personal property and personal property entrusted to it by other agencies of the Holy See.
In addition, on October 15, the process of Due Diligence on economic and financial position of the two sections of the APSA , ordinary and extraordinary, began, headed by Promontory Financial Group. The result of the review will allow for greater depth and detail in the verification of the financial condition and management of the APSA. The initiative was launched along with the Referent Pontifical Commission for the Study and Address of the economic structure and administrative organization of the Holy See, which will have the data of the review available, so as to enable it to formulate, within scope of its mandate, appropriate proposals to promote efficiency and transparency of the same APSA.