Pope Francis: Prayer keeps us from losing faith

(Vatican Radio) If a Christian “becomes a disciple of the ideology, he has lost the faith.”
This was the theme of Pope Francis’ homily during his Thursday morning Mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae. During his homily, the Pope warned Christians against behaving as though the “key is in [their] pocket, and the door closed.” He reiterated that without prayer, one abandons the faith and descends into ideology and moralism. “Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge!” (Luke 11: 52)
Pope Francis referred back to this passage from Thursday’s Gospel in his homily, moving from Jesus’ warning. He warned: “When we are on the street and find ourselves in front of a closed Church,” he said, “we feel that something is strange.” Sometimes, he said, “they give us reasons” as to why they are closed: They give “excuses, justifications, but the fact remains that the Church is closed and the people who pass by cannot enter.” And, even worse, the Lord cannot be close to the people. Today, the Pope said, Jesus speaks to us about the “image of the [lock]”; it is “the image of those Christians who have the key in their hand, but take it away, without opening the door.” Worse still, “they keep the door closed” and “don’t allow anyone to enter.” In so doing, they themselves do not enter. The “lack of Christian witness does this,” he said, and “when this Christian is a priest, a bishop or a Pope it is worse.” But, the Pope asks, how does it happen that a “Christian falls into this attitude” of keeping the key to the Church in his pocket, with the door closed?
“The faith passes, so to speak, through a distiller and becomes ideology. And ideology does not beckon [people]. In ideologies there is not Jesus: in his tenderness, his love, his meekness. And ideologies are rigid, always. Of every sign: rigid. And when a Christian becomes a disciple of the ideology, he has lost the faith: he is no longer a disciple of Jesus, he is a disciple of this attitude of thought… For this reason Jesus said to them: ‘You have taken away the key of knowledge.’ The knowledge of Jesus is transformed into an ideological and also moralistic knowledge, because these close the door with many requirements.”
The Pope continued, Jesus told us: “You burden the shoulders of people [with] many things; only one is necessary.” This, therefore, is the “spiritual, mental” thought process of one who wants to keep the key in his pocket and the door closed:
“The faith becomes ideology and ideology frightens, ideology chases away the people, distances, distances the people and distances of the Church of the people. But it is a serious illness, this of ideological Christians. It is an illness, but it is not new, eh? Already the Apostle John, in his first Letter, spoke of this. Christians who lose the faith and prefer the ideologies. His attitude is: be rigid, moralistic, ethical, but without kindness. This can be the question, no? But why is it that a Christian can become like this? Just one thing: this Christian does not pray. And if there is no prayer, you always close the door.”
“The key that opens the door to the faith,” the Pope added, “is prayer.” The Holy Father warned: “When a Christian does not pray, this happens. And his witness is an arrogant witness.” He who does not pray is “arrogant, is proud, is sure of himself. He is not humble. He seeks his own advancement.” Instead, he said, “when a Christian prays, he is not far from the faith; he speaks with Jesus.” And, the Pope said, “I say to pray, I do not say to say prayers, because these teachers of the law said many prayers” in order to be seen. Jesus, instead, says: “when you pray, go into your room and pray to the Father in secret, heart to heart.” The pope continued: “It is one thing to pray, and another thing to say prayers.”
“These do not pray, abandoning the faith and transforming it into moralistic, casuistic ideology, without Jesus. And when a prophet or a good Christian reproaches them, they the same that they did with Jesus: ‘When Jesus left, the scribes and Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him’ – they are ideologically hostile – ‘and to interrogate him about many things,’ – they are insidious – ‘for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.’ They are not transparent. Ah, poor things, they are people dishonoured by their pride. We ask the Lord for Grace, first: never to stop praying to never lose the faith; to remain humble, and so not to become closed, which closes the way to 

Lenten Retreat of Pope Francis to take place in Albano

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has decided that the Lenten Spiritual Exercises for the Roman Curia will be held in the “Casa del Divin Maestro” (House of the Divine Master) in Albano, which is run by the Pauline congregation. The retreat will be led by Roman diocesan priest, Msgr. Angelo De Donatis. It will begin the evening of March 9^th, a Sunday, and run through Friday morning (14 March), which is the first week of Lent. According to a statement, the objective is to be able to reside in a place that is silent and reserved, far from the place of daily work, in order to better concentrate on the Spiritual Exercises.

THE CHURCH IS ROOTED IN THE APOSTLES BUT LOOKS TO THE FUTURE

Vatican City, 16 October 2013 (VIS) – After considering the unity, holiness and catholicity of the Church, as defined by the Creed, the Holy Father today addressed her apostolic nature. During the catechesis of the Pope's general audience in St. Peter's Square, he stated that “to profess that the Church is apostolic means underlining her constitutive bond with the Apostles, with that small group of twelve men whom Jesus called to Him by name one day, to ask them to stay with Him and to send them to preach. Indeed, 'apostle' is a Greek word meaning 'messenger', 'envoy'.

“The Apostles were chosen, called and sent by Jesus in order to continue His work, that is, prayer, the first task of an apostle, and secondly, to proclaim the Gospel”, continued the Pope, recalling that in the first years of the Church, to enable the apostles to have enough time for prayer, they instituted deacons to help them with their evangelising mission. “And when we think of their successors, of the bishops – including the Pope, because he too is a bishop”, he added, “we have to wonder if this successor of the Apostles prays, first of all, and then proclaims the Gospel. This is what it means to be an apostle, and this is why the Church is apostolic”.

The Church is apostolic “because she is based on the preachings and prayer of the Apostles, on the authority given to them by Christ Himself”, said the Pope, quoting St. Paul who, in his letter to the Christians of Epheseus compared them to “living stones, forming a house that is the Church, and this edifice is based on the Apostles, who are its columns, and the cornerstone of Jesus Himself. Without Jesus there can be no Church – he is the base and foundation. The Apostles lived with Jesus, they listened to His words, they shared in His life and, above all, they witnessed His Death and Resurrection. Our faith, the Church that Christ wanted, is not based on an idea, on a philosophy, but on Christ Himself. And the Church is like a plant that grows throughout the centuries … and has borne fruit, but the roots are planted deeply in Him, and the fundamental experience of the Apostles, chosen and sent by Jesus, reaches us”.

“But”, Pope Francis asked, “how is it possible for us to connect with this testimony of those who lived with and listened to Him?” He responded that it is the Catechism that affirms that the Church is apostolic, since she “keeps and hands on the teaching, the 'good deposit', the salutary words she has heard from the Apostles”; that is, “she conserves over the centuries the valuable treasure of the Sacred Scripture, the doctrine, the sacraments, the ministry of the pastors, so that we can be faithful to Christ and participate in His life. It is like a river flowing through history … but the water that flows is always that which emerges from the source, from Christ Himself. He is the Risen One, the Living One, and His words do not pass away from us. Christ never passes away from us, He is here, among us”.

Addressing the thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father said, “Do we ever think of how it has been precisely the Church who, in her path across these centuries, in spite of difficulties, problems and weakness, who has transmitted Christ's authentic message to us, and who gives us the security that what we believe in is really what Christ communicated to us?”

Finally, the Church is apostolic because “she is sent to bring the Gospel to all the world. She continues, on her path through history, the very mission that Christ entrusted to the Apostles: 'Go and make disciples of all nations. … And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age'. I insist on the missionary aspect of the Church, because Christ invites us all to the encounter with others, He sends us, He asks us to be on our way, to bring the joy of the Gospel to all!”

The Holy Father concluded, “The Church has her roots in the teaching of the Apostles, authentic witnesses of Christ, but looks to the future, and has the fixed awareness of being sent by Christ, of being Christ's missionary, of bringing forth Christ's name by prayer, proclamation and witness. A Church closed in on herself and the past, a Church who focuses only on minor rules and habits, betrays her own identity”.

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”.