Every Christmas is unique and the real Christmas is the birth of Christ. The Child Jesus comes to us with His smile and open arms offering us all His love.

Each New Year brings changes and challenges. That certainly has been true in 2020.

To this unusual year, given the family, economic, political and social circumstances caused by COVID-19, is added the suspension of Zenit’s daily and weekly services in Spanish, English, and Italian — 23 years of service to the Pope and to the Church, with the best team that any means of communication could have, with unbounded commitment:

•  To delicacy and respect for all the topics addressed,
•  To remaining untiring in adversity,
•  To seek truth over recognition,
•  To thinking always of the good of Zenit’s readers.

We give thanks to each and every employee and collaborator.

We especially thank the readers and subscribers for their loyalty and perseverance in following our services for their personal good and that of others: a responsibility we have never forgotten, which encouraged us to carry out our daily work. THANK YOU.

Heartfelt thanks to the donors with whose support we have been able to reach here. Thanks to you, we have been a means of communication which has lived of its readers’ donations, and whose exigency has been to carry forward evangelization to all corners of the world. Thanks to you, 23 are many years serving the Pope and the Church. THANK YOU.

Thanks to all the members of the Catholic Church who have helped us to do our work, from the Vatican to Episcopal Conferences, Dioceses, parishes, convents, and monasteries. THANK YOU.

Let us pray to the Child Jesus to guide and accompany us throughout 2021. Place at His feet in the Nativity Scene all that we have accomplished together, which only He knows. Christ came into the world to save us and to bring us peace. Through Zenit, we have transmitted this message to all.

All of us who have served the English edition of Zenit have our readers in our prayers and ask your prayers for us as we serve the Church in the future.

This is our last news dispatch but the mission of evangelizing will continue through all of us.

As Pope Francis works toward greater financial transparency and accountability in the Vatican, he has given a new mandate to improve oversight of spending and investments, including of Peter’s Pence.

The Pope’s new Motu Proprio “A Better Organization,” published today, Dec. 28, by the Holy See Press Office, continues the attempt at overhauling Vatican finances.

Converting into law what he already wrote in his Aug. 25 letter to the Secretary of State, this Motu Proprio, a statement from the Press Office underscored, “represents another important step in the reform of the Curia.”

Noting the decision comes before Jan. 11, for the implementation of the 2021 budget, the Vatican clarified “the Commission instituted by the Holy Father for the passing of the economic and financial functions of the Secretariat of State to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, for the management, and to the Secretariat for the Economy, for the control, which was worked on over the last weeks, will continue, as was foreseen, to specify some technical details until February 14.”

The new law will reduce the number of economic managers in the Holy See and concentrate administrative, management, economic and financial decisions in the Dicasteries.

“With the motu proprio,” the Vatican explained, “the Holy Father wishes to proceed to a better organization of the Roman Curia and to a more specialized functioning of the Secretariat of State, which will be able to help him and his Successors with greater freedom on questions of greater importance for the good of the Church.”

The functions of the so-called “Administrative Office” of the Secretariat of State, the press  release noted, are reduced, given that it will no longer have to manage or decide on funds and investments.

“The Motu Proprio,” it stated, “establishes a greater control and a better visibility of Saint Peter’s Pence and of the funds that come from donations of the faithful.”

In addition, specific controls–the mandate said–are reinforced on some entities related to the Holy See, which manage funds that come from donations.

“With these decisions,” the Holy See Press Office’s statement concluded, “the Holy Father expresses his personal commitment and that of the Roman Curia, for greater transparency, a clearer separation of functions, greater efficacy in controls and greater adjustment of the economy of the Holy See to the mission of the Church,” so that “the People of God who help with their generosity to support the mission of the Bishop of Rome, can do so with the confidence that their contributions are administered appropriately and transparently with the exercise of the due controls.”

Link to full Italian text: https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2020/12/28/0694/01624.html

The “Amoris Laetitia Family” Year (March 19, 2021- June 26, 2022) has five objectives, pointed out the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life on December 27, 2020. “To spread the Document’s content,” “to proclaim that the Sacrament of Marriage is a gift,” to render families actors of the family pastoral,” “to make young people conscious of the importance of formation to the truth of love and of the gift of oneself,” “to broaden the gaze and action of the family pastoral . . . so as to include spouses, children, young people, the elderly and situations of family fragility.”

Among the “initiatives” already planned, is a “day for grandparents and elderly people,” but also a Forum in June 2021, and ten videos of Pope Francis on the Document, testimonies of handicapped people, pastoral proposals, preparatory catecheses for Rome’s 10^th World Meeting of Families in June 2022.

The Dicastery quotes first of all the Post-Synodal Document: “The Christian proclamation concerning the family is truly good news” (Amoris Laetitia, 1).

 Opening and Closing

 Pope Francis will open the “Amoris Laetitia Family” Year on March 19, 2021. On that day the Church will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the publication of the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia “on the beauty and the joy of family love.” He will close it on June 26, 2022, on the occasion of the 10^th World Meeting of Families in Rome.

This is how the organizing Dicastery explains the “project.” The “Amoris Laetitia” Year is an initiative of Pope Francis, which intends to touch the world’s families through different proposals of a spiritual, pastoral and cultural nature, able to be implemented in parishes, dioceses, Universities, Ecclesial Movements, and family Associations.”

“The pandemic experience has made evident the central role of the family as domestic Church and the importance of community links between families, which make the Church a “family of families” (AL 87),” underscores the Dicastery.

This is why the family “merits a year of celebrations because it is placed at the center of the engagement and care of the whole pastoral and ecclesial reality.”

There are five objectives:

“1. To spread the content of the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia,” to have people experience that the Gospel of the family is a joy that fills the heart and our whole life” (AL 200). A family that discovers and experiences the joy of having a gift and of being a gift to the Church and the society, “can become a light in the darkness of the world” (AL 66). And today the world is in need of that light!

“2. To proclaim that the Sacrament of Marriage is a gift and that it has in itself a transforming power of human love. To this end, it is necessary that Pastors and families walk together in pastoral co-responsibility and complementarity between the different vocations in the Church (cf. AL 203).

“3. To make families protagonists in the Family Pastoral. To this end, “an effort of evangelization and of catechesis directed to the heart of the family” (AL 200) is necessary because a disciple family also becomes a missionary family.

“4. To sensitize young people to the importance of being formed in the truth of love and in the gift of oneself with initiatives dedicated to them.

“5. To broaden the gaze and action of the family pastoral so that it becomes transversal to the family, to include the spouses, the children, the young people, the elderly and situations of family fragility.”

Initiatives and Resources

 “1. Forum “Where are we with Amoris Laetitia? Strategies for the implementation of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation,” from June 9 to 12, 2021, with leaders of the family pastoral of Episcopal Conferences, and international family Movements and Associations.

“2. Project “10 Amoris Laetitia Videos”: The Holy Father will recount the chapters of the Apostolic Exhortation, with families that will give witness of certain aspects of their daily life. Every month a video will be diffused to awaken the pastoral interest of the family in the dioceses and parishes of the whole world.

“3. #IamChurch: diffusion of some video testimonies on ecclesial leadership and the faith of handicapped people.

“4. To walk as a family”: 12 concrete pastoral proposals to walk as a family inspired by Amoris Laetitia.

 “5. In view of the 10^th World Meeting of Families in Rome in 2022, the dioceses and families of the whole world are invited to spread and reflect further on the catecheses that will be made available by the diocese of Rome and to engage in ad hoc pastoral initiatives.

“6. Celebration of a day for grandparents and elderly people.”

 “Tools of family spirituality, of formation and pastoral action in preparation for marriage, education to affection of young people, on the sanctity of spouses and families that live the grace of the Sacrament in their daily life, will be diffused,” adds the same source.

In addition, the Dicastery announces that international “University symposiums will be organized to explore the content and the implications of the Apostolic Exhortation in relation to the topical questions that affect families of the whole world”

The 2022 World Meeting in Rome

 “Family love: vocation and way of holiness” is the theme chosen by Pope Francis for the next World Meeting of Families, which will be held in Rome in June 2022.

“On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia and three years after the promulgation of Gaudete et Exsultate,” explains the Dicastery, “this meeting intends to put forward family love as vocation and way of holiness, to understand and share the profound and salvific meaning of family relations in daily life.”

The meeting will be organized by the diocese of Rome and the Roman Dicastery and, initially planned for the fifth anniversary of Amoris Laetitia as well as three years after Gaudete et Exsultate, that is, in 2021. It was moved to 2022 because of the pandemic.

“On giving form to the concrete experience of love,” explains the Dicastery, “ marriage and the family manifest the lofty value of human relations, in the sharing of joys and trials, in the unfolding of daily life, in guiding people to the encounter with God. This path, lived with fidelity and perseverance, reinforces love and realizes the vocation to sanctity proper to each person that is concretized in conjugal and family relations. In this sense, Christian family life is a vocation and a path of sanctity, an expression of the “most beautiful face of the Church” (Gaudete et Exsultate 9).”

Translation by Virginia M. Forrester

Pope Francis offered some common sense but profound advice for families during his Angelus Address on December 27, 2020, the Feast of the Holy Family.

In light of the pandemic restrictions, the Holy Father spoke from the Library of the Apostolic Palace, focusing on families both before and after praying the noonday Angelus with the faithful connect via social media around the world.

“In imitation of the Holy Family, we are called to rediscover the educational value of the family unit: it must be founded on the love that always regenerates relationships, opening up horizons of hope,” the Pope said. “Within the family, one can experience sincere communion when it is a house of prayer, when the affections are serious, profound, pure, when forgiveness prevails over discord, when the daily harshness of life is softened by mutual tenderness and serene adherence to God’s will. In this way, the family opens itself to the joy that God gives to all those who know how to give joyfully.”

The Holy Father suggested three short phrases to help avoid “cold war” in the family:

• Please
• Thank You
• I am Sorry

“If in a family, in the family environment there are these three words, the family is fine,” Francis said.

After the Angelus, he offered particular thoughts about families, noting the challenges faced during the pandemic and a difficult year.

“My thoughts turn in particular to the families who, during these months, have lost a loved one or have been affected by the consequences of the pandemic.,” Pope Francis continued. “I think also of the doctors, nurses, and all healthcare professionals whose great example on the front line in fighting the spread of the virus has had significant repercussions on family life.

“And today I entrust all families to the Lord, especially those most tried by life’s difficulties and by the scourges of misunderstanding and division. May the Lord, born in Bethlehem, grant them all the serenity and strength to walk together in the way of goodness.”

Read Pope’s Full Commentary Here.

Dear Brothers and Sister in Christ.

Merry Christmas.  

Happy Feast to all of you families.  Special prayers to parents who are skillfully holding on to the integrity of the family during these challenging times.  Let there be more blessings to each one of you.  Let the families be healed. Let the families be released from the grip of all challenges.  Let the new year come with a dawn of hope.  Christ is in charge.

The feast of the Holy family comes soon after Christmas.  Why?  So much significance to the family?  The Bible started with a family, the first parents, Adam and Eve.  Today is the feast of the second family, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus:  the coming of the second Adam. ( 1 Corinthians 15:45-49:).

The first man was the destroyer of the relationship with God. The second Adam is the restorer.  The first family seek to run away from God. The second family ran to God. The second family is called Holy because it said “Let it be done according to your will.”  The first father, Adam blamed the woman and made family life a history of conflict. The second holy family, Joseph, did not blame anyone, not even Mary when he found her pregnant before marriage.  His patience made that family holy where the redeemer was born.

Holy Family feast is the central theme of our Faith Journey.   It started with the Trinity.  Our God lives in a family. Three persons sharing equally, not competing.  Trinity is a symbol of family.  Love is the glue.  Christian God is not a heartless God, segregating himself from ‘polluting humanity’ but he is a God lives with only one quality love, not power. He is not macho monster, spewing fire and brimstone of vengeance.  He is a God intoxicated with love, indulging in extravagant sacrifice of his Son.   John  captures those mad moments of God with the beautiful pivotal Biblical  verse :

God so loved the world that he sent his only Son

Not to condemn but to redeem ( John 3:16).

That redemption happens in the family.  The call to priesthood and religious life is a noble calling.  But this should not devalue the holy calling to Family life.  All of us need to understand creation did not start with reverend fathers and reverend sisters. When God took the risk of creation, he wanted to create a family.  Not monks.   God did not create  Fr Adam and Sr Eve.  He created them, man and woman.  God’s first celebration was marriage since he found ‘Man must not be alone, and he created woman as his mate’.

That sacred concept of family faced great difficulties.  Today, amidst the Covid the integrity is challenged by poverty, anxieties, conflicts, and uncertainties.   Christ knows your tears;  Christ knows your brokenness.

Because he did not incarnate in a rich family. Jesus could have been born in the royal family, rich family, Pharisees’ family.  But when God loved, he did not love the rich and powerful. He loved the ‘lowly, raised them up’  he called them Anawim, the poor of Yahweh.    He sheds tears when His children suffer.  His way of responding is to send ‘his only son’  not to be a charity worker, not as an NGO distributing food, but as one among those powerless and vulnerable people.  God suffered with us, like a mother nursing her suffering child, sharing in her pain,  God shares our pain. Knowing our pain, he walks with us.

The problems faced by the Holy  Family are the same problems many families face today.   When  Jesus was born there were Angels singing,  kings visited him, stars appeared on the sky.   All of us were born with hope.  Every one of us came with the promise that God was not yet tired of us.   But all through life with Joseph and Mary, there were no Angels singing, no Kings came with gifts.  He was just a carpenter’s son.

He knew every problem our families facing today :

Jesus was poor from birth. The gospel today graphically gives the condition of the family. Luke confirms that Mary and Joseph were poor because instead of a lamb they offered “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,” the lesser sacrifice allowed for poor couples (Leviticus 12:6-8).  Sufferings were foretold: Simeon predicted that ‘a sword will pierce’ Mary’s heart.  The Holy Family started with many of our challenges.

Jesus knows what it means to be in a one-room family.   Nearly 7 lakh people are living in one room in the slums around Yangon.  Jesus’ family knew what it means to starve like thousands of our families forced to starvation during this pandemic.  Jesus family was a daily wage earner provoking the middle class and rich Jews to sneer at him “Is he not the carpenter’s son!”  He belonged to the lowest rung of society, like 60 percent of our people.  He has incarnated in the company of powerless and poor.

Jesus knows what it means to be a refugee, to be an IDP.  Jesus was a refugee in Egypt.  He was an iterant  preacher, always displaced proclaiming “Foxes have holes, the birds have their nests, Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” To the thousands of our people in refugee camps and IDP camps, Jesus’ message: “I know your sorrow.”

Jesus knows the ordeal of citizenship.  It was during one of those exercises to prove the citizenship the Carpenter Joseph took his wife with advanced pregnancy to Bethlehem and ended up in a cowshed for delivery.    Jesus experienced persecution from womb to tomb.  He knows the silent tears of unjustly condemned prisoners like Fr Stan Lourdusamy.   He sheds tears for thousands of youth incarcerated in our jails while mafia bosses who exploited them live in five-star hotels.

Jesus’ response came through his incarnate compassion.  He was rooted not only in Jewish culture but was rooted in human brokenness.  He did this by total obedience to his parents.  The Bible says: And he was obedient to them, And Jesus advanced in age and wisdom and favor before God and man (Luke 2:51–52). For thirty years, the savior of the world, identified totally with the suffering of the family led by a single mother, since Joseph died early.    So Jesus carries the sufferings of the families in his heart.  We need to offer all our challenges when our families we pray to a God who heals because he was the wounded healer.

During His life in Nazareth, Jesus honored the Virgin Mary and righteous Joseph, being subject to their authority during the whole time of His infancy and adolescence (Luke 2:51-52). In this way, He made evident the primary value of the family in the education of a person. Jesus was introduced to the religious community by Mary and Joseph, frequenting the synagogue of Nazareth.  Our families become holy when children are formed in faith and values.  Family is the first church. In pandemic time, when the church is inaccessible, it is the family that becomes ‘home churches.’

We are inspired by two great qualities of the Holy Family:  Love amidst all challenges, shown by patience and understanding.   The holy family faced many difficulties, Jesus’ public ministry must have taken its toll on Mary. Simeon had predicted in the Temple that a sword of sorrow would pierce Mary’s soul. We can imagine one such occasion as we read in Mark 3:21 that when Jesus returned to Nazareth one day his relatives came to take him by force convinced that he was out of his mind. Not a very pleasant experience for any family, no matter how holy.

But Mary, like all mothers, was faithful till the Cross.  Mothers, in the words of Mother Teresa, are created not to be successful, but to be faithful.  Today we remember mothers and their great sacrifice: every mother breaks her body and shares her blood to give each one of us the gift of life.   By being grateful to our mothers, we are grateful to God.  The book of Sirach proclaims that: God sets a father in honor over his children; a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons (Sirach 3:2).

Fathers’ are challenged these days.  Loss of livelihood has brought a great burden.  The first reading talks about the suffering of fathers. These are the times, the family needs to follow the great advice  of St Paul :

Husbands, love your wives and avoid any bitterness toward them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, so that they may not become discouraged (Colossians 3:20–21).

We continue to pray for your dear Families;  Your vocation is most holy.  But the family faces great challenges amidst this pandemic. We pray for livelihood. We pray for patience among one another.  We pray that love becomes the glue that holds us.  Let our faith help us to tide over the tsunami of anxieties.

Those of us who are blessed with resources, be generous with our less fortunate families.  Yangon diocese has asked each parish to support at least 50 families.  I am sure your generosity is spreading to these families during these times.

God bless each one of you.  Christ is in charge. We shall overcome.

+Cardinal Charles Maung Bo., Archbishop of Yangon.

‘Vaccine for all. 20 points for a fairer and healthier world’

This is the title, or rather vehement exhortation, of a joint document published today, Dec. 29, by both the Vatican’s COVID-19 Commission and the Pontifical Academy for Life.

The text, published by the Holy See Press Office and accompanied by a press release, “reiterates the critical role of vaccines to defeat the pandemic, not just for individual personal health but to protect the health of all.”

“The Vatican Commission and the Pontifical Academy of Life remind world leaders that vaccines must be provided to all fairly and equitably, prioritizing those most in need,” it says.

Moreover, the document explores the issues and priorities arising at the various stages of vaccine journey, from research and development to patents and commercial exploitation, including approval, distribution and administration.

Echoing Pope Francis’ recent Urbi et Orbi Christmas Message, “it calls on world leaders to resist the temptation to participate in “vaccine nationalism”, urging nations and companies to cooperate – not compete – with each other.”

Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Cardinal Peter Turkson, who also leads the specialized Commission expressed his gratitude to the scientific community for developing the vaccine in record time.

“It is now up to us,” the Vatican prefect underscores, “to ensure that it is available to all, especially the most vulnerable. It is a matter of justice. This is the time to show we are one human family.”

Similarly, President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, stresses “The interconnectedness that binds humanity has been revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“Together with the Commission,” he highlights, “we are working with many partners to point out lessons the human family can learn and to develop an ethics of risk and solidarity to protect the most vulnerable in society.”

Moreover, the Secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Mons. Bruno Marie Duffé, points out: “We are at a turning point in the COVID-19 pandemic and have an opportunity to start to define the world we want to see post-pandemic.”

Father Augusto Zampini, Adjunct Secretary of the same dicastery with an important role on the Commission also observes: “The way in which vaccines are deployed – where, to whom, and for how much – is the first step for global leaders to take in committing to fairness and justice as the principles for building a better post-COVID world.”

Below is the Vatican-provided English text of the document:

***

Vaccine for all. 20 points for a fairer and healthier world

Vatican Covid-19 Commission in collaboration with the Pontifical Academy for Life

This Note consists of three parts:

A. Context

B. On vaccines

C. Guidelines for the Vatican Covid-19 Commission

A. Context

Covid-19 is exacerbating a triple threat of simultaneous and interconnected health, economic and socio-ecological crises that are disproportionately impacting the poor and vulnerable. As we move towards a just recovery, we must ensure that immediate cures for the crises become stepping-stones to a more just society, with an inclusive and interdependent set of systems. Taking immediate actions to respond to the pandemic, keeping in mind its long-term effects, is essential for a global and regenerative “healing.” If responses are limited solely to the organizational and operational level, without the re-examination of the causes of the current difficulties that can dispose us towards a real conversion, we will never have those societal and planetary transformations that we so urgently need (cf. Fratelli Tutti, 7). The various interventions of the Vatican Covid-19 Commission (“Commission”), established by Pope Francis as a qualified and rapid response to the pandemic, are inspired by this logic, and so is this Note, which deals specifically with the issue of Covid-19 vaccines.

B. On vaccines

Fundamental principles and values

1. On several occasions, Pope Francis has affirmed the need to make the now imminent Covid-19 vaccines available and accessible to all, avoiding “pharmaceutical marginality”: “if there is the possibility of treating a disease with a drug, this should be available to everyone, otherwise an injustice is created”.^[1] In his recent Urbi et Orbi Christmas message,^[2] the Pope stated that vaccines, if they are “to illuminate and bring hope to all, need to be available to all… especially for the most vulnerable and needy of all regions of the planet”. These principles of justice, solidarity and inclusiveness, must be the basis of any specific and concrete intervention in response to the pandemic. The Pope even talked about it in the Catechesis during the General Audience of 19 August 2020, offering some criteria “for choosing which industries to be helped: those which contribute to the inclusion of the excluded, to the promotion of the least, to the common good and care for creation”. Here we have a broad horizon that evokes the principles of the Church’s Social Doctrine,^[3] such as human dignity and the preferential option for the poor, solidarity and subsidiarity, the common good and the care of our common home, justice and the universal destination of goods.^[4] This also recalls the values that in the language of public health constitute the shared values in health emergencies: equal respect for people (human dignity and fundamental rights), reduction of suffering (solidarity towards those in need or sick), correctness or fairness (no discrimination, and fair distribution of benefits and burdens).^[5]

2. The Pope’s reminder to the pharmaceutical companies highlights that the final moment of vaccine administration is not the only one that must be taken into account to reach its universal and fair destination. Rather, its entire “life cycle” must be considered, from the very beginning. We shall therefore proceed in this text by examining the various stages of the vaccine journey, ranging from production to approval, from administration to distribution, on which the recent Note of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (CDF) also insists.^[6] In each of these phases we recognize ethical implications that we must duly take into account so as to analyse the much needed political-economic, organizational and communication decisions. We will conclude with some recommendations for concrete actions, which can mobilize civil institutions and networks, as well as ecclesial agents, in order to contribute to an equitable and universal access to the vaccine.

Research and production

3. The first issue that is often raised around vaccine production concerns the biological materials used for their development. According to the available information, some of the vaccines that are now ready to be approved or applied use cell lines from voluntarily aborted foetuses in more phases of the process, while others use them in specific laboratory tests.^[7]

4. This issue has already been addressed by the Instruction Dignitas Personae,^[8] from the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (8 September 2008). Once we establish that the aim of (public) healthcare cannot justify voluntary abortion in order to obtain cell lines for vaccine production – and thus their distribution and marketing is also morally unlawful in principle – the Instruction states: “within this general picture there exist differing degrees of responsibility. Grave reasons may be morally proportionate to justify the use of such “biological material”. The theme has been addressed in the recent Note from the very same Congregation, with specific reference to Covid-19 vaccines.^[9]

5. The Pontifical Academy for Life returned to the matter with two Notes (5 September 2005 and 31 July 2017 respectively). In particular, the second referred to these preparatory techniques by ruling out “a morally relevant cooperation between those who use these vaccines today and the practice of voluntary abortion. Hence, we believe that all clinically recommended vaccinations can be used with a clear conscience and that the use of such vaccines does not signify some sort of cooperation with voluntary abortion. While the commitment to ensuring that every vaccine has no connection in its preparation to any material originating from an abortion, the moral responsibility to vaccinate is reiterated in order to avoid serious health risks for children and the general population.”

6. The various mechanisms of production and action of the vaccine are significant when it comes to the logistics of distribution (especially in relation to the temperature at which they are stored), and their ability to protect against infection or the clinical manifestation of the disease. In the first case, when the vaccine protects against infection, it contributes to “herd” immunity. Conversely, in the latter case, when the infection arrives without clinical manifestations, the vaccine does not reduce the circulation of the virus (hence the need to directly vaccinate those who are most at risk).^[10]

7. The issue of production is also linked to that of vaccine patents. The financing of research has followed different paths, in the form of both the investment of resources from States (issued directly to research, or though prior purchase of a certain number of doses), and donations from private entities. It is therefore a matter of specifying how the vaccine can effectively become a “common good,” as already expressed by several political leaders (eg. the President of the European Commission^[11]). In fact, since it is not an existing natural resource (such as air or oceans), nor a discovery (such as the genome or other biological structures), but an invention produced by human ingenuity, it is possible to subject it to economic consideration, which allows the recovery of the research costs and risks companies have taken on. Nonetheless, given its function, it is appropriate to consider the vaccine as a good to which everyone should have access, without discrimination, according to the principle of the universal destination of goods highlighted by Pope Francis (cf. no. 1). “We [cannot] allow the virus of radical individualism to get the better of us and make us indifferent to the suffering of other brothers and sisters… letting the law of the marketplace and patents take precedence over the law of love and the health of humanity”.^[12]

8. The sole purpose of commercial exploitation is not ethically acceptable in the field of medicine and healthcare. Investments in the medical field should find their deepest meaning in human solidarity. For this to happen, we ought to identify appropriate systems that favour transparency and cooperation, rather than antagonism and competition. It is therefore vital to overcome the logic of “vaccine nationalism”,^[13] understood as an attempt by various States to own the vaccine in more rapid timeframes as a form of prestige and advantage, procuring the necessary quantity for its inhabitants. International agreements are needed, and are to be supported, in order to manage patents so as to facilitate universal access to the vaccine and avoid potential commercial disruptions, particularly to keep the price steady in the future.

9. The industrial production of the vaccine could become a collaborative undertaking between states, pharmaceutical companies and other organizations so that the production can be carried out simultaneously in different parts of the world. As it has happened for the research – at least partially – it is desirable that positive synergy also occurs in the production stage. This would allow the enhancement of existing plants in the various areas in which vaccines will be administered, on the basis of the principle of subsidiarity.

Approval, distribution and administration

10. Once the various phases of the experimental studies have been completed, the question arises as to how the product can be approved in the current emergency situation by the regulatory authorities to put it on the market and use it in different countries. Given the diversity of the bodies recognized as competent for such authorization, and the international dynamics of the pandemic, it is necessary to coordinate the procedures necessary to achieve this objective and promote cooperation between regulatory authorities.

11. In the public debate, there are different positions on the criteria of administration and access to the vaccine. Despite the difference, however, we find certain lines of convergence that we intend to support. There is agreement on the priority to be given to professional categories engaged in services of common interest, in particular health personnel. This also includes activities that require contact with the public (such as school and public security), vulnerable groups (such as the elderly, or people with particular pathologies). Of course, such a criterion does not resolve all situations. A grey area remains, for example, when defining the priorities of vaccine implementation within the very same risk group. A more attentive stratification of populations could help resolve these dilemmas (e.g. vaccine in areas with higher density maximizes its benefits). In addition, other relevant aspects besides health (such as the different practicability of restrictive measures) for a fair distribution must be taken into account.

12. This order of administration, at an international level, implies that “the priority must be given to vaccinating … some people in all countries, rather than all people in some countries” (WHO Director).^[14] That some countries receive the vaccine late due to prior large-scale purchase by richer states must be avoided. It is a question of agreeing on the specific percentages according to which to concretely proceed. Vaccine distribution requires a number of tools that must be specified and implemented to achieve the agreed objectives in terms of universal accessibility criteria. The CDF recalls the existence of “a moral imperative for the pharmaceutical industry, for governments and international organisations, to guarantee that effective, safe and ethically acceptable vaccines are made available in the poorest countries, in a manner that is not burdensome for them.”^[15] In particular, it is necessary to develop a distribution program that takes account of the collaboration needed to deal with logistical-organizational obstacles in areas that are not easily accessible (cooling chains, transport, healthcare workers, the use of new technologies, etc.). The characteristics of the vaccine also affect this aspect (e.g. storage temperature). This confirms the need for an international body with the task, the moral authority, and the operational capacity to coordinate the various stages of the vaccine process. At present, the World Health Organization remains an important reference point – to be strengthened and improved – regarding the emerging problematic issues.

13. On the moral responsibility of undergoing vaccination (also on the basis of what has been said in n. 3), it is necessary to reiterate how this issue also involves the relationship between personal health and public health, showing their close interdependence. In the light of this connection, we consider it important that a responsible decision be taken in this regard, since refusal of the vaccine may also constitute a risk to others. This also applies if, in the absence of an alternative, the motivation is to avoid benefiting from the results of a voluntary abortion. In fact, in these cases, as the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith states, it can be considered “morally acceptable”, under precise conditions, “to receive Covid-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process.”^[16] This is a matter of material passive cooperation (as opposed to formal cooperation), since it is indirect and remote,^[17] particularly given the intention underlying the decision, the contingency with respect to the accused immoral event, and the current circumstances in which we find ourselves. Therefore, the criteria that would make ethically illicit the decision to vaccinate are non binding. For this reason, such refusal could seriously increase the risks for public health.^[18] In fact, on the one hand, those categories of people who cannot be vaccinated (e.g. immunosuppressed) and who can thus only rely on other people’s vaccination coverage (and herd immunity) to avoid the risk of infection, would be more exposed. On the other hand, becoming ill leads to an increase in hospitalizations, with subsequent overload for health systems, up to a possible collapse, as has happened in various countries during this pandemic. This hinders access to health care which, once again, affects those who have fewer resources. The Bishops of England and Wales have recently reaffirmed that “individuals should welcome the vaccine not only for the sake of their own health but also out of solidarity with others, especially the most vulnerable”.^[19]

C. Guidelines for the Vatican Covid-19 Commission

14. For the sake of clarity on the work of the Commission, some guidelines for its work in relation to the vaccine are given below. The general intention is to obtain a safe and effective vaccine for Covid-19 so that treatment is available to all, with a particular concern for the most vulnerable, respecting equity across the full spectrum of the vaccine development/deployment (research, design, production, funding, distribution, programs and implementation). Transparency and correct communication are essential to foster trust and adherence to the vaccine process. ^[20]

15. Objective 1: Ethical-scientific evaluation. Based on the science available, the Commission will be able to contribute to evaluations on vaccine quality, methodology and pricing necessary for equitable distribution to the most vulnerable.

Actions required: Work closely with major organizations who are developing, evaluating, delivering, and administering vaccines with the possibility, when necessary, of informing opinions on public positions on the quality/equity of proposals for distribution and utilization. For this reason, the Commission aims to have access to the most accurate scientific information as well as to make use of various abilities to audit proposed vaccine and treatment strategies, in particular with regard to their impact on the most vulnerable. As the Holy Father indicates, “We cannot allow the various forms of nationalism closed in on themselves to prevent us from living as the truly human family that we are.” We must provide “vaccines for all … [placing] before all others the most vulnerable and needy!”^[21]

16. Objective 2. Global cure with “local flavour”.^[22] A global cure, with local flavour (locally informed vaccine programs): we aim to develop resources to assist local Churches in preparing for this vaccine initiative and treatment protocols to those in their particular communities.

Actions required: Work closely with the Dioceses and Christian communities worldwide to understand their varied needs and use that information to develop robust positions, recommendations and tools appropriate to various needs. This will start by listening to local Churches and then helping them to advocate for certain structures and supports from the government and other agencies.

17. Objective 3. Partnership and participation. To have a close collaboration with the many organizations that are necessary to contribute to the planning, execution and evaluation of recommendations for global vaccine administration.

Actions required: Work with representatives from major institutions and organizations involved as well as global health organizations, NGOs, and donor organizations to help in developing, evaluating and participating in solutions.

18. Objective 4. Joining forces. Effective collaboration with the working groups of the Commission and other ecclesial groups to propose best possible recommendations to the Church.

Actions required: Work with the other Commission Task Forces using the framework of Laudato si’ and Fratelli Tutti taking into account their recommendations for the final recommendations made by the Commission.

19. Objective 5: Leadership. Deepening the understanding and commitment of the Church in protecting and promoting the God-given dignity of all.

Actions required: Help the universal Church and the world articulate and model the deeper reasons for meeting this challenge as a global human family. The Church could offer to function as a catalyst for addressing this challenge in a manner that reflects an awareness and respect for the dignity of all.

20. Objective 6. The Church at the service of “healing the world”.^[23] Leading by example in ways that are clear and contribute significantly, among other things, to achieving the goal of equitable distribution of vaccines and treatments.

Actions required: Creatively use the voices of the Church worldwide to speak, exhort and contribute to assuring that quality vaccines and treatments are available to the global family, especially the vulnerable. The Church has many ways to assist in this such as her health networks, the Bishops’ Conferences, multiple church organizations who do outreach to the poor, religious communities, etc. Consider donations to groups that work to get treatments and vaccines to those most in need.

_______________

^[1] Pope Francis, 2020. “Address to the Members of the Banco Farmaceutico Foundation”, September 19, 2020.

^[2] Pope Francis, 2020. “Urbi et Orbi – Christmas 2020”. December 25, 2020

^[3] Cf. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, nn. 105-208.

^[4] Pope Francis, 2020. To Heal the World. Catechesis on the Pandemic. Introduction.

^[5] Cf. Nuffield Council for Bioethics, 2020. Fair and equitable access to Covid-19 treatments and vaccines. London: NCB, p. 3. London: NCB,p. 3

^[6] CDF, 2020. “Note on the morality of using some anti-Covid-19 vaccines”, December 21, 2020, n.6.

^[7] Cf. Charlotte Lozier Institute, Covid-19 Vaccine Candidates and Abortion-Derived Cell Lines, 3 December 2020, in https://lozierinstitute.org/update-covid-19-vaccine-candidates-and-abortion-derived-cell-lines/

^[8] CDF, 2008. Instruction Dignitas Personae: On Certain Bioethical Questions, n. 35.

^[9] Cf. CDF, 2020. “Note on the morality of using some anti-Covid-19 vaccines”, December 21, 2020. nn.2-3.

^[10] «Allocation guidelines must balance the obligation to assist individuals most likely to benefit against the obligation to secure the greatest aggregate benefit across the population». In: Wu, J.H., John, S.D, and Adashi E.Y., 2020, “Allocating Vaccines in a Pandemic: The Ethical Dimension”, The American Journal of Medicine, November 2020, Volume 133(11).

^[11] President Von der Leyen has repeatedly expressed that the Covid-19 vaccine needs to be addressed as a public good, since all the efforts to tackle the pandemic can only succeed if we work together for the common good. See for example her later speech https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/ov/SPEECH_20_2258

^[12] Pope Francis, 2020. “Urbi et Orbi – Christmas 2020”. December 25, 2020.

^[13] Ghebreyesus, Tedros, 2020. “WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19”, 4 September 2020.

^[14] Ghebreyesus, Tedros, 18 August 2020.

^[15] CDF, 2020. “Note on the morality of using some anti-Covid-19 vaccines”, December 21, 2020. n.6

^[16] CDF, 2020. “Note on the morality of using some anti-Covid-19 vaccines, December 21, 2020.

^[17] According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), “given the urgency of this crisis, the lack of available alternative vaccines, and the fact that the connection between an abortion that occurred decades ago and receiving a vaccine produced today is remote, inoculation with the new Covid-19 vaccines in these circumstances can be morally justified”. USCCB, 2020, “Moral Considerations Regarding the New Covid-19 Vaccines”.

^[18] As highlighted on a note on the website of the Conference of Latin American Bishops (CELAM), if there is no other option but to take available vaccines in order to protect every human life and the health of all, vaccination cannot be considered to be in cooperation with evil (e.g. with abortion), but a rather a direct act of care for life. Cf. CELAM, 2020, “Vacunas con Fetos Abortados”.

^[19] Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, Department for Social Justice, 2020. “Covid-19 and Vaccination”.

^[20] “The imbalanced and opaque sequence that characterized the early distribution of the limited supplies of the drug remdesivir should serve as a cautionary tale. The same mistakes must not be repeated. Only transparent and consistently applied allocation procedures will ensure public trust, especially in the case of vaccines. Ensuring that the allocation of vaccines is effective, fair, and justifiable to all is a priority that must not be compromised.” In: Wu, J.H., John, S.D, and Adashi E.Y., 2020, op. cit.

^[21] Pope Francis, 2020. “Urbi et Orbi – Christmas 2020”. December 25, 2020.

^[22] Pope Francis, 2020. Fratelli Tutti. On Fraternity and Social Friendship, n. 143.

^[23] Cf. Pope Francis, 2020. To Heal the World – Catechesis on the pandemic. Vatican: LEV.

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Gerald R. Barnes, 75, from the Office of Bishop of San Bernardino, California. Bishop Alberto Rojas, up until now coadjutor bishop of the same diocese, will succeed him as bishop of San Bernardino.

Bishop Rojas was born January 5, 1965, in Aguascalientes, Mexico, a small state in the central part of the country. His parents are Fidel Rojas (deceased) and Maria De la Cruz Garcia. He has three sisters and four brothers.

Bishop Rojas was raised in a devoutly Catholic household and attended Catholic elementary school and high school in his community. He heard the call to the priesthood in his early teens and entered the Diocesan Seminary of Santa Maria de Guadalupe in Aquascalientes at the age of 15. During his seminary formation in Aguascalientes, he also attended Colegio de Ciencias y Humanidades.

Following a visit with family members in California, Bishop Rojas made the decision to complete his seminary formation in the United States. He entered the University of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois where he would complete his theological studies and earn a master’s degree in Divinity. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago by Francis Cardinal George on May 24, 1997, at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago.

In the first years of his priestly ministry, Bishop Rojas served as Associate Pastor of St. Gregory the Great parish and then St. Ita parish in Chicago. “I was involved in many pastoral programs and doing ministry with people of all ages from many cultures was a great learning and joyful experience,” he recalls of his years as a parish priest. In 2002, Cardinal George asked him to join the faculty of the University of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary where he taught for the next eight years.

He was ordained a bishop on August 10, 2011, at Holy Name Cathedral and is the only man that Cardinal George ordained both a priest and a bishop. He chose as his Episcopal Motto, Nos basta el amor de Dios (God’s love is all we need).

In his service to the Archdiocese of Chicago as Auxiliary Bishop, Bishop Rojas served as the Episcopal Vicar of Vicariate III and later Vicariate I. He worked extensively in Hispanic ministry, serving as Cardinal George’s Liaison to Hispanic Catholics and the Archbishop’s Delegate to Consejo Pastoral Arquidiocesano Hispano-Americano. At the national level, he has served as a Spiritual Assessor for the National Catholic Association of Diocesan Directors for Hispanic Ministry (NACDDHM).

Bishop Rojas has served on five committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops – Catholic Home Missions, Hispanic Affairs, Liturgy, the Church in Latin America, and, most recently, V Encuentro as the Lead Bishop for Region VII.

On December 2, 2019, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States announced that Pope Francis had appointed Bishop Rojas as the Coadjutor Bishop of San Bernardino.

Reflecting on his journey as a bishop at the time of his appointment as Coadjutor, Bishop Rojas stated, “Becoming a bishop has been a powerful, humbling, and learning experience because I never thought I would be one. However, in serving the people of God along with my brother priests, religious sisters, parish leaders, other auxiliary bishops, Cardinals, lay ecclesial movements, and lay people in general, I have become more aware of who we are as Catholic Church. There is a beauty and a challenge in becoming part of the Church Jesus Christ founded once we understand the purpose of His mission which is the salvation of souls. But we also know Jesus is in charge, He is with us, and has given us the Holy Spirit to lead our steps along the way.”

The Diocese of San Bernardino comprises 27,293 square miles in the state of California. It has a population of 4,622,361 people of whom, 1,797,173 are Catholic.

Pope Francis delivered the traditional Urbi et Orbi (“To the City [of Rome] and the World”) on Christmas Day. This year, in light of the coronavirus pandemic, he spoke in the Hall of Benediction of St. Peter’s Basilica, the upper area just behind the central loggia where he would usually have delivered his message, with a limited gathering of the faithful.

Following is the full message of the Holy Father.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Merry Christmas!

I would like to bring to everyone the message that the Church proclaims on this feast with the words of the prophet Isaiah: “To us a child is born, to us a son is given” (Is 9:6)

A child is born. A birth is always a source of hope; it is life that blossoms, a promise of the future. Moreover, this Child, Jesus, was born “to us”: an “us” without any borders, privileges or exclusions. The Child born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem was born for everyone: he is the “son” that God has given to the entire human family.

Thanks to this Child, all of us can speak to God and call him “Father”. Jesus is the only-begotten Son; no one but he knows the Father. Yet he came into the world for this very reason: to show us the face of the Father. Thanks to this Child, we can all call one another brothers and sisters, for so we truly are. We come from every continent, from every language and culture, with our own identities and differences, yet we are all brothers and sisters.

At this moment in history, marked by the ecological crisis and grave economic and social imbalances only worsened by the coronavirus pandemic, it is all the more important for us to acknowledge one another as brothers and sisters. God has made this fraternal unity possible, by giving us his Son Jesus. The fraternity he offers us has nothing to do with fine words, abstract ideals, or vague sentiments. It is a fraternity grounded in genuine love, making it possible for me to encounter others different from myself, feeling compassion for their sufferings, drawing near to them, and caring for them even though they do not belong to my family, my ethnic group, or my religion. For all their differences, they are still my brothers and sisters. The same thing is true of relationships between peoples and nations: brothers and sisters all!

At Christmas we celebrate the light of Christ who comes into the world; he comes for everyone, not just for some. Today, in this time of darkness and uncertainty regarding the pandemic, various lights of hope appear, such as the discovery of vaccines. But for these lights to illuminate and bring hope to all, they need to be available to all. We cannot allow the various forms of nationalism closed in on themselves to prevent us from living as the truly human family that we are. Nor can we allow the virus of radical individualism to get the better of us and make us indifferent to the suffering of other brothers and sisters. I cannot place myself ahead of others, letting the law of the marketplace and patents take precedence over the law of love and the health of humanity. I ask everyone – government leaders, businesses, international organizations – to foster cooperation and not competition, and to seek a solution for everyone: vaccines for all, especially for the most vulnerable and needy of all regions of the planet. Before all others: the most vulnerable and needy!

May the Child of Bethlehem help us, then, to be generous, supportive and helpful, especially towards those who are vulnerable, the sick, those unemployed or experiencing hardship due to the economic effects of the pandemic, and women who have suffered domestic violence during these months of lockdown.

In the face of a challenge that knows no borders, we cannot erect walls. All of us are in the same boat. Every other person is my brother or my sister. In everyone, I see reflected the face of God, and in those who suffer, I see the Lord pleading for my help. I see him in the sick, the poor, the unemployed, the marginalized, the migrant and the refugee: brothers and sisters all!

On this day, when the word of God became a child, let us turn our gaze to the many, all too many, children worldwide, especially in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, who still pay the high price of war. May their faces touch the consciences of all men and women of good will, so that the causes of conflicts can be addressed and courageous efforts can be made to build a future of peace.

May this be a favourable time to ease tensions throughout the Middle East and in the Eastern Mediterranean.

May the Infant Jesus heal the wounds of the beloved Syrian people, who for a decade have been devastated by war and its consequences, now aggravated by the pandemic. May he bring comfort to the Iraqi people and to all those involved in the work of reconciliation, and particularly to the Yazidis, sorely tried by these last years of war. May he bring peace to Libya and enable the new phase of the negotiations in course to end all forms of hostility in the country.

May the Babe of Bethlehem grant the gift of fraternity to the land that witnessed his birth. May Israelis and Palestinians regain mutual trust and seek a just and lasting peace through a direct dialogue capable of ending violence and overcoming endemic grievances, and thus bear witness before the world to the beauty of fraternity.

May the star that shone brightly on Christmas night offer guidance and encouragement to the Lebanese people, so that, with the support of the international community, they may not lose hope amid the difficulties they currently face. May the Prince of Peace help the country’s leaders to lay aside partial interests and commit themselves with seriousness, honesty and transparency to enabling Lebanon to undertake a process of reform and to persevere in its vocation of freedom and peaceful coexistence.

May the Son of the Most High sustain the commitment of the international community and the countries involved to continue the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as in the eastern regions of Ukraine, and to foster dialogue as the sole path to peace and reconciliation.

May the Divine Child alleviate the suffering of the peoples of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, affected by a grave humanitarian crisis caused by extremism and armed conflicts, but also by the pandemic and other natural disasters. May he end the violence in Ethiopia, where many people have been forced to flee because of the fighting; comfort the inhabitants of the Cabo Delgado region in northern Mozambique, victims of the violence of international terrorism; and encourage the leaders of South Sudan, Nigeria and Cameroon to pursue the path of fraternity and dialogue they have undertaken.

May the Eternal Word of the Father be a source of hope for the American continent, particularly affected by the coronavirus, which has intensified its many sufferings, frequently aggravated by the effects of corruption and drug trafficking. May he help to ease the recent social tensions in Chile and end the sufferings of the people of Venezuela.

May the King of Heaven protect all victims of natural disasters in Southeast Asia, especially in the Philippines and Vietnam, where numerous storms have caused flooding, with devastating repercussions on families in terms of loss of life, harm to the environment and consequences for local economies.

As I think of Asia, I cannot forget the Rohingya people: may Jesus, who was born poor among the poor, bring them hope amid their sufferings.

Dear brothers and sisters,

“To us a child is born” (Is 9:6). He came to save us! He tells us that pain and evil are not the final word. To become resigned to violence and injustice would be to reject the joy and hope of Christmas.

On this festive day, I think in a special way of all those who refuse to let themselves be overcome by adversity, but instead work to bring hope, comfort, and help to those who suffer and those who are alone.

Jesus was born in a stable but was embraced by the love of the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. By his birth in the flesh, the Son of God consecrated familial love. My thoughts at this moment turn to families: to those who cannot come together today and to those forced to remain at home. May Christmas be an opportunity for all of us to rediscover the family as a cradle of life and faith, a place of acceptance and love, dialogue, forgiveness, fraternal solidarity, and shared joy, a source of peace for all humanity.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

© Libreria Editrice Vatican

At this time, every year, we hear these words: ‘The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light’. Familiar words indeed, and easily left unheeded. But this year the darkness is more immediate, more encircling. Knowing the darkness helps us to appreciate the light.

In the darkness of this pandemic so many of our comfortable assumptions are being shaken. Here we are, celebrating Christmas, yet deprived of the greetings, hugs, kisses, and handshakes that normally fill this day. We are living in a time in which the loneliness that some always feel at Christmas is painfully touching so many. Family bonds are being tested by these restrictions; those in hospital and care homes long to see their loved ones, with a pain that cannot be eased. Some, I believe, fade away from sheer loneliness. The darkness is deep.

Yet light penetrates this present darkness. Have we not seen these months of difficulty marked by countless acts of random kindness, quiet heroism, selfless service, remarkable community efforts, all directed towards those most in need? In our nature, in our make-up, there is an indomitable spirit of goodness that responds with sacrifice and love. It is the spark of the divine within us, the sense of a life in essence never private but shared with others, with the whole of creation.

This spark is fully revealed in the person of Jesus, God of God, Light of Light, born in poverty so that all may approach him.

In him, the fullness of light and love comes into the darkness of our world, at present confused, disoriented, trying to feel the right way forward. In his life, he brings this light and love to the darkness of lonely suffering, to the darkness of the torture and cruelty of his death. He brings a light and a love which overcomes all darkness and death, setting us free, as St Paul says, to be a people ‘of his very own’, having ‘no ambition except to do good’.

For people throughout the world, this is a time of crisis. And a crisis is a crossroads in which we face choices about which way to go, about what to do next. At a crossroad, we look for the signposts, the indications about the road to take.

At this time of crisis, we must set up those signposts, clearly and unambiguously, signposts that signal the kind of society we want to emerge from this period of darkness. Of course, there are the great challenges of economic recovery, of building a deeper sense of mutual responsibility between nations and states, not least in the distribution of vaccines to the poorest. But tonight I think more of the domestic and local signposts we want to erect. Can we not build back better? Surely we can create a more kind culture, a daily discourse of respect towards those with whom we disagree, a practice of compassionate standing together in times of stress and hardship, a deeper empathy for the suffering of others. These we have seen bud in the months of hardship. These are the roads we want to take, roads on which we overcome divisions of color and class, taking us beyond the division of wealth and well-being. Let us set up those signposts at this crossroads of our history, knowing that the light comes into the world this night is given so that we can know the truth, the goodness, and the beauty by which to shape our future. It is in the person of the Christ-child, God in our flesh, that we find our road of life, the ending of our fears, and the fulfillment of our hopes.

The words of my favorite carol, O Holy Night – incidentally the carol declared by Songs of Praise to be the most popular of all – remind us of the Gospel we have just heard. The carol invites us, in a soaring melody, to harken to the angel voices announcing this birth. ‘Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices! O night divine when Christ was born!’ The angel voices, in our day, may only be a whisper, easily lost amidst clamor and noise. But listen! Listen to that quiet whisper in the depth of your heart.

Later verses of the carol, in its original text, explain the message they bring: he who has come is our Saviour, our Redeemer.

‘The Redeemer has broken every bond. The Earth is free and Heaven is open. He sees a brother where there was only a slave. Love unites those whom iron had chained. Who will tell him of our gratitude? For us all He is born, He suffers and dies. People stand up! Sing of your deliverance!’

This we shall do! This ‘night divine’ is our time of joy and thanksgiving and our hope for the future we must fashion together.

A happy Christmas to you all!

Amen.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster

Pope Francis today sent a telegram of condolence (in Latin, of course) for the passing of famed Vatican Latinist Fr. Reginald Foster, OCD.

Fr. Foster, a friar of the Discalced Carmelite Order, died in his hometown of Milwaukee,  Wisconsin, on Christmas Day, at the age of 81.

The late Carmelite friar—beloved of Vatican Radio listeners as “The Latin-lover”—served as one of the Vatican’s foremost experts in the Latin language for nearly 40 years.

Pope Francis sent a telegram on Monday to Fr. Saverio Cannistrà, the Father General of the Order of Discalced Carmelite Friars, to express his condolences, reported Vatican News. The note was signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin.

The Latin expert worked from 1970 until 2009 in the Latin Letters section of the Secretariat of State, translating papal and Vatican documents into Latin.

Pope Francis said Fr. Reginald “demonstrated the brilliance of Latin to copious numbers of students.”

And the Holy Father prayed that the Latinist of the Popes might receive from God “recompense in full measure.”

Besides his official duties in the Secretariat of State, Fr. Reginald became known throughout the world as “The Latin-lover”—a pseudonym bestowed upon him by his friends at Vatican Radio.

He taught for years at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and held an annual Aestiva Romae Latinitas, always offered free-of-charge.

In 2010, the University of Notre Dame awarded Fr. Reginald an honorary Doctorate for his contribution to Latin studies.

Pope Francis in his Angelus commentary on the Feast of the Holy Family — December 27, 2020 — noted the upcoming anniversary of Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, promulgated five years ago this coming March 19, 2021. In that context, he announced a year of reflection on the document and said reflections will be available to communities and families throughout the world.

“As of now, I invite everyone to take part in the initiatives that will be promoted during the Year and that will be coordinated by the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life,”  the Holy Father said. He spoke from the Library of the Apostolic Palace due to the pandemic restrictions in place.

Following is the full text of the Pope’s Angelus commentary, provided by the Vatican.

Dear brothers and sisters, good afternoon!

A few days after Christmas, the liturgy invites us to turn our eyes to the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. It is good to reflect on the fact that the Son of God wanted to be in need of the warmth of a family, like all children. Precisely for this reason, because it is Jesus’ family, the family of Nazareth is the model family, in which all families of the world can find their sure point of reference and sure inspiration. In Nazareth, the springtime of the human life of the Son of God began to blossom at the moment he was conceived by the work of the Holy Spirit in the virginal womb of Mary. Within the welcoming walls of the House of Nazareth, Jesus’ childhood unfolded in joy, surrounded by the maternal attention of Mary and the care of Joseph, in whom Jesus was able to see God’s tenderness (cf. Apostolic Letter Patris Corde, 2).

In imitation of the Holy Family, we are called to rediscover the educational value of the family unit: it must be founded on the love that always regenerates relationships, opening up horizons of hope. Within the family, one can experience sincere communion when it is a house of prayer, when the affections are serious, profound, pure, when forgiveness prevails over discord, when the daily harshness of life is softened by mutual tenderness and serene adherence to God’s will. In this way, the family opens itself to the joy that God gives to all those who know how to give joyfully. At the same time, it finds the spiritual energy to be open to the outside world, to others, to the service of brothers and sisters, to collaboration in building an ever new and better world; capable, therefore, of becoming a bearer of positive stimuli; the family evangelizes by the example of life. It is true, in every family there are problems, and at times arguments. “And, Father, I argued…” but we are human, we are weak, and we all quarrel within the family at times. I would like to say something to you: if you quarrel within the family, do not end the day without making peace. “Yes, I quarreled”, but before the end of the day, make peace. And do you know why? Because cold war, day after day, is extremely dangerous. It does not help. And then, in the family, there are three words, three phrases that must always be held dear: “Please”, “Thank you”, and “I am sorry”. “Please”, so as not to be intrusive in the life of others. Please: may I do something? Is it alright with you if I do this? Please. Always, so as not to be intrusive. Please, the first word. “Thank you”: so much help, so much service is granted to us in the family: always say thank you. Gratitude is the lifeblood of the noble soul. “Thank you”. And then, the hardest to say: “I am sorry”. Because we always do bad things and very often someone is offended by this: “I am sorry”, “I am sorry”. Do not forget the three worlds: “please”, “thank you”, and “I am sorry”. If in a family, in the family environment there are these three words, the family is fine.

Today’s feast reminds us of the example of evangelizing with the family, proposing to us once again the ideal of conjugal and family love, as underlined in the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, promulgated five years ago this coming 19 March. And it will be a year of reflection on Amoris Laetitia and it will be an opportunity to focus more closely on the contents of the document. These reflections will be made available to ecclesial communities and families, to accompany them on their journey. As of now, I invite everyone to take part in the initiatives that will be promoted during the Year and that will be coordinated by the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life. Let us entrust this journey, with families all over the world, to the Holy Family of Nazareth, in particular to Saint Joseph, the devoted spouse, and father.

May the Virgin Mary, to whom we now address the Angelus prayer, grant that families throughout the world be increasingly fascinated by the evangelical ideal of the Holy Family, so as to become a leaven of a new humanity and of a genuine and universal solidarity.

After the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:

Dear brothers and sisters,

I greet you all, families, groups, and individual faithful, who are following the Angelus prayer via the social communications media. My thoughts turn in particular to the families who, during these months, have lost a loved one or have been affected by the consequences of the pandemic. I think also of the doctors, nurses, and all healthcare professionals whose great example on the front line in fighting the spread of the virus has had significant repercussions on family life.

And today I entrust all families to the Lord, especially those most tried by life’s difficulties and by the scourges of misunderstanding and division. May the Lord, born in Bethlehem, grant them all the serenity and strength to walk together in the way of goodness.

And do not forget these three words that will help so much to achieve family unity: “Please” – not to be intrusive, to respect others – “Thank you” – to thank each other, mutually, within the wrong. And this apology – or when we quarrel – please say it before the end of the day: make peace before the end of the day.

I wish you all a good Sunday and please don’t forget to pray for me. Have a good lunch and arrivederci!

© Libreria Editrice Vatican

Pope Francis praised the witness of Saint Stephen — the first martyr of the Church — on the Saint’s feast day, December 26, 2020.

Speaking from the Library of the Apostolic Palace before praying the noonday Angelus, the Pope reminded the faithful listening via social media around the world that “those who witness to Jesus shine with His light, not with their own light”.

The Holy Father continued by recalling that Stephen was innocent, a victim of hatred. He suffered the horrible death of stoning but still, let Jesus’ light shine.

“He prayed for his murderers and forgave them, like Jesus on the cross,” Pope Francis said. “He is the first martyr, that is, the first witness, the first of a host of brothers and sisters who, even until today, continue to bring the light into the darkness – people who respond to evil with good, who do not succumb to violence and lies, but break the cycle of hatred with meekness and love. In the world’s nights, these witnesses bring God’s dawn.”

Following is the Pope’s full commentary, provided by the Vatican.

Dear brothers and sisters, good afternoon!

Yesterday’s Gospel spoke of Jesus, the “true light” that came into the world, the light that “shines in the darkness” and “the darkness has not overcome it” (Jn 1:9, 5). Today we see the person who witnessed to Jesus, Saint Stephen, who shines in the darkness. Those who witness to Jesus shine with His light, not with their own light. Even the Church does not have its own light. Because of this, the ancient fathers called the Church: “the mystery of the moon”. Like the moon, which does not have its own light, these witnesses do not have their own light, they are capable of taking Jesus’s light and reflecting it. Stephen was falsely accused and brutally stoned, but in the darkness of hatred (which was the torment of his stoning), he allowed the light of Jesus to shine: he prayed for his murderers and forgave them, like Jesus on the cross. He is the first martyr, that is, the first witness, the first of a host of brothers and sisters who, even until today, continue to bring the light into the darkness – people who respond to evil with good, who do not succumb to violence and lies, but break the cycle of hatred with meekness and love. In the world’s nights, these witnesses bring God’s dawn.

But how do they become witnesses? Imitating Jesus, taking light from Jesus. This is the path for every Christian: to imitate Jesus, taking light from Jesus. Saint Stephen gives us the example: Jesus had come to serve, not to be served (see Mk 10:45), and he lived to serve and not to be served, and he came to serve: Stephen was chosen to be a deacon, he became a deacon, that is, a servant, and assisted the poor at table (see Acts 6:2). He tried to imitate the Lord every day and he did it even to the end: like Jesus, he was captured, condemned, and killed outside of the city, and like Jesus, he prayed and forgave. While he was being stoned, he said: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (7:60). Stephen was a witness because he imitated Jesus.

A question could arise: are these witnesses to goodness really necessary when the world is immersed in wickedness? What good does it do to pray and forgive? Just to give a good example? But, what does that serve? No, there’s a lot more. We discover this from a detail. The text says that among those for whom Stephen prayed and whom he forgave there was “a young man named Saul” (v. 58), who “was consenting to his death” (8:1). A little later, by God’s grace, Saul was converted, received Jesus’s light, accepted it, was converted, and became Paul, the greatest missionary in history. Paul was born by God’s grace, but through Stephen’s forgiveness, through Stephen’s witness. That was the seed of his conversion. This is the proof that loving actions change history: even the ones that are small, hidden, every day. For God guides history through the humble courage of those who pray, love, and forgive. There are so many hidden saints, saints who are next-door, hidden witnesses of life, who with little acts of love change history.

To be witnesses to Jesus – this is true for us as well. The Lord wants us to make our lives masterpieces through the ordinary things, the everyday things we do. We are called to bear witness to Jesus right where we live, in our families, at work, everywhere, even just by giving the light of a smile, a light that is not our own – it comes from Jesus – and even just by fleeing the shadow of gossip and tattle-tailing. And then, when we see something that is wrong, instead of criticizing, badmouthing, and complaining, let us pray for the one who made a mistake and for the difficult situation. And when an argument starts at home, instead of trying to win it, let us try to diffuse it; and start over again each time, forgiving the one who offended. Small things, but they change history because they open the door, they open the window to Jesus’s light. Saint Stephen, while he was on the receiving end of the stones of hatred, reciprocated with words of forgiveness. He thus changed history. We too can change evil into good each time just as a beautiful proverb proposes which says: “Be like the palm tree: they throw stones at it and it drops down dates”.

Today, let us pray for those suffering persecution because of the name of Jesus. They are many, unfortunately. There are more than in the beginning of the Church. Let us entrust these brothers and sisters to the Madonna, that they might respond with meekness to oppression and that, as true witnesses to Jesus, they might conquer evil with good.

After the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I greet all of you, families, groups, and individual members of the faithful who are following this moment of prayer through the means of social communication. We have to do it like this to avoid people coming to the Square. Thus, we are collaborating with the regulations that the Authorities have established, to help all of us escape this pandemic.

May the joyous Christmas atmosphere that continues today fill our hearts again, enkindling the desire in everyone to contemplate Jesus in the Crib, so as to serve Him and love Him in the persons who are near us.

In these days, I have received Christmas greetings from Rome and other parts of the world. It is impossible to respond to everyone, but I take this opportunity now to express my gratitude, especially for the gift of prayer that you have offered for me, which I willingly reciprocate.

Happy Feast of Saint Stephen. Please, continue to pray for me.

Enjoy your meal and arrivederci!

© Libreria Editrice Vatican

by Rafael Mosteyrin

Celebrated today, December 28, is the feast of the Holy Innocents and Father Rafael Mosteyrin, priest of the Opus Dei, offers the following article.

* * *

We are all capable of the best and of the worst. On Palm Sunday, the majority of those in Jerusalem celebrated Jesus’ entrance. Three days later, many who acclaimed Him on His arrival, shout and cried out for His crucifixion.

Jesus was born just three days ago, and He has changed the history of the world. Today, the 28^th, we recall the killing of innocent children, out of hatred and envy of Jesus. These are inconsistencies that can be repeated in the life of each one of us: God loves us and we sin by disobeying his Commandments. However, as long as we repent, God always forgives us.

King Herod was afraid that the Messiah, although only a newborn baby, would take away his throne. As he didn’t know who He was, to be rid of Him, Herod gave thought to one of the evilest ideas of the whole of humanity’s history. He ordered his soldiers to go to Bethlehem, so that that Child, whom he knew was defenseless, wouldn’t survive.

He asked the soldiers to kill the children under two years old who were born in Bethlehem and its surroundings (Matthew 2:16). However, God who wants to save us, sent an Angel to warn Joseph in a dream, asking him to leave the city. Mary mounted the donkey again, now with Jesus in her arms. And Joseph held the reins, journeying to Egypt. Saint Joseph is an example of swift obedience, which is always the best way to be.

Herod was afraid when he discovered that a competitor had been born. It’s the usual envy, which doesn’t let him see the good of others. Herod sends the Wise men to Bethlehem and asks them for information, so that he can also go to adore Him: what a false attitude!

Yet, we are also like that; we lie, dissimulate, make a false face to get what we want.

A few years ago, during a public debate, Nobel Prize winner Jacques Monod, said he was in favor of some types of abortion. A doctor then asked him, “Would you permit a tuberculous woman to abort, given grave congenital defects, vexed by her brutal and alcoholic husband? The scientist answered that it was a clear case to allow it.

The doctor who asked the question then asked the auditorium for a minute of silence. Because, according to that criterion, Professor Monod would have killed Beethoven himself.

The easiest thing is almost never convenient, as Beethoven himself demonstrated later, with his life of tireless work, and that’s why he is a genius. I tell this in connection with his 250^th anniversary this year 2020, so that we also realize what that killing was of the Holy Innocents, and the current killing of every innocent child, born or unborn.

The Holy Innocents are children that were murdered, when they were already born, because of Herod’s envy.

If it’s already painful to know of a person’s death, before he/she is born, imagine what it was like to see the death of all those children younger than two years of age, because of Herod’s decision — and for what?

It’s a mystery that leads us to ask God to have good always triumph over evil, in the first place, in our own life. Good is what brings out the best in each person, and evil the worst. God is never the cause of evil, but man is, who has used is freedom badly and who can commit the most tremendous murders.

Today is a day in which traditionally jokes are played. It’s a way of remembering those children, who didn’t have the time to play, who were pure innocence, and who, we are certain, went straight to Heaven, having given their life innocently.

The Holy Father, Pope Francis, has appointed the Most Reverend Dr. Dermot Farrell, until now Bishop of Ossory, as Archbishop of Dublin.

Archbishop-elect Farrell replaces the Most Reverend Archbishop Diarmuid Martin whose request for retirement has been accepted by Pope Francis and becomes effective from today, the day of the appointment of his successor.  The date for taking over the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of Dublin will be announced at a later time and, during the interregnum until the installation of the new Archbishop, Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Martin by Decree as Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Dublin with all the rights, faculties and duties of a diocesan bishop.  Bishop Farrell becomes Archbishop-elect of Dublin and continues in the capacity of the Administrator of the Diocese of Ossory.

Dermot Farrell was born in 1954, the eldest of seven children of the late Dermot and Carmel Farrell, in Garthy, Castletown-Geoghegan, Co Westmeath, in the Diocese of the Meath.

After his primary education in Castletown-Geoghegan and Streamstown, he attended Saint Finian’s College, Mullingar.  In September 1972 he began his studies for the priesthood at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, obtaining a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1976, as part of his philosophical studies.   During his theological studies, he was awarded a Bachelor in Divinity Degree in 1979 and a license in Theology in 1981, both by the Pontifical University, Maynooth.

He was ordained to the priesthood in Saint Michael’s Church, Castletown-Geoghegan on 7 June 1980.

Upon the completion of his studies, he was appointed as Curate in the Cathedral Parish of Christ the King, Mullingar.  In 1985 he began doctoral studies in the Gregorian University and, in 1988, was awarded a Doctoral Degree in Theology, for a dissertation entitled: The Dogmatic Foundations of Bernard Häring’s Thought on Christian Morality as a Sacramental Way of Life.

His final year in Rome also saw him serving as a Director of Formation in the Pontifical Irish College.

Following his return from Rome he was appointed Curate in Tullamore Parish and in 1989-90 he began lecturing in Moral Theology at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth.  In 1990 the Maynooth College Trustees appointed him Executive Assistant to the President of College and to membership of the Faculty of Theology, holding the post of Director of the one-year Religious Studies Programme.  In 1993 he was appointed Vice-President of Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, and in 1996 was appointed President of the College, a position he held until his retirement in 2007.

In 1997 he was named as an Honorary Prelate of His Holiness.  From September 2007 until 2018 he served as Parish Priest of Dunboyne and Kilbride Parish, Co Meath, and was appointed Vicar General of the Diocese of Meath in 2009.

Bishop Farrell has extensive administrative experience: he has served on various boards and committees, among them, the Board of Allianz plc; the Governing Body of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth; the Theological Department Irish Inter-Church Committee, and as National Director of the Permanent Diaconate, and he is currently Chairman of Veritas Communications.

His appointment as Bishop of Ossory by Pope Francis was announced on 3 January 2018, and he was ordained bishop in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Kilkenny, on 11 March 2018.

He was elected Finance Secretary of the Irish Bishops’ Conference in March 2019.

Bishop Farrell’s episcopal motto “Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini” is taken from Psalm 124.

Sunday of the Holy Family – Year B – December 27, 2020

Roman Rite: Jan 15.1 to 6; 21.1-3; B 11, 8.11-12.17-19; Luke 2, 22-40

Ambrosian Rite

Jer 31.15 to 18. 20; Ps 123; Rm 8.14 to 21; Mt 2, 13b-18

Sunday – The fourth of the eighth days of Christmas

1) The Family who is Holy, hence true.

Today the liturgy proposes the celebration of the Holy Family as the model of all human families and not just of the Christian families[1]. In a time of a deep crisis of identity for families, especially for the Western ones, with separations, divorces, and cohabitations of all kind, to bring to the attention of our families this unique family of Nazareth means “to rediscover the vocation and mission of the family, of every family. And, what happened in those 30 years in Nazareth, can thus happen to us too: in seeking to make love and not hate normal, making mutual help commonplace, not indifference or enmity. “. (Pope Francis, General Audience, December 17, 2014).

The Holy Family of Nazareth shows what is the beginning and the central point of each true family: Jesus Christ. The Family of Christ was holy because it is His family, because it welcomed Him and gave Him to the world. Our families are called to do the same. If we are rooted in Him who has lived in it, we can understand and live the great assets that are marriage, family, and the gift of life. We will also understand what great danger their degradation in civil institutions is for man and for his dignity.

I think that it is useful to start from the episode narrated by St. Mark in Chapter 3, in which to those who tell him, “Your mother, your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you,” Jesus replies “Who are my mother and my brothers?”

Looking around on those who sat near him, he said: “Here are my mother and brothers.” Whoever does the will of God is my brother, sister and mother “(Mk 3: 31-35). It is as if Jesus Christ said: “My family is all here. I have no other families. The blood relations do not count unless they are confirmed in the spirit. My brothers are the poor who are crying, and my sisters are the women who have said yes to the Love who has purified and elevated love. ”

Jesus was not despising His Mother, St. Joseph, his legal father, and his relatives. He did not disown the Mother of whose womb He was the fruit. He meant that he did not belong only to the “small” Holy Family of Nazareth, but to His mission of Savior of the “great” human family. God comes to reconstruct the true meaning of the human family; the vocation of every man is the one of child and brother. God convenes his family to teach how to be really a family, because he wants to free us from the temptation of loneliness. God knows that it is never good for man to be alone. God himself does not want to be alone, thus He creates a family for “all nations”, as sung by Simeon.

 2) Pilgrims to Nazareth.

As Pope Francis has recently proposed to every family, to every mother, father, and child, let us make a spiritual pilgrimage to Nazareth to fill our own spirit with the sublime virtues of Mary, the humble servant of the Lord, of Joseph, the righteous man, the carpenter, the Keeper of the holy family, and of Jesus, the Son of God who was obedient to them and grew in age, wisdom, and grace.

Today’s liturgy offers us a meditation all centered on Christ, which is of particularly interest for the Christian families. It presents us the mystery of the life of the child Jesus with his parents.

The passage of today’s Gospel presents a familiar picture of great effectiveness for the understanding of the mystery of the Savior. We are at the time of the presentation of the Lord to the Temple and, waiting this extraordinary and anticipated event, there is an old man, Simeon, who now occupies the main scene of the Gospel on the Holy Family. He recognizes Jesus as the true and awaited savior and is happy that the Lord allowed him to see this day. He is the person of gratitude, but also of prophecy, of courage and of the absence of any fear of death because in the Child Jesus he already sees the victory over it. This holy man of God, who had waited years for the coming of the Messiah, can now happily leave the earth to meet the Lord in eternity.

In our families let us teach the sense of the eternal and of communion. Children grow up watching how adults live. Therefore, to educate the children means making them participate in the reality of the communion of the father and the mother who gave them life.  To educate the children means introducing them to life by teaching them gratitude.

3) A forgotten hero.

The Holy Family was not a family without problems. Mary and Joseph shared the condition of their disconcerting son, following him step by step in the revelation of his mystery. It is precisely because of their total availability that they deserve our admiration. It is not easy to know to have custody of the Son of God, to flee to Egypt, to return home and live in Nazareth, a village considered suburban for the Jews, and to see Jesus grow in wisdom and grace leading an ordinary life with no exceptional events up to his thirtieth birthday.

One would like to know more about the life of this extraordinary family; in the end, though, St. Luke says just enough to outline its physiognomy. Although extraordinary in many ways, it is a family like all the others with its joys, its pains, its secrets. A family which leads a life according to faith, experiences the joy of the birth of a child who grows healthy and strong, and is affected by the prophecies that announce a difficult future. In all families the years not always run without troubles; sooner or later problems, sufferings, and concerns arise, and they are more painful if caused by the lack of love. The Family of Nazareth faced joys and difficulties of life under the guidance and custody of St. Joseph.

It is important to understand the greatness of this unique man who was the husband of Mary, and who was often reduced to be the supplier of material goods, as if in the Holy Family he had only the “external” role of a man to whom are given unimportant tasks that do not require highest virtues. In fact, if we think of the situation of Mary carrying in her womb the incipient carnal life of the Son of God, from the legal point of view this situation is something shocking for Joseph because – humanly and legally speaking – his girlfriend had to be considered an adulteress worthy of the punishment of stoning.

How could Joseph acknowledge that Mary was innocent? Yet he was not even touched by doubt. His love for Mary was not injured and he protected her reputation so that she would not risk her life. Joseph believes the Angel and takes Mary so that she does not fall into danger. She and her baby need Joseph who with his spousal love even agrees to remain virgin so that He who is in Mary by the Holy Spirit can be born, grow and save the world. The angelic announcement: “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife” is the seal of God on this wedding unique and at the heart of the deeper, more authentic, more divine human love. A man who is capable of such a greatness belongs to the race of giants and of saints. Joseph accepts to live his virginal love to not inflict the slightest injury to his beloved. The marriage of Mary and Joseph has allowed Christ to enter the world with honor and to live the hidden life of Nazareth well protected, growing in wisdom and grace. In Nazareth Joseph, Mary, and Jesus lived day to day in a heroic way, so that the heroic becomes day to day and we too might imitate them in our daily lives.

Joseph participated with his whole person in the work of the Redemption of the Son of Mary: he has given to God the essence of his tenderness and his heart, sacrificing his love.

If we are parents, due to marriage or spiritually, the example of the Holy Family asks us to be ready for the sacrifice that makes life true.

I ask St. Joseph, who is the guardian and protector of virgins as he was of Mary, that he may make the consecrated virgins in the world know how to bear fruits from the riches of their heart so to persevere in the path of holiness through the total gift of themselves to the Lord who loves us with infinite patient and tender love.

Patristic Reading

Golden Chain

9239 Lk 2,39-41

THEOPHYL; Luke has omitted in this place what he knew to have been sufficiently set forth by Matthew, that the Lord after this, for fear that He should be discovered and put to death by Herod, was carried by His parents into Egypt, and at Herod’s death, having at length returned to Galilee, came to dwell in His own city Nazareth. For the Evangelists individually are wont to omit certain things which they either know to have been, or in the Spirit foresee will be, related by others, so that in the connected chain of their narrative, they seem as it were to have omitted nothing, whereas by examining the writings of another Evangelist, the careful reader may discover the places where the omissions have been. Thus after omitting many things, Luke says, And when they had accomplished all things, &c.

THEOPHYL. Bethlehem was indeed their city, their paternal city, Nazareth the place of their abode.

AUG. Perhaps it may strike you as strange that Matthew should say that His parents went with the young Child into Galilee because they were unwilling to go to Judea for fear of Archelaus, when they seem to have gone into Galilee rather because their city w as Nazareth in Galilee, as Luke in this place explains it. But we must consider, that when the Angel said in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, Rise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, it was at first understood by Joseph as a command to go into Judea, for so at first sight the land of Israel might have been taken to mean. But when afterwards he finds that Herod’s son Archelaus was king, he was unwilling to be exposed to that danger, seeing the land of Israel might also be understood to include Galilee also as a part of it, for there also the people of Israel dwelt.

GREEK EX. Or again, Luke is here describing the time before the descent to Egypt, for before her purification Joseph had not taken Mary there But before they went down into Egypt, they were not told by God to go to Nazareth but as living more freely in their own country, thither of their own accord they went; for since the going up to Bethlehem was for no other reason but the taxing, when that was accomplished they go down to Nazareth.

THEOPHYL. Now our Lord might have come forth from the womb in the stature of mature age, but this would seem like something imaginary; therefore His growth is gradual, as it follows, And the child grew, and waxed strong.

THEOPHYL; We must observe the distinction of words, that the Lord Jesus Christ in that He was a child, that is, had put on the condition of human weakness, was daily growing and being strengthened.

ATHAN. But if as some say the flesh was changed into a Divine nature, how did it derive growth? for to attribute growth to an uncreated substance is impious.

CYRIL; Rightly with the A growth in age, St. Luke has united increase in wisdom, as he says, And he was strengthened, (i.e. in spirit.) For in proportion to the measure of bodily growth, the Divine nature developed its own wisdom.

THEOPHYL. For if while yet a little child, He had displayed His wisdom, He would have seemed a miracle, but together with the advance of age He gradually showed Himself, so as to fill the whole world. For not as receiving wisdom is He said to be strengthened in spirit. For that which is most perfect in the beginning, how can that become any more perfect. Hence it follows, Filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was in him.

THEOPHYL; Wisdom truly, for in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, but grace, because it was in great grace given to the man Christ Jesus, that from the time He began to be man He should be perfect man and perfect God. But much rather because He was the word of God, and God needed not to be strengthened, nor was in a state of growth. But while He was yet a little child He had the grace of God, that as in Him all things were wonderful, His childhood also might be wonderful, so as to be filled with the wisdom of God. It follows, And his parents went every year to Jerusalem, at the feast of the Passover.

CHRYS. At the feast of the Hebrews the law commanded men not, only to observe the time, but the place, and so the Lord’s parents wished to celebrate the feast of the Passover only at Jerusalem.

AUG. But it may be asked, how did His parents go up all the years of Christ’s childhood to Jerusalem, if they were prevented from going there by fear of Archelaus? This question might be easily answered, even had some one of the Evangelists mentioned how long Archelaus reigned. For it were possible that on the feast day amid so great a crowd they might secretly come, and soon return again, at the same time that they feared to remain there on other days, so as neither to be wanting in religious duties by neglecting the feast, nor leave themselves open to detection by a constant abode there. But now since all have been silent as to the length of Archelaus’ reign, it is plain that when Luke says, They were accustomed to go up every year to Jerusalem, we are to understand that to have been when Archelaus was no longer feared.

[1] Pope Francis: ” I have therefore decided to reflect with you, this year, precisely on the family, on this great gift that the Lord has made to the world from the very beginning, when he entrusted Adam and Eve with the mission to multiply and fill the earth (cf. Gen 1:28); that gift that Jesus confirmed and sealed in his Gospel. The nearness of Christmas casts a great light on this mystery. The Incarnation of the Son of God opens a new beginning in the universal history of man and woman. And this new beginning happens within a family, in Nazareth. Jesus was born in a family. He could have come in a spectacular way, or as a warrior, an emperor…. No, no: he is born in a family, in a family. This is important: to perceive in the nativity, this beautiful scene”. (December 17, 2014)

“Good people all, this Christmas time

Consider well and bear in mind

What our good God for us has done

In sending his Beloved Son”.

Those inspiring words from the ‘Wexford Carol’, transcribed a century ago at Saint Aiden’s Cathedral in Enniscorthy, capture the true meaning of Christmas. If ever there was a year to cling to that comforting message, it is this year, 2020 – the year that a coronavirus shook the world and stopped it in its tracks.  A few days ago some newspapers even ran with the headline: “Christmas is canceled…” But it was only “fake news”. Thankfully the Good News brought by the angel to the shepherds on the first Christmas night rings out as true and as important as ever:

“Today a Saviour has been born to us; he is Christ the Lord”.

Christmas 2020 is certainly very different to Christmases past. For safety sake our congregation here inside the Cathedral is much smaller than usual; we’re ‘socially distanced’, masked, and sanitized – even our carol singing is subdued. But thanks to the wonders of modern technology, you and your family members are joining us, along with hundreds – perhaps thousands –  ‘live’ from your living room – your little “domestic church”, rejoicing with us in the miracle and mystery of ‘Emmanuel’ – God With Us!

Our thoughts and prayers tonight are with those who are unable to be home with us this Christmas, and especially with our ‘brothers and sisters’ who are struggling to cope this year with the pain of loneliness, suffering, grief, and loss of employment. We are thankful that, even in the shadows and darkness of 2020, light has been shining out in countless examples of love and tenderness. Our communities have witnessed an outpouring of goodness, kindness, generosity, and courage from neighbors, volunteers, doctors, nurses, chaplains, and other carers; from teachers, shop-workers, clergy and so many others who have devoted themselves to keeping our essential services going.

We wish them all a well-deserved and happy Christmas, confident in the knowledge that their selfless efforts these past nine months are concrete expressions of the compassion, love and hope of Christ.

I find the message of the angel on the first Christmas night to be deeply consoling this year: “Do not be afraid”, the angel said to the terrified shepherds. “Listen, I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared with the whole people”.

How much we need to hear those words at this time: “Do not be afraid”.  The pandemic has left us uncertain about the future, weary of all the ongoing restrictions, confused by changing messages, nervous – frightened even – about talk of new waves and new variants of the virus. It is only natural that we yearn for good news; we search for a glimmer of hope; we long for the promise of a brighter future.

People of faith find that good news, hope, and promise in the wonder of the Christ-child, born in Bethlehem to be our Saviour. Like the Magi who followed the star, faith guides our journey through the uncertainty and the unknown. Just as a loving parent takes the hand of their frightened child, so we firmly grasp the hand of God who has made us, Who redeemed us and saved us, and Who is journeying with us every step of the way.

The hand of God and the hope that Christ brings is offered to each one of us, personally. Christmas invites us to a personal encounter and friendship with God. The angel’s message was direct and personal – not “I bring news of great joy”, but “I bring YOU news of great joy”.

Pope Benedict XVI put it powerfully when he wrote on this day 15 years ago: “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction (Deus Caritas Est 1)”. Today a Saviour has been born for US – for you and for me – personally. And this joyful message that ‘God loved us first’, is not something private or individual, or to be kept to ourselves. It is given, as the angel said, to be shared with others – shared ‘with the whole people”.

That is why it pains us so much when we are restricted from physically gathering to express our faith, when we are unable to be together as a full congregation, praying and praising and singing, “Glory to God in the Highest”!  We hunger for Sunday worship and for the nourishment of the Eucharist. We long for this pandemic to be over so that we can safely meet together once more as the People of God, to “sing a new song to the Lord” and to offer each other the Peace of Christ – in person.

Looking forward to that day encourages us to make a special effort this Christmas and in the New Year ahead to keep Christ at the center of our life – to welcome the Prince of Peace into our heart, home, family, and community. We are commissioned by our Baptism to spread the Good News of the angel and to bring the Christmas message to life!  We can do this by continuing Christ’s work of love, compassion, care, forgiveness, healing, and charity  – by keeping alive the light of hope that has already been shining brightly since the beginning of this awful pandemic in the witness of so many good people.

That light of hope is enkindled by reflecting in prayer for a few moments every day on the hope-filled message that is so succinctly captured in those words from the Wexford Carol:

“Good people all, this Christmas time

Consider well and bear in mind

What our good God for us has done

In sending his Beloved Son”.

Perhaps a “happy fault” of the Covid-19 restrictions has been the way that extra time and space has been opening up, away from the usual frantic rush and crazy consumerism – space for reflection and contemplation, and for assessing our lives. Many of us have been asking: ‘What is most important in life? How can I change? Who gives me hope? What carries me through when times are difficult? Where do I find light in the shadows and darkness?’

For Christians the answers to those questions are found right at the heart of the Christmas story – in the wonder of the Christ-child, born to be our Saviour; in the unfathomable mystery of Emmanuel, “God With Us”.

“Within a manger he was laid,

And by his side the virgin maid,

Attending on the Lord of life,

Who came on earth to end all strife”.

Happy Christmas

Prayer of Pope Benedict XVI
From Deus Caritas Est (God is Love)
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
you have given the world its true light, Jesus, your Son – the Son of God.
You abandoned yourself completely
to God’s call
and thus became a wellspring
of the goodness which flows forth from him.
Show us Jesus. Lead us to him.
Teach us to know and love him,
so that we too can become
capable of true love
and be fountains of living water
in the midst of a thirsting world.
Amen

• Archbishop Eamon Martin is Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.                                        

“The birth of Christ, which the Feast of Christmas celebrates, cannot be ‘cancelled’ … When Christ appeared, as the warmth of God in the winter night, our faith received a new dimension” – Bishop Farrell

Like most things in 2020, this will be a Christmas unlike any other in our lifetime with socially distanced celebrations and uncertainties hanging over our hopes.  Since last March we have had to re-think our way of living and the way we engage with each other.  We have learned that we are vulnerable.  Despite all our medical and technological advances, we can be and have been wounded by the Coronavirus.

Life has been disrupted because of the worldwide pandemic.  Some have talked about postponing or cancelling Christmas.  Yet others have talked about “a meaningful celebration of Christmas.”   However, the birth of Christ, which the Feast of Christmas celebrates, cannot be “cancelled.”

With the birth of His Son, God joins us definitively in human history —a story that Nativity plays in our schools depict every year.  As the Gospel tells us, Jesus of Nazareth was born in the days of Caesar Augustus, “while Quirinius was still governor of Syria.”

The story of Jesus of Nazareth, therefore, is not a charming fable that takes place once upon a time, set apart from its time and the concerns of its day.    No, Jesus is born in the historical setting of Bethlehem — effectively, a village, with distinct limitations and definite possibilities: a place where political and social unrest was common, in an era in which brutality and violence were endemic, where people’s lives were marked by struggle and impoverishment.   In Jesus, God was working in and through human history, and we should not doubt that He is able to do so today.  This year, more than ever, we need to hold onto the central hope of the Feast of Christmas that God joined us in the form of a child, and is still with us, bringing us renewed courage and consolation in a time of great uncertainty.

The birth of the Christ-child invites us to look to the future with hope.  But not a naive hope that next year will be necessarily better than the last.  Rather, with the Incarnation, the life of God is stretched open to welcome all that we are.  Christ opens us to the future, not a future of our own making — the fragility of which we increasingly appreciate — but the future which is God’s future for us.

At Christmas we are not just celebrating the birth of a famous child.  The birth of every child is a hope-filled event.   But, if we are celebrating nothing more than a romanticised birth, eventually we will be overcome by discouragement.  The child of Bethlehem grew up.  He experienced the sorrow of human life: seeing the death of family members and friends, suffering illness and pondering over the seeming arbitrariness of earthly life.  Jesus of Nazareth understood what it meant to suffer and, perhaps more sadly, understood what it meant to see others suffer and die.  That is why it is crucial to realise that something much more than the birth of a child has happened in Bethlehem: the Word became flesh.  God came to dwell among His people.  He has united Himself to humanity — to us — so inseparably that He is genuinely “God from God, and Light from Light,” truly God while remaining truly human.

Since March not a day has passed without reminders of the tragedy has that come upon us.  Sickness and suffering, loss and mourning remain part of our national consciousness, like a dull ache that will not go away.  Christmas and the coming of a new year, the first without lost loved ones, will be a time of deep emotion for bereaved families.  We find ourselves in a dark time, a long winter. But, winter passes, as the motto of Saint Kieran’s College in Kilkenny reminds us — quoting the Holy Bible — hiems transiit, winter has passed; this dark time will also come to an end.  When Christ appeared, as the warmth of God in the winter night, our faith received a new dimension.  He taught us a new way of living and loving in this world.  In Christ, God truly becomes, and remains ‘Emmanuel, God with us.’

The Good News of Christmas does not begin on Christmas night to end on Good Friday.  To Christians, the joy of Christmas is not limited to Christ’s birth.  Neither is it limited to His death.  It is His death and Resurrection that give meaning to His birth. The Good News of His birth has not faded after 2,000 years.  And why is this?  Because Christ has not died.  He is risen, He is alive, and so His Spirit continues to reach us, to well up in our hearts, and particularly so at Christmastime when the Good News is made visible in such a vulnerable way.

Today’s Crib cradles today’s Christ.  Let the child abandoned in the streets, the old abandoned in homes and institutions, the child workers who rarely see the light of day, those made redundant because their companies have been asset stripped to generate dividends for shareholders, the violence done to our sisters and brothers by the pillage of nature and the exploitation of an earth God meant for all, the refugees denied the opportunity to work or the migrants housed ten to a room by unscrupulous landlords, let them not wait in vain this Christmas to know the warmth of God that is given to all (see Pope Francis, Let us Dream, especially 116).

We need hope more than ever at this time. While we wait for that day when a vaccine becomes widely available to end to this global pandemic, let us continue to allow ‘the light of faith to shine through our deeds’ (2^nd Mass of Christmas).  As we continue to navigate this pandemic and other disorders, may we remember God’s tenderness and closeness in the presence of God’s beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

Lord, we trust you are with us in these days.  Whisper your word of comfort, encouragement, and hope to all who need it now.  Be present with all who are unwell and all those whose health is endangered because they care for them.  Make us bearers of the light that comes from Bethlehem.

+Dermot Farrell
Bishop of Ossory            

These days we hear a great deal about ecology, and rightly so. We must take care of the created world in its beauty and resources.

Interestingly, the word ‘ecology’ comes from a Greek word meaning ‘home’ or ‘place to live’. So, it is a word that can be applied not only to the natural world but also to our homes and to the Church. It is a good word to have in mind as we celebrate this Feast of the Holy Family.

This year has been so difficult for many families. Homelife has been tested, and financial worries burden many. Separation from loved ones has been painful and many have lost loved ones in death, with little chance to grieve them fully. So, the Prayers of the Mass today are vital. In them, we seek God’s blessing on our families and homes, that they may be places of kindness and joy. The reading from St Paul to the Colossians spelt out what that means in practice: compassion, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness. Then he added, ‘Over these clothes, to keep them together and complete them, put on love.’

But St Paul is applying these words first of all to the Church, to us, chosen by God to be a witness in the world to God’s love and compassion. St Paul adds: ‘And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts because it is for this that you were called together as parts of one body. Always be thankful’ (Colossians 3:15).

Today, then, we can think and pray not only about our own families but also about the family of the Church. We can ask for God’s blessing on this family, this ‘ecology’ in which we live, the ‘ecology’ of the Church.

Over these last months, the life of the Church has been under strain. We have been unable to come together to express our faith as a full community. Often, we have not been able to enter into the mystery of Christ celebrated in the sacraments. We pray that slowly this will return as the threat of the COVID-19 virus is overcome.

Over these last months, the life of the Church has been stained by the emergence of the picture of the abuse inflicted on children and vulnerable people in the Church over the last fifty years. We know, with the benefit of hindsight, that bishops and leaders, including myself, have made mistakes. I deeply regret them. We are continually learning from them.

In this moment of strain and stain, we take our lead from the Gospel. Like Anna and Simeon, we fix our eyes on the Lord, on the child Jesus. With them, we say: ‘My eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all the nations to see’ (Luke 2:30). We know that the Lord never forsakes the Church, his own Body. He remains with us always. Our strength, our renewal, comes from him.

There is a quotation of which I am very fond:

‘Christ dwelt for nine months in the tabernacle of Mary’s womb. He dwells until the end of the ages in the tabernacle of the Church’s faith. He will dwell forever in the knowledge and love of each faithful soul’ (Blessed Isaac of Stella).

This is our reassurance. In turning every day to him, in welcoming him into our lives with humility and love, we rise from our prayer refreshed and renewed, wanting to do his will and to give him our thanks.

There is another figure on whom we can fix our eyes: St Joseph. He is there, in the background, protecting the child entrusted to his care. We turn to him as protector of the family of the Church, too.

Pope Francis has declared a year dedicated to St Joseph, from 8 December 2020 to 8 December 2021. He says: ‘Each of us can discover in Joseph – the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence – an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of trouble” (Patris Corde – With a Father’s Love – Pope Francis). Let’s do that. Let’s ask St Joseph to keep a watchful eye on this family of the Church, to intercede on our behalf.

A tradition I treasure is that of always having a statue of St Joseph in the kitchen, so often the heart of the home. I recommend this to you. Bring St Joseph into your kitchen. Then he will be before your eyes each day, as protector and guide in these difficult times.

Pope Francis writes: “Joseph teaches us that faith in God includes believing he can work even through our fears, our frailties and our weaknesses. He also teaches us that we must never be afraid to let the Lord steer our course. At times, we want to be in complete control, yet God always sees the bigger picture”.

As we come to the end of this year, a year of such pain and difficulty, try to see this ‘bigger picture’: that our lives are in the hands of God; that our Church is constantly consoled by the presence of the Holy Spirit; that our world is God’s work of art. As we enter the New Year, we place all this before the Lord, knowing that He, who ‘steers our course’, will bring each one of us, and the whole of creation, to completion, in the fullness of time.

May God bless you all.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols
Archbishop of Westminster

Archbishop Eamon Martin is Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. This Mass was celebrated in Saint Patrick’s Church, Pennyburn, Derry.

******

A couple of years ago the family of world-famous poet Seamus Heaney found a long-lost unpublished poem of his called A Christmas Rhyme which he had privately written and shared with them as a gift.  Like all of our families, the Heaney family had their own Christmas rituals and Seamus’ poem describes how they would do “the rounds”, year after year, of visiting aunties and uncles, setting down memories for life of family characters, kindnesses, love and Christmas cheer.

Someone said to me the other day “sure isn’t Christmas all about family?”  But we are all conscious that this year, with the restrictions, there has been much sadness and disappointment in many families that loved ones have been unable to travel home.  Many of the usual family “get-togethers”, customs and visits have been curtailed or disrupted completely, or gone virtual, or simply treasured and stored away again in the memory until next year, please God.

At the heart of the Christmas season, the Church has placed today’s feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.  Of course, all three have their own individual special days throughout the year in the Church’s calendar, but today they are placed together – in their “bubble” (so to speak) – so that we can think of them as a unit, a household of love.

Today’s feast is not that old in the Church’s history – it will be a hundred years next year, 2021, since Pope Benedict XV declared it as a feast for the Universal Church.  But devotion to the Holy Family of Nazareth goes back centuries and the Coptic Christians in Egypt can trace it back to the earliest days of Christianity – probably because it was to Egypt that the Holy Family fled, like refugees, from the threats of King Herod.

In the prayers at Mass today we are encouraged to make the Holy Family of Nazareth a model and an inspiration for our family.  Not the easiest thing to do, I suppose, for we know so little about what the life of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph was like.  Apart from the Christmas stories we get only fleeting glimpses in the Gospels – like today’s Gospel story of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple or the one about the time the Holy Family went up to Jerusalem when He was twelve years old.  Otherwise, we have to rely on our religious imagination to fill in the gaps.

What was life like for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph?  They did nothing to attract attention or make the news.  No doubt, like ourselves, they had family routines, customs, favorite pastimes – I wonder what their home looked like? Sometimes the Holy Family has been presented in devotional literature as an idyllic, heavenly, picture of perfection.

No doubt the Holy Family was unimaginably special!  But to speak realistically of the Holy Family as our model, inspiration, and guide, we have to be careful about “bubble-wrapping” them completely – we need to know that they experienced not only the joys and happiness of being together as a family but also some of the struggles, “ups and downs” and painful daily realities that ordinary families have to live with and through.

Pope Francis reminded us when he was in Ireland two years ago that “no family drops down from heaven perfectly formed”, but still he suggested that: “Every family should look to the icon of the Holy Family of Nazareth.  Its daily life had its share of burdens and even nightmares, as when they met with Herod’s implacable violence”.

Clearly, the Holy Family’s experience of fleeing into Egypt for fear of their lives must have helped Jesus, Mary, and Joseph to build a shared resilience and inner strength as a family; there is also no doubt that Mary and Joseph must have had to draw on deep faith, courage, and trust in God to cope with the many unanswered prophecies, puzzles and questions surrounding Jesus – first as an infant, later as a child, and then as a young man beginning to grasp God’s plan for His life.  No wonder, as the Gospel puts it, Mary found herself “pondering all these things in her heart”.  Perhaps one of the key inspirations that emerges from the life of the Holy Family is the need for serenity in modern families – as the prayer of that name puts it:

“…Serenity accept the things we cannot change;
Courage to change the things we can; And, Wisdom to know the difference”.

Those three gifts of serenity, courage, and wisdom are much needed in our families this Christmas – jostled as we are with the ongoing Covid19 crisis.

Our families share uncertainty about the future, weariness with the ongoing restrictions, confusion of changing messages, nervousness – fear even – with talk of new waves and new variants of the virus.  Sadly since the beginning of the pandemic, many families among us have had to carry heavy crosses of separation, sickness, grief and loss, worries about employment and finances, or simply missing those comforting family rituals of being together, visiting, and being close and present to each other in the normal way.

At Christmas time, especially, families of faith can find consolation, good news, hope, and promise in the wonder of the Christ-child, born into a human family, to be our Saviour.  Faith with wisdom, courage, trust, and serenity guides our journey as families through uncertainty and the unknown.  Just as a loving parent takes the hand of their frightened child, so we firmly grasp the hand of Him who has made us, Who redeemed us and saved us, and Who journeys with us every step of the way.

In 2013, in his first year as Pope, on today’s feast, Pope Francis offered this prayer to the Holy Family:

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,

in you we contemplate

the splendour of true love,

to you we turn with trust.

Holy Family of Nazareth,

grant that our families too

may be places of communion and prayer,

authentic schools of the Gospel

and small domestic Churches.

Holy Family of Nazareth,

may families never again 

experience violence, rejection and division:

may all who have been hurt or scandalized

find ready comfort and healing.

Holy Family of Nazareth…

make us once more mindful 

of the sacredness and inviolability of the family,

and its beauty in God’s plan.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,

graciously hear our prayer.

Amen.

Here is a translation of the Message sent, in the name of the Holy Father Francis, by the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, to the participants in the 43^rd European Meeting animated by the Community of Taize, being held online this year due to the pandemic, from December 27, 2020, to January 1, 2021, on the theme: “Hoping in Season and Out of Season.”

* * *

The Message

 To the participants in the 43^rd European Meeting animated by the Community of Taize,

TAIZE

Dear Young People,

For over forty years, the Community of Taize has prepared a European Meeting every year in a big city of the Continent, and several generations of young people have taken part in it. Pope Francis is happy to join you, again this year, in thought and prayer. The health situation this time, not permitting such a gathering, you have given proof of creativity and imagination: although dispersed, you are linked in an unprecedented way thanks to the new means of communication. And, at the same time, you extend this meeting to young people of all the Continents. May these days, during which you pray together and support one another in faith and confidence, help you to hope “in season and out of season,” , as the theme of the message stresses, which will accompany you throughout the year 2021.

The very fact that you “meet,” even though you do so, exceptionally, in a virtual way, already puts you on the path of hope As the Holy Father said in his Encyclical Fratelli Tutti, “no one can face life in an isolated way. We have need of a community that supports us, which helps us and in which we help one another mutually to look ahead” (n. 8). Don’t be one of those that sow despair and arouse constant mistrust, this would be to neutralize the strength of the hope that the Spirit of the Risen Christ offers us. On the contrary, let yourselves be inhabited by this hope, it will give you the courage to follow Christ and to work together with and for the most destitute, in particular those that find it hard to face the difficulties of the present time. “Hope is audacious, it is able to look beyond personal comfort, little securities and compensations that shrink the horizon, to open oneself to great ideals that make life more beautiful and more dignified. Let us walk in hope!” (Fratelli Tutti, n. 55). Throughout this year, may you be able to continue to develop a culture of encounter and of fraternity, and to walk together towards this horizon of hope revealed by Christ’s Resurrection.

The Holy Father blesses each one of you, dear young people; he also blesses the Brothers of the Community of Taize, as well as your families and all those around the world taking part with you in this international meeting.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin

Secretary of State of His Holiness

The National Youth Day festivities, set to take place in Naga City next year, has been postponed due to the raging coronavirus pandemic, according to CBCP News.

The gathering will now take place in a still undetermined month in 2022, the youth arm of the Philippine bishops’ conference said.

Fr. Conegundo Garganta, executive secretary of the Commission on Youth, said that the Covid-19 situation still constitutes a major concern.

“The Archdiocese of Caceres continues to commit to hosting a physical gathering of NYD not in May 2021 but in 2022,” Garganta said.

“We pray that things will improve and that 2022 will be a better year for our young people to come together,” he said.

It will be the first time that Caceres will host the national youth event.

In 1986, the bishops’ hierarchy declared every December 16 as National Youth Day.

The event is held in a different host diocese every two or three years, with local celebrations taking place in the intervening years.

The last NYD was held in Cebu City in April 2019 and was attended by more than 20,000 pilgrims from across the country.

Church leaders have earlier decided to move the grand celebration of the 500th anniversary of Christianity in the Philippines from April 2021 to April 2022.

Dear Brothers and Sisters   in Myanmar                                                            1 January 2021

Happy New Year.

May this new year come as a blessing to all of you.  Birth of the new year is also birth of hope.   Let us celebrate hope as one nation.  We leave behind 2020 with all its challenges. That was an unforgettable year.   It caused pain, it wounded us deeply.   Globally it emerged as an arrogant enemy against human survival.  Life and livelihoods are threatened. Starvation is a reality to nearly 122 million people in the world.  It was an existential disruption.

But 2020 is not the story of human submission, it is the story of human resilience.  As the doors of 2020 were closing, the scientists have won a strategic battle against our enemy.  The vaccine came with an astonishing speed. Hope is in the horizon.  Covid also will end.

The year 2020 also proved to be the year of compassion.  Our generous Myanmar people rose against the prospect of chronic starvation through sharing their food when lockdown came in.  For a country that was facing pre-Covid socio-economic morbidities, our people’s response was poignant.   When nature attacks us, we stand together.    Once again, we have proved that we are a golden land, not because we have jade and diamonds.  We are a golden land because our people’s hearts are made of gold.   They can melt at the sight of the tears of fellow human beings.  For a country with a fragile health infrastructure, the surge and rate of death was controlled by the inspiring example of our front-line health workers. The government responded with commendable clarity.  Guns in war areas have fallen silent.  Compassion has become the common religion.  This is a golden opportunity to build a new Myanmar of justice and peace.

Covid like any other disaster globally uncovered the underlying visceral injustice.  Pope Francis was eloquent in articulating that the virus did not attack all people equally.  Economically and socially marginalized communities are disproportionally infected and die.  Virus kills.  Discrimination also kills.  Disempowerment kills. Poverty kills.

Covid is a pandemic that needs not only a vaccine but a surgery.  Social surgery.  Surgery in our priorities, in the way treat the poor and the vulnerable.    It is becoming clear, that extensive destruction of forests resulted in this virus jumping from exotic animals into the human population.  We face an existential crisis: the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.

Any disorder, or disruption of social order, is a challenge. But it is also an opportunity.  To build back better, set our moral compass towards the vulnerable, let the arc of history bend towards economic and environmental justice.  Pope in his latest booklet “Let us dream together”, says Covid offers a great opportunity to reset priorities.  Even superpowers which spend billions on war machine realized their folly when they understood they have more soldiers than doctors, more guns than ventilators.

For all of us in Myanmar, this is a lifetime opportunity. Covid is not the only pandemic that diluted the dignity of our people.  The senseless chronic war and displacement of seven decades is the worst pandemic.  In a country of enormous resources, enforced poverty is a cruel pandemic.  Millions of our youth forced into unsafe migration and modern forms of slavery are the heart-wrenching pandemic.   Time has come to make all these pandemics to disappear from our wounded history.

I call upon all to ‘dream together’ for a new Myanmar.  We can do it together.  2020 saw our people voting overwhelmingly for democracy and peace.  Even in ethnic areas, people voted for the national party, hoping it would bring peace.  Signs are clear: times to heal our fragmented identities based on race, religion, and language.  Too much blood and tears have been shed. Heal this wounded nation through reconciliation.  There is no peace without justice. Let those who rule respect the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of all. There is dignity in diversity.

This country has been open for loot for too long.  The illicit economy robs billions from the people of Myanmar.  Drugs, Gems, Jades, Teak, and other resources, above and below the ground, are looted by international mafias, mercenaries, and their local enablers.  Democracy is waging an asymmetric war.  As a nation, we need to rise up against these evil forces that eat out of the bowels of the poor.

Let us dream together for a day when peace based on economic and environmental justice prevails in Myanmar, the day when all the refugees, internally displaced people will return home as full citizens.  Let us dream for the day, democracy marches without any impediment, let us dream for the day when religions will be instruments of peace and reconciliation, let us dream for the day we will really become the ‘Golden Land’ when all the resources are shared in a transparent way, let us dream of the day when we will move away from the shameful tag as the ‘least development country’ into the most developed nation in South East Asia.

Let the nightmares of 2020 fade away.  Let a new Myanmar of dreams rise again. Let a new Myanmar of peace, health, and wealth become a reality to all of us.

Wishing my countrymen and women, a blessed New Year,

Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar.

On Holy Family Sunday, a Catholic bishop in the Philippines has called for more attention to the older men and women and the lessons they sow, reported CBCP News.

Speaking during Mass, Bishop Broderick Pabillo of Manila said that the elderly deserve not only care but the recognition they have much left to give.

“They have important roles to play, even if they are weakened by age. Let us not put them aside,” Pabillo preached at the Holy Family Parish Church in Makati City.

“And the elderly, although they may now bring less material resources, yet they are repositories of wisdom and of faith,” he said.

He stressed that one treasure that the elders have is their deep faith “because it has been tested by life”.

The bishop pointed to the wisdom of the older folks and the great role they can play in a culture that values “material productivity”.

In this kind of culture, according to him, the older folks are often “bypassed and set aside”.

“Let us respect and listen to them. Their stories and lessons are important to us,” Pabillo added.

“Really, we help one another in the family and each one, including the elderly and the weak, can contribute to the well-being of the family,” he also said.

“We give thanks to God because today we are able to support our brothers so that they create their own entrepreneurial activity. They have suffered a lot over the past five years. We have taken this initiative to ensure that 42 innocent former prisoners can run a new business to support their families and not depend on anyone. This is a Christmas gift for all of you, to restore stability to your life, to allow you to live with dignity. Let us pray for your good and invoke the blessings of God for your families”, said Mgr. Sebastian Francis Shaw, Archbishop of Lahore, intervening in the framework of the meeting held in the church of Saint John of Youhanabad, in Lahore, on the evening of December 19.

As Fides learned, the Archbishop also thanked the Pakistani government and Ijaz Alam Augustine, Minister for human rights and religious affairs in the province of Punjab, for their cooperation and support in releasing 42 Christian prisoners accused of having participated in clashes and riots after the suicide attacks perpetrated against two churches in Lahore in March 2015. Addressing those present, Archbishop Shaw also said: “We want to support you fully and we wish to see you engaged in a thriving activity so that you can live a happy life”.

Fr. Francis Gulzar, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Lahore and Parish Priest of the Catholic Church of St. John, informs: “Helping them in starting a personal economic enterprise is the best way: we handed out rickshaws (means of transport) to ten people, to others motorcycles with trailers. Still, others have received support for the opening of commercial activity such as a grocery store, a catering activity, a decoration store and sale of curtains and carpets, a store that sells construction materials”. Fr. Gulzar adds: “Among the beneficiaries, there is also a former Muslim prisoner, who was in prison with them”.
Archbishop Sebastian Francis Shaw and Ejaz Alam Augustine met the former prisoners, encouraging them for the future. The Minister said: “We appreciate the important support provided by the Church for the development of people. It is our government’s priority to free innocent prisoners”.

Christians were arrested after two suicide bombers hit two churches, Christ Church (Protestant) and St. John Church (Catholic), on March 15, 2015, in Youhanabad, the largest Christian district in Lahore, where over 100,000 Christians live. During the attacks, 70 people were injured and 15 people died. Among them Akash Bashir, a young Catholic who had blocked the perpetrator of the attack at the entrance of Saint John’s Church, thus saving the lives of the 1,500 people present inside.

After the attacks, Christians protested on the streets of the city. Two Muslim men were lynched in the riots accused of being linked to suicide bombers. Following the lynching, 42 Christians were arrested by an anti-terrorism court in Lahore but were found innocent and released after five years on January 29, 2020.

On January 1, the Community of Sant’Egidio will stream testimonies from different countries, such as Mozambique, Lebanon, Syria, South Sudan, and Central Africa. Voices from humanitarian corridors and from the Greek Island of Lesbos will be heard, plus a message from Pope Francis.

Even if the lockdown imposed by the pandemic does not allow this year the holding of the traditional march to Saint Peter’s Square on World Peace Day, Sant’Egidio Community does not forgo starting the New Year together with those who work for a more just and more human world, free of war, terrorism and all forms of violence. Therefore, on January 1 it invites to take part, at 11:05 am, in streaming on www.santegidio.org – to

“Peace in all lands 2021,” a “virtual manifestation” across different areas of the world, to be concluded in connection with the Pope’s Angelus.

Responding to the theme that the Holy Father chose for the Day, “The Culture of Care as Path to Peace,” after an introduction by the Community’s President, Marco Impagliazzo, in the course of the event, which will be translated into several languages and followed in all the Continents, voices and testimonies will be heard from: the Dream Centers, for the treatment of AIDS in Africa and the prevention of COVID-19, in particular, that of Zimpeto, in Mozambique, visited a year ago by the Pope; the north of the same country, where the attacks of armed groups have not only created many victims but thousands of displaced people; Lebanon, where last summer’s explosion has further weakened a nation already in great suffering.

There will also be the talk of the humanitarian corridors, opened by Lebanon itself (for Syrian refugees) and from the Greek Island of Lesbos; of the peace process in South Sudan and Central Africa, where presidential elections have just been held and where the path to disarmament and national dialogue must be protected.

At the end of an intense tour among the wounded of the world and the hopes for peace, there will be a connection with Pope Francis’ Angelus to hear his message.

Translation by Virginia M. Forrester

Unidentified gunmen kidnapped the auxiliary bishop of the Catholic archdiocese of Owerri in Imo State, Moses Chikwe., reported Fides News Agency.

He was reportedly kidnapped on Sunday night alongside his driver whose name was not stated. The bishop’s car was later found near the Assumpta Cathedral in Owerri, located in southeastern Nigeria. The kidnapping was confirmed by the Archbishop of the diocese, His Exc. Mgr. Victor Obinna.

A statement signed by the Secretary-General of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Fr. Zacharia Nyantiso Samjumi called for prayers for the quick release of the Auxiliary Bishop.
“So far, there has been no official reports of any correspondence with the kidnappers”, said Fr. Samjumi. “Trusting in the maternal care of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we pray for his safety and quick release”.

The police have activated two special teams, the Quick Intervention Team (QUIT) and the Anti Kidnapping Unit (AKU), to locate Mgr. Chikwe and arrest his kidnappers.

The kidnapping of the Auxiliary Bishop of Owerri took place just a week after the kidnapping of another Catholic religious, Fr. Valentine Oluchukwu Ezeagu, kidnapped on December 15 by gunmen, on his way to his father’s funeral. The priest was then released on December 16

Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy and sacramental theology and director of the Sacerdos Institute at the Pontifical Regina Apostolorum university.

 Q: Pursuant to our December 8 comments on the obligation of the pastor to say a Mass for the people, a priest from Toronto asked: “What’s the assistant to the pastor in that regard? Being a co-worker in the parish for spiritual well-being of the faithful in a particular parish, doesn’t he have to say Mass for such intentions?

 On the one hand, we can say yes, insofar as every priest must offer Masses and prayers for the souls entrusted to his care.

 However, the assistant does not have a canonical obligation to set aside a specific Mass for this purpose.

 The reasons behind this are multiple and often entwined in concrete historical contexts. For example, in former centuries Mass stipends constituted a substantial part of a priest’s income, especially poorer clergy who were not assigned a specific pastoral role.

 Therefore, while the parish priest had several sources of income and therefore could renounce any stipend, this was not always the case with his assistants.

 There was also the desire to satisfy the many requests of Masses on the part of the faithful.

 For this, and many other reasons, when canon law was first codified in 1918 only the pastor received a canonical obligation to say a pro populo Mass, and thus it remained in the 1983 reform.

 In today’s altered circumstances this might change in any future revision of the code.

 * * *

 Editor’s Note: Look for the Liturgy Column at ePriest

 ZENIT will soon close its English-language edition, but plans call for Father Edward McNamara, LC, to continue his liturgy column at ePriest in the near future.

(ZENIT News / Rome, 31.05.2022).- With the announcement of a new Consistory at the end of August, the composition of the College of Cardinals doesn’t change much. ZENIT offers 12 interesting facts about the composition of the Cardinals, in particular about some of the most recently appointed. 

• 1. 8 are Europeans (United Kingdom, Spain, France, Belgium and 4 from Italy). 6 are Asian (South Korea, 2 from India, Singapore, Mongolia and East Timor), 5 are from America (2 from Brazil, the United States, Paraguay and Colombia);
  
• 2. The youngest Cardinal is Monsignor Giorgio Marengo, an Italian Bishop working as Apostolic Prefect in the capital of Mongolia. Monsignor Marengo will be 48 on June 7, 2022, thus becoming the youngest of all the Catholic Cardinals. There are only some 1,400 people in his “diocese.” He is also the first Consolata Religious to be appointed Cardinal.
• 3. John Paul II was 47 when he was elected Cardinal. To date the youngest Cardinal has been the Archbishop of Bangui, in the Central African Republic: Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga, who is 55.
• 4. The Church’s first Dalit Cardinal in history is the Indian Archbishop of Hyderabad, Anthony Poola. The Dalits or “Untouchables” are the poorest and most discriminated caste in Indian society. Their discrimination stems from Hindu cosmovision, of which yoga stems. Hinduism justifies and promotes this vision.
• 5. Paraguay, the most Catholic country of America (by proportion of population), has its first Cardinal in the person of the Archbishop of Asunción, Adalberto Martínez Flores.
• 6. Spanish Fernando Vergez is the first Religious of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ to be appointed Cardinal.
• 7. The August 27 Consistory, in which the  Pope will create the Cardinals, is the eighth of Pope Francis’ Pontificate.
• 8. At the close of the publication of this article, the total number of Cardinals is 229, of whom 132 could vote in the near-future Conclave. These 132 Cardinal Electors exceed the number of 120 Cardinals established by Paul VI. However, both Benedict XVI as well as John Paul II exceeded the number of Cardinal Electors in several Consistories. Over the next four months, four Cardinals will be 80 and so will be unable to vote. Thus the number of Cardinal Electors would be 128. For September of 2023, the “canonical” number of 120 Electors would remain as such.
• 9. The geographical distribution of the 132 Electors would be:

Europe: 53 (50 for the end of 2022 and 44 for September, 2023)

Latin America: 24 (will decrease to 21 at the end of the year)

Asia: 21

Africa: 17

North America: 14

Oceania: 3

• 10. The most numerous Cardinals are the Italians with 21 Princes of the Church (18 at the end of 2022 and 13 for September 2023)
• 11. The countries with the most Cardinal Electors are:

The United States: 10 (5 created by Pope Francis)

Spain: 6 (5 created by Pope Francis)

Brazil: 6 (4 appointed by Pope Francis)

France: 5

India: 5

Canada: 4

Mexico: 3

Poland: 3

Portugal: 3

Germany: 3

•  12. The Cardinals from Religious Orders or Congregations number 53, of whom 26 are Cardinal Electors. The Congregations with the largest     number of Cardinals are the Salesians: 11 (5 Electors) and the Jesuits: 7 (4 Electors)

Many ecclesial commentators note that it’s not understood why dioceses with a greater proportion of Catholics (such as Los Angeles, Milan, Paris or Monterrey in Mexico) have been ignored. Also not understood is why the Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholics and the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States were not given a biretta or, for that matter, no Bishop of the Eastern Catholic Rite, a realm that the Pope has often admired for observing the synodal sense. 

(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 31.05.2022).- Shortly before 11 o’clock on Tuesday morning, May 31, the body of Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who was the Holy See’s Secretary of State from 1991 to 2006, arrived in the Vatican Basilica for the funeral Mass, which was presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals, a position that Cardinal Sodano held from 2005 to 2019. 

Among the concelebrants were 36 Cardinals and some forty Archbishops and Bishops, among them Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who succeeded Cardinal Sodano as Secretary of State. They all wore a red chasuble and episcopal mitres. Pier Ferdinando Casini represented the Italian political realm. Representing the ecclesiastical realm, among others, was the Director General of the Legionaries of Christ, whose Religious served as acolytes in the mournful ceremony.

In his homily, Cardinal Re praised Cardinal Sodano’s 71 years of priesthood, 60 of which were at the service of the Holy See:

“In the close to 16 years during which he was the Pope’s first collaborator, he worked for peace with competence and dedication,” although “moments weren’t lacking of special commitment due to the complexity of the geopolitical situations,” adding that “in 1961 he entered the Holy See’s service, initially in Latin America, in the Apostolic Nunciatures of Ecuador, Uruguay and Chile. Although it was an interesting experience for him, it was demanding, as it was during the years of Vatican Council II and the first post-conciliar period.” 

In regard to his period as Nuncio in Chile, Cardinal Re said: 

“One of his first tasks was to cooperate in the mediation initiative that Pope John Paul II entrusted to Cardinal Antonio Samoré, with whom Monsignor Sodano collaborated with great determination. Those were difficult years for Chile, given the dictatorship of General Pinochet.”

Cardinal Re also recalled the 16 years in which Sodano was the Pope’s first collaborator, working for peace “with competence and dedication. There were moments that called for a special commitment, given the complexity of the geopolitical situations. Suffice it to think of the end of the Cold War, the conflict in the Persian Gulf, the war in Iraq, the conflicts in the Balkans, the tragedy on September 11, 2001 in New York and the subsequent growth of terrorism in the world.” 

Pope Francis’ presence during the funeral ceremony was discreet: he arrived in his wheelchair from Saint Martha’s and stayed seated until he intervened, standing for the Commendatio and the Valedictio at the end of the ceremony. 

Dying out with Cardinal Sodano is a wave of top-level ecclesiastics, who influenced the Church’s service and global peace.  

(ZENIT Noticias / Washington, 02.06.2022).- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations has released the results of the study A Portrait of the Permanent Diaconate: A Study for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 2021-2022. This annual survey, conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University since 2005, provides a detailed snapshot of the state of the permanent diaconate in the United States. Findings include the percentage of active vs. non-active deacons, the arch/dioceses, and eparchies with the largest number of permanent deacons, sociocultural demographics, ministerial involvement, etc.

Bishop James F. Checchio of Metuchen, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations expressed the importance of the unique role permanent deacons have in the Catholic Church. “In imitation of Christ the Servant and impelled by the spirit of charity, deacons are entrusted with the unique responsibility of bringing Christ to every corner of society. By virtue of their ordination, deacons witness to Christ in the workplace, within their families, and among the members of their community, especially the poor. The Church is grateful to all permanent deacons who extend Christ’s mercy and healing to all those in need.”

With contact information provided by the National Association of Diaconate Directors and CARA’s Catholic Ministry Formation database, CARA contacted the 183 dioceses and eparchies in the United States that have an active permanent diaconate office and formation program. Of this total, 141 responded to the survey for an overall response rate of 77%. Below are a few of the major findings of the report.

• Responding arch/dioceses with the largest number of permanent deacons include Chicago (804), Los Angeles (498), and Joliet in Illinois (497). Adjusting for Catholic population size, Latin Rite dioceses with the lowest ratio of Catholics per permanent deacon include Lexington (477 Catholics per deacon), Amarillo (547), Rapid City (678), Pueblo (681), and Anchorage (699).
• The 138 Latin Rite arch/dioceses that responded to this question report a total of 16,765 permanent deacons (both active and not active). The three eparchies that responded reported a total of 36 permanent deacons. Extrapolating to include arch/dioceses and arch/eparchies that did not respond to the survey, it can be estimated that there were as many as 20,888 permanent deacons in the United States in 2021-2022.
• Latin Rite arch/dioceses reported having 11,746 permanent deacons active in ministry. The three eparchies reported 31 active permanent deacons. Extrapolating to include arch/dioceses and arch/eparchies that did not respond to the survey, it can be estimated that there are 14,586 deacons active in ministry in the United States in 2021-2022, or about 70% of all permanent deacons.
• During the 2021 calendar year, 458 new permanent deacons were ordained in the responding arch/dioceses. At the same time, 512 deacons retired from active ministry and another 393 deacons died. As is the case with priests in the United States, there are not enough new permanent deacons being ordained to make up for the numbers who are retiring from active ministry and dying each year.
• Close to all (95%) active permanent deacons are at least 50 years old. About a fifth (20%) are in their 50s, two-fifths (41%) are in their 60s, and two-fifths (36%) are 70 or older.
• Nine in ten (93%) active permanent deacons are currently married, 4% are widowers and 2% have never been married.
• Seven in ten of active permanent deacons (72%) are non-Hispanic whites. One in five active permanent deacons (21%) are Hispanic or Latino, 3% are Asian or Pacific Islander and 2% are African American.
• Among permanent deacons who are financially compensated for ministry, one in five (19%) is entrusted with the pastoral care of one or more parishes (Canon 517.2). Additionally, one in four (25%) works in other parish ministerial positions (e.g., director of religious education, youth minister) and one in seven (15%) works in parish non-ministerial positions (e.g., administration, business, finance).

The USCCB’s Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations invites the faithful to pray the following prayer to Our Lady in gratitude for the ministry of permanent deacons in the Catholic Church:

Mary,

Teacher of that service which is hidden, who by your everyday and ordinary life filled with love knew how to cooperate with the salvific plan of God in an exemplary fashion, make deacons good and faithful servants by teaching them the joy of serving the Church with an ardent love.

Amen.

St. Lawrence, patron of deacons, pray for us.

Written by: Tim Daniels

(ZENIT News / Uvalde, Texas, 01.06.2022).- Days after the killings in Uvalde, Texas, in which an 18 year-old Hispanic youth opened fire in the Robb elementary school and shot dead 19 children and two teachers, the bereaved of the Uvalde community, of just 16,000 inhabitants, are now faced with the need to hold the funerals and burials of their loved ones. 

The Catholic Church in Uvalde is the church of the Sacred Heart. The  parish priest is Father Eduardo Morales. In the next two weeks Father Morales will preside over 12 funerals, as the families have opted for private ceremonies rather than a massive one, which implies holding the funerals little by little. 

In statements to WFAA-TV, Father Morales said in this regard: “It’s like a great funeral that doesn’t end.” On Saturday, the 28th, Father Morales also said to the Washington Post: “Everyone here knows someone who was killed. I am burying the faithful, but they are people I’ve known my whole life, and this is what makes it difficult.”

During the Masses in recent days, Father Morales said to the local Catholics: “it’s ok to be angry, but that anger must not become hatred. There will be many tears and much sadness. But as we continue to celebrate their lives, they will be  turned into tears of joy.” 

On Sunday, May 29, President Biden and his wife Jill went to Uvalde. In  fact, after visiting the monument in front of the Robb primary school, where the attacks took place, the Bidens went to Mass in the church where the funerals will be held, namely, Father Morales’ church, the parish of the Sacred Heart. 

Written by: Elizabeth Owens

(ZENIT News / Vatican City – London, 02.06.2022). On Thursday, June 2 the British capital was decked out on the occasion of the celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, marking the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne and her 96th birthday.

Pope Francis sent the following  congratulatory telegram to the Monarch:

“On the joyful occasion of your Majesty’s birthday, and the celebration this year of your Platinum Jubilee, I send you cordial greetings and best wishes, along with the renewed assurance of my prayers that Almighty God will grant you, the  members of the Royal Family and all the people of the Nation blessings of unity, prosperity and peace.”

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said to the British people on this occasion:

Today we thank God for all the years of astonishing service that have been given by Her Majesty from that day of her solemn anointing, through times of peace and great sadness, suffering and joy.

The calmness that she carries always with her arises from a soul at peace, rooted in a trust in God and inspired by her Christian faith, of which she speaks so eloquently and demonstrates so faithfully.

God bless Her Majesty. May we pray for her always.

The Episcopal Conference established that in the Masses of June 4 and 5 of 2022 all parishes pray for the Queen in the Prayers of the Faithful, and include a special prayer at the end of the Mass. 

The British Monarch and The Popes

Queen Elizabeth II is the British Monarch that has met most Popes personally. Pius XII was the first Pope she met in 1951, a year before her coronation. She met John XXIII when he received her in the Vatican on May 5, 1961, and John Paul II on several occasions: in 1980 in the Vatican, then during the Pope’s Apostolic Journey to Great Britain in 1982 and, finally, on October 17, 2000. 

During Benedict XVI’s visited to the United Kingdom in 2010, he met the Queen in Buckingham Palace on September 16.

The Queen met with Pope Francis in the Vatican on April 3, 2014. In March of 2022 the Holy Father sent her a letter and a Lebanon cedar for her birthday. In a note, he said: “May this tree, which in the Bible symbolizes the flowering of fortitude, justice and prosperity, be a pledge of abundant divine blessings on your kingdom.” 

Written by:Valentina di Giorgio

(ZENIT News / Rome, 02.06.2022).- On Wednesday, May 1, the US Embassy to the Holy See put an LGBT  flag on one of the Embassy’s balconies. It also shared a photo of it on its social networks with a text stating:

“Today is the start of gay pride month. The United States respects and promotes the equality and human dignity of all people, including the LGBTQIA+ community.” 

Such a flag, displayed in the Vatican, is anything but opportune. Hence Fox News asked the State Department why this flag is not displayed also in the US Embassies in Saudi Arabia or Ethiopia. The US government’s answer was incoherent if not ridiculous:

“Acknowledging that the context in each country is different, the Embassies and Consulates carry out individual plans to create awareness on the violence and abuses of human rights directed to LGBTQI+ people, including appropriate exterior displays.” 

It’s not the first time that the US Embassy in the Vatican does this. But the Biden administration marks the first time that the Embassy has engaged in what the Pope calls “ideological colonization,” now also through diplomacy. 

(ZENIT News – Center for Family and Human Rights / Washington, 01.07.2022).- Biden’s White House announced a global campaign to eradicate all forms of therapy and advice to help people struggling against same sex attraction or gender dysphoria. 

“My decree will use all the force of the Federal Government to avoid inhuman practices of conversion therapy,” said Biden on signing the decree calling all therapies and counselling that don’t confirm homosexuality and transgenderism “dangerous and discredited.” 

The decree directs the Secretary of State to develop an action plan to combat “conversion therapies” and to “promote the end of its use worldwide,” including its use as a lever for U.S. foreign aid and promoting initiatives against “conversion therapies” in the U.N.

“We wage the battle for the genuine soul of this nation and this isn’t a hyperbole,” said Biden before signing the degree, accusing the “MAGA  agenda” of his predecessor, President Donald Trump, of inciting violence against individuals who identify themselves as homosexual or transsexuals. 

Biden pointed out Florida’s actions against Disneyland for promoting the trans-education of children as “persecuting Mickey Mouse.” And he said that the action of Texas Governor Greg Abbot to impute parents who help their small children to change their sex as a form of child abuse was, in fact, a form of harassment. 

“Pride returns to the White House,” said Biden on signing the decree. The decree aligns the U.S. Government with several officials and bodies of the U.N. who recently engaged in a campaign against the so-called “conversion therapy.” 

Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, called conversion therapy an “abuse of human rights.” 

Victor Madrigal-Borloz of Costa Rica, U.N. independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity, issued a Report calling for a global ban on all therapies and ways of counselling that do not encourage those that experience homosexual tendencies to act according to their inclinations or that do not reaffirm individuals that experience confusion regarding their bodies and sexes. 

The term “conversion therapy” doesn’t refer to an established method of therapy or counselling. It is a derogatory label applied by politicians and activists to any form of verbal therapy or counselling to help individuals to address their undesired attraction to the same sex or sex dysphoria.  This type of therapy and counselling is offered by psychologists and therapists. 

Psychologists that carry out this type of verbal therapy say that the results are based on the patient’s motivation and will to change his thoughts and actions. They say that 30% of those highly motivated abandon their same sex attraction, another 30% continue their struggle and resist the activity with those of the same sex, whereas the rest return to their previous practices. 

The critics of this type of verbal therapy say it causes harm. A review of 79 studies found that to help individuals to address or overcome same sex attraction of dysphoria, does not imply any greater risk than other types of counselling. 

The decree also directs federal agencies to fight against the conversion therapy domestically  and to develop strategies to eradicate it, together with other policies to promote homosexuality and transgenderism in the judicial system, schools, health care as well as in governmental policies and agencies. 

For instance, the decree’s  language directs the Department of Health and Humanitarian Services to develop policies that ensure that homosexual couples and trans gender individuals are able to adopt children or obtain them through surrogation and other reproductive technologies in equal conditions with married men and women.