Vatican City, Apr 2, 2018 / 09:52 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Cardinal Peter Turkson issued a message for World Autism Awareness Day urging faith communities to have meaningful encounters with those who have autism and with their families, in opposition to a culture of exclusion.
Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Turkson said it is important that governments, institutions, and the entire community “work to respond adequately to the needs of people with autism spectrum disorders.”
“In this way, the culture of encounter and solidarity will be fostered in spite of that of exclusion and of waste, which instead relegates them to the margins of society,” he wrote April 2.
The people affected by autism spectrum disorders are confronted by difficulties every day, he explained, both the challenges resulting from their condition, and those placed before them by society, “depriving them of being able to live to the fullest of their possibilities.”
Turkson noted that over the last 50 years, the prevalence of autism has grown, and that it is now estimated that one in every 160 children will be affected by it, requiring an even greater commitment on the part of Christians to providing an adequate response.
He said that the Church witnesses her concern for people with autism spectrum disorders through her good works and through the general welcoming attitude of communities, even if there is still a lot of progress to be made toward real inclusion.
Turkson also praised the families of people with autism who, he said, should be greatly admired for the way they accept challenges and difficulties with love.
It is “essential,” he continued, to be present to those with autism and to be present to all the members of their families.
Quoting a November 2014 speech by Pope Francis to an international conference on autism, Turkson said that “it is a necessary commitment of all to promote acceptance, encounter, solidarity, in a concrete work of support and renewed promotion of hope.”
Therefore, contributing to the breaking of “isolation and, in many cases, even the stigma that weigh on people with autism spectrum disorders, as often also on their families.”
Pope Francis also mentioned the United Nations’ celebration of World Autism Awareness Day April 2, by making an appeal for prayer on the occasion, following his recitation of the Regina Coeli in St. Peter’s Square.
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Vatican City, Jul 6, 2018 / 04:21 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, a seasoned Vatican diplomat who announced Pope Francis’ election to the world in 2013, died Thursday at a hospital in the United States.
According to Italian newspaper Vatican Insider, Tauran, who until his July 5 death served as president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, had traveled to Connecticut for treatment, staying with the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist in the Archdiocese of Hartford.
Despite a progressive decline in his health, Tauran made a lengthy and historic visit to Saudi Arabia in April to advance the Holy See’s relationship with Saudi authorities, and to reinforce dialogue between Christians and Muslims.
Born in Bordeaux, France in 1953, Tauran turned 75 April 3 and has a long track record of diplomatic service in the Vatican.
Ordained a priest in September 1969, the late cardinal held licentiate degrees in philosophy and theology, and he also held a degree in canon law.
After serving as parochial vicar for a period of time after his ordination, Tauran in 1975 entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See when he was named the Vatican’s ambassador to the Dominican Republic.
He was then sent as a papal envoy to Lebanon, and later represented the Holy See at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), participating in multiple conferences throughout the continent.
In 1988 he was named undersecretary for the then-Council for the Public Affairs of the Church – now known as the Section for Relations with States in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State – and in 1991 Pope John Paul II appointed him secretary of the dicastery and made him an archbishop.
In that role, which is equivalent to a Foreign Minister, Tauran led delegations from the Holy See to numerous international conferences.
The cardinal was appointed archivist and librarian for the Vatican in 2003, and in October of that year was given a red hat by Pope John Paul II.
In 2007, he was named by Pope Benedict XVI as president of the council for interreligious dialogue.
Benedict in 2011 named him “cardinal protodeacon,” a role usually given to a senior prelate who is then tasked with announcing the name of a new pope after his election. Tauran held this position when Francis was elected in March 2013, meaning it was his voice that carried the words “habemus papam” to the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and locals awaiting the announcement in St. Peter’s Square.
After his election, Pope Francis established the Pontifical Referring Commission to the Institute of Religious Works (IOR), also called the “Vatican bank,” to study ways of reforming the institute, and named Tauran a member.
In December 2014 Francis named Tauran as Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, meaning he was the prelate tasked with keeping the Vatican running after the death of a pope.
Several diplomats, priests and fellow prelates have reacted to the cardinal’s death, taking to social media to praise him not only for his kindness and humor, but for his longstanding service to the Church.
In a July 6 tweet, British Ambassador to the Holy See Sally Axworthy said she was sad to hear about Taruan’s death, and said he had shown the embassy “great support” at an event organized in January.
“He was both an intellectual giant and a man of great warmth and humour, who worked tirelessly to build relations with the Muslim world. We will miss him greatly,” she said.
Eduard Habsburg, Hungarian ambassador to the Holy See, also showed his sympathy by retweeting a
“RIP” to Tauran saying he was “a great man of the Church.”
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Vatican Council for Culture, also tweeted a “RIP” for Tauran accompanied by one of the late cardinal’s quotes: “What is threatening us is not the clash of civilizations, but rather the clash of ignorance and radicalism. To know yourself is to recognize yourself.”
Fr. Manuel Dorantes, a Chicago priest and a strategic advisor to the Vatican dicastery for communications, tweeted out a prayer for the prelate, asking: “may the Lord embrace lovingly this kind and gentle man who served the Church so faithfully.”
Pope Francis prays during Christmas Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 24, 2023. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Dec 24, 2023 / 18:00 pm (CNA).
Below is the full text of Pope Francis’ homily for the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, delivered on Dec. 24, 2023, in St. Peter’s Basilica.
“A census of the whole earth” (cf. Lk 2:1). This was the context in which Jesus was born, and the Gospel makes a point of it. The census might have been mentioned in passing, but instead is carefully noted. And in this way, a great contrast emerges. While the emperor numbers the world’s inhabitants, God enters it almost surreptitiously. While those who exercise power seek to take their place with the great ones of history, the King of history chooses the way of littleness. None of the powerful take notice of him: only a few shepherds, relegated to the margins of social life.
The census speaks of something else. In the Scriptures, the taking of a census has negative associations. King David, tempted by large numbers and an unhealthy sense of self-sufficiency, sinned gravely by ordering a census of the people. He wanted to know how powerful he was. After some nine months, he knew how many men could wield a sword (cf. 2 Sam 24:1-9). The Lord was angered and the people suffered. On this night, however, Jesus, the “Son of David”, after nine months in Mary’s womb, is born in Bethlehem, the city of David. He does not impose punishment for the census, but humbly allows himself to be registered as one among many. Here we see, not a god of wrath and chastisement, but the God of mercy, who takes flesh and enters the world in weakness, heralded by the announcement: “on earth peace among those whom he favors” (Lk 2:14). Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him from finding room in the world (cf. Lk 2:7).
The census of the whole earth, in a word, manifests the all-too-human thread that runs through history: the quest for worldly power and might, fame and glory, which measures everything in terms of success, results, numbers and figures, a world obsessed with achievement. Yet the census also manifests the way of Jesus, who comes to seek us through enfleshment. He is not the god of accomplishment, but the God of Incarnation. He does not eliminate injustice from above by a show of power, but from below, by a show of love. He does not burst on the scene with limitless power, but descends to the narrow confines of our lives. He does not shun our frailties, but makes them his own.
Christmas Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on the night of Dec. 24, 2023. Vatican Media
Brothers and sisters, tonight we might ask ourselves: Which God do we believe in? In the God of incarnation or the god of achievement? Because there is always a risk that we can celebrate Christmas while thinking of God in pagan terms, as a powerful potentate in the sky; a god linked to power, worldly success, and the idolatry of consumerism. With the false image of a distant and petulant deity who treats the good well and the bad poorly; a deity made in our own image and likeness, handy for resolving our problems and removing our ills. God, on the other hand, waves no magic wand; he is no god of commerce who promises “everything all at once”. He does not save us by pushing a button, but draws near us, in order to change our world from within. Yet how deeply ingrained is the worldly notion of a distant, domineering, unbending, and powerful deity who helps his own to prevail against others! So many times this image is ingrained in us. But that is not the case: our God was born for all, during a census of the whole earth.
Let us look, then, to the “living and true God” (1 Thess 1:9). The God who is beyond all human reckoning and yet allows himself to be numbered by our accounting. The God, who revolutionizes history by becoming a part of history. The God who so respects us as to allow us to reject him; who takes away sin by taking it upon himself; who does not eliminate pain but transforms it; who does not remove problems from our lives but grants us a hope that is greater than all our problems. God so greatly desires to embrace our lives that, infinite though he is, he becomes finite for our sake. In his greatness, he chooses to become small; in his righteousness, he submits to our injustice. Brothers and sisters, this is the wonder of Christmas: not a mixture of sappy emotions and worldly contentment, but the unprecedented tenderness of a God who saves the world by becoming incarnate. Let us contemplate the Child, let us contemplate the manger, his crib, which the angels call “a sign” for us (cf. Lk 2:12). For it truly is the sign that reveals God’s face, a face of compassion and mercy, whose might is shown always and only in love. He makes himself close, tender, and compassionate. This is God’s way: closeness, compassion, tenderness.
Pope Francis brings a figure of the Christ child over to the nativity scene inside of St. Peter’s Basilica at the end of Mass. Vatican Media
Sisters and brothers, let us marvel at the fact that he “became flesh” (Jn 1:14). Flesh: the very word evokes our human frailty. The Gospel uses this word to show us that God completely assumed our human condition. Why did he go to such lengths? Because he cares for us, because he loves us to the point that he considers us more precious than all else. Dear brother, dear sister, to God, who changed history in the course of a census, you are not a number, but a face. Your name is written on his heart. But if you look to your own heart, and think of your own inadequacies and this world that is so judgmental and unforgiving, you may feel it difficult to celebrate this Christmas. You may think things are going badly, or feel dissatisfied with your limitations, your failings, your problems, and your sins. Today, though, please, let Jesus take the initiative. He says to you, “For your sake, I became flesh; for your sake, I became just like you”. So why remain caught up in your troubles? Like the shepherds, who left their flocks, leave behind the prison of your sorrows and embrace the tender love of the God who became a child. Put aside your masks and your armor; cast your cares on him and he will care for you (cf. Ps 55:22). He became flesh; he is looking not for your achievements but for your open and trusting heart. In him, you will rediscover who you truly are: a beloved son or daughter of God. Now you can believe it, for tonight the Lord was born to light up your life; his eyes are alight with love for you. We have difficulty believing in this, that God’s eyes shine with love for us.
Christmas Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on the night of Dec. 24, 2023. Vatican Media
Christ does not look at numbers, but at faces. However, who looks at him amid the many distractions and mad rush of a bustling and indifferent world? Who is watching? In Bethlehem, as crowds of people were caught up in the excitement of the census, coming and going, filling the inns, and engaged in petty conversation, a few were close to Jesus: Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and then the Magi.
Let us learn from them. They stood gazing upon Jesus, with their hearts set on him. They did not speak, they worshiped. Tonight, brothers and sisters, is a time of adoration, of worship.
Worship is the way to embrace the Incarnation. For it is in silence that Jesus, the Word of the Father, becomes flesh in our lives. Let us do as they did, in Bethlehem, a town whose name means “House of Bread”. Let us stand before him who is the Bread of Life. Let us rediscover worship, for to worship is not to waste time, but to make our time a dwelling place for God. It is to let the seed of the Incarnation bloom within us; it is to cooperate in the work of the Lord, who, like leaven, changes the world. To worship is to intercede, to make reparation, to allow God to realign history. As a great teller of epic tales once wrote to his son, “I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament… There you will find romance, glory, honor, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth” (J.R.R. TOLKIEN, Letter 43, March 1941).
Brothers and sisters, tonight love changes history. Make us believe, Lord, in the power of your love, so different from the power of the world. Lord, make us, like Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the Magi, gather around you and worship you. As you conform us ever more to yourself, we shall bear witness before the world to the beauty of your countenance.
Pope Francis after praying the Angelus in the Vatican’s apostolic palace on March 29, 2020. Credit: Vatican Media. / null
Vatican City, Jan 4, 2022 / 04:30 am (CNA).
It all started more than 67 years ago with Luigi Gedda, an Italian Catholic doctor, political activist, and influential lay leader.
In a Marian Year, Gedda, then president of the association Azione Cattolica (Catholic Action), convinced his friend Pope Pius XII to recite the midday Angelus publicly from the window of his private study.
So, on Aug. 15, 1954, the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, Pius XII addressed Catholics in Rome and around the world over Vatican Radio, inviting them to join him “in the pious greeting to the Mother of God.”
This was the beginning of a papal custom that takes place every Sunday and Marian solemnity, when the pope appears at the window of his library in the Apostolic Palace at noon to lead the faithful gathered below in St. Peter’s Square in praying the Angelus in Latin.
The Angelus has its roots in a medieval practice of praying the Hail Mary three times in a row, as recommended by St. Anthony of Padua.
In the 1200s, a group of Franciscans proposed that the practice be done in the evening after praying Compline (Night Prayer), as a way of meditating on the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation. A bell would be rung to remind the friars and others that it was time to pray the Hail Marys.
Over the centuries, the three Hail Marys began to be prayed also in the morning and at midday.
Today, the prayer also includes words from the Annunciation, the Angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she had been chosen to be the Mother of God, and a closing prayer.
Evidence of the modern iteration is found as early as the 1500s, in a book called the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was printed in Rome during the reign of Pope Pius V, and a handbook for Catholics published in Antwerp in 1588.
Pope Francis delivers his Angelus address at the Vatican, Dec. 12, 2021. Vatican Media.
At the Vatican, many offices have the custom of pausing work every day to pray the Angelus together at noon.
During the Easter season, the Angelus is replaced with the Regina Coeli (“O Queen of Heaven”), a Marian antiphon prayed or sung during Easter.
Over the years, popes have used the moment before the recitation of the Marian prayer to give a short catechesis, message, or appeal.
Pope Francis does not visit the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, located outside Rome, but the popes who did would recite the Angelus from the palace during their period of rest.
At certain points during the COVID-19 pandemic, to avoid crowds of people gathering in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis said the prayer via live video from inside his study.
The Angelus is broadcast live around the world and streamed on the internet. The bells of St. Peter’s Basilica always ring at noon, right before the pope appears at the palace window for this custom honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary.
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