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Spanish Church launches "Paradarluz" a portal on child protection and abuse prevention

The portal Paradarluzwhich was presented to the communication managers of the child protection and abuse prevention offices at a meeting held on Saturday, October 15 in Madrid, has been made known to the general public.

Maria José Atienza-October 17, 2022-Reading time: 2 minutes

Paradarluz The Church's work in Spain for the promotion and protection of human rights is gathered in a single web portal. child protection and abuse prevention and is also intended to be a means of facilitating contact with the offices that have been set up in dioceses, religious congregations and other ecclesial institutions.

The president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, Msgr. Juan José Omella, highlights in the letter of presentation of this portal that the work carried out by the Spanish Church in the field of eliminating these abuses and "to accompany and welcome those who have suffered most directly. We have done a lot, and you can see it on this website, but it is not enough. It is never enough in the face of suffering. That is why we open this virtual space in which the whole society will be able to know the decisions taken and those we are willing to take, besides making available to everyone the contacts with the offices from which to help those who want to denounce".

Diocesan and congregational offices

Paradarluz shows and reports on the 202 offices (60 diocesan and 142 of congregations) that, throughout Spain, have been opened with the aim of being a channel for receiving complaints of abuse committed in the past. These offices are also responsible for establishing protocols for action and training for the protection of minors and the prevention of abuse.

It also highlights the work that the Church has been carrying out in common processes for the protection of minors, protocols for educational centers and training for teachers and students for the detection and prevention of child abuse.

In addition, it highlights and reports on the independent audit commissioned by the Spanish bishops to the law firm Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo regarding the reports and investigations carried out on the cases of child abuse committed by some members of the Church. 

The road traveled

The new portal also performs a historical tour of the steps taken in this task of abuse prevention and restorative justice.

A path that began in 2010 with the first protocols of action in relation to these cases and that has been improving over the years with the updating of the legal norms relating to these crimes in Canon Law as well as the emanation, by the Holy See, of expensive and common norms for the treatment of these cases.

In addition to these, diocesan offices have been set up for this purpose and independent investigations are being carried out in many countries into abuses committed within the Church.

Various documentation

The portal also has the ability to easily file a possible report of a crime of abuse within the Church, through direct contact with the offices created for this purpose.

It also contains an extensive bibliographical list of documents on these crimes, protocols and vademecums created by dioceses and religious institutions as well as press materials.

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The Vatican

Pope meets with Communion and Liberation members

Maria José Atienza-October 17, 2022-Reading time: < 1 minute

Some 50,000 members of Communion and Liberation gathered in St. Peter's Square to meet with the Pope on the centenary of the birth of its founder, Father Luigi Giusssani.

During the meeting, the Pope emphasized that "These are times of renewal and missionary relaunching in the light of the present ecclesial moment. Also of the need, suffering and hope of contemporary humanity. The crisis makes us grow" and asked them not to lose sight of their original charism.

AhNow you can enjoy a 20% discount on your subscription to Rome Reports Premiumthe international news agency specializing in the activities of the Pope and the Vatican.
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Vocations

Isidoro Zorzano, at the School of Engineers of Madrid

A few days ago, the School of Industrial Engineers of the Polytechnic University of Madrid hosted the presentation of a book on the engineer Isidoro Zorzano (Buenos Aires, 1902-Madrid, 1943). Enrique Muñiz, the author, and Cristina, a budding engineer, talked about the man who may be the first male layman of Opus Dei to be canonized. The first woman to be beatified was Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri (2019).

Francisco Otamendi-October 17, 2022-Reading time: 4 minutes

Naturally, Isidoro Zorzano, who died in 1943 of cancer, is not yet at the altars. But Pope Francis opened the door in 2016, and the Argentinian engineer Zorzano is already venerablethat is to say, he lived the Christian virtues to a heroic degree, according to the Church. Ahead of him in the Opus Dei there are only St. Josemaría Escrivá, Blessed Álvaro del Portillo, and the Catalan girl Montse Grases, also venerable since 2016. 

For years, there has been a biography The complete biography of Isidoro Zorzano, written by José Miguel Pero-Sanz, former director of Palabra and published by the publishing house of the same name, is now in its fifth edition. Now, Enrique Muñiz publishes this sketch Isidoro 100 %', a 175-page illustrated book, in original conversation format with a young woman, Cristina (22), who is finishing her degree in Industrial Engineering at the Madrid School this year. Both reproduced a summary of the book at the presentation, in front of dozens of students and some professors of the School, open to questions from the audience.

Isidoro Zorzano was born in Buenos Aires in 1902. He was the third of five children of Spanish emigrants, and it can be fairly said that he was a migrant-both in Argentina, because he was the son of Spaniards, and in Spain because he was born in Argentina. His parents returned to Spain in 1905, although with the intention of going back to Argentina. They settled in Logroño, where Isidoro was a companion of St. Josemaría when they both studied high school in Logroño. His family went bankrupt in 1924, following the serious difficulties of the Banco Español del Río de la Plata.

Later, Zorzano was the founder's man of trust in the beginnings of the Work, and the first to persevere in the vocation to Opus Dei that his friend St. Josemaría proposed to him directly in 1930. In the following years, he would heroically help the founder and the faithful of the Work during the Spanish Civil War.

259 testimonials, 2,000 pages

The chapters of the biographical sketch are captivating, but if I had to subjectively highlight any of them, I would suggest reading the brief introduction, entitled 'The saint from my front door', which begins with a reference to the apostolic exhortation Gaudete et exsultate'. of Pope Francis; chapters 3 and 4 ̶ 'Friends' and 'The half-full bottle' ̶ ; chapter 6 ̶

'Isidore's crucifix' ̶ , or 10, whose heading, 'Extraordinarily ordinary', is perhaps one of the book's greatest contributions. 

In fact, this is what the author emphasized when, during the colloquium at the School of Engineers, he commented that the life of Isidoro Zorzano was "full of very normal things and of constant details of service to others", in the search for holiness in the ordinary.

Isidoro 100%" gathers significant traces of the 259 testimonies, more than two thousand pages, that were collected after his death, due to a lymphoma when he was close to 41 years old and was working as a railroad engineer.

The engineer Rafael Escolá, who would later found a well-known consulting firm, heard St. Josemaría say of him: "He fulfilled every day the norms of piety, worked hard, was always cheerful, and took care of others. If this is not being holy, what is being holy?" (p. 121).

He did not talk about himself

Blessed Alvaro del Portillo, who lived with him at the Villanueva center before becoming a priest, mentioned among other things: "I never heard Isidore talk about himself unless I asked him. I never heard a reply from him. He never excused himself, nor did he blame anything that had turned out less well for someone else, even though he could usually do so, for I have already said that Isidore tried to do his best".

Blessed Alvaro continued with an anecdote that reflects Isidore's humility, which you can read in its entirety on pp. 129-130: "How many times has the scene I am about to describe been repeated! There in a corner of our Secretariat, behind his table, seated in an armchair, trying to remain hidden, to disappear, is Isidoro. He is for everyone, for me, the living model of loyalty, of fidelity to the Father and to the vocation, of generosity, of perseverance. He is Father's childhood friend, the oldest in the Work. I had great inner respect for him. A few years ago, Father had appointed me Secretary General of the Work. [...]".

"Isidore worked as General Administrator of the Work, in his corner," Blessed Alvaro adds. "He did not interrupt his work when others of us who lived in that house had to enter his office: he went about his work naturally, but when no one else entered with me, he invariably stood up. But when no one else came in with me, he invariably stood up. For God's sake, Isidoro, why are you getting up! "No, nothing: if you want something". Let us bear in mind [...] that this internal hierarchy was then nothing more than an incipient thing, practically unreal, that he was a man in his own right, full of social prestige, the oldest in the Work..., and his interlocutor was a student, almost twice his age".

"When I get to heaven, what do you want me to ask for?"

In the classroom of the School of Engineers, and in his biographical sketch, Enrique Muñiz explains that "Isidoro is an example that sanctity is not a kind of outburst worthy of titans, but something attainable, which is worked at little by little, with ordinary efforts and a constant openness to the grace of God...". In his research, the author emphasizes that Zorzano "was close, kind, polite, super-serviceable, super-engineer, simple, humble, and in his illness he showed the courageous heroism with which he lived his whole life".

For example, "among those who stay overnight at the sanatorium, there are several charming testimonies of how Isidoro did not sleep a wink while he made sure that they slept at ease," says the author.

The progression was in crescendo until the end of his life, as this event shows. In the last conversation he had with St. Josemaría, the day before he died, Blessed Alvaro wrote that Isidore asked: "Father, what business do I have to worry about as soon as I get to heaven? What do you want me to ask for? And Father answered him "to ask, in the first place, for the priests; then for the women's section of the Work, for the financial part... And when Father left, with the emotion that one might suppose, given Isidore's extraordinarily supernatural reaction, he was filled with joy: he would soon go to heaven and, from there, he could work hard for what most concerned Father! (pp. 136-137).

The mortal remains of Isidoro Zorzano rest in the parish of San Alberto Magno, in Vallecas (Madrid), located next to the Tajamar school. There are engravings and information sheets about Isidoro. Chapter 12 of the biography, 'Devotion', lists some favors and petitions to Isidoro Zorzano, and his devotees are very varied, says the author, who has written: "Hopefully the reading of these pages will also serve to encourage someone to ask God for a miracle through the intercession of Isidoro, which will serve for his beatification..., and then another, God willing, for his canonization".

The authorFrancisco Otamendi

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Integral ecology

An economy with a soul. The challenge of a global crisis

The three recent crises - the financial crisis of 2009-2013, the Covid-19 health crisis and the inflationary energy crisis with the Russian invasion of Ukraine - have hit hardest the vulnerable, the poorest, some 800 million people in the world. Eradicating poverty is today's greatest challenge. The Pope has pushed in Assisi, The Economy of Francesco (EoF), which promotes a fairer and more solidarity-based economy.

Francisco Otamendi-October 17, 2022-Reading time: 6 minutes

As if the impact of the crises were not enough, unprecedented climatic catastrophes are causing enormous damage in various parts of the world. Among the latest places to be affected is Pakistan, with its 222 million inhabitants, the vast majority of whom are Muslims, 33 million people have been affected by extreme rains and floods, and more than 1,200 people, including some 450 children, have died. To date, more than 300,000 homes have been destroyed and another 692,000 damaged.

In addition, Pakistani government officials report that more than 800,000 hectares of agricultural land have been destroyed, and about 731,000 head of livestock have been lost, leaving numerous farmers without a livelihood to support their families, reports Caritas Internationalis (caritas.org), which has launched a global alert to provide the population with food, clean water, sanitation and access to hygiene supplies.

The two poorest areas of the planet, according to experts, are located in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where Pakistan is located, but also Afghanistan, the country with the highest poverty rate in the world, according to the rankings, due in large part to successive wars and conflicts. In the Americas, Haiti continues to lead the poverty rate, with serious episodes of violence. 

Looking at Europe and Ukraine, researchers from the Elcano Royal Institute have already pointed out that "how the Russian invasion and the West's response could generate problems in the global economy, especially in the area of raw materials and energy, but also in industrial sectors and services in a context of rising inflation and value chains that were already highly stressed and were being redefined after the pandemic.".

It is evident that "The economy of the European Union is feeling the impact of the Russia's war in Ukraine"he pointed out Euronews before the summer. "There has been a further increase in energy prices, driving inflation to record highs. Ukraine and Russia produce almost a third of the world's wheat and barley, and are major exporters of metals.

Disruptions in supply chains, as well as the rising costs of many raw materials, have driven up the price of food and other basic goods and services. This puts a burden on businesses and reduces purchasing power. What is expected, therefore, is lower growth and higher inflation with rising prices, if things do not change.

Who is most affected by crises?

The three crises mentioned above are causing "a very unequal impact. In contrast to the view that the middle classes have been affected, the reality of the research tells us that this crisis has most affected the lower classes and people who were already in a position of vulnerability, or directly in a position of social exclusion".Raúl Flores, coordinator of Omnes' research team, has told Omnes that Spanish Caritasand technical secretary of Foessa FoundationThe company's main goal is to

In his opinion, "When we analyzed the impact in the 2009-2013 crisis, exactly the same thing happened. This has happened in the Covid crisis, and it is happening again in this energy crisis, which is generating a price inflation that exceeds the capacity of the families that were there at the limit. Not to mention those families who were in over their heads, for whom this situation only deepens the pit of poverty and social exclusion", adds Raul Flores.

Poverty may increase

The Caritas coordinator's considerations are a wake-up call, in line with an alert made by the United Nations when referring to Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 2 (SDGs). The first is "End of Poverty, and the second "Zero hunger".

This is what the UN says: "New research published by the United Nations University's World Institute for Development Economics Research warns that the economic consequences of the global pandemic could increase poverty worldwide to as many as 500 million more people, or 8 % more of the world's total population. This would be the first time poverty has increased worldwide in 30 years, since 1990.". As is well known, more than 700 million people in the world, 10 percent of the world's population, are currently considered to be living below the poverty line ($1.90/day).

The rich, to blame for inequality?

A debate that some people sometimes raise is whether inequality is the fault of the rich, or put another way: are the rich to blame for inequality? So asked a CNN journalist, based on a recent report, Professor Luis Ravina, director of the Navarra Center for International Developmentbelonging to the Culture and Society Institute of the University of Navarra.

Luis Ravina responded telematically from Guatemala: "The report communicates a reality that is worrisome. What I do not agree with is the report's interpretation of these data, which is a judgment, an evaluation that, in my opinion, is wrong. Indeed, it says that the cause of poverty lies in the concentration of power in the hands of a few rich people, and I do not agree. This is very old, it is nothing new. It is based on an erroneous conception, which is to think that society is static, when the reality is that society is dynamic".

Ravina then added: "The idea that is conveyed is that the economy is a pie, and that pie has to be shared equitably. I agree on equity, and I agree that excessive concentration of power is dangerous, because it can interfere and influence the healthy development of democracy. Up to this point, I agree. But then, that there is a static pie, and that it has to be shared equally, is false. Society and the economy, as we know from experience, is a pie that is constantly moving. The fair society is the one that carries out a mobility". 

A fairer society

So far, what is happening on a large and small scale, and some of the debates that arise. Let us now look at some initiatives led by Pope Francis. To do so, we will look at several observatories. The most immediate is the recent meeting in Assisi, where young people from all over the world made a pact with the Pope, and called on economists and world leaders with proposals to implement a more just, inclusive and fraternal economy with a soul, The Economy of Francesco. We talked about it in these same pages with some members of the EoF staff.

On the other hand, driven by Centesimus Annus FoundationThe Conference, chaired by Anna Maria Tarantola, will be held at the Vatican from October 6 to 8, 2010. CAPPF 2022with the title Inclusive growth to eradicate poverty and promote sustainable development and peaceThe event will be addressed by the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

The human person and his dignity

In recent interventions, the Holy Father has offered hints and suggestions that encourage us to ensure respect for the human person and his dignity, as indicated in the Social Doctrine of the Church. For example, at the end of last year, the Pope showed the way forward, as recalled in the preparatory documents of the International Conference of the Centessimus Annus Foundation: "In all areas of life, today more than ever, we are obliged to be witnesses of our concern for others, to think not only of ourselves, and to commit ourselves freely to the development of a more just and equitable society where forms of selfishness and partisan interests do not prevail. At the same time, we are called to ensure respect for the human person and his freedom, and to safeguard his inviolable dignity. This is the mission of putting into practice the social doctrine of the Church.".

The foundation also recalls Pope Francis' insistence on counting on the poor: "The poor are the ones who are most in need.If the poor are marginalized, as if they were to blame for their condition, then the very concept of democracy is jeopardized and any social policy will be bankrupt. With great humility, we must confess that we are often incompetent when it comes to the poor. We talk about them in the abstract; we dwell on statistics and think we can move people's hearts by filming a documentary. Poverty, on the contrary, should motivate us to creative planning, aimed at increasing the freedom necessary to live a full life according to each person's capabilities." (Message of Pope Francis for the Day of the Word of the Poor, 2021).

Different dimensions of poverty

The foundation Centesimus Annus also points out that "we have to face poverty caused by economic, climatic, digital, spiritual and educational situations... A very complex set of situations that are difficult to deal with but which we must address and resolve urgently.".

On the other hand, Tarantola said at a conference organized in Rome by Rome Reportsthe Centro Académico Romano Foundation (CARF) and Omnes, with the sponsorship of Caixabankwhich "focusing the company on the person is efficient."and that "the good company". does not create value only for shareholders, but also for the shareholders. "produces a positive impact on the creation and for all those who contribute to the success of the company, employees, customers, suppliers, etc.". 

"Good business does not impose high human and environmental costs on the community, and is also successful in producing long-term shareholder value as demonstrated by more than a few research studies."

The encyclical Laudato siand the Social Doctrine of the Church, with its emphasis on the pursuit of the common good and in considering the enterprise as "a community of people" y "not only as a capital company". as underlined by the Holy Popes John XXIII and John Paul II, underpinned the arguments of Anna Maria Tarantola.

The authorFrancisco Otamendi

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Culture

Journey to the Holy Land (II): Judaism in Jesus' time

Continuation of the text by Gerardo Ferrara, writer, historian and expert in Middle Eastern history. This time he focuses on the explanation of the social groups, beliefs and Jewish festivals of the time of Jesus.

Gerardo Ferrara-October 17, 2022-Reading time: 6 minutes
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Holy Land of Jesus (I)

At the time of Jesus, Judaism did not form a uniform bloc, but was divided into six schools:

  • The Sadducees (in Hebrew "saddoqím", from their progenitor, "Saddóq"), who constituted the priestly class and elite of the time. They were wealthy religious functionaries, serving in the temple, who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead or in the existence of angels, demons and spirits and held that the only law to be followed was the written law contained in the Torah, i.e. the first five books of the Bible (Pentateuch).
  • The Pharisees (in Hebrew, "perushim", which means "separated"), pious observers of the Law, used to pay attention even to the minutiae of the Law, which for them was not only the written Law (Torah), but also and above all the oral Law, the "halachah", which extended to the most varied actions of civil and religious life, from the complicated rules for the sacrifices of worship to the washing of dishes before meals. The Pharisees were very similar to the ultra-Orthodox Jews of today, of whom they are practically the forerunners. They described themselves as "separate," since they considered themselves opposed to anything that was not purely Jewish, i.e., themselves. Suffice it to say that they were called "am ha-areṣ", people of the land, in a derogatory sense.
  • The herodiansknown more for their loyalty to King Herod. They must also have been very close to the Sadducees, since the latter were the elite most prone to the power of both Herod and the Romans, bent as they were on maintaining the privileges derived from the "status quo".
  • The Doctors of the Law, or scribes (Hebrew "ṣofarím"). They progressively codified everything they could legislate. For example, at the time of Jesus the most debated issue, in the two main rabbinical schools of the great teachers Hillel and Shammai, was whether it was permissible to eat a chicken egg on the Sabbath).
  • The zealots (whose name in Italian comes from the Greek "zelotés", but in Hebrew it is "qana'ím"). The terms "zealots" and "qana' īm" mean "followers" in both languages and refer to the zeal with which this group adhered to Jewish doctrine, also in a political sense. Among Jesus' disciples there is one called Simon the Canaanite, where "Canaanite" does not refer to geographical origin, but to membership in the "qana'īm" group, i.e., the Zealots. These were basically uncompromising Pharisees also from a political point of view, not only religious. The Romans called them "Sicarii", because of the daggers ("sicæ") they hid under their cloaks and with which they killed anyone they found breaking the precepts of Jewish law.
  • The Essenesnever mentioned in the Jewish or Christian Scriptures, but spoken of by Flavius Josephus, Philo, Pliny and others, constituted a true religious brotherhood, spread throughout the land of Israel, but concentrated in particular around the Dead Sea, near the oasis of En Gedi (Qumran). They were very much like a religious order and rejected the Temple cult and other Jewish sects as impure. They were literally fanatical about ritual purity and strict separation from the rest of the world, which they considered impure, and had a rigid aversion to women. Private property did not exist among them and they practiced, with some exceptions, celibacy. It has been hypothesized that both Jesus and John the Baptist were Essenes, but this clashes with the universality of their message (open, among other things, to women).

These were, then, the main groups into which Judaism was divided at the time of Jesus. After the great catastrophe of 70 and 132 A.D., the only ones that survived, from the doctrinal point of view, were the Pharisees, from whom modern Judaism descends.

Beliefs, customs and traditions of Judaism

Judaism at the time of Jesus was in the so-called "mishnaic" phase (10-220 A.D.), from the Hebrew root "shanah", the same as the words "Mishnah" and "shanah", which means year. The "Mishnah", in fact, together with the Talmud and the Tanach (term designating the corpus of the Hebrew Bible) is the sacred text of Jewish law. However, the Talmud and the Mishnah are not the Bible, but exegetical texts that collect the teachings of thousands of rabbis and scholars up to the 4th century AD.

Well, the immense material of such exegetical texts was being elaborated at the very beginning of the Christian era, therefore under the Roman occupation, by the Tannaim ("tannà" is the Aramaic equivalent of "shanah" and indicates the act of repeating), true "repeaters" and disseminators of the doctrine acquired from the masters and themselves masters of the Oral Law. An example of this phase are the scribes, who progressively codified everything they could legislate, from forbidden foods to the rules of purity.

Through this process of codification, the Jewish Law no longer extended to the ten rules contained in the Decalogue, but now dominated every action of the pious observant, with 613 main commandments, divided into 365 prohibitions (like the days of the year) and 248 obligations (the same number as the bones of the human body).

When Jesus lived, there were two great schools of Jewish thought, that of Hillel and that of Shammai, which represented two different perspectives of Jewish law, the first being more rigorous and the second proposing a spiritual reform of Judaism based on the concept "You shall love your neighbor as yourself", expressed in a midrash. Jesus, who from a purely Jewish point of view could be considered one of the Tannaim, positioned himself as a synthesis between the two schools of Hillel and Shammai, preaching that not one iota of the Law would be abolished, but that the fulfillment of the Law itself was love of God and neighbor.

Two were the fundamental pillars of the life of every Jew, besides professing the oneness of God, and upon these pillars, especially after the persecutions of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (167 B.C.), the very identity of the people of Israel was formed:

Circumcisioncircumcision, which was performed eight days after the birth of each male and was usually practiced at home, gave the child his name. Pious traditions told that even the angels in heaven were circumcised and that no uncircumcised person would enter paradise (non-circumcision was an abomination for the Jews as a symbol of paganism).

Sabbath observancewhich began at sunset on Friday (the parasceve) and ended at the following sunset. This observance was so strict that two treatises of the Talmud were devoted to its casuistry, with a whole series of prohibitions (for example, lighting a fire on the Sabbath) and the dozens of minutiae that allowed escape from it (for example, it was forbidden to untie a rope knot but, in the case of an ox, horse or camel halter, if it could be untied with one hand, there was no violation of the Sabbath; Or, one who had a toothache could rinse himself with vinegar, provided he swallowed it afterwards and did not spit it out, for in the first case it would be taking food, which was lawful, and in the second case taking medicine, which was unlawful).

The Sabbath was, and is, for Judaism a day of rest and festivity, in which one devotes oneself to eat with one's family the food prepared on the eve of the Sabbath, to dress in appropriate clothing and adornment, and to devote time to prayer, in the Temple or in the synagogue.

To the two pillars mentioned must be added ritual purity, to which no less than twelve treatises (the "Tohoroth") are dedicated in the Talmud, about what is permitted to eat, touch, drink, etc. Great importance was given, in order to maintain or recover purity, to the washing of hands, dishes and various objects, to the point that, in some sentences, those who do not wash their hands are compared to those who go in the company of prostitutes. We understand, at this point, the scandal caused by the disciples of Jesus to take food with unclean hands (Mark 7:1-8. 14-15. 21-23).

The parties

In addition to the Sabbath, a weekly feast, Judaism observed other periodic feasts, the main ones being Passover ("Pesah", the feast celebrating the liberation of the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt) on the 14th of the month of Nisan, followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread; Pentecost ("Shavu'ot", which in Hebrew means "weeks" and indicates the fifty days after Passover) and Tabernacles ("Sukkòt", between September and October, which commemorates the stay of the Jews in Egypt, in fact it was and is customary to build tabernacles or tents and spend time there). These three were called "pilgrimage feasts" because every male and pubescent Israelite was obliged to go to the Temple in Jerusalem.

Other feasts were Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement, a fast day for all the people and the only one on which the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies in the Temple), Hannukah and Purim.

The authorGerardo Ferrara

Writer, historian and expert on Middle Eastern history, politics and culture.

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The Vatican

"Prayer is the medicine of faith," Pope Francis says

During the Angelus prayer, the Pontiff encouraged the faithful to say ejaculatory prayers to kindle the presence of God in the midst of daily occupations.

Javier García Herrería-October 16, 2022-Reading time: 3 minutes
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Today's Gospel commentary for Sunday, October 16, gave the Pope the opportunity to offer some thoughts on vocal prayers. Following the question posed by Jesus, "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (Lk 18:8), Pope Francis invited the faithful to reflect on this question on a personal level: "Would he [Jesus Christ] find someone who devotes time and affection to him, someone who puts him in first place? And above all let us ask ourselves: what would I find in me, if the Lord were to come today, what would he find in me, in my life, in my heart? What priorities in my life would I see?"

The Pope pointed out that in our world we live at great speed, absorbed by many urgent but unimportant things, so that unintentionally we make it impossible for God to be close to us and our faith gradually cools down. "Today Jesus offers us the remedy to warm up a lukewarm faith. And what is the remedy? The prayer. Prayer is the medicine of faith, the restorative of the soul. But it must be a constant prayer. If we have to follow a cure to be better, it is important to follow it well, to take the medicines in the right way and at the right time, with constancy and regularity". 

The example of caring for a plant

The Holy Father compared the importance of constancy in prayer to perseverance in caring for a plant: it needs water and nutrients on a regular basis. The same is true for the life of prayer. "One cannot live only by strong moments or intense encounters from time to time and then 'go into lethargy'. Our faith will dry up. It needs the daily water of prayer, it needs time dedicated to God, so that He can enter into our time, into our history; of constant moments in which we open our hearts, so that He can pour into us every day love, peace, glory, strength, hope; that is, nourish our faith."

This is why Jesus Christ insists to his disciples on the need to pray without losing heart. The Pope pointed out that one should not let oneself be carried away by excuses like, "I don't live in a convent, I don't have time to pray! If you lead a busy life, Pope Francis recommends that you turn to vocal prayers in the form of ejaculatory prayers. These are "very short prayers, easy to memorize, that we can repeat often during the day, during various activities, to be 'in tune' with the Lord. Let us give an example. As soon as we get up we can say: 'Lord, I thank you and I offer you this day'; this is a short prayer; then, before an activity, we can repeat: 'Come, Holy Spirit'; and between one thing and the other we can pray like this: 'Jesus, I trust in you, Jesus, I love you'. Small prayers but they keep us in contact with the Lord. 

The example of sending messages 

To illustrate the efficacy of the repetition of ejaculatory prayers and their meaning, Pope Francis compared them to the frequent messages one sends to the people one loves. "Let us do this also with the Lord, so that the heart remains connected to Him. And let us not forget to read their replies. The Lord always responds. Where do we find them? In the Gospel, which we must always have at hand and open every day a few times, to receive a Word of life addressed to us".

Changes in the future Synod

After the Angelus prayer, the Pope indicated that the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, on the theme "For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission," will be held in two phases. The first will take place from 4 to 29 October 2023 and the second in October 2024. 

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ColumnistsIgnacio Valduérteles

Finances in the Brotherhood

Enthusiasm and good will are not enough to manage and move forward a brotherhood, it is necessary to support it in a quiet, dark, generous work and also carried out with the utmost rigor and professionalism.

October 16, 2022-Reading time: 3 minutes

It may seem strange that in a publication focused on providing "a Catholic look at current affairs" a collaboration on accounting and finance is presented, even though these relate to the world of the sororities.

A sorority is a reasonably complex association and has to generate and apply economic resources for the realization of its purposes over time, for its sustainability, like any other organization.

There is a particularity, the brotherhoods are not autonomous entities, a brotherhood does not exist until the diocesan authority does not recognize and register it as such. It is the canonical authority that endows it with juridical personality. From that moment on, everything related to its functioning is subject to canonical legislation.

Nor does it acquire civil legal personality until it is registered in the Registry of Religious Entities of the Ministry of Justice, being subject to the civil rules that affect it.

What consequences does this have in economic matters? As far as their canonical personality is concerned, the Code of Canon Law (canon 1257) makes it clear that "all temporal goods belonging to the universal Church, to the Apostolic See or to other public juridical persons in the Church, are ecclesiastical goods".

Consistent with this, the brotherhood "administers its goods under the superior direction of the ecclesiastical authority (canon 319.§1)".

As regards their civil personality, the brotherhoods are affected by the Transparency Law (Law 19/2013) which obliges entities that receive public funds, including the Church and associations that are part of it, "to keep transparent and comparable accounts, and to allow any citizen access to the information published by these entities".

There is an issue in which both administrations, canonical and civil, coincide: the obligation to keep a transparent and homologous accounting and that their accounts are public and accessible to any citizen, brother or not. These accounts, which must cover calendar years, must be approved by the General Chapter two months after the close of the fiscal year, that is to say on February 28, and subsequently deposited in the Canonical Protectorate, which is like the Mercantile Registry of the brotherhoods.

Something else: tax issues. The Spanish legal system recognizes tax benefits for religious denominations and brotherhoods, which are considered, for taxation purposes, as non-profit entities whose purposes are considered to be of general interest. This consideration implies a more favorable economic and fiscal regime, but a series of administrative procedures must be carried out in order to be formally recognized as such.

The administrative problems of the brotherhoods do not end here. Precisely because they are non-profit entities, donations made by individuals or legal entities -usually the brothers and sisters- generate the right to tax deductions. Among these donations are the dues that are normally paid or other extraordinary donations for charity or any other purpose.

This also means an added administrative burden for the brotherhood, which every year, in January, will have to inform the Tax Agency who the donors are and the total amount of the donation (Mod. 182) and issue the corresponding certificate.

Under certain circumstances, they would also be obliged to file a corporate income tax return (Law 49/2002).

I understand that all these considerations can be tedious and even annoying to those responsible for the brotherhoods. It is much more pleasant to dedicate oneself to the essential aspects: to prepare the annual services or the processional procession, to organize some conference or formation talk for the brothers and to attend to the Charity Fund, among other things, but all these activities are necessarily supported by tedious but essential administrative tasks. Enthusiasm and good will are not enough to manage and move forward a brotherhood, it is necessary to support it in a quiet, dark, generous work and also carried out with the utmost rigor and professionalism.

One last consideration, although many people do not know it, the brotherhoods have a double accounting: the one kept by the financial managers in their books and the one kept simultaneously in Heaven. You must and the See are written down by Christ and reviewed by his Mother.

The authorIgnacio Valduérteles

D. in Business Administration. Director of the Instituto de Investigación Aplicada a la Pyme. Eldest Brother (2017-2020) of the Brotherhood of the Soledad de San Lorenzo, in Seville. He has published several books, monographs and articles on brotherhoods.

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  • Miguel BrugarolasIn the Gospel we do not find any invitation to shut oneself in".
Vocations

Miguel BrugarolasIn the Gospel we do not find any invitation to shut oneself in".

The multiple fronts on which priestly life and ministry are carried out today are combined with an image, in many cases, worn out or ignored.

Maria José Atienza-October 16, 2022-Reading time: 5 minutes

The life of a Catholic priest has not been easy in any period of history, nor is it easy today. Priests assume that their ministry will not be easy, due to different circumstances, and in this work, the task of ongoing formation, updating in the fields of pastoral care and prayer life are key to respond to the demands that the Church and society place on priests today.

In this sense, as Miguel Brugarolas, PhD in Systematic Theology from the University of Navarra and director of the Pastoral Update Conference held at this academic center at the end of September, emphasizes, the "red line" of worldliness "is always sin, which is the only thing that separates us from God".

If there is a figure that is questioned in Western societies, it is that of the Catholic priest. How to cope, spiritually and psychically, with a more or less hostile environment?

- Western society under the banner of diversity, equity and inclusion and under the guise of tolerance is intransigent with any pretension of truth or transcendent foundation of life. Not only the figure of the priest, but any identity and any way of life -such as the family, education and other institutions- that proposes a truth and a universal good about man and the world, alien to the ideological rules of the day and the systems of power, is rejected outright.

This is the way it is and you have to take this into account in order not to create false expectations, to position yourself well and to get involved in things that are really worthwhile. But I don't think we should dwell too much on the adversities of the environment. The difficulties that we can always fight against because they depend directly on us are the inner ones.

This is how St. Paul VI and St. John Paul II described them years ago: "the lack of fervor that manifests itself in fatigue and disillusionment, in accommodation to the environment and disinterest, and above all in the lack of joy and hope" (Evangelii nuntiandi, 80; Redemptoris missio, 36). Pope Francis has also insisted on this: "the evils of our world should not be excuses for reducing our dedication and fervor" (Evangelii Gaudium, 84).

Don't you think there is a danger of retreating into a safety net that could lead to apostolic rickets?

- If we look at the Gospel, we find no invitation to close ourselves in; on the contrary, Christ invites us to "put out into the deep", duc in altum! Every Christian vocation, and that of the priest, because he is a priest, in a special way, is essentially apostolic and sows in the soul the desire to be open to others. The opposite dynamic, that of withdrawing into oneself, is proper to sin, which isolates us; this is how pride, selfishness, impurity, etc. work.

The special divine vocation of those who separate themselves from the world to live in the enclosure of a monastery is also essentially apostolic and does not withdraw the heart, but expands it so that the whole world can fit into it. In this sense, we have the precious example, to say one, of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, patroness of the missions.

This question could also be answered with an expression that, in another context, Pedro Herrero uses and that here acquires an inspiring value: he who believes, creates.

At the same time, in the eagerness to become part of the world, where do we draw the red lines?

- When the Christian speaks of the "world" he distinguishes between the world as the opposite of God, the worldly, sin; and the world as the reality to which Christ was sent and in which the apostles and all the disciples have been placed to sanctify it and to sanctify themselves in it.

That is why we Christians love the world as the proper place of our sanctification and have a very positive vision of it. God has placed it in our hands to work it, to transform it with the divine Spirit at work in us, to be leaven in the whole mass. This is the world that in the end will be transformed into the new heavens and the new earth.

Living in this way, one does not fall into worldliness, because it is a matter of placing Christ at the summit of all human realities.

The red line is always sin, which is the only thing that separates us from God. Rather die than sin is the first purpose of an authentic Christian life. This is how the saints have lived.

Western societies are aging societies, not only on the physical level, but also in terms of impulses and ardor, in this sense, when they speak of keeping the priestly spirit young. Do we find that, at times, this priestly life has "hardened" or "aged"?

- Youth in its deepest sense is a condition that has less to do with age than with the personal disposition to venture into projects of love and dedication that are worthwhile or, better said, worth a lifetime.

In fact, one of the dramas we see today is the number of people who, in the best moment of their lives, have already given up everything. Whoever does not have a love to conquer or does not know how to fight for something beyond himself, has lost his youth and is wasting his best abilities.

The priest, on the other hand, has personally known the love of God and in his ministry he feels it in an extraordinary way. Priests have the best possible reason for getting up every morning: to bring us to God and to lead us to him! Of course, we all suffer the wear and tear of time and the fragility of our will. No one lives long from past experiences, that is why the problem of love is time. But with God things are renewed every day. The key is to conquer that love every day. What an excess of life manifests fidelity in love.

How can the faithful help our priests on a daily basis?

- The Christian people have always wanted and prayed for their priests. Prayer is what sustains us all, and affection - which, if it is authentic, will always be human and supernatural - is what we need because it makes the somewhat rough surface that life sometimes presents us with a pleasant one, but, above all, because it helps us to see things from the right perspective. We only see people and the circumstances that surround them well when we look at them with affection.

On the other hand, there are people who seem bent on taking away credibility from the figure of the priest and undermining his confidence, sometimes offering unfair or biased information about who priests really are.

I believe that today it is very necessary to publicize good examples of priests and offer positive news about the immense work they do in the silence of their normal lives. It is more urgent than ever to show the beauty and holiness of the priesthood, because when people are deprived of trust in their priests, in reality, they are being deprived of something very necessary: priests are those whom God has placed at our side with the special mission of caring for us, encouraging us and guiding us along the road we all have to travel to reach Heaven.

Then there are countless concrete actions we can take for the benefit of priests. For example, in our Faculty of Theology every year more than two hundred seminarians and priests from the five continents are trained, thanks in large part to the many people who generously support their studies through foundations such as the Centro Académico Romano Foundation (Carf).

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Pope's teachings

The Pope's messages in Kazakhstan

Between Tuesday, September 13 and Thursday, September 15, Pope Francis made an apostolic journey to Kazakhstan. The main reason was to participate in the VII Congress of the leaders of the world and traditional religions. 

Ramiro Pellitero-October 16, 2022-Reading time: 8 minutes

For two decades the authorities of Kazakhstan have been organizing, every three years, the congress of religious leaders. It is striking that 10 years after its independence, Kazakhstan has decided, as Francis has expressed in his balance of the trip, "putting religions at the heart of the commitment to building a world in which we listen to each other and respect each other in diversity.". And he has made it clear that "that is not relativism, no: it is listening and respect", while rejecting fundamentalisms and extremisms (General Audience 21-IX-2022).

In the Pope's opinion, this congress was a step forward on the path initiated by Saints John XXIII and Paul VI, along with "great souls of other religions" as Gandhi, and "so many martyrs, men and women of all ages, languages and nations, who have paid with their lives for their fidelity to the God of peace and brotherhood." (ibid.). And not only in extraordinary moments, but in the daily effort to contribute to improving the world for all. In fact, Kazakhstan was described by Pope John Paul II as "land of martyrs and believers, land of deportees and heroes, land of thinkers and artists." (Speech during the welcoming ceremony, September 22, 2001).

A symphony of cultural and religious traditions

During the meeting with the authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps, the Pope emphasized Kazakhstan's vocation to be "country of encounter".(Speech at the Qazaq Concert Hall in Nursultan, September 13, 2022). Nearly 150 ethnic groups live there and more than 80 languages are spoken. It is a vocation that deserves to be encouraged and sustained, along with the strengthening of its young democracy. On this path, the country has already taken very positive decisions, such as the rejection of nuclear weapons.

Taking as a symbol the shadow -The Pope pointed out, in the words of John Paul II, that the notes of two souls, the Asian and the European, resound in the country, which have a permanent "mission to connect two continents" (Speech to young people, 23-IX-2001); "a bridge between Europe and Asia"a "link between East and West". (Speech at the farewell ceremony, September 25, 2001). Francis also praised the concert of ethnic groups and languages present in Kazakhstan, with their varied cultural and religious traditions, which manages to compose a great symphony, "a unique multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious workshop".a "country of the encounter". 

Healthy secularism, a condition for free citizenship

In fact, the country's constitution, by defining the country as a layprovides for freedom of religion. This is tantamount, says Francis, to a healthy secularity, which recognizes "the valuable and irreplaceable role of religion." and opposes the extremism that corrodes it. It thus represents "an essential condition for the equitable treatment of each citizen, in addition to fostering a sense of belonging to the country on the part of all its ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious elements.". Therefore, "religious freedom constitutes the best channel for civil coexistence"..

The Pope also noted the meaning of the name "Kazakh", which evokes a free and independent walk. The protection of freedom implies the recognition of rights, accompanied by duties. Francis took the opportunity to applaud the abolition of the death penalty - in the name of the right of every human being to hope - together with freedom of thought, conscience and expression; as well as the strengthening of democratic mechanisms in institutions and at the service of the people, the fight against corruption and the protection of the weakest.

John Paul II came to the country to sow hope, after the tragic attacks on the twin towers in New York (2001). "I" -said Francisco. "I arrive here while the senseless and tragic war originating from the invasion of Ukraine is ongoing, while other clashes and threats of conflict endanger our time.". And he added: "I come to amplify the cry of so many who implore peace, an essential path of development for our globalized world.". For this," he said, "understanding, patience and dialogue with everyone are necessary. 

Fraternity is based on our being "creatures".

At the opening of the plenary session of the Congress of leaders of world and traditional religionsThe Pope addressed the leaders and representatives of the religions of the world. "in the name of that fraternity that unites us all, as sons and daughters of the same heaven". (Speech at the Independence Palace, Nursultan, 14-IX-2022). In his speech, he quoted abundantly from the country's most celebrated poet and father of its modern literature, Abay Ibrahim Qunanbayuli (1845-1904), popularly known as Abai. "We need" -Francisco affirmed. "to find meaning in the ultimate questions, to cultivate spirituality; we need, Abai said, to keep 'the soul awake and the mind clear'"..

A message for a more harmonious coexistence

In our times, the Pope pointed out, the time has come for an authentic religiosity, free from fundamentalism. The time has come to reject the "discourses that [...] have instilled suspicion and contempt for religion, as if it were a destabilizing factor in modern society.". Specifically, the discourses stemming from State atheism, with their "oppressive and suffocating mentality whereby the mere use of the word 'religion' was uncomfortable.". "Actually." -Francisco observes, "religions are not a problem, but part of the solution for a more harmonious coexistence"..

In the last part of the speech, he pointed out four challenges that religions can help to overcome: post-pandemia (taking special care of the weakest and neediest); peace (committing themselves to it in the name of the Creator); hospitality and fraternal welcome (because every human being is sacred), especially of migrants; and care for the common home, which is a gift from the heavenly father.

And in case it were not clear to anyone how believers can collaborate in all this (by contributing what is positive and purifying themselves of what is negative), the Pope concludes: "Let us not seek false conciliatory syncretisms - they are useless - but rather let us keep our identities open to the courage of otherness, to fraternal encounter. Only in this way, along this path, in the dark times in which we live, will we be able to radiate the light of our Creator".

Pope encourages Christian "little flock" open to all

In his assessment of the trip, Peter's successor noted: "As far as the Church is concerned, I was very happy to find a community of happy, joyful, enthusiastic people. Catholics are few in this vast country. But this condition, if lived with faith, can bear evangelical fruits: above all the beatitude of littleness, of being leaven, salt and light, counting only on the Lord and no form of human relevance. Moreover, the scarcity of numbers invites us to develop relationships with Christians of other confessions, and also fraternity with all.

Therefore, a small flock, yes, but open, not closed, not defensive, open and entrusted to the action of the Holy Spirit, who blows freely where and how He wills.". He also remembered the martyrs: "The martyrs of that holy People of God - for they have suffered decades of atheistic oppression, until liberation 30 years ago - men and women who have suffered so much for the faith during the period of persecution: killed, tortured, imprisoned for the faith" (General Audience, 21-IX-2022).

In fact, in his meeting with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, seminarians and pastoral workers (cf. Address in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Nursultan, 14-IX-2022), the Bishop of Rome reminded them that the faith is transmitted through life and witness. And neither our weaknesses nor our littleness are an obstacle to this, because we have the strength of Christ. What we need is not the illusory display of our strengths, but the humility to allow ourselves to be led by God's grace. The lay faithful must be, within society, men and women of communion and peace, rejecting fears and complaints, with the help of close and compassionate pastors. 

Being Christian means "living without poisons".

"With that small but joyful flock we celebrated the Eucharist, in Nursultan, in the square of Expo 2017, surrounded by very modern architectures. It was the feast of the Holy Cross. And that gives us pause for thought. In a world where progress and regression intersect, the Cross of Christ remains the anchor of salvation: a sign of hope that does not disappoint because it is founded on the love of God, merciful and faithful." (General Audience, 21-IX-2022).

In fact, the homily of the Mass on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (September 14, 2022) was a lesson in pastoral theology on the meaning of the Cross. Francis recalled the story of the serpents that bit the Israelites on their journey through the desert, and how God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent so that whoever looked at it would be cured (cf. chapter 21 of Num). 

From there, he distinguished Francis two types of snakes: first, "the snakes that bite". (murmuring, discouragement, distrust of God, violence and atheistic persecution and, as the root of all this, sin). Secondly, "the snake that saves"which foreshadowed Jesus, nailed to the cross; so that "looking to Him, may we resist the venomous bites of the evil snakes that attack us.". The arms of Jesus, stretched out on the cross, show us the fraternity that we must live among ourselves and with everyone: "...".the path of humble, free and universal love, no ifs and buts". 

In Kazakhstan religions are at the service of peace

Finally, on the occasion of the closing of the congress, Francis recalled the motto of his visit, alluding to believers of all religions: "Messengers of peace and unity.". And he recalled that, after the events of September 11, 2001, John Paul II considered that "it was necessary [...] to react together to the incendiary climate that terrorist violence wanted to provoke and that threatened to make religions a factor of conflict". (Speech at the Palace of Independence), Nursultan, 15-IX-2022). That is why in 2002 he summoned the faithful to Assisi to pray for peace (January 24, 2002).

Pope Bergoglio added: "Terrorism with a pseudo-religious matrix, extremism, radicalism, nationalism fueled by sacredness, still foment fears and concerns about religion today". "That is why in these days it has been providential to meet again and reaffirm the true and inalienable essence of religion".

And what did the congress conclude in this regard? In the words of Francisco: "The Declaration of our Congress affirms that extremism, radicalism, terrorism and any other incitement to hatred, hostility, violence and war, whatever their motivation or aim, have no connection with the true religious spirit and must be rejected with the most resolute determination..." (cf. n. 5); they are to be condemned, no ifs and buts"..

Politics and religion

Kazakhstan, located in the heart of Asia, has been the place to clarify the relationship between politics and religion (with its appeal to transcendence), between earthly authorities and divine authority. Between them there is distinction, not confusion or separation. Let there be no confusion, because the human being needs freedom to fly towards transcendence without being limited by earthly power; neither should transcendence be translated into partisan human power. At the same time, there is no separation between politics and transcendence, since, the Pope pointed out, "the highest human aspirations cannot be excluded from public life and relegated to the mere private sphere."And that is why States must protect religious freedom, also in the face of violence by extremists and terrorists. 

He recalled that the Catholic Church believes in the dignity of each person, created in the image of God (cf. Gen 1:26). She also believes in the unity of the human family on the basis of the same origin in God the Creator (cf. Second Vatican Council, Decl. Nostra aetate, on relations with non-Christian religions, n. 1). It considers interreligious dialogue to be a path of peace, not only possible but indispensable, in the footsteps of the path of man, which is the path of the Church (cf. John Paul II, Enc. Redemptor hominis, 14). 

Francis concluded by pointing out that "man is the way of all religions".. We believers are called, even in the post-pandemic period, to bear witness to transcendence (going "beyond", towards adoration), to fraternity and to the care of creation. To this end, it is especially important to make room for women and young people.

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The Vatican

Charity diplomacy

Pope Francis is willing to take risks to help the weakest wherever they are. This is one of the most distinctive notes of his pontificate.

Federico Piana-October 15, 2022-Reading time: 2 minutes

In the current pontificate, there is a dimension that has become essential for the whole Church: what could be called the "new" dimension of the Church. charity diplomacy. Pope Francis never tires of repeating to the whole world the need to be close to the suffering of the people to the point of feeling the urgency to come to their aid, to defend them without delay. This way of acting, full of love, in the pontificate of Pope Francis has become an essential element of his life. modus operandi systematic system that also involves all the institutions of the Holy See.

And when the Pontiff mobilizes prayer and concrete humanitarian aid to help a distressed people, a virtuous circle of understanding, respect and trust is unleashed, capable of bridging the longest diplomatic distances or initiating dialogue where there was none. 

– Supernatural charity diplomacy has no territorial or religious boundaries; it does not shy away from the most acute crises; it does not expect thanks or medals. As an exhaustive example, one could cite the war in Ukraine. 

– Supernatural charity diplomacy Pope Francis not only allowed food, medicine and money to be sent to the bomb-ravaged country, but he also allowed two cardinals, Michael Czerny and Konrad KrajeswkiThe Holy See has clearly been counted among the possible institutions that can help the two opposing parties find a way out of a senseless conflict.  

From Haiti to Bangladesh, from Lebanon to Iran, the charity diplomacy has also proven to be a useful tool for encouraging those small portions of the Church that in many nations are minorities, often discriminated against. 

Finally, we cannot forget the fruits of conversion - which cannot be counted with a statistic - generated by the charity diplomacy without impositions: because God is best announced with a gentle caress.

The authorFederico Piana

 Journalist. He works for Vatican Radio and collaborates with L'Osservatore Romano.

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Books

Sienkiewicz: his works, his personality and the end of his life

Second part of the article on the Polish-born Nobel Prize winner, this time dealing with his best-known works and the end of his life.

Ignacy Soler-October 15, 2022-Reading time: 14 minutes

First part of the article

The aforementioned Polish national trilogy by Sienkiewicz- With blood and fire, The Flood, A Polish herois for many the masterpiece of this writer. It consists of three historical novels spun with fantasy figures. What is most striking is the deep knowledge of 17th century Polish history - Sienkiewicz methodically documented himself -, the use of a beautiful and archaic language, the passionate love story found in them, as well as their periodical publication by chapters in the magazine Słowo between 1883 and 1886. They are historical novels, and as for many people history is made by wars, there is a continuous presence of battle scenes, with explanation of their motives, description of landscapes and a psychological presentation of the characters. The most important moments in the history of Poland in the 17th century, its national heroes, nobles and knights are depicted. All under the motto "to strengthen hearts", i.e. Sienkiewicz intends to encourage his readers to defend their homeland in the 19th century as their ancestors did two centuries earlier.

In blood and fire - Ogiem i mieczem (1883-1884) is a historical novel of the time of the Cossack Wars and with Ukraine in the Dnieper region, during the years 1648-1654. The loss of what could have been the Republic of the three nations (Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine). Sienkiewicz's first great success that put him already then at the top of the Polish prose writers. The love affair of the military nobleman Skrzetuski fills the whole narrative with the abduction of the beloved - a theme he repeats in his works - with his continuous search and the happy ending: "The king pays very well for services but the King of kings pays them with the best of gifts". Sienkiewicz sees women as a gift, a gift from heaven.

The deluge - Potop (1884-1886) which narrates the fight against the Swedish invasion and the defense in the sanctuary fortress of Jasna Góra in Częstochowa in 1655. The anxious waiting for the chapters and their astonishing dissemination and reading awakened patriotic consciousness among the peasants. Let us remember that at that time ten percent of the population were nobles and had a deep awareness of their Polish identity. The rest, the peasants, were from the countryside and did not care much whether the Russians, Prussians or Austrians were there, as long as they were allowed to live well and with their customs. But reading The Flood awakened in many of them their identity, in such a way that he would say to Sienkiewicz: you have made us Poles!

Publishing chapter after chapter of the The FloodThe writer struggles against the devastating illness of his beloved wife Maria, who dies in October 1885 at the age of thirty-one at the Balneario de Reichenhall in Bavaria. Henryk is devastated but has to keep writing, according to the narrative thread, pages full of hope.

A Polish hero (1887-1888)  the original title is Pan Wołodyjowski (Mr. Wołodyjowski). It tells the story of this military knight in the Turkish war and ends with Sobieski's victory over the Turks at Chocim (1673). As the then republic of Poland had a king elected by the nobles, something unique in Europe, Jan III Sobieski was elected king and defeated the Turks again in the battle of Vienna (1683), and paraphrasing Julius Caesar he said: venimus, vedimus, Deus vicit. Nevertheless, Sienkiewicz narrates in this last part of his trilogy less history and traces a whole adventure romance.

The Trilogy gave Polish readers a strengthening of their hearts, of their hopes for the recovery of their state, an artistic lesson in patriotism, a faith in the value of human beings and heroism. In his stories, ordinary people become heroes to be imitated, defenders of justice, victors over their enemies, men of prayer and Christian faith, pious observers of the law of God and the Church. Thanks to the Trilogy, Sienkiewicz began to be a great national figure, becoming a recognized literary and political authority, some saw him as the spiritual leader of the nation. No one has better matched the sense of national pride of Polish readers of all classes and generations. His books were widely read then and to this day. The Trilogy is a flowing read, read with pleasure and effortlessly.

Quo vadis

It is interesting to think about what a book, a classic work of literature, consists of. It is not only something material or now with electronic support in many of its different formats. A literary work really exists when a person reads it and lives it. That is why there are as many readings and interpretations as there are readers. Each one of us remembers the moment in our lives when we read a work of world literature that moved us strongly.

My first memory of Quo vadis goes back to June 1975, a month of many exams in my third year of mathematics at the Complutense University of Madrid. At that time I had a personal struggle with the subject of Mathematical Statistics, which I managed to pass in June. This confirms that study, in addition to the intelligence, is above all an effort of the will to want to learn. I used to study hard in a library where there was a law student who was reading Quo vadis without stopping. -Don't you have exams in June? - Yes, but I can't stop reading this novel. I came to the conclusion that Law could be passed without studying and that this novel must be exciting.

The winter of 1995 in Krakow was the coldest winter I have ever spent in Poland. For several months the thermometer varied between minus twenty and minus ten. I remember one day when it was minus five all day and it was great. During that time the heating in the student academy where I lived broke down, and until it was decided to buy an electric stove, it was cool for two weeks. I was in my room sitting at my desk, with my coat, gloves, woolen hat and double socks on my feet, reading in Polish, for the first time in my life, Quo vadis. The person in charge of the house arrived with a thermometer and said: "Father, you can't complain, your room is at zero degrees, neither hot nor cold. I didn't care, because I was engrossed in my room, absorbed by Quo vadis. Exciting reading. But let's leave personal memories aside and return to the article.

With the experience of the Trilogy and its success, Sienkiewicz is going to change the setting: instead of the history of Poland in the second half of the 17th century, let's go to Rome, to the last years of Emperor Nero (63-68). However, the system works the same way: real history and fictional history intertwine in a thread of love affair that gives continuity, consistency and tension to the reading.

Quo vadis According to a legendary tradition, during Nero's persecution of the Christians, Peter was fleeing from Rome along the Appian Way. He then saw the risen Lord going in the opposite direction, towards Rome, and said to him: Quo vadis, Domine? To which Jesus replies: "I am going to be crucified in Rome for the second time because you are abandoning my flock". Ashamed of his cowardice, Peter returns to Rome to face his destiny: martyrdom.

Quo vadis masterfully narrates what Rome was like in the first century. The historical thread of the novel focuses on the person of the Roman Emperor Nero, as well as the persecution and spread of the Christian faith. The contrast between the Roman Empire and the early Christians is presented. There is a contrast between the pagan debauchery of the imperial palace with the power of the moral reasons of the followers of Christ, which would later become the basis for the construction of European civilization.

The main plot of the novel is the love story between Marcus Vinicius and Lygia. They belong to two separate worlds: Vinicius is a Roman patrician, a member of the army, Lygia belongs to a barbarian tribe and is a hostage in a Roman and Christian family. The love plot, which is logically fictitious, decisively influences the development of the action in which Ligia's escape, Vinicius' search for his beloved, the kidnapping attempt, Vinicius' transformation and baptism, and Ligia's miraculous salvation in the circus stand out. The climax of the plot is the confrontation of Ursus, Lygia's protector, with the bull. The man's victory over the animal in the circus arena symbolizes a happy ending to the plot since, from then on, Lygia, Vinicius and Ursus himself are in the hands of the Roman people. This is a key event since, at that very moment, the people turn their backs on Nero and declare themselves in favor of the Christians.

An important figure in the play is Petronius, a Roman patrician, a close advisor to Nero, who is an example of the taste and elegance of classical antiquity. arbiter elegantiaePetronius, symbolizes the classical culture of the past, grandiose in comparison with the one that reigns during Nero's rule, a culture in constant decadence. Throughout a constant struggle between life and death, Petronius criticizes the idea of the emperor and loses.

The most tragic and comic character is Chilon Chilonides, a skeptical sophist with no moral principles. He pretends to be a Christian to betray them. He sells as slaves the family of Glaucus, a Christian doctor of Greek descent, who also betrayed dies a martyr by forgiving Chilon. Thanks to this example a radical change occurs in the despicable sophist and in the end he dies on the cross in defense of those he has betrayed: the Christians.

In this great novel it is worth noting how well represented and written is the Rome of the first century. Sienkiewicz was very well documented. There is a great praise for the greatness of the Roman Empire with its virtues and defects. Secondly, how well he describes the early Christians. Men and women passionate for Christ: the virtues of justice, honor and dignity, purity and poverty are admirable in them. They were Christians who believed and prayed. In a good review of this novel the author wondered if the description of these early Christians, of their exemplary life, is really an invention of Sienkiewicz or if it actually happened.

It is a narrative full of Christian values. Perhaps the first of them is the love between Vinicius and Lygia. Vinicius, who has met Lygia in the Roman family of which he is a hostage, guest and even relative, falls madly in love. He wants to possess her by abusing her in Nero's orgies, but Lygia is not willing. Vinicius discovers little by little that he loves Lygia because there is a secret in her, something that makes her strong, pure, just. Vinicius discovers Lygia's great secret: she is a Christian. Vinicius is desperately looking for Lygia and wants to conquer her love, so he begins to learn about Christianity. What he discovers astonishes him: a whole new world, a new way of thinking, living and treating people. Vinicius, seeking and loving Ligia, is as if unconsciously seeking and loving her secret: Jesus Christ.

For those who have not yet read Quo vadisI think this is a fundamental lack, but if you want to confirm that being a novel of classical literature it is also a novel of deep Christian values, I recommend reading chapter VIII, three pages in my Polish version, which in quiet reading takes ten minutes; and chapter XXXIII, five pages, about fifteen minutes. Chapter eight describes the impression of Akte, Nero's former mistress, when she sees how Ligia prays and finds herself in a desperate situation. Akte has never seen anyone pray like that and feels that she is addressing her words to Someone who sees her and that only He can help her.

In chapter thirty-three there is a declaration of love between Vinicius and Lygia together with the apostles Peter and Paul. Some of the Christians harshly criticize Lygia for falling in love with a pagan but "Peter came to her and said, 'Lygia, do you really love him forever? There was a moment of silence. Her lips began to tremble like those of a child who is about to burst into tears, who, knowing that he is guilty, realizes at the same time that he must acknowledge his guilt. -Answer me! insisted the apostle. Then humbly, with a trembling voice and whispering, she knelt down before Peter: "Yes, that's right... Vinicius at the same moment also knelt down before her. Peter stretched out his hands and laid them on their heads, saying: "Love one another in the Lord and for his glory, there is no sin in your love".

The narrative ends with the death of Nero and the final epitaph: "And so Nero passed away as the wind and the storm, the fire and the plagues pass away, but St. Peter's Basilica continues to dominate the city and the world from the Vatican hill. Where once stood the Capena door now stands a small chapel with a vague inscription: Quo vadis, Domine?"A topical question that Sienkiewicz links to the Quo vadis, homine?Where does the human being go if he loses his humanity? But there is still hope and the suffering and martyrdom of the Christians bore fruit, as will the suffering of the Polish heroes.

The novel quickly became an incredible success all over the world. More than a hundred editions were published in French and Italian. In 1916, at the time of Sienkiewicz's death, the print run of Quo vadis in the United States alone exceeded 1.5 million copies. It has been translated into more than forty languages and to this day enjoys exceptional popularity.

Sienkiewicz's personality

Many say that Henryk Sienkiewicz is quite identified with the character Petronius, arbiter elegantiaeof its Quo vadiswho really existed. Cultured, distant, elegant, somewhat skeptical, with a taste for beauty, especially in women but always with a delicate, respectful treatment. He uses an ironic and humorous criticism of the reality in which he lives.

After completing the Trilogy, Sienkiewicz published two contemporary novels: Bez dogmatu - No dogma y Rodzina Połanieckich - The Polaniecki family. In the form of a diary, they collect a lot of autobiographical data. No dogma is the diary with the thoughts of a rich Polish count who lives with his father in Rome, an assiduous visitor of the European salons, an example of the "Slavic unproductiveness" in constant analysis of beauty and the human spirit.

Someone asked me lately if Sienkiewicz was a believer. I didn't know how to answer him, neither to the question if he was a practicing Catholic, being this second one easier to find an answer because it is an empirical fact. What is clear from his works is that the history of Poland cannot be understood without Christianity, just as Sienkiewicz cannot understand his own life without the Catholic faith and devotion to the Mother of God. His thought is Catholic but theologically poorly thought out. It seems to me that the philosophical currents of the time, of which he was also a very assiduous reader, led him to a skepticism that he wanted to overcome with a voluntarism: I want to believe.

Write in No dogmaI am waiting to be given a state of my soul in which I can believe firmly and without any mixture of doubts, to believe as I believed when I was a child. I have noble motives, I do not look for any personal interest because it would be more comfortable for me to be a happy and fattened animal (...) In this great 'I do not know' of my soul, I try to fulfill all the religious norms and I do not consider myself as an insincere man. I would be if instead of saying 'I do not know' I could say: I know that there is nothing. But our skepticism is not an open denial, it is rather a painful and painful intuition that there may be nothing, it is a dense fog that surrounds our head, presses on our breasts and covers us from the light. So I reach out my hands towards that sun that behind the fog shines. I think that I am not alone in this my situation, that the prayer of many, of many of those who go to Mass on Sunday, could be summed up in these words: Lord, disperse the fog!"

The Polaniecki family is a defense of the social role of the nobility and the bourgeoisie, as well as an open apotheosis of Catholic traditionalism. The protagonist of the novel is an impoverished nobleman doing business in Warsaw. While writing this novel he met Maria Romanowska, the adopted daughter of a rich man from Odessa. Henryk is already forty-six, Maria eighteen. Both have doubts, but the mother, fascinated by the reading of No dogmapressures his daughter to get married. The wedding took place in Krakow in 1893 and they were married by the cardinal bishop of that city. The mother-in-law went from fascination with Sienkiewicz to reprobation. She took steps to have the marriage annulled by the Vatican, which was achieved less than a year after the wedding ceremony. Sienkiewicz received the papal confirmation of the non-existence of the sacrament of marriage with sorrow and pain. The unpleasant adventure of a mother-in-law who makes and unmakes is portrayed in the pages of The Polaniecki family.

The crusaders

Shortly thereafter, the writer planned to visit the Grunwald camps - he was writing Krzyżacy - The CrusadersThe story of the Teutonic Knights in the 15th century - but he did not get permission from the Prussian police. Instead, he met another Maria: "A beautiful woman from Wielkopolska, Miss Radziejewska, who made an electrifying impression on me." She was a journalist, then twenty-three years old, Sienkiewicz, fifty-three. She was a very beautiful and intelligent woman but Henryk, despite being very much in love, discovers in her some psychic anomaly. After the sad experiences of the second marriage, the writer decided to break off this relationship. Years later, the imbalance of this fourth Maria would be tragically confirmed.

The combination of chivalrous adventure and romance can be found in The Crusaders (1900). It is a large historical painting with a broader, deeper and more accurate content than any of his previous works. The epic tells the story of the Polish-Teutonic struggles, full of strong patriotic feeling, and is Sienkiewicz's response to Prussian abuses.

The idea of writing The crusaders arose from seeing the abuses committed by the Prussian authorities against the Polish population. The strongest was the cruel persecution of children and their parents in Września, a town near present-day Poznań, who protested against the teaching of religion in German at school. It was not allowed to speak Polish in school, but that the teaching of the Catholic religion was in German, for the Poles broke the camel's back. Henryk took an active part in protest actions against them. The final description of the victorious Battle of Grunwald (1410) caused the novel to be adopted from the beginning as a politically topical work, and subsequent historical events - with the defeat of Germany in both world wars - made it almost prophetic.

The last Maria and her social activity

In 1904, Sienkiewicz, 58, married Maria Babska, 42. This woman was his cousin, and she had been in love with him for a long time, since logically as relatives they had known each other for a long time. The wedding was intimate, only in the company of loved ones. The Sienkiewicz reunited to live together for twelve happy years, until the death of the writer.

Henryk Sienkiewicz was a great social worker promoting and financing many social initiatives: museums, foundations to promote culture, scientific research or the promotion of young writers. He promoted sanctuaries for tubercular children and financed the construction of churches. In the last years of his life he intensified his cooperation in social projects with the help of his wife.

The outbreak of World War I (1914) surprised Sienkiewicz in Oblęgorek, his palace residence - Dworek - near Warsaw, from where he left for Switzerland via Krakow and Vienna. With the participation of Ignacy Jan Paderewski, he organized in Vevey the Swiss General Committee for Aid to the Victims of the War in Poland, sending money, medicine, food and clothing to a country devastated by fighting armies.

His last great novel: Through the Jungle and the Steppes.

The novel for young people W pustyni i w puszczy - Through the forest and the steppes (1911) is the last great adventure novel with which he concluded his more than forty-year writing career. This adventure romance, which shows the influence of Jules Verne, is about the journey of two children kidnapped by Muslims during the Mahdi uprising in Sudan (1881-1885). They manage to escape and cross the entire African continent to be found, already on the verge of death, by a rescue team. The author uses his own experiences from his trip to Africa. It has all the mastery of his great works, very easy to read, especially for young people.

Love of his homeland and his death in Switzerland

In 1905, in response to an interview with the Parisian newspaper Le Courrier EuropéenHe said: "You must love your homeland above all else and think first and foremost of its happiness. But at the same time, the first duty of a true patriot is to ensure that the idea of his fatherland not only does not oppose the happiness of mankind, but becomes one of its foundations. Only under these conditions will the existence and development of the Fatherland become a matter of concern to all mankind. In other words, the slogan of all patriots must be: for the Fatherland to mankind, and not: for the Fatherland against mankind."

Henryk Sienkiewicz died as he lived, working abroad. His last writing is a novel of the Napoleonic era. Legiony – Legionsa work that was published posthumously. He died at his temporary residence in Vevey, Switzerland, of a heart attack. In 1924, in free Poland, the writer's ashes were solemnly brought from Vevey to the country. His mortal remains rest in the Cathedral of St. John in Warsaw.

Let us finish by emphasizing that the literary talent of Henryk Sienkiewicz is measured by his ability to use words borrowed from the language of past eras, with the use of terms that make the style of this writer unique. In addition, the author of the Trilogy made a decisive contribution to the formation of the national consciousness of 19th-century Poles. Witold Gombrowicz, a well-known writer and critic of Polish literature wrote these words in his Diary (1953 - 1956): "Who read Mickiewicz of his own free will, who met Słowacki? But Sienkiewicz is the wine with which we really get drunk. Here our heart beats... and whoever you talk to, a doctor, a worker, a teacher, a landowner, an office worker, you will always meet Sienkiewicz. Sienkiewicz is the last and most intimate secret of Polish taste: the dream of Polish beauty".

Henryk Sienkiewicz is still considered a classic of the historical novel, one of the greatest writers in the history of Polish literature and an unparalleled stylist. International bibliographic lists prove that Sienkiewicz is one of the most popular Polish writers in the world. His works continue to appear in reprints and new translations.

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Culture

Mission' magazine presents its 2022 Awards

Ten initiatives and people related to the promotion of the family, life and Christian beliefs, have received this week at the Francisco de Vitoria University in Madrid the 2022 awards of the magazine 'Mission', in a gala that took place in a festive atmosphere.

Francisco Otamendi-October 14, 2022-Reading time: 2 minutes

The initiatives and personalities honored this year were the John Paul II Rescue Workers (Marta Velarde); Puy du Fou Spain (José Ramón Molinero); Manuel Martínez-Sellés (College of Doctors of Madrid); the "Vivan los padres" campaign of the Catholic Association of Propagandists (ACdP) (Pablo Velasco); the "Proyecto Nosotras" of Dale una Vuelta (Blanca Elía); the documentary 'Soy Fuego, la vida del padre Henry' (Father Brian Jackson); the 11 pm Rosary (Belén Perales); the filmmaker Juan Manuel Cotelo (Sofía Cotelo); the Xacobeo 2021-2022 (Javier Vázquez Prado); and the movie Father's Heart (Andrés Garrigó).

At the beginning of the gala of the magazine, which has more than 60,000 subscribers throughout Spain, and 14 years of life, the rector of the University Francisco de Vitoria, Daniel Sada, congratulated 'Mission' and recalled that the institution has always been closely linked and committed to the magazine since its inception.

"This publication still seems to us to be a miracle that falls into the category of the improbable, as it continues to be published every year, maintaining the quality it has and representing not only a good proposal for families, but for society as a whole. In 'Mission' you lend yourselves to the improbable things that God suddenly intends to do in our lives," said Daniel Sada.

To the award winners: "You give us back hope".

Isabel Molina Estrada, director of the publication, thanked all the award-winning initiatives and said: "Sometimes it seems that faith is extinguished, but you give us back hope. Together with the award winners from other years, you show us that the Gospel is alive, that Christ continues to stir up conversions every day and set the world on fire.

Linked to the Francisco de Vitoria University, the Regnum Christi movement and the Legionaries of Christ, 'Misión' is a generalist, quarterly, Catholic-inspired publication, focused on the family public, with more than 400,000 readers, and one hundred percent free of charge, according to its promoters.

Javier Cereceda L.C., territorial director of the Legionaries of Christ in Spain, made a call to work united within the Church. "May the Lord grant us not to lose heart in this world, to continue proudly showing our face for Him, it is fully worth it. Thanks to those who already do it, often with the contempt of the world, often in ignorance, but always united and in the Church. Thanks to those who work from this magazine so that we can be a small focus of union of so many efforts in the Church", he said.

The authorFrancisco Otamendi

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The Vatican

"The Mystery Man. The Shroud of Turin exhibition

Rome Reports-October 14, 2022-Reading time: < 1 minute
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The Cathedral of Salamanca (Spain) hosts the exhibition "The Mystery Man", organized by Artisplendore Exhibitions, which shows a hyperrealistic work of the man whose silhouette is depicted in the shroud.

The idea of the organizers is that this exhibition "The Mystery Man" toured the world to show the most accurate recreation to date of what may have been the face and body of Jesus. 

Pope Francis celebrated Mass on the 60th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. During the celebration, the opening speech of John XXIII was recalled. The pontiff asked not to be discouraged by those who claimed that the Church was worse than ever without remembering the problems that surrounded other councils of the past.

AhNow you can enjoy a 20% discount on your subscription to Rome Reports Premiumthe international news agency specializing in the activities of the Pope and the Vatican.
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Initiatives

Omnes - Carf Meeting on "Women in the Church".

The Omnes - Carf Meeting "Women in the Church" can be followed through the Omnes YouTube channel on Wednesday, October 19, starting at 19:00 and will include the participation of Franca Ovadje (Nigeria) and Janeth Chavez (USA).

Maria José Atienza-October 14, 2022-Reading time: < 1 minute

In recent years, reflection and debate on the presence of women in the Church has been a constant in social and ecclesial life.

In the development of this reflection, on many occasions, the visibility of women has been confused with the fact of occupying positions, without complementing it with the revaluation of the enormous and varied work that women carry out in all fields of society.

This theme will be at the center of the next edition of the Omnes Meetings - Carf.

Through the work of two women committed to their peers in heterogeneous fields, we can learn about the importance of different projects and work so that women have, in all aspects, the best opportunities and the deserved value in the areas in which they are present.

The meeting will feature the participation of Franca OvadjeHarambee Award 2022Founder and Executive Director of Danne Research Institutein Nigeria, which leads the TECH project, through which it assists and promotes women's access to careers in technology and engineering, and with Janeth Chavezdirector of Magnificent Groups, a human training platform for women in the United States.

"Women in the Church"can be followed through the Omnes YouTube channelThe event will be held on Wednesday, October 19, starting at 7:00 p.m. Spanish time.

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ColumnistsAntonio Moreno

The weapon of the Apocalypse

Rereading the Apocalypse in today's key, we can find today the new beasts and dragons that frighten us, but that will not achieve the final victory.

October 14, 2022-Reading time: 3 minutes

"Sadness and melancholy I do not want them in my house," St. Teresa of Jesus repeated to her nuns. On this eve of her feast day, I wonder if there are really reasons to be joyful in a world that seems to be sinking beneath our feet.

When the biggest global pandemic in decades seemed to be receding in the rearview mirror, leaving us with the feeling that it was just a bad dream, the "third world war", as Pope Francis himself has already called the conflict that the whole of humanity is fighting, for now, on the chessboard of Ukraine, covers the future of Europe and the world with dark clouds.

Add to that the consequences of climate change, with record drought and the threat of extreme weather events, and what can we expect in the years ahead but suffering of all kinds? Moreover, with the possibility of nuclear armageddon on the table, will the years ahead even exist, or will humanity have been just an insignificant breath amidst the eons of life on planet earth?

I am sure that the Christian faith can help us to regain hope by doing more than praying for the end of hostilities and for the improvement of the climate - this being very necessary - and the solution lies in the Apocalypse, a book as named as it is unknown by believers themselves.

The last book of the Bible, far from serving to instill fear and terror, as it would seem to an untrained reader confronted with the visions it describes, seeks to encourage, console and promote hope in the Christian community to which it is addressed. The terrible visions he describes are not future predictions to be feared, but metaphorical ways of alluding to evils already present, such as the monstrous persecution of the Roman Empire at that time, encouraging the faithful to resist by trusting in divine assistance. It is, in short, not a catastrophist text, but has a positive and joyful character.

Rereading the Apocalypse in today's key, we can find today the new beasts and dragons that frighten us, but that will not achieve the final victory, because the woman clothed with the sun (image of Mary or of the Church) and the slain lamb (image of Christ) will prevail at the end of history. It is a call, in short, not to be afraid in spite of the sorrows, because the key to events is in God's hands, and only He knows the day and the hour of each one.

There are hard times, as there have always been in the history of humanity, but the Christian relies on the spirit of the beatitudes, the pillar of the Gospel: blessed are the poor, those who mourn, the persecuted... In spite of the trials of this world, we can experience, already here in the first fruits, the fruits of the Kingdom of Heaven: joy, consolation, the hope of justice at the end of time. To know that we are loved and to recognize God in the folds of history is a reason for hope and a repellent to the demons of sadness and melancholy that lie in wait for us.

In the face of fear and uncertainty, it is good to invoke hope by singing, with the psalmist: "The Lord is with me: I fear not. What can man do to me?" and to turn once more to the saint of Avila who reminds us: "Wait, wait, for you do not know when the day or the hour will come. Watch carefully, for everything passes with brevity, although your desire makes the certain doubtful, and the short time long. See that the more you fight, the more you will show the love you have for your God and the more you will rejoice with your Beloved with joy and delight that can have no end".

Hope, that is an invincible weapon. Literally, the weapon of the Apocalypse.

The authorAntonio Moreno

Journalist. Graduate in Communication Sciences and Bachelor in Religious Sciences. He works in the Diocesan Delegation of Media in Malaga. His numerous "threads" on Twitter about faith and daily life have a great popularity.

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Evangelization

250 digital evangelizers participate in the synodal process

Among the many ramifications of the ongoing synodal process throughout the Church, one in particular concerned the digital environment, which has gained its own space of relevance.

Giovanni Tridente-October 14, 2022-Reading time: 3 minutes

RIIALthe Church Information Network in Latin Americawhich has been carrying out digital communication and pastoral initiatives for more than thirty years. With his initiative and the supervision of the Dicastery for Communication, a consultation was launched in recent months to the internet people with the project The Church listens to youThe "pastoral care of the ear" so dear to Pope Francis, with the approach of the "Church going out", is also applied in these spaces.

Some 250 participants digital evangelizersThe company, as they have been called, which, through an online questionnaire, have opened this listening conversation to involve especially those who are far away, but also to begin to lay the foundations of a real pastoral care of the digital continent.

With respect to dioceses and bishops' conferences, the digital missionaries also prepared a summary of this first phase of listening, delivered to the General Secretariat of the Synod. A total of 110 thousand questionnaires were filled out, for an estimated number of 20 million people involved, taking into account the commitments and actions in the network: 115 countries involved and 7 languages covered (English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Malayalam and Tagalog).

A cross-cutting reality to accompany

The ten pages of the document make it clear, first of all, that it is a pilot projectThis is an open window to a transversal reality, such as the digital continent, which must also be accompanied.

One of the discoveries made by the experience of digital listening is the existence of a large number of lay people, not only priests, religious or consecrated, who evangelize on the web with audacity and creativity. In fact, there are real interactive processes "between proclamation, the search for faith and accompaniment".The document states. Of all the influencers involved, the 63 % were, of course, catechists and committed lay people.

At the same time, "evangelizers expressed the need to be heard, helped, recognized and integrated into the wider action of the Church".. In addition to establishing a relationship "formal and reciprocal" with the Institution, in order to also contribute to its communicative culture.

Another issue is that of abandoning the consideration of digital reality as a mere tool and understanding it instead as a site (locus) to be inhabited "with its own language and dynamics".

In addition to the baptized and practicing believers, there was a significant participation of people distant or who have distanced themselves (40 %); agnostics, members of other religions and atheists (10 %) who wished to participate in the listening project by filling out the questionnaire. The image that emerged is that of "wounded people expressing their existential questions.". Many feel excluded, disillusioned... and among the reasons for abandonment, the main one concerns the "scandal related to pederasty and corruption in the Church."which, among other things, does not even respond to "their concerns and priorities; others feel judged.".

This is obviously a first step, which everyone hopes will be continued in the next stages of the Synodto give greater consistency to the presence of the Church in this transversal place that is the Internet.

"To have carried out the project The Church listens to you is a beautiful and great fruit".Lucio Adrian Ruiz, secretary of the Dicastery for Communication, "that sows an important seed already in the present, and above all for the future".. In fact, "beyond the importance and the greatness of the contents produced, there is something even more essential and that is the synodal process itself, as Pope Francis often repeats".

The initiative was also validated publicly by the General Secretariat of the Synod, at the press conference presenting the continental phase of the synodal journey, which begins this month.

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The World

Samad: the war turned his life upside down and gave him a new one, always for others.

We spoke with Samad Qayumi, originally from Afghanistan, to learn about his story as an immigrant in Europe.

Leticia Sánchez de León-October 14, 2022-Reading time: 4 minutes

Samad is a friend of the Scalabrinian Secular Missionary Sisterswho met him in Solothurn, Switzerland. As it happens with many migrants, he was also found at a very critical moment, shortly after arriving in a foreign land, when the wound of departure is fresh, the uncertainties due to the residence permits are many and the need to share the road with someone is very important.

So it was with Samad: from the first steps, through the different stages of the journey, the friendship has grown and strengthened and his testimony, which from the beginning was good for us, has become a gift for many young people, a help to reflect, to learn to appreciate every moment of life, even the hardest, and not to give up hope, because love always goes through history, no matter what happens, and it is carrying it.

Samad, can you introduce yourself?

My name is Samad Qayumi. I was born and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan, where I also completed my university studies with a degree in engineering. I worked in the oil sector in Iran and then, back home, I was hired in a company in Mazar-e-Sharif that produced fertilizers and employed 3,000 people. I started as chief engineer, became deputy manager and then manager of this plant. I have always tried to do my job well and get along with everyone.

And how did you come to assume political responsibilities?

Unexpectedly, in 1982, I received a telegram from the Prime Minister inviting me to go to Kabul. It was about my appointment to be responsible for all the provinces, a post I held for four years. When problems arose in schools, health, agriculture, construction or other areas, they came to me and I looked for a solution together with the relevant minister.

And then the leap into the world of training... 

Subsequently, I was appointed Minister of Education. In this position I was mainly concerned with the construction and improvement of our country's schools. I have always believed that education is fundamental to the future of Afghanistan.

To find myself more prepared for this task I did a doctorate in pedagogy. The work was immense because the educational system was backward and also because the fundamentalists were very active and kept destroying school buildings and killing teachers.

What changed the course of your story?

In 1989, I was again appointed head of the provinces and remained in this position until 1992 when the mujhaiddin have come to power. Six million Afghans have had to leave the country. I also had to flee with my family in the space of two hours, leaving everything behind. Other members of the government had already been killed. For two months we stayed near the Pakistan border, waiting for the situation to improve. Then we left the country and, with two of our three children, arrived in Switzerland. I would have preferred to go to Germany, but at that time the traffickers who organized the escape had an easier time getting asylum seekers to Switzerland.

When you arrived in Switzerland, were you able to rebuild your lives?

Once in Switzerland, we finally felt safe. However, for six and a half years, while our asylum application was being processed, we could neither study nor work: we had to live on state aid. We wondered: ¿When will our wait be over? It was a very difficult time. In Afghanistan I had no free time, no vacations and here I suddenly found myself without any occupation... My wife in Afghanistan was a teacher. Every day she thought about her students and cried and wondered about her destiny. She also had moments of depression.

How did you manage to resist?

Living without having a job to do can lead to a loss of self-confidence, to no longer knowing if one is capable of doing anything. In those years, during the long period of inactivity to which I was forced, I read the Koran and the Bible and managed to live that time without anger and resentment thanks to faith and prayer: I have always believed that God would not have abandoned me. Reading the Gospel, I was especially fascinated by Jesus' answer to his disciples' question about the greatest commandment: "Love your neighbor as yourself", "Love one another as I have loved you".

Then something improved?

After more than six years of waiting, we finally received a positive response to our asylum application and from that day on I was told that I had to find a job immediately, but it was not easy. After the first attempts to find a job, the employment agency asked me how long I wanted to continue living at the expense of others. I went to apply in many places, but when they asked me what I had done before, I always received negative answers. However, I did not stop looking, because it is important for a man to be able to do something with and for others.

After three years one day I had the opportunity to apply for a job as a doorman in the condominium where we lived. The first time I cut the grass my wife cried. Later, since the work was a lot, she also started to help me. This also changed the relationship with the neighbors: before they were very distant, they avoided us and then they started to talk and entertain us.

Later I was hired as a watchman in a historical museum of weapons and armor. But after two years, thanks to my technical skills, I became an antique armor restorer.

Do you believe that your past life and history can be a valuable gift to others?

It was in those years that I became acquainted with the International Youth Training Center (IBZ) ".J. B. Scalabrini"I began to collaborate with the Scalabrinian secular missionaries in the work of sensitization and formation of young people. I was able to present my experience and my reflections to many university students, especially from the faculties of pedagogy and law, or to groups of young people of different nationalities participating in international meetings. The topics I usually deal with are the situation in Afghanistan, the living conditions of asylum seekers and refugees, but also my personal testimony of life, the values that have guided me since my youth.

I often tell young people that it is important to have a lot of patience and to be ready to take the first step towards the other. Love makes the other grow and is the key to building peace. He who loves does everything for the other. He who does not love destroys, comes to hate and to make war. Through love it is possible to forgive, to overcome hatred and to be happy.

The authorLeticia Sánchez de León

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60th Anniversary of Vatican Council II

Pope Francis presides at Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on October 11, 2022, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council.

Maria José Atienza-October 13, 2022-Reading time: < 1 minute
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Carmen PeñaCanon Law is responsible for creating a framework for the prevention of abuses".

Abuse of conscience, vulnerability or the prior investigation in cases of sexual abuse are some of the topics to be addressed in a special day of criminal law, the Spanish Association of Canonists.

Maria José Atienza-October 13, 2022-Reading time: 4 minutes
RelatedRelated NewsCardinal Marc OuelletThe real cause of abuse is not celibacy, but lack of self-control and affective imbalance".Related NewsMichael Mazza: "Due process must be ensured in abuse trials".Related NewsJordi PujolChurch leaders have to assume a proactive attitude of vigilance and responsibility".

Since the Church took the lead in the fight against sexual abuse, enacting various normative initiatives, there has been a growing concern to emphasize the protection of the victim and the safeguarding of the rights of those involved in a process.

We talked about all this with Carmen Peña, president of the Spanish Association of Canonists, a few days before this meeting.

For some years now, we have been observing various changes and advances in the treatment of sexual abuse in Canon Law. In your opinion, what are the keys to the new Book VI of the Code? 

-The issue of sexual abuse is a very complex subject, which allows for various approaches, the penal one being only one of them. In fact, criminal punishment is the ultimate remedy, we could say, in that it punishes the crime already committed, which is in itself a failure of the system.

The ecclesial treatment of abuses, both sexual and of conscience and power, allows - and demands - a much broader approach, which has been developed in recent years in successive pontifical norms and interventions: thus, the focus has been placed more on prevention, on the creation of safe environments in ecclesial entities and religious works, and has sought to generate a change of attitude in the treatment of these abuses.

Also from the penal perspective - insufficient, but necessary - there has been a succession of regulations. Specifically, in the recent reform of the sixth book of the CodeIn addition, there have been significant changes in the substantive regulation of these abuses, not only by generally stiffening the penalties for these crimes or limiting the statute of limitations, but also by broadening the subjects susceptible to committing these canonical crimes, which are no longer only clerics, but also lay persons who perform offices or functions in the Church.

One of the areas in which there has been a significant change in mentality is centered on the so-called abuse of authority. How to discern if this type of abuse, which is certainly complex to detect, has existed? How does the Code of Canon Law deal with this type of abuse, which it did not do before? 

-Indeed, the new rules have introduced concepts that are very difficult to define legally, and even more so in the criminal field, where interpretation is necessarily strict. This would be the case of concepts such as abuse of authority or vulnerable subjects, whose exact scope and content are far from clear. This is the reason why, at the Conference of the Spanish Association of Canonists on October 20, we wanted to pay special attention to these concepts in order to try to clarify them, not so much from a theoretical lucubration perspective, but in order to facilitate the task of legal agents in the processing and resolution of these cases.

With respect to the abuses of authority In particular, beyond its criminal configuration, it is necessary to insist on the need to generate a change in the habits and modes of government that will help to avoid abuses and arbitrariness. The objective is not only to avoid abusive or criminal exercises of authority, but also to prevent the abuse of authority.r proactively creating the dynamics and habits of good governance in the exercise of authority in the church, as well as to promote a culture of care for all people, especially the most vulnerable.

After these years in which this has been "the topic" in the media and in conversations of experts within the Church, what are the areas that deserve more attention? Why continue to study and deepen our knowledge of this field of Canon Law? 

-Although the approach to abuse, whether sexual, of conscience or of authority, must necessarily be interdisciplinary, since it also involves theological, spiritual, moral and psychological issues, Canon Law also has an important role to play. In fact, there were already norms in Canon Law that protect the inviolability of the conscience of persons, that preach the distinction of jurisdictions, that sanction the use of penance for spurious ends, etc.

But there is still much to be done.

In the area of prevention, Canon Law is responsible for creating a framework of good governance and interpersonal relationships that favor the eradication of arbitrariness, the establishment of control mechanisms and the detection of irregular conduct.

And, with respect to the abuse In addition to the tasks that have been committed, it will be essential to establish clear, accessible and effective channels for reporting, as well as to improve the criminal approach, especially at the procedural level.

Responding on a personal level, I believe that the reform of the criminal process is still pending, which should better guarantee the rights of all those involved. This would imply reviewing aspects such as the regulation of the legal position and the possibility of action of the victims in the processes for these crimes, the need to avoid revictimization, or the achievement of effective compensation for the damage caused, but also the safeguarding of the legal certainty and the right of defense of the accused, the restoration of their good reputation in case of false accusations, etc.

How to combine the work of Canon Law and ordinary civil law in matters of this nature?

In the specific case of the prosecution of sexual crimes, the principle to be followed, once the old self-defensive conceptions have been overcome, is that of full collaboration of the ecclesiastical authorities with the civil authorities in the investigation of these crimes.

However, at the legal level, it would be advisable, for the sake of the victims, legal security, the rights of the parties and the investigation of the crime itself, to go deeper into issues such as the reciprocal reception of the proceedings carried out in state and canonical headquarters, the scope of the obligation to report the crime, etc.

As these are abuses occurring within the Church and not only by clergy/religious, how do you proceed in cases of abuse by lay people in Church environments?

-As I have indicated, the commission of these crimes by laymen was not regulated in Canon Law until the recent reform of book VIThis is largely due to the purpose of Canon Criminal Law itself, which is not intended to replace or duplicate state criminal legislation, which already contemplates these crimes, regardless of whether they are committed by clerics or laymen.

However, this does not mean that the Church does not have a responsibility to prevent abuse committed by lay people in environments that depend on it, and that is why, even before the reform of the Code, there was a call to implement measures to create safe environments for children and adolescents in schools, parishes, etc.

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RelatedRelated NewsCardinal Marc OuelletThe real cause of abuse is not celibacy, but lack of self-control and affective imbalance".Related NewsMichael Mazza: "Due process must be ensured in abuse trials".Related NewsJordi PujolChurch leaders have to assume a proactive attitude of vigilance and responsibility".
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Saint Isidore. History and devotion

St. Isidore's current events come as a surprise. A 12th century farmer is still alive in the technological era of the 21st century. His life, and the devotion that has been maintained over the centuries, remind us that he is an example that does not go out of fashion.

Cristina Tarrero-October 13, 2022-Reading time: 3 minutes

– Supernatural Almudena Cathedral The property is linked to the figure of saint Isidore the farmer that help us to shape and discover his figure. His body rests in the collegiate church that bears his name, but its link with the main temple of Madrid is evident from the moment one enters the temple to pray. The Almudena Cathedral since 1993 has exhibited the ark that contained the body of the saint. This Jubilee year, the ark, without moving from its initial location, has been museumized and allows the visitor a more detailed and thorough look. In it we can discover his miracles and the first image of the saint that was captured and that undoubtedly brings us closer to the medieval world, an image very different from the one that is presented today. According to the painting of the ark, Isidro with a halo over his head (halo or nimbus), wears as attire the long tunic typical of the Castilian farmers, the saya, with narrow sleeves. His representation is very familiar since he is accompanied by Saint María de la Cabeza, his wife. This image is very different from the one that has come down to us and that we recognize in carvings and canvases, since it was fixed at the end of the 16th century and beginning of the 17th century, when it was canonized and followed models of the modern age and not medieval ones. It is, therefore, the image of the ark the most faithful artistic representation of the saint because he wears the clothing that corresponds to him. 

In this same chapel we can contemplate some small lions, which supported the ark and two figures of the saintly couple made by the sculptor Alonso de Villalbrille y Ron, of a great quality. The miracles that are described in the ark are of full actuality because they show us the prayer of the saint during the work, the care of the nature taking care of the pigeons, and the help that together with his wife he gave to the needy. 

To approach the girola this Jubilee year and see the ark of the saint, is not only to know his image and discover one of his first tombs, but to deepen in his figure through a chronogram that has been installed and that unravels the fervor that he has aroused throughout history. In this chronogram we will not only travel through Madrid and the faith of so many devotees, but we will also be surprised by the devotion that the Spanish kings professed to him. In one of the panels you can see a photograph of the silver ark that we saw last May when St. Isidore processed to the Cathedral. It was a gift from Queen Mariana of Neoburg and completed the one made a few years earlier on the occasion of his beatification. The brotherhood of the silversmiths of Madrid in 1619 had made an exceptional piece to guard the body of the saint when he was beatified, and in 1692 Queen Mariana of Neoburg, being ill, entrusted herself to the saint to request his recovery; for this, his body was transferred to the royal apartments. Once she recovered, she attributed this healing to the intervention of Saint Isidore and ordered the construction of a new interior which is the one that is currently preserved. We have only been able to contemplate this ark during the exhibition and veneration last May of the incorrupt body of the saint, since it keeps the body inside the urn that is exhibited in the Collegiate Church of San Isidro. The piece commissioned by the queen is made of walnut and it is made of silk with silver filigree and has eight locks. It was made by the silversmith Simón Navarro, the embroiderer José Flores and the locksmith, Tomas Flores. On the occasion of the centenary of the canonization, it has been restored by the Martínez silversmith workshop, the restoration having been paid for by the Cathedral Chapter, the heir of the Cabildo of San Isidro, which was in charge of the care and devotion to the saint and had its headquarters in the Collegiate Church before the diocese was constituted. 

The Cathedral Chapter also keeps exceptional pieces that bring us closer to the devotion to Saint Isidore, among them the codex of Juan Diácono and the terno of his canonization. The codex is the oldest text that collects the miracles of the saint, is dated around the thirteenth century and is a transcendental document to know him. It describes the miracles he performed and served as a guide to the priests who guarded the body and attended to the pilgrims who came to the parish of St. Andrew, where he was initially buried. The codex has been studied on many occasions and this year, on the occasion of the Jubilee Year, the Cathedral Chapter has commissioned the Institute of Madrilenian Studies to digitize and translate it in order to make it known. Its reading is undoubtedly enriching. On the other hand, along with other objects, the museum exhibits the robe traditionally considered to have been worn in 1622 at the canonization and which is exceptionally well preserved. For all these reasons, the cathedral is a place to visit this Jubilee year. It complements the tours of Isidrian temples and reminds us that devotion to the patron saints of the diocese has always been closely linked.

The authorCristina Tarrero

Director of the Almudena Cathedral Museum. Madrid

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St. Isidore, nine centuries of example of sanctity in marriage and family life

St. Isidro Labrador, together with his wife, St. María de la Cabeza, are an example of Christian marriage, of hidden holiness developed in ordinary life. In the jubilee year of the patron saint of farmers, we review his figure and his example in today's world.

Maria José Atienza-October 13, 2022-Reading time: 7 minutes

"I like to see holiness in God's patient people: in the parents who so lovingly raise their children, in those men and women who work to bring home the bread." this quote from Gaudete et exsultate of Pope Francis can well be applied to St. Isidore Labrador and his wife, St. Mary of the Head. 

The figure of St. Isidore, whose canonization is 400 years old, emerges with strength and full relevance almost ten centuries later. 

Layman, husband and father of a family, hard worker..., the characteristics of this "saint next door." have been rediscovered, not only in Madrid, where his remains rest, but also in the many places in the world where devotion to Saint Isidore survives.

An almost millenary devotion

As Joaquín Martín Abad, doctor in theology, canon of the Almudena Cathedral and senior chaplain of the Royal Monastery of the Incarnation in Madrid, highlights for Omnes, "Devotion to St. Isidore began from the beginning by oral tradition. Forty years after his death is when the people of Madrid became collectively aware that Isidro, which is the name of Isidoro apocopado, had lived as a saint. And those forty years after his death, as narrated by the Codex of John the Deacon After a century and a half, it was the people of Madrid who carried out the exhumation from the cemetery and the transfer of his body, which was then discovered incorrupt, to the church of St. Andrew where he had been baptized".

A connoisseur of the figure of the patron saint of farmers, Martín Abad says that "The narration of the codex is detailed and tells that this translation was made 'without pastoral authority', spontaneously. Until the eleventh century, and even the twelfth, the elevatio corporisthe exhumation from the ground to elevate the body on an altar, and the exhumation from the ground to elevate the body on an altar. traslatio corporisIn this case, the transfer from the cemetery to the interior of a church, if carried out by the diocesan bishop with the license of the metropolitan archbishop and the provincial council, was equivalent to a local canonization. In this case, since it was done without ecclesiastical authority, this itself became a difficulty for him to be canonized soon by the Pope, since the canonization did not take place until five centuries later. Nevertheless, from the beginning of that transfer from the cemetery of St. Andrew to his church, the people and the clergy of Madrid already considered him a saint.". 

This primordial devotion spread quickly "The saint's life and miracles were even included in the books of saints. Since the beatification by Pope Paul V in 1619 and the canonization by Gregory XV in 1622, with the insistent efforts of the council of Madrid and the kings Philip II, III and IV, and the archbishopric of Toledo, the cult of the saint was spreading throughout the kingdom of Spain and all its kingdoms, in Europe, and especially in America and Asia, carried this devotion by the Spanish missionaries. Since then, many associations are under his patronage, and there are towns and dioceses with the same name of "San Isidro" in Argentina and Costa Rica. It was Pope St. John XXIII, who, in 1960 at the request of Cardinal Pla y Deniel, Archbishop of Toledo, declared St. Isidore patron saint of Spanish farmers"..

The codex of John the Deacon

One of the oldest documents that records the life of the saintly farmer can be found in the well-known Codex of John the Deacondated 1275. 

This codex, Jiménez Abad notes, "tells of the miracles that St. Isidore worked during his lifetime and, through his intercession, after his death. The five in life: that of the hungry pigeons giving them wheat that later multiplied; that of the oxen plowing with him; that of his donkey and the wolf that did not attack him; that of the pot that his wife said was empty and yet there was enough to give to the poor who asked; and that of the brotherhood, in which there was also multiplied food for all". 

Alongside this document, the Bull of Benedict XIII published in 1724, a century after the canonization, "He takes up these miracles and, on the other hand, ignores the hoaxes that existed about the saint, invented in the 16th century; and he fixed the date of his death 'around the year 1130'. As there is consensus on the year of his birth (c. 1082), St. Isidore would have died before his fiftieth birthday, and not at the age of ninety as those who associated St. Isidore with the shepherd who led Alfonso VIII and his troops in the battle of Navas de Tolosa wanted. And this age, of less than fifty years that he had at the time of his death, is now confirmed by the forensic medical study on the CAT scan. So the bull was and is right"..

The saint who looks at you

Martín Abad has been an honorary prelate of the Pope since 1998 and, in this year 2022, he has been promoter of justice in the tribunal delegated for the recognitio canonica and public exhibition of the incorrupt body of St. Isidore Labrador, an exhibition that took place last May on the occasion of the Jubilee celebration, which had not taken place since 1985, when the first centenary of the creation of the Diocese of Madrid was celebrated. 

As Martín Abad explains, "Cardinal Osoro, Archbishop of Madrid, appointed a tribunal for the process of exhumation, canonical recognition and display of the body of St. Isidore, composed of the Episcopal Delegate, the Promoter of Justice, a Notary, four forensic experts and two witnesses. This tribunal was present: at the first opening of the urn, last January 12; on February 26, when a CAT scan was performed, the results of which will be made public at the Faculty of Medicine of the Complutense University on November 28; also on April 25, and on May 21, when the body was exposed to the view of the faithful until May 29; during those days about one hundred thousand visitors came to venerate it.

As Promoter of Justice, when examining with the tribunal the incorrupt body of the saint, I was not only impressed by the state of preservation of the whole body, since his bones are covered with soft, fleshy and epidermal tissues, but, above all, that the eye sockets are not empty, since the eyeballs and the irises of each one of them are perfectly preserved, so that looking at him face to face it would even seem that he could have looked at you".

The state of conservation of the saint, in fact, has been an object of study and admiration for devotees and non-devotees since the first openings of the coffin.

In this regard, Joaquín Martín Abad also points out that ".In 1504, when Juan de Centenera verified the completeness of the body, he described it in a state of incorruption: 'in bone and flesh', and this is the first known written description. A real wonder"..

Saint in ordinary life

St. Isidore Labrador was canonized in 1622 along with St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, St. Philip Neri and St. Teresa of Jesus. He was the only layman in a group of distinguished religious.

Although holiness in ordinary life has been a constant in the Church since its origins, the call to rediscover the universal vocation to holiness lived today with the utmost naturalness, makes the figure of St. Isidore, layman, worker, father of a family, emerge as a fully current model.

Joaquín Martín Abad emphasizes this when he recalls that "San Isidro is a model of workers. There is an extended deformation of something that the codex tells. The saint worked, in the company of his wife, giving to God what belongs to God and to the neighbors the due fraternity, as it is painted in the funerary chest where his body was from the end of the XIII, or beginning of the XIV, until the XVIII century, a chest that can be seen in a chapel of the ambulatory of the Almudena Cathedral. 

When he was accused that, because he was praying, he was not working, his employer, when he went to reproach him, 'suddenly saw in the same field, by design of divine power, doing the work of tillage, two yoke of white oxen, plowing beside the servant of God, tilling the field quickly and resolutely'. And as later some artists painted in the same picture St. Isidore praying and the angels with the oxen plowing, that falsely gave rise to think that, while he was praying, others were working him. But it was not so. St. Isidore was first praying and then plowing. He fulfilled, then, the duties of God and the duties of his work.

The holiness of St. Isidore, a lay farmer in a tiny town like Madrid at that time, in a corner of the archbishopric of Toledo, is holiness in the ordinary, the heroism of virtues in everyday life. He was a good worker, a splendid husband and father of a family".. 

As the Archbishop of Madrid pointed out at the opening of the Holy Year of St. Isidore: "It is urgent to promote the value and dignity of the family, to defend dignified work, to care for the earth... St. Isidore was not a theorist of these realities, but he was a Christian witness of the importance that these have in the life of man, in his dignity as a child of God." 

A model of matrimonial sanctity that is also reflected in the iconography and the place where the remains of the holy couple are venerated. 

In the collegiate church of San Isidro "It is noteworthy that, in the middle of the altarpiece of the church, are integrated the sarcophagus with the incorrupt body of Saint Isidore and the urn with the relics of his wife, Saint Mary of the Head", Martín Abad points out. He adds, "The same look makes us understand that a marriage of saints is exemplary for all those who are united by this sacrament. And, by being together on the altarpiece, they show the fidelity that they maintained in life, because this fidelity has wanted to be perpetuated in this way, having the relics of both of them in view in the same place. True love in marriage is forever, because love that is not forever is not authentic. Besides, married love is a process in which there is always room for more"..

The Jubilee Year of San Isidro

On May 15, 2022, a Holy Mass presided over by the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, Monsignor Carlos Osoro, and celebrated in the collegiate church that houses the remains of the saint and his wife, opened the Holy Year of St. Isidore. 

Since then, many faithful and devotees of the saintly farmer are passing through the royal collegiate basilica of St. Isidore and have been able to climb to the chapel, where you can pray before the chest containing the incorrupt body of St. Isidore and the chest containing the relics of his wife, St. Mary of the Head.

By going on pilgrimage there you can receive the plenary indulgence by fulfilling the usual conditions established by the Church, and you can even obtain a document accrediting your pilgrimage. 

A time to promote the devotion to the family of the saintly farmer and to follow his example of holiness in the day to day life nine centuries later.

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"Desire is not the desire of the moment," Pope Francis says

On a sunny Roman morning, the Pope's fourth catechesis on spiritual discernment took place in St. Peter's Square, focusing on the role of desire.

Javier García Herrería-October 12, 2022-Reading time: 3 minutes
RelatedRelated NewsPope Francis begins catechesis on discernmentRelated NewsDiscernment in the family environment

Pope Francis continued on Wednesday, October 12, the Feast of the Feast of the Holy Cross, the catecheses on the discernment. In the previous sessions I had discussed the importance of prayer and self-knowledge in discovering God's will. Today he reflected on an "'indispensable ingredient': desire. In fact, discernment is a form of search, and the search is always born of something that we lack but that we somehow know.".  

All men have desires, some noble and others selfish. Some elevate us and aim at the best version of ourselves, while others debase us. The Pope pointed out that "desire is not the desire of the moment", but the root of "a longing for fullness that never finds full satisfaction, and is the sign of God's presence in us". If one knows how to identify the desires that do good to man, he has a "compass to understand where I am and where I am going".

Good wishes

The Pope's reflections recognized that the problem is often knowing how to recognize which desires are good and which are not. To find this out, he proposed that "a sincere desire knows how to strike deep into the chords of our being, so that it is not extinguished in the face of difficulties or setbacks," so that "obstacles and failures do not suffocate desire; on the contrary, they make it even more alive in us. Unlike the desire or the emotion of the moment, the desire lasts in time, even for a long time, and tends to become concrete. If, for example, a young person wishes to become a doctor, he will have to undertake a course of study and work that will occupy some years of his life, and as a consequence he will have to set limits, to say 'no', first of all, to other courses of study, but also to possible entertainments or distractions, especially in the moments of more intense study. But, the desire to give a direction to his life and to reach this goal allows him to overcome these difficulties".  

Our post-modern world has unleashed the Pandora's box of human desires, exalting a freedom separated from goodness and truth. As the Holy Father said, "the age in which we live seems to favor maximum freedom of choice, but at the same time it atrophies desire, which is mostly reduced to the desire of the moment. We are bombarded by thousands of proposals, projects, possibilities, that we run the risk of distracting us and not allowing us to evaluate calmly what we really want".  

Learning from the Gospel

To distinguish between one desire and another, the Pope proposed to look at the attitude of Jesus in the Gospel. "It is striking that Jesus, before performing a miracle, often asks the person about his desire. And sometimes this question seems to be out of place. For example, when he finds the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda, who had been there for many years and could never find the right moment to enter the water. Jesus asks him: 'Do you want to be healed` (Jn 5,6) Why? In reality, the paralytic's answer reveals a series of strange resistances to healing, which do not have to do with him alone. Jesus' question was an invitation to clear his heart, to welcome a possible leap of quality: to no longer think of himself and his own life as a "paralytic", carried by others. But the man on the stretcher did not seem to be so convinced. Dialoguing with the Lord, we learn to understand what we really want from our life.  

The Pope also referred to another Gospel scene, the healing of the blind man of Jericho, when Jesus asks the protagonist "'What do you want me to do to you?Mc 10:51), how would we respond? Perhaps, we could finally ask him to help us to know the deep desire that God himself has placed in our hearts. And give us the strength to make it concrete. It is an immense grace, at the basis of all the others: to allow the Lord, as in the Gospel, to work miracles for us. For he too has a great desire for us: to make us sharers in his fullness of life.  

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The Communion and Liberation movement in audience with the Pope

October 15, 2022 marks the centenary of the birth of the Servant of God Father Luigi Giussani. It is a particularly opportune year to reflect on his teachings today.

Giovanni Tridente-October 12, 2022-Reading time: 3 minutes
RelatedRelated NewsResignation of Communion and Liberation's president

"We wish to affirm once again our affectionate following of the Pope and in him our passionate love for Christ and the Church." This was written a few weeks ago by the president of the Fraternity of Communion and LiberationDavide Prosperi, to all the adherents of the Italian movement founded by the priest Luigi Giussani, who this Saturday, October 15, will be received in special audience by Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square.

More than 50,000 people are expected from over 60 countries around the world, and the main reason is precisely the centenary of the birth of the charismatic priest, theologian and professor who, in the early 1970s, also driven by the social events of those years, gave life to this thriving youth movement dedicated to evangelization, which then spread throughout the world.

The then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, during the homily at Fr. Giussani's funeral in 2005, a few weeks before his election as Pope, recalled how it was the Holy Spirit who raised up in the Church, through this priest, a movement "that witnessed to the beauty of being a Christian at a time when the opinion was spreading that Christianity was something exhausting and oppressive to live".

Giussani, therefore, succeeded in awakening in young people "the love of Christ 'Way, Truth and Life,' repeating that He alone is the way to the realization of the deepest desires of the human heart" and that Christ saves us precisely through our humanity.

A "renaissance" phase

Her children, shaken by many trials in recent years - most recently, some of them misunderstandings The new leadership changes that led to the early resignation of the previous president, the Spaniard Julián Carrón, are now in a "renaissance" phase that should lead to overcoming some misunderstandings precisely in relation to the change of leadership at the head of the Movement. 

The Holy See has intervened to accompany this process, which then affects all the Movements of old and new generation, which today must adhere to the guidelines of the Decree on the exercise of governance in international associations of the faithful, private and public, issued in June 2021 by the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life. Basically, this Decree defines a maximum duration of 5 years for mandates in the central governing body, with the possibility of renewal but not exceeding 10 years, except for the founders.

Building the common good

Returning to Prosperi's letter to the adherents of CL (as the Association is commonly known), we read: "To Pope Francis we entrust, therefore, as sons, the desire that from the depths of our hearts encourages us to offer, through the concreteness of our existence, our contribution of faith and the construction of the common good for the benefit of all our human brothers and sisters, continuing to beseech, first of all for ourselves, the One who alone can quench the thirst of the human heart: Jesus of Nazareth".

The event in St. Peter's Square

The ceremony in St. Peter's Square will open with the recitation of the prayer of Lauds, the reading of passages from the Gospel and the projection of audiovisual presentations by Father Giussani, which will alternate with songs performed by the Communion and Liberation choir.

The arrival of Pope Francis is scheduled at 11:30 a.m.; after the greetings of the President of the Fraternity of CL, the testimonies of Rose Busingye (founder and guide of the charitable organization "Meeting Point International" in Kampala, Uganda) and of Hassina Houari (former student of the center of help to the study of Portofranco, Milan) will be heard.

On the previous day, in the Auditorium of the Pontifical Urbaniana University, the book "Il cristianesimo come avvenimento. Saggi sul pensiero teologico di Luigi Giussani."The first of three collections of articles on the thought of the Founder of CL will be presented by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops; Archbishop Giuseppe Baturi, Archbishop of Cagliari and Secretary General of the Italian Episcopal Conference; and Don Javier Prades, Rector of the San Damaso University of Madrid, will speak.

"We are aware of our nothingness and, at the same time, we are filled with an indomitable hope in the One who can do everything, in following that 'beautiful path' of which Father Giussani never ceased to give us certainty," Prosperi concludes in his letter to the adherents, summoning everyone to St. Peter's Square.

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Sunday Readings

The gift of a prayer that does not tire. XXIX Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

Andrea Mardegan comments on the readings for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time and Luis Herrera offers a short video homily.

Andrea Mardegan-October 12, 2022-Reading time: 2 minutes

When Moses insists on prayer, Joshua defeats Amalek. But if his arms fall down from fatigue, Joshua loses the battle. It is exhausting to keep your arms up for a long time: it is an image of the weariness of prayer. The help of the people who love us, Aaron and Korah for Moses, sustains us: we keep on praying. 

Paul writes to Timothy about other aspects of steadfastness: in the faith he has received and in instruction in the Scriptures, the efficacy of which he praises: it serves to teach, convince, correct, educate, mature the man of God and prepare him for every good work. No small thing! Timothy is also encouraged to insist on the proclamation of the word, admonishing, rebuking and exhorting. In any case, what will make his speech effective, even if the chosen moment is not the right one, will be the form: "with all magnanimity." With a big heart, with charity as the underlying criterion, Paul reminds him. 

The parable of the widow who insists with the judge is told only by Luke, who introduces it already with the interpretation: the need to pray always, without ever getting tired. The protagonists of the story are the widow, the judge and the adversary. A widow of that time represented the maximum of poverty and fragility. Perhaps the early Christians also felt this way in the face of adversaries. Jesus outlines a total difference between the judge and God. A judge who does not fear God and has no regard for anyone is the worst thing that can happen: obedience to God's command to love and serve one's neighbor does not touch him, nor does respect for human dignity. He moves only because the widow's insistence harms his comfort. Paradoxically, Jesus proposes the same behavior in prayer: to be insistent, to cry out to God day and night, and assures us that God will come at once to do us justice. One may object: if God is so different from the judge, in his fatherhood and mercy, why is it so necessary to cry out to him night and day? And again: the experience of believers is that sometimes God does not seem to intervene or is slow to respond. We can answer that the gift of prayer is, to a large extent, prayer itself, which brings us into communion with God, makes us believe in him, exercises hope and trusting abandonment, leads us to love and be loved by him. Prayer makes us overcome the Amalek that stalks us and tempts us to distrust God and his love, to feel him as an enemy. In overcoming Amalek we are converted and we have the certainty that God comes immediately to our aid, giving us the faith to see the things of life according to his eyes, and to abandon ourselves to his will: in this way God will resolve everything, but in his own way and in his own time. 

Homily on the readings for Sunday 29th Sunday

The priest Luis Herrera Campo offers its nanomiliaa small one-minute reflection for these readings.

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Evangelization

"Holiness today" at the center of a congress held at the Vatican

During the first week of October, a congress was held at the Vatican to reflect on holiness.

José Carlos Martín de la Hoz-October 11, 2022-Reading time: 3 minutes
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The Congress "Holiness Today" (October 3-6, 2022), organized by the Dicastery for the Causes of SaintsThe meeting began with words of welcome from the Cardinal Prefect, Marcello Semeraro, and with the express desire to organize it every year and, finally, to publish the proceedings as soon as possible. 

The attendance was large enough to fill the auditorium of the Augustinianum in Rome, since the response of the consultors, members of the Dicastery, Roman postulators, episcopal delegates from many dioceses and diocesan postulators from Italy, Spain and other countries of Europe and America, was massive, not only at the inauguration but also at all the sessions of the Congress.

In particular, Lourdes Grosso, Director of the Office for the Causes of Saints of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, as director of the Master's course that has just been held in Madrid organized with the Dicastery and the Faculty of Canon Law of the University of San Damaso in Madrid, encouraged a good group of postulators of the course and professors of the Master's course to attend the Congress, where a preferential place was occupied by Msgr. Demetrio Fernandez, Bishop of Cordoba, consultor to the Dicastery, who signed the diplomas of the Master's course in Madrid together with the Prefect of the Roman Dicastery.

Speakers and topics

The Congress "La santità oggi" was organized by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints and the Lateran University. It was interesting to see the cardinals, archbishops and consultor bishops, as true members of the Dicastery, present at all the sessions of the Congress and to see the Prefect, Promoter of the Faith and Secretary of the Dicastery seated in the chair at all the events.

The distribution of the speakers has been very measured so that there was a representation of all the major orders and religious congregations: Dominicans, Franciscans, Jesuits, Augustinians, Carmelites, priests, theologians, canonists, professors of the Gregorian, Angelicum and Lateran. Also, priests, theologians, canonists, professors of the Gregorian, Angelicum and Lateran. The important weight of the great religious orders in the daily life of the Dicastery was evident. There was a large representation of consecrated persons and members of movements and new ecclesial forms in the room, but they were not mentioned. 

The content of the lectures and sessions expressed the current situation of spiritual theology. Chapter V of Lumen Gentium on the universal call to holiness and "Gaudete et exultate" of Pope Francis were widely quoted and mentioned, but then the theological developments were centered on the classical texts of Scripture, Tradition and the great theologians and saints, St. Augustine, St. Thomas, St. Francis and St. Ignatius. 

Holiness today

Bruno Forte, Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto, with an important speech on "Holiness, fruit of the Holy Spirit" and the best intervention of the Congress was given by Rosalba Manes, Professor of the Gregorian University, who developed the theme "The Beatitudes, the path to holiness". The conference on the "universal call to holiness" was given by Father Maruzio Faggioni of the Alphonsian Academy who compared the path to holiness of St. Teresa and that of St. Therese.

Undoubtedly, there is still much theological, canonical and historical updating and deepening work to be done in the coming years since, for example, the current "Positio" is still being written on the heroic exercise of the Christian virtues, but the virtues have not been treated in depth in this Congress. There is still much room for an urgent theological development of lay and secular spirituality.

Pope's reception

The Holy Father was gracious enough to receive the Congress and personally greeted the 400 people at the Congress. Cardinal Prefect Semararo thanked the Holy Father for the Exhortation "Gaudete et exultate" and spoke of the wide variety of charisms and human profiles of the saints being studied. 

The Holy Father stressed two ideas in his speech: one for the Congress, that is, the need to promote a stable private devotion and reputation for holiness and to avoid falling into an ephemeral "digital" fame. At the same time, addressing the universal Church, he spoke of joyful holiness and quoted the "well-known text": "A sad saint is a sad saint" and spoke of the importance of good humor and Christian optimism, giving as examples Blessed John Paul I, Carlo Accutis, St. Thomas More and St. Francis as joyful saints.

The days were sunny and it was a joy to see Rome full of tourists and life all over the city, as, in fact, there was no reference to COVID, nor to the masks anywhere.

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Twentieth Century Theology

The Theology of the Second Vatican Council

At the Second Vatican Council, the following were taken up and did a lot of theology. It was three years of work of numerous experts and bishops to thinking about faith ("fides quaerens intellectum") with the objective proposed by John XXIII: better explain the Church's message to the world at large.derno.

Juan Luis Lorda-October 11, 2022-Reading time: 8 minutes
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Translation of the article into Italian

To speak of "theology of the Council" is perfectly legitimate. The Council had a pastoral orientation, but it gathered the fruits of so much good theology and consolidated many expressions and perspectives. Without being able to mention them all, it is useful to attempt a synthesis. We will focus only on the four Constitutions and the Decree on religious freedom.

Dei Verbum and the form of Christian revelation

The Council began by dealing with revelation, but the first outline (1962) was not liked because it was too scholastic. This led to change all the prepared outlines. Rahner and Ratzinger proposed one for this document, but it did not prosper. After a long elaboration, a short text on Revelation and Scripture was achieved, which includes the renewal of Fundamental Theology (1965) (and Newman's inspirations). In the first chapters, it deals with revelation, God, human response (faith) and transmission or tradition (I and II); and the rest deals with Sacred Scripture.

Faced with the old scholastic custom of centering revelation on the set of revealed truths (dogmas), "Dei verbum" focused on the historical phenomenon of revelation (nn. 1 and 6). God manifests himself by working salvation in history, with certain stages, until its fullness in Christ. "With deeds and words," not just words. There is a profound revelation in events such as the Creation and the Exodus, the Covenant and, even more, the Incarnation, Death and Resurrection of the Lord. These are the great mysteries of salvation history. Moreover, "there is no longer any public revelation to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ" (n. 4).

He presents faith as a personal response (in the Church) to this revelation (this is how the Catechism begins), and explains the concept of (living) tradition and its relationship with the Magisterium and Scripture (chapter II). Scripture itself is the fruit of the first tradition. "Sacred Tradition, then, and Sacred Scripture constitute a single sacred deposit" (10), thus overcoming the unfortunate scheme of the "two sources".

Describes the peculiar relationship between God's action and human freedom (and culture) in the writing of texts (inspiration). He recognizes the convenience of distinguishing literary genres in order to interpret them (a symbolic narration is not the same as the historical description of a fact). And he proposes a whole treatise of believing exegesis in three lines: "Sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted with the same spirit with which it was written in order to draw out the exact meaning of the sacred texts; we must pay no less diligent attention to the content and unity of the whole of Sacred Scripture, taking into account the living Tradition of the whole Church and the analogy of faith" (12).

After explaining the profound relationship between the Old and New Testaments, he gives a strong pastoral impulse to know and use Scripture more (ch. VI), with good translations and instructing the faithful. He points out that "the study of Sacred Scripture must be like the soul of Sacred Theology" (24). And also of preaching and catechesis (24). Because "ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ" (25).

Sacrosanctum Concilium and the heart of the Church's life

When the outline on revelation was withdrawn, the Council began to work on this beautiful document, which gathers the best of the liturgical movement, ranging from the renewal of Solesmes (Dom Geranguer) to Guardini's "The Meaning of the Liturgy", passing through Odo Casel's theology of the mysteries.

He presents the liturgy as a celebration of the mystery of Christ, where our salvation is realized and the Church grows. The first chapter, the longest, deals with the principles of the "reform" (as he calls it). The second refers to the "sacrosanct Mystery of the Eucharist" (II), and then to the other sacraments and sacramentals (III), the Divine Office (IV), the liturgical year (V), sacred music (Vl), and the art and objects of worship (VII). It closes with an appendix on the possibility of adapting the calendar and the date of Easter.

The liturgy always celebrates the Paschal Mystery of Christ (6), from the Baptism in which the faithful, dying to sin and rising in Christ, are incorporated into his Body through the eternal life given by the Holy Spirit. It is a worship directed to the Father, in Christ, animated by the Holy Spirit, and always ecclesial, because the whole body of the Church acts united to its Head (ecclesial dimension). And it celebrates the one Paschal mystery of Christ, on earth as well as in heaven, and forever (eschatological dimension).

The Council wanted the faithful to participate better in the liturgical mystery by increasing their formation. In addition, it gave a multitude of indications to improve Christian worship in all its aspects.

Unfortunately, the application of these wise indications completely overwhelmed the bodies in charge ("Consilium" and episcopal conferences). Before the bishops received instructions, and long before the liturgical books were reworked, many enthusiasts altered the liturgy with arbitrary trivializations. The complaints of many theologians (De Lubac, Daniélou, Bouyer, Ratzinger...) and Catholic intellectuals (Maritain, Von Hildebrand, Gilson...) were not enough. This disorder provoked in
some disconcerted faithful an anti-conciliar reaction that lasts until today, giving wings also to Lefebvre's schism. It is worth rereading the document to see how much remains to be learned.

Lumen Gentium, the culmination of the Council

This "dogmatic" Constitution (the only one so called) is the theological nucleus of the Council, because, following in the wake of Vatican Council I and "Mystici corporis", it develops extensively the doctrine on the Church and illuminates the others conciliar documents on bishops, clergy, religious, ecumenism, relationship with other religions and evangelization. Its theological richness and articulation owe much to Johan Adam Moeller, Guardini, De Lubac and Congar, and to the wise editorial hand of Gerard Philips, who later made a splendid commentary.

Already the first number puts everything at a very high level: "The Church is in Christ as a sacrament, that is, a sign and instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of the whole human race. This universal convocation expresses what the Church is, and at the same time, it realizes her among men by uniting them to the Father in Christ through the Spirit. Therefore, it is "like a sacrament".

The relative novelty of the patristic word "mystery" must be emphasized, because the Church is, in itself, a mystery of the presence, revelation and saving action of God, and for this very reason a mystery of faith. Mystery united to the mystery of the Trinity (Church of the Trinity) because the Church is a people created and called together by God the Father, gathered for worship in the Body of Christ, who is its head (and who performs the worship), and built in Christ as a temple of living stones by the action of the Holy Spirit. It is therefore intimately united to the Mystery of the liturgy ("Ecclesia de Eucharistia"). It is also the Church of the Trinity, because its communion of persons (communion of saints, communion in holy things) reflects and expands in the world, as a leaven and foretaste of the Kingdom, the Trinitarian communion of persons, which is the ultimate destiny of humanity (eschatological dimension).

Understanding the Church as a salvific mystery of communion with God and among men allows us to overcome an external, sociological or hierarchical vision of the Church; to properly address the relationship between the Primacy and the College of Bishops. And to emphasize the dignity of the People of God and the universal call to holiness, and to participate fully in the liturgical worship and mission of the Church.

All human beings are called to be united to Christ in his Church. This is accomplished in history by the Holy Spirit in various degrees and forms, from the explicit communion of those who participate fully to the interior communion of those who are faithful to God in their conscience ("Lumen Gentium," nn. 13-16).

That is why this mystery of unity is the key to ecumenism, a new commitment of the Council by the will of the Lord ("that all may be one"), with a change of perspective in a great document ("Unitatis redintegrario"). It is different to contemplate the historical genesis of the divisions with their traumas, than their present state, where Christians of good faith (Orthodox, Protestants and others) really participate in the goods of the Church. From there, full communion is to be sought through prayer, collaboration, dialogue and mutual knowledge, and above all through the action of the Holy Spirit. Full communion in sacris is not the point of departure, but the point of arrival.

Gaudium et Spes and what the Church can offer to the world

To understand the theological scope of Gaudium et Spes, it is necessary to recall its history.

When the first outlines were withdrawn, as we have seen above, it was decided to orient the Council with two questions: what the Church says about herself, which gave rise to "Lumen gentium", and what the Church can contribute to "the building of the world", which would give rise to "Gaudium et spes". Already at that time, thought was being given to the great questions: the family, education, social and economic life, and peace, which form the chapters of the second part.

Although it seems easy to speak Christianly about these topics, it is not so easy to establish a universal theological doctrine, because there are too many temporal, specialized and... opinionated questions. For this reason, it was given the title of "pastoral" Constitution, and it was noted that the second part, full of interesting suggestions, was more opinionated than the first part, which was more doctrinal.

This first part had arisen spontaneously out of the need to give a doctrinal foundation to what the Church could contribute to the world. And it turned out to be a happy compendium of Christian anthropology, with three intense chapters on the human person and his dignity, the social dimension of the human being, and the meaning of his action in the world. And a fourth summary chapter (which Karol Wojtyła himself apparently drafted in large part with Daniélou). Paul VI on his trip to the UN would recall that the Church is "an expert in humanity."

John Paul II constantly stressed that Christ knows the human being and is the true image of man (n. 22) and that "there is a certain resemblance between the union of the divine persons and the union of the children of God in truth and charity" (24), as happens in families, in Christian communities and must be sought in the whole of society. This sentence concludes with this luminous expression of the human vocation: "This similarity shows that man, the only creature on earth whom God has loved for his own sake, cannot find his own fullness except in the sincere gift of himself to others" (24).

Moreover, the last chapter of the first part of the Pastoral Constitution recalled that: "The laity are properly, though not exclusively, responsible for secular tasks and dynamism [...] they should strive to acquire true competence in all areas" and "it is up to the well-formed conscience of the laity to ensure that the divine law is engraved in the earthly city" (43). Here, too, much remains to be done...

Dignitatis humanae and a change of approach to liberalism

Although a minor document, this decree is of strategic importance in the Church's relationship with the modern world.

Many bishops had asked the Council to proclaim the right to religious freedom because they were subject to communist dictatorships, as in the case of Karol Wojtyła. Liberal democratic regimes recognized that right as an essential part of their pedigree. Citizens are free to seek the truth also religious and express it freely in worship, even public, respecting public order. The historical experience was that the liberal proclamation of freedom of worship had been very beneficial for the Catholic Church where it was persecuted or where there was an official religion, as in England and in officially Protestant countries (Sweden, Denmark...), and it would be a great liberation in communist and also Muslim countries.

But this was not the tradition of the old Christian nations (neither Catholic nor Protestant) because, it was argued, "truth does not have the same rights as error". That is why, in the 19th century, the ecclesiastical authorities at all levels, just as they had opposed the dissemination of publications against faith and morals, firmly opposed liberal attempts to establish "freedom of worship" in Catholic countries. It was a conflict between perspectives: that of a nation understood as a religious community and that of the conscience of each individual.

It is true that, in a supervised regime, such as that of a family with its children, parents can and even must prevent, within certain limits, the dissemination of erroneous opinions in their home. But this is out of place when the children are emancipated, because then the fundamental right of each person to seek the truth for himself prevails. And this is what happens in modern societies, with emancipated people in full possession of their rights. We move from the protection of the common good of a homogeneously religious society to the recognition of the fundamental right of each person to seek the truth.

However, this change was considered heretical by Monsignor Lefebvre and led to his schism. He argued that the Council on this point contradicted the traditional doctrine of the Church and was therefore invalid.

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ColumnistsJavier Segura

Loving the Church

Today we must once again actualize the desire to feel with the Church, to love her with all our heart, going beyond her limits, discovering her true greatness.

October 11, 2022-Reading time: 3 minutes

For years there has been a triple line of messages in many media regarding news that has to do with religion, and more specifically, with the Catholic Church.

On the one hand, one can see how the news that deals with the religious theme silences the transcendent dimension, precisely the one that is more specific to it, and gives the news with data that is more 'down to earth'. The Way of St. James is reduced to tourism, cathedrals and temples to art, World Youth Day to economic income for the host country.

Another second line of communication tends to present and highlight the negative side, silencing the positive things that Christians do. The bombardment of news about pederasty among priests and religious is along these lines. In this way, a rejection of the institution as a whole is generated.

The third key is to present a Church divided between the people and the pastors, in such a way as to open a breach within the people of God. To separate, to affectively distance one from the other is also a message that is gradually permeating.

Undoubtedly, this line of information is gradually generating a mentality of ignorance and even rejection that adds to the challenges that the Church faces in evangelization. How to address this challenge?

Evidently, it is necessary to carry out a good communication, we would say, in a reverse order. To give religious news with a deep look, to also tell the stories of love and generosity that arise in the life of Christians, to show our pastors and their work of service that they exercise from their post with closeness.

But above all, I think it is important that we cultivate a true vision (and experience) of what the Church is. As long as we Christians do not live a deep vision of the Church, we will drag the limits that every human institution has.

Because the Church is much more than a group, a collective, an association. Our reinforcement of the 'perception' of the Church cannot be to find our strengths, to generate a current of pride of belonging or to strengthen membership as any collective could do. No, it does not go that way.

We have to understand that the Church is our mother. Living from this spiritual dimension will be what will make us really have a true sense of belonging that will overcome any crisis or challenge. The Church gives us Christ, a real, living Christ, not retouched by our ideas or tastes, by historical fashions. The Church engenders us to the life of God and nourishes us so that we may grow in that life that is given to us. She is truly our mother. I love the Church with that love that comes from the heart and from the heart, that is the love of my mother. A warm love that unites and adheres with that umbilical cord that surpasses by far any marketing campaign or reinforcement of the public image that one wants to do.

This experience of the Church is what we have to transmit especially to the new generations. And I have the feeling that we are failing in this, perhaps because of superficiality, perhaps because we are in different cultural registers. But the risk of a merely sociological vision of our belonging to the church, without a deep understanding, is something that we must take into account and reorient ourselves, if necessary.

St. Ignatius of Loyola included in his Spiritual Exercises the 'rules for feeling with the Church' in that convulsive century of rupture due to the Protestant Reformation. Perhaps today we should bring back to life the desire to feel with the Church, to love her with all our heart, going beyond her limits, discovering her true greatness, which lies mainly in her motherhood. That is why our relationship with the Church is primarily a relationship of love.

Love for the Church and love for Christ. Which is not something different.

The authorJavier Segura

Teaching Delegate in the Diocese of Getafe since the 2010-2011 academic year, he has previously exercised this service in the Archbishopric of Pamplona and Tudela, for seven years (2003-2009). He currently combines this work with his dedication to youth ministry directing the Public Association of the Faithful 'Milicia de Santa Maria' and the educational association 'VEN Y VERÁS. EDUCATION', of which he is President.

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The Vatican

Relive the ardor of the time of the Council, sixty years after the event

A new anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council is celebrated, whose evangelizing impulse is inspiring for the synodal process in which the universal Church finds itself.

Giovanni Tridente-October 11, 2022-Reading time: 5 minutes

Translation of the article into Italian

On October 11, in the liturgical memory of St. John XXIII, Pope Francis will celebrate a Holy Mass on the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Vatican II Ecumenical Council. It will undoubtedly be an opportunity to revive the impetus for renewal in the Church, which came only a few decades ago thanks to the will of a far-sighted Pontiff, who was not afraid to undertake a general mobilization that at the time could only seem revolutionary: John XXIII.

It is somewhat the same reforming dynamism that Pope Francis has also impressed on the Church since his election, faithful in any case to the requests that had come from the general congregations of Cardinals before the vote in the Sistine Chapel. 

Since his appearance in the loggia of St. Peter's Square, the mission of the Pope "coming almost from the end of the world" has made use of many small pieces that have placed the protagonism of each baptized person, the joy of evangelization, the attention to the last ones, the interreligious dialogue, the denunciation of the many contradictions of our time and the convocation of the whole ecclesial community in a state "...".synodal" permanent.

Grafted on the roots of the past

Francis has always made it clear that it is not important "occupy spaces" but "initiate processes".The dynamic that characterized the work of the Second Vatican Council for three years is something like the one that characterized the work of the Second Vatican Council. Not all the processes initiated there have been completed, indeed, after 60 years there are probably several things that even today may appear to be avant-garde if interpreted in the right light and with proper discernment.

Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Council's journey will probably allow the Pontiff to relive the ardor of that time and to relive the solemnity of the opening of the Council, which was undoubtedly, in line with previous history, a sign of a vitality that is still present.

No conciliar initiative in the Church has ever sought to erase the past; on the contrary, it has always been grafted onto those solid roots that have allowed Christ to continue to be present throughout the centuries.

John XXIII himself affirmed this on October 11, 1962: "After almost twenty centuries, the situations and the most serious problems of humanity have not changed, because Christ always occupies the central place in history and in life. Men either adhere to him and to his Church, and thus enjoy the light, the good, the just order and the goodness of peace; or they live without him or fight against him and deliberately remain outside the Church, and so there is confusion among them, mutual relations become difficult, the danger of bloody wars looms, and so on.".

How much foresight in those words, how much truth and how much correspondence with the very turmoil we live in today, including the bloody wars. Surely you will want to go back with your mind and heart to that unity of purpose that sixty years later is still alive and well. There is another aspect that is echoed today in the re-reading of the Council's opening speech, and that is the many "doomsayers" that "in the current conditions of human society" just come "ruin and problems", behaving "as if they had nothing to learn from history".

In a perpetual state of mission

Rather, Pope Roncalli already asked, we must rediscover "the mysterious designs of Divine ProvidencePope Francis would say, "to discern what the Holy Spirit wants to communicate to us for our good and that of the Church. 

A bit like what we have been trying to do for some time now through the instrument of the Synod of Bishops, which is, among other things, a concrete fruit of the Second Vatican Council, and which the current Pope considers fundamental and indispensable for design a Church and a community of faith that is in a perpetual state of mission and that knows how to fruitfully spread the light and beauty of the Gospel, showing and witnessing to the living presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then will come the Jubilee of Hope?

Two new saints for the Church today

Two figures born in the nineteenth century, who dealt with the existential peripheries who, to tell the truth, were never lacking in the life of humanity, will be canonized by Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square on October 9, as announced during the last Consistory in August. They are the two Italians, Giovanni Battista Scalabrini and Artemide Zatti. 

The first was bishop of Piacenza and founder of the Congregations of the Missionaries and the Missionaries of St. Charles (Scalabrinians), with the mission of serving migrants. It was Pope Francis himself who last May authorized the dispensation of the second miracle for his canonization.

His pastoral work has been judged by many to be a "prophecy of a Church close to the people and their concrete problems". His episcopal ministry, lived in direct contact with the people, left indelible marks on the faithful. Among other things, he initiated the reform of diocesan life, became close to his presbyterate, with a constant concern for the teaching of Christian doctrine and works of charity for the most needy.

The impetus to care for emigrants came when, at the beginning of the century, he realized that almost 9 million Italians had left the country for Brazil, Argentina and then the United States. But his concern for these faithful was not only material, but also pastoral: he believed, in fact, that uprooted from their cultural context, many emigrants had lost their faith. This gave rise to the idea of the Missionary Congregation, which today has three institutes: religious, religious sisters and secular.

Compassion and mercy

The second to become a saint was Artemide Zatti, a Salesian curate who worked mainly for the sick in Argentina, emigrating with his parents from Emilia Romagna. He wanted to become a priest, remained a nurse and associated himself with the sufferings of his patients, even contracting tuberculosis, only to recover later thanks to the intercession of Mary Help of Christians.

"A living sign of God's compassion and mercy for the sick"Pierluigi Cameroni, Postulator General of the Salesians, described him on several occasions. And his vocation as a Salesian curate also characterized him completely: he remained a lay to all intents and purposes, although he professed the vows of charity, chastity and obedience as a religious, also sharing community life.

"His greatness was not in accepting, but in choosing the plan God had for him." -continued the postulator, "and the evangelical radicalism with which he set out to follow Christ, in the spirit of Don Bosco, that is, without ever lacking the joy and the smile that comes from an encounter with the Lord".".

In the Consistory with which he announced the canonization, Pope Francis described them as "examples of Christian life and holiness"to propose them to the whole Church".especially in view of the situation of our times". It is not by chance that the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints highlighted how his testimony "brings the issue of migrants back to the attention of believers in Christ"which, as the Pope has said on several occasions, "is the most important thing in the world.if integrated, they can help to breathe the air of a diversity that regenerates unity"..

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Evangelization

Polish bishops vindicate the value of "Veritatis splendor".

The Polish Bishops' Conference has published a brief letter highlighting the magisterium of John Paul II on Catholic morality.

Javier García Herrería-October 10, 2022-Reading time: 7 minutes
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On the Sunday before October 22, the feast of St. John Paul II, Poland celebrates "Papal Day" in remembrance of his legacy. On this occasion, the Polish bishops wanted to recall the messages of the encyclical "....Veritatis splendor"which set out the rationale behind the Christian morality. The Polish episcopate considers that despite attempts to distort the text, it remains a relevant proposal to promote the authentic pursuit of happiness.

The bishops' text is brief and uses simple language, through which they relate the theses of the encyclical to the problem of misinformation and the proliferation of new rights (e.g. abortion) that do not offer true happiness. The authentic splendor of truth "can only be achieved by showing the true face of the Christian faith". This is why the encyclical remains so important for the Church and the world, because Christ has the power to set man free. 

In the letter, the bishops encourage support for the New Millennium Foundation of the Polish Bishops' Conference, which was founded in 2000 to help young people who want to study but have no financial means to do so. The collection of next Sunday, October 16, will be destined to this purpose. "Through the sacrifices made, we have the opportunity to maintain and often restore in the hearts of young people the hope of a better future and the realization of their educational aspirations for the good of the Church and the Homeland," reads the letter.

john paul II
Saint John Paul II

We publish the full text of the letter in an unofficial translation.

The glow of truth

Pastoral Letter of the Polish Episcopate announcing the national celebration of the XXII Papal Day

Beloved sisters and brothers in Christ!

The ten lepers who met Jesus on the border between Samaria and Galilee experienced the miracle of healing only because of their obedience to the words of Jesus (cf. Lk 17:14). The same happened with the Syrian Naaman, who, following the command of the prophet Elisha, plunged seven times into the Jordan River (cf. 2 Kings 5:14). Thus the Lord God in his Word shows the essence of the act of faith, which is expressed not only in the intellectual knowledge of revealed truth, but above all in the daily choice in its light. "Faith is a decision that leads to (...) trusting and relying on Christ and enables us to live as He did" (VS, 88). .

In just one week, on Sunday, October 16, the 22nd Papal Day, under the theme "The Splendor of Truth," we want to take up again the message that St. Paul transmitted to us. John Paul II included in "Veritatis splendor" . The purpose of the encyclical, whose title is "The Splendor of Truth" in Polish, is to recall the foundations of Christian morality. Despite attempts to distort or undermine it, it is still a good proposal that can bring joy to a person's life.

I. The crisis of the concept of truth

Today, the existence of natural law, written in the human soul, is increasingly questioned. The universality and immutability of its commands are also being undermined. "The dramatic nature of the present situation," says St. John Paul II, "in which basic moral values seem to be disappearing, depends to a great extent on the loss of a sense of sin" (Catechesis of August 25, 1999, Rome). . Indeed, man is tempted to take the place of God and determine for himself what is good and what is evil (cf. Gen 3:4). As a result, truth becomes dependent on the will of the majority, interest groups, circumstances, cultural and fashionable contexts, and individual judgments of individual persons. Then, any behavior is considered the norm of behavior, and all opinions are equal to each other.

As it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood, the boundaries between fact and opinion, advertising and deliberate lying are also blurring. Algorithms are constantly with us when we use the Internet. They select the content searched for and viewed by us to match our interests and expectations as closely as possible. This, however, makes it difficult to confront alternative opinions and, consequently, to arrive at the objective truth. Users of social networks are often not guided by the desire to present themselves authentically, but adapt the prepared materials to the expectations of the recipients. In the pursuit of popularity, they overcome the limits of morality, good taste and privacy. In the media space, we are increasingly confronted with so-called "alternative facts" ("fake news"). The consequence of this is a decline in trust in all published content. In the post-truth era we have not only truth and lies, but also a third category of ambiguous statements, i.e. "lack of truth, exaggeration, coloring of reality".

In a world in which the ability to distinguish truth from lies is disappearing, culture is also closing in on the meaning and value of humanity. Concepts such as love, freedom, community and the very definition of the human person and his or her rights are distorted. We live in times "in which people become objects to be used, just as things are used" (GS, 13). The tragic confirmation of this process is abortion, which is presented as the "right to choose" of spouses, especially women. Children are treated as an obstacle to the development of parents and the family becomes an institution that limits the freedom of its members. These processes strike at the pillars of civilization and challenge the heritage of Christian culture.

II. The inseparable link between truth, goodness and freedom

The renewal of the moral life can only be achieved by showing the true face of the Christian faith, "which is not a collection of theses that require the acceptance and approval of reason. It is, however, the knowledge of Christ" (VS, 88). "This is why the Encyclical on 'the splendor of truth`" ("Veritas splendor") is so important for the Church and the world . Only the splendor of the truth that is Jesus can enlighten the mind so that man can discover the meaning of his life and vocation and distinguish between good and evil.

Following Christ is the foundation of Christian morality. His words, deeds and commandments form the moral rule of the Christian life. However, man cannot follow Christ by himself. It is made possible by openness to the gift of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of his action is a "new heart" (cf. Ez 36:26), which enables man to discover the law of God no longer as a constraint, a burden and a restriction of freedom, but as a good that protects him from the slavery of sin. The truth that Christ brings thus becomes the power that frees man. Thus he discovers that "human freedom and the law of God are not contradictory, but refer to each other" (VS 17). The essence of freedom is expressed in the gift of oneself in the service of God and mankind. Conscious of the height of this task, as well as of the weaknesses of the human condition, the Church offers man the mercy of God, which enables him to overcome his weaknesses.

Harmony between freedom and truth sometimes requires sacrifices and must be paid for. In certain situations, keeping the law of God can be difficult, but it is never impossible. This is confirmed by the Church, which has raised to the glory of the altars numerous saints who, in word and deed, bore witness to moral truth in martyrdom, preferring to die rather than commit sin. Each one of us is also called to bear this witness to the faith, even at the cost of suffering and sacrifice.

III. The formation of consciousness

Conscience is the space for the dialogue of truth and freedom in every human being. This is where practical judgment is made, what is to be done and what is to be avoided. But conscience is not free from the danger of error. Therefore, the key task of pastors and educators, but also of every believer, is to form conscience. Only a well-formed conscience enables a person to adapt to the objective norms of morality and to avoid blind arbitrariness in decision-making (cf. KDK 16). Here a special role is played by "the Church and her Magisterium, which is the teacher of truth and has the duty to proclaim and teach authentically the Truth which is Christ, and at the same time to explain and confirm the principles of the moral order resulting from humanity. nature with seriousness" (VS, 64). The great work of the pontificate of St. John Paul II, the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It continues to be a point of reference in our daily choices and evaluations of reality.

The Church carries out the mission of the formation of consciences through regular catechesis of children, youth and adults, formation in movements and associations, and increasingly in social networks, in the form of responses to questions asked. Fundamental is the work of confessors and spiritual directors who form people's consciences through conversations, instructions and, above all, through the celebration of the sacraments. At this point, we encourage the personal formation of all believers through the daily practice of prayer, examination of conscience and frequent confession.

IV. "Living Monument" of St. John Paul II

The "Dzieło Nowy Tysiąclecia" Foundation also deals with the formation of young people's consciousness. "The community of Toruń Scholars" - recalls Magdalena, a graduate of the scholarship program - "was for me a support and a spiritual home to which I like to return. The awareness that there are people in the same city who are guided by similar values and are able to understand my doubts or seek answers to troubling questions together was very encouraging during my studies." Every year, the Foundation serves about two thousand talented pupils and students from poor families, villages and small towns all over Poland, and recently also from Ukraine.

Next Sunday, during the collection in churches and public places, we will be able to materially support the "living memorial" of St. John Paul II. Today, in the face of the economic difficulties of many families, we have the opportunity to maintain, and often restore in the hearts of young people, the hope of a better future and the realization of their educational aspirations for the good of the Church and the Homeland, through the sacrifices made. May the support thus given, even in the face of personal difficulties and shortages, be an expression of our solidarity and of the imagination of mercy.

During the fruitful experience of the XXII Pontifical Day, we imparted a pastoral blessing to all.

Signed by: Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops present at the 392nd Plenary Meeting of the Polish Bishops' Conference,

Zakopane, June 6-7, 2022. The letter is to be read on Sunday, October 9, 2022.

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Spain

"A democratic state cannot impose an anthropological vision in all areas."

The bishops of the Episcopal Subcommission for the Family and Defense of Life of the Spanish Episcopal Conference have published a note on the most worrying aspects of the new laws on abortion or the rights of LGTBI persons.

Maria José Atienza-October 10, 2022-Reading time: 3 minutes
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The approval of the Law on sexual and reproductive health and the voluntary interruption of pregnancy and the Law for the real and effective equality of trans persons and for the guarantee of the rights of LGTBI persons. has led the bishops who make up the Episcopal Subcommission for the Family and Defense of Life of the Spanish Episcopal Conference to speak out against the attacks on personal dignity and human life contained in these norms.

In fact, the bishops speak of an ideological colonization in the face of which "we want to recall the proper anthropology that shows us that the person is the union of body and soul".

Abortion law

In this regard, the bishops emphasize their outright rejection of the new abortion law which not only protects it but also promulgates abortion as a right and contains such worrying aspects as allowing "abortion for the disabled up to five and a half months, the possibility that 16 and 17 year old girls may have abortions, the possibility that 16 and 17 year old girls may have abortions up to five and a half months of age, the possibility that 16 and 17 year old girls may abortion without parental consent, making it compulsory for doctors who refuse to perform abortions to register as conscientious objectors or eliminating the period of reflection before abortion and information on alternatives to abortion".

Indeed, this new abortion law elevates the elimination of the unborn child to a "legal good" as Pilar Zambrano, professor of Philosophy of Law at the University of California at Berkeley (USA), pointed out for Omnes a few weeks ago. University of Navarra.

The so-called "trans law

Likewise, the Subcommittee has pointed out the total ideologization of the legal norm manifested in the "Law for the real and effective equality of trans persons and for the guarantee of the rights of LGTBI persons" which imposes, in a unilateral manner, the theory queer in the Spanish judicial and health system "arbitrarily establishing and imposing a single anthropological conception". 

At this point, the bishops wanted to recall several key points that support the bishops' rejection of the imposition of this law:

- The testimonies of families, mothers, young people and adolescents who have suffered the consequences of this imposition of gender theory to whom the prelates have shown their "support and help"..

- The imposition of "a peculiar and reduced anthropological vision in all areas: education, law, health, labor, the media, culture, sports and leisure", which has increased in recent years from various government agencies.

- The lack of scientific rigor in the elaboration of these laws. As this note points out, "scientific studies agree that more than 70% of the children who ask to change their sex, when they pass adolescence, do not continue asking for the change". In this line, the bishops recall that "the depathologization of transsexuality is identified with favoring a medical intervention, but without medical criteria, but with subjective criteria of the patient. A subjectivization that "forces health personnel to obey the wishes of patients, even if this entails serious risks for the person". 

In addition, the new law "denies the possibility of psychosexual treatment and even the need to obtain a diagnosis of people with gender identity disorder, confusing the medical diagnosis with an attempt to annul the personality". Added to this are "the testimonies of people who have undergone reassignment and have not seen their situation resolved. It is also necessary to assess the treatments and explain the after-effects, side effects and complications of these treatments".

The position of the faithful

In addition to listing some of the main objectionable aspects of this norm, the bishops also wanted to outline the attitude of the Christian faithful towards people with gender dysphoria before which "the Christian community and, in particular, pastors must always develop feelings of welcome".

At the same time they have encouraged to "raise our voice strongly and denounce the use of premature and irreversible treatments even more when we are not sure of the existence of a real Gender Dysphoria. The medical actions carried out on minors, after careful reflection, should never be of an irreversible nature". 

At the same time, the bishops said that those who suffer from this type of gender dysphoria "are called by Jesus Christ to holiness and to carry out, animated by the Holy Spirit, the will of God in their lives, uniting to the sacrifice of the cross the sufferings and difficulties they may experience because of their condition" and have appealed to the respect of "freedom of conscience and science to all professionals in the various areas of social life without conditioning the professional performance in freedom" in the face of an indoctrination that conditions "the professional performance in the educational field, health, public service, judiciary, culture, media".

The imposition of laws that threaten human life at different stages led the Spanish Episcopal Conference to publish, last March, an doctrinal note on conscientious objection in which they seek to offer criteria and principles in the face of the problems that laws such as euthanasia or the new law on abortion pose for Catholics.

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United States

Stephen Siller, a Christian firefighter's moving story on 9/11

Jimmy Chart, a Spaniard who has been living in New York for the past year for work reasons, tells the story of Stephen Gerard Siller, a valuable testimony of dedication to others.

Jimmy Chart-October 10, 2022-Reading time: 2 minutes
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In early September, a co-worker sent an e-mail to my entire team encouraging us to participate in the NYC 5K Tunnel to Towers Race on September 25. This race of just over five kilometers, has become one of the most important events on the city's calendar, since it commemorates the 343 firefighters and all those who died in the 9/11 attack, and especially Stephen Siller. I tell you his story.

Firefighter Stephen Gerard Siller was born into a large Catholic family in Queens in 1966. He was the son of Mae and George Siller, and the youngest of seven siblings. At the age of eight, he lost his father, his mother also passing away a year and a half later. He was then raised by his six older siblings, joining the New York City Fire Department after finishing school. Stephen was a member of Brooklyn Squad N.1, one of the most recognized units in the force. 

The morning of 9/11

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Stephen had just finished a long night on call. At 8:46 a.m. on his way by car to a round of golf with his brothers, he received the alert on the "walkie talkie" he always carried with him. The alarm was raised that a plane had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. At that moment, Stephen called his wife Sally and asked her to inform his brothers that he would join their golf game later. He turned around and returned to the Squad 1 station to change and grab his equipment. 

When he arrived with the truck at the entrance to the Battery Tunnel (which connects Brooklyn to Manhattan), it was closed for security reasons. Determined to join his comrades in saving the many people who were trapped in the Twin Towers, he dressed in full firefighter's gear (weighing 27 kg) and ran the 5 km tunnel as fast as he could. He died that same day, aged 34. 

The Christian life of a normal person

Stephen had everything in his life: a wonderful wife, five children and many, many friends. Because his parents were very close to the Franciscan order, they taught him to live by the philosophy of St. Francis of Assisi. Stephen was very fond of the saint's saying "while we have time, let us do good". Stephen is certainly a great example of someone who gives his life for others.

A few days ago took place the race in his honor, which is run by people from all over the world. Many firefighters from all over the country travel to New York to run it in their uniforms. The course is full of flags and the atmosphere is spectacular. 

New Yorkers' annual commemoration of that fateful day also highlights stories of dedication such as Stephen's.

The authorJimmy Chart

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ColumnistsJosé María Calderón

The Pope, first missionary

October 10, 2022-Reading time: < 1 minute

On June 22nd, 400 years ago! Pope Gregory XV, by means of the bull Inscrutabili DivinaeThe Congregation is constituted by Propaganda Fide. With this Congregation, the Pope intended to put an end to the fact that the task of evangelization is entrusted to the European crowns. The Church, which has received the Lord's mandate to bring the Gospel to the whole world, must also be the one to organize the entire missionary task according to evangelical criteria. Paul VI, in 1967, changed its name to Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

And the Holy Father, Francis, last March 19, published the new structure of the Vatican Curia with the Constitution Praedicate EvangeliumThe Holy See's aim is to ensure that all its activities are imbued with the spirit of evangelization.

If, at the beginning of his pontificate, Francis dreamed of "with a missionary option capable of transforming everything, so that customs, styles, schedules, language and every ecclesial structure may become a suitable channel for the evangelization of today's world rather than for self-preservation." (EG 27), with this Constitution he wants to achieve it.

Yes, with all these proposals the Popes wanted to emphasize that the task of Evangelization is the fundamental requirement of the Church and that they, as successors of Peter, are the first to be responsible for ensuring that this attitude is lived.

Francis has affirmed this several times. In fact, there are two things that are truly significant: the new Dicastery for Evangelization is the first proposed of all the departments that make up the Curia, and... the Holy Father assumes its presidency! These are two clear and concrete signs of the missionary spirit of Pope Francis and of his desire that everything should have the imprint of the mission, and from here... we are grateful for it!

The authorJosé María Calderón

Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Spain.

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Evangelization

By land, by air or by sea; the "frontier" mission of the Scalabrinian missionaries

Today, Sunday, October 9, Pope Francis proclaimed John Baptist Scalabrini, the father of migrants, a saint, as John Paul II called him. He is a 19th century Italian bishop, founder of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo, also known as the "Scalabrinians".

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On August 27, at the end of the Consistory for the creation of new cardinals, Pope Francis announced that on October 9 he would proclaim two saints: an Argentinean, Artemide Zatti, and the Italian bishop John Baptist Scalabrini, founder of the International Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles, commonly known as the "Scalabrinians". The specific mission of these missionaries is to provide spiritual support to people in need. migrants and refugees as well as to assist them in the protection of their civil, political and economic rights, and in their social integration in the countries of destination.

The prophet bishop

John Baptist Scalabrini was a man of vision. In addition to his mission as bishop of the diocese of Piacenza, the Italian bishop looked beyond even the borders of his homeland. Italy was going through difficult times and this caused many Italians to leave for other countries. The Bishop of Piacenza suffered from this phenomenon and, with the desire that these people would keep their faith alive and be welcomed in the most dignified way possible, in 1887 he founded the congregation that bears his name and began to send missionaries where Italian immigrants who had had to leave their homeland in search of a chance for the future were to be found.

In the first of the Scalabrinian missions, seven priests and three lay brothers of the Congregation were sent to New York and Brazil in the summer of 1888. The work spread rapidly among the Italian communities in the United States and Brazil. Churches, schools and missionary homes were established in those communities, where Italian customs and traditions were preserved. In 1969, the Scalabrinians began to carry out missions among immigrants other than Italians.

The Scalabrinian Missionaries are also known as "Missionaries of St. Charles", a name chosen in honor of St. Charles Borromeo, considered one of the bastions of the Catholic reform in Italy in the 16th century. The "Scalabrinian family" is made up of three branches: on the one hand, the Missionary Brothers of St. Charles and the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles, and on the other, the Secular Missionary Sisters, consecrated lay women who, inspired by the teachings of John Baptist Scalabrini, followed the example and the steps of the Scalabrinian missionaries.

The help that is currently provided all over the world is of various kinds: health, family, social, economic; but it is not a distant support, providing a job, money, medicines, etc., but a fraternal help, from brother to brother. The Scalabrinian missionaries "become immigrants with the immigrants". It is, in fact, what is proper to their charism: it is the way they have of bringing God to others and of "seeing" God in others. 

Frontier" church

What is certain is that, seen with the eyes of the present, Bishop Scalabrini was a man ahead of his time, having seen, with a mother's gaze (the gaze of the Church that sees the faith and integrity of her children in danger), a reality that continues to exist today and to which due attention is not always paid.

It is not for nothing that Pope Francis has repeatedly reminded us that migrants and refugees should not be seen as "destroyers or invaders". Quite the contrary: the Pope, in the message for Migrants and Refugees Day of last September 25, reminds us that "the contribution of migrants and refugees has been fundamental to the social and economic growth of our societies. And it continues to be so today. 

In this way, the "Church on the move" so often mentioned by Pope Francis, for the Scalabrinian missionaries could be called, rather, a "frontier" Church because it is there where they carry out most of their work. With a presence in 33 countries around the world, the Scalabrinians seek to "make those who have had to leave their countries of origin and have to start from scratch, often with only the clothes on their backs, feel at home". Thus, the missionaries of this congregation go to ports, ships, airports, etc., to help and accompany so many people who arrive in search of a better future. But they do not limit themselves to an initial reception, but also help them in the countries of destination and provide them with the basics in their houses of welcome, orphanages, small places for elderly immigrants, etc. 

Making the world the homeland of the human being

Giulia Civitelli, Italian and a doctor at the Polyambulatory of the Diocesan Caritas of Rome, helps foreigners without residence permits and people in situations of social exclusion. She is one of the secular missionaries who followed in the footsteps of Bishop Scalabrini and, in addition to her profession, is dedicated to the formation of young migrants and refugees. 

"The key word is 'welcome', a look into each other's eyes, an attempt to talk even if often we don't speak the same language, and that's precisely where this fraternal encounter comes from," he explains to Omnes. 

Giulia is one of the missionaries who often travel to Switzerland to help in the formation of young people. From those times, she especially remembers the story of an Afghan refugee, Samad Quayumi, who had to flee his country because of the war: 

"He was an engineer by training but eventually ended up as minister of education in Afghanistan. He arrived in Switzerland more than 20 years ago with his wife and two of his three children when he had to flee because of the first arrival of the Taliban in the country. In the first 7 years, waiting for the residence permit, his life changed radically: from being education minister, he became almost invisible, so to speak. With the residence permit he was able to start working and he did so as a janitor in the house where he lived. 

Somewhat later he specialized in armor restoration. He taught himself this work because he wanted to work at all costs and, so much was his determination, that he became one of the best known armor restorers in the country. When I met him, he was still very interested in the training of young people, so he started to come to meetings that we organized with young people. By sharing his story with the young people, he made many of them reflect on his life, on what it means to value every moment, even the hard moments, like fleeing from a country at war, or on what faith and hope are, because he also raised questions about their faith in the young people. He was a Muslim, but he had great affection and respect for the Catholic religion.

The canonization of Bishop Scalabrini, together with the Argentinean Artemide Zatti, is good news not only for all Scalabrinians, or for migrants and refugees, but for the whole Church. John Baptist Scalabrini's maternal gaze towards refugees and immigrants marks a path to follow. If the Popes, throughout the history of the Church, have proclaimed many men and women of all times as saints, it has been to present them as references before the People of God, and why not, before the world.

The authorLeticia Sánchez de León

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Family

Initiatives and books on marriage and the family

Learning to know human nature is essential for the success of married life. For that we need a continuous formation.

Leticia Rodriguez-October 9, 2022-Reading time: 3 minutes

In 1981 the divorce law was passed in Spain, which established certain causes for which people could get divorced. 24 years later would come what we know as express divorce lawAccording to the law, it is not necessary to allege any cause. As we have heard and read on countless occasions, it is easier to get divorced than to unsubscribe from the cell phone line. Nowadays many people accept without blinking realities such as sex without love, pornography or even polyamory. Nowadays, loving a person for the rest of our lives is not an easy task, because, otherwise, we would not be talking about the current divorce rate in Spain (60 %). 

There is one issue in which I believe we have made giant strides in recent decades. Men contribute much more than before in the family sphere and women do the same in the work sphere. This is a great richness that we must continue to improve. 

Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia says that, up to now, we Christians have often shown little capacity to show ways of happiness. I believe that we Christians are called to set a good example. Example of unconditional love. Example of imperfect families that sometimes we do things wrong but we do not lose the illusion of doing them well and we try to put means to achieve it. 

Christians have two means of struggle in this life, the natural and the supernatural. And we have to use both. The supernatural ones are prayer and the Sacraments. The natural ones, in this area, are those that consist in taking advantage of the wisdom of people who have studied marriage and the family deeply and extensively and who have wonderful advice to make the path much easier for us. An example of this is to take advantage of the content of the digital Congress. Love talkson sexuality and affectivity.

Among the books I recommend are The 7 principles of marriages that work by John Gotmann. Spectacular the distinction he makes between perpetual and solvable problems in couples. What a great study he did and how much it can help us in our day to day lives. 

Another is The 5 love languagesby Gary Chapman, which talks about how the secret to a love that lasts is in speaking our partner's emotional language rather than our own. There are five languages that express love: words of affirmation, physical contact, gifts, acts of service and quality time. We all find it very easy to speak our own love languages, but not so easy to speak the love languages of others. It is important to identify as early as possible our love languages and those of our partner in order to act accordingly. 

People are kind of emotional vessels. There are people who have their emotional vessel full because they have felt loved on a regular basis. There are people who have an empty emotional tank because they have been greatly lacking in this regard. If we make sure we keep our emotional tanks full, surely this task to which we committed ourselves on the day of our "I do" will be much more bearable.

Sometimes children will be fortunate enough to witness the reciprocal (though never perfect) love of their mother and father. Other times the children will learn unconditional love from an abandoned spouse who forgives, from a spouse who for long periods of time has to love the other even though the other apparently does not deserve it. Often what transforms us is the fact of feeling loved when we do not really feel, or are not, worthy of that love.

I have been working for the IFFD for 20 years (International Federation for Family Development). It is a marvel what IFFD has done since its predecessor was constituted in '78. We are now in 70 countries and have general consultative status at the United Nations. We primarily use the case methodology, which helps people to identify facts (as opposed to opinions), diagnose problems and be very creative in finding solutions. We will continue to work with enthusiasm and effort to design new dynamics that help to discover the beauty of family life.

The best gift we can give our children is our love. When one of us fails in our promise, we still have the opportunity to remain faithful to our promise, forgiving the other and making our children witnesses to that forgiveness. We are called to love each other. We are capable of loving each other. We are worth loving.

The authorLeticia Rodriguez

Director of IFFD Family Enrichment.

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The Vatican

Mass for the Anniversary of Vatican Council II

Rome Reports-October 8, 2022-Reading time: < 1 minute
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Pope Francis celebrated Mass on the 60th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. During the celebration, the opening speech of John XXIII was recalled. The pontiff asked not to be discouraged by those who claimed that the Church was worse than ever without remembering the problems that surrounded other councils of the past.

AhNow you can enjoy a 20% discount on your subscription to Rome Reports Premiumthe international news agency specializing in the activities of the Pope and the Vatican.
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Culture

Henryk Sienkiewicz, the forging of a distinguished writer

The author reviews the first part of the life of the Polish-born Nobel laureate in this first article, followed by a second part on his best-known works and the end of his life.

Ignacy Soler-October 8, 2022-Reading time: 9 minutes

"Petroniusz obudził się zaledwie koło południa i jak zwykle, zmęczony bardzo". Thus begins Quo vadis. Words absolutely incomprehensible to the ignorant of the language of Henryk Sienkiewicz, as are totally indecipherable for those who ignore the language of Cervantes the words that any Spanish speaker recognizes immediately: "In a place of La Mancha, whose name I do not want to remember, not long ago there lived a nobleman of those with a lance in a shipyard, old adarga, skinny rocín and greyhound runner". But in these texts there are two words intelligible to the ignorant: Petroniusz and La Mancha.

Undoubtedly, languages divide and form ways of thinking and communicating. The beauty of literature and of the novel is related to the ways of expressing oneself. That is why the Italians rightly say that traduttore-traditoreIs it possible to read Don Quixote in Polish? Is it possible to read Pan Tadeusz o Quo vadis in Spanish? The answer is affirmative because there is something common that unites all languages: the comprehensibility of reality and of the human being. However, it is necessary to add that their comprehension and beauty is limited by their translation-interpretation. In fact, every masterpiece of literature and thought should be read in the language written in its original, because every literary work is the fruit of a thought rooted in a language, culture and history. Let's take a look at the literary and historical cultural background in which Sienkiewicz lives.

Novelist, journalist, columnist and scholar. He is the first Polish winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, admired by generations of his compatriots for awakening a sense of national community and patriotic spirit. He was born on May 5, 1846 in Wola Okrzejska, in the so-called Polish countryside halfway between Warsaw and Lublin, in the Podlaskie region of northeastern Poland, and died on November 15, 1916 in Vevey, Switzerland.

At the time of Henryk Sienkiewicz's birth, Kierkegard was writing his work Deadly disease with the analysis of the nature of existential anguish and the act of faith as something terrifying, a non-rational leap to reach a passionate, total and personal commitment to God. Auguste Comte finished his Positive philosophy courserejecting all theology and metaphysics to affirm that only positive science is capable of giving order and progress to the human being. Ernest Renan began the path of the search for the historical Jesus, without faith in his divinity, which would end up in his work Life of Jesus. The second half of the 19th century is a time of skepticism and doubts about the old faith, and in Poland it is a time of penance in expectation of a new birth.

It is not possible to understand Sienkiewicz and his Polish national trilogy - it is not possible to understand Sienkiewicz and his Polish national trilogy. With blood and fire, The Flood, A Polish hero -without briefly explaining some history of that country. The Republic of the Two Nations (Poland and Lithuania) disappeared from the political map when it was definitively divided between Russia, Prussia and Austria between 1772 and 1795.

The whole 19th century is a struggle for the Polish national identity to acquire its own state, its political independence, especially from Russia. That is why it is necessary to mention the two uprisings in armed struggle: the November Survey (1830-1831) and the January Survey (1863-1864). Both ended with the defeat of the Poles by the Russians, with huge deportations of the population to Siberia and great suffering of the people. However, they served to keep alive the flame of hope for liberties, for the birth of a new state.

For all of his literary work, not only for his Quo vadisSienkiewicz was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1905. At the award ceremony, Sienkiewicz strongly emphasized his Polish origins.

To avoid repression by the Russian government he did not deliver his speech at the official award ceremony. However, three days later, in the presence of the King of Sweden and other writers he expressed his thoughts in Latin with these words: "All the nations of the world try to get prestigious prizes for their poets and writers. This great Areopagus which awards its prize in the presence of the monarch who presents it, is a coronation not only of the poet but at the same time of the whole nation of which that person is a son. At the same time it confirms that that nation takes part in this event, that it bears fruit and that it is necessary for the good of all mankind. This honor, important for everyone, is even more so for a son of Poland. It has been proclaimed that Poland is dead, but we have here one among a thousand reasons to affirm that she lives. It has been said that she is incapable of thinking and working, and here is the proof that she acts. It has been claimed that she is defeated, but now we have new evidence of her victory".

Origins

Henryk came from a family of impoverished noble landowners descended from the Tatars who settled in Lithuania. His parents were educated nobles with glorious ancestors who fought in the various uprisings for Polish independence.

From 1858 he began to study at different secondary schools in Warsaw, living in boarding houses. The family's difficult economic situation meant that he had to earn his living from a very young age as a tutor, giving private lessons. Here we have one of the fundamental traits of Sienkiewicz's personality: he was a tireless worker, always on the road, always busy, with great social initiative.

Already in his early youth he was interested in history and literature, starting to write and winning a national prize for literature at the age of 18. The authors who influenced him most at that time and forever left a trace in his writings were Homer, Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki, Walter Scott and Aleksander Dumas. He received the highest grades in humanities and did not pay much attention to other subjects.

After obtaining his secondary school certificate in 1866, in accordance with his parents' wishes, he enrolled in the medical department of the Main School in Warsaw. However, he quickly switched to law and in the end chose philology and history, thanks to which he became thoroughly acquainted with ancient Polish literature and language.

Interestingly, in the same year and School began their studies Bolesław Prus and Aleksander Świętochowski. The latter recalled his university studies in an article published in. Prawda in 1884, when Sienkiewicz was already famous: "There was a student in the small group of the Faculty of History and Philology, who did not bode any great talent and lived completely outside this circle of choice. I remember, once walking with him in the street, I was amazed by his ability to recognize coats of arms on aristocratic buildings and carriages, and his considerable knowledge about the history of noble families. Slender, sickly. He took little part in student life and kept aloof. He attracted so little attention from his colleagues that when, after graduating from the university, Kotarbiński assured us that Sienkiewicz had written a beautiful novel In vainWe laughed heartily and did not attach any importance to the fact".

In 1869, while still a student, he began to publish articles of literary and social criticism in the weekly newspaper Przegląd TygodniowyIn the following years he established himself in the Warsaw press as a talented reporter and columnist. In 1873 he collaborated with the conservative publication Gazeta Polska. His insightful columns appeared in the cycles Untitled (1873) y Present moment (1875) under the pseudonym Litwos. He is present in the cultural salons of Warsaw, especially in the circle of the theater actor of Shakespeare's plays, Helena Modrzejewska. This was then the best known Polish actor, who later acquired American citizenship and also a well-deserved fame as a theatrical actor, performing Shakespeare plays but this time in English.

During this time he met Maria Kellerówna, from a wealthy and noble Warsaw family, the first of the five "Marias in his life". The understanding of Sienkiewicz's work is linked not only to his national roots, especially in Polish literature and history, but also to his passionate love for women, as well as to his roots in Catholic thought and tradition. In many of his works, autobiographical traits are constantly visible.

His first great love was Maria Kellerówna. These two young people loved each other madly. They were already engaged but when they asked the bride's parents for her hand, they refused and broke off the engagement, worried about their daughter's financial future. Henryk was not rich enough, not a good enough match. The young Kellerówna, deeply in love with Henryk, suffered greatly, could never forget him and never married.

Travel

Sienkiewicz also lived it painfully, rejected and humiliated, he had nowhere to turn his heart. Fortunately a trip with his friends from the theatrical culture and Helena Modrzejewska to America appeared on the horizon. Sienkiewicz got a contract as an editor of the magazine Gazeta Polska of his travel stories across the ocean. The two-year trip to North America (1876/1878) - the first Robinsons dream come true - had a great impact on the writer's work and the solidification of his personality.

Sienkiewicz with his friends attempted to create a cultural farming community in California and established their American "headquarters" in Anaheim, a city in Orange Country, not far from Los Angeles. It was a tiny town, surrounded by farmland. It was there that the whole troupe of Polish beauties, headed by Helena Modrzejewska, arrived.

Attempts to cultivate the estate did not last long and ended almost bankrupt, which was to be expected, but somehow our romantic travelers did not think of that before. And although his entire stay in Anaheim lasted less than a year, the grateful town later erected a monument to the great Polish artist.

The project collapsed, which turned to Helena Modrzejewska's advantage as she had to return to the stage. Her performances were warmly received by American audiences, and Sienkiewicz meticulously reported in correspondence for the national press on the phenomenal success of the Polish actress in her artistic turns.

It was during this biannual American sojourn that Sienkiewicz acquired a characteristic characteristic of his writing. He always wrote on the road, on a journey, without stopping. His future literary works, as Dumas did in France, were periodically published in chapters in the Polish press. He spent more than 17 years traveling outside Poland and writing.

The company's Letters from a trip to America (1876 -1879) that carried with them a contemporary account of American life with its achievements and threats. With a sense of detail and not without humor, Sienkiewicz recounted the mores of the America of that time. In his eyes, however, America's technological and civilizational drive did not justify the deep social contrasts.

The writer expressed it in his texts condemning especially and energetically the extermination of the Indians. I am reading this book these days and as a sample button I translate a small text of one of those letters, which has made me especially funny. We are in the year 1877.

"In Southern California without Spanish you do nothing. In addition, I was encouraged to study this language by dealing with different 'señoritas' with whom I began to speak in their native language. Señorita America and Señorita Sol helped me with a lot of enthusiasm and thanks to them I have made admirable progress. They also gave me a French-Spanish dictionary, so I didn't need anything else. Nor did I lack the desire, because I loved this language, which I consider one of the most beautiful in the world of languages. Each word has a sound like silver, each letter vibrates with its own melody, so manly, so noble and musical that it easily remains engraved in the memory, attracted by the words as a magnet attracts iron. He who has gone through all the difficulties of English, bending the tongue like a distaff, pronouncing sounds without any identity, and now begins with Spanish, it seems to him to pass through brambles and thorns, to find himself suddenly in a garden full of flowers. I know of no language easier to pronounce and to learn".

Publications and stories

Sienkiewicz did not limit himself to publishing in the Polish press from America. On September 8, 1877, he published the article Poland and Russia in the California newspaper Daily Evening Post. In it, he condemned the deceitful policy of the Russian authorities, who acted as defenders of the Slavs in the Balkans, at the same time that they persecuted the Poles in the territory of Poland. In 1878 he returned to Europe. He stayed in London and then in Paris for a year. He also visited Italy.

After returning to Poland in 1879 and traveling to Lviv he meets Maria Szetkiewiczówna and falls in love. Learning that her family was going to Venice, he followed them. After the engagement period, on August 18, 1881, Maria and Henryk were married in the Church of the Congregation of the Canonical Sisters in Theater Square in Warsaw. They had two children Henryk Józef and Jadwiga Maria. The wife, ill with tuberculosis, died in 1885.

Already as a bride and groom in 1880 Henryk continuously accompanied his beloved and sought for her the best places in Europe for her medical treatment. After the death of his beloved wife, he continued to travel with his children to Austrian, Italian and French spas.

Continuously on the road, he writes tirelessly from every corner where he finds himself. In 1886 he travels via Bucharest to Constantinople and Athens, then to Naples and Rome. In 1888 he was in Spain. From this trip he wrote his book BullfightingThe book, which has recently been translated into Spanish, was published. At the end of 1890, he left on a hunting expedition to Zanzibar, and publishes his Letters from Africa. Of the Polish cities, he especially liked Zakopane, although he constantly complained about the overly rainy climate of the Tatras.

Sienkiewicz began his literary work with short stories, he wrote more than forty. He liked the humorous way of telling stories, describing what he saw as if it were a diary. In addition to many specific facts of the time, there is a patriotic note in them, which will be a specific feature of all Sienkiewicz's work.

Humorous works are characterized by rhetoric and didacticism, but contain grotesque elements, revealing the satirical talent of the writer. It is also seen in the later prose, especially in Szkice węglem - Charcoal sketches (1877), where the grotesque and caricatured contrasts with the tragic meaning of the story about the extermination of a peasant family, by the nobility and the clergy, together with the tsarist and municipal officials. The fate of the peasants, confused and helpless, treated as cannon fodder by the armies of the divisive powers, is an important theme for Sienkiewicz. In the story Bartek Zwycięzca - Bartek the winner (1882) accuses the Polish elites of betraying national interests and describes the plight of a peasant facing the Prussians. The tragic fate of peasant emigration in America was sketched in his essay Za chlebem – For bread (1880). Included in these masterpieces is an excellent study of patriotic sentiments. Latarnik – The lighthouse keeper (1881).

Sienkiewicz's stories were an eloquent testimony to the vivacity with which he reacted to matters that touched public opinion, and at the same time demonstrated a profound knowledge of human psychology.

He had a keen sense of the nature of the fairy tale, was able to dramatically summarize a real-life situation, explain it by saturating it with tension, and end it with an unexpected ending. With his prolific works, he contributed significantly to the magnificent flowering of the Polish short story at the end of the 19th century and created a large collection of widely read classic tales.

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Manuel Lucena: "The Laws of the Indies, a monument to Christian humanitarianism".

"The Spanish empire spread the Christian religion and developed human rights and international law," Manuel Lucena Giraldo, researcher and academic, who directs the Chair of Spanish and Hispanic Studies at the Universities of Madrid, explains to Omnes. Lucena defends professional history against populist visions.

Francisco Otamendi-October 8, 2022-Reading time: 9 minutes
RelatedRelated NewsRodrigo GuerraOnly what is assumed is redeemed".Related NewsEvangelization of the Americas: to give thanks, ask for forgiveness and help for the future

A few weeks ago, Omnes interviewed the Mexican Rodrigo GuerraSecretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, who had participated as a speaker at the First International Hispano-American Congress organized by the UNIR and UFV universities. Today we offer a twist on the theme of history and Hispanicity, a subject of growing demand and scope, in a conversation with the academic and researcher of the Institute of History of the CSIC, Manuel Lucena, director since May of this year of the Chair of Spanish and Hispanicity of the Universities of Madrid, which has the honorary presidency of Mario Vargas Llosa.

The discovery of America, which had no name in 1492 -it appears in 1507-, has to do with the fact that "the American continent reconnects with the great nucleus of common Eurasian global civilization, in the first place," the historian assures. And then, "with Spanish cultural and political action founding cities, spreading the Christian religion, in the name of a humanitarian providentialism, developing human rights and also international law.

On the other hand, Manuel Lucena specifies that, in his opinion, "the drama of the American Indians comes mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries, which is when they were exterminated by the political entities that became independent from Spain after 1820. The problem is the contemporary indigenous people, not the indigenous people of the past". We started talking about the professorship, and then we talked about America.

What are the fundamental tasks of your Chair of Spanish and Hispanic Studies?

- It postulates an institutional presence of the Autonomous Community of Madrid in matters of the prospective of Spanish as a global language, and of Hispanidad as a concept that articulates a community of speakers with many things in common, and differences also from the cultural point of view. The chair is being set up.

Around 600 million people speak Spanish in the world, 7.6 % of the world's population, according to the Instituto Cervantes. How do you assess this fact?

- It can be summarized in Spanish as the second global language. The first language spoken, in terms of speakers, is of course Chinese, as a specific language of a given community. The first global language is English, but the second global language is Spanish, and this is because there are cultures in Spanish, in the plural, Hispanic cultures, if you want to use the term -I feel very comfortable with it-, and that is equivalent to 600 million people.

Fernando Rodríguez Lafuente, who was the director of the Cervantes InstituteThe Spanish language is the oil we have, the oil of Spain. In this sense, the valuation of the fact has to do with the fact that beyond the borders of Spain, there are the borders of Spanish. And the frontiers are global, they are in all the continents, they are part of the most dynamic movements in innovation and in the construction of the future of the world, and for that reason we have to feel very proud on the one hand. So the assessment can only be very positive.

A historian commented in Omnes that "anachronism is lethal in judging history. Today we are sorely tempted to judge what happened in history by 21st century criteria." Any comments?

- I agree that every good historian, I would say any person, has the obligation to be on guard against judging the past under the parameters of the present. In the case of historians in particular, there is a difficult fit with the study of the past, which forces you to live in it, to recreate it, to think about its values, its styles, its languages, and at the same time you have to tell it to your contemporaries.

I was reminded the other day of Benedetto Croce, when he said that all history is contemporary history.

I agree with the statement that anachronism is lethal, to judge history, but we also have to address our contemporaries. And be able to explain to them that human experience, history, has elements of truth, that truth in history exists, this is not relativism. And the truth of history is the truth of the historian, in that sense. Therefore, I share this criterion, and I would simply add that we should not be afraid to say that the truth of history exists, and that we can get as close to it as possible, although it is obvious that we have to take this principle of anachronism very much into account.

You talk about the truth of the story.

- The life of history is the life of the historian, says an old master. But at the same time, we have to be able to address, to disseminate, to tell, to respond to the demands of the past that the present has, and to distinguish very well history as non-fiction writing, from invention.

History, political science, sociology, economics, respond to non-fiction writings, to narratives that tell the truth, the truth that we have been able to rescue, from the point of view of scientific sources, passed through the filter of source criticism. Because the past is also full of lies, as is the present. Disinformation is not an invention of now.

But of course we have to tell it. And for that I think it is essential to tell things well, to make history an attractive discipline, to get as close as possible to our audiences. Always pointing out that there is a contract here. And the contract is that I am going to tell them the truth of what I have discovered as a historian, the truth of history. The audiences for history are very important and growing. The demand for historical knowledge is very interesting, and it is not covered by any supposedly historical novel, any invention, or any lie from the past. History exists as the study of truth. We cannot give up telling the truth of the past, the truth of the present, and the truth of the future.

With this anachronism I do not wish to cover up anything. To give an example, the assassination of Caesar. Or Cain, who killed his brother Abel, according to the Bible.

̶ My teacher John Elliot pointed out that the historian's job was to illuminate the options of freedom. He was a great humanist. He was telling us that, in effect, I go to history, and a magnicide like the death of Caesar, almost our first political magnicide in the West, of which we remember ̶ there are many others, of course, before and after ̶ , there is a fact there that is a political assassination, which those of disinformation try to justify, as a result of reaction to tyranny, etc. etc. etc.

There is the work of history. And it finds sources that say: this is an assassination, this is a crime; and sources that say: this is justified because Caesar was a tyrant, and there is a moral right to eliminate tyrants. The fascinating thing about the historian's and history's approach to that fact, or to any other, would be: we illuminate the complexities in the decisions of human beings.

The work of the historian is hard, difficult, and very sacrificing, and you have to spend many hours in the library and archives, searching for sources, and recovering the perspective on the past. It is important to tell it, and telling it to young people today is fundamental.

Let's go to a concrete event. For some years now, some American leaders have criticized the colonization of America by Spaniards, among them the Mexican president. On the other hand, Popes such as St. John Paul II and Francis have asked for forgiveness for the errors committed, even "crimes". How do you see this task of the Spaniards in America?

- By the way, the grandfather of the Mexican president was from Santander... To get to the point, we are in different business, history and political propaganda, understanding history as professional history, not the history of propagandists. Professional history gets along badly with populist visions that do not obey the reality of the past, and that would not be sustainable under the point of view of the professional historian.

The first political entity in the history of the world is the Spanish, Catholic, universal monarchy. Because the monarchy of Philip II, and of Philip III and Philip IV, Spanish-Portuguese, was the first political entity in the history of mankind, which definitively integrated possessions, in this sense territories on equal terms, in America, in Asia, in Africa and in Europe. It was that pioneering character of the Spanish empire, which lasted three centuries. It is difficult to explain in terms of continuity, I would put it this way. The Spanish empire, the viceroyalty of the new Spain has lasted even longer than the Mexican Republic, which has just completed two hundred years.

Nationalism as a way of building a political community -the nation is older than nationalism, this is very important to bear in mind as well-, is articulated in a construction of political economies of resentment, of the abandonment of responsibilities, of victimhood. In the last two centuries, every political nation has based its nationalism on someone to be hated, someone to be blamed for what we are unable to solve by ourselves.

Continue...

- Whoever is susceptible to listen to these doctrines of hatred of populism, to each his own with what he wants to assume. In this case, of course, it must be said no. The discovery of America, which did not have a name in 1492 -the name appears in 1507-, has to do with the fact that the American continent reconnects with the great nucleus of common Eurasian global civilization, in the first place; and secondly, it has to do with the fact that the action of the Spanish empire, the Spanish cultural and political action founds cities, spreads the Christian religion, is done in the name of a humanitarian providentialism, develops human rights, and develops international law.

All of this came long before Mexico existed as an independent political entity. If there are Mexicans today who want to renounce an essential part of their past and of their political and cultural exemplarity, that is up to each one of us. I know Mexico quite well, I admire it deeply, and it has an enormous political and cultural stature in the era of globalization, fundamentally thanks to its Spanish stage, its Hispanic stage. Mexico was the capital of the Spanish empire. Mexico was at the center of the global political entity that was the Spanish empire.

And the terms?

As for the use of these terms, of native or pre-Columbian peoples, I believe that any scholar of globalization knows that we all come from somewhere else. There are no original peoples, native peoples, that does not give you a differentiated political entity that obliges the rest of us to recognize a priority or superiority for them. This of course does not mean that we do not recognize the drama of the American Indians, which above all comes from the 19th and 20th centuries, which is when they were exterminated by the political entities that became independent from Spain after 1820; this is the problem. The problem is the contemporary indigenous people, not the indigenous people of the past.

As a Spaniard today, we have to have all the tranquility in this regard. There is a political entity that disappears in 1825, which was called the Spanish empire, the Spanish monarchy, which is divided into 22 pieces. One is the European Spain, the current Spain in which we are, and there are 21 other pieces, which are called the current Latin American republics, and each one can adjust to the past as they wish. There are people there who are working and working in a very positive way, integrating themselves into globalization from the Hispanic heritage, without rejecting it, without denying it, but on the contrary, integrating it.

The Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, Rodrigo Guerra, told Omnes that "experience shows that the good news of the Gospel, lived in communion, is a source of renewed humanity and true development.

- I really like a book written by a late American historian, Lewis Hanke, entitled 'The Struggle for Justice in the Conquest of America'. He describes very well how the great problem of the Spaniards in the 16th century was to understand those other humanities, that number of origins, the people who were there, who to begin with had to be told what legal status they were going to have, whether they were subjects of Her Majesty or not. Isabella the Catholic solved it in her will of 1504 when she said that all the natives of the new lands were disciples of the Crown of Castile, and that was it, it was over.

The whole 16th century is the debate in terms of rights. We are talking about the birth of human rights and international law. It was a difficult and complicated debate, in which some accepted it, others did not. The fundamental thing is that the Crown accepted this debate, sponsored it, suspended the conquests, and in the end normalized the situation in colonization. The Laws of the Indies are a monument to Christian humanitarianism. If you do not accept this simple principle, you should read the Laws of the Indies. [NoteThe Laws of the Indies are the compilation put into effect by King Charles II of Spain in 1680 of the special legislation dictated by Spain for the government of its overseas territories for almost two centuries].

A musical about the birth of mestizaje, Malinche, was recently released. A few words about miscegenation...

- The voyage of Magellan and Elcano, which ended five centuries ago, forced the human beings of this planet that the earth is one, from the geographical point of view, isn't it? But the other debate that they opened, and they also saw it, is that humanity is one, isn't it? Miscegenation is the supervening scenario in which, from the very first moment, from 1492, when Columbus and his companions arrive in the Bahamas, and they think they are in Asia, miscegenation is the result of a global humanity, it is the mirror of global humanity. And of course it is a fact of absolute value. The mestizo being is the human being in a global world.

Miscegenation is not only ethnic, it is cultural, emotional, biological of course, a product of capital, of technologies. Miscegenation is what has brought us here. We are the result of miscegenation, of that eagerness to know the other, to know who he is and what he wants to tell. And also to project values to them, but that other also projects them to you.

In that sense, to think of the global world is to think of miscegenation, to claim it as a solution, as a scenario from which we come. The Spanish Monarchy was global, multiethnic, polycentric, we told it in THIRTEEN one of these days, when talking about a book, 'Conversation with a mestizo of the new Spain', by the French historian Serge Gruzinski.

We conclude by talking with the academic Manuel Lucena about the expression 'Black Legend', which arose in 1910 from a person of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Julian Juderias, who won a contest of the Royal Academy of History. Regarding the Black Legend, "neither self-conscious nor excessive. What we have to do is to study the history of Spain, read it, love it. Spanish-speaking cultures have a lot to say".

The authorFrancisco Otamendi

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RelatedRelated NewsRodrigo GuerraOnly what is assumed is redeemed".Related NewsEvangelization of the Americas: to give thanks, ask for forgiveness and help for the future
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The urgency of the mission

The Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid takes stock of the recent extraordinary consistory he attended and points out the keys to the Christian commitment demanded by today's society: to renew the missionary sense to bring the Good News in all environments.

Carlos Osoro Sierra-October 8, 2022-Reading time: 3 minutes

At the end of last August, I took part in a meeting in Rome for consistory extraordinary meeting convened by the Pope to speak about the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium. With this precious and highly recommended text, the Roman Curia reform concludes and reminds each of us believers that the Church "fulfills her mandate above all when she bears witness, in word and deed, to the mercy that she herself has freely received" (n. 1).

Although the meetings are behind closed doors, I can say that, for me, it was a gift to be able to share time and reflections on this mandate with the Successor of Peter and with the entire College of Cardinals, whose composition speaks precisely of the richness of our Church. Together we felt once again that the Lord is encouraging us to go on mission; we experienced how he encourages us and pushes us to bring the Good News to our contemporaries, wherever they are and in whatever conditions they find themselves.

As Francis has pointed out on numerous occasions during these years of his pontificate, Jesus himself sets us on a journey: "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to all creation" (Mk 16:15). Now, when the world is hit by so many conflicts and confrontations - from Ukraine to Ethiopia, passing through Armenia or Nicaragua - and many people - especially the most vulnerable - face the future with fear and uncertainty, it is more urgent than ever for Catholics to announce that Christ has conquered death and that pain cannot have the last word.

To emphasize the urgency of the mission, in my pastoral letter for the academic year that has just begun, entitled On mission: returning to the joy of the GospelI turn to the parable of the prodigal son or, better, of the merciful father. 

We Catholics cannot remain closed in; we cannot be complacent and self-referential, nor should we lose our capacity for surprise or gratitude as happened to the older son in the parable. We must reach out to the baptized who, like the younger son, left home and drifted away from God's love, while at the same time we must seek out those who do not know Jesus Christ or who reject him.

In this key, it is moving to reread what the father of the parable says: "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours, but it was necessary to celebrate a feast and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and we have found him." (Lk 15:31-32). In this father we see God, a God who loves us, a merciful God who has given us everything and who even allows us the freedom to leave. 

In the diocesan phase of the Synod in Madrid, the desire to live that God loves us and also to show it to our brothers and sisters, to those who have gone away and to those who never knew him, came out clearly. For this, first of all, in our archdiocese it became clear that it is necessary that each one of us believers take care of prayer and the encounter with God, that we try to live the Gospel with coherence and that we do it also in community. We cannot be desert islands or close ourselves up in our groups, but we must feel part of the Church on pilgrimage in the world.

Only in this way will we be able to address, in second place, the challenges of the Church itself that arose during this phase, such as the concept of authority and clericalism; the responsibility of the laity and the generation of spaces for participation; the role of youth and women; attention to family life; the care of celebrations, so that they are alive and profound; the appreciation of the plurality of charisms; formation in synodality and the social doctrine of the Church, and greater transparency.

This will lead us, thirdly, to be a Church that, without hiding the truth, is always in a necessary dialogue with society. And it will also lead us to be a Samaritan Church with open doors; a Church that leaves no one stranded on the road, that helps and accompanies those whom society has left on the margins - like so many people in vulnerable situations - and that welcomes those who may have felt rejected even by the Church itself.

In a catechesis on discernment at the general audience of September 28 - which I am rereading as I finish these lines - the Pope turned to his beloved St. Ignatius to ask for the grace of "to live a relationship of friendship with the Lord, as a friend speaks to a friend". According to him, he met "an elderly religious brother who was a school janitor."who, when he could, "He approached the chapel, looked at the altar, said: 'Hello', because he was close to Jesus. "He does not need to say: 'Blah, blah, blah', not: 'Hello, I am close to you and you are close to me'," Francis asserted, putting the focus on that "this is the relationship that we must have in prayer: closeness, affective closeness, as brothers, closeness with Jesus". May we all know how to maintain this relationship with the Lord in order to embark, with determination, on the exciting mission that has been entrusted to us.

The authorCarlos Osoro Sierra

Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid.

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The Vatican

Pope Francis, latest appeal for Ukraine

With his call for an end to the war in Ukraine on October 2, 2022, Pope Francis has drawn a clear dividing line and clarified his position on the war. A clarification that was probably necessary, after Pope Francis' words and stance have given rise to criticism in Ukraine itself.

Andrea Gagliarducci-October 7, 2022-Reading time: 5 minutes
RelatedRelated NewsPope harshly condemns situation in Ukraine: "Certain actions can never, ever be justified!"Related News"Ukraine suffers and deserves peace," says Pope on Day of Prayer

Pope Francis' October 2, 2022 speech was a very studied text, diplomatic and calibrated in every word, aimed precisely at highlighting the gravity of the situation. We do not know what prompted the Pope to make such an appeal, whether it was the new nuclear threat or the situation after the Russian annexations of Donetsk. Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, and Putin's speech, which has raised the specter of the nuclear threat.

However, we know that Pope Francis' words came at the culmination of a major diplomatic effort by the Holy See, which has worked tirelessly behind the scenes since the beginning of the conflict.

Speech of Pope Francis

Pope Francis chose to speak during the Angelus prayer. The appeal for an end to the war in Ukraine was made instead of the Gospel commentary that usually precedes the Angelus prayer. Only one other time had this happened: on September 1, 2013, when the Pope addressed the war in Syria and launched the day of prayer and fasting for peace on the following September 7.

The risk, in making this choice, was to give the Pope's speech a purely political-diplomatic connotation, without anchoring it in the Gospel, as all the Pope's speeches usually are. As has been said, this has only happened on one other occasion. It is a sign that the situation for the Pope is tragic.

In the speech, Pope Francis stressed that "certain actions can never be justified," and said that it is "distressing that the world is learning the geography of Ukraine through such names as Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol, Izium, Zaporizhzhia and other places, which have become places of indescribable suffering and fear." And what about the fact that mankind will again face the atomic threat? It is absurd."

Clearly, the Pope thus stigmatized the mass killings and evidence of torture found at these sites.

For this reason, Pope Francis first addressed the President of the Russian Federation "begging him to stop, also out of love for his people, this spiral of violence and death."

The Pope also appealed to the President of Ukraine to be "open to serious proposals for peace."

This is not a request to the Ukrainian president to accept the invasion. The important detail is that he be open to "serious" peace proposals. For the Holy See, "serious peace proposals" should be understood as peace proposals that do not touch the territorial integrity of Ukraine, that put an end to the trickle of war, that restore balance in the region. 

Dialogue with the Russian Federation

The Holy See has never ceased dialogue with the Russian Federation. Pope Francis has made it known on several occasions that he is willing to go to Moscow. On February 25, when the war had only just begun, he decided, in an unconventional way, to visit the Russian Federation's embassy in the Holy See, seeking a dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin, an open "window", as the Pope himself pointed out.

This "little window" was never opened. However, the dialogue remained constant. Cardinal Pietro Parolin had a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on March 8, 2022, and met with him on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, during the conversation Lavrov "would explain the reasons for the current crisis in relations between Russia and the West, resulting from NATO's 'crusade' to destroy Russia and divide the world." The Foreign Ministry also stressed that "the measures taken by our country are aimed at ensuring independence and security, as well as countering the hegemonic aspirations of the United States to control all global processes."

On that occasion, referendums were also discussed, which, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, "are the realization of the legitimate rights of the inhabitants of these territories to self-determination and to organize their lives according to their own civil, cultural and religious traditions."

Obviously, this is only the Russian version of the story. The Holy See has not made any official communication. However, it is known that it was Cardinal Parolin who requested the meeting.

The meeting revealed not only a complicated situation, but also the absolute difficulty (not to say impossibility) of involving the Russians in a peace negotiation. Hence, probably, the Angelus of Pope Francis nuanced in its details. As if he was aware that the Holy See cannot be a mediating force.

Mediation by the Holy See to end the war?

It cannot be because a mediation, in order to bear fruit, must be desired by both sides. However, at the moment, it does not seem that Russia is willing to mediate. Even a recent interview with Metropolitan Antonij, head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Relations, showed that Russia and the Holy See do not seem to be that close.

For the moment, relations between the Vatican and the Moscow Patriarchate are frozen," Antonij told the Russian news agency Interfax. For all the talk of an ecumenical relationship, this relationship also has political repercussions, especially in the way the Moscow Patriarchate is inextricably linked to the presidency of the Russian Federation.

These are very different times from those of June, when it was the Russian government agency Ria Novosti that broke the news that the Russian Federation supported the mediation of the Holy See in the resolution of the war in Ukraine. It did so by reporting the statements of Alexei Paramonov, head of the first European department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, who had noted, in a very significant change of tone, that "the Vatican leadership has repeatedly declared its readiness to render all possible assistance in bringing about peace and halting hostilities in Ukraine." These remarks are confirmed in practice. We maintain an open and trusting dialogue on a number of issues, primarily related to the humanitarian situation in Ukraine."

What has changed between June and today? First of all, the course of the war has changed, and therefore also the willingness to negotiate. And then, the commitment of the Holy See has changed. That, on the diplomatic level, always starts from an inescapable point: respect for Ukrainian territorial integrity.

Ukrainian territorial integrity

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican's "foreign minister," had called for "resisting the temptation to compromise Ukrainian territorial integrity" on the sidelines of a conference at the Pontifical Gregorian University on June 14.

Gallagher had visited Ukraine between May 18 and 21, and during that trip stressed that the Holy See "defends Ukrainian territorial integrity."

Obviously, for the Holy See a negotiated solution is necessary, not a military one.

As a Church, Gallagher said, "we must work for peace and also emphasize the ecumenical dimension." In addition, we must resist the temptation to compromise the territorial integrity of Ukraine. We must use this," that of territoriality, "as a principle of peace. Let us hope that we will soon be able to start negotiations for a peaceful future."

Pope Francis' gesture must therefore be understood in this diplomatic framework. The territorial integrity of Ukraine is not in question. Just as the Holy See's judgment on the war is not in question. Suffice it to consider that already in 2019, when the Pope summoned the Synod and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic bishops to Rome for an interdicasterial meeting, Cardinal Parolin called what was happening in Ukraine a "hybrid war."

With his statement, Pope Francis wanted to further clarify his position. Perhaps it is a belated clarification, in the face of several situations that have struck a sensitive Ukrainian public opinion: from the decision to have a Russian and a Ukrainian woman carry the cross in the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, a gesture seen as a pressure for reconciliation, to the prayer for the Russian intellectual Darya Dugina, launched without reference to the person, but linking the attack that caused her death to the war in Ukraine when it is still not known who put a bomb in her car.

In any case, the Pope has drawn a clear line, a point of no return. It may seem like a desperate attempt, a last appeal to Ukraine. But perhaps it is the beginning of a new diplomatic offensive by the Holy See, going on behind the scenes.

The authorAndrea Gagliarducci

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  • Pilar AriasRead more : "A campaign to attract subscribers must be accompanied by less 'aggressiveness' when passing the basket".
Integral ecology

Pilar AriasRead more : "A campaign to attract subscribers must be accompanied by less 'aggressiveness' when passing the basket".

We interviewed Pilar Arias, responsible for managing the direct debit subscriptions to make donations to the parishes in Madrid. She tells us the ins and outs of this way of obtaining income, which is becoming increasingly important for the support of parishes.

Diego Zalbidea-October 7, 2022-Reading time: 9 minutes
RelatedRelated News"With less money the Church has had and has to do many more things."Related News"The Church needs economic resources to achieve spiritual ones."Related NewsAid to the Church in Need breaks records in 2021, thanks to legacies

Born in Madrid 37 years ago, married and mother of three children aged 9, 6 and 4. Graduated in Law and Business Administration from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. From 2009 to 2011 she worked in the financial planning and analysis department of Kraft Foods, today Mondelez International Inc, company that produces Chips Ahoy, Oreo or Trident chewing gum. From then until 2016 she did so in the Economic-Financial Analysis and Budgetary Control Department of CLH (today's Exolum). In that year she was appointed to the position she currently holds, Deputy Director of Diocesan Administration of the Archbishopric of Madrid.

How many families prefer periodical subscriptions to help the Church in Madrid?

Many. More than 23,000 families have a subscription in favor of their parish in Madrid. However, we still have a large part of the population that is not aware of the advantages that this form of collaboration has, both for them and for the parish with which they collaborate. 

We detect that many people, when talking about accounts at the parish level, about resources needed or used, about deductions, of income tax returnsThey are disconnected because the topics are difficult to understand. We have to generate a very simple language for this group.

There is also a percentage of people who "have always put cash in the collection basket at Mass" and are not willing to change this custom. In addition, they do not know how to manage the moment when the basket is passed if they subscribe. They feel violent if they don't throw in something, and watched by their neighbors, who don't know that they already collaborate with a subscription. This is why we think that a campaign to attract subscriptions should be accompanied by less "aggressiveness" when passing the basket.

Does the approach have to be the same for all audiences?

We have to reach each segment of the population with a different message, depending on their age, their economic situation, their place of residence, etc. And that is the challenge. In changing the message to reach everyone.

We encounter another difficulty in communicating with parishioners: we currently have a highly digitized population and one that is not digitized at all. When we know their age, we consider them digitized up to the age of 60. We cannot know the degree of digitization of those over 60. Many are not digitized at all, but others, even those over 90, are digitized. The pandemic has helped us in this regard.

In any case, it is necessary to detect in the parishes what type of communication is more adapted to the parishioners, and to reach each one in the way he prefers. The challenge is to reach them with the right message and through the right channel.

What are the advantages of this type of collaboration?

In Spain, the Church has had no allocation in the general state budget since 2007. It is supported mainly by the voluntary contributions of all the faithful, each according to his or her means. The 0.7% of personal income tax that taxpayers freely decide to give to the Church covers in Madrid only 18.14% of the total expenses. 

Contributing through a regular subscription, rather than in the basket, benefits both the parish and the donor. The parish can forecast income to meet expenses and saves on cash handling costs. In addition, the donor benefits from significant tax deductions in the event that he or she has to file a tax return. This is why subscriptions are so important.

How much can the donor deduct?

Of the first 150 euros donated to a parish, the donor who must file a tax return can deduct 80%, if it is his only donation, and of what exceeds that amount, 35% (in certain cases, 40%). If the donor has several donations, the 80% percentage is applied to one of them, and to the rest, the 35% or the 40%, depending on whether it is a recurring donation or not.

Therefore, if we calculate what we would put into the basket annually, and we consider doing it through a subscription, we can make a larger donation, since we will deduct a significant amount and the parish will receive more money. It is a win-win situation.

As an example, it is interesting to take a look at the following table:

(your economic effort) IF YOU WANT TO DONATE PER YEAR: (what the parish will receive) YOU CAN MAKE A CONTRIBUTION OF: BECAUSE YOU WILL BE DEDUCTED:
30 €150 €120 €
95 €250 €155 €
160 €350 €190 €
225 €450 €225 €

Does the management, promotion and maintenance of the subscription system require a lot of work for the diocese?

In the Archbishopric of Madrid we have a department with three people, all women, who help most of the 479 parishes in the Archdiocese of Madrid with the administrative work generated by the subscriptions, and develop campaigns to promote them. 

We serve more than 18,000 donors. This frees the parishes from a lot of administrative work so that they can focus on more pastoral, welfare and charitable work. In addition, by being able to negotiate with banks with higher figures, we get lower fees for direct debit and return of receipts. The parishes have lower costs, and therefore receive more money.

Remittances are made to the bank, the monthly income of each parish and donor is accounted for, the 182 donation declaration form is generated for the Treasury, and parishes are advised on their needs. In this regard, we can be contacted by both pastors and members of the parish financial councils.

So, is it really worth it

It requires work, but in overall hours, less than what would be spent in each parish, and with the security that comes from dedicating ourselves professionally to this, knowing and applying all the regulations that affect us, such as the organic law and data protection regulations, law 49/2002, on the tax regime of non-profit organizations and tax incentives for patronage, etcetera.

The donor can subscribe by filling out a form, which is what "non-digitized" donors usually do. When this form arrives at the department, the data is entered into the system, processed and from that moment on it is managed.

Are there other forms of collaboration?

There is another way to make a subscription, which is the donation portal of the Bishops' Conference "Dono a mi Iglesia" (Donate to my Church) (www.donoamiigleisa.es), from which donations can be made to any parish in Spain. This database is also managed from this department, and the parishes are fully informed of the subscriptions they receive through this channel.

We keep parishes informed of all developments via email, and we make arrangements for the recovery of returned donations. The parish never disassociates itself from the donor. For example, if we detect that a subscription needs to be cancelled because a family is having financial difficulties, we inform the parish priest so that he can take care of them.

There are continuous calls from subscribers notifying new current accounts, changes in amounts, etcetera. All calls are answered. In case all the phones are busy, or if the call is outside our working hours, the donor can leave a message, and even if they do not leave a message, their phone numbers will be registered and we will answer all missed calls. 

I assume that there will also be a drop in the number of donors

Yes, we are frequently called by family members to cancel subscriptions of donors who have passed away. Condolences are offered and the donor is commended at one of the masses that take place at our headquarters.

Third Wednesdays of the month The Mass celebrated in the Archbishopric of Madrid is offered for all our benefactors. Without them the evangelizing mission of the Church could not be carried out.

And with donors, what communication is there?

Periodically we also make campaigns to collect donor data, changes of address, e-mail if they now use it, age... We want to communicate digitally with all donors who are used to this means, because it is cheaper, and every euro counts, but for this we have to get their e-mail.

We also take care of constant communication with donors, because they are a fundamental part of the Church, and we want them to feel that way, and that they are informed of the activities of the Church that they help to support. We contact them on the occasion of the Income Tax campaign, when the Episcopal Conference prepares Annual Activities Reportfor the Diocesan Church Day and at Christmas. 

Finally, when time permits, since resources are limited, we develop materials to help parishes in the recruitment of subscriptions: brochures, posters, etcetera.

What positive experiences do you have from these years of operation of the system?

The most important thing about having an aggregated database with donors from all the parishes is that it allows us to have visibility of what is happening in the society. We can pull out multiple statistics. Big numbers don't lie. 

In addition to administrative management and donor service, it seems to us that what brings a lot of value is to collect from the department the "best practices" of parishes that tell us about interesting initiatives that have borne fruit, since we can export them to parishes with similar characteristics. Sometimes they do not contact us to tell us about it, but we can detect it because we can see how the subscriptions of each one of them evolve.

We continue to train in fundraising and in digital marketing, to be able to offer advice and training to parishes, parish priests and economic councils without whom none of this would be possible.

We are also aware of what is happening in the third sector. In a way, NGOs are our competitors, in the sense that each family has a limited amount of resources to help. If they collaborate with three NGOs that are ahead of us in fundraising campaigns, they may not have any money left to collaborate with us. That is why we have to be very attentive to what is happening in the sector, so that we can transmit that knowledge with practical touches to the parishes.

Administratively, we take great care of our databases, trying to keep them as up to date as possible. In all the communications that donors receive, our telephone number and e-mail appear, so that they can contact us and let us know if any of their data has changed, or if they want to modify their subscription. And donors appreciate having us close to them. 

Since we make arrangements with donors who have returned their receipts, in coordination with the parishes, many times donations are not lost due to returns, but we recover them. Often these are bank account changes that donors have not remembered to notify us of.

The same criteria are established for all the parishes, and by working with a greater number of donors we save costs in sending paper and digital documentation and in bank commissions. The parish priests appreciate this.

Does this way of supporting the Church have any "shadow"?

Today we do not see any shadow, and we have no doubt that in a few years it will be the majority way that parishioners will choose to collaborate economically, among other things because there is less and less cash circulating in society. If there are no coins, we cannot contribute to the basket. We are therefore left to do it by subscription or on lecterns with dataphones for bank card payments, which will have to be installed in the parishes that do not yet have them.

Could such a system be used for the commitment of time, qualities and prayer, in addition to the financial support of the Church?

While fundraising, to which we dedicate ourselves, is necessary for the support of parishes, it is not everything, nor is it the most important thing, for the purpose to which God has called his Church. Each member of the faithful must collaborate with what he or she can, and this does not always include money. Time, prayer and the qualities of each one are fundamental, and they are acts of love that God values and makes them bear fruit like the mustard seed, of this we are sure. The Archbishopric of Madrid supports the parishes in these aspects from the different Vicariates and Delegations. 

Have you encountered any special difficulties in getting it up and running?

Initially, donors were reluctant to have the Archbishopric of Madrid issue receipts for their donations, as they were suspicious that the amount donated would go entirely to the parishes, or they did not know us and this generated mistrust. But with time, the parish priests and economic councils have counted on us for the management of the subscriptions and have explained the reasons to the parishioners, among which is the free nature of our services and the transparency of the whole process, and this reluctance has been overcome. 

We are close, responsive and provide the service that is needed, and we believe that this has greatly helped the department to grow in just a few years.

What challenges do you face once the system is up and running?

We want to add more value by exporting experiences from one parish to another, promoting round tables with pastors, meetings with financial councils, and providing training related to communication and fundraising, among other things. 

We have many ideas, but we don't have enough time to materialize them. One thing we are working on is to recruit new subscribers. The first objective is to communicate with parishioners who are not yet subscribers. We have to find ways to get their data, find messages that are useful to establish relationships with them, and little by little, make them see the advantages that a subscription has for them and for the parish. 

Is there a donor profile that prefers subscription to other forms of collaboration?

We find that many parishioners start subscribing in their 30s and 40s. We believe that this is when they have enough economic stability. It helps the digitized population to have all their financial movements recorded in some way, and this is what they achieve. In addition, those donors who are obliged to file income tax returns, and who are aware of the tax advantages explained above, prefer to subscribe to anonymous donations, because they benefit from them. 

Is there a minimum amount to contribute in this way or are there also faithful who collaborate with "minuscule" subscriptions from a financial point of view? 

There is no minimum amount to make a subscription. Yes, there are many parishioners who make real juggling acts to collaborate, even if it is with very little, from a purely economic point of view, because they have no more. The Lord already explained it when he saw the widow depositing her coin in the treasury, those amounts are more valuable than the large donations given by those who live surrounded by wealth. That is why it is necessary to be very careful about how money is spent. Austerity must be the key.

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Integral ecology

"Be to Care", a congress to rethink social innovation.

Harambee Africa Internationalon the occasion of its 20th anniversary, in collaboration with the Opus Dei Centennial Committee, has organized at the end of September 2022 a International Congress in Rome: a space for reflection and dialogue on possible responses to the social challenges of our time.

Stefano Grossi Gondi-October 7, 2022-Reading time: 2 minutes
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The symposium was held on September 28, 29, and 30 at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Rome, Italy), with the presence of 200 participants, representing 70 initiatives from 30 countries around the world.

Work began on September 28 with two round-table discussions with experts from various continents, who reflected on the challenges of social innovation.

The 29th began with a lecture by Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz on Christian social action in the message of St. Josemaría (you can read the full conference here). Towards the end of his speech, the Prelate encouraged this meeting to be an opportunity to revitalize service to those most in need by working with everyone and making his own an expression of the founder of Opus Dei ("everything is done, and everything remains to be done"), which can also be applied to institutions and to the people who work in them, without being satisfied with what has already been done.

Fernanda Lopes, President of the Centenary Committee (2028-30), then presented the framework for this day of "brainstorming" with a view to Opus Dei's centenary: the transformation of the heart as the motor of social innovation. Among the aspects proposed for reflection and dialogue were: the sanctification of work and its consequences for the betterment of society; the transformation of the world from within; the social commitment of Christians; citizenship and social friendship; the attractiveness of bringing the Church's social doctrine to life; the importance of caring for the common home and for people, especially the most vulnerable; the connection between environmental sustainability and social sustainability.

After the 200 participants had worked in nine groups ("Promoting social sensitivity"), the spokespersons presented their conclusions, which revolved around various themes: the value of experience, the protagonism of the beneficiaries themselves, trust in the new generations, and training that leads people to better serve others. The day continued in the afternoon with the second workshop, "The service mission of social initiatives": listening to all people, research to find new needs, not losing the identity of the projects and the purpose that drives them, the challenge of communication. The last workshop dealt with the legacy that the future centenary of Opus Dei could bring about in the field of social development.

The different groups opened up a wide range of ideas. From attitudes and spaces for training and awareness-raising, to initiatives for greater professionalization of institutions, as well as platforms for sharing experiences, think tanks and spaces for intergenerational dialogue, among others.

Friday 30 concluded the event with a day dedicated to social innovation and young people in Africa.

The authorStefano Grossi Gondi

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Latin America

Ricardo García, bishop prelate of Yauyos-Cañete: "It is necessary to 'vaccinate' with sacraments".

The Covid pandemic has been very hard in Peru, with 200,000 deaths. "We have been the country in the world with the most deaths per capita."Ricardo García, bishop-prelate of Yauyos, Cañete and Huarochirí, in an interview with Omnes. "The Church has helped in an important way in Peru, and the people have perceived it", he adds, after considering that "we have had a medical pandemic, but also a spiritual pandemic.".

Francisco Otamendi-October 7, 2022-Reading time: 8 minutes

The prelate bishop of Yauyos-Cañete returned from Rome at the end of May, where he ordained 24 new priests of Opus Dei. Among other things, he told them: "Your lives, beginning today, will be marked by the ministry of the sacraments, the ministry of the word and the ministry of charity. Help many people to know the life of Jesus".

The centrality of Jesus, looking to Jesus, is the same message launched by the Episcopal Conference of Peru in May 2020, in the wake of the Covid attack: "In these crucial moments that our society is living, the bishops of Peru, as pastors of the people of God, wish to transmit a message of faith and hope to the Peruvian people, from the light of the risen Christ, the eternal living one, our God and Savior." 

During his stopover in Spain, before taking off for Peru, Monsignor Ricardo García gave this interview to Omnes, in which we talked about the pandemic [he himself was very ill in 2020]; the territory of the Prelature, between the crests of the Andes and the coast; the Synod on the synodalityHe also spoke about the Venezuelan migration (one million people) and internal immigration, education, St. Josemaría, because he is the history of the Prelature, his priests, the family, which "is battered," as in so many countries, and his recent trip to Germany to ask for donations.

How could the Prelature of Yauyos be described?

-When it was created in 1957, the Prelature of Yauyos had two provinces: Yauyos and Huarochirí. A few years later, in 1962, Bishop Orbegozo asked for the addition of Cañete, which has more natural wealth, coastline, now industry, and lately very good beaches, which have become the beaches of Lima. 

We have 22 fairly large parishes, two of which are entrusted to communities of religious sisters. One of the congregations, a Peruvian congregation, has religious sisters with various faculties, for example, they can marry and baptize.

The Andean part of the Prelature (Yauyos) is very different from the coast...

-Indeed. There is quite a difference between the coast and the sierra. The sierra is very difficult, with minimal asphalted roads, but with dirt roads on the sides. Sixty years ago you had to go with mules or on horseback, I have gone that way on occasion, but not now. One problem in the highlands is that the population is very scattered. And also, the Andean population, and it happens all over Peru, is going to the coast, because there is more development and young people can study. Development is on the coast. The Andean population lives on subsistence agriculture. The mentality of the people has changed.

My people, in both places, continue to be pious. There is respect for the priest, not to mention the bishop, they treat you with great affection, it is embarrassing how nice they are, they touch you, as if you were a saint who is arriving.

Let's talk for a moment about education, also to situate ourselves. Yauyos has several parochial schools.

-We have four parochial schools, one minor; one has fifteen hundred students, another one has one thousand, another one has five hundred. The minor seminary has one hundred students: it is not that all the students of the minor seminary go to the major seminary. One year there are four, another one, another none, another year they increase... I look at it from another point of view. Sixty percent of my priests are alumni of the minor seminary. It is an interesting indicator. 

What are you most concerned about?

-I am still in financial need. I need a car for Caritas. I need financial help. I have gone to Germany to look for money, because I have several friendly parishes there. I have now traveled thousands of kilometers in Germany, visiting parishes, simple people who give alms. 

In another order of things, I can comment something in relation to the beaches. The beaches of Lima are the beaches of Cañete. It is a new public, and in summer it is necessary to take care of it. The sierra has a lot of rain and is more depopulated in summer, and the priests of the sierra attend to the beaches. And there are beaches that help generously. People arrive who have helped to solve economic issues, for example, to the seminary, and give a scholarship for the formation of a priest, and so on.

In social work, it has Valle Grande and Condoray in its territory, for example.

-Yes, there is an important social work. There are two corporate works of Opus Dei. The Valle Grande Institute specializes in agricultural matters. The school has a three-year course for agricultural technicians, with very good results. The children find work immediately, and they are very well placed, because there is a modern agricultural development. For some time now there has also been information technology. There has also been agricultural consultancy, training courses, help for small farmers to be able to export... This has been on standby for some years now, due to various factors.

They have been thinking about what they want to do with these people for a long time. They are focused on education, professional training. During the pandemic it was a complicated time, they went to distance learning, it went well, and they are going to continue at a distance, they are balancing themselves economically. As for women, in Cañete there is Condoray, where they train girls for secretarial work, hotel management, and it has prestige, it is loved by the people, and it works very well.

   Of course in Cañete there is a lot of devotion to St. Josemaría [founder of Opus Dei], who was there in 1974. "Cañete, blessed valley", this phrase has been coined, and it even appears in slogans of tourism companies, etc. People appreciate it. 

How are you working in the Synod, in the listening process, in your Prelature?

-Since it began, we approached the Synod as an opportunity to listen to people who are far from the Church. That has been our goal. We have organized ourselves along two lines. One is listening in the parish, the natural environment. We turned the documents that were there into questions, because they sounded a bit abstract to people, because of the Synod on synodality. And it worked.

And then we have gone sector by sector, let's say by sectoral groupings, by labor sectors. For example, teachers, public employees, also the police, professionals, and there has also been a good response. What do people ask for? Very simple things. For example, that there be a presence, more priestly attention, more doctrinal formation. No one has asked for women to be ordained priests. 

We are already in the process of compiling a compendium of all the things that have been heard. A lot has been done to zoom. I believe the response has been positive. Yes, I would have liked to reach more new people. There are people close to me who always respond. But the responses have gone that way, priestly attention, more formation, etc.

You chair the Episcopal Commission for Education and Culture in the Peruvian Episcopal Conference. What are your current objectives? 

-Firstly, to strengthen our ONDEC (National Office of Catholic Education), so that it can help the diocesan offices (ODEC), because sometimes they lack support, so that they have the resources to train their teachers. Secondly, to strengthen relations with the State, with the government, so that certain rights that the Church has are respected, that they are put into practice, that the teaching positions are respected, etc. The ODECs in each diocese should have more budget, and the State should give them more money for their task. 

The current Constitution recognizes the contribution of the Catholic Church to education in Peru, agreements are recognized, and there is a framework that in principle is quite positive for the Church. Also, to anticipate issues that are being raised. For example, for religious studies in schools, we should not wait for the Ministry to come and tell you: tomorrow you have to say what is right and what is wrong. We have to go ahead and say: this is our project. Be proactive. 

Can parents choose the school they want for their children according to their convictions, or is there a state imposition?

-They can choose the school, but there is a reality: if they are from a town in Peru where there is only one, there is no other possibility. Either that school or that school, they have no choice. But yes, in principle there is freedom. 

Does the State finance private education? 

-No. The State does not finance private education. But there are schools with agreements, first with the Church, in which the State pays the salaries. This must be emphasized. 

Are the schools of the Yauyos Prelature under agreement?

-No. In one, the State finances all the places, but in the others only a few places. We have a bilingual school, where the State pays for everything. There is another school, called Cerro Alegre, where the priest is very apostolic, with great people skills. One of the difficulties that my Prelature has is that between parish and parish there is a great distance, and in the middle is the sand, or the desert. I have Cañete, which is all connected, but I also have Mala, which is 70 kilometers away and is like an independent unit, or Chisca, 80 kilometers away. In Cañete, Mala, as in many other places, there are very good people.

Peru has many immigrants.

–There is a lot of foreign immigration, especially from Venezuela. In the last three years a million Venezuelan immigrants have arrived. Of course there is everything, but the people are very good. For example, the organist of my cathedral is a Venezuelan immigrant, who has come with his wife and family. Very nice. 

Of course, this has created problems, but we have welcomed them well. I am remembering a migrant who has studied theology in Rome, and they have hired her in a school to teach literature and help in public relations. There are some very good people. But one million is a lot. Peru has 32 million inhabitants. Ecuador the same. And in Colombia there are three million Venezuelans. They are treated well, at least in the most important matters, there is a pastoral ministry to welcome them, to follow them, to accompany them, etc. 

And there is also internal immigration. 

-There are people coming down from the highlands to the main cities. Cañete has grown with migrants from the highlands. Not to mention Lima, which has a periphery... Lima has almost 12 million inhabitants. I remember a few years ago, leaving Lima, stretches that were desert, now it is populated. 

One positive thing for Cañete, for everyone, is that the growth towards the south is more orderly, more urbanized. In a short time, almost everything will be populated, from Lima to Cañete, and from Cañete to Lima. There is talk that they are going to put in a train, hopefully that will be the case. 

Your country has had a very hard time with the pandemic.

-That's true. And the Church has helped in an important way during the pandemic in Peru. When there was no vaccine, the medicine that was believed to be useful, campaigns to bring medicines, hand in hand with the Ministry of Health. Food. For a long time, I set up soup kitchens. For nine months, we fed more than a thousand people every day. We also built an oxygen plant. 

As I was saying, the perception of the Church's help has been very noticeable and positive. People have noticed this. Even private companies have helped through the Church. 

Are people returning to the churches?

-I usually say that we have had a medical pandemic, but also a spiritual pandemic, because many people have moved away, they have not gone to church, and now it is a matter of recovering normality. With a lot of caution, also to reduce the Masses at a distance, to recover the presence. We have to vaccinate people with the sacraments. 

In many places the churches were full during Holy Week. Here we have a very beautiful sanctuary, of the Mother of Beautiful Love, in which four or five thousand people fit tightly. During Holy Week there were many people in Cañete, and it happens in all the parishes. Then we had a meeting with bishops, by zoom, and they were very happy with the very good response of the people. The Covid has been very hard in Peru. Two hundred thousand people have died. These numbers have to be compared with the population. We have been the country in the world with more deaths per capita. The figures were hidden, until they came to light, when the government changed. And the Church has played an important role in helping.

If someone would be encouraged to support the tasks of your Prelature, what reference could be given to him/her? Any concrete destination?

-You can see the website prelaturayauyos/org.pe/and I can provide you with an email: [email protected] What worries me? Even if it's a one-time thing, a house for my priests. 

How had this been resolved before? 

-The Seminary is also a pedagogical institute. The priests take extra courses in the summer to become teachers. They have a teaching degree. The great majority are also teachers of religion. In the towns, the priest, who is a personage, has a salary and a pension, and also medical assistance, he has social security. Almost all of them, although not all, because some work in the curia or in the seminary. Even my seminary, as it is a pedagogical institute, also receives some allowances from the State, which are taken up by those who are formators in the seminary.

We concluded our conversation with the prelate bishop of Yauyos, Cañete and Huarochirí. We were left with two ideas. Peru has had a very bad time during the pandemic, and bishops and priests have turned to the people. And Don Ricardo Garcia, the prelate bishop, is concerned about the economic needs of Caritas and its priests.

The authorFrancisco Otamendi

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Some common questions about Opus Dei

In relation to Opus Dei, some questions are frequently raised, both in relation to the mission it carries out and to its context and place in the Church. The author focuses on three of these common questions, avoiding the legal technicalities that a study of canon law would require, but without abandoning precision.

Ricardo Bazan-October 6, 2022-Reading time: 10 minutes
RelatedRelated News"Ad charisma tuendum" concretizes the figure of the Prelature of Opus DeiRelated NewsOpus Dei will adapt its statutes to the indications of "Ad charisma tuendum".Related NewsCharism and hierarchy in Opus Dei, two dimensions in the same reality. The Relationship between the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Church

A few weeks ago, when it was published the motu proprio Ad carisma tuendum Pope Francis on the personal prelature of Opus Dei, I had the opportunity to converse with some young people who were seeking to clarify certain doubts due to a series of comments on this pontifical norm and the institution to which it refers.

On this occasion, I chose to ask them what definition they would give to the term Opus Dei. Among the different answers they gave, I will keep one: it is an institution of the Catholic Church whose members seek holiness through work and everyday life. This definition will serve to comment on what a personal prelature is, its context and place in the Church, as well as to address some questions: whether it is a privilege for an elite of the Church and whether Opus Dei is a kind of "parallel Church".

Is personal prelature a privilege of Opus Dei?

On November 28, 1982, Pope John Paul II erected the Opus Dei into a personal prelature through the Apostolic Constitution Ut sit. Until that date, this institution had had the juridical figure of a secular Institute, in which we could find different ecclesial realities equated to religious institutes, that is, faithful of the Church who consecrate themselves to God through vows and live according to rules duly approved by the authority of the Church. Therefore, the following question naturally arises: why did St. John Paul II grant this new figure of personal prelature to Opus Dei? Is it perhaps a privilege? To answer these questions, we must first know what a personal prelature is and what the reality of Opus Dei consists of.

The figure of the personal prelature is relatively new, since it appears in n. 10 of the decree Presbyterorum ordinis, of the Second Vatican Council. There we read: "Where the consideration of the apostolate requires it, let there be made more feasible, not only the convenient distribution of priests, but also the pastoral works peculiar to the various social groups to be carried out in some region or nation, or in any part of the earth. For this purpose, therefore, certain international seminaries, special dioceses or personal prelatures and other such arrangements can be usefully established in which priests can enter or be incardinated for the common good of the whole Church, according to norms to be determined for each case, the rights of the local ordinaries always being safeguarded" (cf. canon 294 Code of Canon Law).

That is to say, it is a very flexible figure, oriented not only to the distribution of priests, but for particular pastoral works in which priests are incardinated, that is to say, they depend on it, in order to attend to that particular work or, in other words, to attend to a group of the faithful.

Thus, personal prelatures are figures that allow a better attention of the faithful according to that particular work, according to that need, unlike dioceses, which are characterized by the territory in which they are located. That is to say, the faithful of a diocese belong to that circumscription because they reside in that territory, and therefore, as far as the general mission of the Church is concerned, they will depend on the bishop of the place and will be able to enjoy the attention of the priests who are incardinated in that diocese.

On the other hand, the personal prelatures present a personal criterion, that is to say, wherever there is a member of the prelature who needs this special attention, he/she should be attended to.

This is what happens with the Eastern eparchies in territories of different rite, whose faithful require a peculiar attention due to the tradition to which they belong (Antiochian, Alexandrian, Chaldean, etc.). In these cases, what matters is the person more than the territorial criterion.

The personal prelature is a figure that has as its head a prelate, around whom there are some priests, whose mission is to attend to the faithful who require special attention, for example because of their particular conditions of life, their work, their vocation, etc. That is to say, the personal prelature is not understood if it is not with a group of faithful to whom to attend spiritually because, after all, that is the mission of the Church.

Thus St. Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei, understood that this figure, the personal prelature, was the appropriate form for the reality of the Work, an institution whose charism consists in its members - the great majority of them lay people, the rest priests - seeking holiness through the fulfillment of ordinary duties, such as study or work, there in the midst of the world, as ordinary faithful, in the same way that the first Christians sought to be saints.

It was opportune for Opus Dei to have a juridical figure that would protect that charism, that mission and that peculiar physiognomy, where both men and women should enter, simply baptized men and women who are not religious (consecrated) nor resemble them, since they are ordinary faithful: lawyers, workers, cab drivers, businessmen, university students, teachers, domestic employees, etc. And this is precisely the second feature to guard, the fact that they are ordinary faithful, lay faithful to whom, as the Second Vatican Council points out, "it is their vocation to seek to obtain the kingdom of God by managing temporal affairs and ordering them according to God. They live in the world, that is, in each and every one of the duties and occupations of the world, and in the ordinary conditions of family and social life, with which their existence is as it were interwoven" (Lumen gentium, n. 31). These are persons who are in the midst of the world and in the whole world.

Since Opus Dei was divinely inspired and for the good of so many souls, it was only right to give it a juridical form in keeping with its nature. To this end, the founder had recourse to the authority of the Church.

St. Paul VI pointed out to St. Josemaría the advisability of waiting for Vatican II, and later circumstances also made it advisable to wait a little while. Finally, 17 years later, St. John Paul II granted Opus Dei the figure of a personal prelature, not without first carrying out a meticulous study on the advisability of doing so, we would say also on the justice of granting this request (for this purpose a meticulous study was made at the level of the congregations of the Roman Curia directly involved, passing through a joint commission, made up of experts from the Holy See and Opus Dei in order to respond to all the questions that could arise, until reaching the Pope's signature). According to the charism, mission and spiritual physiognomy of Opus Dei, the personal prelature was indeed the appropriate figure.

From what has been said so far we can raise a new question, if the personal prelature is not a privilege given to Opus Dei, why is it the only personal prelature so far?

The final answer can only be given by God. However, we can say a couple of things. In the first place, the personal prelature is an open figure, which can also serve for other realities that require it; in fact, it is regulated in a generic way in canons 294 to 297 of the Code of Canon Law, which also foresee that the statutes of each one of them go down to the specific details. Therefore, it has not been conceived only for Opus Dei, nor is it limited to it.

It should also be remembered that in the Church years are counted by centuries, that is to say, personal prelatures are new in the Church, and furthermore (this is the second idea) this figure has its own characteristics that cannot be applied to all ecclesial realities without a careful study of its suitability.

Is Opus Dei for the privileged few?

From the previous point, perhaps it could be erroneously interpreted that the personal prelature of Opus Dei would be for the privileged, since it is designed for people who require a special attention, a special work. Instititively, "peculiar" can make us think of exclusivity or privilege, which alludes to an exemption from an exclusive obligation or advantage that a person enjoys, which has been granted by a superior.

Who can belong to Opus Dei? According to the statutes of Opus Dei (Statuta), the first condition is that, in order to belong to this personal prelature, a divine vocation is required (cf. Statuta, n. 18).

It is not strictly speaking a privilege, but rather an element that allows us to differentiate who can be part of this institution, which is a special work precisely because of its charism and mission - to contribute in a specific way to the proclamation of the universal call to holiness - and the divine call that its members have.

Therefore, people of all social strata, of the most varied conditions, races, professions, etc., who have received from God a specific vocation to seek holiness in the midst of the world, in their daily occupation or work, in that concrete path, which demands a particular pastoral attention, can and should belong to Opus Dei.

The official data found in the 2022 Pontifical Yearbook tells us that 93,510 faithful Catholics belong to this prelature. This is not a small number for an institution that has not yet completed a century of existence.

This does not mean that people who do not have a vocation to Opus Dei cannot benefit from the spiritual goods of the Prelature. As its founder said, the Work is a great catechesis, that is to say, the institution and its members are dedicated to giving Christian formation through different means.

Logically, this formation is directed to all persons, where it would make no sense to make any distinction between persons or closed groups, since the mission is to spread the universal call to holiness and apostolate, universal, not particular, not closed. To direct this message or this call to a privileged group would be totally contrary to its charism and mission (cfr. Statuta, n. 115).

We have repeatedly spoken of a mission, a charism and a vocation. Since we have presented the mission above, let us see what that vocation and charism consist of.

A vocation is a divine call, which requires a process of discernment, something that Pope Francis emphasizes in his public interventions and in his catechesis.

This vocation is linked to a charism and presents certain characteristics of the spirit of Opus Dei, which are not based on social or economic status, physical or cultural traits, etc., but rather on a series of supernatural traits such as divine filiation, sanctification of work, lay spirit, and the Holy Mass as the center and root of the interior life, among others.

Is Opus Dei a Church within the Church?

On one occasion a person commented to a member of Opus Dei that Opus Dei members are characterized by their opposition to abortion. He explained that abortion is not something that Opus Dei opposes as something of its own, but because it is part of the teachings of the Catholic Church, as stated in the Catechism. This anecdote describes very well the idea that we can find in some cases that Opus Dei is a group apart from the Church. Thus it is understood that the granting of the personal prelature by St. John Paul II is understood by some as a privilege, so that it is a kind of Church within the Church.

However, this is not something that can be admissible in the structure of the Church, which has as its supreme authority the Roman Pontiff and the Apostolic College with the Pope at its head (cf. canons 330-341 of the Code of Canon Law).

Thus, the pope exercises his power universally, being the bishop of Rome. For their part, the bishops exercise their power within the limits of their diocese and in the context of the episcopal college. Whether it is the Pope or the bishops, they all exercise this power in accordance with the mission received from Jesus Christ, in this triple function: to teach, to sanctify and to govern.

For John Paul II to have granted a privilege to Opus Dei through the personal prelature would be a contradiction to the structure we have outlined.

In fact, the norm that creates the personal prelatures clearly indicates that this figure must be given "with the rights of the local ordinaries always being preserved" (Presbyterorum ordinis, n, 10). That is to say, in its initial configuration, the personal prelature is designed to coexist peacefully with the power of the bishops wherever they work and the power of the prelate refers only to the ends of the prelature.

This is not only due to a relationship of justice, but is also a logical consequence of the fact that the faithful of Opus Dei are ordinary people, who must seek holiness wherever they are, precisely in the dioceses where they live, taking into account, for example, that no one is baptized in the prelature, but in a parish that is a part of the diocese, that portion of the people of God.

In other words, since the faithful of Opus Dei are ordinary people, they should not be exempt from the power of the bishop (note that the faithful of Opus Dei belong primarily to the diocese in which they live), or form a separate group in the diocese or in the parish, but rather they should live in the Christian environment in which they move.

At the same time, these people, because of the specific vocation they have, require their own attention, according to their charism, but above all, each of these faithful, men and women, should sanctify their office, work or task wherever they are, according to the spirit proper to Opus Dei.

In practice, according to the norms of Church Law and the juridical configuration of the Work, Can Opus Dei become a parallel Church? To explain this we must speak of the person who directs the personal prelature, the prelate.

The personal prelature receives its name precisely from the prelate, who has been placed in charge of this institution to guide it in its mission, for which reason, he is invested with a series of capacities with a view to achieving this end, a strictly supernatural purpose. However, these capacities are well delimited, since they are already limited by the power exercised by the Pope in every Church and that of the bishops in their respective dioceses.

Therefore, the abilities of the prelate are limited or circumscribed to the mission of the Prelature and are not sufficient to say that we are in front of a parallel Church. Thus, the prelate can ask his members to take special care in attending Holy Mass, as the center and root of the interior life, in order to identify more closely with Christ.

On the other hand, he cannot impose on the members of the prelature to change their work, any more than the Pope or the bishops can, because it is not within their competence, much less ask them to disobey the norms dictated by the Roman Pontiff or the bishops in communion with the Pope.

The motu proprio Ad charisma tuendum is not a norm that has deprived Opus Dei of any privilege it may have had. This institution of the Church continues to be a personal prelature in conformity with the norm given by John Paul II, the apostolic constitution Ut sitThe Foundation's Statutes, as well as its Statutes approved by the Holy See.

Moreover, this motu proprio emphasizes in a special way the charism received by St. Josemaría and the importance of this work of God in the Church's evangelizing mission, as Pope Francis says: "In order to safeguard the charism, my predecessor St. John Paul II, in the Apostolic Constitution Ut sitof November 28, 1982, erected the Prelature of the Opus Deientrusting him with the pastoral task of contributing in a special way to the evangelizing mission of the Church.

According to the gift of the Spirit received by St. Josemaría Escrivá, in fact, the Prelature of the Prelature of the Opus Deiunder the guidance of its Prelate, carries out the task of spreading the call to holiness in the world through the sanctification of work and family and social commitments" (introduction).

To this end, he stresses the importance of the clerics (priests) incardinated in this prelature with the organic cooperation of the lay faithful. The latter is of vital importance, because both clerics and laity are called to perform different functions according to their own status in the Church, therefore, the lay faithful demand the ministry of the priest, and the priesthood exists precisely to serve those faithful of the prelature, as well as all those who approach their apostolates.

The one and the other are mutually demanding, under the unity of a prelate who guides them according to the same charism and the same vocation, in the same boat of the Church.

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Integral ecology

"A new medicine that is fair to all is needed."

The president of the Pontifical Academy for Life has defended the need for a change of mentality in our society that puts at the center of care for the most vulnerable: the elderly and children.

Maria José Atienza-October 6, 2022-Reading time: 2 minutes
RelatedRelated News"In a healthy society no one would have to wonder if there are any leftovers."Related NewsBeing a physician is to seek the patient's health, say professionals

A thousand U.S. primary care physicians in Madrid for the symposium Advancing Community Health and Well-Being  powered by We arean initiative founded by Dr. Ramon Tallaj that brings together more than 2,000 physicians who care for the poor in the state of New York.

Letter of reflection on today's medicine

In the framework of this symposium, Bishop Vincenzo Paglia announced a Charter, which will reflect the importance of the relationship between primary care physicians and patients.

A relationship that is not commercial but that goes beyond that, considering the patient in his or her personal integrity, and that is the beginning of a "political, cultural and economic reflection on health to give rise to a new medicine that is fair for all," stressed the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

"We see economic injustices and health injustices," Paglia continued, and "a cultural revolution is needed" in this regard.

Paglia has focused especially on what he called "a new people living in the world" and that is the elderly.

At present, he emphasized, "the elderly are more than ever in the world, millions of people who make up an unknown, ignored people, about whom no one reflects". In this sense, he stated that "thanks to medicine we live 30 years longer and we don't know why. Everyone, not only governments, but also the Church, must reflect on the elderly.

Paglia recalled the recent events during the coronavirus pandemic, months in which thousands of people died. In this context, he affirmed that "we all faced the same storm but in different boats; the boats of the poor, of the elderly, those were destroyed with tremendous cruelty, sometimes without being able to say goodbye to their relatives.

Of these elderly, "many of them died more from loneliness than from the virus," said Paglia, who stressed that "the most important vaccine is love in an individualistic society," hence the importance of this letter, which is already underway.

SOMOS Community Care

For his part, the executive director of SOMOS, Mario Paredes, presented this organization, which was founded seven years ago by the physician Ramón Tallaj and whose aim is to "humanize the healthcare system", especially in the state of New York.

Its mission is to humanize and improve primary health care, and therefore the health conditions of the population, especially the so-called "poor" population. inner city.

Ramón Tallaj, founder of SOMOS, emphasized the relationship between the patient "and the one who cures him, which is what we know as medicine".

Today, SOMOS serves more than one million underserved people and its network of physicians, many of whom are of Hispanic origin, care for New York City's Medicalaid beneficiary patients with a holistic, integrated approach.

A thousand of these physicians came to Madrid, the venue of this year's medical symposium focused on health equity and universal and guaranteed access to health care.

RelatedRelated News"In a healthy society no one would have to wonder if there are any leftovers."Related NewsBeing a physician is to seek the patient's health, say professionals
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The Vatican

The Challenge of Climate Change: The Holy See in the Paris Agreement

A documentary on the ecological problems of our time is released with the participation of Pope Francis. 

Giovanni Tridente-October 6, 2022-Reading time: 2 minutes
RelatedRelated News"'Laudato Si' has been a watershed for the Church and for the world."Related News"The Letter": Laudato Si' documentary film to be released

The Holy See's instruments of accession to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 2015 Paris Agreement entered into force on October 4, the Solemnity of St. Francis of Assisi.

The initiative had already been announced in July, with the deposit of the same instruments at the UN General Secretariat. In this way, the Church, and more specifically the Vatican City StateThe World Summit on Sustainable Development, wants to be in the front line to morally support the efforts of States to cooperate adequately and effectively "to the challenges that climate change poses to our humanity and to our common home", which then has a particular impact on the poorest and most fragile.

A challenge that concerns everyone

It was Pope Francis, in his Encyclical "Laudato si'".The President renewed the invitation to all the peoples of the planet to dialogue in the face of "a confrontation that unites us all, because the environmental challenge we are facing, and its human roots, affect and touch us all".

In October last year, in a Message to the UNFCCC COP-26, the Holy Father had called for "a true and proper conversion, individual but also communal", wishing for the "transition towards a more integral and complete model of development, based on solidarity and responsibility".

The film "The Letter

On the eve of this important event of adherence to the Paris Agreement, a new documentary entitled "La Lettera" has been presented at the Vatican, narrating the journeys to Rome of several leaders who are at the forefront of promoting the themes of Laudato si', from the Brazilian Amazon, Senegal, India and the United States.

Among them is Arouna Kandé, a social work graduate, who is exploring ways to develop his home village sustainably, including building a local health clinic. Cacique Dadá leads a regional working group to improve the health of indigenous communities and has developed a training program for environmental activists.

Another key player is Ridhima Pandey, whose initiative provides education and support to India's poorest communities, while Greg Asner and Robin Martin created MERC Hawaii, an educational center in Hawaii that combines the expertise of science, communities and indigenous partners to protect and restore marine biodiversity.

The film was produced by Oscar winners "Off the Fence" and includes an exclusive dialogue with Pope Francis and never-before-seen footage of his inauguration as Pontiff.

It is presented by "Youtube Originals" and is the first time a film featuring the Pope is available for free through a streaming service. It can be viewed here:

Global campaign

In the coming months, a global screening campaign is planned in various parts of the world to put pressure on those responsible for the COP27 climate summit and the COP15 UN nature summit.

"Guided by the moral compass provided by Pope Francis, I hope we can all find renewed motivation and commitment to protect our common home and have compassion for all living things, including human beings," said director Nicolas Brown.

The "Laudato si'" Movement, which brings together more than 800 organizations and 1,000 volunteers worldwide, the Dicastery for Communication and the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development have collaborated on the project.

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Photo Gallery

Blessing of animals in the Philippines

A priest sprinkles holy water on dogs during a pet blessing in Manila, Philippines, Oct. 2, 2022 on the occasion of World Animal Day celebrated on Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi.

Maria José Atienza-October 6, 2022-Reading time: < 1 minute
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  • Poverty as a lack of resources, and as a Christian virtue.
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Poverty as a lack of resources, and as a Christian virtue.

These are the contents of the issue of the October issue of Omnes magazine (available to subscribers). Highlights include an extensive dossier on poverty, Juan Luis Lorda's clarifications on the concept of "tradition", an article on Chesterton on the centenary of his conversion, and the other sections.

Editorial staff-October 6, 2022-Reading time: 3 minutes

The 6th World Day of the Poor will be celebrated on November 13. The forms of poverty in the world continue to be multiple, and due to the three recent crises - the financial crisis of 2009-2013, the health crisis caused by Covid-19 and the inflationary energy crisis with the Russian invasion of Ukraine - they affect above all the poorest, who number around 800 million people in the world. To help eradicate it, the Pope has promoted in Assisi the meeting of "The Economy of Francesco", which promotes a more just and supportive economy.

This situation is addressed in a report in the October issue of Omnes, followed by an article by Raúl Flores, coordinator of the Caritas Spain study team and technical secretary of the Foessa Foundation, and an interview with Isaías Hernando, co-coordinator of the "Economy of Communion" and member of the global community of "The Economy of Francesco".

In its Message for the Day of the PoorThe Pope points out that in the Gospel we find a poverty "that frees us and makes us happy," because it is "a responsible choice to lighten the burden and focus on what is essential. This other form of poverty, which is not a lack of resources but a Christian virtue proposed and lived by Jesus Christ, is the subject of a series of articles dedicated to each of its expressions in the different states of life: in the life of the laity, ordinary Christians in the world, priests and consecrated persons. They are written by Pablo Olábarri, a lawyer and father of a family, Bishop José María Yanguas of Cuenca (Spain), and Francisco Javier Vergara, a Franciscan religious, who presents a profound personal testimony.

Among the remaining exclusive contents of the magazine, that is, not offered openly on the website but reserved to subscribers of the paper or online version (which they can read through the subscribers' area of this website), the explanations of Juan Luis Lorda on "Tradition and Traditions" stand out. It is a necessary clarification, since the post-conciliar crisis showed in the Church a dialectic between progressivism, which wanted another Council "at the height of the times", and traditionalism, hurt by the novelties of Vatican II or the post-conciliar period. Such dialectic made necessary the clarification of several concepts, among them the Catholic notion of Tradition. This is one more article in the series on "Theology of the 20th century" written by the professor of Theology at the University of Navarra.

The Holy Fathers are at the "roots of our tradition". Antonio de la Torre emphasizes how they bear witness to their faith in their institutions and writings; the martyrs, for their part, do so by offering their lives. In his article in this issue, he presents some of the writings that have preserved for us the memory of their witness.

Professor Juan Luis Caballero is the author of the text on Sacred Scripture in this issue. It is dedicated to commenting on verses 1 to 16 of the fourth chapter of the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians: "And he gave gifts to men".

Gilbert Keith Chesterton became a Catholic one hundred years ago, in 1922. He is much quoted, but little known. It is worthwhile to look at characters such as Thomas More, John Henry Newman, or Chesterton himself to discover reasoning of a clear and surprising logic. We suggest the article by Victoria de Julián and Jaime Nubiola.

The "Tribuna" is written by the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, Carlos Osoro Sierra, who points out the keys to the Christian commitment demanded by today's society: to renew the missionary sense to bring the Good News in all environments.

The authorEditorial staff

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The World

Opus Dei will adapt its statutes to the indications of "Ad charisma tuendum".

A General Congress will determine the changes to be made to the statutes of the personal prelature in order to bring them into conformity with the Motu Proprio. Ad charisma tuendum.

Maria José Atienza-October 6, 2022-Reading time: 3 minutes
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The Prelate of Opus Dei, Fernando Ocáriz, has sent a letter to the members of the Prelature, which is available at Opus Dei website, in which he explains that, as a result of the publication of the Motu Proprio Ad charisma tuendumThe men and women of the General Council and the Central Advisory Council, the central governing bodies of Opus Dei, have been studying for weeks how to "proceed to carry out what the Pope has asked of us regarding the adaptation of the Statutes of the Work to the indications of the Motu proprio.

This Extraordinary General Congress, which will be convoked for "this precise and limited purpose," will take place in the first semester of 2023. Following the advice of the Holy See, it will not be limited to changing "the Prelature's dependence on this Dicastery and the change from a five-yearly to an annual report to the Holy See on the Prelature's activity. In fact, as Bishop Ocáriz emphasizes in his letter, the Vatican has advised the Work to consider "other possible adjustments to the Statutes, which seem appropriate to us in light of the Motu proprio," and that the study be done in a calm manner: "They have advised us to dedicate all the necessary time without haste.

On this occasion, the Prelate asked the members of the Prelature for "concrete suggestions" aimed at adapting the work and development of the Work to the needs of the Church today. In this sense, Fernando Ocáriz wanted to emphasize that "it is a matter of complying with what the Holy See has indicated, not of proposing any change that might seem interesting to us.

In addition, the Prelate of Opus Dei points out that "together with the desire to be faithful to the legacy of our founder, it is important to consider the general good of the juridical stability of the institutions," and opens the door to "other suggestions to give new impetus to the apostolic work" that can be dealt with in the future.

The General Congresses in Opus Dei

The General Congresses are, together with the Prelate who convokes them and who attends them, the principal instance of government within Opus Dei at the central level. According to point 133 of the current statutes, "Ordinary General Congresses, convoked by the Prelate, must be held every eight years to express his opinion on the state of the Prelature and to be able to advise on the opportune norms for future governmental action.

Extraordinary general congresses may also be held, such as the one to be held in 2023, which are convened "when circumstances so require in the judgment of the Prelate."

The Motu Proprio Ad charisma tuendum

The Motu Proprio Ad charisma tuendumpublished last July, specified some aspects of the juridical regime of the personal prelature of Opus Dei in order to bring it into line with the provisions established by the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium. This document determines that the personal prelatures (to date, there is only that of Opus Dei) become dependent on the Dicastery for the Clergy and not on that of the Bishops, as was the case until now.

In addition, the Motu Proprio pointed out other changes related to Opus Dei. Specifically: on the one hand, the frequency with which Opus Dei must present its report on the situation of the Prelature and the development of its apostolic work is now annual instead of five-yearly; on the other hand, it was decided that "the prelate will not receive episcopal ordination. Until now it was not essential and was not included in the statutes of Opus Dei, but Bishop Ocáriz's predecessors, Blessed Álvaro del Portillo and Bishop Javier Echevarría, had received episcopal ordination.

RelatedRelated NewsCharism and hierarchy in Opus Dei, two dimensions in the same reality. The Relationship between the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in the ChurchRelated News"Ad charisma tuendum" concretizes the figure of the Prelature of Opus DeiRelated NewsConsiderations on the motu proprio "Ad charisma tuendum" on Opus Dei
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The Vatican

Inclusive growth to eradicate poverty

International conference promoted by the Centesimus Annus-Pro Pontifice Foundation begins tomorrow

Antonino Piccione-October 5, 2022-Reading time: 4 minutes
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The work of the international conference promoted by the Centesimus Annus-Pro Pontifice Foundation (CAPPF) and dedicated to "Inclusive Growth to Eradicate Poverty and Promote Sustainable Development and Peace" will be inaugurated tomorrow afternoon at the Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome. On Friday, the contents of the initiative will be the subject of in-depth and wide-ranging discussions among experts from various parts of the world. On Saturday 8, participants will enjoy a moment of prayer and listening at the Apostolic Palace: Holy Mass celebrated by Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, a meeting with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and a private audience granted by Pope Francis.

Causes of poverty

There are numerous causes that determine poverty and call for incisive and timely action: geopolitical, economic, climatic, digital, spiritual, educational and health situations. Both the words of John Paul II - "...there are many other forms of poverty, especially in modern society, not only economic, but also cultural and spiritual" (Centesimus Annus, no. 57) - and those of Francis - "Modernity has to reckon with three types of 'destitution'. This one of poverty is much worse because it implies a situation 'without faith, without support, without hope'" (Message for Lent 2014) point to the seriousness of the problem. 

The focus on the study and implementation of activities in the field of socio-economic dynamics characterize the special heritage that CAPPF has been promoting since its creation in 1993. "It is committed to confronting itself - reads the press release presenting the three-day event - with the real world, carrying out its mission of disseminating knowledge of the Social Doctrine Christianity among qualified people for their entrepreneurial and professional responsibility, involving them so that they themselves become actors and actresses in the concrete application of the Social Magisterium".

With the goal of truly inclusive growth, to recall the title of the conference: that is, generating decent jobs and offering opportunities to all, in the name of a fairer and more respectful, I would say more civilized, economy. The 2030 Agenda itself proposes the elimination of poverty in all its manifestations and aberrations on a global scale, a prerequisite for any hypothesis of sustainable development.

What can be done to eradicate poverty?

Experts will gather in Rome for Centesimus Annus to discuss the central themes of the conference: the actual situation of the different dimensions of poverty; new forms of poverty; measures to achieve an inclusive economy; solidarity, subsidiarity and sustainability in the fight against poverty; the role of governments and institutions in the fight against poverty; agricultural markets and the food value chain for inclusion and sustainability. On this last point, and its impact on the challenge of sustainability, it should be noted that the food sector constitutes approximately one-fifth of the world economy and is the largest source of income and employment in the world.

Yet hundreds of millions of people lack food security. Poverty disproportionately affects rural populations, whose livelihoods depend heavily on agribusiness. Women make up nearly half of the agricultural labor force and many manage small-scale agricultural and non-farm activities. More than half of young workers in developing countries are employed in the agri-food sector.

The effects of the pandemic

The pandemic not only reversed gains in global poverty reduction for the first time in a generation, but also deepened the challenges of food insecurity and rising food prices for many millions of people (World Bank, Global Economic Prospects, June 2021).

The effects of the pandemic and the war of aggression in Ukraine are other aspects to be discussed at the conference, which will also address the role of sustainable finance and business in the fight against poverty. Here, major changes are required in strategic objectives, business models, production processes, human resource management and leadership styles.

Let poor countries grow

One issue that needs to be addressed with particular care is that of a just and sustainable transition, especially in poor countries, for example in Africa. One of the unintended consequences of the emergence of Covid-19 is that Western governments and companies have begun to promote a decarbonization agenda. However, if pushed too far, African countries could be deprived of the energy they need for their industrialization processes.

The question, therefore, is how to combine the process toward environmental sustainability with the need to protect the poorest and most vulnerable people and nations. Specifically, avoiding empty commitments and unfulfilled promises. For "if the poor are marginalized, as if they are to blame for their condition, then the very concept of democracy is undermined and any social policy will fail". With great humility, we must confess that we are often clueless when it comes to the poor. We talk about it in the abstract; we dwell on statistics and think we can move people by making a documentary.

Poverty, on the contrary, should motivate us to creative planning, aimed at increasing the freedom necessary to live a life of fulfillment according to one's own capacities. It is an illusion, which we must reject, to think that freedom is born and grows with the possession of money. Service to the poor effectively impels us to action and enables us to find the most appropriate ways to nourish and promote this part of humanity, too often anonymous and voiceless, but which bears the face of the Savior who asks for our help" (Message of Pope Francis for the Day of the Poor - 2021).

The authorAntonino Piccione

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The Vatican

Pope points out devil's strategies for tempting people

Pope Francis continued his catechesis on spiritual discernment. Today, October 5, he stressed the importance of knowing oneself so as not to be deceived by the devil.

Javier García Herrería-October 5, 2022-Reading time: 3 minutes
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Pope Francis held his third audience on the subject of the discernmentThe Pope points out that "we do not know how to discern because we do not know ourselves well enough, and so we do not know what we really want. The Pope points out that "we do not know how to discern because we do not know ourselves well enough, and so we do not know what we really want. At the root of spiritual doubts and vocational crises there is often an insufficient dialogue between religious life and our human, cognitive and affective dimension".

The Pontiff quoted a text by the Jesuit Thomas Green, a specialist in spiritual accompaniment, who points out that knowing the will of God often depends on problems that are not properly spiritual, but rather psychological. Thus writes this author: "I have come to the conviction that the greatest obstacle to true discernment (and to true growth in prayer) is not the intangible nature of God, but the fact that we do not know ourselves sufficiently, and do not even want to know ourselves for what we truly are. Almost all of us hide behind a mask, not only in front of others, but also when we look in the mirror" (Th. Green,  Tares among the wheatRome, 1992, 25).  

Self-knowledge to know God

"Forgetting God's presence in our lives," the Pope continued, "goes hand in hand with ignorance about ourselves, about the characteristics of our personality and about our deepest desires. Knowing oneself is not difficult, but it is tiring: it involves a patient work of interior excavation". To know oneself it is necessary to reflect on one's own feelings, needs and the set of unconscious conditioning we have.

The Holy Father stressed the importance of distinguishing carefully between the different psychological states, because it is not the same to say "I feel" as "I am convinced", "I feel like" or "I want". Each of these thoughts has important nuances, which can lead to self-knowledge or self-deception. And so people become self-limiting, to the point that "it can often happen that erroneous convictions about reality, based on past experiences, strongly influence us, limiting our freedom to take a chance on what really counts in our lives".  

Examination of conscience

If one does not know oneself well, it facilitates the task of the "tempter" (this is how the devil was referred to), because he easily attacks human weakness. In the Pope's words: "Temptation does not necessarily suggest bad things, but often disordered things, presented with excessive importance. In this way it hypnotizes us with the attractiveness that these things arouse in us, beautiful but illusory things, which cannot keep what they promise, leaving us in the end with a sense of emptiness and sadness." Specifying some examples that can be misleading, he pointed to laudable goals - such as an academic degree, a professional career, personal relationships - but which can cloud our expectations, especially as thermometers of personal worth. "From this misunderstanding," he continued, "often derive the greatest suffering, because none of these things can be the guarantee of our dignity." 

The devil uses "persuasive words to manipulate us", but it is possible to recognize him if one goes to the "examination of conscience, that is to say the good habit of rereading calmly what happens in our day, learning to notice in the evaluations and in the choices what we give more importance to, what we are looking for and why, and what we have found at the end. Above all, learning to recognize what satisfies the heart. Because only the Lord can give us confirmation of our worth. He tells us every day from the cross: he died for us, to show us how much we are valuable in his eyes. There is no obstacle or failure that can prevent his tender embrace".  

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