VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXVI - # 15
DATE 25-01-2016

Summary:
- Spread the joy of the Gospel in the simplicity of life
- Holy See Press Office communique: Pope to participate in joint Reformation
commemoration
- Joint ecumenical commemoration of the Reformation
- Angelus: the mission of the Christian community is to evangelise the poor
- Cardinal Puljic, Pope's special envoy to Dubrovnik
- Audiences
- Other Pontifical Acts

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 Spread the joy of the Gospel in the simplicity of life
 Vatican City, 25 January 2016 (VIS) - "You are preparing to respond to that
impulse from the Spirit, to be the 'future of the Church', in accordance with
God's heart; not with individual preferences or passing fashions, but as the
announcement of the Gospel requires", said the Pope this morning as he received
in audience the Pontifical Community of the Lombard Seminary in Rome, in the
Clementine Hall. "To prepare oneself well requires not only extensive work, but
also an inner conversion, basing daily ministry on the first call of Jesus, and
reviving it in the personal relationship with Him, as did the apostle Paul,
whose conversion we remember today".
 The pope went on to mention St. Charles Borromeo, whose life is presented as
"a
constant movement of conversion, reflecting the image of the Pastor. He
identified with this image, and he nurtured it with his life, aware that
discourse becomes reality at the price of blood: the sanguinis ministri were
for
him the true priests. He achieved this image by losing himself in it; he
applied
all his passion to reproducing it. In this way, the great work of the
theologians of the time, the Council of Trent, was carried out by holy pastors
like Borromeo".
 Francis also emphasised that they were the heirs of and witnesses to a great
history of sainthood, "rooted in your patrons, the bishops Ambrose and Charles;
and in more recent times your alumni have included three Blesseds and three
Servants of God. This is the goal to strive for. Often, though, a temptation
appears on the way, to be rejected: that of 'normality', of a pastor for whom a
'normal' life is enough. This priest then begins to content himself with any
attention he receives, judges his ministry on the basis of his successes and
gradually goes in search of what he likes, becoming lukewarm and without true
interest in others. The 'normality' for us is instead pastoral holiness, the
giving of life. If a priest decides merely to become a normal person, he will
be
a mediocre priest, or worse".
 "The words of life can be announced only those who make their own life into a
constant dialogue with the Word of God, or better, with God who speaks. In
these
years you have been entrusted with the mission of training in this dialogue of
life: the knowledge of the various disciplines you study is not an end in
itself, but must instead be made concrete in the conversation of prayer and in
the real encounter with people. It is not beneficial to form oneself in a
compartmentalised fashion, as prayer, cultural and pastoral ministry are the
cornerstones of the same edifice: they must remain steadfast and united to
support each other, well cemented together, so that the priests of today and
tomorrow will be spiritual men and merciful pastors, unified within by the love
of the Lord and able to spread the joy of the Gospel in the simplicity of
life".
 The Pope also remarked that to be a good priest, it is essential to maintain
contact and closeness with the bishop. "The characteristic of the diocesan
priest is precisely his diocesan nature, and the cornerstone of this is
frequent
contact with the bishop, in dialogue and discernment with him. A priest who
does
not maintain a close relationship with his bishop is slowly isolated from the
diocesan group and his fruitfulness diminishes, precisely because he does not
participate in dialogue with the Father of the Diocese". He concluded by asking
those present to "cultivate the beauty of friendship and the art of
establishing
relations, so as to create a priestly fraternity, made stronger by its
particular diversities".

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 Holy See Press Office communique: Pope to participate in joint Reformation
commemoration
 Vatican City, 25 January 2016 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office today
announced
that His Holiness Francis intends to participate in a joint ceremony of the
Catholic Church and the World Lutheran Federation to commemorate the 500th
anniversary of the Reformation, scheduled to take place in Lund, Sweden on
Monday 31 October 2016.

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 Joint ecumenical commemoration of the Reformation
 Vatican City, 25 January 2016 (VIS) - Pope Francis, Bishop Munib A. Younan and
the Rev. Martin Junge, respectively president and general secretary of the
World
Lutheran Foundation, will preside at a joint commemoration of the Reformation
on
31 October in Lund, Sweden, according to a press release issued today by the
World Lutheran Foundation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian
Unity (PCPCU).
 This event, ahead of the 500 th anniversary of Luther's Reformation in 2017,
will highlight the solid ecumenical developments between Catholics and
Lutherans
and the joint gifts received through dialogue and will include common worship
based on the recently published Catholic-Lutheran "Common Prayer" liturgical
guide.
 "The LWF is approaching the Reformation anniversary in a spirit of ecumenical
accountability," says LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge. "I'm carried
by the profound conviction that by working towards reconciliation between
Lutherans and Catholics, we are working towards justice, peace and
reconciliation in a world torn apart by conflict and violence."
 Cardinal Koch, President of the PCPCU explains further: "By concentrating
together on the centrality of the question of God and on a Christocentric
approach, Lutherans and Catholics will have the possibility of an ecumenical
commemoration of the Reformation, not simply in a pragmatic way, but in the
deep
sense of faith in the crucified and resurrected Christ.
 The Lund event is part of the reception process of the study document From
Conflict to Communion, which was published in 2013, and has since been widely
distributed to Lutheran and Catholic communities. The document is the first
attempt by both dialogue partners to describe together at international level
the history of the Reformation and its intentions.
 Earlier this year, the LWF and PCPCU sent to LWF member churches and Catholic
Bishops' Conferences a jointly prepared "Common Prayer", which is a liturgical
guide to help churches commemorate the Reformation anniversary together. It is
based on the study document From Conflict to Communion: Lutheran-Catholic
Common
Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017, and features the themes of
thanksgiving, repentance and commitment to common witness with the aim of
expressing the gifts of the Reformation and asking forgiveness for the division
which followed theological disputes.
 The year 2017 will also mark 50 years of the international Lutheran-Catholic
dialogue, which has yielded notable ecumenical results, of which most
significant is the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ).
The JDDJ was signed by the LWF and the Catholic Church in 1999, and affirmed by
the World Methodist Council in 2006. The declaration nullified centuries' old
disputes between Catholics and Lutherans over the basic truths of the doctrine
of justification, which was at the centre of the 16th century Reformation.

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