Pope at Regina Coeli prays for Nepal earthquake victims

On Sunday, Pope Francis remembered the victims of the recent earthquake in Nepal which has claimed the lives of nearly 2,000 people.

After the recitation of the Regina Coeli prayer with the crowds gathered in Saint Peter’s Square, the Holy Father expressed his “closeness to the populations struck by a powerful earthquake in Nepal and neighbouring countries.”

The Pope said: “I pray for the victims, for the wounded, and for all those who suffer because of this calamity.”

More than 1,900 people were killed and 5,000 wounded when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck the Himalayan nation of Nepal on Saturday, destroying the country’s infrastructure, homes, and historical buildings.

The earthquake was the worst to hit the South Asian nation in over 80 years.

Pope Francis said of those affected by the disaster: “May they be supported by fraternal solidarity.

The Holy Father then prayed that the Blessed Mother would be close those affected by the earthquake, and led the crowds in reciting the Hail Mary.

Earlier, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin sent a telegram on behalf of Pope Francis to Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Nepal, Paul Simick, expressing his condolences for those affected by the earthquake.

(from Vatican Radio)

On 21:00

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Holy See expresses concern about Israel-Palestine negotiations

The Holy See on Tuesday expressed its deep concern at the “total lack of progress” of the negotiations between Palestine and Israel.

“As was recognized on that occasion, Israel has genuine and legitimate concerns for its security; however, such security will come not in isolation from its neighbors, but in being a part of them through a negotiated peace with the Palestinians through the implementation of the ‘Two-State Solution’, which has the support of the Holy See and of the international community in general,”  said Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations.

“The Holy See joins its voice once more with all people of peace to call for serious and concrete negotiations that will reinvigorate the peace process,” he said.

Archbishop Auza was speaking during a United Nations Security Council Open Debate on the Middle East.

The Archbishop also condemned  - “in the strongest terms” - all attacks and abuses in the region based on ethnic, religious, racial or other grounds.

The full text of Archbishop Auza’s intervention is below

Intervention of H.E. Archbishop Bernardito Auza

Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN

United Nations Security Council Open Debate on

“Middle East, including the Palestinian Question”

New York, 21 April 2015

Madam President,

My delegation wishes to express its profound appreciation for the decision of Jordan’s Presidency this month to hold this Open Debate on the “Middle East, including the Palestinian Question.”

The Holy See is deeply concerned at the total lack of progress of the negotiations between Palestine and Israel. It is difficult not to share the frustration expressed by the then UN Special Coordinator of the Middle East Peace Process, Mr. Robert Serry, during his last Security Council briefing on March 27 last.

As was recognized on that occasion, Israel has genuine and legitimate concerns for its security; however, such security will come not in isolation from its neighbors, but in being a part of them through a negotiated peace with the Palestinians through the implementation of the “Two-State Solution”, which has the support of the Holy See and of the international community in general. The Holy See joins its voice once more with all people of peace to call for serious and concrete negotiations that will reinvigorate the peace process.

The Holy See does not cease to encourage the leaders of Lebanon to resolve the impasse that has prevented the election of the President since May 2014, by putting aside narrow political interests for the sake of the greater good of a unified Lebanon. This institutional void makes the nation more vulnerable and fragile in the face of the overall situation in the Middle East. The international community must support Lebanon in every way to reacquire institutional normalcy and stability. It must also help it care for the huge number of refugees in its territory, which has created a situation that carries the danger of extremist infiltrations among the hapless refugees.

The conflict in Syria, as Baroness Valerie Amos defined it in her Security Council briefing last March 26, has reached “breathtaking levels of savagery.” The indiscriminate destruction of basic infrastructure, such as water and electricity facilities, hospitals and schools worsens the plight of civilians each passing day. The fall of Idlib, just 37 miles southwest of Aleppo, has sown panic among Aleppo’s population of more than a million people. The ethnic and religious minority groups are particularly anguished. The Holy See calls on the international community to prevent the enormous humanitarian disaster that a siege on and battle over Aleppo will surely provoke. We must do all we can to prevent yet another gross violation of international humanitarian law and of fundamental human rights.

The Holy See reiterates its condemnation in the strongest terms of all attacks and abuses based on ethnic, religious, racial or other grounds. It wishes to remind once again that the disappearance of ethnic and religious minority groups from the Middle East would not only be a religious tragedy, but a loss of a rich patrimony that has contributed so much to the societies to which they belong. That these groups are threatened with extinction causes unfathomable anguish and pain.

Last month in Geneva, before the UN Human Rights Council, 65 countries signed a Statement supporting the human rights of Christians and other communities, particularly in the Middle East. That Statement calls attention to the fact that the instability and conflict in the Middle East seriously threatens the very existence of many religious communities, especially the Christians. It calls on all States to join together and address this alarming situation.

Madam President,

When we call to mind those who have already lost their lives or those who have already been driven out of their homes and even out of their own countries, any action would already be coming too late. But from now on every action to spare even just one person from persecution and from all forms of atrocities is not only timely but urgent.

Pope Francis calls on the international community “not [to] remain mute and inert before such an unacceptable crime” and “not turn a blind eye to this.”1 To watch in complicit silence the horrors of our fellow human beings persecuted, exiled, killed, burned, and beheaded, solely because they hold a different religious creed or they happen to belong to a minority group, can never be an option.

Thank you, Madam President

(from Vatican Radio)

On 19:25

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Pope: our vocation is to care for the covenant of marriage

At his general audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis continued his catechesis on the family, focussing again on the complementarity of men and women.

Pope Francis commented on the second account of the creation of man in Genesis (following his commentary at the previous audience on the first account of man’s creation. The first man, Adam, is created “alone” – and God determines to make for him “a helper suited to him.” When the first woman is presented to the man, he recognizes in her “bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.” Finally there is a mirroring, a reciprocity,” the Pope said. “The woman is not a ‘replica’ of the man; she comes directly from the creative act of God. The image of the ‘rib’ does not in any way express inferiority or subordination, but on the contrary, that man and woman are of the same substance and are complementary.”

God is generous to the man and the woman, confiding the care of the earth to them. But, the Pope said, the “evil one” introduced “suspicion, disbelief, and mistrust” in their minds – and ultimately led them into the first sin.

“The sin generates distrust and division between the man and the woman,” Pope Francis said. “Their relationship will be undermined by a thousand kinds of abuse and subjugation, of deceitful seduction and demeaning humiliations, up to the most dramatic and violent.” He spoke about “the negative excesses of patriarchal cultures… the multiple forms of ‘machismo’… the instrumentalization and commodification of the female body in the current media culture.” But he also warned about “the recent epidemic of distrust, of scepticism, and even of hostility that is spreading throughout our culture – in particular stemming from an understandable diffidence on the part of women – regarding a covenant between man and woman at once of achieving the intimacy of communion and of safeguarding the dignity of difference.”

If we cannot generate sympathy for the covenant between men and women, Pope Francis said, children will be increasingly uprooted. “The social devaluation of the stable and generative covenant of the man and of the woman is certainly a loss for everyone,” he said. “We must recover the honour of marriage and the family.” Pope Francis continued, “the safekeeping of this covenant between man and woman, is therefore for us believers a challenging and exciting vocation” in today’s world.

The Pope concluded his catechesis with the image, from Genesis, of God clothing Adam and Eve after their sin. “It is an image of tenderness towards the sinful couple that leaves us open-mouthed with wonder. It is an image of paternal safeguarding of the human couple. God Himself cures and protects His masterpiece.”

Below please find the English language  summary of the Pope’s catechesis during Wednesday’s General Audience:

Dear Brothers and Sisters: Continuing our catechesis on the family, we recall God’s creation of man from the ground. He is placed in the garden, where he is to care for creation. Yet God sees that man is alone, and so he creates woman, someone complementary with whom man can share his life. Man and woman are created to live a life of reciprocity, to enter into a covenant together. Yet sin introduces discord into their relationship, lack of trust and suspicion. We see throughout history the fruit of this sin, especially towards women – oppression, violence and exploitation. Most recently, this mistrust and scepticism has led our culture to disregard the marriage covenant between a man and a woman, that covenant which deepens communion and safeguards the dignity of their uniqueness. When the stable and fruitful covenant between a man and a woman is devalued by society, it is a loss for everyone, especially the young. For all our sins and weaknesses, our vocation is to care for the covenant of marriage. It is a vital and energizing vocation, through which we cooperate with our heavenly Father, who himself always cares for and protects this great gift.

(from Vatican Radio)

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