VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 141
DATE 29-07-2014

Summary:
- POPE FRANCIS' APOSTOLIC TRIP TO SRI LANKA AND THE PHILIPPINES
- THE POPE TO THE PENTECOSTAL CHURCH: WE ARE ON THE PATH TOWARDS UNITY
- FIFTY THOUSAND MINISTRANTS IN PILGRIMAGE TO ROME

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 POPE FRANCIS' APOSTOLIC TRIP TO SRI LANKA AND THE PHILIPPINES
 Vatican City, 29 July 2014 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office today
announced that His Holiness Francis, accepting the invitation from the
civil authorities and the bishops, will make an Apostolic trip to Sri Lanka
from 12 to 15 January and the Philippines from 15 to 19 January 2015. The
program for the trip will be published shortly.

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 THE POPE TO THE PENTECOSTAL CHURCH: WE ARE ON THE PATH TOWARDS UNITY
 Vatican City, 29 July 2014 (VIS) - Unity in diversity and the plea for
forgiveness for the lack of understanding shown by some Catholics towards
their Pentecostal brothers were the key themes of the Pope's address at the
Pentecostal Church of the Reconciliation in Caserta yesterday, during his
meeting with his friend, the pastor Giovanni Traettino, whom he known for
many years, both in Buenos Aires and as bishop of Rome, engaged in
ecumenism. The meeting took place in a cheerful and intimate atmosphere,
and was attended by 200 people, mostly Pentecostals from Italy, the United
States and Argentina, as well as other countries. "With men like
you", said Pastor Traettino to his friend, Pope Francis, "there
is hope for us, as Christians".
 The Pope's address responded to the discourse pronounced by Pastor
Traettino, who had remarked that the presence of Jesus and walking in the
presence of Jesus should be at the centre of our life. Francis remarked
that "walk" was God's first commandment to his people,
represented by Abraham - "walk before me faithfully and be
blameless" - and added, "I don't understand a Christian who
stands still! I don't understand a Christian who doesn't walk. A Christian
must walk ... because that which is still, that does not move ahead,
becomes corrupt. Like still water, which is the first to become stagnant.
... There are Christians who confuse walking and moving ahead with moving
around. These, instead, are errants who saunter here and there; these are
people who lack parrhesia, the boldness to go ahead; they lack hope".
 He went on to cite the story of Jacob who, during a time of famine, sent
his eleven sons - ten of whom were guilty of betrayal, having sold their
brother Joseph - to Egypt to buy grain. There, they once again found
Joseph, who in the meantime had become the vizier. "When we walk in
God's presence, we find brotherhood", asserted the Pope. "When
instead we stop, we scrutinise each other too much, and we set out on
another path, that of gossip. ... And in this way it begins, from the first
moment the division of the Church began. And it is not the Holy Spirit who
causes division! ... From the very beginning there has been this temptation
in the Christian community. 'I am from this group, you are from that one',
'No! I am the Church, you are a sect', and so on. ... The Holy Spirit
creates diversity in the Church ... diversity, rich and beautiful. But, at
the same time, the Holy Spirit creates unity, and so the Church is one in
her diversity. To borrow a phrase used by an evangelical, a phrase I love,
it is the 'reconciled diversity' of the Holy Spirit, Who creates both of
these things: diversity in charisms, and harmony in charisms".
 To offer an image of how unity in the Church could be, Pope Francis first
described a sphere, all of whose points are equidistant from the centre.
This, he said, was an example of uniformity, and "the Holy Spirit does
not create uniformity". "Let us imagine, instead, a polyhedron:
it is an example of unity, but with many different parts, each with its own
peculiarity and charism. This is unity in diversity. This is the path that
we Christians take, giving it the theological name of ecumenism: we seek to
ensure that this diversity is harmonised by the Holy Spirit and becomes a
unity; we seek to walk in the presence of God to be blameless".
 Pastor Traettino had also referred to the incarnation of Jesus, and the
Holy Father responded that "the incarnation of the Word is the
foundation - it is Jesus Christ! God and man, Son of God and Son of man,
true God and true man. This is how the first Christians understood Him to
be and they fought hard to maintain this truth: the Lord is God and man. It
is the mystery of Christ's flesh. ... I love the poor, the widow, the
slave, the imprisoned. ... I love them all, as these people who suffer are
Christ's flesh. ... It is not possible to preach a purely intellectual
Gospel: the Gospel is the truth but it is also love and beauty! And this is
the joy of the Gospel!".
 "On this path, many times we have done the same thing as the brothers
of Joseph, when jealous and envy have divided us", he remarked.
"That sad story in which the Gospel for some was lived as truth and
they did not realise that behind this attitude there were bad things,
things that were not the Lord's, an ugly attempt at division. That sad
history, in which there are repeated the same things that Joseph's brother
did: denouncements, the laws of these people who 'are against the purity of
the race'. ... And these laws were ratified by baptised persons! Some of
those who enacted these laws, and some of those who persecuted, denounced
their pentecostal brothers because they were 'enthusiastic', almost
'crazy', who spoiled the race. ... I am a pastor of Catholics, and I beg
forgiveness for this. I ask your forgiveness on behalf of those Catholic
brothers and sisters who did not understand and who were tempted by the
devil, and who did the same thing that Joseph's brothers did. I ask the
Lord for the grace to recognise and to forgive".
 Pope Francis went on to comment on Pastor Traettino's words, "The
truth is an encounter". "An encounter between people", he
emphasised. "The truth is not made in a laboratory, it is made in
life, seeking Jesus in order to find Him. But the greatest and most
beautiful mystery is that when we find Jesus, we realise that He sought us
first, that He had found us first, because He arrives before us. I like to
use the Spanish verb 'primerea' to describe this, meaning that He precedes
us, and always awaits us. ... That encounter that transforms us: everything
comes from that encounter. This is the path of Christian sanctity: seeking
Jesus every day in order to meet him, and letting oneself be sought and
found by Jesus every day".
 "We are on that path of unity, among brothers", he concluded.
"Some people will be surprised: they will say, the Pope has gone to
the evangelicals! He has gone to meet his brothers! Yes! Because - and this
is the truth - they came to me first, in Buenos Aires. ... And so this
friendship began, this closeness between the pastors in Buenos Aires, and
here today. I thank you, and I ask you to pray for me, as I need your
prayers".
 Following the meeting, in the mid afternoon, the Pope returned to the
Vatican by helicopter.

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 FIFTY THOUSAND MINISTRANTS IN PILGRIMAGE TO ROME
 Vatican City, 29 July 2014 (VIS) - From 4 to 8 August, more than fifty
thousand ministrants from Germany, Austria and Switzerland will make a
pilgrimage to Rome, a trip organised every August by German dioceses. This
event is intended to strengthen the spiritual potential of an group that is
important to German pastoral ministry, consisting of more than 430,00
children, adolescents and young adults who carry out altar service.
 The week's program includes diocesan religious functions, guided tours on
themes related to history, culture and spirituality, and cultural and
religious excursions including a trip to Assisi. However, the key moment of
the pilgrimage, eagerly awaited by all the participants, will be the
audience with Pope Francis, who will receive them in the Vatican on
Tuesday, 5 August.

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