VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 117
DATE 25-06-2014

Summary:
- NAME: CHRISTIAN. SURNAME: BELONGING TO THE CHURCH
- THE POPE LAUNCHES A CAMPAIGN TO HELP AFRICAN ALBINOS
- THE SITUATION OF THE FRANCISCANS OF THE IMMACULATE AND THE LEGIONARIES OF CHRIST
- THE AIF COLLABORATES WITH ARGENTINA AGAINST MONEY LAUNDERING AND THE
FINANCING OF TERRORISM
- OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

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 NAME: CHRISTIAN. SURNAME: BELONGING TO THE CHURCH
 Vatican City, 25 June 2014 (VIS) - This morning in St. Peter's Square the
Holy Father, in his general audience, continued to speak about the People
of God, a theme that he began to explore last Wednesday. Today he
highlighted the importance for a Christian of belonging to this people, and
reiterated that we are not isolated Christians. "Belonging is our
identity", he said. "We are Christians because we belong to the
Church. It is like a surname: if our name is 'I am Christian', our surname
is 'I belong to the Church'.
 "No-one becomes a Christian alone; we must think first, with
gratitude, of all those who have preceded us", he continued. "If
we believe, if we pray, if we know the Lord and are able to listen to His
Word, we feel close to Him and recognise Him in our brethren, and because
others before us have lived faith and transmitted it to us, have taught us.
The Church is a family in which one is welcomed and learns to live as
believers and disciples of the Lord Jesus". The Pope explained that
this is a path that one may undertake not thanks to others, but rather
united with others, and emphasised that a "do-it-yourself Church"
does not exist.
 "How many times did Benedict XVI describe the Church as an
ecclesiastical 'we'? Often we hear people say, 'I believe in God, I believe
in Jesus, but I am not interested in the Church...". There are those
who believe they can have a personal relationship, direct and immediate,
with Jesus Christ removed from communion and the mediation of the Church.
They are dangerous and damaging temptations. They are, as the great Paul VI
said, absurd dichotomies. It is true that to walk together is challenging
and difficult. ... But the Lord has entrusted his message of salvation to
human beings, to all all of us, as witnesses; and it is in our brothers and
sisters, with their gifts and their limits, that it comes towards us and is
revealed to us. And this is what belonging to the Church means. Remember:
being Christian means belonging to the Church".
 Before concluding, the Pope asked that the Lord, by the intercession of
the Virgin Mary, might grant us the grace never to give in to the
temptation to think we can do without other people, that we can do without
the Church and save ourselves alone, that we can be 'laboratory
Christians'. On the contrary, it is not possible to love God without loving
one's brethren, it is not possible to love God outside the Church; it is
not possible to be in communion with God without being in communion with
the Church, and we cannot be good Christians other than by staying together
with those who follow the Lord Jesus, as one people, a single body".
 Following his catechesis, the Pope greeted a delegation from the Bethlehem
University, the first university founded in the West Bank and inspired by
the principles of the schools established by the De La Salle Christian
brothers, which celebrates its fortieth anniversary this year. He gave
special thanks to them for their "laudable academic activity in
support of the Palestinian people".

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 THE POPE LAUNCHES A CAMPAIGN TO HELP AFRICAN ALBINOS
 Vatican City, 25 June 2014 (VIS) - Pope Francis recorded his voice last 30
November, reading several passages from the book "Ombra Bianco"
("White Shadow") by the Italian author Cristiano Gentile, which
seeks to raise public awareness of the situation experienced by albinos in
Africa: a population often rejected and repudiated. The Holy Father was
invited by the writer to close an international symposium on Africa
organised by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
 The reading and the Pope's testimony form part of a universal message of
peace and brotherhood, addressed on this occasion to African albinos,
living symbols of the absolute periphery, the "last of the last".
 Today, 25 July, sees the launch of the international awareness campaign,
"Help African Albinos", on the site
www.ombrabianca.com. Any person can follow the Pope's example and lend
their voice, reading in Italian, with a multilingual translation system, a
phrase from the novel, thus participating in the creation of the first
social audio-book ever created. It will be the audio-book read by the
greatest number of people in the world and will symbolically give voice to
those who have none. The international campaign has the hashtag
#HelpAfricanAlbinos and will launch a petition in 6 languages on the site
www.change.org to demonstrate closeness and ask for concrete help for
African albinos, which will be made possible thanks to a partnership with
various NGOs, including Doctors with Africa-CUAMM.
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 THE SITUATION OF THE FRANCISCANS OF THE IMMACULATE AND THE LEGIONARIES OF CHRIST
 Vatican City, 25 June 2014 (VIS) - The director of the Holy See Press
Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., has made public the answers received
from the secretary of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated
Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life in relation to various questions
on the Franciscans of the Immaculate and the Legionaries of Christ,
published in full below:
 "The Franciscans of the Immaculate: both the commissioner, Fr. Volpi,
and all the seminarians of the Franciscans of the Immaculate were received
by the Holy Father on 10 June at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, a gesture that
demonstrates the interest with which Pope Francis follows the situation of
the Franciscans of the Immaculate and his closeness to the work that the
commissioner is carrying out in the name of the Congregation for the
Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life. The
Holy Father is punctually informed of all the steps as they taken. At the
moment a house in Rome is being sought to accommodate the Friars, brothers
of the aforementioned Institute, who attend a Pontifical university in Rome
to pursue their studies.
 The Legionaries: as anticipated, with the celebration of the General
Chapter the Institute has returned to the competence of the Congregation
for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life.
This progression has ended the work of the Apostolic delegate. As a gesture
of fraternal closeness, the prefect and the secretary of the dicastery will
meet on 3 July at the Legionaries' central seat to comment personally on
various corrections that need to be made to the text of the Constitutions
presented to the dicastery, and to communicate the name of the Pontifical
assistant. The corrections to the text of the Constitutions are very few in
number. With regard to the assistant, the role will be assumed by a
consecrated person, as anticipated, who knows the Legionaries and will be
able to be of help to the general Council on legal and other themes,
according to need. It is to be noted that this figure is an assistant, not
a visitator, commissioner or delegate. The assistant has neither a voice
nor a vote, and is merely an assessor, and was agreed upon before the
general Chapter.
 The governor general of the Legionaries attended the Congregation
following the Chapter to meet the prefect and the secretary. On that
occasion, the director general had expressed the wish to receive the
prefect and secretary of the dicastery at the seat of the Legionaries. For
this reason Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz and Archbishop Jose Rodriguez
Carballo will make their visit on 3 July.

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 THE AIF COLLABORATES WITH ARGENTINA AGAINST MONEY LAUNDERING AND THE
FINANCING OF TERRORISM
 Vatican City, 25 June 2014 (VIS) - The Autorita Informazione Finanziaria
(AIF), the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Holy See and Vatican City
State, has formalised its bilateral cooperation with Argentina, signing a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at the Vatican on Tuesday.
 The MOU was signed in the Palazzo San Carlo by the director of the AIF,
Rene Bruelhart, and the president of the Unidad de Informacion Financiera
(UIF) of Argentina, Jose Sbattella.
 "We're very pleased to have signed this MOU with Argentina
today", Bruelhart said. "This is an important step to further
expand the network to support global efforts to fight money laundering and
the financing of terrorism. We're looking forward to fruitful cooperation
with Argentina, which will be beneficial to both parties".
 A Memorandum of Understanding is standard practice and formalises the
cooperation and exchange of financial information to fight money laundering
and combat terrorist financing across borders between the competent
authorities of both countries. It is based on the model Memorandum of
Understanding prepared by the Egmont Group, the global organisation of
national Financial Intelligence Units, and contains clauses on reciprocity,
permitted uses of information and confidentiality.
 AIF became a member of the Egmont Group in July of 2013, and has already
signed MOUs with the Financial Intelligence Units of more than a dozen
countries, including the U.K., the United States, France, Spain, Italy and
Germany.
 AIF is the competent authority of the Holy See/Vatican City State to fight
money laundering and the financing of terrorism. It was established in
2010.

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 OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
 Vatican City, 25 June 2014 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:
 - eliminated the diocese of Guiratinga, Brazil, distributing its territory
between the current dioceses of Rondonopolis, Barra do Garcas and
Paranatinga.
 - renamed the diocese of Rondonopolis, Brazil, now Rondonopolis - Guiratinga.
 - erected the diocese of Primavera do Leste - Parataninga, Brazil.
 - appointed Bishop Derek John Christopher Byrne, SPS., of Guiratinga,
Brazil, as first bishop of Primavera do Leste - Parataninga (area 98,056,
population 170,000, Catholics 127,500, priests 24, religious 22), Brazil.
 - confirmed the election of Abbot Hryhoriy Komar as auxiliary of the
Ukrainian eparchy of Sambir - Drohobych, Ukraine. The bishop-elect was born
in Letnya, Ukraine in 1976 and was ordained a priest in 2001. He is
currently vicar general of the same diocese. He holds a licentiate in
oriental theology, and has served as a teacher and collaborator in several
parishes.

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