The Holy Father comments that "the renewal brought by Vatican Council
II opened up the way, and it is a special joy that the canonisation of Pope
Roncalli should take place alongside that of Blessed John Paul II, who
continued this renewal during his long pontificate". He expresses his
hope that "civil society too may always draw inspiration from the life
of Bergamo's Pope and from the environment that he generated, searching new
ways, adapted to the times, of building co-existence based on the perennial
values of fraternity and solidarity".

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 THE POPE RECALLS THE INFECTIOUS JOY OF ST. JOSE DE ANCHIETA
 Vatican City, 25 April 2014 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon celebrated Mass in
the Roman church of St. Ignatius of Loyola to give thanks for the
canonisation of the Jesuit father St. Jose de Anchieta S.J. (1534-1597),
evangeliser of Brazil, linguist, dramatist and founder of the cities of Sao
Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980, Pope
Francis extended his liturgical cult to the universal Church on 3 April, a
process equivalent to canonisation.
 In his homily, the Pope commented on the Gospel story of the disciples of
Emmaus who relate their experience to Peter, who has also seen the Risen
Christ; then shortly after Christ Himself appears in the room. "The
disciples cannot believe their joy; they cannot believe because of their
joy", he said. "It is a moment of wonder, of encounter with Jesus
Christ, in which there seems to be too much joy to be true; indeed, to
assume the joy and wonder of that moment seems risky to us and we are
tempted to take refuge in scepticism, in 'not exaggerating'. It is easier
to believe in a spirit than in the living Christ! It is easier to go to a
necromancer who predicts the future, who reads cards, than to trust in the
hope of a triumphant Christ, a Christ who vanquishes death! An idea or
imagination is easier to believe than the docility of this Lord who rises
again from death, and what he invites us to! This process of relativising
faith ends up distancing us from the encounter, distancing us from God's
caress. It is as if we 'distilled' the reality of the encounter with Jesus
Christ in the still of fear, in the still of excessive security, of wanting
to control the encounter ourselves. The disciples were afraid of joy ...
and so are we".
 He went on to speak about the reading from the Acts of the Apostles which
narrates the healing of the paralytic, prostrate at the door of the Temple,
begging. Peter and John were unable to give him anything he sought: neither
gold nor silver, but they cure him by offering him what they have: the name
of Jesus. The crippled man's joy is contagious and, in the midst of the
hubbub Peter announces the message. "The joy of the encounter with
Jesus Christ, which it is so frightening for us to accept, is infectious
and cries out the message: and this is how the Church grows! The paralytic
believes, because 'the Church does not grow by proselytism, but by
attraction'; the testimonial attraction of this joy that proclaims Jesus
Christ. It is a witness born of joy, accepted and then transformed into
proclamation. It is the foundational joy ... without this joy, a Church
cannot be founded! A Christian community cannot be established! It is an
apostolic joy that irradiates and expands".
 Also St. Jose de Anchieta knew how to communicate what he had experienced
with the Lord, what he had seen and heard from Him ... and, along with
Nobrega, he was the first Jesuit Ignatius send to America. He was a boy
aged nineteen. He had so much joy that he was able to found a nation: he
put in place the cultural foundations of a nation, in Jesus Christ. He had
not studied theology, and he had not studied philosophy; he was a boy! But
he had felt the gaze of Jesus Christ, and he had let himself be filled with
joy, and chose light. This was and is his holiness. He was not afraid of
joy".
 The Bishop of Rome concluded by mentioning that St. Jose de Anchieta had a
beautiful hymn to the Virgin Mary, to whom he compared the message of
peace, that proclaims the joy of the Good News. "May she, who in that
Sunday dawn, sleepless with hope, was not afraid of joy, accompany us on
our pilgrimage, inviting us all to rise, to set our paralyses aside, to
enter together into the peace and joy that Jesus, the Risen Lord, promises
us".

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 AUDIENCES
 Vatican City, 25 April 2014 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in audience:
 - Thirteen prelates of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference:
 - Bishop Xolelo Thaddeus Kumalo of Eshowe;
 - Bishop Zolile Peter Mpambani of Kokstad;
 - Bishop Pius Mlungisi Dlungwane of Mariannhill;
 - Bishop Stanis?aw Jan Dziuba of Umzimkulu;
 - Archbishop Buti Joseph Tlhagale of Johannesburg, apostolic administrator
"Sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis" of Klerksdorp;
 - Bishop Jose Luis Gerardo Ponce de Leon of Manzini, Swaziland, apostolic
administrator "Sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis" of the
apostolic vicariate of Ingwavuma;
 - Bishop Giuseppe Sandri of Witbank;
 - Archbishop William Matthew Slattery of Pretoria, military ordinary for
South Africa;
 - Bishop Valentine Tsama Seane of Gaborone, Botswana;
 - Bishop Jeremiah Madimetja Masela of Polokwane;
 - Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg;
 - Bishop Joao Noe Rodrigues of Tzaneen;
 - Bishop Frank Atese Nubuasah of Pauzera, apostolic vicar of Francistown, Botswana.
 - Cardinal Polycarp Pengo, archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
 - Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

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 OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
 Vatican City, 25 April 2014 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:
 - appointed Rev. Paul Simick as apostolic vicar of Nepal (area 147,180,
population 28,610,000, Catholics 7,950, priests 71, religious 170). The
bishop-elect was born in Gitdubling, India in 1963 and was ordained a
priest in 1992. He holds a licentiate and a doctorate in biblical theology
from the Pontifical Urbaniana University, Rome, and has served in a number
of pastoral roles, including priest of the "Christ the King"
parish, Pakyong, India; dean of the East Sikkim Deanery; bursar and
subsequently deputy head of St. Xavier's School, Pakyong. He succeeds
Bishop Anthony Francis Sharma, S.J., whose resignation upon reaching the
age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.
 - appointed Archbishop Anselmo Guido Pecorari, formerly apostolic nuncio
in Uruguay, as apostolic nuncio in Bulgaria.

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 NOTICE
 Vatican City, 25 April 2014 (VIS) - We inform our readers that, due to the
canonisation of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II this coming Sunday, the
Vatican Information Service will transmit special editions of its daily
bulletin on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 April.

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