VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXIV - # 99
DATE 27-05-2014

Summary:
- FRANCIS ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES: STAND BY THOSE CROSSES WHERE JESUS
CONTINUES TO BE CRUCIFIED
- IN THE CENACLE, WHERE THE CHURCH WAS BORN TO GO FORTH
- FRANCIS: TERRORISM IS BAD IN ITS ORIGINS AND ITS RESULTS
- THE POPE RETURNS TO THE VATICAN AND SPEAKS TO JOURNALISTS ON THE FLIGHT
- HOLY FATHER'S CALENDAR FOR JUNE TO AUGUST 2014
- OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

___________________________________________________________

 FRANCIS ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES: STAND BY THOSE CROSSES WHERE JESUS
CONTINUES TO BE CRUCIFIED
 Vatican City, 26 May 2014 (VIS) - At 11.45 a.m., after a five-kilometre
journey by car, the Holy Father arrived at the Notre Dame of Jerusalem
Centre where he received in audience the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin
Netanyahu. An hour and a half later, the Pontiff was scheduled to lunch
with the papal entourage, but instead he changed his plans and decided to
eat in the refectory of the Convent of San Salvador with the Franciscans.
At 2.15 p.m., after blessing the Tabernacle of the chapel in the centre
built by the Legionaries of Christ in Galilee, he left the centre for the
small Greek Orthodox "Viri - Galilaei" church on the Mount of
Olives. From there he paid a brief private visit to the Ecumenical
Patriarch of Constantinople, after which they both blessed a group of
faithful gathered outside the church. The Pope departed for the Gethsemane
church, located on the slopes of the Mount of Olives and entrusted to the
Custodian of the Holy Land. Upon entry, he venerated the rock upon which
Jesus prayed before his arrest, situated at the foot of the altar. He then
entered, where he was awaited by priests, consecrated persons and
seminarians.
 "At the hour which God had appointed to save humanity from its
enslavement to sin, Jesus came here, to Gethsemane, to the foot of the
Mount of Olives", said the Pope. "We now find ourselves in this
holy place, a place sanctified by the prayer of Jesus, by his agony, by his
sweating of blood, and above all by his 'yes' to the loving will of the
Father. We dread in some sense to approach what Jesus went through at that
hour; we tread softly as we enter that inner space where the destiny of the
world was decided. In that hour, Jesus felt the need to pray and to have
with him his disciples, his friends, those who had followed him and shared
most closely in his mission. But here, at Gethsemane, following him became
difficult and uncertain; they were overcome by doubt, weariness and fright.
As the events of Jesus' passion rapidly unfolded, the disciples would adopt
different attitudes before the Master: attitudes of closeness, distance,
hesitation.
 "Here, in this place, each of us - bishops, priests, consecrated
persons, and seminarians - might do well to ask: Who am I, before the
sufferings of my Lord? Am I among those who, when Jesus asks them to keep
watch with him, fall asleep instead, and rather than praying, seek to
escape, refusing to face reality? Or do I see myself in those who fled out
of fear, who abandoned the Master at the most tragic hour in his earthly
life? Is there perhaps duplicity in me, like that of the one who sold our
Lord for thirty pieces of silver, who was once called Jesus' 'friend', and
yet ended up by betraying him? Do I see myself in those who drew back and
denied him, like Peter? Shortly before, he had promised Jesus that he would
follow him even unto death; but then, put to the test and assailed by fear,
he swore he did not know him. Am I like those who began planning to go
about their lives without him, like the two disciples on the road to
Emmaus, foolish and slow of heart to believe the words of the prophets?
 "Or, thanks be to God, do I find myself among those who remained
faithful to the end, like the Virgin Mary and the Apostle John?" he
continued. "On Golgotha, when everything seemed bleak and all hope
seemed pointless, only love proved stronger than death. The love of the
Mother and the beloved disciple made them stay at the foot of the Cross,
sharing in the pain of Jesus, to the very end. Do I recognise myself in
those who imitated their Master to the point of martyrdom, testifying that
he was everything to them, the incomparable strength sustaining their
mission and the ultimate horizon of their lives? Jesus' friendship with us,
his faithfulness and his mercy, are a priceless gift which encourages us to
follow him trustingly, notwithstanding our failures, our mistakes, also our
betrayals."
 Pope Francis emphasised that "the Lord's goodness does not dispense
us from the need for vigilance before the Tempter, before sin, before the
evil and the betrayal which can enter even into the religious and priestly
life. We are all exposed to sin, to evil, to betrayal. We are fully
conscious of the disproportion between the grandeur of God's call and of
own littleness, between the sublimity of the mission and the reality of our
human weakness. Yet the Lord in his great goodness and his infinite mercy
always takes us by the hand lest we drown in the sea of our fears and
anxieties. He is ever at our side, he never abandons us. And so, let us not
be overwhelmed by fear or disheartened, but with courage and confidence let
us press forward in our journey and in our mission".
 He reminded those present that they were called to follow the Lord with
joy in this holy land. "It is a gift and also a responsibility. Your
presence here is extremely important", and added that the whole Church
was grateful for their work and sustains them with her prayers. He also
offered his greetings to all Christians in Jerusalem: "I would like to
assure them that I remember them affectionately and that I pray for them,
being well aware of the difficulties they experience in this city. I urge
them to be courageous witnesses of the passion of the Lord but also of his
resurrection, with joy and hope". He concluded, "let us imitate
the Virgin Mary and Saint John, and stand by all those crosses where Jesus
continues to be crucified. This is how the Lord calls us to follow him:
this is the path, there is no other! 'Whoever serves me must follow me, and
where I am, there will my servant be also'".

___________________________________________________________

 IN THE CENACLE, WHERE THE CHURCH WAS BORN TO GO FORTH
 Vatican City, 26 May 2014 (VIS) - The Cenacle or "Upper Room",
the first location of the nascent Church and the place in which the
priesthood, the Eucharist and the Reconciliation were instituted, was the
last stage of the Holy Father's pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Francis
celebrated Mass there yesterday afternoon, in which the Ordinaries of the
Holy Land and the clergy in the Pope's entourage concelebrated. Due to
limited space, the ceremony was not open to the public.
 Christian tradition regarding the authenticity of the Upper Room is
ancient and dates back to the third century. In the fourth century the new
church next to the Upper Room, the "Holy Zion", was built.
Destroyed by the Persians in 614, it was restored and then destroyed again
by Muslims. It was in ruins, with the exception of the chapel two floors
from the Upper Room, when the Crusaders arrived in the Holy Land; they
built a basilica with three naves. In 1187, Jerusalem came under the rule
of Saladin, who permitted access to pilgrims and the celebration of the
Eucharist by priests. By the time the Franciscans arrived in the Holy Land
in 1335, the Basilica had been almost entirely destroyed, and so the Friars
rebuilt it and, in addition, established a convent. From then on the
Superior of the Custodians of the Holy Land assumed the title of
"Guardian of Mount Zion". In 1524, the Muslims appropriated the
rooms below the Cenacle, claiming that they were the "Tomb of the
prophet David". Subsequently, an Ottoman decree expelled the
Franciscans from the Upper Room; they were also forced to abandon the
adjacent monastery, and the Cenacle was converted into a mosque to which
Christians were denied access. The building including the Upper Room is
currently the property of the Israeli State (since 1948), but remains under
the jurisdiction of the Waqf (Custodian of Islamic holy places) of Jordan,
exclusively for use for religious purposes. The supreme head of the Waqf is
the Jordan monarch, King Abdullah II.
 "It is a great gift that the Lord has given us by bringing us
together here in the Upper Room for the celebration of the Eucharist",
said the Pope in his homily. "I greet you with fraternal joy and I
wish to express my affection to the Oriental Catholic Patriarchs who have
taken part in my pilgrimage during these days. I want to thank them for
their significant presence, particularly dear to me and I assure them of a
special place in my heart and in my prayers. Here, where Jesus shared the
Last Supper with the apostles; where, after his resurrection, he appeared
in their midst; where the Holy Spirit descended with power upon Mary and
the disciples, here the Church was born, and she was born to go forth. From
here she set out, with the broken bread in her hands, the wounds of Christ
before her eyes, and the Spirit of love in her heart. In the Upper Room,
the risen Jesus, sent by the Father, bestowed upon the apostles his own
Spirit and with his power he sent them forth to renew the face of the
earth. To go forth, to set out, does not mean to forget. The Church, in her
going forth, preserves the memory of what took place here; the Spirit, the
Paraclete, reminds her of every word and every action, and reveals their
true meaning".
 He continued, "The Upper Room speaks to us of service, of Jesus
giving the disciples an example by washing their feet. Washing one
another's feet signifies welcoming, accepting, loving and serving one
another. It means serving the poor, the sick and the outcast, those whom I
find difficult, those who annoy me. The Upper Room reminds us, through the
Eucharist, of sacrifice. In every Eucharistic celebration Jesus offers
himself for us to the Father, so that we too can be united with him,
offering to God our lives, our work, our joys and our sorrows... offering
everything as a spiritual sacrifice. The Upper Room also reminds us of
friendship. 'No longer do I call you servants - Jesus said to the Twelve -
but I have called you friends'. The Lord makes us his friends, he reveals
God's will to us and he gives us his very self. This is the most beautiful
part of being a Christian and, especially, of being a priest: becoming a
friend of the Lord Jesus, and discovering in our hearts that he is our
friend. The Upper Room reminds us of the Teacher's farewell and his promise
to return to his friends: 'When I go... I will come again and will take you
to myself, that where I am you may be also'. Jesus does not leave us, nor
does he ever abandon us; he precedes us to the house of the Father, where
he desires to bring us as well".
 "The Upper Room, however, also reminds us of pettiness, of curiosity
- 'Who is the traitor?' - and of betrayal. We ourselves, and not just
others, can reawaken those attitudes whenever we look at our brother or
sister with contempt, whenever we judge them, whenever by our sins we
betray Jesus. The Upper Room reminds us of sharing, fraternity, harmony and
peace among ourselves. How much love and goodness has flowed from the Upper
Room! How much charity has gone forth from here, like a river from its
source, beginning as a stream and then expanding and becoming a great
torrent. All the saints drew from this source; and hence the great river of
the Church's holiness continues to flow: from the Heart of Christ, from the
Eucharist and from the Holy Spirit".
 "Lastly, the Upper Room reminds us of the birth of the new family,
the Church, our holy Mother the hierarchical Church established by the
risen Jesus; a family that has a Mother, the Virgin Mary. Christian
families belong to this great family, and in it they find the light and
strength to press on and be renewed, amid the challenges and difficulties
of life. All God's children, of every people and language, are invited and
called to be part of this great family, as brothers and sisters and sons
and daughters of the one Father in heaven".
 "These horizons are opened up by the Upper Room, the horizons of the
Risen Lord and his Church", concluded the Holy Father. "From here
the Church goes forth, impelled by the life-giving breath of the Spirit.
Gathered in prayer with the Mother of Jesus, the Church lives in constant
expectation of a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Send forth your
Spirit, Lord, and renew the face of the earth!".

--- MPost/386 v1.21