VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXIV - # 77
DATE 28-04-2014

Summary:
- THE POPE RECEIVES KING JUAN CARLOS AND QUEEN SOFIA OF SPAIN
- THE POPE: DO NOT BE AFRAID, THINK OF THE YOUNG APOSTLES
- FOURTH MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF CARDINALS
- COMMUNIQUE OF THE COMMISSION OF CARDINALS ON THE INSTITUTE FOR THE WORKS
OF RELIGION (IOR)
- MASS OF THANKSGIVING FOR THE CANONISATION OF JOHN PAUL II
- OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

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 THE POPE RECEIVES KING JUAN CARLOS AND QUEEN SOFIA OF SPAIN
 Vatican City, 28 April 2014 (VIS) - This morning, in the study adjacent to
Paul VI Hall, Pope Francis received King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of
Spain, who then went on to meet with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro
Parolin, accompanied by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for
Relations with States.
 During the cordial discussions the Parties remarked on the good relations
between the Holy See and Spain, which have been increasingly consolidated
in the spirit of the 1979 Agreements. In this context, mention was made of
some current issues regarding the Church's mission in society and the
situation of the country.
 This was followed by an exchange of views on matters of an international
nature, with special reference to various situations of crisis.

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 THE POPE: DO NOT BE AFRAID, THINK OF THE YOUNG APOSTLES
 Vatican City, 28 April 2014 (VIS) - The Holy Father Francis has sent a
video message to the young of Buenos Aires for National Youth Day. The
message, in which the Pope speaks off the cuff, had been requested in
advance by Cardinal Mario Aurelio Poli, archbishop of Buenos Aires, and was
rebroadcast on Saturday afternoon.
 "While making this recording I was thinking of what they would
say", says the Pope in the video. "'What are you going?', I have
already said. 'That they must not be afraid': I have already told them'.
'That they are free': I have already said so. Then some of the young people
in the Gospel came to mind. The young people who came across Jesus, or
those he spoke about. ... I thought about the young apostles, the young
rich man, the prodigal son who seeks a new life with his father's
inheritance, the widow's son, dead; ... how they were moved by Jesus,
filled with enthusiasm, with that wonder that comes from the encounter with
Jesus. .. And some of the apostles faltered, some did not behave so well.
... There is the struggle to be faithful to this encounter, the encounter
with Jesus. ... God is very good", he continues. "God takes
advantage of our failures to speak to our hearts. God doesn't say, 'You're
a failure, look what you have done'. He reasons with us".
 Pope Francis lists a number of examples of young men in the Gospel, and
remarked that young women might complain, "'Father, you are unjust ...
your examples are all men. What about us?' ... You aspire in your lives to
consolidate tenderness and fidelity. You are on the path of the women who
followed Jesus, through thick and thin. Women have the great gift of being
able to give life, of being able to give tenderness, of being able to give
peace and joy. There is one model for you, Mary: the woman of fidelity, who
did not understand what was happening to her but obeyed nonetheless; who,
as soon as she knew her cousin needed her, ran to her, the Virgin of
Readiness. Mary, who helped to raise her Son and to accompany Him, and
followed Him when he began to preach; who suffered through all that
happened to the boy as he grew. She who stayed by His side and told Him of
problems: 'Look, they have no wine'. She who, at the moment of the Cross,
stayed next to Him. ... You are women of the Church ... who is female, like
Mary. This is your place. Being Church, forming the Church, being with
Jesus, with tenderness, to accompany the Church and help her grow".
 Pope Francis joked with the young women, with a cheerful tone and
Argentine accent, "So don't be angry, you got a better deal than the
men!", and he commended them to "Mary, Lady of the Caress, Lady
of Tenderness, Lady of the Readiness to Serve", who shows them the
way. Addressing all the young people, he concluded, "May each one of
you encounter Jesus, the Risen Jesus. And I say one thing to you: do not be
afraid! Look at Jesus, look at Mary, and go forward!".

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 FOURTH MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF CARDINALS
 Vatican City, 28 April 2014 (VIS) - The fourth meeting of the Council of
Cardinals with the Holy Father began this morning, and will continue during
the 29 and 30 April. The Council of Cardinals was instituted by Pope
Francis to help him in the governance of the universal Church and to draw
up a project for the revision of the apostolic constitution "Pastor
Bonus" on the Roman Curia.

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 COMMUNIQUE OF THE COMMISSION OF CARDINALS ON THE INSTITUTE FOR THE WORKS
OF RELIGION (IOR)
 Vatican City, 28 April 2014 (VIS) - Today at 9 a.m., at the premises of
the Institute for the Works of Religion, the Supervisory Commission of
Cardinals met in order to draw up guidelines for their action. Furthermore,
it was decided that the Supervisory Commission will initially meet thrice
yearly, notwithstanding special circumstances necessitating other meetings.

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 MASS OF THANKSGIVING FOR THE CANONISATION OF JOHN PAUL II
 Vatican City, 28 April 2014 (VIS) - At 10 a.m. today in St. Peter's Square
Cardinal Angelo Comastri, vicar general of His Holiness for Vatican City
and archpriest of the Vatican Basilica, presided at a Mass of thanksgiving
for the canonisation of John Paul II.
 The Eucharist was preceded by a greeting from Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz,
archbishop of Krakow, Poland, who was the new saint's secretary.
"Yesterday", he said, addressing the thousands of faithful who
filled the Square, "two Blessed Popes were inscribed among the Saints:
the first, John XXIII, a son of the land of Italy, who merited the title of
the 'Good Pope'. It was he who announced Vatican Council II, more than half
a century ago. The second of the new Saints, John Paul II, son of Poland,
the Pope of Divine Mercy, consequently gave life to the decision of the
Council and led the Church into the third millennium of Christian
faith".
 "We thank God for this dual gift. We offer thanks for the
extraordinarily transparent witness of love and service of both these
pastors. ... For this dual gift we offer our most heartfelt thanks to the
Holy Father Francesco. Let us thank him because already in the first year
of his pontificate he took the decision to canonise his Predecessors,
setting the date for Divine Mercy Sunday", added the cardinal
archbishop, who concluded his address by offering thanks on behalf of his
compatriots "to Italy and all of her inhabitants for having welcomed
Karol Wojtyla many years ago, as bishop and pope, as he arrived in Rome
'from a far away country'". Italy became a second homeland to him.
Today John Paul II will surely bless her from on high, just as he surely
blesses Poland and the entire world. There was a place in his heart for all
nations, cultures and languages".
 Cardinal Comastri recalled John Paul II's words: "The saints do not
ask us to applaud them; they ask that we imitate them", and urged the
pilgrims to imitate the new saint who had "the courage to openly
defend faith in Jesus in an age of 'silent apostasy on the part of people
who have all that they need and who live as if God does not exist' ... to
defend the family, to defend human life, to defend peace while the grim
winds of war blew ... to encounter the young to free them from the culture
of emptiness and the ephemeral and to invite them to welcome Christ, the
sole light of life and the only one able to bring the fullness of joy to
the human heart".

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 OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
 Vatican City, 28 April 2014 (VIS) - The Holy Father has accepted the
resignation from the office of auxiliary of the archdiocese of Dhaka,
Bangladesh, presented by Bishop Theotonius Gomes C.S.C., upon reaching the
age limit.

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