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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