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L’O S S E RVATOR E ROMANOWEEKLY EDITION

Unicuique suum

IN ENGLISHNon praevalebunt

Fifty-third year, number 23 (2.650) Vatican City Friday, 5 June 2020

Without the Holy Spiritthe mission is propaganda

To heal the famine of hopeThe Holy Father celebrates Mass for the Solemnity of Pentecost in the Vatican Basilica

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FOR THE POPE’S H O M I LY, SEE PA G E 6

At the General Audience Francis expresses concern about the protests in the US after the tragic death of George Floyd

Racism is a sin that cannot be toleratedRecalling that with violence nothing is achieved he launches an appeal for national reconciliation

ANDREA TORNIELLI

Speaking to the General Assembly ofthe Ecumenical Council of Churches,on 5 July 1968, Ignatius, then Metro-politan of Latakia (Laodicea), spokeabout the action of the Holy Spirit inthe life of the Church and in each be-liever, with these words: “He himself isthis New Thing at work in the world.He is the presence of God-with-us and‘bearing witness with our spirit’.Without him (Holy Spirit) God is faraway, Christ belongs to the past, andthe Gospel is a dead letter, the Churchis merely an organization, authority isdomination, mission is propaganda,worship is an evocation, and Christianaction is a slave-morality”.

On the joyful day of Pentecostrendered even more festive by thePop e’s return to the window, with SaintPe t e r ’s Square once again populatedwith faithful, the Church is aware oncemore of her missionary task. A taskthat does not originate from projects orpastoral plans, but from the grateful re-verberation of a gift received, lived inthe simplicity and ordinary nature ofChristian life. “The mission, the‘Church on the move’, is not a pro-gramme, an enterprise to be carried outby sheer force of will” — Francis wrotein his Message for World Mission Day2020, quoting a passage from his inter-view book “Senza di Lui non possiamofare nulla” — “It is Christ who makesthe Church go out of herself. In the

mission of evangelization, you movebecause the Holy Spirit pushes you,and carries you”.

On the day of Pentecost, during hishomily for the Mass he celebrated inSaint Peter’s Basilica, the Pope said:“we discover that the first task of theChurch is proclamation. Yet we alsosee that the Apostles devised nostrategy; when they were locked inthere, in the Upper Room, they werenot strategizing, no, they were notdrafting any pastoral plan...”. Both thehomily and the Message for WorldMissionary Day are linked to anotherimportant Message, the one that in re-cent days Francis sent to the PontificalMissionary Societies (PMS). In thatdocument — quickly filed away or in-terpreted as a confirmation of projectsalready underway — the Pope recalledthat the horizon of the Church’s mis-sion is the normalcy of everyday life,not elitist upper rooms, and that Jesusmet his first disciples while they wereinvolved in their daily work, not “at aconvention, a training workshop, or inthe Temple”. Francis did not proposeprojects of reform or of new foundationto the network of Pontifical MissionSocieties. Speaking clearly about aquite present and ever timely risk, heasked the PMS not to complicate whatis simple, suggesting instead that theycontinue to be an instrument at the ser-vice of the Pope and the localC h u rc h e s .

Across the USA, after peaceful proteststurned to violence in response to the blatantkilling of George Floyd, an unarmed AfricanAmerican, at the hands of police in Min-neapolis, Pope Francis raised his voice at theGeneral Audience on Wednesday, 3 June, ashe addressed the faithful from the Vatican'sApostolic Palace.

He addressed his thoughts directly to his“brothers and sisters in the United States”,expressing his “great concern” for “the dis-turbing social unrest in your nation in thesepast days, following the tragic death of MrGeorge Floyd”.

Condemning the sin of racism everywhere,he stressed that “we cannot tolerate or turn ablind eye to racism and exclusion in anyform and yet claim to defend the sac re d nessof every human life”, and recalled the words

of the Archbishop of Los Angeles in stating,“the violence of recent nights is self-destruct-ive and self-defeating. Nothing is gained byviolence and so much is lost”.

The Holy Father then joined “the Churchin Saint Paul and Minneapolis, and in theentire United States, in praying for the re-pose of the soul of George Floyd and of allthose others who have lost their lives as aresult of the sin of racism”, and asked thefaithful to join him in imploring “the nation-al reconciliation and peace for which weyearn”, praying especially to “Our Lady ofGuadalupe, Mother of America”, whom heasked to “intercede for all those who workfor peace and justice in your land andthroughout the world”.

PAGE 3

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page 2 L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO Friday, 5 June 2020, number 23

VAT I C A NBULLETIN

AUDIENCES

Tuesday, 26 May

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, Prefect ofthe Congregation for the Causes ofSaintsFriday, 29 May

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Arch-bishop emeritus of Lyon, France,with a delegation from the LàzareCommunitySaturday, 30 May

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, PSS, Prefectof the Congregation for BishopsCardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle,Prefect of the Congregation for theEvangelization of Peoples

NEW DIO CESE

The Holy Father has established theEcclesiastical Province of Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo, atthe same time elevating the dioceseto a Metropolitan Church. The newprovince of Pointe-Noire will haveas suffragan Churches the diocesesof Dolisie and Nkayi. It will becalled the Ecclesiastical Province ofthe South-West. The Holy Fatherappointed Bishop Miguel ÁngelOlaverri Arroniz, SDB, of Pointe-Noire, as Metropolitan Archbishop.Until now he has served as Bishopof Pointe-Noire (30 May).

Archbishop Olaverri Arroniz, 72,was born in Pamplona, Spain. Hewas ordained a priest on 5 May 1976.He was ordained a bishop on 28April 2013, subsequent to his ap-pointment as Bishop of Pointe-N o i re .

The Holy Father has established theEcclesiastical Province of Owando,Republic of the Congo, elevating itto a Metropolitan Church; and as-signing as suffragan Churches thedioceses of Impfondo and Ouesso.The Province will also be called theEcclesiastical Province of the North.The Holy Father appointed BishopVictor Abagna Mossa as Metro p oli-tan Archbishop. Until now he hasserved as Bishop of Owando (30May).

Archbishop Abagna Mossa, 73,was born in Makoua, Republic ofthe Congo. He was ordained a prieston 29 December 1974. He was or-dained a bishop on 26 March 2011,subsequent to his appointment asBishop of Owando.

CHANGES IN EP I S C O PAT E

The Holy Father accepted the resig-nation of Bishop Eugène LambertAdrian Rixen from his office asBishop of Goiás, Brazil (27 May).The Holy Father appointed Fr JeováElias Ferreira as Bishop of Goiás.Until now he has served as vicargeneral and parish priest of NossaSenhora de Nazaré (27 May).

Bishop-elect Ferreira, 58, was bornin Sobral, Brazil. He holds a degreein philosophy and theology and a li-cence in pastoral theology. He wasordained a priest on 30 November1991.

The Holy Father appointed Fr Célioda Silveira Calixto Filho as Auxili-ary Bishop of the MetropolitanArchdiocese of São Sebastião do Riode Janeiro, Brazil, assigning him thetitular episcopal See of Segia. Untilnow he has served as parish priest ofNossa Senhora de Fátima in theSuburban Episcopal Vicariate (27May).

Bishop-elect da Silveira CalixtoFilho, 47, was born in Passos, Brazil.Before entering the seminary hestudied mechanical engineering, andlater studied philosophy and theo-logy. He holds a licence in theology.

He was ordained a priest on 28September 2002.

The Holy Father accepted the resig-nation of Bishop Camilo FernandoCastrellón Pizano, SDB, from his of-fice as Bishop of Barrancabermeja,Colombia (29 May).The Holy Father appointed Fr Ovi-dio Giraldo Velásquez as Bishop ofBarrancabermeja. Until now he hasserved as national director of theNetwork for New Evangelization —SINE (29 May).

Bishop-elect Velásquez, 57, wasborn in Montebonito, Colombia Hestudied philosophy and theologyand holds a licence in philosophy.He was ordained a priest on 18 Feb-ruary 1989.

The Holy Father appointed BishopOrlando Roa Barbosa as Metropol-itan Archbishop of Ibagué, Colom-bia. Until now he has served asBishop of Espinal, Colombia (29May).

Archbishop Roa Barbosa, 61, wasborn in Cali, Colombia. He was or-dained a priest on 6 December 1984.He was ordained a bishop on 28 Ju-ly 2012, subsequent to his appoint-ment as titular Bishop of Nasbincaand Auxiliary of Ibagué.

The Holy Father accepted the resig-nation of Bishop Gregorio NicanorPeña Rodríguez from his office asBishop of Nuestra Señora de la Al-

tagracia en Higüey, Dominican Re-public (30 May).The Holy Father appointed BishopJesús Castro Marte as Bishop ofNuestra Señora de la Altagracia enHigüey. Until now he has served astitular Bishop of Giufi and Auxiliaryof Santo Domingo, Dominican Re-public (30 May).

Bishop Castro Marte, 54, wasborn in Guerra, Dominican Repub-lic. He was ordained a priest on 13June 1995. He was ordained a bish-op on 26 August 2017, subsequent tohis appointment as titular Bishop ofGiufi and Auxiliary of SantoD omingo.

The Holy Father appointed Fr Mi-chael Kalu Ukpong as AuxiliaryBishop of Umuahia, Nigeria, assign-ing him the titular episcopal See ofIgilgili. Until now he has served aschancellor of the said Diocese andparish priest of Saint Theresa Parish(30 May).

Bishop-elect Kalu Ukpong, 55,was born in Amaekpu Ohafia, Ni-geria. He studied philosophy andtheology; he holds a degree in canonlaw and a doctorate in theology. Hewas ordained a priest on 7 August1993.

The Holy Father appointed Fr PaulDaisuke Narui, SVD, as Bishop ofNiigata, Japan. Until now he hasserved as secretary for Justice andPeace at the General Curia of theSociety of the Divine Word — Ve r -bites, in Rome (31 May).

Bishop-elect Daisuke Narui, 46,was born in Iwakura, Japan. Heholds a degree and a licence in mor-al theology. He was ordained apriest on 10 March 2001.

The Holy Father accepted the resig-nation of Bishop Joseph Maria Puntfrom his office as Bishop of Haar-lem-Amsterdam, Netherlands (1June).The Holy Father appointed BishopJohannes Willibrordus MariaHendriks, as Bishop of Haarlem-Amsterdam. Until now he hasserved as Coadjutor of the said dio-cese (1 June).

Bishop Hendriks, 65, was born inLeidschendam, Netherlands. He wasordained a priest on 29 September1979. He was ordained a bishop on10 December 2011, subsequent to hisappointment as titular Bishop ofArsacal and Auxiliary of Haarlem-Amsterdam. On 22 December 2018he was appointed Coadjutor Bishopof Haarlem-Amsterdam.

NECROLO GY

Archbishop Pedro Ercílio Simon,Archbishop emeritus of Passo Fundo— Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, at age78 (1 June)

Holy See Press Office Communiqué

Pope Francis enacts new procedures forawarding contracts in the Vatican

The Holy Father’s Motu Proprio on transparency, control and com-petition in the procedures for the awarding of public contracts bythe Holy See and the Vatican City State was published on Monday,1 June. The text, promulgated by publication in the daily edition ofL’Osservatore Romano, will enter into force thirty days thereafter.

The Document is the result of synergistic work coordinated bythe Secretariat of State among the various bodies of the RomanCuria, including the Council for the Economy, the Secretariat forthe Economy, the Administration of the Patrimony of the ApostolicSee and the Governorate of Vatican City State. This is a uniquecode, which goes beyond the regulations currently in force in someindividual entities and now applies to all entities referable to theHoly See and Vatican City State.

The regulations are among the most advanced international legis-lation on the subject. The inspiring principle of the new text is thediligence of the good family father, who seeks the effective and eth-ical management of his own resources, at the same time favouringtransparency, control and the fair treatment of real competitionamong those who wish to establish an economic relationship withthe entities concerned.

number 23, Friday, 5 June 2020 L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO page 3

The Holy Father reflects on the Prayer of Abraham

Do not be afraid to argue with God

At the General Audience on Wednesday, 3 June, Pope Francis focused hiscatechesis on prayer, encouraging the faithful to pray as Abraham taughtus, that is, being “t ra n s p a re n t ” with God. At the end of his talk the Popeaddressed the situation of civil unrest in the United States. Echoing thewords of Archbishop José Gómez of Los Angeles, Francis stressed that“nothing is gained by violence and so much is lost”. The following is atranslation of the Holy Father’s catechesis, which he delivered in Italianfrom the Vatican’s Apostolic Library.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,Good morning,There is a voice that suddenlyresonates in Abraham’s life. Avoice that invites him to under-take a journey that he knows isabsurd: a voice that spurs him touproot himself from his home-land, from his family roots, in or-der to move toward a new, differ-ent future. And it is all based ona promise, in which he needs onlyto have trust. And to have trustin a promise is not easy. It takescourage. And Abraham had trust.

The Bible is silent on the stepsof the first patriarch. The logic ofthings leaves us to presume thathe had worshipped other divinit-ies; perhaps he was a wise man,accustomed to observing theheavens and the stars. The Lord,in fact, promised him that hisdescendants would be as numer-ous as the stars that speckle thes k y.

And Abraham sets out. Helistens to the voice of God andtrusts in His word. This is im-portant: he trusts the Word ofGod. And with this departure ofhis, a new way of understandingthe relationship with God arose.It is for this reason that the patri-arch Abraham is present in thegreat Jewish, Christian and Islam-ic spiritual traditions as the per-fect man of God, capable of be-ing submissive to Him, evenwhen His will proves arduous, ifnot completely incomprehensible.

Abraham is thus the man of theWo rd . When God speaks, manbecomes the receptor of thatWord and his life the place inwhich it seeks to become flesh.This is a great novelty in man’sreligious journey: the life of a be-liever begins to be understood asa vocation, thus as a calling, asthe place where a promise is ful-filled; and he moves in the worldnot so much under the weight ofan enigma, but with the power ofthat promise, which one day willbe fulfilled. And Abraham be-lieved God’s promise. He be-lieved and he set out withoutknowing where he was going —thus says the Letter to theHebrews (cf. 11:8). But he hadt ru s t .

In reading the Book of Genes-is, we discover that Abraham ex-perienced prayer in constantfaithfulness to that Word, which

periodically appeared along hispath. In short, we could say thatin Abraham’s life faith becomes his-t o r y. Faith becomes history. In-deed Abraham, with his life, withhis example teaches us this path,this path in which faith becomeshistory. God is no longer seenonly in cosmic phenomena, as adistant God, who can instill fear.The God of Abraham becomes“my God”, the God of my per-sonal history, who guides mysteps, who does not abandon me;the God of my days, companionin my adventures; the GodProvidence. I ask myself and Iask you: do we have this experi-ence with God? “My God”, theGod who accompanies me, theGod of my personal history, theGod who guides my steps, whodoes not abandon me, the Godof my days? Do we have this ex-perience? Let us think about thisa bit.

Abraham’s experience is alsoattested to in one of the most ori-ginal texts of the history of spir-ituality: the Me m o r i a l of BlaisePascal. It begins like this: “Go dof Abraham, God of Isaac, Godof Jacob, not of the philosophersand savants. Certitude, certitude;feeling, joy, peace. God of JesusChrist”. This memorial, writtenon a small parchment and foundafter his death, sewn inside thephilosopher’s clothing, expressesnot an intellectual reflection thata wise man like him can conceiveof God, but the living, experi-enced sense of His presence. Pas-cal even noted the precise instantin which he felt that reality, hav-ing finally encountered it: theevening of 23 November 1654. Itis not the abstract God or thecosmic God, no. He is the Godof a person, of a calling, the Godof Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob,the God who is certainty, who isfeeling, who is joy.

“Abraham’s prayer is expressedfirst by deeds: a man of silence,he constructs an altar to the Lordat each stage of his journey”(Catechism of the Catholic Church,2570). Abraham does not build atemple, but scatters the path of

stones that recall God’s passage.A surprising God, as when Hepays a visit in the form of threeguests, whom Abraham andSarah welcomed with care, andthe three announce the birth oftheir son Isaac (cf. Gen 18:1-15).Abraham was 100 years old andhis wife was more or less 90. Andthey believed, they trusted God.And Sarah, his wife, conceived.At that age! This is the God ofAbraham, our God who accom-panies us.

Thus, Abraham becomes famil-iar with God, even able to arguewith Him, but ever faithful. Hespeaks with God and argues. Upto the supreme test, when Godasks him to sacrifice his very sonIsaac, the son of his elder years,his sole heir. Here Abraham livesfaith as a tragedy, as a gropingwalk in the night, under a skythat, this time, is starless. Andmany times this also happens tous, to walk in the dark but withfaith. God himself will halt Abra-ham’s hand, already prepared tostrike, because He saw his will-ingness truly complete (cf. Gen22:1-19).

Brothers and sisters, let uslearn from Abraham; let us learnhow to pray with faith: to listento the Lord, to walk, to dialogue,up to arguing. Let us not beafraid to argue with God! I willeven say something that mayseem like heresy. Many times Ihave heard people say to me:“You know, this happened to meand I became very angry withGo d” — “You had the courage tobe angry at God?” — “Yes, I gotangry” — “But this is a form ofprayer”. Because only a son ordaughter is capable of beingangry at their dad and then en-counter him again. Let us learnfrom Abraham to pray with faith,to dialogue and to argue, but al-ways willing to accept the Wordof God and to put it into prac-tice. With God, let us learn tospeak like a child with his dad: tolisten to him, to reply, to argue.But transparent like a child withhis dad. This is how Abrahamteaches us to pray. Thank you.

SPECIAL GREETINGS

I greet the English-speakingfaithful joining us through themedia. Dear brothers and sistersin the United States, I have wit-nessed with great concern the dis-turbing social unrest in your na-tion in these past days, followingthe tragic death of Mr GeorgeFloyd. My friends, we cannot tol-erate or turn a blind eye to ra-cism and exclusion in any formand yet claim to defend the sa-c re d ness of every human life. Atthe same time, we have to recog-nize that “the violence of recentnights is self-destructive and self-defeating. Nothing is gained byviolence and so much is lost”.Today I join the Church in SaintPaul and Minneapolis, and in theentire United States, in prayingfor the repose of the soul ofGeorge Floyd and of all thoseothers who have lost their lives asa result of the sin of racism. Letus pray for the consolation oftheir grieving families and friendsand let us implore the nationalreconciliation and peace forwhich we yearn. May Our Ladyof Guadalupe, Mother of Amer-ica, intercede for all those whowork for peace and justice inyour land and throughout theworld.

May God bless all of you andyour families.

I greet the Italian-speakingfaithful. The upcoming Feast ofthe Most Holy Trinity leads usback to the mystery of the inti-mate life of the Triune God,centre of the Christian faith, andit inspires us to find in God’slove our comfort and our innerp eace.

I address my thoughts to thee l d e rl y, to young people, to the sickand to newlyweds. Entrustyourselves to the Holy Spirit,‘who is Lord and giver of life’,and be open to his love so thatyou will be able to transformyour life, your families and yourcommunities. My blessing to all!

GENERAL AU D I E N C E

page 4 L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO Friday, 5 June 2020, number 23

Message on the 50th anniversary of the promulgation of the revised Rite of Consecration of Virgins

Be women of mercy and experts in humanity“Let everything that is happening all around us disturb you: do not close your eyes to it and do notflee from it. Be present and sensitive to pain and suffering. Persevere in proclaiming the Gospel, whichpromises fullness of life for all”. Pope Francis wrote these words in a Message released on Monday, 1June, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the promulgation of the Rite of Consecration ofVirgins. Due to the pandemic, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies ofApostolic Life had postponed the international meeting that had been organized to celebrate theanniversary. The following is the English text of the Pope’s message.

“The parable of the ten virgins”, Codex Purpureus Rossanensis (detail)

Dear Sisters,1. Fifty years ago, the Sacred Congregationfor Divine Worship, by mandate of Saint PaulVI, promulgated the new Rite of Consecration ofV i rg i n s . The current pandemic made it neces-sary to postpone the international meeting or-ganized by the Congregation for Institutes ofConsecrated Life and Societies of ApostolicLife to mark this important anniversary. Nev-ertheless, I wish to join you in giving thanksfor what Saint John Paul II, addressing youon the twenty-fifth anniversary, referred to asa “twofold gift of the Lord to his Church”:the renewed Rite and an Ordo fidelium “re -stored to the ecclesial community” (Address toParticipants in the International Conference onthe Ordo Virginum, 2 June 1995).

Your form of life has its primary source inthe Rite and its juridical configuration in Can-on 604 of the Code of Canon Law, and, since2018, in the Instruction Ecclesiae SponsaeImago. Your vocation is a sign of the inex-haustible and manifold richness of the gifts ofthe Spirit of the Risen Lord, who makes allthings new (cf. Rev 21:5). It is likewise a signof hope, pointing to the fidelity of the Father,who even today awakens in the hearts of somewomen the desire to be consecrated to theLord in virginity, lived out in a concrete socialand cultural setting, rooted in a particularChurch, and expressed in a way of life that isancient, yet modern and ever new.

Accompanied by your Bishops, you havebecome increasingly conscious of the distinct-ive nature of your form of consecrated lifeand have come to realize that your consecra-tion makes you a particular Ordo fidelium inthe Church. Continue along this path of co-operation with the Bishops in the develop-ment of sound programmes of vocational dis-cernment and of initial and ongoing forma-tion. The gift of your vocation finds expres-sion within the symphonic unity of theChurch, which is built up when she can see inyou women capable of living the gift of sister-ho o d.

2. Fifty years after the renewal of the Rite,I would say this to you: do not extinguishthe prophetic nature of your vocation! Youhave been called, not because of your ownmerits, but by God’s mercy, to make yourlives a reflection of the face of the Church,the Bride of Christ. The Church is a virginbecause, albeit composed of sinners, she con-tinues to preserve the faith intact, to bringforth new life and to foster the growth of anew humanity.

In union with the Spirit and together withthe entire Church and all those who hear theword of God, you are called to surrenderyourselves to Christ and to say to him:“Come!” (Rev 22:17). In this way, you will ex-perience the strength born of hearing his re-sponse: “Surely, I am coming soon!” (Rev22:20). The coming of the Bridegroom is thehorizon and goal of your ecclesial journey, apromise to be welcomed each day anew. Byliving in this way, “you will be stars to guidethe world on its journey” (BENEDICT XVI, Ad -dress to Participants in the Ordo Virginum Con-g re s s , 15 May 2008).

I encourage you to reread and meditate onthose texts of the Rite that speak of the mean-ing of your vocation. You are called to experi-ence yourselves, and then to testify to others,that God, in his Son, loved us first, that hislove is for all, and that it has the power tochange sinners into saints. For “Christ lovedthe Church and gave himself up for her, thathe might sanctify her, having cleansed her bythe washing of water with the word” (Eph5:25-26). Your lives will reveal the eschatolo-gical tension that enlivens the whole of cre-ation, drives the whole of history, and is bornof the Risen Lord’s invitation: “Arise, my

physical and mental illness, the young and theelderly, and all those in danger of being mar-ginalized or discarded.

Be women of mercy, experts in humanity.Women who believe in the “re v o l u t i o n a r ynature of love and tenderness” (EvangeliiGaudium, 288). The pandemic is teaching usthat “the time has come to eliminate inequal-ities, to heal the injustice that is underminingthe health of the entire human family!”(Homily at Mass for Divine Mercy Sunday, 19April 2020). Let everything that is happeningall around us disturb you: do not close youreyes to it and do not flee from it. Be presentand sensitive to pain and suffering. Perseverein proclaiming the Gospel, which promisesfullness of life for all.

The Prayer of Consecration, in invokingupon you the manifold gifts of the Spirit, asksthat you be enabled to live in casta libertas(Rite of Consecration of Virgins, 24). Let this“chaste freedom” be your way of relating toothers, so that you can be a sign of the spous-al love uniting Christ to the Church, virginand mother, sister and friend of all. By yourgentleness (cf. Phil 4:5), weave a web of au-thentic relationships that can help to makethe neighbourhoods of our cities less lonelyand anonymous. Be forthright, capable ofparrhesia, but avoid the temptation to chatterand gossip. Have the wisdom, the resourceful-ness, and the authority of charity, in order tostand up to arrogance and to prevent abusesof power.

4. On this Solemnity of Pentecost, I blesseach of you, all those women preparing to re-

ceive this consecration, and all those who willreceive it in the future. “The Holy Spirit isgiven to the Church as the inexhaustible prin-ciple of her joy as the Bride of the glorifiedChrist” (SAINT PAU L VI, Gaudete in Domino).As signs of the Church as Bride, may you al-ways be women of joy, following the exampleof Mary of Nazareth, woman of the Ma g n i -ficat, Mother of the living Gospel.

Rome, Saint John Lateran,31 May 2020

Solemnity of Pentecost

love, my fair one, and come away” (Song 2:10;cf. ORIGEN, Homilies on the Song of SongsII:12).

3. The Homily proposed for the Rite ofC o n s e c ra t i o n exhorts you to “Love everyone,especially those in need” (no. 16). Your con-secration dedicates you to God without separ-ating you from the setting in which you liveand in which you are called to bear personalwitness by a lifestyle of evangelical closeness(cf. Ecclesiae Sponsae Imago, 37-38). By suchcloseness to the men and women of our times,your virginal consecration helps the Churchto love the poor, to discern forms of materialand spiritual poverty, to help those who areweak and vulnerable, those suffering from

number 23, Friday, 5 June 2020 L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO page 5

Letter of the Holy Father to the Priests of the Diocese of Rome

Prophets of a new futureCourage, discernment and hope in order to respond effectively during this time of pandemic

As priests, we are “called to proclaimand prophesy the future”, Pope Franciswrote in a Letter addressed to priestsof the Diocese of Rome, released onSaturday, 30 May. The phase followingthe pandemic, he told the clergy, whosescheduled Lenten appointment had tobe cancelled due to the pandemicrestrictions, demands courage,discernment and hope in order “tobring about a time ever new: the timeof the Lord”. The following is theEnglish text of the Holy Father’s letter.

Dear Brothers,During this Easter season I hadthought we could meet and celeb-rate the Chrism Mass together but,since a diocesan celebration was notpossible, I am writing this letter toyou. This new phase that we haveembarked upon demands of us wis-dom, farsightedness and sharedcommitment, so that all the effortsand sacrifices made thus far will notbe in vain.

During this time of pandemic,many of you have shared with meby e-mail or telephone your experi-ence of this unexpected and discon-certing situation. In this way, eventhough I was not able to leave homeor encounter you directly, you let meknow “first-hand” what you were go-ing through. This in turn I havebrought to my prayers, both ofthanksgiving for your courageousand generous witness and of petitionand trusting intercession before theLord, who always takes us by thehand (cf. Mt 14:31). The need tomaintain social distancing did notprevent us from strengthening oursense of fellowship, communion andmission; and this helped us ensurethat charity, especially towards themost vulnerable individuals andcommunities, was not quarantined.In our frank conversations, I wasable to see that necessary distancingwas hardly synonymous with with-drawal or the self-absorption whichanaesthetises, sedates and extin-guishes our sense of mission.

Encouraged by these exchanges, Iam writing to you because I want tokeep close to you and accompany,support and confirm you along theway. Hope also depends on our ef-forts, and we have to help one an-other to keep it alive and active. Imean that contagious hope which iscultivated and reaffirmed in the en-counter with others, and which, as agift and a task, is given to us in or-der to create the new “normality”that we so greatly desire.

In writing to you, I think of theearly apostolic community, whichalso experienced moments of con-finement, isolation, fear and uncer-tainty. Fifty days passed amid im-mobility, isolation, yet the first pro-clamation would change their livesforever. For even as the doors of theplace where they stayed were closedout of fear, the disciples were sur-prised by Jesus who “stood amongthem and said, ‘Peace be with you!’.

After he said this, he showed themhis hands and side. The discipleswere overjoyed when they saw theLord. Again Jesus said, ‘Peace bewith you! As the Father has sent me,I am sending you’. And with that hebreathed on them and said, ‘Receivethe Holy Spirit’” (Jn 20:19-22). Maywe too let ourselves be surprised!

The doors of the house where thedisciples met were locked for fear(Jn 20:19)

Today, as then, we sense that “thejoys and the hopes, the griefs andthe anxieties of the men of this age,especially those who are poor or inany way afflicted… are the joys andhopes, the griefs and anxieties of thefollowers of Christ. Indeed, nothinggenuinely human fails to raise anecho in their hearts” (Gaudium etSpes, 1). How well we know this! Weall listened to the numbers and per-centages that daily bombarded us;with our own hands we touched thepain of our people. What we heardwas not something alien to our ownexperience: the statistics had names,faces, stories of which we were apart. As a community of priests, wewere no strangers to these situations;we did not look out at them from awindow. Braving the tempest, youfound ways to be present and ac-company your communities; when

you saw the wolf coming, you didnot flee or abandon the flock (cf. Jn10:12-13).

Suddenly we suffered the loss offamily, neighbours, friends, parish-ioners, confessors, points of refer-ence for our faith. We saw thesaddened faces of those unable to bepresent and bid farewell to theirloved ones in their final hours. Wefelt the suffering and powerlessnessexperienced by health care workerswho, themselves exhausted, contin-ued to work for days on end, out ofa concern to meet so many needs.All of us felt the worry and fear ex-perienced by those workers and vo-lunteers who daily exposed them-selves to risk in order to ensure thatessential services were provided, andto accompany and care for the ex-cluded and the vulnerable who weresuffering even more from the effectsof the pandemic. We witnessed thedifficulties and discomforts of thelockdown: loneliness and isolation,especially among the elderly; anxi-ety, anguish and a sense of helpless-ness at the possibility of losing jobsand homes; violence and breakdownin relationships. The age-old fear ofbeing infected once more reared itshead. We shared the anguish andconcern of entire families uncertainas to whether there would be foodon the table in weeks to come.

We also experienced our own vul-nerability and helplessness. Just asthe kiln tests the potter’s vases, sowere we put to the test (cf. Sir 27:5).Distraught, we felt all the more theprecariousness of our own lives andour apostolic efforts. The unpredict-ability of the situation heightenedthe difficulty we feel in facing theunknown which we cannot controlor direct and, like everyone else, wefelt confused, fearful and defence-less. At the same time, we also ex-perienced that healthy and necessarycourage that refuses to yield in theface of injustice and reminds us thatwe were created for Life. LikeNicodemus, at night, confused bythe fact that “the wind blows whereit wills, and you can hear the soundit makes, but you do not knowwhere it comes from or where itgo es”, we too wondered: “How canthis be?” And Jesus tells us too:“Are you a teacher of Israel, yet youdo not understand these things?”(cf. Jn 3:8-10).

The complexity of the situationwe had to face did not allow fortextbook recipes or responses. Itcalled for something much morethan facile exhortations or edifyingspeeches incapable of touchinghearts and confronting the concretedemands of life. The pain of ourpeople was our pain, their uncertain-ties our own: our shared sense offrailty stripped us of any pseudo-spiritual complacency or any purit-anical attempt to keep at a safe dis-tance. No one can be unaffected byall that has happened. We can saythat we experienced as a communitythe time when the Lord wept: for wetoo wept before the tomb of Lazarushis friend (cf. Jn 11:35), before theincomprehension of his people (Lk13:14; 19:41), in the dark night ofGethsemane (cf. Mk 14:32-42; Lk22:44). It is also the time when hisdisciples weep before the mystery ofthe cross and the evil which strikesso many innocent people. It is thebitter weeping of Peter after hisdenial (cf. Lk 22:62), and that ofMary Magdalene before the tomb(cf. Jn 20:11).

We know that, in situations likethese, it is not easy to find the rightway forward, and any number ofvoices will make themselves heardtelling us about all that could havebeen done in the face of this un-known reality. Our usual ways of re-lating, planning, celebrating, pray-ing, meeting and even dealing withconflict were changed and chal-lenged by an invisible presence thatturned our everyday existence up-side down. Nor did it simply affectindividuals, families, specific socialgroups or countries. The nature ofthe virus caused our former ways ofdividing and classifying reality todisappear. The pandemic knows nodescriptors, no boundaries, andnone of us can think of getting byalone. We are all affected and in-volved.

CONTINUED ON PA G E 8

“The Good Shepherd”, by Br. Frank Sharma, OCD, Teresianum, Rome

number 23, Friday, 5 June 2020 L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO page 6/7

The Holy Spirit heals usof the famine of hope

Pope Francis celebrates Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica

Holy Father returns to the window of his private study for the Regina Caeli and prays for the poor of the Amazon

People are more important than the economy

On Sunday, 31 May, the Solemnity ofPentecost, the Holy Father celebratedMass in Saint Peter’s Basilica, with alimited number of the faithful inattendance. The following is the Englishtext of the Holy Father’s homily.

“There are different kinds of spiritualgifts, but the same Spirit” (1 Cor12:4), as the Apostle Paul writes tothe Corinthians. He continues:“There are different forms of service,but the same Lord; there are differentworkings but the same God who pro-duces all of them in everyone” (vv. 5-6). Diversity and unity: Saint Paulputs together two words that seemcontradictory. He wants to tell usthat the Holy Spirit is the one whobrings together the many; and thatthe Church was born this way: weare all different, yet united by thesame Holy Spirit.

Let us go back to the origin of theChurch, to the day of Pentecost. Letus look at the Apostles: some ofthem were fishermen, simple peopleaccustomed to living by the work oftheir hands, but there were also oth-ers, like Matthew, who was an edu-cated tax collector. They were fromdifferent backgrounds and social con-texts, and they had Hebrew andGreek names. In terms of character,some were meek and others were ex-citable; they all had different ideasand sensibilities. They were all differ-ent. Jesus did not change them; hedid not make them into a set of pre-packaged models. No. He left their

differences and now he unites themby anointing them with the HolySpirit. With the anointing comes theirunion — union in diversity. At Pente-cost, the Apostles understand theunifying power of the Spirit. Theysee it with their own eyes wheneveryone, though speaking in differ-ent languages, comes together as onepeople: the people of God, shapedby the Spirit, who weaves unity fromdiversity and bestows harmony be-cause in the Spirit there is harmonyHe himself is h a r m o n y.

Let us now focus on ourselves, theChurch of today. We can askourselves: “What is it that unites us,what is the basis of our unity?”. Wetoo have our differences, for ex-ample: of opinions, choices, sensibil-ities. But the temptation is alwaysfiercely to defend our ideas, believingthem to be good for everybody andagreeing only with those who thinkas we do. This is a bad temptationthat brings division. But this is afaith created in our own image; it isnot what the Spirit wants. We mightthink that what unite us are our be-liefs and our morality. But there ismuch more: our principle of unity isthe Holy Spirit. He reminds us thatfirst of all we are God’s beloved chil-d re n ; all equal, in this respect, and alld i f f e re n t . The Spirit comes to us, inour differences and difficulties, to tellus that we have one Lord — Jesus —and one Father, and that for thisreason we are brothers and sisters!Let us begin anew from here; let uslook at the Church with the eyes ofthe Spirit and not as the world does.The world sees us only as on theright or left, with one ideology or theother; the Spirit sees us as sons anddaughters of the Father and brothersand sisters of Jesus. The world seesconservatives and progressives; theSpirit sees children of God. Aworldly gaze sees structures to bemade more efficient; a spiritual gazesees brothers and sisters pleading formercy. The Spirit loves us and knowseveryone’s place in the grand schemeof things: for him, we are not bits ofconfetti blown about by the wind,rather we are irreplaceable fragmentsin his mosaic.

If we go back to the day of Pente-cost, we discover that the first task ofthe Church is p ro c l a m a t i o n . Yet wealso see that the Apostles devised nostrategy; when they were locked inthere, in the Upper Room, they werenot strategizing, no, they were notdrafting any pastoral plan. Theycould have divided people intogroups according to their roots,speaking first to those close by and

then to those far away, in an orderlymanner... They could have alsowaited a while before beginning theirpreaching in order to understandmore deeply the teachings of Jesus,so as to avoid risks... No. The Spiritdoes not want the memory of theMaster to be cultivated in smallgroups locked in upper rooms whereit is easy to “nest”. This is a terribledisease that can also infect theChurch: making her into a nest in-stead of a community, a family or aMother. The Spirit himself opensdoors and pushes us to press beyondwhat has already been said and done,beyond the precincts of a timid andwary faith. In the world, unless thereis tight organization and a clearstrategy, things fall apart. In theChurch, however, the Spirit guaran-tees unity to those who proclaim themessage. The Apostles set off: unpre-pared, yet putting their lives on theline. One thing kept them going: thedesire to give what they received. Theopening part of the First Letter ofSaint John is beautiful: “that whichwe have seen and heard we proclaimalso to you” (cf. 1:3).

Here we come to understand whatthe secret of unity is, the secret of theSpirit. The secret of unity in theChurch, the secret of the Spirit is gift.For the Spirit himself is gift: he livesby giving himself and in this way hekeeps us together, making us sharersin the same gift. It is important tobelieve that God is gift, that he actsnot by taking away, but by giving.Why is this important? Because ourway of being believers depends onhow we understand God. If we havein mind a God who takes away andwho imposes himself, we too willwant to take away and imposeourselves: occupying spaces, demand-ing recognition, seeking power. But ifwe have in our hearts a God who isgift, everything changes. If we realizethat what we are is his gift, free andunmerited, then we too will want tomake our lives a gift. By lovinghumbly, serving freely and joyfully,we will offer to the world the trueimage of God. The Spirit, the livingmemory of the Church, reminds us thatwe are born from a gift and that wegrow by giving: not by holding onbut by giving of ourselves.

Dear brothers and sisters, let uslook within and ask ourselves whatprevents us from giving ourselves.There are, so to speak, three mainenemies of the gift, always lurking atthe door of our hearts: narcissism,victimhood and pessimism. N a rc i s s -ism makes us idolize ourselves, to beconcerned only with what is good for

us. The narcissist thinks: “Life isgood if I profit from it”. So he orshe ends up saying: “Why should Igive myself to others?”. In this time ofpandemic, how wrong narcissism is:the tendency to think only of ourown needs, to be indifferent to thoseof others, and not to admit our ownfrailties and mistakes. But the secondenemy, victimhood, is equally danger-ous. Victims complain every dayabout their neighbour: “No one un-derstands me, no one helps me, noone loves me, everyone has it in forme!”. How many times have we notheard these complaints! The victim’sheart is closed, as he or she asks,“Why aren’t others concerned aboutme?”. In the crisis we are experien-cing, how ugly victimhood is! Think-ing that no one understands us andexperiences what we experience. Thisis victimhood. Finally, there is pessim-ism. Here the unending complaint is:“Nothing is going well, society, polit-ics, the Church…”. The pessimistgets angry with the world, but sitsback and does nothing, thinking:“What good is giving? That is useless”.At this moment, in the great effort ofbeginning anew, how damaging ispessimism, the tendency to seeeverything in the worst light and tokeep saying that nothing will returnas before! When someone thinks thisway, the one thing that certainly doesnot return is hope. In these three —the narcissist idol of the mirror, themirror-god; the complaint-god: “Ifeel human only when I complain”;and the negativity-god: “everything isdark, the future is bleak” — we exper-ience a famine of hope and we need toappreciate the gift of life, the giftthat each of us is. We need the HolySpirit, the gift of God who heals usof narcissism, victimhood and pess-imism. He heals us from the mirror,complaints and darkness.

Brothers and sisters, let us pray tohim: Holy Spirit, memory of God,revive in us the memory of the giftreceived. Free us from the paralysisof selfishness and awaken in us thedesire to serve, to do good. Evenworse than this crisis is the tragedyof squandering it by closing in onourselves. Come, Holy Spirit: youare harmony; make us builders ofunity. You always give yourself; grantus the courage to go out of ourselves,to love and help each other, in orderto become one family. Amen.

For the first time since restrictions were imposed three months ago in order tocontain the pandemic, on Sunday, 31 May, Pope Francis returned to thewindow of his study in the Vatican Apostolic Palace to pray the Regina Caeliwith the faithful and pilgrims present in Saint Peter’s Square. The following isa translation of his greeting and the reflection he shared in Italian.

SOLEMNITY OF PENTECOSTImage courtesy ofw w w. p i x c o v e . c o m

Dear Brothers and Sisters,Good morning,Today that the Square is open, weare able to return. It is a pleasure!

Today we celebrate the greatfeast of Pentecost, in memory ofthe outpouring of the Holy Spiritupon the first Christian com-munity. Today’s Gospel (cf. Jn20:19-23) takes us back to the even-ing of Easter and shows us the Ris-en Jesus who appears in the UpperRoom, where the disciples havetaken refuge. They were afraid. He“stood among them and said tothem, ‘Peace be with you!’” (v. 19).These first words pronounced bythe Risen One — “Peace be withyou” — are to be considered asmore than a greeting: they expressforgiveness, the forgiveness grantedto the disciples who, to tell thetruth, had abandoned him. Theyare words of reconciliation and for-giveness. And when we wish peaceto others, we too are granting for-giveness, and asking for forgivenessas well. Jesus offers his peace pre-cisely to these disciples who areafraid, who find it hard to believewhat they have seen, that is, theempty tomb, and they und e resti-mate the witness of Mary of Mag-dala and of the other women. Jesusforgives; he always forgives, andoffers his peace to his friends. Donot forget: Jesus never tires of for-giving. It is we who tire of askingfor forgiveness.

By forgiving and gathering hisdisciples around him, Jesus makesthem a Church, his Church, whichis a community reconciled andready for mission. Reconciled andready for mission. When a com-munity is not reconciled, it is notready for mission: it is ready fordiscussions within it; it is ready forinternal [discussions]. The en-counter with the Risen Lord

upends the lives of the Apostlesand transforms them into cour-ageous witnesses. Indeed, immedi-ately afterwards he says, “As theFather has sent me, even so I sendyou” (v. 21). These words help usunderstand that the Apostles aresent to continue the same missionthat the Father entrusted to Jesus.“I send you”: it is not time to staylocked up, nor to regret: to regretthe ‘good times’, those times spentwith the Master. The joy of theResurrection is great, but it is anexpansive joy, which should not bekept to oneself: it is to be given.On the Sundays of the Easter Sea-son we first heard this same epis-ode, then the encounter with thedisciples of Emmaus, then theGood Shepherd, the farewell dis-courses and the promise of theHoly Spirit: all this is directed to-ward strengthening the disciples’faith — and ours as well — in viewof the mission.

And precisely to inspire mission,Jesus gives his Spirit to theApostles. The Gospel states: “hebreathed on them, and said tothem, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” ( v.22). The Holy Spirit is fire thatburns away sins and creates newmen and women; he is the fire oflove with which the disciples can

‘set the world on fire’, that tenderlove that favours the little ones, thepoor, the excluded.... In the sacra-ments of Baptism and Confirma-tion we received the Holy Spiritwith his gifts: wisdom, understand-ing, counsel, fortitude, knowledge,piety, and fear of God. This lastgift — fear of God — is the veryopposite of the fear that first para-lyzed the disciples: it is love for theLord; it is the certainty of hismercy and his goodness; it is theconfidence that we are able tomove in the direction he indicates,without ever lacking his presenceand support.

The feast of Pentecost renews theawareness that the life-giving pres-ence of the Holy Spirit abides inus. He also gives us the courage togo outside the protective walls ofour “Upper Rooms”, of our littlegroups, without easing into a quietlife or withdrawing into sterilehabits. Let us now raise ourthoughts to Mary: when the HolySpirit came, she was there, with theApostles, a protagonist with thefirst Community that experiencedthe wonders of Pentecost, and letus pray that she obtain for theChurch the ardent missionary spirit.

After the Regina Caeli, the HolyFather continued:

Dear brothers and sisters, sevenmonths ago, the Synod for theAmazon concluded. Today, thefeast of Pentecost, let us invoke theHoly Spirit so that he might give

light and strength to the Churchand to society in the Amazon re-gion, sorely tried by the pandemic.Many have been infected and havedied, including members of the in-digenous peoples, who are particu-larly vulnerable. Through the inter-cession of Mary, Mother of theAmazon, I pray for the poorestand the most defenseless in thatprecious Region, but also for oth-ers throughout the world, and Iplead that no one should lackhealth care. Take care of people,not save for the economy. Takecare of people, who are more im-portant that the economy. Wepeople are temples of the HolySpirit; the economy is not.

Today is the National Day ofRelief in Italy, to promote solidar-ity towards the sick. I renew myappreciation to those who, espe-cially in this period, have offeredand offer their witness of caring forneighbours. I recall with gratitudeand admiration all those who, sup-porting the sick in this pandemic,have given their lives. Let us prayin silence for the doctors, volun-teers, nurses, all the healthcareworkers and those who have giventheir lives in this period. I wish allof you a happy Pentecost Sunday.We have such need of the lightand strength of the Holy Spirit!The Church needs it to walk har-moniously and courageously, wit-nessing to the Gospel. And the en-tire human family needs it, in orderto emerge from this crisis moreunited and not more divided. Youknow that from a crisis like thisone we do not come out the same,as before: we emerge either betteror worse. May we have the courageto change, to be better, to be bet-ter than before and to be able tobuild in a positive way the post-crisis of the pandemic.

Please, do not forget to pray forme. Enjoy your lunch. Ar r i v e d e rc i[See you again], in the Square!

page 8 L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO Friday, 5 June 2020, number 23

Letter to the Priests of the Diocese of Rome

The notion of a “safe” so ciety,carefree and poised for infinite con-sumption has been called into ques-tion, revealing its lack of culturaland spiritual immunity to conflict. Aseries of old and new questions andproblems (in many places long sinceconsidered resolved) came to domin-ate the horizon and our attention.Those questions will not beanswered simply by resuming vari-ous activities. They necessarily chal-lenge us to develop a capacity forlistening in a way attentive yet filledwith hope, serene yet tenacious, per-severing yet not fearful. This canprepare and open up the path thatthe Lord is now calling us to take(cf. Mk 1:2-3). We know that in thewake of tribulation and painful ex-periences we are never again thesame. So all of us need to be vigil-ant and attentive. The Lord himself,in the hour of his own suffering,prayed for exactly this: “I do not askthat you take them out of the world,but that you keep them from theevil one” (Jn 17:15). Having experi-enced, as individuals and in ourcommunities, our vulnerability,frailty and limitations, we now runthe grave risk of withdrawing and“bro o ding” over the desolationcaused by the pandemic, or else thatof seeking refuge in a boundless op-timism incapable of grasping thedeeper meaning of what is happen-ing all around us (cf. EvangeliiGaudium, 226-228).

Times of tribulation challenge usto discern the temptations thatthreaten to mire us in bewildermentand confusion, in a mind-set thatwould prevent our communitiesfrom nurturing the new life that theRisen Lord wishes to give us. Avariety of temptations can nowadaysblind us and encourage sentimentsand approaches that block hopefrom stimulating our creativity, ouringenuity and our ability to respondeffectively. Rather than seeking toacknowledge frankly the gravity ofthe situation, we can attempt to re-spond merely with new and reassur-ing activities as we wait foreverything to “return to normal”.But in this way we would ignorethe deep wounds that have openedand the number of people whohave fallen in the meantime. Wecan also sink into a kind of numb-ing nostalgia for the recent past thatleads us to keep repeating that“nothing will ever be the sameagain” and thus show ourselves in-capable of inviting others to dreamand to develop new paths and newstyles of life.

Jesus came and stood in their midstand said to them, “Peace be withyou!”. When he had said this, heshowed them his hands and his side.The disciples rejoiced when they saw theLord. Jesus said to them again, “Peacebe with you!” (Jn 20:19-21)

The Lord did not choose the per-fect situation to appear suddenly inthe midst of his disciples. Certainlywe would have preferred that whathappened did not have to happen,but it did; and like the disciples onthe road to Emmaus, we too can

continue to speak sadly and inhushed tones along the way (cf. Lk24:13-21). Yet by appearing in theUpper Room behind closed doors,amid the isolation, fear and insecur-ity experienced by the disciples, theLord was able to surpass all expecta-tions and to give a new meaning tohistory and human events. Any timeis fitting for the message of peace;in no situation is God’s grace everlacking. Jesus’ appearance in themidst of confinement and forced ab-sence proclaims, for those disciplesand for us today, a new day capableof challenging all paralysis andresignation, and harnessing everygift for the service of the com-munity. By his presence, confine-ment became fruitful, giving life tothe new apostolic community.

So let us say with confidence andwithout fear: “Where sin increased,grace has abounded all the more”(Rom 5:20). Let us be fearless amidthe messy situations all around us,because that is where the Lord is, inour midst; God continues to per-form his miracle of bringing forthgood fruit (cf. Jn 15:5). Christian joyis born precisely of this certainty. Inthe midst of the contradictions andperplexities we must confront eachday, the din of so many words andopinions, there is the quiet voice ofthe Risen Lord who keeps saying tous: “Peace be with you!”

It is comforting to read the Gos-pel and think of Jesus in the midstof his people, as he welcomes andembraces life and individuals just asthey are. His actions embody Mary’smoving song of praise: “He hasshown strength with his arm; he hasscattered the proud in the thoughtsof their hearts. He has broughtdown the powerful from theirthrones, and lifted up the lowly” (Lk1:51-52). Jesus offers his own handsand his wounded side as a path toresurrection. He does not hide orconceal those wounds; instead, heinvites Thomas to touch his piercedside and to see how those verywounds can be the source of Life inabundance (cf. Jn 20:27-29).

Over and over again, as a spiritu-al guide, I have been able to witnesshow “a person who sees things asthey truly are and sympathizes withpain and sorrow is capable of touch-ing life’s depths and finding authen-tic happiness. He or she is consoled,not by the world but by Jesus. Suchpersons are unafraid to share in thesuffering of others; they do not fleefrom painful situations. They discov-er the meaning of life by coming tothe aid of those who suffer, under-standing their anguish and bringingrelief. They sense that the other isflesh of our flesh, and are not afraidto draw near, even to touch theirwounds. They feel compassion forothers in such a way that all dis-tance vanishes. In this way, they canembrace Saint Paul’s exhortation:‘Weep with those who weep’ (Rom12:15). Knowing how to mourn withothers: that is holiness” (Gaudete etExsultate, 76).

“As the Father has sent me, so I sendyou” When he had said this, hebreathed on them and said to them:“Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn 20:21-22)

Dear brothers, as a community ofpriests, we are called to proclaimand prophesy the future, like thesentinel announcing the dawn thatbrings a new day (cf. Is 21:11). Thatnew day will either be completelynew, or something much worse thanwhat we have been used to. The Re-surrection is not simply an event ofpast history to be remembered andcelebrated; it is much more. It is thesaving proclamation of a new agethat resounds and already burstsonto the scene: “Now it springs up;do you not perceive it?” (Is 43:19); itis the future, the “ad-vent” that theLord even now is calling us to build.Faith grants us a realistic and creat-ive imagination, one capable ofabandoning the mentality of repeti-tion, substitution and maintenance.An imagination that calls us to bringabout a time ever new: the time ofthe Lord. Though an invisible, si-lent, expansive and viral presencehas thrown us into crisis and tur-moil, may we let this other discreet,respectful and non-invasive Presencesummon us anew and teach us toface reality without fear. If an im-palpable presence has been able todisrupt and upset the priorities andapparently overpowering globalagendas that suffocate and devastateour communities and our sisterearth, let us not be afraid to let thepresence of the Risen Lord pointout our path, open new horizonsand grant us the courage to live tothe full this unique moment of ourhistory. A handful of fearful menwere able to change the course ofhistory by courageously proclaimingthe God who is with us. Do not beafraid! “The powerful witness of thesaints is revealed in their lives,shaped by the Beatitudes and thecriterion of the final judgement”(Gaudete et Exsultate, 109).

Let us be surprised yet again bythe Risen Lord. May he, whosepierced side is a sign of how harshand unjust reality can be, encourageus not to turn aside from the harshand difficult realities experienced byour brothers and sisters. May heteach us how to accompany, sootheand bind up the wounds of ourpeople, not with fear but with theaudacity and evangelical generosityof the multiplication of the loaves(Mt 14:15-21); with the courage, con-cern and responsibility of the GoodSamaritan (cf. Lk 10:33-35); with thejoy of the shepherd at his newfoundsheep (Lk 15:4-6); with the reconcil-ing embrace of a father who knowsthe meaning of forgiveness (cf. Lk15:20); with the devotion, gentlenessand tender love of Mary of Bethany(cf. Jn 12:1-3); with the meekness,patience and wisdom of the Lord’smissionary disciples (cf. Mt 10:16-23). May the wounded hands of theRisen Lord console us in our sor-rows, revive our hope and impel usto seek the Kingdom of God bystepping out of our familiar sur-roundings. Let us also allowourselves to be surprised by ourgood and faithful people, so often

tried and torn, yet also visited bythe Lord’s mercy. May our peopleteach us, their pastors, how tomould and temper our hearts withmeekness and compassion, with thehumility and magnanimity of alively, supportive, patient and cour-ageous perseverance, one that doesnot remain indifferent, but rejectsand unmasks every form of scepti-cism and fatalism. How much wehave to learn from the strength ofGo d’s faithful people, who alwaysfind a way to help and accompanythose who have fallen! The Resur-rection is the proclamation thatthings can change. May the PaschalMystery, which knows no bounds,lead us creatively to those placeswhere hope and life are struggling,where suffering and pain are open-ing the door to corruption and spec-ulation, where aggression and viol-ence appear to be the only way out.

As priests, sons and members of apriestly people, it is up to us to takeresponsibility for the future and toplan for it as brothers. Let us placein the wounded hands of the Lord,as a holy offering, our own weak-ness, the weakness of our peopleand that of all humanity. It is theLord who transforms us, who treatsus like bread, taking our life into hishands, blessing us, breaking andsharing us, and giving us to hispeople. And in all humility, let usallow ourselves to be anointed byPa u l ’s words and let them spreadlike a fragrant balm throughout ourCity, thus awakening the seeds ofhope that so many people quietlynurture in their hearts: “We are af-flicted in every way, but not crushed;perplexed, but not driven to despair;persecuted, but not abandoned;struck down, but not destroyed; al-ways carrying in the body the dyingof Jesus, so that the life of Jesusmay also be made visible in ourb o dies” (2 Cor 4:8-10). Let us sharewith Jesus in his passion, our pas-sion, and experience, also with him,the power of the Resurrection: thecertainty of God’s love that affectsus deeply and summons us to taketo the streets in order to bring “gladtidings to the poor ... to proclaimliberty to captives and recovery ofsight to the blind, to let the op-pressed go free, and to proclaim ayear acceptable to the Lord” (cf. Lk4:18-19), with a joy that all can sharein their dignity as children of theliving God.

All these things, which I havebeen thinking about and experien-cing during this time of pandemic, Iwant to share fraternally with you,so that they can help us on our jour-ney of praising the Lord and servingour brothers and sisters. I hope thatthey can prove useful to each of us,for “ever greater love and service”.

May the Lord Jesus bless you andthe Blessed Virgin watch over you.And please, do not forget to keepme in your prayers.Fr a t e r n a l l y,

FRANCIS

Rome, Saint John Lateran,31 May 2020,

the Solemnity of Pentecost.

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number 23, Friday, 5 June 2020 L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO page 9

Holy Father’s video message to the World Pentecost vigil organized by CHARIS

In times of great trial let us emerge as better people

speak about. For John baptised withwater, but in a few days you will bebaptised with the Holy Spirit” (v. 4).And, in verse 8, He says to them:“You will receive power when theHoly Spirit comes on you; and youwill be my witnesses in Jerusalem,and in all Judea and Samaria, andto the ends of the earth”.

Witness of Jesus. The Holy Spiritleads us to this witness. Today theworld suffers, it is wounded; we areliving in a very wounded world,which suffers, especially the poorest,who are rejected, when all our hu-man securities have disappeared, theworld needs us to give it Jesus. Weare able to give this witness onlywith the strength of the Holy Spirit.We need the Spirit to give us neweyes, to open our mind and ourheart so as to face this moment and

the future with the lesson we havelearned: we are a single humanity.We cannot save ourselves byourselves. No one saves him or her-self alone. No one. Saint Paul said,in the Letter to the Galatians:“There is neither Jew nor Gentile,neither slave nor free, nor is theremale nor female, for you are all onein Christ Jesus” (3:28), united by thepower of the Holy Spirit. Throughthis baptism of the Holy Spirit thatJesus announces. We know it, weknew it, but this pandemic we areliving through has made us experi-ence it in a much more dramaticw a y.

We have before us the duty tobuild a new reality. The Lord will doit; we can collaborate: “I make allthings new”, he says (Rev 21:5).

When we come out of this pan-demic, we will no longer be able todo what we have been doing, howwe have been doing it. No,everything will be different. All thesuffering will have been pointless ifwe do not build together a morejust, more equitable, more Christiansociety, not in name, but in reality, areality that leads us to Christian be-haviour. If we do not work to endthe pandemic of poverty in theworld, the pandemic of poverty inthe country of each one of us, in thecity where each of us lives, this timewill have been in vain.

From the great trials of humanity,including the pandemic, we emergeeither better or worse. We do notcome out the same.

I ask you: How do you want tocome out of it? Better or worse?And that is why today we openourselves up to the Holy Spirit sothat he may change our hearts andhelp us to come out better.

If we do not live to be judged ac-cording to what Jesus tells us: “For Iwas hungry and you gave me food,I was thirsty and you gave me drink,a stranger and you welcomed me …in prison and you visited me” (Mt25:35-36), then we will not come outof it better.

And this is a task for all of us, allof us. And also for you, members ofCHARIS, who are all the charismaticst o g e t h e r.

The third document of Mechelen,written in the 1970s by CardinalSuenens and Bishop Helder Ca-mara, called: “Charismatic Renewaland Service of Man”, marks thispath in the current of grace. Befaithful to this call of the Holy Spir-it!

I am reminded of the propheticwords of John XXIII when he an-nounced the Vatican Council, andwhich Charismatic Renewal cher-ishes in particular: “May the DivineSpirit listen in the most comfortingway to the prayer that ascends toHim from all corners of the earth:Renew in our time the wonders as ofa new Pentecost, and grant that theHoly Church, remaining unanimousin prayer, with Mary, the Mother ofJesus and under the guidance ofPeter, may increase the Kingdom ofthe Divine Saviour, the Kingdom ofTruth and Justice, the Kingdom ofLove and Peace”.

I wish for all of you, on this eveof Pentecost, the consolation of theHoly Spirit. And the strength of theHoly Spirit, to come out of this mo-ment of pain, sadness and trial thatis the pandemic; to come out of itb etter.

May the Lord bless you and theVirgin Mother keep you.

Holy Rosary presided by Pope Francis in the Vatican Gardens

Stories of life, suffering and hopeOn Saturday 30 May, Pope Francisled the Rosary from the LourdesGrotto in the Vatican Gardens,where he prayed to Our Lady foran end to the Covid-19 pandemic.In addition to some 130 faithfulpresent in the Vatican, thousandsjoined Pope Francis in the recita-tion of the Rosary from MarianShrines throughout the world viatelevision, radio and digital plat-forms. Images of the Marianshrines could be viewed on a largescreen at the Vatican’s LourdesGrotto and on the screens of thoseconnected for the event.

At the beginning and the end ofthe recitation of the Rosary, PopeFrancis recited the prayers he hadinvited the faithful to praythroughout the Marian month ofM a y.

Each decade of the five GloriousMysteries of the Rosary was led bya person who was directly affectedby the virus. The first decade wasled by a doctor and a nurse, repres-

enting all medical staff who haveworked so hard on the frontline ofthe medical emergency. The secondof the Glorious Mysteries was ledby a person who has recoveredfrom the virus and a person wholost a family member to it. Thethird was led by a priest who is ahospital chaplain, and by a womanreligious who is a nurse. The fourthMystery was led by a pharmacistand a journalist, the fifth was ledby a member of the Italian civilprotection and his family, and by acouple who had recently welcomeda baby.

After reciting the Rosary, theHoly Father shared a few words inSpanish with the many faithful con-nected via satellite from Marianshrines in Latin America: “They tellme there are many shrines in LatinAmerica that are connected, and Iwould like to offer them a greetingin Spanish.

To all of you in the Shrines ofLatin America, I see Guadalupe

and so many others, who are linkedwith us, joined in prayer. I greetyou in my native tongue. Thankyou for being close to all of us.May our Mother of Guadalupe ac-company us”.

When the feast of Pentecost came,all the believers were gathered inone place. Thus begins the secondchapter of the book of the Acts ofthe Apostles that we have just heard.Today too, thanks to technical ad-vances, we are gathered together, be-lievers from various parts of theworld, on the eve of Pentecost.

The story continues: “Suddenly asound like the blowing of a violentwind came from heaven and filledthe whole house where they were sit-ting. They saw what seemed to betongues of fire that separated andcame to rest on each of them. All ofthem were filled with the Holy Spir-it” (vv. 2-4).

The Spirit comes to rest on eachof the disciples, on each one of us.The Spirit promised by Jesus comesto renew, to convert, to heal everyone of us. He comes to cure us ofour fears — how many fears we have!— our insecurities; He comes to healour wounds, the wounds we also in-flict on one another; and He comesto make us into disciples, missionarydisciples, witnesses full of courage,of apostolic parrhesia, necessary forthe preaching of the Gospel of Jesus, as we read in the following verseswhat happened to the disciples.

Today more than ever we need theFather to send us the Holy Spirit.In the first chapter of the Acts ofthe Apostles, Jesus says to His dis-ciples: “Wait for the gift my Fatherpromised, which you have heard me

Thousands of faithful from more than 100countries joined together in prayer, viatraditional and social media for the Pentecostvigil organized by CHARIS, the soleinternational service of Catholic CharismaticRenewal which was founded one year ago atPope Francis’ re q u e s t .

Established on 8 December 2018 by theDicastery for the Laity, Family and Life as anentity for communion, its statutes came intoeffect on Pentecost 2019 when the CatholicFraternity and the International CatholicCharismatic Renewal Service (ICCRS)definitively ceased their activities.

The Pope participated in the online vigil whichtook place on Saturday evening, 30 May, at10:00 pm in Rome, via a video message inwhich he prayed for the Holy Spirit’sconsolation and strength to overcome the trialsof the pandemic. The following is a translationof his message which he delivered in Spanish.

page 10 L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO Friday, 5 June 2020, number 23

The Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples on the Pope’s message to the PMS

Francis is asking us to rediscover missionin ordinary Christian life

I N T E R V I E W

with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle

ALESSANDRO GISOTTI

A healthy jolt to give renewed en-thusiasm to the Church’s mission-ary commitment. One week fromthe publication of Pope Francis’message to the Pontifical MissionSocieties, Cardinal Luis AntonioTagle, Prefect of the Congrega-tion for the Evangelization ofPeoples, shared his thoughts onthe key points of the Holy Fath-er’s message with L’O s s e r v a t o reRomano and Vatican News. Weshould put into practice what thePope asked, Cardinal Tagle said,which is to rediscover authenticmissionary spirit, and not to relyon practices that, under the guiseof efficiency and success, keepfrom the heart of the mission: theproclamation of the Good Newsto all people.

Cardinal Tagle, Francis’ message tothe Pontifical Mission Societies(PMS) was widely recognized farbeyond the horizon of those to whomit was addressed. Once again thePope underlined how much the mis-sion is at the heart of the life andidentity of the Church. What partic-ularly impressed you with this mes-sage?

There are many things that fas-cinated me about Pope Francis’message to the Pontifical MissionSocieties. Let me name a few.First, the Holy Father had accep-ted the invitation to address theNational Directors of the PMSduring their general assembly thatshould have taken place themonth of May of this year. Dueto the pandemic, the assemblywas called off. But instead of wel-coming the cancellation of anaudience as an opportunity torest, the Pope still decided towrite and send a message. Forme, this message contains notonly the Pope’s words and in-sights but also his passion formission and solicitude for P M S.While reading the document, weshould listen to his soul, his ex-citement, his hopes and his pre-occupations. Secondly, I believethat while the message is specific-ally addressed to the NationalDirectors of the PMS, the Popewants the whole Church, the

whole People of God, to read,study and meditate on it. It willserve as a guide for the NationalDirectors. But it also serves as atool for the examination of con-science of the whole Church inthe area of missionary spirit andengagement.

The Pope emphasized strongly thatthe mission is a free gift of the HolySpirit, not the outcome of strategiesthat imitate “models of worldly effi-ciency”. What do you think shouldbe done to avoid this risk of func-tionalism, of efficiency in the newprojects of PMS?

It is important to say thatPope Francis is not against effi-ciency and methods that couldmake our mission fruitful andtransparent. But he is warning usabout the danger of “measuring”Church mission using only thestandards and outcomes pre-de-termined by models or schools ofmanagement, no matter howgood and useful these may be.The tools of efficiency can helpbut should never substitute forChurch mission. The most effi-ciently run Church organizationmay end up being the least mis-sionary. By emphasizing that mis-sion is a gift of the Holy Spirit,Pope Francis is leading us backto some fundamental truths like:faith in God is a gift from GodHimself; the Kingdom of God isinaugurated and fulfilled by God;the Church is God’s creation; theChurch awakens to her mission,proclaims the Gospel and goes tothe ends of the earth because theRisen Lord sends the Holy Spiritfrom the Father. At the root ofthe Church and mission is a giftof God, not a human plan. Jesuscomes to meet us as the Love ofthe Father. But we have a role toplay — to pray, to discern the di-vine gift, receive it in faith andact on it as the Giver desires.Separated from this root of grace,the actions of the Church, notjust the projects of PMS, are re-duced to mere functions andfixed plans of action. God’s sur-prises and “disturbances” are con-sidered destructive of our pre-pared projects. For me, to avoidthe risk of functionalism, we need

to return to the spring of theC h u rc h ’s life and mission: God’sgift in Jesus and the Holy Spirit.Apart from that vivifying source,our hard work would cause tired-ness, boredom, anxiety, competi-tion, insecurity and despair.Firmly rooted in the gift of theHoly Spirit, we could face ourmission and its pains, with joyand hope.

With a very strong image, Francisurged the PMS to “break every mir-ror in the house”. The temptations ofnarcissism and self-sufficiency are“maladies” that worry the HolyFather. How is it possible to get“vaccinated” against this virus thatsickens the Church?

Narcissism is a result of apurely pragmatic or functionalview of mission. Mission slowlybecomes more about me, myname, my success, my achieve-ment, my fame and my followersand less about the Good News ofGo d’s mercy, of Jesus’ compas-sion, of the Holy Spirit’s surpris-ing movements. And when goodresults come, narcissism or self-fo-cus leads to self-sufficiency. Myachievements prove that I canrely on my own capacities. Toneed God and other people is aninsult to my unlimited capabilit-ies. Self-sufficiency deepens nar-cissism. This cycle traps a personor an institution within the nar-row world of self-isolation, whichis the opposite of mission. This is

the mirror that Pope Franciswants to us to break — self-ab-sorption. I propose that we use atransparent glass that will enableus to see beyond ourselves, not amirror where I look only at myface and the immediate environ-ment surrounding me. Or betterstill, as the Pope suggests, let usopen the windows and doors,look out, step out to God’s cre-ation, to neighbours, to streetcorners, to the suffering, to theconfused, to the youth, to thewounded. Looking at them, wehope to see ourselves too. We seeGod. They are the real mirrors weshould be looking at. The vaccineagainst narcissism and self-suffi-ciency is to get out of ourselves.The vaccine is called “the Churchthat goes forth” (La chiesa in us-cita). Only then will we findourselves. It is about changingmirrors, I think.

The Pope also asks that we think ofthe poorest rather than self-promo-tion. He asks to reach people “w h e rethey are and and just how they arein the midst of their lives” and totrust the sensus fidei of the People ofGod. Are the PMS ready to chal-lenge themselves for a new impetusin their fundamental mission at theservice of the Church?

By bringing mission back tothe action of the Holy Spirit,Pope Francis reminds us of theChurch, Temple of the HolySpirit, the People of God, theactive agent of mission. PMS andother mission-oriented groups arereminded that mission is not theirexclusive domain, nor are theythe sole promoters of mission.The Church as a living edifice ofthe Holy Spirit has already beenmissionary from her historical be-ginnings. The Pope rightly recallsthe origins of the PMS in the con-cern, prayer and acts of charity ofsimple people. PMS was bornthanks to women and men wholived holiness in their daily ordin-ary life, a holiness that movedthem to share the gift of Jesus to

Cardinal Tagle with Pope Francis during hisvisit to the Philippines in January 2015

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number 23, Friday, 5 June 2020 L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO page 11

Francis is asking us to rediscover mission in ordinary Christian life

those who need Him. They used themeans given to them by the HolySpirit: prayer and acts of charity.The Holy Father is encouraging PMSand the Church to bring the under-standing and practice of missionback to the ordinariness of Christianlife, to make mission a simple, non-complicated part of Christian life infamilies, in workplaces, in schools,on farms, in offices and in parishes.I think one big challenge is how tohelp our faithful see that faith is agreat gift of God, not a burden. Ifwe are happy and enriched by ourexperience of faith, then we willshare that gift with others. Missionbecomes sharing of a gift, ratherthan an obligation to fulfill. Wewalk together with brothers and sis-ters in the same journey called mis-sion. Mission and synodality meet.

An important part of the Message isdedicated to donations. For the Pope itis necessary to overcome the temptationto go in search of large donors trans-forming the Pontifical Mission Societiesinto NGOs focused on raising funds.How will these exhortations of thePope be implemented on a practicallevel?

In the coherent vision of PopeFrancis, donations are seen as offer-ings of charity that accompany pray-er for the mission. This perspectivemakes the donations or collectionspart of the gift of faith and mission.When the horizon of gift is replacedby that of efficiency in running anorganization, then the donations be-come merely funds or resources tobe used, rather than tangible signsof love, of prayer, of sharing thefruits of human labour. The dangeris that money would be raised in thename of mission but without becom-ing an expression of missionarycharity on the part of a donor. Thegoal might shift to simply reaching adesired amount of money ratherthan awakening missionary con-sciousness and joy. With eyes set ona monetary target, the temptation torely on large donors becomes great.I suggest that we devote more timeand energy to providing people withopportunities to encounter Jesus andHis Gospel and to be missionariesin their daily lives. The faithful whobecome committed and joyful mis-sionaries are our best resource, notmoney per se. It is also good to re-mind our faithful that even theirsmall donations, when put together,become a tangible expression of theHoly Father’s universal missionary

charity to churches in need. No giftis too small when given for the com-mon good.

There is no Church without mission,Francis repeats to us once again withthis strong Message that recalls Evan-gelii Gaudium. What is your hope asPrefect of the Congregation that has themission inscribed in its DNA?

The Message of Pope Francis tothe PMS Directors echoes the mainthemes of Evangelii Gaudium. I be-lieve that Evangelii Gaudium is PopeFrancis´ unique way of articulatingfor our time the ecclesiological andmissiological legacy of Vatican II.He also expresses the influence ofSaint Paul VI’s Evangelii nuntiandion his missionary vision. In the pastsix decades, we have heard the loudaffirmation that the identity andreason for existence of the Church ismission. The mission of the Churchis to share the Gift she has received.I am reminded of the first letter ofSaint John where he says, “This iswhat we proclaim to you: what wasfrom the beginning, what we haveheard, what we have seen with oureyes, what we have looked upon andour hands have touched — we speakof the word of life ….Indeed ourpurpose in writing you this is thatour joy may be complete” (I John

1:1-4). I hope that we could returnto this simple and joyful beginningof the Church and her apostolicmission.

How does an extraordinary momentlike the one we are experiencing due tothe pandemic affect all this?

The COVID 19 pandemic hasbrought much suffering and fear tothe human family. We cannot andshould not ignore its impact on theChurch and mission. It might takeus many more years to have a bettergrasp of this event in our lives. Butwe can declare even now that amidstthe uncertainties, the lockdown, theunemployment, the loss of income,and many other effects of the pan-demic, the Holy Spirit has vigor-ously poured the gifts of compas-sion, heroism, love of family, ardentprayer, rediscovery of the Word ofGod, hunger for the Eucharist, a re-turn to simple lifestyle, caring forcreation, to name a few. When theChurch feels restricted in her usualactivities, the Holy Spirit continuesHis mission without any limitations.The Church is called to look and tomarvel at the astonishing works ofthe Holy Spirit. We appreciate thegift and we will narrate the stories ofthe Holy Spirit’s action during thepandemic in the many years ahead.

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Holy Father's video message for global prayer campaign ‘Thy Kingdom Come’

Investing in health, employment andthe fight against inequality

In a video message released on Sunday, 31 May, in support of the ‘Thy KingdomCome’ prayer movement, promoted by Archbishop of Canterbury, His Grace JustinWelby, Pope Francis prayed that Christians may “be more deeply united as witnessesof mercy for the human family so severely tested in these days”. The following is theEnglish text of the Holy Father’s message which was broadcast as part of theArchbishop of Canterbury’s liturgical service for the Solemnity of Pentecost.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,With joy, I join Archbishop JustinWelby and all of you to share somethoughts from the heart. This isPentecost: we celebrate the day onwhich the Spirit of God came downwith power. Since that day, God’slife dwells among us, bringing usnew and previously unknown hope,peace and joy. At Pentecost God“infected” the world with life. Howdifferent this is from the contagionof death that has ravaged the earthfor months now! Today, more thanever, it is necessary to implore theHoly Spirit to pour forth into ourhearts the life of God, who is love.Indeed, if there is to be a better fu-ture, our hearts must change for theb etter.

On the day of Pentecost, peoplewho spoke different languages as-sembled and encountered one an-other. In these months, however, wehave been required to observe ap-propriate and necessary measures tokeep our distance from one another.Yet we have also come to under-stand, perhaps better, what othersare experiencing: we have been

brought together by fear and uncer-tainty. How many troubled andbroken hearts are in need of com-fort! I think of how, when Jesusspoke about the Holy Spirit, heused a particular word: P a ra c l e t e ,that is, C o m f o r t e r. Many of you haveexperienced the consolation broughtby the Spirit, that inner peace whichmakes us feel loved, that gentlestrength that always inspires cour-age, even amid suffering. The Spiritassures us that we are not alone, thatGod sustains us. Dear friends, wemust give in turn the gift that wehave received: we are called to sharethe comfort of the Spirit, the close-ness of God.

How can we do this? Let us thinkabout all those things that we longfor: comfort, encouragement,someone to care for us, someone topray for us, someone to weep withus and help us face our difficulties.Everything we would like others todo for us, let us do for them instead(cf. Mt 7:12). Do we want to beheard? Let us first listen. Do weneed encouragement? Let us giveencouragement. Do we wantsomeone to care for us? Let us care

for those who are alone and aban-doned. Do we need hope for tomor-row? Let us give hope today. Todayour world is experiencing a tragicfamine of hope. How much pain is allaround us, how much emptiness,how much inconsolable grief! Letus, then, become messengers of thecomfort bestowed by the Spirit. Letus radiate hope, and the Lord willopen new paths as we journey to-wards the future.

I would like to share with yousomething about this journey thatwe are making together. How greatlyI desire that, as Christians, we canbe more deeply united as witnesses ofm e rc y for the human family soseverely tested in these days. Let usask the Spirit for the gift of unity,for only if we live as brothers andsisters can we spread the spirit offraternity. We cannot ask others tobe united if we ourselves take differ-ent paths. So let us pray for one an-other; let us each feel responsible forthe other.

The Holy Spirit bestows wisdomand good counsel. In these days letus invoke his aid upon thosecharged with making complex andpressing decisions, that they may de-fend human life and the dignity ofw o rk . For this is what must be inves-ted in: health, employment, and theelimination of inequalities andpoverty. Now as never before weneed a vision rich in humanity: we

cannot start up again by going backto our selfish pursuit of successwithout caring about those who areleft behind. And even if many aredoing precisely that, the Lord is ask-ing us to change course. On the dayof Pentecost, Peter spoke with abold courage (parrhesia) promptedby the Spirit. “Rep ent” (Ac t s 2:38),he urged, be converted, change thedirection of your lives. That is whatwe need to do: go back, turn backto God and our neighbour: nolonger isolated and anaesthetizedbefore the cry of the poor and thedevastation of our planet. We needto be united in facing all those pan-demics that are spreading, that ofthe virus, but also those of hunger,war, contempt for life, and indiffer-ence to others. Only by walking to-gether will we be able to go far.

Dear brothers and sisters, you areproclaiming the Gospel message oflife and you are a sign of hope. Ithank you from my heart. I ask Godto bless you and I ask you to praythat he bless me. Thank you.

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Listen tothe call to mission

Holy Father’s Message for WMD 2020

“In this year marked by the sufferingand challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic, the missionary journeyof the whole Church continues inlight of the words found in theaccount of the calling of the prophetIsaiah: “Here am I, send me”(6:8), Pope Francis said in hismessage for the 94th World MissionDay 2020, signed on Sunday, 31May, the Solemnity of Pentecost. Thefollowing is the English text of theHoly Father’s message for WorldMission Day which will becelebrated on Sunday, 18 October.

Here am I, send me (Is 6:8)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,I wish to express my gratitude toGod for the commitment withwhich the Church throughout theworld carried out the Extraordin-ary Missionary Month last Octo-ber. I am convinced that it stimu-lated missionary conversion inmany communities on the pathindicated by the theme: “Baptizedand Sent: the Church of Christon Mission in the World”.

In this year marked by the suf-fering and challenges created bythe Covid-19 pandemic, the mis-sionary journey of the wholeChurch continues in light of thewords found in the account ofthe calling of the prophet Isaiah:“Here am I, send me” (6:8). Thisis the ever new response to theL o rd ’s question: “Whom shall Isend?” (ibid.). This invitationfrom God’s merciful heart chal-lenges both the Church and hu-manity as a whole in the currentworld crisis. “Like the disciples inthe Gospel we were caught offguard by an unexpected, turbu-lent storm. We have realized thatwe are on the same boat, all of usfragile and disoriented, but at thesame time important and needed,all of us called to row together,each of us in need of comfortingthe other. On this boat… are allof us. Just like those disciples,who spoke anxiously with one

voice, saying ‘We are perishing’(v. 38), so we too have realizedthat we cannot go on thinking ofourselves, but only together canwe do this” (Meditation in SaintPeter’s Square, 27 March 2020).We are indeed frightened, disori-ented and afraid. Pain and deathmake us experience our humanfrailty, but at the same time re-mind us of our deep desire for lifeand liberation from evil. In thiscontext, the call to mission, theinvitation to step out of ourselvesfor love of God and neighbourpresents itself as an opportunityfor sharing, service and intercess-ory prayer. The mission that Godentrusts to each one of us leads usfrom fear and introspection to arenewed realization that we findourselves precisely when we giveourselves to others.

In the sacrifice of the cross,where the mission of Jesus is fullyaccomplished (cf. Jn 19:28-30),God shows us that his love is foreach and every one of us (cf. Jn19:26-27). He asks us to be per-sonally willing to be sent, becausehe himself is Love, love that is al-ways “on mission”, always reach-ing out in order to give life. Outof his love for us, God the Fathersent his Son Jesus (cf. Jn 3:16).Jesus is the Father’s Missionary:his life and ministry reveal histotal obedience to the Father’swill (cf. Jn 4:34; 6:38; 8:12-30;Heb 10:5-10). Jesus, crucified andrisen for us, draws us in turn intohis mission of love, and with hisSpirit which enlivens the Church,he makes us his disciples andsends us on a mission to theworld and to its peoples.

“The mission, the ‘Church onthe move’, is not a programme,an enterprise to be carried out bysheer force of will. It is Christwho makes the Church go out ofherself. In the mission of evangel-ization, you move because theHoly Spirit pushes you, and car-ries you” (Senza di Lui non pos-siamo fare nulla: Essere missionarioggi nel mondo. Una conversazionecon Gianni Valente, LibreriaEditrice Vaticana: San Paolo,2019, 16-17). God always loves usfirst and with this love comes tous and calls us. Our personal vo-cation comes from the fact thatwe are sons and daughters ofGod in the Church, his family,brothers and sisters in that lovethat Jesus has shown us. All,however, have a human dignityfounded on the divine invitationto be children of God and to be-come, in the sacrament of Bap-

tism and in the freedom of faith,what they have always been inthe heart of God.

Life itself, as a gift freely re-ceived, is implicitly an invitationto this gift of self: it is a seedwhich, in the baptized, will blos-som as a response of love in mar-riage or in virginity for the king-dom of God. Human life is bornof the love of God, grows in loveand tends towards love. No oneis excluded from the love of God,and in the holy sacrifice of Jesushis Son on the cross, Godconquered sin and death (cf.Rom8:31-39). For God, evil —even sin — becomes a challengeto respond with even greater love(cf. Mt 5:38-48; Lk 22:33-34). Inthe Paschal Mystery, divine mercyheals our wounded humanity andis poured out upon the whole uni-verse. The Church, the universalsacrament of God’s love for theworld, continues the mission of Je-sus in history and sends us every-where so that, through our witnessof faith and the proclamation ofthe Gospel, God may continue tomanifest his love and in this waytouch and transform hearts,minds, bodies, societies and cul-tures in every place and time.

Mission is a free and consciousresponse to God’s call. Yet wediscern this call only when wehave a personal relationship oflove with Jesus present in hisChurch. Let us ask ourselves: arewe prepared to welcome the pres-ence of the Holy Spirit in ourlives, to listen to the call to mis-sion, whether in our life as mar-ried couples or as consecratedpersons or those called to the or-dained ministry, and in all theeveryday events of life? Are wewilling to be sent forth at anytime or place to witness to ourfaith in God the merciful Father,to proclaim the Gospel of salva-tion in Jesus Christ, to share thedivine life of the Holy Spirit bybuilding up the Church? Are we,like Mary, the Mother of Jesus,ready to be completely at the ser-vice of God’s will (cf. Lk 1:38)?This interior openness is essentialif we are to say to God: “H e ream I, Lord, send me” (cf. Is 6:8).And this, not in the abstract, butin this chapter of the life of theChurch and of history.

Understanding what God issaying to us at this time of pan-demic also represents a challengefor the Church’s mission. Illness,suffering, fear and isolation chal-lenge us. The poverty of thosewho die alone, the abandoned,

those who have lost their jobsand income, the homeless andthose who lack food challenge us.Being forced to observe socialdistancing and to stay at homeinvites us to rediscover that weneed social relationships as wellas our communal relationshipwith God. Far from increasingmistrust and indifference, thissituation should make us evenmore attentive to our way of re-lating to others. And prayer, inwhich God touches and movesour hearts, should make us evermore open to the need of ourbrothers and sisters for dignityand freedom, as well as our re-sponsibility to care for all cre-ation. The impossibility of gath-ering as a Church to celebrate theEucharist has led us to share theexperience of the many Christiancommunities that cannot celeb-rate Mass every Sunday. In all ofthis, God’s question: “Whomshall I send?” is addressed oncemore to us and awaits a generousand convincing response: “H e ream I, send me!” (Is 6:8). Godcontinues to look for those whomhe can send forth into the worldand to the nations to bear witnessto his love, his deliverance fromsin and death, his liberation fromevil (cf. Mt 9:35-38; Lk 10:1-12).

The celebration of World Mis-sion Day is also an occasion forreaffirming how prayer, reflectionand the material help of your of-ferings are so many opportunitiesto participate actively in the mis-sion of Jesus in his Church. Thecharity expressed in the collec-tions that take place during theliturgical celebrations of the thirdSunday of October is aimed atsupporting the missionary workcarried out in my name by thePontifical Mission Societies, inorder to meet the spiritual andmaterial needs of peoples andChurches throughout the world,for the salvation of all.

May the Most Blessed VirginMary, Star of Evangelization andComforter of the Afflicted, mis-sionary disciple of her Son Jesus,continue to intercede for us andsustain us.

Rome, Saint John Lateran,31 May 2020, Solemnity of

Pe n t e c o s t

“The Prophet Isaiah”,by Marc Chagall

WORLD MISSION DAY