Encyclical of the Synod of Bishops of the major Archbishopric of Kyiv-Halych of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church concerning the danger of gender ideology

Dearly Beloved in Christ!

Introduction

1. In the twentieth century, the people of Ukraine suffered from a godless Soviet regime that attempted to forcefully tear people from the roots of faith and impose an atheistic worldview. Presented as the only “scientific” one, this worldview denied human persons’ freedom of conscience and deprived them of the right to freely profess their religious beliefs. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the world stands before similar challenges, which, however, are not accompanied by open and bloody persecution, but rather are served by hidden ideological means of destroying Christian faith and morality, as well as universal human values. Some of these challenges relate to areas of human sexuality and family life, and are not new to Ukraine; rather, they are accented or presented in public consciousness in a new manner. Others are entirely new and even far removed from the Ukrainian context, but certain forces are attempting to artificially impose them upon us.

2. In particular, gender theories are a significant threat today, attempting to destroy the perception of human sexuality as a gift from God that is naturally linked to the biological differences between man and woman, as well as introducing a dangerous disorder to human relationships and attacking the foundations of interpersonal communication. The concepts of human dignity and freedom are undergoing extensive manipulation and the true meaning of these essential moral categories is being displaced and distorted. All these efforts are being implemented very actively, systematically, and thoughtfully, using political expediency and populist slogans. However, their true nature and purpose remain hidden from the public. As a result, Ukrainian society—sensitive to asserting its dignity and freedom—is in danger of thoughtlessly accepting as truth questionable atheistic theories founded in attempts to affirm human dignity, to achieve equality among people, to defend the human right to freedom, and so on.

3. Under these circumstances, the Church-Mother seeks by means of this Encyclical to warn the faithful and all people of good will of the threats that are hidden behind gender ideology and similar worldview systems, and recall the traditional biblical, Christian, and universal values upon which interpersonal relationships and the way of organizing social life are based.

Human Dignity in God’s Plan

4. The whole history of salvation attests to the incredible love of God for the human person. From the very first pages of Holy Scripture we learn about the extraordinary greatness of the human person. While everything else arose from only one word of God, Church tradition speaks of a Divine “meeting” that preceded the creation of the human person: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’” (Gen. 1:26). Particular attention should be given to the phrase “in our image, after our likeness.” This is the basis of the concept of human dignity, which in the New Testament is emphasized in the Incarnation of the Son of God in human nature. The image of God is integral to the natural dignity and spiritual beauty of every human person, from the moment of conception until natural death. This is a common feature of all people that reflects their equal and infinite value.

5. The image of God is the foundation of not only personal uniqueness, but also the human community: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’…So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:26–27). Therefore, the “communion of the persons of the Trinity is the prototype of the human community.” [1: Catechism of the UGCC, Christ – Our Pascha, § 132.] Pope Francis, commenting on this verse of Holy Scripture, says that “marriage is the most beautiful creation of God” because “man and woman, who become one flesh, are the image of God.”[2: “Indifesa delmatrimonio. L’appello durantela visita alla chiesa dell’Assunta a Tbilisi,” L’Osservatore Romano (3-4 October 2016), 6.] “Man is a person, man and woman equally so, since both were created in the image and likeness of the personal God. Each of the two sexes is an image of the power and tenderness of God, with equal dignity though in a different way.”[3: Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2334–2335. Cf. Familiaris consortio, § 22; Gaudium et spes, § 49; Mulieris dignitatem, § 6.] The catechism Christ – Our Pascha, interpreting the biblical story of the creation of man and woman, says: “The image of the Most Holy Trinity in human community is the natural unity of human community that exists within the communion of the love between Adam and Eve. Complementing one another physically, psychologically, and spiritually, Adam and Eve are different, but at the same time, equal persons. In the wonderful image of Eve’s creation from the ‘rib of Adam’ (cf. Gen. 2:21), Holy Scripture describes the equality and difference between the man and the woman, who form the first community. Adam professes Eve to be his own: ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman” (Gen. 2:23). Adam embraces Eve as person, his equal and simultaneously his companion for life (cf. Gen. 2:24).” [4: Catechism of the UGCC, Christ – Our Pascha, § 133–134.] The Church teaches that “created in the image of the one God and equally endowed with rational souls, all men have the same nature and the same origin. Redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ, all are called to participate in the same divine beatitude: all therefore enjoy an equal dignity.”[5: Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1934.]

6. Sexuality, as a gift to be man or woman (cf. Gen. 1:27) given by God during creation, integrally covers all the natural dimensions of existence of the human person: body, soul, and spirit. A person is called to accept God’s plan for themselves as expressed in their sex—because sex does not depend on human choice—and to embody it in their lives. Sexuality can only be comprehended in light of the Christian understanding of love as a vocation to the communion of persons and the self-giving of one person to another. “In marital life, a man and a woman open themselves to God through mutual love, which becomes the foundation of their indissoluble union, fidelity, and fruitfulness. In the virginal state of consecrated life, sexuality is transfigured in the Holy Spirit in order to serve God and one’s neighbour in love for the sake of the heavenly kingdom (cf. Matt. 19:12). Any selfish exploitation of another person as a means for obtaining sexual pleasure contradicts God’s gift of love, deforms the essence of sexuality, and deeply wounds the person.” [6: Catechism of the UGCC, Christ – Our Pascha, § 862–863]

7. God subjects the earth and all that fills it (cf. Gen. 1:26,28) to the human person. This is why human beings are God’s greatest creation, which has a special vocation and mission in the world. [7: Cf. Catechism of the UGCC, Christ – Our Pascha, § 118–120.] The Psalmist describes the greatness and dignity of the human person: “For I will look at the heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you fixed. What is man that you remember him? Or the son of man that you visit him? You have made him a little less than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honour, and set him over the works of your hands. You have subjected all things under his feet…” (cf. Ps. 8:4–9). And St. John of Damascus, a Father of the Church, emphasizes that God created man as “a sort of second microcosm within the great world, another angel…king over the things of earth, but subject to a higher king, of the earth and of the heaven, temporal and eternal, belonging to the realm of sight and to the realm of thought, midway between greatness and lowliness, spirit and flesh…becomes deified by merely inclining himself towards God; becoming deified, in the way of participating in the divine glory and not in that of a change into the divine being.” [8: St. John Damascene, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book 2, Chapter 12 (“On Man”); NPNF 9:31.]

8. In God’s plan, the human person, created in the image of God, is appointed for eternal communion with the Creator. As St. Gregory of Nyssa says, “the purpose of a virtuous life is to become like God.” [9: St. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Beatitudes, 1; PG 44:1199C.] With the Lord’s grace, a person reaches the height of its capabilities in likeness to God through “divinization” (theosis). [10: Catechism of the UGCC, Christ – Our Pascha, §§ 124 and 127.] The Apostle Paul describes the outlook and purpose of human growth: “…until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). Every human person in its growth toward the fullness of God’s likeness is an absolutely unique and inimitable individual. This inimitableness is caused by the grace of the Holy Spirit, who endows each of us with special personal gifts, talents, abilities, and disposition. Thus, the equality of all people in their dignity is at the same time inextricably linked to the uniqueness of each human person.

9. One of the features inherent in God’s image in the human person is free will, by which it can freely choose the good; however, it is also able to choose another way: “The most profound dimension of human freedom consists in being able to freely choose God and to be with him. This is the good. Yet with this same freedom, we can also reject our relationship with God—and this is evil.” [11: Catechism of the UGCC, Christ – Our Pascha, § 137.] “The devil in Paradise lured Adam with a vain hope for divinization, proposing that he consider the measure of goodness resides not in God but within himself…The deceit of the Evil One is based on the premise that God is deceiving humankind with his commandment, thereby undercutting their freedom…” [12: Catechism of the UGCC, Christ – Our Pascha, § 145–146.] From the biblical account of the fall of the progenitors, we conclude that a sinful choice has serious consequences for the person—the loss of paradise as a state of blessed communion and life with God and other creatures (cf. Gen. 3:4–14). The sin of the progenitors also obscured the truth about the human person as the image of God. Since then, human nature has also been marred by sin. The brokenness caused by sin continues in history, appearing in a variety of abuses in the area of sexuality.

10. But God so loved man that he did not abandon him, he did not take away from him his high calling even after the fall, but is constantly looking for him: “Adam, where are you?” (cf. Gen.3:9). Because of the fall, man’s movement toward God ceases, but God does not cease his movement toward man. Evidence of this is the history of salvation, as reflected in the Old Testament. Direct restoration of this movement was accomplished in the New Testament through Christ, who “gave himself as an exchange to death, by which we had been held captive, sold under sin. And when He had descended through the Cross into Hades, so that He might fill all things with Himself, He loosed the pangs of death. And rising on the third day and making a way for all flesh to the resurrection of the dead….” [13: Anaphora of St. Basil the Great.]

11. Thus, the dignity and worth of man lies in the truth of his creation “in the image and likeness of God,” in its superiority over all creation and comprehension of the divine vocation to holiness. God’s likeness, in which man was created, points to the dynamism of his vocation. The dignity of man requires that he act not under the influence of instinctive impulses or external coercion, but under a conscious and free choice and mature personal convictions. This is reached when one is freed from the bondage of passions and aims for his goal, freely choosing good and using appropriate means for it. [14: Gaudium et spes, § 17]

The Concept of Gender

12. Human sexuality is, as already mentioned, a natural gift of God and precisely through it we discover the joy of being co-creators. However, the very vulnerable area of sexuality and marriage today belongs to the most manipulated aspects of human existence. The constant temptation to violate God’s statutes in this area is one of the consequences of the fall of our progenitors (cf. Gen. 3). Man abuses the possibility of a free choice when trying to “become free” of traditional values in the area of sexuality and married life, falsely treating them as some archaisms and obstacles to equality, dignity, and freedom. Some believe that obstacle to be biological sex, perceiving difference of sexes as the cause of societal degradation and violation of rights, the precondition for sexual violence in the family and outside it (by men against women). Instead, it should be remembered that the cause of these and other such societal problems is not sexuality itself, but its distorted perception and understanding.

13. Over the course of millennia, humankind has recognized the existence of two sexes based on biological criteria—male and female. Recently, worldviews that are contrary to the Christian faith, objective scientific reality, and natural law have become widespread and influential, namely theories of gender. Their basis is the distinction between biological sex, given to the person from conception, and gender, a certain personal choice of sexual behaviour. Consequently, gender identity is no longer considered a gift from God, but rather declared a matter of individual choice for each person. The person ”no longer understands its deep calling to eternal love, but considers it as a temporary diversion.” [15: Joint Declaration of the Catholic Bishops of Ukraine Concerning the New Ideological Captivity of our Nation (25 November 2015).] While sexual identity is based on a biological, psycho-physical reality, gender identity abandons binary gender (male or female) in favour of a broad and free range of self-identification. Thus, sex is a natural phenomenon, whereas gender is the reality of psychological self-understanding often caused by social influence. Gender ideology insists that a person is free to choose and implement their sexual identity regardless of their biological sex. Such separation and opposition of sex and gender is dangerous, because it distorts the traditional foundations of society based on divine and natural law.

14. The concept of gender is constantly changing and transforming. If initially it was “constructed” in opposition to biological sex, indicating that a person could choose a gender (social) role of man or woman regardless of being physiologically male or female, it is now claimed that not only does biological sex not influence the choice of social role, but the public role of man or woman is not necessary. Because gender is entirely separated from binary biological sex, it can be determined by any differences in behaviour, biological characteristics, psychological characteristics, sexual drive or desire, and so on. The human person is understood as a kind of “incorporeal freedom” that is its own creator and constructs its own identity, including its physicality in sexual terms, as a tool for getting the most pleasure with the least responsibility.

15. This “theory” implies that everyone can have a gender based on a unique combination of characteristics, freely defined and given by that person itself. Gender can supposedly be chosen. Therefore, people are likely to choose one that matches their biological sex. But one can also choose a different one. The person is given the offer not to limit their biological sex to man or woman, or even the social role of man or woman, but instead to choose their gender and gender role from the plurality of possibilities (various gender ideologues identify from a few to dozens of such roles, for example, heterosexual, homosexual, transsexual, androgynous, bigender, agender, etc.). Thus it is not being someone that determines, but acting in the role of someone. In addition, gender is declared not as a static reality but a dynamic one that can be repeatedly changed throughout the course of one’s life. The consequence of such erroneous thinking is the conclusion that supposedly one can freely choose the ways of one’s own sexual life.

16. Of particular concern is the fact that gender ideologies are not just virtual worldview systems—they are aggressively imposed on public opinion, gradually introduced in legislation, and made ever more forcefully visible in different spheres of human life, especially in education and upbringing. “If these ideas circulated only in theory, they would not go beyond the right to private opinion and the possible existence of different philosophical views. The danger lies in the fact that such anti-human theories are trying to become the ruling ideology and be put into practice, sometimes by means of international pressures on the global community.” [16: Joint Declaration of the Catholic Bishops of Ukraine Concerning the New Ideological Captivity of our Nation (25 November 2015).] Pope Francis states that “today a world war is being wagged to destroy marriage,” referring to the theory of gender as “destructive ideological colonization.” [17: Cf. “Indifesa delmatrimonio. L’appello durantela visita alla chiesa dell’Assunta a Tbilisi,” L’Osservatore Romano (3-4 October 2016), 6.] That which was until recently considered sexual deviation is today proclaimed by gender theorists as not only normal, but as a rule of life to be followed under pain of ridicule, censure, and even punishment.

17. Therefore, at its present stage of development, gender theory begins to acquire the characteristics of totalitarian ideology and is similar to those utopian ideologies that in the twentieth century not only promised to create paradise on earth, supposedly building true equality between people, but also tried to forcibly introduce their own way of thinking, eradicating any alternative point of view. The tragic history of the twentieth century has shown us what such ideologies that promise “happiness to all humanity” turn into.

III. Destructive Outcomes of Gender Ideology

18. Gender theories envision the complete denial of human nature and natural moral law, with the result that the concept of human identity is steadily destroyed. Pope Benedict XVI confirms: “What is often expressed and understood by the term ‘gender’ ultimately ends up being man’s attempt at self-emancipation from creation and the Creator. Man wants to be his own master, and alone—always and exclusively—to determine everything that concerns him. Yet in this way he lives in opposition to the truth, in opposition to the Creator Spirit.” [18: Pope Benedict XVI, Christmas Greetings to the Roman Curia (22 December 2008), § 1: http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2008/december/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20081222_curia-romana.html.] Supporting gender theory, a person rejects the idea that his or her gender is granted by God and doubts the fact that God created people as male and female (cf. Gen. 1:27).

19. Gender theory denies the existence of human beings created as men and women, claiming that only the person has the ability of self-creation (self-transformation) into man, woman, or some other being. Therefore, it is not God, but the person who is proclaimed creator of man, woman, or some other being. Officially declaring the desire for equality, gender ideological systems in reality strive for uniformity. We should remember that equality should not be confused with uniformity. It is diversity that is the basis of equality, while uniformity is the basis for smoothing and unifying unique and specific natural traits and signs that are attractive to the sexes. Objecting to biological sex blurs the notion of humanity, which is expressed in masculinity or femininity; rather, sexuality gives the opportunity to build genuine social equality. One cannot simply be a human being—a human being is always either man or woman.

20. Gender ideology, which denies the existence of objective human nature, the complementarity of man and woman, and the values of marriage, actually denies the existence of the Creator and negates the truth of humans in his image. In such ideologies, there is no place for God, and therefore there is no place for the person in their uniqueness and dignity, because human uniqueness is grounded in its connection with the Creator. The biblical doctrine of the person, created by God, emphasizes the greatness and dignity of its origin and calling—from God and eternal life with him in holiness (divinization), while, according to gender theory, the person has a base origin and lowly potential—from itself and for temporary life, with a goal of its own pleasure. Therefore, one can say with conviction that gender theory is destructive and anti-human.

21. In addition to the fact that gender ideology clearly contradicts the teaching of Holy Scripture and Christian anthropology, it also does not correspond to objective scientific data, and is instead based on subjective hypotheses and pseudoscientific assertions made by interested parties. Objective researchers have concluded that gender ideologues ignore results of scientific research, medicine, psychology, anthropology, and bioethics that show the difference between men and women is based on the difference between the structure of the brain, hormonal balance, psychological nature…

22. Gender ideology denies the most obvious anthropological reality: people are born male and female, and the natural complementarity of the gifts of the two sexes is an extraordinary richness for all of humanity, which gives hope for progress. Promoting vague and undefined ideas of “gender identity” creates a dangerous psychological instability that leads to absurd conflicts between bodily and psychological sexuality, which naturally stems from the physical.

23. Gender theories destroy the concept of family as a community of husband and wife in which children are born and brought up. Adherents of this theory believe that the traditional family—which is based on divine and natural law, expresses the dignity of the human person, and is the foundation of fundamental rights and obligations [19: Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, §§ 1978–1979.]—is only one possible form of family. And they suggest calling unions of people with different mixes of genders, in which to be a parent means simply to perform a certain role, equivalent to the traditional family.

24. Gender ideology promotes many forms of sexual identity and behavior that do not at all correspond to human nature. That is why gender theories lead to promiscuity and further demoralization of society. Such a situation leads to disappointment, anger, and the self-destruction of the human race, because its natural foundations and principles are undermined.

Proclaiming the Truth of Christ in the Context of an Expanding Gender Ideology

25. Ukrainian society is generally not acquainted with gender theories and this permits gender ideology to be quietly and insidiously imposed upon it. Indeed, the promotion and dissemination of this ideology is carried out covertly on various levels – in legislation, information, education, upbringing…. At the same time, indisputable facts about the dangers of gender ideology for mental and physical health, particularly among children and young people—to say nothing of the undermining of the very fundamentals of human and family life that come with such theories—are deliberately passed over in silence

26. In such circumstances, the Church issues a call to deeply and carefully assess the challenges in the field of sexuality and married life, not succumbing to social pressure in these important matters, and to defend human dignity and freedom. We strive to call to mind the truth regarding every human person’s dignity, regardless of sex, race, ethnicity, age, health, etc., that the Church of Christ has constantly and consistently proclaimed for centuries. Christians are called to bring to today’s world the truth about the dignity of the human being created in the image and likeness of God, about the dignity of marriage as a union of love between a man and a woman, and about the dignity of man and woman as they complement each other. We must deepen our knowledge of Holy Scripture and Tradition so that we can grow in faith and so that we know how to argue the Christian position in a secular environment. A Christian cannot afford to live a double life, but must consistently and persistently imitate Christ, embodying in their daily life God’s teaching and God’s laws, which are the only source of genuine human happiness, genuine dignity and freedom. As the Apostle Paul writes: “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you…was not Yes and No; but in him it is always Yes” (2 Cor. 1:19–20). We cannot rely on God in some cases, and ignore His commandments and precepts in others. We are called to witness to Christ in all the dimensions of our being. This applies to the private realm, family life, professional activity, the public sphere, political activism, and so on.

27. All people of good will should work together to defend the dignity of each person, to affirm their natural and God-given characteristics and freedoms, and also for the full protection and development of the family community on the foundation of God’s revelation, which is the real guarantor of human society’s development and worthy future. “Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity. Physical, moral, and spiritual difference and complementarity are oriented toward the goods of marriage and the flourishing of family life. The harmony of the couple and of society depends in part on the way in which the complementarity, needs, and mutual support between the sexes are lived out.” [20: Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2333.] At the same time, it is necessary to show greater vigilance and responsibility in order to prevent the spread of pernicious theories, which are the latest forms of ideological enslavement and destruction of the person, the family, and society as a whole.

28.It is necessary to delve into the essence of every matter and to recognize the true purpose of certain proposals or appeals, without letting oneself be deceived by that which is presented under the banner of an illusory dignity and freedom, or announced as “necessary steps” to implement a particular geopolitical course of the state. We have to remember that “the state cannot fulfil its functions if it violates the dignity of the individual and the moral principles of society.” [21: Catechism of the UGCC, Christ – Our Pascha, § 959.] A human being cannot betray their vocation and destroy human dignity for the sake of dubious social or political projects, even if these projects are presented as a sign of “progress” and “modernity.” The Catechism of the UGCC Christ — Our Pascha teaches that “the criterion of the lawfulness of state power is its conformity to the Lord’s law. When state authority loses its legitimacy through its lack of conformity to God’s law, the people have a right to resist such a government and to oppose it. The Christian is bound to follow divine law even in difficult circumstances: ‘We must obey God rather than any human authority’ (Acts 5:29).” [22: Catechism of the UGCC, Christ – Our Pascha, § 960]

Conclusion

29. The Lord calls people to salvation and the fullness of happiness, giving his Commandments as a guide on our earthly journey. We call the UGCC faithful and all people of good will to value and protect human dignity in the face of new ideological challenges and threats. Each of us is called to this, no matter what our position in society. For this reason:

31. we call to mind that “individuals should be endowed with this virtue [of chastity] according to their state in life: for some it will mean virginity or celibacy consecrated to God…. For others it will take the form determined by the moral law, according to whether they are married or single,” [23: Persona humana (29 December 1975), § 11.] and therefore should be properly and responsibly prepare for the choice of their state of life, based on the solid foundation of faith, morality, and divine and natural law;

• we encourage parents to lead a good Christian life that will be an example for their children. Please take care of the Christian education of future generations, not only by transmitting the foundations of faith, but also through all manner of encouragement that they live a life in Christ and by warning them against the dangers of the false exercise of one’s free choice. Parents “are called to be gentle and wise guides. It is they who must lead the child on its path of discovering God’s gift of sexuality in himself or herself, revealing its nature and meaning in a manner appropriate to the age, needs, and depth of the child’s inquiry”; [24: Catechism of the UGCC, Christ – Our Pascha, § 865.]
• we appeal to workers in the field of medicine, remembering that “the most important point of a physician’s oath is to serve human life from the moment of conception and to defend its health,” [25: Theological Department of the Patriarchal Curia of the UGCC, Defending Conceived Life: Theological, Moral-Ethical, and Pastoral Principles of the Moral Evaluation of the Problem of Destroying Unborn Children (Kyiv, 2012), § 71.] to promote the dissemination of a culture of life, defending in particular the life of unborn children and the elderly or terminally ill;
• we ask everyone, especially those working in the fields of information and education, to defend and disseminate traditional moral values regarding sexuality and the family, remembering that “nothing can justify recourse to disinformation for manipulating public opinion through the media”; [26: Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2498.]
• we ask all who are responsible for developing educational curricula to prepare them on the basis of natural and divine law, respectful of the truth, the qualities of the heart, and the moral and spiritual dignity of man, [27: Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2526.] avoiding any propaganda against sexual purity, marital fidelity, and the true identity of the human person;
• we call upon scientists to remember that science and technology should recognize the basic criteria of morality and be “at the service of the human person, of his inalienable rights, of his true and integral good, in conformity with the plan and the will of God,” [28: Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2294.] and also encourage them to use available means to demonstrate the truth about gender ideology and other destructive ideologies, and point to the importance of adhering to traditional moral and ethical foundations;
• we remind pastors of their sacred duty to care for the spiritual condition of the family—a community of love and a “domestic church” (cf. Rom 16:5; 1 Cor 16:19; Col. 4:15; Phil. 1:2; Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16; 1 Tim. 2:8) that is “the primary cell of the Christian community” and “a school of social solidarity” [29: Catechism of the UGCC, Christ – Our Pascha, § 656.] on which a healthy society is built. We also encourage them to accompany families at all stages of their existence, from preparation for married life, through support for young couples, diligent catechesis of families, and special care of families who are experiencing difficulties or crises. In addition, we ask pastors, while maintaining the teachings of the Church and observing a high level of spiritual and psychological maturity, to pay attention to pastoral work with people who have problems with the definition of their own sexual identity; [30: Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons (1 October 1986), § 6: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19861001_homosexual-persons_en.html]
• we call upon all people of good will, especially government officials and legislators, to be vigilant that the legislation of Ukraine not give way to implementing uncertain and untested concepts of human identity or family, or principles of gender education, remembering that “the ruling authority has as its aim to serve the common good, to preserve and protect the natural and true freedom of citizens, families, and community organizations.” [31: Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, How to Build a Native Home? (1942), § 7.] Legislation will only be firm and unshakable when it is based not on temporary and dubious theories, but on the natural law affirmed by divine revelation.

30. We invite all to pray that God help us all to live according to his commandments, trusting in his Divine Providence and not succumbing to the temptations of opposing his will. The Lord, having created human beings as “male and female,” looked at them and said that it was very good (Gen. 1:27,31). May he embrace each person and family in his loving and life-giving gaze, confirm us all in his truth and love, and send down upon all his Fatherly blessing!

On behalf of the Synod of Bishops of the Major Archbishopric of Kyiv-Halych of the UGCC

† SVIATOSLAV

Given in Kyiv at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, on the day of the holy martyrs Plato and Roman, 1 December (O.S. 18 November) 2016 A.D.

Met het opstellen van een verklaring over de encycliek Humanae Vitae heeft het Wijngaards Instituut een discussie ontketend over deze encycliek.

‘Opstellers Wijngaardsverklaring lopen 48 jaar achter’
Katholiek, Nieuwsblad, 21 september 2016

Meer dan 500 meest katholieke wetenschappers hebben hun steun uitgesproken voor de katholieke leer over seksualiteit en anticonceptie. De verklaring van deze wetenschappers is een reactie op de zogeheten Wijngaardsverklaring waarin meer dan 120 katholieke prominenten de Kerk oproepen haar ‘nee’ tegen contraceptie in te trekken.

Groeiende steun
De ‘Bevestiging van de Kerkelijke Leer over de Gave van Seksualiteit’ werd dinsdag tijdens een persconferentie op de Catholic University of America in Washington gepresenteerd. Volgens de opstellers, onder wie pausbiograaf George Weigel, is de wetenschappelijke steun voor de kerkelijke leer over seksualiteit en contraceptie de laatste decennia gegroeid.

Waar en verdedigbaar
De ondertekenaars bevestigen dat die leer “op vele gronden waar en verdedigbaar is”. Zij wijzen erop dat over de hele wereld instituten en programma’s die deze leer ondersteunen wereldwijd gevestigd zijn. “Zelfs sommige seculiere feministen en seculiere programma’s beginnen de gevaren van contraceptie toe te geven”, aldus de verklaring.

Aan de aandacht ontsnapt
“Deze feiten lijken aan de aandacht van de auteurs van de Wijngaardsverklaring te zijn ontsnapt”, stelt de verklaring. ‘Over de ethiek van het gebruik van contraceptie’, zoals de verklaring is getiteld, “voegt helaas niks niets toe aan de discussies over de moraliteit van contraceptie en herhaalt in feite de argumenten die de Kerk heeft afgewezen en talloze wetenschappers sinds 1968 hebben weerlegd.”

Onjuiste veronderstelling
De Wijngaardsverklaring, vernoemd naar de ex-missionaris van Mill Hill, John Wijngaards, slaat volgens de steunbetuigers de plank volkomen mis door de bewering dat het ‘nee’ tegen contraceptie in de encycliek Humanae Vitae (1967) primair op “biologische wetten” gebaseerd zou zijn.

Wetenschappelijk onderbouwd
Een van de grote fouten in de Wijngaardsverklaring is de bewering “dat noch de Schrift, noch de natuurwet enige onderbouwing zou geven aan de kerkelijke leer dat contraceptie nooit verenigbaar is met Gods plan voor seksualiteit en het huwelijk”. “De laatste halve eeuw is er een enorme hoeveelheid aan creatief wetenschappelijk denken [ontwikkeld] rond de kerkelijke leer over anticonceptie. Daaronder diepgaande reflecties op de Theologie van het Lichaam, het personalisme en de natuurwet. Bovendien is er uitgebreid onderzoek en analyse geweest van de negatieve gevolgen van contraceptie op individuele mensen, relaties en de cultuur.”

De ontwikkelingen gemist
Tot de ondertekenaars behoort ook theoloog John Grabowksi, die als deskundige deelnam aan de Gezinssynode van 2015. “Helaas slaagt de Wijngaardsverklaring er niet in te erkennen dat de zalige Paulus VI de afgelopen 48 jaar is bevestigd door de wetenschappen en verder is uitgewerkt in de leer van de heilige Johannes Paulus II en daarin gesteund is door paus Franciscus.”

Overgenomen met toestemming van Katholiek Nieuwsblad.

Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to participants in the World Congress of Cardiology “Esc Congress 2016”

31 August 2016, Nuova Fiera di Roma
Pope Francis

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning! I was pleased to accept the invitation of the Executive Committee of the European Society of Cardiology to meet with you on the occasion of this World Congress which brings together cardiologists from various countries. I am particularly grateful to Professor Fausto Pinto for his kind words and, through him, I thank each of you for the scientific work in these days of study and relating to one another – relating to others is so important – but above all for your dedication to so many who are sick. Relating well to those who are sick is a challenge.

You look after the heart. And how much symbolism is enshrined in this word! How many hopes are contained in this human organ! In your hands you hold the beating core of the human body, and as such your responsibility is very great! I am sure that as you find yourselves before this book of life with its many pages yet to be discovered, you are filled with trepidation and awe.

The Magisterium of the Church has always affirmed the importance of scientific research for human life and health. The Church not only accompanies you along this demanding path, but also promotes your cause and wishes to support you. The Church understands that efforts directed to the authentic good of the person are actions always inspired by God. Nature, in all its complexity, and the human mind, are created by God; their richness must be studied by skilled men and women, in the knowledge that the advancement of the philosophical and empirical sciences, as well as professional care in favour of the weakest and most infirm, is a service that is part of God’s plan. Openness to the grace of God, an openness which comes through faith, does not weaken human reason, but rather leads it to move forwards, to knowledge of a truth which is wider and of greater benefit to humanity.

At the same time, we know that the scientist, in his or her research, is never neutral, in as much as each one has their own history, their way of being and of thinking. Every scientist requires, in a sense, a purification; through this process, the toxins which poison the mind’s pursuit of truth and certainty are removed, and this enables a more incisive understanding of the meaning of things. We cannot deny that our knowledge, even our most precise and scientific knowledge, needs to progress by asking questions and finding answers concerning the origin, meaning and finality of reality; and this includes man. The sciences alone, however, whether natural or physical, are not sufficient to understand the mystery contained within each person. When man is viewed in his totality – allow me to emphasize this point – we are able to have a profound understanding of the poorest, those most in need, and the marginalized. In this way, they will benefit from your care and the support and assistance offered by the public and private health sectors. We must make great efforts to ensure that they are not “discarded” by a culture which promotes a “throwaway” mentality.

By means of your invaluable work, you contribute to the healing of physical illness and are able to perceive that there are laws engraved within human nature that no one can tamper with, but rather must be “discovered, respected and cooperated with” so that life may correspond ever more to the designs of the Creator (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 36). For this reason, it is important that men and women of science, as they examine themselves in the light of that great mystery of human existence, do not give in to the temptation to suppress the truth (cf. Rom 1:18).

With these sentiments, I renew my appreciation for your work – I too have been in some of your hands – and I ask the Lord to bless your research and medical care, so that everyone may receive relief from their suffering, a greater quality of life and an increasing sense of hope. And I ask him to bless your daily efforts so that no one will be “discarded” from society and from the fullness of human life.

Apostolic journey of his Holiness Pope Francis to Poland on the occasion of the XXXI World Youth Day (27-31 july 2016): meeting with the Polish bishops

Address of his Holiness Pope Francis

Cathedral of Kraków
Wednesday, 27 July 2016

Pope Francis:
Before beginning our dialogue, with the questions that you prepared, I would like to perform a work of mercy with all of you and to suggest another. I know that these days, with World Youth Day, many of you have been busy and so you couldn’t go to the funeral of Archbishop Zimowski. It is a work of charity to bury the dead, so I would like us all together to say a prayer for Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski as a genuine sign of fraternal charity, that of burying a dead brother. Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory be… Requiem aeternam…

Then, the other work of mercy I would suggest. I know that you are concerned about this: our dear Cardinal Macharski is very sick. At least stop by, because I think that you cannot see him, since he is unconscious. But at least stop by the hospital and touch the walls, as if to say: “Brother, I am close to you”. Visiting the sick is another work of mercy. I myself plan to go. Thank you.

Now, someone has prepared the questions or at least sent them to me. I am ready.

Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski (Łodź)
Holy Father, it seems that the faithful of the Catholic Church, and more generally all Christians in Western Europe, increasingly find themselves a minority in the midst of a modern, godless, liberal culture. In Poland, we are witnessing a profound clash, an enormous struggle, between faith in God on the one hand, and on the other a way of thinking and acting as if God did not exist. According to you, Holy Father, what kind of pastoral activity should the Catholic Church in our country undertake, so that the Polish people can remain faithful to its more than 1000-year-old Christian tradition? Thank you.

Pope Francis:
You are the Bishop of…?

Archbishop Jędraszewski:
Łodź, where Saint Faustina began her journey, because there she heard Christ telling her to go to Warsaw to become a nun. The story of her life began in my city.

Pope Francis:
You are very privileged!

True, the dechristianization, the secularization of the modern world is powerful, very powerful. But there are also those who say that while it is powerful, there are also clear indications of religiosity, of a reawakening of the religious sense. This too can be dangerous. I believe that in this highly secularized world we have also the other danger, that of a gnostic spiritualization. Secularization makes it possible for us to indulge in a spiritual life which is a little gnostic. We remember that this was the first heresy in the Church – the apostle John went after the gnostics, relentlessly! – it consists in a subjective spirituality, without Christ. For me the bigger problem with secularization is dechristianization: removing Christ, removing the Son. I pray, I feel… and that is all.

This is gnosticism. There is another heresy fashionable nowdays, pelagianism, but let us for the moment disregard it and return to what I was saying [about dechristianization]. To find God without Christ. God but not Christ, people but not Church. Why? Because the Church is a Mother, who gives you life, and Christ is our older brother, the Son of the Father, completely oriented to the Father, who reveals the Father’s name. A Church of orphans: today’s gnosticism, inasmuch as it is a dechristianization, lacking Christ, leads to a Church, or better, to Christians, becoming a people of orphans. We have to make our people see this.

What would I advise? I would say – but I believe it is in the Gospel, where there is precisely the Lord’s own teaching – closeness. Today we, the Lord’s servants – bishops, priests, consecrated persons and committed laypeople – need to be close to God’s people. Without closeness, there are only disembodied words. Let us think – I like to reflect on this – of the two pillars of the Gospel. What are the two pillars of the Gospel? The Beatitudes and Matthew 25, the “criteria” on which all of us will be judged. Concreteness, closeness, touching, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

“But you are saying all this because it is fashionable to speak about mercy this year!” No! This is the Gospel! The Gospel, the works of mercy. It shows us the Samaritan heretic who is moved, does what he has to do, and even risks his money! To touch. Then there is Jesus, who was always with people, with the disciples, or alone with the Father in prayer. Closeness. Touching. This is Jesus’s life… And when he was moved, at the gates of the city of Nain (cf. Lk 7:11-17), he went over to touch the bier saying: “Do not weep…” Closeness. It is closeness to touch the suffering flesh of Christ. The Church, the glory of the Church, is of course the martyrs, but also all those men and women who left everything to spend their lives in hospitals and schools, with children and with the sick…

I remember in Central Africa, an elderly Sister with a little girl came to greet me. “I’m not from here, but from the other part of the river, from Congo, but once a week I come here to shop because it is easier”. She told me that she was 83 or 84 years old. “I’ve been here for 23 years, I’m an obstetric nurse and I have delivered two or three thousand babies…” “And you come here alone?” “Yes, we take the canoe…” At 83 years of age! With the canoe, it took her about an hour to get there. This woman – and many others like her – left home (she was an Italian, from Brescia) to touch the flesh of Christ. If we go to the mission countries in the Amazon region and Latin America, in the cemeteries we see the tombs of so many men and women religious who died young because they lacked antibodies for the diseases in those countries, and died young.

The works of mercy: to touch, to teach, to console, to “waste time”. To waste time. I was very pleased once: a man who went to confession was in a situation where he couldn’t receive absolution. He had gone with a certain apprehension, because he had been sent away several times before: “No, no, go away”. The priest listened to him, explained the man’s situation, and told him: “But you keep praying. God loves you. I will give you my blessing. Do you promise to come back?” This priest “wasted time” in order to draw that man towards the sacraments. That is what closeness means.

Since I am talking to bishops about closeness, I think I have to talk about the most important kind of closeness: your closeness to your priests. A bishop must be available to his priests. When I was in Argentina and I would give the Exercises (I love to give the Exercises), I would say to priests: “Go talk to your bishop about this!” “But no, I called him but his secretary tells me that he is very busy right now, but he can receive you three months from now”. Priests treated like this feel orphaned, without a father, without closeness, and they begin to lose heart. When a bishop sees that a priest has called him, he should call him right back, either that evening or the next day. “Sure, I am busy, but is this important? Let’s see if we can work something out”. The priest can then sense that he has a father. If we don’t show our fatherhood to our priests, how can we ask them to be fathers to others? Thus the sense of God’s fatherhood begins to fade. The work of the Son is to touch human weakness: spiritual and corporal. Closeness. The work of the Father: to be a father, a bishop and a father.

Then too, young people. Because we have to talk about young people during these days. The young are “a bother”! Because they always come and say the same things. “Here is what I think…” or, “the Church should do this or that…” We need to be patient with young people. I knew a few priests when I was young. Those were the days when people went to confession more frequently than now. Those priests spent hours listening to the young, or received them in the parish office to hear the same things over and over, but they did so patiently. And then, to take young people out into the country, to the mountains… Think of Saint John Paul II. What did he do with the university students? Yes, he gave them classes, but he also went with them to the mountains! Closeness. He listened to young people, he spent time with them…

There is one last thing I would emphasize, because I believe that the Lord asks it of me: grandparents, the elderly. You suffered under communism, atheism. You know that it was the elderly who preserved and passed on the faith. The elderly possess the memory of a people; they preserve the memory of the faith, the memory of the Church. Don’t waste the elderly! In this throwaway culture, dechristianized as it is, we discard whatever is not useful or helpful. No! The elderly are the memory of a people; they are the memory of the faith. To connect young people with the elderly: this too is closeness. To be close and to build closeness.

That is how I would respond to the question. There are no easy answers, but we have to get our hands dirty. If we wait for the doorbell to ring, or for people to knock on the door… No, we have to go out and seek, like the shepherd who goes out to seek the lost sheep. Anyway, that’s what I think…

Archbishop Sławoj Leszek Głóź (Danzig):
Dear Pope Francis, before all else we are most grateful that you have deepened the teaching of mercy inaugurated by Saint John Paul II right here in Kraków. We all know that we are living in a world dominated by injustice: the rich become richer, and the poor become poorer. There is terrorism, and godless liberal ethics and morality… My question is this: How do we apply the teaching of mercy, and above all, to whom? The Pope has been promoting a medicine called “misericordina”, which I have brought along with me: thanks for promoting this…

Pope Francis:
… now there is “misericordina plus”: even stronger!

Archbishop Głóź:
…, yes, and thank you for this “plus”. We too have a “plus” programme promoted by the Government for large families. “Plus” is fashionable. To whom, and how above all? In the first place, to whom should our teaching on mercy be addressed? Thanks.

Pope Francis:
Thank you. This idea of mercy is not something I came up with. It is a process. We can see that Blessed Paul VI had spoken about mercy. Then Saint John Paul II was the giant of mercy, with his encyclical Dives in Misercordia, the canonization of Saint Faustina and then the Octave of Easter: he died on the eve of that day. It is a process going on for years in the Church. It is clear that the Lord asked for a renewal in the Church of this attitude of mercy among the faithful. He is the Merciful One who forgives everything.

I have always been struck by a medieval capital in the Basilica of Saint Mary Magdalen in Vézelay, France, where the Camino of Saint James begins. On that capital, one side shows Judas hanged, his eyes open, his tongue sticking out, while the other side shows the Good Shepherd who carries him. If we look carefully at the face of the Good Shepherd, the lips on one side are sad but on the other they are smiling. Mercy is a mystery. It is a mystery. It is the mystery of God. I did an interview that later became a book called The Name of God is Mercy, but that is a journalistic expression. I think it can be said that God is the Father of mercy. At least Jesus, in the Gospel, makes us see him that way. God punishes in order to convert. And then there are the parables of mercy, and the way he chose to save us. In the fullness of time, he sent his Son to be born of a woman: in the flesh he saves us, in the flesh. Not on the basis of fear, but in the flesh. In this process which has taken place in the Church we receive so many graces.

You see this world reeling from injustice, lack of love, and corruption. True enough. Today, on the airplane, speaking of that priest in his 80s who was killed in France… for some time I have been saying that the world is at war, that we are in a third world war fought piecemeal. We think of Nigeria… Ideologies, yes. But what is the central ideology of today, the one that is the mother of corruption and war? It is the idolatry of money. Men and women are no longer at the apex of creation, replaced by the idol of money, and everything is bought and sold for money. Money at the centre. People exploited. And the way people are being treated today? The same as ever: with cruelty!

I was speaking about this with a government leader, and he told me: “There is always been cruelty. The problem is that today we watch it on television; it has become part of our lives”. Cruelty. Killing for money. Exploiting people, exploiting creation. A newly-elected government leader from Africa came to see me and told me: “My first official act was to re-forest the country, which had been deforested and destroyed”. We don’t care for creation! And this means more poor people, more corruption. What are we thinking, when 80% – more or less, look up statistics and if it’s not 80%, it is 82 or 75% – of the world’s wealth is in the hands of less than 20% of its people. “Please, Father, don’t talk that way, you are talking like a communist!” Far from it, these are the statistics! And who is paying for it? People are paying, the people of God: exploited girls, young people without employment. In Italy, 40% of young people under 25 are unemployed; it is 50% in Spain and in Croatia 47%… And why? Because of a liquid economy that encourages corruption. A good Catholic told me of his scandal when he went to see a business friend of his: “I’ll show you how I can earn $20,000 without leaving home”. And with the computer, from California, he bought something or other and then sold it in China. In twenty minutes, or even less, he had earned $20,000. Everything is liquid! Young people do not have a culture of work because they have no jobs. The earth is dying, because it has been exploited without wisdom. And so we go on. The world is warming, why? Because we have to make money. Profit. “We have succumbed to the idolatry of money”: so an ambassador told me when he came to present his credentials. It is a form of idolatry.

Divine mercy is the witness, the witness of so many people, so many men and women, lay people, young people: in Italy, for example, cooperatives. Sure, there are always a few people too clever for their own good, but so many good things get done. Then there are the institutions to care for the sick: solid organizations. That is another way to do things, to foster human dignity. But what you are saying is true. We are suffering from religious illiteracy to the point that, in some shrines around the world, things get confused: people go there to pray. There are shops that sell objects of devotion like rosaries. But there are others that sell objects of superstition because people seek salvation in superstition. Religious illiteracy and a relativism that confuses one thing with another. And that is where catechesis is needed, lifelong catechesis, a catechesis that not only imparts ideas but accompanies people on their journey. Accompaniment is one of the most important attitudes, being ready to accompany people’s growth in faith.

This takes a lot of effort, but young people are looking for this! Young people are waiting… “If I start to talk, they’ll be bored!” But give them some work to do. Tell them to go, during their holidays, for two weeks, to help build modest homes for the poor or to do something else. They begin to feel that they are useful. And there let God’s seed fall. Slowly. With words alone, nothing happens! Today’s religious illiteracy has to be countered with three languages, with three tongues: the language of the mind, the language of the heart and the language of the hands. All three together, harmoniously.

Anyway… I am talking too much! These are ideas I’m offering. You, in your good judgment, will know what to do. But we must always be a Church that goes forth. Once I dared to talk about that verse in the Book of Revelation: “I am standing at the door, knocking” (3:20). God is knocking at our door. I asked how many times the Lord knocks on our door from within, asking us to open it and let him go out with us, bringing the Gospel. Not staying inside, but going out. Going out! Thank you.

Bishop Leszek Leszkiewicz (Auxiliary of Tarnow):
Holy Father, our pastoral work is based largely on the traditional model of the parish community, centred on the sacramental life. It is model that is still effective. Nonetheless, we are aware that, in our situation too, the circumstances of daily life are changing rapidly and challenge the Church to come up with new pastoral models. Pastors and faithful are a bit like those disciples who are attentive and active, but do not always know how best to exploit the missionary dynamism, interior and exterior, of the ecclesial communities. Holy Father, in Evangelii Gaudium you speak of missionary disciples who enthusiastically bring the Good News to today’s world. What do you suggest to us? Is there a specific way you can encourage us to build up the Church community in our world fruitfully, joyfully and with a missionary spirit?

Pope Francis:
Thank you! I would like to stress one thing: the parish remains valid! The parish must remain. It is a structure that we must not discard; it is the home of God’s People. The problem is how the parish is organized! There are parishes with ungodly parish secretaries who scare people off. Parishes with closed doors. But there also parishes with open doors, parishes where when someone comes to ask a question, they are told: “Come in, make yourself at home, what can we do for you?” And someone listens to them patiently, because caring for the people of God requires patience; it takes effort! A fine university professor, a Jesuit whom I knew in Buenos Aires, asked the provincial when he retired to be assigned as a parish priest in a city neighbourhood, in order to have that experience. Once a week he would come back to the university – he was a member of that community – and one day he told me: “Tell your professor of ecclesiology that there are two things missing in his course”. “What?” First, the holy people of God essentially wear you out. And second, the holy people of God naturally do whatever they think best. And this wears you out! Today being a parish priest is exhausting: managing a parish takes effort nowadays, with so many problems. The Lord has asked us to get a little tired, to work and not to rest.

A parish is exhausting if it is well organized. The renewal of the parish has to be a constant concern of bishops. How is this parish doing? What is it doing? What is its religious education programme like? How well is catechesis being presented? Is the church open? So many things… I think of one parish in Buenos Aires. Whenever an engaged couple arrived to get married, the secretary would immediately begin by saying: “Here are the prices”. This is wrong, parishes like this are wrong. How do we greet people? How attentive are we to them? Is someone always in the confessional? In parishes – not those in the country but in city parishes and those on the highways – if there is a confessional with the light on, people always come. Always! A welcoming parish. These are the questions we bishops should be asking our priests. “How is your parish doing. Do you go out? Do you visit the imprisoned, the sick, the elderly? What about the children? Do you have a place for them to play? What about the oratory? The oratory is one of the great parish institutions, at least in Italy. There kids play and learn a little catechesis. They come home tired, happy, and a good seed has been sown.

So the parish is important! There are those who say that the parish is no longer relevant because this is the hour of the movements. That is not true! The movements help, but the movements must not be an alternative to the parish. They must help in the parish, contribute to the parish, like the confraternities, Catholic Action and so many other groups. To want to innovate and change the parish structure? What I am saying may seem heretical, but it is how I see things. I believe the parish structure is analogous to the episcopal structure, different but analogous. The parish cannot be touched; it has to remain as a place of creativity, a reference point, a mother, all these things. It is where that inventiveness has to find expression.

When a parish does all this, it becomes – with regard to missionary disciples – what I call a “parish that goes forth”. For example, I think about one parish – a good example that was later imitated by many – in a town where children tended not to be baptized because people didn’t have a lot of money. But they would prepare for the patronal feast three or four months beforehand by visiting homes and seeing how many children were unbaptized. They would then prepare the families and as part of the patronal feast they would baptize thirty or forty children who otherwise would not have been baptized.

Coming up with things of this kind… People don’t get married in Church. I think of a priests meeting where someone got up and said: “Have you considered why?” And he gave all those reasons we know about: the present culture, etc. But there are lots of people who do not get married because it is expensive! It costs money. Everything costs money… the party… it is a big social event. And that priest, who was quite creative, said: “If anyone wants to get married, I will wait for you”. Because in Argentina, we have two weddings: first you get married civilly and then you go to your place of worship and get married. Some – many! – do not come [to the Church] to get married because they don’t have the money for a big party… But the priests who are smart say: “Don’t worry, I’ll wait for you!” “On the days that the civil marriage office is open – from 11 to 12 and from 1-2 – I won’t take my siesta!” So after the civil marriage the couples come to the Church, get married and leave in peace.

To be creative, to try to go out and meet people, to put yourself in people’s shoes. Nowadays parishes that are “offices” don’t work, because people are not disciplined. Your people are disciplined, and this is a grace of God. But people in general are not disciplined – I think of my own country: if you don’t go out to find them, if you don’t approach them, they do not come. This is what it means to be a missionary disciple, a parish that goes forth. To go out and look for people, as God did, when he sent his Son to find us.

I don’t know if this is a simplistic answer, but I don’t have any other. I’m not a brilliant pastoral theologian, I just say whatever comes to mind.

Bishop Krzysztof Zadarko (Auxilary of Koszalin-Kołobrzeg):
Holy Father, one of the most troubling problems facing Europe today is the question of refugees. How can we help them, since they are so numerous? And what can we do to counter fears of an invasion or aggression on their part, which would paralyze society as a whole?

Pope Francis:
Thank you! The problem of refugees… It wasn’t always like this. Let’s speak of migrants and refugees, considering the two together. My father was a migrant. I told the President [of Poland] that in the factory where my father worked, there were many Polish immigrants, in the period after the war. I was a child and I knew many of them. My country is a country of immigrants, everybody… And there were no problems. Other times, really…

Why is there so much migration today? I am not talking about emigration from one’s own country to another. This is due to lack of work; it is clear that people leave to seek employment abroad. This is a domestic problem, which you yourselves have to some extent… Here I am speaking of those who come to us, fleeing from wars, from hunger. The problem is back there. Why is the problem there? Because in those countries people are exploited, the earth is being exploited, there is exploitation for the sake of making more money. In talking with world economists who see this problem, they say: “We need to invest in these countries. Investments will lead to employment and then there will be no need to emigrate”. But there is war! There is tribal warfare, ideological wars or other artificial wars created by arms traffickers who make a living from this. They give weapons to you, who are against them, and to them, who are against you. That is how they make a living!

Corruption is really at the origin of migration. What can be done? I believe that every country has to look at times and means. Not all countries are alike; not all countries have the same possibilities. But they do have the possibility of being generous! Generous as Christians. We cannot invest there, but for those who come here…

How many and how? There is no one answer that fits every case. For acceptance depends on the situation of each country and culture. But certainly many things can be done. For example, weekly prayer to the Blessed Sacrament, prayer for those who knock at Europe’s door and are unable to enter. Some do, but others don’t… Then one does enter and takes a path that generates fear. We have countries that for years have done a good job of integrating migrants. They have integrated them well. In others, unfortunately, certain ghettos have formed. A whole reform has to take place, on a worldwide level, with regard to this commitment and acceptance. But that is something relative: what is absolute is a welcoming heart. That is absolute! With prayer and intercession, by doing what I can. What is relative is the way I am able to do it. Not everyone can do it the same way. The problem is worldwide! The exploitation of creation, and the exploitation of persons. We are experiencing a moment of the annihilation of man as the image of God.

I would like to conclude with this aspect, since behind all this there are ideologies. In Europe, America, Latin America, Africa, and in some countries of Asia, there are genuine forms of ideological colonization taking place. And one of these – I will call it clearly by its name – is [the ideology of] “gender”. Today children – children! – are taught in school that everyone can choose his or her sex. Why are they teaching this? Because the books are provided by the persons and institutions that give you money. These forms of ideological colonization are also supported by influential countries. And this terrible!

In a conversation with Pope Benedict, who is in good health and very perceptive, he said to me: “Holiness, this is the age of sin against God the Creator”. He is very perceptive. God created man and woman; God created the world in a certain way… and we are doing the exact opposite. God gave us things in a “raw” state, so that we could shape a culture; and then with this culture, we are shaping things that bring us back to the “raw” state! Pope Benedict’s observation should make us think. “This is the age of sin against God the Creator”. That will help us.

But you will say to me: “What does this have to do with migrants?” It has to do with the overall situation, no? As for migrants, I would say: the problem is there in their native lands… But how do we welcome them? Everyone has to determine how. But all of us can have an open heart and think of spending an hour in the parishes, an hour of adoration and prayer for migrants. Prayer moves mountains!

These are the four questions. Anyway… Pardon me if I’ve talked too much, but my Italian blood betrays me…

Thank you very much for your welcome, and let us hope these days will fill us with great joy. Let us now pray to Our Lady, who is our Mother and who always takes us by the hand.

Salve Regina…

And don’t forget the elderly, who are the memory of a people.

To the members of Doctors with Africa (Collegio Universitario Aspiranti e Medici Missionar)

7 mei 2016
Paus Franciscus

I am pleased, dear Brothers and Sisters, to welcome each one of you, “Doctors with Africa – CUAMM”, who work to safeguard the health of the African peoples; and even more pleased after hearing the words which brought me so much closer to those faraway places, the witness of these doctors has taken my heart to where you go simply to find Jesus. This has done me much good. Thank you. An expression of the missionary spirit of the Diocese of Padua, your organization over the course of the years has involved so many people who, as volunteers, have worked to accomplish long-term projects with a view to development. I thank you for what you are doing to promote the fundamental human right to health for all. Health, indeed, is not a consumer good, but a universal right which means that access to healthcare services cannot be a privilege.

Healthcare, even basic treatment, is in fact denied — denied! — in various parts of the world and in many regions of Africa. It is not regarded as a universal right, but rather still a privilege for the few, those who can afford it. Accessibility to healthcare services, to treatment and medicine is still a mirage. The poorest are unable to pay and are excluded from hospital services, even from the most essential and basic. This shows how important your generous work is in support of an extensive network of services, designed to meet the needs of the populations.

You have chosen Africa’s poorest countries, the sub-Sahara, and the most forgotten areas, “the last mile” of healthcare systems. They are the geographic peripheries to which the Lord sends you to be Good Samaritans, to go out to meet the poor Lazarus, passing through the “door” that leads from the first to the third world. This is your “holy door”! You work among the most vulnerable sections of the population: mothers, to ensure them a safe and dignified delivery, and children, newborns in particular. In Africa, too many mothers die during childbirth and too many children do not survive the first month of life due to malnutrition and major endemic diseases. I encourage you to remain in the midst of this wounded and aching humanity: it is Jesus. Your work of mercy is caring for the sick, according to the Gospel motto “Heal the sick” (Mt 10:8). May you be the expression of the Mother Church, who bends down to the weakest and takes care of them.

To foster authentic and lasting development procedures, extended time frames are necessary, in the rationale of confidently planting seeds and patiently awaiting the fruit. All this is also shown by the history of your organization, which for over 65 years has worked beside the poorest in Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Angola, South Sudan, Sierra Leone. Africa needs patient and continuous, tenacious and competent support. Interventions require serious professional training, they demand research and innovation and impose the duty of transparency to donors and to public opinion.

You are doctors “with” Africa and not “for” Africa, and this is very important. You are called to involve the African people in their growth process, walking together, sharing tragedy and joy, sorrow and enthusiasm. People are the primary artisans of their own development, the first in charge! I know that you meet daily challenges frankly and selflessly, without proselytizing or occupying spaces, but rather by working with the Churches and local governments, in the logic of participation, by sharing commitments and mutual responsibilities. I exhort you to maintain your particular approach to the local settings, helping them to grow and letting them take over when they are able to continue on their own, in a prospect of development and sustainability. It is the logic of seeds, which vanish and die in order to bear lasting fruit.

In your valuable service to Africa’s poor you have as models your founder, Dr Francesco Canova, and your well-known director, Fr Luigi Mazzucato. Dr Canova cultivated in the FUCI [Italian Catholic Federation of University Students] the idea to travel the world caring for the least, projecting a “college for aspiring missionary doctors” and describing the profile of the lay missionary doctor. For his part, the late Fr Mazzucato was the director of CUAMM for 53 years. He passed away last 26 November at the age of 88. He was the true inspiration behind the fundamental choices, first all poverty. Thus he wrote in his spiritual testament: “Born poor, I have always sought to live with the minimum necessary. I have nothing of my own and I have nothing to bequeath. The little clothing that I have should be given to the poor”.

In the wake of these great missionary witnesses to the Gospel and their fruitful closeness, you carry on your work with courage, giving expression to a Church that is not a ‘super clinic for VIPs’, but rather a ‘field hospital’: a Church with a great heart, close to the many wounded and humiliated of history, to the poorest of the poor. I assure you of my closeness and my prayer: I bless all of you, your families, and your commitment to the present and the future of the African continent. And I ask you, please, to pray for me too, that each day the Lord may make me poorer. Thank you!

Address to participants of the International Conference on the Progress of Regenerative Medicine and its cultural impact

29 april 2016
Pope Francis

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to welcome all of you. I thank Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi for his words and, above all, for having organized this meeting on the challenging problem of rare diseases within today’s social and cultural context. During your discussions, you have offered your professionalism and high-level expertise in the area of researching new treatments. At the same time, you have not ignored ethical, anthropological, social and cultural questions, as well as the complex problem of access to care for those afflicted by rare conditions. These patients are often not given sufficient attention, because investing in them is not expected to produce substantial economic returns. In my ministry I frequently meet people affected by so called “rare” diseases. These illnesses affect millions of people throughout the world, and cause suffering and anxiety for all those who care for them, starting with family members.

Your meeting takes on greater significance in the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy; mercy is “the fundamental law that dwells in the heart of every person who looks sincerely into the eyes of his brothers and sisters on the path of life” (Misericordiae Vultus, 2). Your work is a sign of hope, as it brings together people and institutions from diverse cultures, societies and religions, all united in their deep concern for the sick.

I wish to reflect, albeit briefly, on three aspects of the commitment of the Pontifical Council for Culture and institutions working with it: the Vatican Science and Faith Foundation–STOQ, the Stem for Life Foundation, and many others who are cooperating in this cultural initiative.

The first is “increasing sensitivity”. It is fundamentally important that we promote greater empathy in society, and not remain indifferent to our neighbour’s cry for help, including when he or she is suffering from a rare disease. We know that we cannot always find fast cures to complex illnesses, but we can be prompt in caring for these persons, who often feel abandoned and ignored. We should be sensitive towards all, regardless of religious belief, social standing or culture.

The second aspect that guides your efforts is “research”, seen in two inseparable actions: education and genuine scientific study. Today more than ever we see the urgent need for an education that not only develops students’ intellectual abilities, but also ensures integral human formation and a professionalism of the highest degree. From this pedagogical perspective, it is necessary in medical and life sciences to offer interdisciplinary courses which provide ample room for a human formation supported by ethical criteria. Research, whether in academia or industry, requires unwavering attention to moral issues if it is to be an instrument which safeguards human life and the dignity of the person. Formation and research, therefore, aspire to serve higher values, such as solidarity, generosity, magnanimity, sharing of knowledge, respect for human life, and fraternal and selfless love.

The third aspect I wish to mention is “ensuring access to care”. In my Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium I highlighted the value of human progress today, citing “areas such as health care, education and communications” (52). I also strongly emphasized, however, the need to oppose “an economy of exclusion and inequality” (53) that victimizes people when the mechanism of profit prevails over the value of human life. This is why the globalization of indifference must be countered by the globalization of empathy. We are called to make known throughout the world the issue of rare diseases, to invest in appropriate education, to increase funds for research, and to promote necessary legislation as well as an economic paradigm shift. In this way, the centrality of the human person will be rediscovered. Thanks to coordinated efforts at various levels and in different sectors, it is becoming possible not only to find solutions to the sufferings which afflict our sick brothers and sisters, but also to secure access to care for them.

I encourage you to nurture these values which are already a part of your academic and cultural programme, begun some years ago. So too I urge you to continue to integrate more people and institutions throughout the world into your work. During this Jubilee Year, may you be capable and generous co-operators with the Father’s mercy. I accompany you and bless you on this journey; and I ask you, please, pray for me. Thank you.

22e algemene vergadering van de Pauselijke Academie voor het leven, 3-5 maart 2016

De vergadering stond dit jaar in het teken van de deugdenethiek in de zorg, de ethiek waarin de deugd een primaire plaats inneemt, zoals die door de Kerk geleerd wordt. In het jubileumjaar van de barmhartigheid was dit een toepasselijk thema.

Deze ethiek werd geplaatst tegenover de moderne opvattingen die in de seculiere bio-ethiek gebruikelijk zijn. Allereerst principalisme dat uitgaat van beginselen die bij consensus maar zonder grondslag in de natuurwet werden vastgesteld in de jaren zeventig, m.n. in the Georgetown Principles of Ethics ontwikkeld aan het Kennedy Institute, gepubliceerd in het Belmont Rapport van 1978 en het boek van Beauchamp en Childress in 1979. Verder opvattingen als consequentialisme en proceduralisme.

De vergadering vond plaats in de het nieuwe auditorium van de synode (waar ook de bisschoppensynodes plaatsvinden) in de grote Paulus VI hal. De vergadering werd bijgewoond door 97 leden en corresponderende leden. Vier van de zes nieuwe corresponderende leden werden op de eerste ochtend voorgesteld aan de vergadering. Daarna volgde een audiëntie bij Paus Franciscus in de Sala Clementina. De paus hield een toespraak en drukte alle aanwezigen de hand.

Zoals altijd was de vergadering na de inleidende ochtend opgebouwd uit drie hoofdbestanddelen:
1. een middag van discussie in groepen (7 in totaal, naar taal ingedeeld), waarvoor een werkdocument was gemaakt, geleid door een moderator en genotuleerd;
2. Een openbare dag met 14 voordrachten over het onderwerp door experts van over de hele wereld, waarbij er gelegenheid was tot het stellen van vragen;
3. Een werkvergadering op de ochtend van de derde dag, waar de samenvattingen van de werkgroepsbesprekingen werden gepresenteerd en een zestal leden een voordracht over een actueel onderwerp hielden. Deze teksten zullen alle in boekvorm verschijnen.

Als sociaal evenement was er op donderdag avond een concert door een het koor “Offenbacher Vokalensemble Prophet” waarvan een der leden voorzitter is, onder leiding van Christoph Siebert. Zij voerden de Missa pro defunctis van T.L.de Victoria uit 1603 uit op hoog muzikaal niveau. Op vrijdagavond was er een social dinner in de Vaticaanse musea. Het genoemde koor ondersteunde ook de eucharistieviering voor de Academie op zaterdagochtend in de St. Pieter aan het altaar van Johannes Paulus II.

In de discussie in de groep waaraan ondergetekende deelnam kwamen de volgende punten aan de orde. De deugden zijn uit het openbare leven verdwenen (Glasa, Bratislawa) maar komen in de psychologie weer naar boven. Een vocation ethics, een christelijke roeping waarin de normen (10 geboden) en de deugden gecombineerd worden is vereist. De Invloed die de huidige gang van zaken op de arts heeft (suïcide onder artsen), de uitholling van het beroep (shared decision making = de last bij de patiënt leggen), het verlies aan inwendige moraliteit moet aandacht krijgen en er moet weer begrip komen voor de zin van het leven en de zin van het handelen, de finaliteit van de geneeskunde. Daarin moeten onderwijs, “indirecte” theologie, het persoonlijke voorbeeld en openlijk spreken over de deugd een rol spelen.

Op de vrijdag werd door Pradoz (Pamplona) een helder inleidend filosofisch verhaal over de samenhang tussen de kennis van een goed en de uitvoering van de handeling die ertoe moet leiden om het te bereiken. Daarbij werken de speculatieve en de praktische rede samen.

Luño Querol (Rome) besprak de intentionaliteit van de menselijke handeling in het licht van de ethiek van de eerste persoon, die een deugdenethiek is, waarbij het doel van degene die handelt (finis operantis) en dat van de handeling zelf (finis operis) samenvallen.

Da Re (Padua) besprak het verschijnsel dat ethiek tegenwoordig als zuiver normatief gezien wordt, waarbij de ontologische, meta-ethische en antropologische aspecten verwaarloosd worden. Daarmee wordt dus het feit verwaarloosd dat ethische kwesties het subject betreffen, dat beslissingen neemt vanuit het standpunt van de eerste persoon, ik die het doe of doen moet. Hij kwam daarmee op de habitus van de deugd die, zoals St. Thomas het zegt, de perfectionering van de potentie is. Voor de hantering van elk van de paren van hartstochten (haat-liefde , vreugde-verdriet etc.) onder de concupiscibile en de irascibile passies is telkens één specifieke deugd vereist. De deugdenethiek wijst op de noodzaak dat men zijn karakter vormt door herhaalde goede daden.

Jeffrey Bishop (Saint Louis) ging in op de betekenis van de proceduralistische ethiek en de zogenaamde mid-level ethics (men verstaat daaronder dat ze neutraal zijn en niet gebaseerd zijn op zware metafysische morele grondslagen en zowel de individuele werker als de politiek kunnen dienen). Hij toonde aan dat ze juist wel een sterke, maar seculiere, grondslag hebben en deed dat door de ontstaansgeschiedenis te tonen van de Oregon Death with Dignity Act die een sterke nadruk legt op het recht van de patiënt om de juiste keuze, die van de dood, te maken en dus helemaal niet waardevrij is. De procedure is geenszins neutraal, maar verankerd in individualisme. Ook besprak hij de POLST de Physician’s Order for Life Sustaining Treatment, een in de USA algemeen gebruikt afvinkformulier, dat een soort vrijbrief wordt voor het medisch handelen. Het formulier komt uit de euthanasie-sfeer en ontstond in Oregon tegelijk met de roep om een euthanasiewet (ca 1991). Zoals St. Thomas zegt, kan de wet een leraar van moraal zijn en dan kunnen des wettelijke voorschriften, procedures e.d. de mens wennen aan deugdzaam handelen, maar ook het tegendeel is blijkbaar mogelijk.

Maureen Condic (Utah, USA) sprak over de deugden in het biomedisch onderzoek en over het biomedisch onderzoek als een kunst. Hoewel wetenschappelijk onderzoek op zichzelf amoreel en utilitaristisch is kunnen onderzoekers duidelijk gemotiveerd worden door de deugden van sterkte en rechtvaardigheid. De ethische beperkingen worden doorgaans opgelegd door beperkingen in fondsen. Men zou ook wetenschapsgeld kunnen besteden aan de ethische opleiding van jonge wetenschappers en hun leren hoe de deugden van matigheid en verstandigheid het biomedisch onderzoek vorm kunnen geven.
Een bijzonder getuigenis kwam van een Japanse verpleegkundige, presidente van de katholieke verpleegkundigen vereniging van Japan over hoe haar geloof, het beeld van Christus, het voorbeeld van Florence Nightingale en het zich steeds afvragen of dat wat gedaan wordt de wil van God is, haar werk richting geeft. Ze besteedde aandacht aan het probleem van de vele suïcides in haar land (relatief ruim 2x zo veel als bij ons) ook onder werkers in de gezondheidszorg.

Er was een voordracht over professionalisme en deugden. Dell’Oro (Los Angeles) sprak in dit verband hoe de patiënt arts relatie een juridische geworden is terwijl het er een van vriendschap moet zijn. Er is een tekort aan besef van de finaliteit.

Gambino (Rome) waarschuwde tegen een geneeskunde die “zorg zonder zorg” mogelijk maakt, een activiteit waarin wel iets aan de gezondheid wordt gedaan maar zonder zorg voor de persoon.

Pinsent (Oxford) hield een heldere voordracht over de plaats van de deugdenethiek in de huidige psychologie en het psychologisch wetenschappelijk onderzoek. Hij omschreef een christendom zonder deugd als “autisme t.o.v. God”.

Fernandez (Chili) besprak het onderricht in de deugden in het biomedisch onderwijs, waarbij aan de studenten /pupillen de deugd geleerd moet worden als een habitus die de speculatieve en de praktische dimensie van het morele leven verenigt en dat hen ook de schoonheid van de juiste morele keuzen op het biomedische gebied moet worden voorgehouden, waarbij de voorbeeldrol van de docent gebaseerd moet zijn op het mededelen van het goede.

Schockenhof (Freiburg) ging in op de aard van de verworven deugd, die de ingestorte deugden veronderstelt (Thomas van Aquino, een werk van de Heilige Geest). Daarbij staat de liefde voorop (caritas forma virtutum). Hij besprak hoe de christelijke deugden op de wijsgerige ethiek van Aristoteles voortbouwen.

Op de derde dag waren er presentaties van de leden. Hierbij kwam de nieuwe ontwerpwet die in Chili tot legalisering van abortus gaat leiden ter sprake (Chomali). Garcia (Argentinië) vergeleek de personalistische bio-ethiek met de principalistische, de seculiere vorm die algemeen in zwang is. Keown (Washington) besprak de situatie van de doodstraf in de wereld en de campagne van de paus om tot een afschaffing te komen. Lopez-Ibor (Madrid) presenteerde een programma en plan van aanpak om tot een vermenselijking te komen van de zorg op een afdeling kinderoncologie door voorlichting, instructie cursussen aan medewerkers en vrijwilligers. Sahm (Duitsland) ging in op de nieuwe wet betreffende hulp bij zelfdoding in Duitsland. En bisschop Simard van Québec besprak de situatie rond euthanasie en assisted suicide in Canada waar de wetgeving in 2016 zal worden ingevoerd. De voordrachten waren samenvattingen van langere artikelen die in de oorspronkelijke taal werden verstrekt, wat het lezen soms niet gemakkelijker maakte. De simultaanvertalers (Frans, Engels, Italiaans en Spaans), die zeer goed werk deden hadden soms moeite met het tempo van de sprekers in de Spaanse taal die de toegemeten tijd kennelijk meer dan optimaal probeerden te benutten.

We zien uit naar de complete uitgave in het Engels van alle voordrachten en de synthese van de discussies in de werkgroepen.

J.A. Raymakers

Toespraak tot de Algemene Vergadering van de Pauselijke Academie voor het Leven

3 maart 2016
Paus Franciscus

Beste broeders en zusters,

Ik heet u allen welkom, die hier bijeen bent voor de Algemene Vergadering van de pauselijke Academie van het Leven. Het doet me bijzonder genoegen Kardinaal Sgreccio te ontmoeten, nog altijd op de been! Dank U! Deze dagen zullen gewijd zijn aan de studie van de deugden in de ethiek van het leven, een onderwerp van academisch belang dat een belangrijk boodschap afgeeft aan de hedendaagse cultuur: het goede dat de mens doet is niet het resultaat van berekeningen of strategie, ook is het niet het product van genetische ordening of maatschappelijke conditionering, maar het is de vrucht van een goed ingesteld hart, van de vrije keuze die tot het werkelijk goede neigt. Wetenschap en technologie zijn niet voldoende; om goed te doen is de wijsheid van het hart noodzakelijk.

De heilige Schrift zegt ons op verschillende manieren dat geode en kwade bedoelingen niet van buiten af in de mens komen, voortkomen uit zijn “hart”. “Van binnenuit,” zegt Jezus tot ons, “uit het hart van de mens, komen de kwade gedachten” (Mk 7, 21). In de Bijbel is het hart niet alleen het orgaan van de gevoelens, maar ook van de geestelijke vermogens, het verstand en de wil. Het is de zetel van de besluiten, van de manier van denken en handelen. Bij de keuzewijsheid, die openstaat om door de Heilige Geest bewogen te worden, is ook het hart betrokken. Daar worden goede werken geboren, maar ook verkeerde, wanneer de waarheid en de ingevingen van de Geest verworpen worden. Het hart is, alles bijeen genomen, de samenvatting van de menselijkheid, vorm gegeven door de handen van God zelf (vgl. Gen 2, 7) en door de Schepper beschouwd met een voldoening zonder weerga (vgl. Gen 1, 31). God stort Zijn eigen wijsheid in het hart van de mens.

In onze tijd herkennen sommige culturele richtingen het kenmerk van de goddelijke wijsheid in de geschapen werkelijkheid niet meer en zelfs niet in de mens. De menselijke natuur wordt dan teruggebracht tot slechts stof, om gevormd te worden naar elk gewenst ontwerp.

In plaats daarvan is de mensheid uniek en in Gods ogen zo kostbaar! Daarom is datgene in de natuur dat we allereerst moeten beschermen onze eigen menselijkheid, zodat die vrucht kan dragen. We moeten haar de zuivere lucht van de vrijheid en het leven gevende water van de waarheid geven; we moeten het beschermen tegen de vergiften van egoïsme en leugens. Dan zal er op de bodem van onze menselijkheid een grote verscheidenheid aan deugden kunnen opbloeien.

De deugd is de meest eigenlijke uitdrukking van het goede dat de mens met Gods hulp kan verwezenlijken. “Zij maakt het voor de persoon niet alleen mogelijk om goede daden te stellen, maar om het beste van zichzelf te geven” (Katechismus van de Katholieke Kerk, 1803). De deugd is niet een eenvoudige gewoonte; zij is de voortdurend vernieuwde houding om het goede te kiezen. Deugd is geen emotie, het is geen vaardigheid die wordt verworven door een opfriscursus en nog het minst van alles een biochemisch mechanisme, maar het is de meest verheven uitdrukking van de menselijke vrijheid. Deugd is het beste wat het mensenhart te bieden heeft. Als het hart zich van het goede afkeert en van de waarheid die vervat is in het Woord van God, dan loopt het zoveel gevaren, het blijft verstoken van oriëntatie en riskeert dat het goed kwaad noemt en kwaad goed. Dan gaat de deugd verloren en neemt de zonde gemakkelijker haar plaats in en daarna de ondeugd. Wie aan dit glibberige pad voedsel geeft vervalt in morele dwaling en wordt bedrukt door een groeiende existentiële angst.

De heilige Schrift toont ons de dynamiek van het verharde hart: hoe meer het hart neigt tot egoïsme en kwaad, des te moeilijke wordt het om het te veranderen. Jezus zegt ons: “Wie zonde begaat is een slaaf van de zonde” (Joh 8, 34). Als het hart bedorven is dan zijn de gevolgen voor het maatschappelijke leven ernstig en de profeet Jeremias herinnert ons daaraan. Ik citeer: “Maar gij hebt geen oog en geen hart dan voor uw voordeel alleen, voor het vergieten van onschuldig bloed, voor geweld en verkrachting” (Jer 22, 17). Deze toestand kan niet veranderen bij machte van theorieën of door maatschappelijke of politieke hervormingen. Alleen het werk van de Heilige Geest kan ons hart omvormen, als we meewerken: God zelf heeft inderdaad zijn werkzame genade verzekerd aan wie Hem zoekt en zich bekeert “uit heel zijn hart” (vgl. Gal 2, 12 ev). Er zijn tegenwoordig veel instellingen die zich wijden aan de dienst van het leven door middel van wetenschappelijk onderzoek en ondersteuning; zij bevorderen niet alleen goede daden maar ook een hartstocht voor het goede. Toch zijn er ook zoveel structuren die meer gericht zijn op economisch belang dan op het algemeen belang. Spreken over de deugd betekent bevestigen dat de keuze voor het goede de hele persoon aangaat en opeist; het is geen “cosmetische” zaak, geen uiterlijke verfraaiing, die geen vrucht zal dragen: op het terrein van de ethiek van het leven gaat het er dan ook om de onwaarachtige verlangens van het hart uit te roeien en met oprechtheid het goede te zoeken. Op het gebied van de ethiek van het leven is de noodzaak van normen die het respect voor de persoon bevestigen op zichzelf niet voldoende om het goed van de mens volledig tot stand te brengen. Het zijn de deugden van iemand die werkt aan de bevordering van het leven die de uiteindelijke garantie zijn dat het goede werkelijk in acht zal worden genomen. Vandaag mankeert het niet aan wetenschappelijke kennis en technische instrumenten waarmee het menselijk leven te ondersteunen in situaties waarin het op zijn zwakst is. Maar de menselijkheid ontbreekt daarbij zo vaak. Een goede handeling is niet de juiste toepassing van ethische wijsheid maar het veronderstelt een werkelijke interesse in de fragiele persoon. Artsen en alle werkers in de gezondheidszorg mogen nooit nalaten om wetenschap, technologie en menselijkheid te combineren.

Daarom beveel ik de universiteiten aan dit alles in aanmerking te nemen in hun opleidingsprogramma’s, zodat de studenten deze instelling van hart en geest kunnen doen rijpen, die noodzakelijk is om het menselijk leven op te nemen en er zorg aan te geven in overeenstemming met de waardigheid die het onder alle omstandigheden eigen is. Ik nodig de directeuren van instellingen van gezondheidszorg en –onderzoek uit om hun medewerkers een menselijke behandeling te laten zien als een integraal deel van de dienstverlening die hun bevoegdheid is. Mogen in alle gevallen zij die zich wijden aan de verdediging en de bevordering van het leven vóór alles in staat zijn om daarvan de schoonheid te laten zien.. Inderdaad, zoals “de Kerk niet groeit door proselitisme maar door ‘aan te trekken’ (Evangelii Gaudium, 14) zo kan het menselijke leven ook alleen worden verdedigd en bevorderd wanneer het bekend is en zijn schoonheid wordt getoond. Door de beleving van een waarachtig medeleven en van de andere deugden zult u de bevoorrechte getuigen zijn van de barmhartigheid van de Vader van het leven.

De hedendaagse cultuur houdt nog vast aan het uitgangspunt dat stelt dat de mens, ongeacht zijn levenssituatie, een waarde is die beschermd moet worden; die waarde valt echter vaak ten offer aan morele onzekerheid, die het onmogelijk maakt het leven doeltreffend te verdedigen. Het gebeurt dan ook niet zelden dat onder de naam van deugd een “schitterende ondeugd” verborgen gaat. Daarom is het noodzakelijk dat de deugden niet alleen de wijze van denken en handelen van de mens richting geven, maar dat zij worden gecultiveerd door een voortdurend maken van onderscheid en door geworteld te zijn in God, die de bron van alle deugd is. Ik zou hier graag iets herhalen dat ik al vaak gezegd heb: We moeten alert zijn op de nieuwe ideologische kolonisatie die het menselijke denken, ook het christelijke denken, aan het overnemen is onder het mom van deugd, van moderniteit, van een nieuwe houding, maar dat is een kolonisatie, die de vrijheid wegneemt, het is een ideologie, dat wil zeggen, zij is bang voor de werkelijkheid, zoals God die geschapen heeft. Laten we vragen om de hulp van de Heilige Geest, zodat Hij ons verheft uit ons egoïsme en onze onwetendheid: als we door hem vernieuwd zijn kunnen we denken en handelen naar Gods hart en Zijn barmhartigheid tonen aan wie in lichaam en geest lijdt.

De wens die ik u wil overbrengen is dat het werk van deze dagen vruchtbaar moge zijn en u en allen die u in uw werk ontmoet moge begeleiden op een weg van groei in de deugd. Ik dank u en ik vraag u, alstublieft, niet te vergeten voor mij te bidden. Dank U.

Vertaling: dr. J.A. Raymakers

Address to participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I offer my welcome to all of you, gathered for the General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life. I am especially pleased to meet Cardinal Sgreccia, always on his feet, thank you! These days will be dedicated to studying the practice of virtue in the ethics of life, a theme of academic interest, which addresses an important message to contemporary culture: the good that mankind accomplishes is not the result of calculations or policies, nor is it the result of hereditary genetics or of social status. Rather, it is the fruit of a willing heart, of free choice which seeks true goodness. Science and technology are not enough: doing good requires wisdom of heart.

In various ways, Sacred Scripture tells us that good or evil intentions do not enter the person from without, but come from within one’s ‘heart’. “From within”, Jesus said, “out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts” (Mk 7:21). In the Bible, the heart is the organ not only of feelings but of spiritual faculties, reason and will; it is the seat of decisions, and of the manner of thinking and acting. The wisdom of choice, open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, also concerns the heart. From here are born good works but also mistakes when the truth and the prompting of the Spirit are rejected. The heart, in other words, is the synthesis of humanity formed by the very hands of God (cf. Gen 2:7) and beheld by its Creator with singular satisfaction (cf. Gen 1:31). God pours his own wisdom into the heart of man.

In our time, certain cultural orientations no longer recognize the imprint of divine wisdom in created things, not even in the person. Human nature is thus reduced to mere matter, pliable to any design. Our humanity, however, is unique and very precious in the eyes of God! For this reason, the first nature to safeguard, so that it may bear fruit, is our very humanity. We must give it the clean air of freedom and the life-giving water of truth. We must protect it from the poison of selfishness and falsehood. Then a great variety of virtues will be able to blossom in the soil of our humanity.

Virtue is the most authentic expression of good that man, with God’s help, is capable of achieving. “It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1803). Practising virtue is not a simple habit; it is the habit that is constantly renewed to choose to do good. Virtue is not an emotion, nor is it an ability acquired in a training course, much less a biochemical mechanism. It is the highest expression of human freedom. Virtue is the best that the human heart has to offer. When the heart moves away from goodness and from the truth contained in the Word of God, it is exposed to a multitude of dangers. It is deprived of direction and risks calling good evil, and evil good; virtue is lost, more easily replaced by sin, and then vice. Those who step onto this slippery slope fall into moral error and are burdened with an increasing sense of existential anguish.

Sacred Scripture shows us the dynamic of a hardened heart: the more the heart leans toward selfishness and evil, the harder it is to change. Jesus says: “every one who commits sin is a slave to sin” (Jn 8:34). When the heart is corrupted, the consequences in social life are grave, as the Prophet Jeremiah reminds us. I quote: “you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practising oppression and violence” (22:17). This situation cannot be changed by theories or by social or political reform. Only if we cooperate can the work of the Holy Spirit reform our hearts. God himself, indeed, has assured his efficacious grace to those who seek him and to those who convert “with all their heart” (cf. Jl 2:12 ff.).

Today there are many institutions committed to the service of life, whether in research or assistance; they promote not only good actions, but also a passion for the good. But there are also many structures that are more concerned with economic interests than with the common good. To talk about virtue means to affirm that choosing the good involves and engages the whole person; it is not a question of “cosmetics”, an exterior adornment, which could not bear fruit. It is the uprooting of dishonest desires and the sincere quest for the good.

Also in the sphere of the ethics of life, the necessary norms, which support respect of the person, are not enough on their own to fully ensure man’s good. The virtue of one who works for the promotion of life is the ultimate guarantee that the good will really be respected. Today scientific knowledge and technical instruments are not lacking, its able to offer support to human life in weakest aspects. But humanity is so often lacking. Good actions are not the correct application of ethical wisdom, what is needed is a real interest in the frail person. The doctors and all health workers must always combine science, technology and humanity.

Therefore, I encourage universities to consider all this in their programmes of formation, so that the students can improve those dispositions of the heart and mind, which are indispensable to receive and take care of human life, according to the dignity that belongs to it in any circumstance. I also invite the directors of health structures and of research to ask their employees to consider human treatment an integral part of their qualified service. In every case, may those who dedicate themselves to the defense and promotion of life be able to show first of all its beauty. In fact, as “it is not by proselytizing that the Church grows, but ‘by attraction’” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, n. 15), so human life is safeguarded and promoted effectively only when it is known and its beauty is shown. By experiencing genuine compassion and practising the other virtues, you will be privileged witnesses of the mercy of the Father of life.

While contemporary culture still keeps the premises that affirm man, regardless of his condition of life, as a value to be protected, it often falls victim to moral uncertainty, which does not enable it defend life effectively. Not infrequently then, it can happen that “splendid vices” parade themselves under the guise of virtue. Hence, it is necessary not only that virtue inform man’s thought and action in a real way, but that the virtues be cultivated continuously in discernment and that they be rooted in God, the source of all virtue. I would like to repeat here something I have said many times: we must beware of the new ideological colonization that invades human and Christian thought, under the pretense of virtue, modernity and new attitudes. It is actually colonization, that is, it takes away freedom. And it is an ideology, afraid of reality as God has created it. Let us ask the Holy Spirit for help, so that he will draw us out of egoism and ignorance. Renewed by him, we can think and act according to God’s heart and show his mercy to those who suffer in body and spirit.

My wish for you is that your work in these days may bear fruit and accompany you and all those you meet in your service on a path of virtuous growth. I thank you and I ask you, please, not to forget to pray for me. Thank you.

Drievoudige oproep voor de Werelddag van de Vrede: Geen oorlog, kwijtschelding van schuldenlast, eerbied voor ongeboren leven

1 januari 2016
Paus Franciscus

De andere volken niet meesleuren in conflicten, de schuld van de arme landen kwijtschelden, een politiek van respectvolle samenwerking aangaande het fundamentele en onvervreemdbare recht van het ongeboren kind op leven: dit is de drievoudige uitdaging van Paus Franciscus tot de landen in zijn Boodschap voor de Werelddag van de Vrede op 1 januari 2016, “Overwin de onverschilligheid en win de vrede”.

Nee aan besmetting door oorlog
De Paus ziet de vrede als een overwinning van vrijheid en verantwoordelijkheid en tegelijk als een “gave Gods” voor de verwezenlijking van de “broederlijkheid” in de “familie der volken”.

“Ik wens een drievoudige oproep te doen”, kondigt de Paus aan in het laatste deel van zijn boodschap. De eerste zegt nee aan oorlog: het is een oproep “om andere volken niet mee te sleuren in conflicten of oorlogen die niet alleen hun natuurlijke, culturele en sociale rijkdommen vernietigen maar ook – en dit op lange termijn – hun morele en spirituele integriteit”.

De tweede is een oproep “tot kwijtschelding van de internationale schuld van de armste landen of een draaglijk beleid ervan”: een punt dat op de agenda stond van het Grote Jubeljaar 2000, dat in de Bijbelse traditie van de jubilea staat en tegelijk zin voor de economische realiteit weerspiegelt.

Pleiten voor het leven
De derde is een oproep om het recht op leven te eerbiedigen in de internationale betrekkingen, ’t is te zeggen een oproep “om een politiek van samenwerking te voeren die niet plooit voor de dictatuur van bepaalde ideologieën, maar eerbied betoont voor de waarden van de plaatselijke bevolking en in geen geval een aanslag pleegt op het fundamentele en onvervreemdbare recht op leven van het ongeboren kind”. Een oproep die zich kant tegen wat de Paus meermaals de “ideologische kolonisatie” noemt.

De Paus plaatst zijn oproepen in het perspectief van het Jubeljaar zowel op het vlak van de enkeling als van de Staten: hij roept op tot “concrete gebaren” en “moedige daden”: “In de geest van het Jubeljaar van de Barmhartigheid is iedereen geroepen te erkennen hoe onverschilligheid zich manifesteert in het persoonlijk leven, en zich concreet te engageren voor de verbetering van de realiteit waarin hij leeft, te beginnen met het eigen gezin, de buurt of het werk. Ook de Staten zijn geroepen tot concrete gebaren, moedige daden tegenover de meest zwakke personen in hun samenleving, zoals gevangen, migranten, werklozen en zieken”.

Gevangenissen en afschaffing van de doodstraf
Voor wat de gevangenen betreft, heeft de Paus reeds aan elke gevangene gevraagd om in de geest van het Jubeljaar, zijn celdeur te beschouwen als een Heilige Poort. Nu vraagt hij aan de Staten “concrete maatregelen”, met inbegrip van maatregelen voor amnestie en afschaffing van de doodstraf.

“Voor wat de gevangenen betreft, lijkt het in veel gevallen dringend nodig concrete maatregelen te treffen om hun levensvoorwaarden in de gevangenis te verbeteren, met bijzondere aandacht voor wie van zijn vrijheid beroofd is in afwachting van een vonnis; met het doel voor ogen dat strafmaatregelen hebben, namelijk de heropvoeding; en de mogelijkheid te overwegen om in nationale wetgevingen alternatieve straffen voor opsluiting in te lassen. In die context, wens ik tot de nationale autoriteiten de oproep te herhalen om de doodstraf af te schaffen waar zij nog in voege is, en de mogelijkheid van amnestie te overwegen.”

Wetgevingen voor migranten
De Paus pleit vervolgens voor de migranten en breekt een lans tegen clandestiniteit : “Wat de migranten betreft, zou ik willen vragen de migratiewetgevingen te herschrijven zodat zij bezield zijn door de wil tot opvang, wederzijds respect voor plichten en verantwoordelijkheden, en het vergemakkelijken van de integratie van migranten. In dit perspectief zou bijzondere aandacht moeten verleend worden aan de verblijfsvoorwaarden voor migranten, in het besef dat clandestiniteit het gevaar meebrengt dat migranten de weg van de criminaliteit opgaan.”

Drie basisbehoeften en de waardigheid van de werknemer
“Ik wens bovendien in dit Jubeljaar een dringende oproep te doen tot de verantwoordelijken van de landen om concrete gebaren te stellen voor onze broeders en zusters die geen werk, grond of dak hebben. Ik denk aan het creëren van waardige werkgelegenheid om de sociale plaag van werkloosheid te bestrijden, die een groot aantal gezinnen en jongeren verplettert en zeer zware gevolgen heeft voor de instandhouding van de hele samenleving”, verklaart de Paus.

Men dient op te merken dat “gebrek aan werk de waardigheid en hoop sterk ondermijnt en slechts gedeeltelijk kan gecompenseerd worden door subsidies, al zijn ze nodig, voor werklozen en hun gezin”.

De Paus pleit bijzonder voor werk en een rechtvaardig loon voor vrouwen: “Bijzondere aandacht zou moeten gegeven worden aan vrouwen – die op het domein van de werkgelegenheid helaas nog steeds gediscrimineerd worden – en bepaalde categorieën van werknemers, wiens werkomstandigheden hachelijk of gevaarlijk zijn en wiens loon niet in verhouding is met het belang van hun sociale opdracht”.

Tenslotte zou ik doeltreffende acties willen vragen om de levensomstandigheden te verbeteren van zieken, en aan allen de toegang waarborgen tot medische verzorging en geneesmiddelen die onmisbaar zijn voor het leven, met inbegrip van thuisverzorging.

Broederlijkheid in de familie van de naties
De Paus vraagt de landen de horizont van hun grenzen te verleggen, en onverschilligheid te vermijden: “Verder kijkend dan hun eigen grenzen, zijn de verantwoordelijken van de landen ook geroepen hun betrekkingen met de andere volken te opnieuw te bekijken, om effectieve participatie en betrokkenheid in het leven van de internationale gemeenschap mogelijk te maken, zodat broederlijkheid ook gerealiseerd wordt binnen de familie der volken”.

Onverschilligheid voor God
De Paus klaagt de onverschilligheid aan die geworteld is in onverschilligheid tegenover God en die heel de samenleving besmet. Hij citeert Benedictus XVI: “Onverschilligheid tegenover God overschrijdt de private en spirituele sfeer van de enkeling en nestelt zich in de publieke en sociale sfeer”. Volgens de Paus vloeit “onverschilligheid voor de naaste en de schepping voort uit onverschilligheid voor God”. Hij klaagt in het bijzonder corruptie aan in verschillende vormen van onverschilligheid: “een sociale kanker”. Pollutie “van water en lucht”, “roekeloze ontginning van bossen, vernietiging van het milieu”, of “hoe de mens met dieren omgaat”, komen uit dezelfde onverschilligheid voort en hebben “invloed op de betrekkingen met de anderen”.

Een nieuwe cultuur
Omgekeerd, engageert het sociale handelen het eeuwig leven, waarschuwt de Paus die oproept tot concrete barmhartigheid: “Barmhartigheid is het hart van God. Zij moet dus ook het hart zijn van ieder die zich als lidmaat erkent van de ene grote familie van Zijn kinderen; een hart dat hard klopt overal waar de menselijke waardigheid – weerspiegeling van Gods gelaat in Zijn schepselen – op het spel staat. Jezus waarschuwt ons: de liefde voor de anderen – vreemdelingen, zieken, gevangenen, daklozen, zelfs de vijand – is Gods maat om onze daden te oordelen. Daarvan hangt onze eeuwige bestemming af”.

De Paus pleit voor universele solidariteit: “Solidariteit bestaat in de morele en sociale houding die het best beantwoordt aan de bewustwording van de wonden van onze tijd en de steeds toenemende, ontegensprekelijke en onderlinge afhankelijkheid”.

Hij wijst op de collectieve verantwoordelijkheid, met inbegrip van het onderwijs en de opleiding van jongeren. Daarom vraagt Paus Franciscus een nieuwe cultuur, “van solidariteit, barmhartigheid en medelijden”. Volgens de Paus kan geen enkele sociale categorie, NGO, Kerk, media … zich aan die uitdaging onttrekken”.

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Boodschap van Paus Franciscus voor de 24ste Wereld Ziekendag 2016

15 september 2015
Pope Francis

Entrusting Oneself to the Merciful Jesus like Mary: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The twenty-fourth World Day of the Sick offers me an opportunity to draw particularly close to you, dear friends who are ill, and to those who care for you.

This year, since the Day of the Sick will be solemnly celebrated in the Holy Land, I wish to propose a meditation on the Gospel account of the wedding feast of Cana (Jn 2: 1-11), where Jesus performed his first miracle through the intervention of his Mother. The theme chosen – Entrusting Oneself to the Merciful Jesus like Mary: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5) is quite fitting in light of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. The main Eucharistic celebration of the Day will take place on 11 February 2016, the liturgical memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, in Nazareth itself, where “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (Jn 1:14). In Nazareth, Jesus began his salvific mission, applying to himself the words of the Prophet Isaiah, as we are told by the Evangelist Luke: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” (Lk 4:18-19).

Illness, above all grave illness, always places human existence in crisis and brings with it questions that dig deep. Our first response may at times be one of rebellion: Why has this happened to me? We can feel desperate, thinking that all is lost, that things no longer have meaning…

In these situations, faith in God is on the one hand tested, yet at the same time can reveal all of its positive resources. Not because faith makes illness, pain, or the questions which they raise, disappear, but because it offers a key by which we can discover the deepest meaning of what we are experiencing; a key that helps us to see how illness can be the way to draw nearer to Jesus who walks at our side, weighed down by the Cross. And this key is given to us by Mary, our Mother, who has known this way at first hand.

At the wedding feast of Cana, Mary is the thoughtful woman who sees a serious problem for the spouses: the wine, the symbol of the joy of the feast, has run out. Mary recognizes the difficulty, in some way makes it her own, and acts swiftly and discreetly. She does not simply look on, much less spend time in finding fault, but rather, she turns to Jesus and presents him with the concrete problem: “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3). And when Jesus tells her that it is not yet the time for him to reveal himself (cf. v. 4), she says to the servants: “Do whatever he tells you” (v. 5). Jesus then performs the miracle, turning water into wine, a wine that immediately appears to be the best of the whole celebration. What teaching can we draw from this mystery of the wedding feast of Cana for the World Day of the Sick?

The wedding feast of Cana is an image of the Church: at the centre there is Jesus who in his mercy performs a sign; around him are the disciples, the first fruits of the new community; and beside Jesus and the disciples is Mary, the provident and prayerful Mother. Mary partakes of the joy of ordinary people and helps it to increase; she intercedes with her Son on behalf of the spouses and all the invited guests. Nor does Jesus refuse the request of his Mother. How much hope there is in that event for all of us! We have a Mother with benevolent and watchful eyes, like her Son; a heart that is maternal and full of mercy, like him; hands that want to help, like the hands of Jesus who broke bread for those who were hungry, touched the sick and healed them. All this fills us with trust and opens our hearts to the grace and mercy of Christ. Mary’s intercession makes us experience the consolation for which the apostle Paul blesses God: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement, who encourages us in our affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God. For as Christ’s sufferings overflow to us, so through Christ does our encouragement also overflow” (2 Cor 1:3-5). Mary is the “comforted” Mother who comforts her children.

At Cana the distinctive features of Jesus and his mission are clearly seen: he comes to the help of those in difficulty and need. Indeed, in the course of his messianic ministry he would heal many people of illnesses, infirmities and evil spirits, give sight to the blind, make the lame walk, restore health and dignity to lepers, raise the dead, and proclaim the good news to the poor (cf. Lk 7:21-22). Mary’s request at the wedding feast, suggested by the Holy Spirit to her maternal heart, clearly shows not only Jesus’ messianic power but also his mercy.

In Mary’s concern we see reflected the tenderness of God. This same tenderness is present in the lives of all those persons who attend the sick and understand their needs, even the most imperceptible ones, because they look upon them with eyes full of love. How many times has a mother at the bedside of her sick child, or a child caring for an elderly parent, or a grandchild concerned for a grandparent, placed his or her prayer in the hands of Our Lady! For our loved ones who suffer because of illness we ask first for their health. Jesus himself showed the presence of the Kingdom of God specifically through his healings: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them” (Mt 11:4-5). But love animated by faith makes us ask for them something greater than physical health: we ask for peace, a serenity in life that comes from the heart and is God’s gift, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, a gift which the Father never denies to those who ask him for it with trust.

In the scene of Cana, in addition to Jesus and his Mother, there are the “servants”, whom she tells: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). Naturally, the miracle takes place as the work of Christ; however, he wants to employ human assistance in performing this miracle. He could have made the wine appear directly in the jars. But he wants to rely upon human cooperation, and so he asks the servants to fill them with water. How wonderful and pleasing to God it is to be servants of others! This more than anything else makes us like Jesus, who “did not come to be served but to serve” (Mk 10:45). These unnamed people in the Gospel teach us a great deal. Not only do they obey, but they obey generously: they fill the jars to the brim (cf. Jn 2:7). They trust the Mother and carry out immediately and well what they are asked to do, without complaining, without second thoughts.

On this World Day of the Sick let us ask Jesus in his mercy, through the intercession of Mary, his Mother and ours, to grant to all of us this same readiness to be serve those in need, and, in particular, our infirm brothers and sisters. At times this service can be tiring and burdensome, yet we are certain that the Lord will surely turn our human efforts into something divine. We too can be hands, arms and hearts which help God to perform his miracles, so often hidden. We too, whether healthy or sick, can offer up our toil and sufferings like the water which filled the jars at the wedding feast of Cana and was turned into the finest wine. By quietly helping those who suffer, as in illness itself, we take our daily cross upon our shoulders and follow the Master (cf. Lk 9:23). Even though the experience of suffering will always remain a mystery, Jesus helps us to reveal its meaning.

If we can learn to obey the words of Mary, who says: “Do whatever he tells you”, Jesus will always change the water of our lives into precious wine. Thus this World Day of the Sick, solemnly celebrated in the Holy Land, will help fulfil the hope which I expressed in the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy: ‘I trust that this Jubilee year celebrating the mercy of God will foster an encounter with [Judaism and Islam] and with other noble religious traditions; may it open us to even more fervent dialogue so that we might know and understand one another better; may it eliminate every form of closed-mindedness and disrespect, and drive out every form of violence and discrimination’ (Misericordiae Vultus, 23). Every hospital and nursing home can be a visible sign and setting in which to promote the culture of encounter and peace, where the experience of illness and suffering, along with professional and fraternal assistance, helps to overcome every limitation and division.

For this we are set an example by the two Religious Sisters who were canonized last May: Saint Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas and Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified Baouardy, both daughters of the Holy Land. The first was a witness to meekness and unity, who bore clear witness to the importance of being responsible for one another other, living in service to one another. The second, a humble and illiterate woman, was docile to the Holy Spirit and became an instrument of encounter with the Muslim world.

To all those who assist the sick and the suffering I express my confident hope that they will draw inspiration from Mary, the Mother of Mercy. “May the sweetness of her countenance watch over us in this Holy Year, so that all of us may rediscover the joy of God’s tenderness” (ibid., 24), allow it to dwell in our hearts and express it in our actions! Let us entrust to the Virgin Mary our trials and tribulations, together with our joys and consolations. Let us beg her to turn her eyes of mercy towards us, especially in times of pain, and make us worthy of beholding, today and always, the merciful face of her Son Jesus!

With this prayer for all of you, I send my Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, 15 September 2015

Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows