Vatican City, Nov 27, 2016 / 08:33 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The season of Advent is a reminder to us to open our horizons and have concern for more than just material things, the Pope said Sunday during his Angelus address. Advent is an invitation “to sobriety, to not be dominated by the things of this world, to material reality, but rather to govern them,” Pope Francis said Nov. 27 in St. Peter's Square. “If, on the contrary, we are conditioned and overpowered by them, it is not possible to perceive that which is much more important: our final encounter with the Lord: and this is important. That, that encounter.” He pointed to the three comings of Christ, tto which Advent point us: his Incarnation; his daily walking with us and his consoling presence; and his “coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” The day's Gospel reading “brings out the contrast between the normal unfolding of things, the daily routine, and the sudden coming of the Lord,” Francis reflected. “It always strikes us to think of the hours preceding a great calamity: all are tranquil, doing the same things without knowing their life is about to be turned upside down. The Gospel certainly does not wish to scare us, but to open our horizon to another dimension, the largest dimension, which on he one hand relativizes the everyday things but at the same time renders them precious, decisive.” “Relationship with the God-who-comes-to-visit gives to every gesture, every thing, a different light, a 'thickness', a symbolic value,” the Pope said. The things of everyday should be seen from the perspective, the horizon, of our final encounter with Christ, Pope Francis taught. Thus is Advent “an invitation to vigilance, because not knowing when He will come, we must always be ready to depart.” “In this season of Advent, we are called to enlarge the horizons of our hearts, to be surprised by the life which is presented each day with its novelty. In order to do this we need to learn to not depend on our own securities, our own consolidated plans, because the Lord comes in the hour which we don’t imagine. This introduces us to a much more beautiful, and great, dimension.” The Pope concluded, praying that Mary would help us to not consider ourselves as owners of our lives, “not resistent when the Lord comes to change them, but ready to meet him as an awaited and agreeable guest, even though he upsets our plans.” Read more

Vatican City, Nov 26, 2016 / 03:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In an unexpected televised statement, Fidel Castro’s brother and the current president of Cuba, Raul Castro, announced that the former president and leader of the Communist revolution in Cuba has died at age 90. Fidel, who ruled the island nation as a one-party state for nearly 50 years before passing the reigns to his brother in 2008 due to health reasons, died Friday night local time in Havana, having been the longest serving non-royal leader of the 20th century. According to his Raul Castro’s statement, Fidel will be cremated Saturday, and his death will be followed by several days of national mourning on the island. Raul ended his address shouting his brother’s revolutionary slogan “towards victory, always!” BBC News reports. Born in the southeastern Oriente province of Cuba in 1926, Fidel Castro went on to lead a largescale rebellion in the country that eventually claimed victory, resulting in his election as Prime Minister and the adoption of Soviet-style communism throughout the island nation. After serving several years in prison for inciting an unsuccessful rebellion in 1953, Castro was released under amnesty in 1955, and in 1956 began a guerilla war against the government that ultimately led to the ousting of former dictator Fulgencio Batista, and his election as PM, making him the youngest leader in Latin America at the time at age 32. Castro’s nearly 50 year reign was marked by stormy moments such as the U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 that severed ties between the U.S. and Cuba, and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 that nearly started a global nuclear war when Castro agreed that USSR forces could deploy nuclear weapons in Cuba. Despite the fact that the majority of the world eventually adopted Western-style democracy and other formerly communist regimes such as China and Vietnam had embraced capitalism, Castro held tight to his commitment to socialism. Accused of various human rights and religious freedom abuses, Castro was handed a crippling U.S. trade embargo following the Bay of Pigs invasion, and survived several assassination plots. He handed over power to his brother Raul in 2006 due to health reasons, and officially stood down as president in 2008. However, despite the tensions under Castro’s leadership, his regime always maintained open communication and dialogue with the Vatican, making it the only communist nation with which the Holy See never broke ties. In fact, Fidel Castro met with three Pope’s during his lifetime: St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, who played a key role in helping to broker the restoration of diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Cuba. In 1996, Fidel Castro was received by St. John Paul II in the Vatican, signaling a strengthening in dialogue between the two countries. This encounter eventually paved the way for John Paul II’s historic visit to Cuba in 1998, marking the first time a Pope ever set foot on the island. Benedict XVI followed in his predecessors’ footsteps, traveling to Cuba in 2012 in a move that signaled a new opening on the part of Cuba to the world. Throughout the visit, Raul Castro was frequently at the Pope's side in a show of his desire to update Cuba, and give importance to the visit. Pope Francis himself followed suit in 2015, shortly after the U.S. and Cuba announced that they would be taking formal steps to restore diplomatic ties. On Dec. 17, 2014, the U.S. and Cuba announced a prisoner exchange as well as the desire to lift the U.S. embargo on travel and trade. Although the Obama administration had made small changes to existing policy starting in 2009, including Cuban-Americans having a limited freedom to travel between the countries and send money to Cuba, in 2013 secret talks between diplomats began to open up relations, aided by the support of the Vatican. Pope Francis made a personal phone call to both U.S. president Barack Obama and Cuban president Raul Castro to come to a deal, particularly regarding diplomacy and long-held prisoners. Full diplomatic relations were then officially restored as of midnight July 20, 2015, and embassies were re-opened and flags raised later in the day as an outward sign of the diplomatic thaw. When he stepped foot in Havana Sept.19, 2015, for a brief visit to Cuba ahead of his trip to the United States, Pope Francis told officials that the recent normalization of relations between the two countries was a sign of hope and victory. “For some months now, we have witnessed an event which fills us with hope: the process of normalizing relations between two peoples following years of estrangement,” he said. Quoting Cuban hero and tireless fighter for the country’s independence, José Martí, Francis said the restoration of ties “is a sign of the victory of the culture of encounter and dialogue, ‘the system of universal growth’ over ‘the forever-dead system of groups and dynasties.’” He urged political leaders continue down this path and to “develop all its potentialities” as a sign of the service they are called to on behalf of the “peace and well-being of their peoples, of all America, and as an example of reconciliation for the entire world.” During his visit, Francis met briefly with Fidel Castro to talk about the problems of contemporary society and to exchange books. Raul Castro had visited the Vatican May 10, 2015, just a few months before Pope Francis’ visit, to speak about the Pope’s trip as well as his role in restoring relations between the U.S. and Cuba. After their meeting, Raul thanked Francis for his active role in helping restore ties between the two nations, and suggested that he return to the Church in the future. “I will start praying again and return to the Church” if the Pope continues what he has been doing, he said. The president’s admiration and appreciation for Pope Francis was made even clearer when earlier this month, in response to an appeal made by the Pope for governments to grant clemency to prisoners, he released 787 prisoners in Cuba. After celebrating Mass for prisoners in St. Peter’s Basilica Nov. 6, Pope Francis in his Angelus address asked that as part of the Jubilee of Mercy, competent global authorities would consider granting clemency to eligible inmates. Legally speaking, clemency is a power given to a public official, such as a mayor, governor or the president, to in some way modify or lower the harshness of a punishment or sentence imposed on a prisoner. In response, Castro pardoned 787 inmates including women, young and sick prisoners who had committed minor crimes, but nothing “extremely dangerous” such as murder or rape, a statement on the front page of Granma said. The statement noted clearly that the Council of State, led by President Raul Castro, issued the pardons “in response to the call by Pope Francis to heads of state in the Holy Year of Mercy.” In choosing the prisoners, the State took into account the crimes committed, the prisoners’ conduct and the time serves so far. Read more

Vatican City, Nov 25, 2016 / 08:42 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Drug addiction is a contemporary form of slavery, Pope Francis lamented Thursday, emphasizing that a rehabilitation which restores victims' joy and dignity is much needed. “Drugs are a wound in our society.  A wound that traps many people in the networks. They are victims have lost their freedom to fall into slavery; slavery of a dependency we can call ‘chemistry,’” the Pope said Nov. 24. It’s certain, he said, that drugs consist “of a new form of slavery, like many others that plague man today and society in general.” Pope Francis spoke to participants in a Nov. 23-24 workshop organized by the Pontifical Academy for the Sciences titled “Workshop on Narcotics: Problems and Solutions of this Global Issue.” The two-day gathering focused on the history of drug use and the current global situation, the global impact of the drug trade, methods of prevention such as education, and the risks of medicinal and recreational drug use. Francis has spoken out against the drug trade frequently, naming it as a primary cause of greed and corruption contributing to the disintegration of society. In his speech to workshop participants, the Pope noted that there is no “single cause” that leads to drug use, but that the factors are many, and often involve the absence of family, social pressures, propaganda from traffickers, and the desire to have new experiences. Each person addicted to drugs brings with them “a different personal history which must be heard, understood, loved and, as soon as possible, healed and purified,” he said, cautioning attendees not to fall into “the injustice of classifying the drug addict as if they were an object or a broken mess.” “The dignity of the person is what we have come to encounter,” he said, noting that the high numbers of addicts isn’t surprising given the wide range of opportunities available to achieve a superficial happiness. However, rather than bringing satisfaction, this ephemeral satisfaction “in the end becomes a venom, corrodes, corrupts and kills,” he said. “The person is destroyed and, with them, everything around them.” Pope Francis stressed the importance of knowing the full scope of the drug problem, “which is essentially destructive,” above all in terms of the vast production of drugs and the system of distribution. The cartel networks “enable the death of a person,” he said, noting that it is not necessarily physical death,  but “psychological death, social death” in the “discarding of a person.” Distribution systems, even more than production, represent “an important part of organized crime,” Francis said, explaining that a key challenge is knowing how to find a way to monitor the different circuits of money laundering and corruption, because “they are united.” The only way to do this, he said, is to trace the line that runs from a small-scale drug market up to “the most sophisticated forms of laundering that nest in financial capital and in the banks which are dedicated to the laundering of dirty money.” Francis recalled the story of a judge he knew in Argentina who had several thousand kilometers of border territory under his jurisdiction. As soon as this judge began working seriously to eradicate the problem, he got a letter in the mail with a photo of his family saying nothing more than “your son goes to this school, your wife does this.” When you one begins to search and climb up through the distribution networks, “one finds that word of five letters: mafia,” the Pope said, because just as in the distribution the one who is a slave to drugs is killed, “so too whoever wants to destroy this slavery is killed.” In order to curb the demand for drugs, Pope Francis said strong efforts are needed, coupled by extensive programs aimed at promoting health, family support and education, which he said “is fundamental.” “Integral human formation is the priority” because it gives people the ability and means of knowing how to discern, so that when the moment comes, “they can discard the different offers and help others.” This type of formation is particularly important for the vulnerable in society, such as children and youth, he said, noting that it’s also valuable for families and others who suffer from various forms of marginalization. However, the Pope lamented that the problem of drug prevention as a program “is always slowed down by a thousand and a factor of the ineptitude of governments: by a sector of the government here, there or there.” Drug prevention programs “are almost non-existent,” he said, adding that once the problem of drugs has advanced and settled into society, “it’s very difficult” to overcome. Rehabilitation of the victims was also something brought up by the Pope, which he said is a priority in terms of restoring to the victims the joy and dignity they had lost. While it might not be assured by the state or its legislation, “recovery will be difficult and the victims could be re-victimized,” he said. Pope Francis closed his speech by encouraging attendees to continue their work and “to realize, within your own possibilities, the happy initiatives you have undertaken in the service of those who suffer most in this field of war.” “The fight is difficult,” he said,  noting that whenever one “gives face” and begins to work seriously, they run the same risk as the judge from Argentina, of getting “a little card with some insinuation.” However,  he stressed that despite the risks,  “we are defending the human family, defending the youth, children...It’s not a matter of momentary discipline, it’s a thing that is projected forward.” Read more

Vatican City, Nov 24, 2016 / 02:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday Pope Francis met Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang at the Vatican for a meeting largely focused on collaboration between the Church and State, as well as how to move forward in cementing better relations. In the course of the “cordial talks,” specific mention was made of the “good relations existing between the Holy See and Vietnam,” which are supported by “a common spirit of dialogue and of the constant search for the most appropriate tools so they can further advance,” a Nov. 23 communique from the Vatican read. Collaboration between the Church and the State “in various levels of local society” was also emphasized. President Dai Quang arrived to the Vatican around 5p.m. local time, and was accompanied by a delegation of 10 people. After their private discussion, Dai Quang gifted the Pope a small drum with a bronze base, while Francis, for his part, gave the Vietnamese president a medal of his pontificate as well as a copy of his environmental encyclical Laudato Si, his Apostolic Exhortations Amoris Laetitia and Evangelii Gaudium. Following his meeting with the Pope, President Dai Quang met briefly with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with the States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher. While the Vietnamese president’s visit to the Vatican is significant, it is not the first time a head of state has made such a gesture. In 2009, former president Nguyen Minh Triet traveled to the Vatican to meet with Pope Benedict XVI, marking the first such visit by a Vietnamese head of state to the Vatican. Vietnam is currently one of 15 States in which the Holy See does not yet have full diplomatic relations. Diplomatic relations between the two states were dissolved in 1975 when the communist north overran South Vietnam. However, since then, the visits of more than 20 Vatican delegations eventually led to the 2007 visit of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to Benedict XVI. After the 2007 meeting, the Holy See and Vietnam began talks to re-establish diplomatic ties, and to this end a joint working group was established in 2009. In 2008, after decades, the Holy See was finally able to appoint seven new bishops in Vietnam, and the bishops ordained hundreds of priests. Talks eventually led to the appointment of Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli as non-resident special envoy to Vietnam in 2011. A year later, Nguyen Phu Trong, secretary of the Vietnamese communist party, visited Benedict, showing the desire on the part of Vietnamese authorities to normalize diplomatic ties. The sixth and most recent meeting of the working group took place Oct. 24-26 at the Vatican, where talks centered on the recent reform of the religious freedom bill in Vietnam, which has been under discussion since 2013, when the Vietnamese constitution was revised. The law guaranteed freedom of belief to people, and formally guarantees religious freedom. However, Catholic communities have experienced several limitations under the communist regime that took power in 1976. In the October working group meeting, Vietnam’s representatives underscored the efforts made to improve a religious freedom bill, while the Holy See showed appreciation for these efforts and reiterated the Church’s freedom to carry forward its mission. With 6 million adherents to the faith – nearly 7 percent of its entire population – the Church has a notable impact on Vietnamese society, a fact acknowledged by the government's desire to dialogue with the Holy See. Read more