Vatican City, Sep 5, 2015 / 07:48 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a virtual audience with Americans Pope Francis heard emotive testimonies from undocumented immigrants, comforted a single mother, and encouraged greater solidarity in world racked with many problems. The videoconference was held Aug. 31, and was hosted by ABC News. It aired on ABC News’ “20/20” at 10:00 p.m. ET Sept. 4, and is available online in English and Spanish. Members included students from the “Cristo Rey” Jesuit High School – a place for disadvantaged youth; a center for homeless in Los Angeles; and members of Sacred Heart parish in McAllen, Texas, which sits near the U.S.-Mexico border. During the conference, Pope Francis listened to the stories of people from a variety of different backgrounds, including a bullied teen, a homeless youth and undocumented immigrants from Mexico and El Salvador. He also gave a special message to a single mother, telling her that she is “a brave woman” for bringing her two daughters into the world when she could have easily aborted them. “You could have killed them in the womb, and you respected life, respected the life that you had inside of yours.” The Pope extended his greeting to all Americans, saying that he is praying for them and looking forward to his visit the United States later this month.  Please read below for the full transcript of the Pope’s video conference with ABC News:Journalist David Muir greeted the Pope and presented the different groups.David Muir: Holy Father, as you can see everyone is very excited. Do you have a message for the people of the United States before your visit to our country?Pope Francis: A big greeting. A big greeting to the Catholic community in the United States and to all citizens of the United States. This is my message, an affectionate greeting.Connection to Chicago, with the Jesuit High School “Cristo Rey,” a school for the poor and marginalized.Testimony of Valery Herrera, a senior at the Cristo Rey Jesuit High School. She has struggled with vitiligo, an autoimmune disease that causes white blotches on the face and body, and had endured bullying through elementary and middle school. Music helped her grow in her faith and feel less alone and different. She is thinking of becoming the first in her family to go to University, and wants to study pharmacy.Valery Herrera: What are your hopes for us, the youth? What do you hope we do and be?Pope Francis: Valery. I would like to hear you singing, may I ask you to sing a song for me? I wait for that. Go on, go on...Be courageous (Valery sings “Junto a Ti Maria”). Thank you very much. It’s very kind of you. My first response to your question is this: What I hope for from youth is for you all not to walk alone in life. This is the first step, I hope for many more things. That you dare to walk with love and tenderness for others. That you meet someone - you sang to the Virgin to take you into her arms, to take you by the hand to walk - that will accompany you to walk in life. Life is very difficult. It’s difficult to walk alone. You get lost. You get confused. You can find the wrong path or you can be walking around in circles, in a maze, or worst, you can stop because you get tired of walking in life. Always walk hand-in-hand with someone who loves you, someone who gives you tenderness – and you said this to Our Lady. To walk hand in hand with Jesus, to walk hand in hand with the Virgin, this gives security. It's the first thing I hope for the youth: that you be accompanied but with good companions, that is, that you walk in good company. In my country (Argentina), there’s a saying, 'it’s better to be alone than to be in bad company.' That’s true, but walk accompanied. Each youth has to look in life for someone that helps them along the way, it can be their father, mother, a relative, a friend, a grandfather or grandmother – grandparents give such good advice – a teacher, someone that helps you to face things in life. Walk accompanied, first. Second: I hope the youth walk with courage. It just cost you to take the first step in this path that I asked you, that you sing a song. You were emotional, you didn't know how to do it, but you went courageously and made the first step, and sang very well. Continue singing, you sing very well. That is, the courage to take the first step, the courage to go forward. Do you know how sad it is to see a youth that is not brave? A sad youth, a youth with the face of grief, a youth without joy. Courage gives you joy, and joy gives you hope which is a gift from God, obviously. It's true that in the path of life there are many difficulties. Don't be afraid of difficulties! Be prudent, be careful but don't be afraid. You have the strength to overcome. Don't be scared. Don't stop. There's nothing worse than a young person who has retired before his or her time. I don't know at what age people retire in the United States, but can you imagine a young person who's 25 years old, who's retired? Terrible. Always move forward with courage and with hope. And God, if you ask him, will give you hope. This is my response Valery. And I thank you for the song.Testimony of Alexandra Vázquez, who lost her father. (Didn't ask a question but the Pope made a comment)Pope Francis: Thank you very much, Alexandra. Go on along the path. God bless you.Connection to Los Angeles. People came together from different shelters that protect poor and homeless people in Los Angeles.Testimony of Marcos, 19, a homeless youth who dreams of becoming a musician.Marcos: I know why you are so important for me, but why is this trip to the United States so important for you?Pope Francis: For me it's important to meet with you, the citizens of the United States, who have your history, your culture, your virtues, your joys, your sorrows, your problems like every people. I am at the service of all churches and all men and women of good will. For me something very important is proximity. For me it's difficult not to be closes to the people. Instead, when I get close to the people, as I am going to do with you all, I find it easier to understand them and help them on the path of life. It's because of this that this trip is so important, to make me close to your path and history.Testimony of Alyssa Farfan, 11, and her mother Rosemary, a single mother. They lived in a homeless shelter, but have just been granted their first apartment. (Didn't ask a question but the Pope made a comment.)Pope Francis: Thank you Rosemary, for your testimony. I want to tell you one thing. I know that it's not easy to be a single mother, I know that people can sometimes look at you badly, but I tell you one thing, you're a brave woman because you were able to bring two daughters into the world. You could have killed them in the womb, and you respected life, respected the life that you had inside of yours, and for this God is going to reward you, and is rewarding you. Don't be ashamed, go forward with your head held high: “I did not kill my daughters, I brought them into the world.” I congratulate you, I congratulate you, and may God bless you.Connection with Texas in Sacred Heart Church in McAllen, on the border of Mexico.Testimony of Ricardo Ortiz, 19, who emigrated to the U.S. from Mexico on a tourist visa when he was 4 years old. His father at times had difficulty finding work because he was undocumented. When Ricardo was around 17, his father had an accident and wasn’t able to work at all. For a time Ricardo had to take care of his family of 6, but then his father helped pay for his studies when Ricardo’s scholarship was revoked because he was not a U.S. citizen.Ricardo Ortiz: With all the problems there are in the world: poverty, our educational system, immigration...what do you think is the solution to all of these problems?Pope Francis: Obviously listening to your story I can say that life has made you a father early because from very young you had to maintain your family during your father's illness. But you knew how to do it because you had a father with the courage to start you on this path of work and struggle, and the courage after to help you study at the cost of sacrifices. In this life there are many injustices, and as a believer, as a Christian, the first who suffered...who condensed himself, was Jesus. Jesus was born on the street, born homeless, his mother didn't have a place to give birth to him. Always look to the figure of Jesus. You ask me how. Looking at the figure of Jesus we take another step. God sometimes speaks to us with words, as in history, with situations. And God at times, many times, speaks to us with his silence. When I see – what you ask me – to number of people who are starving, which doesn't need to grow, who don't have good health, that a child dies, who have no education, the number of people who don't have a house, the number of people who today, we are seeing them, migrate from their country seeking a better future and they die, so many die along the way, I look to Jesus on the Cross and discover the silence of God. The first silence of God is on the Cross of Jesus. The greatest injustice history and God was silent. That said, I'm going to be more concrete in the response on other levels, but don't forget that God speaks to us with words, with gestures and with silences. And what you ask me is only understood in the silence of God, and the silence of God is only understood by looking at the Cross. What to do? The world has to be more aware that the exploitation of each other is not a path. All of us are created for social friendship. All of us have responsibility for everyone. No one can say: 'my responsibility reaches here.' We are all responsible for everyone, and to help ourselves in the way that each one can. Social friendship, this is what God created us for. But there is one very nasty word which also appears on the first page of the bible. God says it to the devil, the father of lies, to the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman.” And the word enmity grew throughout history, and a little after this exchange, the first enmity between brothers: Cain killed Abel. The first injustice. From here on, wars, destructions. From here on, hatred. Speaking in soccer terms, I would say that the match is played between friendship in society and enmity in society. Each one has to make a choice in his or her heart, and we have to help that choice to be made in the heart. Escaping through addictions or violence doesn't help, only closeness and giving of myself what I can – like you gave everything you could when as a child you sustained your family. Don't forget this, social friendship against the answer of the world which is social enmity: “Fix yourself and may others fix themselves alone.” This is not the plan of God. This is what occurs to me to tell you, and also to express my admiration, life made you a father very young. Now when you are a real father and have your own children may you continue to educate them on the path that you learned from your father. Thank you.Testimony of Wilma, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who wears an ankle bracelet. She wanted a better life for her son Ernesto, who was born with a congenital disease in his eyes and can't see. She asked for a blessing from the Holy Father and he gave it. After, the Pope asked for a nun who was seen on the screen and directed some words to her. This is Sister Norma.Pope Francis: Sister, through you I want to thank all religious sisters of the United States. The work that the religious sisters have done and do in the United States is great. I congratulate you. Be courageous. Move forward, always on the front line. And I tell you one thing more – is ok for the Pope to say this? I don't know – I love you all very much!Testimony of Wendy, 11, who has just arrived from El Salvador because of gang violence. The child, crying, recounted the dramatic days of the trip. She drew a picture for the Pope, and the Pope thanked her.At the end of the video conference the Pope was given a crucifix made by the students of Chicago.David Muir: Holy Father, do you have a final message?Pope Francis: That I am very hopeful to meet you. That I am praying for you, for all the American people and I ask you please to pray for me. Thank you. Read more

Vatican City, Sep 4, 2015 / 12:14 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Church's teaching and her pastoral ministry are not opposed, Pope Francis said in a video message on Thursday, even though this false dichotomy is frequently made. “Not infrequently an opposition between theology and pastoral ministry emerges, as if they were two opposite, separate realities that had nothing to do with each other,” he said Sept. 3 to the International Theological Congress. “False opposition is generated between theology and pastoral ministry, between Christian reflection and Christian life.” “We not infrequently identify doctrine with conservatism and antiquity; and on the contrary, we tend to think of pastoral ministry in terms of adaptation, reduction, accommodation, as if they had nothing to do with each other,” he lamented. The Pope added that the Second Vatican Council was an effort “to overcome this divorce between theology and pastoral ministry, between faith and life.” His words were sent to the theological congress, being held at the Buenos Aires' Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina this week, which is commemorating the centenary of its theology faculty. The focus of the gathering is the 50th anniversary of the conclusion of Vatican II.   Pope Francis noted the importance of the university's theology faculty for the local Church, saying that its centenary “celebrates life, history, the faith of the People of God journeying on earth and in search of 'understanding' and 'truth' from their own positions.” “There exists no isolated particular Church that can be said to be the owner and sole interpreter of the reality and the work of the Spirit,” he added. “No community has a monopoly over interpretation or inculturation just as, on the other hand, there is no universal Church that turns away from, ignores or neglects the local situation.” Francis noted that because the particular means of living out the Christian life vary from person to person and  place to place, “one of the main tasks of the theologian is to discern and to reflect on what it means to be a Christian today, in the 'here and now'.” The Pope identified two temptations that arise in trying to make that discernment. One he identified as “condemning everything: … assuming 'everything was better in the past', seeking refuge in conservatism or fundamentalism. He also warned against “consecrating everything, disavowing everything that does not have a 'new flavour', relativising all the wisdom accumulated in our rich ecclesial heritage.” “The path to overcoming these temptations lies in reflection, discernment, and taking both the ecclesiastical tradition and current reality very seriously, placing them in dialogue with one another.” Pope Francis referred to St. John XXIII’s opening speech for the Second Vatican Council, and said the Church’s task is to distinguish “the Church’s living message” from “the form of its transmission” and “the cultural elements in which it is codified at a given time.” Theologians' discernment cannot, he cautioned, “lead to a betrayal of the content of the message. The lack of this theological exercise is detrimental to the mission we are invited to perform.” “Doctrine is not a closed, private system deprived of dynamics able to raise questions and doubts. On the contrary, Christian doctrine has a face, a body, flesh: He is called Jesus Christ and it is his life that is offered from generation to generation to all men and in all places.” Taking the Incarnation seriously, theologians cannot ignore “The questions our people pose, their anguish, their quarrels, their dreams, their struggles, their concerns,” he reflected. The Bishop of Rome stated, “Our formulations of faith were born of dialogue, encounter, comparison and contact with different cultures, communities, and nations in situations calling for greater reflection on matters not previously clarified.” He then added that it is suspicious when Christians “no longer admit the need” to be criticized by others. “People and their specific conflicts, their peripheries, are not optional, but rather necessary for a better understanding of faith. Therefore it is important to ask whom we are thinking of when we engage in theology.” “Let us not forget that the Holy Spirit in a praying people is the subject of theology. A theology that is not born of this would offer something beautiful, but not real.” Francis then outlined three characteristics of a theologian’s identity, noting that a theologian is first of all “a son of his people.” As a person who knows their people’s language, history and tradition, a theologian is someone who learns to appreciate what they have received as a sign of God’s presence, and recognizes that the people into which they were born have “a theological sense that he cannot ignore.” Secondly, the Pope said, “the theologian is a believer. The theologian is someone who has experience of Jesus Christ and has discovered he cannot live without him.” Finally, theologians are prophets, he said, explaining that one of the greatest modern challenges “is not merely the ease with which it is possible to dispense with God – socially it has taken a step further. The current crisis pivots on the inability of people to believe in anything beyond themselves.” This situation, he reflected, “creates a rift in personal and social identities” and “gives rise to a process of alienation, owing to a lack of past, and therefore of future. The theologian is thus a prophet, as he keeps alive an awareness of the past and the invitation that comes from the future. He is a able to denounce any alienating form as he intuits, reflecting on the river of Tradition he has received from the Church, the hope to which we are called.” Francis concluded by saying the only true way of practicing theology is “on one's knees,” in prayer. “It is not merely the pious act of prayer before, and then thinking of theology. It is a dynamic reality of thought and prayer. Practising theology on one's knees means encouraging thought when praying, and prayer when thinking.” Read more

Vatican City, Sep 4, 2015 / 06:07 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis on Wednesday kissed and blessed a cross that was buried with Father Junipero Serra, the early California missionary whom he will canonize during his U.S. visit later this month. When Father Junipero Serra’s tomb was opened in 1943 to exhume the Franciscan priest’s body, a cross was found on his chest. Members of the Catholic Church Extension Society brought the relic to the Vatican for the Pope’s Sept. 2 general audience, and presented it to the Pope. “The Pope blessed it, but he also venerated it, it was very touching,” Father Jack Wall, president of the Catholic Church Extension Society, recounted to CNA. “He reached down and kissed the cross … that was buried with Junipero Serra.” Now that the cross has received the Pope’s blessing, it will return to California’s Diocese of Monterey, where it will be displayed in the museum at the Carmel Mission. Bl. Junipero Serra played a leading role in California history. He helped to convert thousands of native Californians to Christianity and taught them new technologies. The 18th century Franciscan priest founded many of the missions that would go on to become the centers of major California cities. He was beatified in 1988 by Saint John Paul II. Pope Francis will canonize Father Serra Sept. 23 during his visit to Washington, D.C. In a May 2 homily, the Pope described the missionary as “one of the founding fathers of the United States, a saintly example of the Church’s universality and special patron of the Hispanic people of the country.” Fr. Wall said the Catholic Extension Society is particularly excited about the canonization. He added: “it was part of Catholic Extensions’ hope to help us celebrate this moment in our country, the first Hispanic saint.” He and other members of the society were in Rome to celebrate two occasions: the 110th anniversary of their founding and the 105th anniversary of their establishment as a papal society. The Catholic Extension Society, headquartered in Chicago, aims to build up and strengthen the Catholic faith in the poorest places of the United States. Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago is chancellor of the society’s board of governors, and presented the cross to Pope Francis. The society seeks to share in Pope Francis’ commitment to the poor through its assistance to the poorest dioceses in the United States. Fr. Wall said the group wanted to tell Pope Francis, “there’s a movement in the United States, and we are really, absolutely embracing his mission to go to the peripheries, those marginalized in the United States, and to really bring that message of hope and joy and peace.” The society raises roughly $25 million each year to support more than 1,000 projects, including church construction and assistance for seminaries and vowed religious. It also offers support to migrant workers and poor communities. The society supports the Brownsville, Texas school whose students participated in a virtual audience with Pope Francis hosted by ABC News on Monday.   Fr. Wall said he hopes that Pope Francis will inspire Americans to make a greater effort to reach out to the poor. “I think that’s his constant message, that we’re in solidarity with everybody in our human family – as he preached today, it’s about family and that we are connected and one with each other in so many ways, and especially as a Catholic community,” he said. The Catholic Church is an institution which is constantly present to the poor across the United States, the priest observed. He said that a person can’t go to country’s poorest places and not see the presence of the Catholic Church. “So we’re really a very important instrument of helping lift up people to their deepest aspirations of what they want to be as people,” he said. For his part, Fr. Wall said that he will do his best to continue building up Pope Francis’ message “for us as Catholics to reach and meet the risen Christ in the poorest communities of our country.” Read more

Vatican City, Sep 4, 2015 / 12:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis held an audience with Israeli president Reuven Rivlin on Thursday, where they exchanged gifts and discussed efforts to secure peace and to address the plight of Middle East Christians.   Pope Francis gave the Israeli president a new bronze medal at the Sept. 3 audience. On the medal was a depiction of a rock split into two parts, but joined by an olive tree. The medal bore the words: “Search for what unites. Overcome what divides.” When the Pope gave the gift to Rivlin, he winked at the president. “There is some division, but the challenge is to unite,” Pope Francis said. The audience focused on the political and social situation in the Middle East, giving “special attention” to the condition of Christians and other minorities, the Holy See press office reported. “In this respect the importance of interreligious dialogue was recognized, along with the responsibility of religious leaders in promoting reconciliation and peace,” said the press office, which described the discussions as cordial. The meeting also highlighted the need to promote a climate of trust between Israelis and Palestinians. It focused on the resumption of direct negotiations that aimed at “an agreement respecting the legitimate aspirations of the two populations, as a fundamental contribution to peace and stability in the region,” the press office said. The Holy See and Israel have disagreed over the status of Palestine; Israel has objected to the Holy See’s recognition of the State of Palestine in its negotiations with Palestinian leaders. When Pope Francis greeted the president, he spoke in English: “Pray for me.”   The president responded: "I will see you in Israel.” Rivlin gave the Pope a replica of the earliest mention of King David’s dynasty outside of the Bible.  The words were carved on a basalt stone dating back to the eighth or ninth century B.C. The original is in the Museum of Israel. “I think it is right that His Holiness has this gift to remember the common roots between Judaism and Christianity,” the Israeli president said when he presented the gift. He also gave a plate with the inscription: “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.” The Pope also gave the Israeli president a copy of his encyclical on the care of creation, Laudato Si'. He also presented him with his 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, explaining: “This is for all Christians, but there is a chapter dedicated to dialogue with the Jews.” The official Israeli delegation included the president’s wife. The Pope gave everyone in the delegation a medal for the third year of his pontificate, marking the 500th anniversary of St. Theresa of Avila’s birth. Rivlin also met with the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who was accompanied by Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Secretary for Relations with States. Other topics at the meeting included the relations between the Holy See and Israel, and between Israeli authorities and local Catholic communities. Both parties at the audience voiced hope for a prompt conclusion to the drafting of a bilateral agreement. They also hoped for an adequate solution for other matters of common interest, such as the situation of Christian schools in Israel. Read more