La Paz, Bolivia, Jul 9, 2015 / 10:45 am (CNA/EWTN News).- When leftist Bolivian president Evo Morales on Thursday presented Pope Francis with a “communist crucifix” – a carving of Christ crucified on the hammer of a hammer and sickle – the Pope appeared to say, “This is not ok,” while shaking his head. However, at a July 9 press briefing the Holy See press officer, Fr. Federico Lombardi, said that Pope Francis' remark likely expresed a sentiment of “I didnt' know”, rather than “This is not right.” Fr. Lombardi noted the lack of clarity in the audio of the exchange, and remarked that Pope Francis had been unaware the crucifix was a replica of a Spanish Jesuit. Shortly after his July 8 arrival at the Bolivian administrative capital of La Paz, Pope Francis made a courtesy visit to Morales at the Palace of Government. At such meetings, the leaders customarily exchange gifts; Pope Francis gave the Bolivian president a mosaic of the Marian icon of the “Salus Populus Romani,” her role as patroness of Rome. Morales explained what his gift to the Pope was as he gave it to him. In the video, filmed by the Vatican Television Center and transmitted throughout the world, the Pope appears to be saying “No está bien eso” – “This is not ok” – while shaking his head. The audio is a bit marred by the clicking of journalists' cameras, leading to some debate over what the Pope actually said. The cross with a hammer and sickle is a reproduction of another carved during the 1970s by Fr. Luis Espinal Camps, a Spanish Jesuit who was a missionary in Bolivia who was killed in 1980 during the Bolivian dictatorship. Fr. Lombardi claimed that Fr. Espinal's use of it was not ideological but expressed a hope for dialogue between communism and the Church. Morales' gift has sparked a worldwide controversy, and reactions were not long in coming. The majority of them accuse Morales of trying to politicize the Pope's visit. Morales is head of Bolivia's Movement for Socialism party, and his adminstration has focused on implementing leftist policies in the nation. Since coming to power in 2006, Morales has frequently sparred with the Bolivian bishops. Catholics from various Hispanophone countries rejected Morales' gesture, considering it offensive to the numerous victims of terrorist groups in Latin America and of the historical totalitarian communist regimes. Bishop Jose Munilla Aguirre of San Sebastián, a Spaniard, tweeted: “The height of arrogance is to manipulate God in the service of atheistic ideologies … Today, once again: #ChristCrucified”. Fr. Espinal – whose “communist crucifix” was the model for Morales' gift to the Pope – was a journalist who advocated for human rights and democracy, continues to be a source of controversy in Bolivia. While en route from the La Paz airport to the presidential palace, Pope Francis stopped to pray at the location where Fr. Espinal's corpse was found after his March 21, 1980 kidnapping and murder. “Dear sisters and brothers. I stopped here to greet you and above all to remember. To remember a brother, our brother, a victim of interests who did not want him to fight for the freedom of Bolivia,” the Pope said to those gathered at the site, after arriving by way of an open popemobile. “May Christ draw this man into himself. Lord give him eternal rest and may light shine for him that has no end.” Some regard Fr. Espinal as a martyr who lived the Gospel with the same spirit as Blessed Oscar Romero – who was martyred by right wing Salvadorans two days after Fr. Espinal's death – while others claim the priest was a communist and became too involved in politics. Born in 1932 in Barcelona, Fr. Espinal studied both philosophy and theology before entering the Jesuit novitiate in Veruela in Zaragoza at the age of 17. The same year he traveled to Bergamo, Italy to study audiovisual journalism. After two years he returned to Spain and began to work for Spanish radio and television corporation TVE at the height of  Francisco Franco's rule. Fr. Espinola denounced the censorships placed on TVE under Franco and left Spain. He moved to Bolivia in August 1968, where he took over as chair in the journalism department of the Bolivian Catholic University, and later become sub-director. He was granted Bolivian citizenship in 1970, and over the course of the next 10 years worked in both the written and radio press, produced documentaries on social themes and got into screenwriting. As an avid defender of human rights, the priest cofounded the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights in Bolivia in 1976. During the 1971 military coup led by Hugo Banzer Suarez, Fr. Espinola intervened on behalf of persecuted and detained politicians and trade unions. In 1977 he participated in a three-week-long hunger strike to gain general amnesty for political exiles, validity of trade unions and the withdrawal of the army from mining centers. In 1979 Fr. Espinola founded the weekly newspaper “Aqui,” which was quickly dubbed “leftist” due to its anti-establishment views and vocal criticism of government corruption. As a result of his work, the priest was kidnapped by a group of paramilitaries March 21, 1980, while on his way home. According to police and reports at the time, the militants took Fr. Espinola to La Paz's Achachicala slaughterhouse, where he was tortured for five hours before being shot 17 times. His body was found handcuffed and gagged the next morning. In 2007, Morales officially declared March 21 as the “Day of Bolivian Cinema” due to the priest’s contributions in the area. On that day, cinemas and television channels are obliged to show national films, particularly relating to the themes of human rights and indigenous peoples. Fr. Lombardi noted during a July 6 press briefing that no cause has been opened for Fr. Espinal's beatification.   Read more

Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, Jul 9, 2015 / 08:55 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Giving into despair when confronted with life’s difficulties only leads to an individualistic attitude that discards others, Pope Francis said Thursday, explaining that with Jesus, no one is ever left out or excluded. “A despairing heart finds it easy to succumb to a way of thinking which is becoming ever more widespread in our world. It is a mentality in which everything has a price, everything can be bought, everything is negotiable,” the Pope said July 9 during his homily at his Mass, said in Santa Cruz de la Sierra's Christ the Redeemer Square. He said that thinking this way only leaves space for a select few, while the rest – who “don’t add up” or are considered unsuitable and unworthy – are discarded. In reference to the day’s Gospel reading, in which Christ multiplied loaves and fish to feed a crowd of 4,000, the Pope said Christ's words to his disciples, “you yourselves, give them something to eat”, have a particular resonance today. Christ, he said, tell us that “No one needs to go away, no one has to be discarded; you yourselves, give them something to eat.” He said Christ is speaking those same words “here in this square. Jesus’ way of seeing things leaves no room for the mentality which would cut bait on the weak and those most in need.” Pope Francis spoke the morning after his arrival to Bolivia. It began at 10a.m. local time, and fell on the fifth day of his July 5-13 apostolic voyage to South America. Prior to Bolivia, Pope Francis spent three days in Ecuador, and will move on to Paraguay on Friday afternoon. Speaking directly to the pilgrims who came from many different areas and villages to participate in the Mass, Francis said they are living many of the same situations as those who came to hear Christ. In addition to coming with their children and hopes in hand, the Pope noted how they also brought with them the weight of disappointments and injustice. “Frequently we tire of this journey. Frequently we lack the strength to keep hope alive. How often have we experienced situations which dull our memory, weaken our hope and make us lose our reason for rejoicing!” He warned that in such situations “a kind of sadness takes over. We think only of ourselves, we forget that we area people which is loved, a chosen people.” “And the loss of that memory disorients us, it closes our heart to others, and especially to the poor.” When confronted with contemporary problems, the Pope said, we can look at it in a worldly way and say nothing can be done – “our hearts yield to despair,” and we can feel the same way as the disciples when they asked Jesus to send away the hungry and those in need. However, with his example of taking what was given to him, blessing it, and giving it to others, Christ shows us a different approach, he observed. “This is how the miracle takes place. It is not magic or sorcery. With these three gestures, Jesus is able to turn a mentality which discards others into a mindset of communion and community.” Christ, the Pope said, takes the people’s lives “very seriously. He looks at them in the eye, and he knows what they are experiencing, what they are feeling.” Instead of being concerned about material objects or grand ideas, the Lord is primarily concerned about the people, he said, adding that “Jesus never detracts from the dignity of anyone, no matter how little they possess or seem capable of contributing.” By blessing what had been given to him, Christ demonstrates his knowledge that everything is a gift from God, Francis continued. Rather than treating things as objects, the Lord values them as a fruit of God’s merciful love. “Life is always a gift which, when placed in the hands of God, starts to multiply. Our Father never abandons us; he makes everything multiply.” Pope Francis said that every blessing has a missionary purpose, which is to share what we have received with others. It is only by giving that we find joy and salvation, he added. He reflected on how the hands which Christ lifts to bless God are the same ones he used to feed the hungry crowd, and encouraged those present to image “how those people passed the loaves of bread and the fish from hand to hand, until they came to those farthest away.” “Jesus generated a kind of electrical current among his followers, as they shared what they had, made it a gift for others, and so ate their fill,” he said. Referring to the Eucharist, the Pope noted how July 9 marked the inauguration of the Fifth Eucharistic Congress, which will be held in Tarija, in Bolivia's south. The Eucharist, he said, “is a sacrament of communion, which draws us out of our individualism in order to live together as disciples.” He turned his attention to the Church, saying that she is a community of remembrance that continues to pass on the faith in memory of Christ, as he commanded at the Last Supper. “We are not isolated individuals, separated from one another, but rather a people of remembrance, a remembrance ever renewed and ever shared with others,” Francis said. “A life of remembrance needs others. It demands exchange, encounter and a genuine solidarity capable of entering into the mindset of taking, blessing and giving. It demands the logic of love,” he concluded, encouraging attendees to imitate Mary, who constantly pondered the life of her son. “Like her, may we trust in the goodness of the Lord, who does great things with the lowliness of his servants.” Read more

La Paz, Bolivia, Jul 8, 2015 / 06:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In a meeting at the Cathedral of La Paz in Bolivia, Pope Francis urged civil authorities to respect religious freedom in order to allow Christians to play their part in civil life. “Christianity has played an important role in shaping the identity of the Bolivian people,” the Holy Father said. “Religious freedom – a phrase we often encounter in civil discourse – also reminds us that faith cannot be restricted to a purely subjective experience,” he said. “It also challenges us to help foster the growth of spirituality and Christian commitment in social projects.” The Pope's comments come at a time of tension between Church and state in Bolivia. Although Pope Francis and Bolivian President Evo Morales have met on several occasions and share similar views when it comes to climate and helping the poor, Morales removed the cross and the Bible from the presidential palace as soon as he took office in 2006. In 2009, despite the overwhelming Catholic majority in the country, a new constitution declared Bolivia a secular state, and rules that Andrean religious rituals would now be the official rites at state ceremonies, rather than Catholic ones. In his address, Pope Francis reminded authorities that when Christians are allowed to live out their faith, they are a benefit to society. “Christians in particular, as disciples of the Good News, are bearers of a message of salvation which has the ability to ennoble and to inspire great ideals,” he said. “In this way it leads to ways of acting which transcend individual interest, readiness to make sacrifices for the sake of others, sobriety and other virtues which develop in us the ability to live as one.” The Holy Father also urged those present to look beyond themselves and their own comfort in order to work for the common good. “Without even being conscious of it, we confuse the 'common good' with 'prosperity,' especially when we are the ones who enjoy that prosperity,” the Pope said. “Prosperity understood only in terms of material wealth has a tendency to become selfish, to defend private interests, to be unconcerned about others, and to give free rein to consumerism.” A society that works for the common good, rather, considers what is best for all and not just what is best for certain individuals or interest groups, the Pope added. This is best done in an environment of freedom that respects everyone, and builds bridges rather than walls, he said. “A nation which seeks the common good cannot be closed in on itself; societies are strengthened by networks of relationships,” the Holy Father said. “The current problem of immigration makes this clear. These days it is essential to improve diplomatic relations between the countries of the region, in order to avoid conflicts between sister peoples and to advance frank and open dialogue about their problems.” ”How beautiful are those cities which overcome paralyzing mistrust, integrate those who are different and make this very integration a new factor of development! How attractive it is when those cities are full of spaces which connect, relate and favor the recognition of others!” The Pope concluded his address by asking for prayers: “I need them,” he said.  Bolivia is the second of three stops on the Pope’s trip to South America. He visited Ecuador July 5-8 and will spend a few days in Bolivia before heading to Paraguay on July 10 to finish his visit. Read more

La Paz, Bolivia, Jul 8, 2015 / 04:19 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Arriving in Bolivia on Wednesday afternoon, Pope Francis greeted those waiting for him with the greeting “jallalla,” significant because it comes from the Quechua-Aymara languages of the nation's indigenous peoples. Francis used the phrase “Jallalla Bolivia” at the close of his July 8 speech of greeting to Bolivians at the airport of La Paz, the nation's administrative capital. In his address, the Pope noted the country’s rich cultural and ethnic diversity – it has 36 official languages beside Spanish, the largest of which is Quechua. He said he comes as a pilgrim to renew the country’s faith, and he also encouraged further social, economic, and political development. “As a guest and a pilgrim, I have come to confirm the faith of those who believe in the Risen Christ, so that, during our pilgrimage on earth, we believers may be witnesses of his love, leaven for a better world and co-operators in the building of a more just and fraternal society,” he proclaimed. He landed at the La Paz airport – the highest in the world at 11,975 feet – at 4:15 p.m. local time, and was greeted by Bolivian president Evo Morales. His two-day visit to the country is the second stage in his July 5-15 South American tour. Prior to Bolivia, Pope Francis spent three days in Ecuador, and will move on to Paraguay on Friday afternoon. Due to the especially high altitude of La Paz, Francis will only spend a few hours there before transferring to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, where he will spend the remainder of his time in Bolivia. In his address, Pope Francis praised Bolivia for its “singular beauty,” which he said can be seen in “ ts altiplano and valleys, its Amazon region, its deserts and the incomparable lakes.” He said Bolivia is a land particularly blessed by its people, who constitute “a great cultural and ethnic variety,” including both ancient aboriginal peoples as well as newer native populations.  Such diversity, he said, is an enrichment and a constant call for respect and dialogue. Francis said the first proclamation of the Gospel in the country “took deep root, and through the years it has continued to shed its light upon society, contributing to the development of the nation and shaping its culture.” “Bolivia is making important steps towards including broad sectors in the country's economic, social and political life,” he noted, praising the nation's  constitution for recognizing the rights not only of individuals, but also of minorities and the environment. “The integral advancement of a nation demands an ever greater appreciation of values by individuals and their growing convergence with regard to common ideals to which all can work together, no one being excluded or overlooked,” he said. Pope Francis cautioned that “a growth which is merely material will always run the risk of creating new divisions, of the wealth of some being built on the poverty of others.” He therefore called for both institutional transparency and the promotion of education in order to foster social unity. Evangelization is a theme the Pope said he plans to touch on during the visit, and stressed that Bolivia’s bishops must have a prophetic voice which “speaks to society in the name of the Church, our Mother, from her preferential, evangelical option for the poor.” “We cannot believe in God the Father without seeing a brother or sister in every person, and we cannot follow Jesus without giving our lives for those for whom he died on the cross,” he said. Francis also drew attention to the family and the youth, saying that “in an age when basic values are often neglected or distorted, the family merits special attention on the part of those responsible for the common good, since it is the basic cell of society. Families foster the solid bonds of unity on which human coexistence is based, and, through the bearing and education of children, they ensure the renewal of society.” Referring to young people as “the promise of the future,” the Pope said that helping them to embrace their dreams and lofty ideals is a guarantee for the future of a society. He also emphasized the importance of caring for the elderly, and noted that Bolivia’s constitution already fosters a “culture of remembrance” capable of ensuring them not only quality of life in their final years, but also affection. Pope Francis closed his speech saying that he is happy to be in a country “which calls itself pacifist, a country which promotes both the culture of peace and the right to peace.” Read more

Quito, Ecuador, Jul 8, 2015 / 11:14 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his last encounter during his visit to Ecuador, Pope Francis on Wednesday warned priests and religious against career ambitions that lead to 'spiritual Alzheimer’s.' “When a seminarian or priest thinks too much about his career, he starts to suffer from spiritual Alzheimer's and he loses his memory and forgets where he came from,” the Pope said. “Never forget where you came from; don’t forget your roots.” Wednesday is the final day of Pope Francis' time in Ecuador, which is part of his ongoing July 5-13 visit to the continent of his birth. He will next travel to Bolivia, followed by Paraguay. The Pope spoke off-the-cuff July 8 to a gathering of clergy, men and women religious, and seminarians at the shrine of Our Lady of Quinche, the patroness of Ecuador. The shrine, located fewer than 30 miles northeast of Quito, is home to a statue of Our Lady of the Presentation to which various apparitions and miracles have been attributed. Arriving at the shrine, the pontiff venerated the statue of Our Lady of Quinche, and was greeted by Bishop Celmo Lazzari, Vicar Apostolic of San Miguel de Sucumbios, a missionary to Ecuador from Brazil. He also listened to testimonies from Father Silvino Mina, a representative of the Afro-Ecuadorian culture, and from Sister Marisol Sandoval, an Augustinian. Setting aside his prepared remarks, the Pope then said that he was inspired by the location of the Marian Shrine and wished to speak from the heart. Emphasizing that “everything is a free gift,” he pointed to the example of Mary. “She was never a protagonist. All her life she was a disciple. Mary knew that everything she had was a freely given gift from God,” he said. “And God’s free gift is shown in you, religious men and women, and priests and seminarians.” “We need to go back to that free gift of God,” he continued. “You paid no entry ticket to be who you are or to be where you are in the seminary or in religious life. You did nothing to deserve it.” The Holy Father encouraged the clergy and religious to recognize that everything is a free gift from God and to “give back to the Lord.” He invited them to look at Christ each night before bed and thank him for the free gift of everything in their lives. Even things that may be difficult, such as being sent to a new location as a priest or religious, is part of the freely given gift from God, he said.  “We are the objects of those freely given gifts and we are important only insofar as we never forget that,” he stressed, warning against those who say, “Oh look at this one, look at that one, look at this bishop or that one they’ve made a monsignor.” “If we do that we slowly move further and further away from the example of Mary, the example of the gift.” Pope Francis lamented situations when a priest or religious abandons the use of their native tongue – especially in Ecuador, where there are more than 20 indigenous languages spoken by the nation's diverse cultures. “It's sad when priests or religious forget their local dialect, or don't want to speak them anymore – it means they've forgotten where they came from.” In addition, he exhorted the crowd to remember that “yours is a life of service: God chose you to serve. Service is for others – not for me, my time, my things.” He cautioned against a priest insisting his office close at a given time, or who complains about house blessings because he's tired; or saying there's a soap opera on TV – “I say this to the nuns,” he jested. These examples, he said, “are not service.” “Service means doing what you have to do, even when you're tired. Even when people irritate you … service means dedicating ourselves to others.” “Please, do not ask to be paid for having received grace,” the Pope added. “May our pastoral work be a free gift.” He said a consecrated person who lives out their free gift, who is aware of their memory, can be recognized by their joy. “Joy is a gift of Jesus, which he gives us if we ask for it.” “We have to pray that we never lose our memories, never forget, that we never feel we're more important than others.”   Read more