Vatican City, Oct 2, 2014 / 07:37 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his homily for the Feast of Holy Guardian Angels, Pope Francis told those gathered for daily Mass to be like children who pay attention to their “traveling companion.” The doctrine of the angels, the Holy Father stressed, is not imaginary, but “reality.” Citing what Jesus has said, “I send an angel before you to protect you, to accompany you along the path, so that you do not make mistakes!” According to the tradition of the Church, each of us has a guardian angel who protects us and helps make us aware of things, the Pope said at the Santa Marta residence Oct. 2. Often times, we have the feeling that “I should do this, this is not right, be careful.” This, he said, “is the voice of” our guardian angel: our “traveling companion.” Our guardian angel will “carry us” throughout our entire life. For this reason, he said we should “listen to his voice, don't rebel against it.” We all have this tendency toward rebellion and the will for independence, the Holy Father continued. “It is pride,” the same which “our father Adam had in the earthly Paradise.” “Do not rebel: follow his advice.” “No one walks alone and none of us can think that he is alone,” because “this companion” is always with us. Not listening to our guardian angel's advice, the Pope said, is like telling him to go away. “It is dangerous to chase away our traveling companion,” he said, “because no man, no woman can advise themselves. I can give advise to another, but I cannot give advise to my self.” “The Holy Spirit  advises me, the angel who advises me. This is why we need him.” Turning to the readings of the day, Pope Francis noted how there are two images which are presented: the angel and the child. God has given us angels to protect us, the Pope said. “If one of us were to believe he could walk along, he would make many mistakes,” the Pope said. Such a person would succumb to “that most ugly mistake which is pride,” into the belief in one's own greatness, and “self-sufficiency”. Recalling the Gospel scene in which “the disciples argued over who among them was the greatest,” the Pope describe this “internal dispute,” as “careerism.” These first bishops, he said, were tempted toward careerism. Their behavior set a bad example, “but it is the reality.” In contrast to the “careerist” mentality, Jesus teaches the disciples to have the attitude of children: “the docility, the need for guidance, the need for help.” The child is the symbol of docility and helplessness, he said, adding that this is way forward – not the question of “who is greater.”  Those whose attitude is more like that of a child are “closer to contemplation of the Father.” Concluding his homily, Pope Francis put forward the following question: “How is my relationship with my guardian angel? Do I listen to him? Do I wish him good morning? Do I say: 'protect me during sleep'? Do I speak with him? Do I ask his advice? He is at my side.” “We can respond to this question today, each and everyone of us: “How is my relationship with this angel who the Lord has sent to protect and accompany me along the way, and who always sees the face of the Father who is in the heavens?” Read more

Vatican City, Oct 2, 2014 / 04:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a private audience between Pope Francis and the survivors and family members of the 368 migrants who perished in a tragic shipwreck last fall, the pontiff asked the world to be open to those who suffer. “I feel things that I can't tell you because I can't find the words to say them,” the Pope said during the Oct. 1 encounter. “All that you have suffered should be contemplated in silence, crying and looking for a way to be close to you.” “Sometimes when it seems you have arrived at the port, there are very difficult things to face. You find closed doors and you do not know where to go,” he continued. However “there are many people who have an open heart for you,” and “the door of the heart is the most important in these moments.” “I ask all men and women of Europe to open the doors of the heart! I want to say that I am close to you, I pray for you (and) I pray for closed doors because they open!” The audience, which took place in a small hall adjacent to the large chamber of the Paul VI Hall, commemorated an Oct. 3 shipwreck off the coast of Lampedusa last year that killed 368 migrants, most of whom hailed from Eritrea – a small country in the Horn of Africa. During the encounter, the 37 participants, including more than 20 of the 155 survivors, presented the Pope with a letter asking him to do all that he can to support migrants fleeing their homeland in search of a better life. Also included in the letter was a plea for the Roman Pontiff to intercede in helping to obtain from the Italian government the ability to identify the remains of their loved ones, some of whom have not yet been recognized. The Eritrean spokesman for the delegation, who identified himself as Adal, lost his younger brother Abraham in the incident, and was the only one to address to the Pope during the encounter, which lasted roughly 30 minutes. “I told the Pope about Joni and we asked the Pope if he can help us to identify our beloved ones,” he told CNA Oct. 1 after the audience. “He promised that he can do everything he can to help us.” Accompanied by his sister, Adal referred to how Pope Francis has often spoken about the plight of migrants and refugees, and how he even visited the island of Lampedusa himself after a shipwreck last spring. “He has sent messages to refugees who come and to the rest of the world to treat people with humanity and with fraternity,” he said. “What else would you like him to do in addition to what he is doing now?” Adal, who wore around his neck the rosary that Pope Francis had given to each of the participants, was able to identify the remains of his brother last year because of a bible found in a pocket on the corpse’s clothing, although he said he still wasn’t one hundred percent sure due to the poor state the body was in. Those who haven’t yet been able to identify the remains of their loved ones were given a form to fill out by Italian officials, who will go on to search the remaining bodies in search of the ones that fit each description most accurately. Before greeting each of the participants personally, Pope Francis was presented by the delegation with an iron sculpture depicting a bottle floating in the sea, in which a family is enclosed, the image of which is depicted on the t-shirts they wore. A legal bill has also been presented in the last few days asking to officially mark Oct. 3 as the “Day in memory of the victims of the Sea.” Read more

Vatican City, Oct 2, 2014 / 02:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Secretariat for the Economy is developing a financial management manual which is to be the basis of budgeting and accounting operations in 2015 for Vatican agencies. “To support the new budgeting and financial management practices being developed under the supervision of the Council, the Secretariat is preparing a manual of key financial management policies,” read a Sept. 26 internal bulletin from the economy secretariat. “The manual will help all areas meet the Council’s requirement for compliance with inter-national standards.” The Secretariat for the Economy, as well as the Council for the Economy, were established Feb. 24 by the motu proprio Fidelis dispensator et prudens. The council has oversight over the Vatican's and Holy See's administrative and financial structures and activities, and is composed of eight cardinals and seven lay financial experts. The secretariat is charged with executing and keeping vigilance over the council's directives. In the July 8 motu proprio Confermando una tradizione, Pope Francis transferred the competencies of the ordinary section of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See to the Secretariat for the Economy. The prefect of the economy secretariat is Cardinal George Pell, an Australian. His office is directed by Danny Casey, his trusted advisor when he was Archbishop of Sydney. Casey's office assist's the prefect and oversees the hiring of staff. The secretariat's two operative sections are those of control and vigilance, and administration. The section of control and vigilance is headed by Msgr. Alfred Xuereb, formerly Pope Francis' personal secretary, and is in charge of implementing policies for economic management. The administrative section is headed by Msgr. Luigi Misto, and is tasked with managing real estate portfolios and implementing procurement systems and people management systems; it is principally composed of the staff of the former ordinary section of APSA. The financial management manual being drafted “will help all areas meet the Council’s requirement for compliance with inter-national standards,” the secretariat said. While working on drafting its statutes, the new Vatican financial body thus identifies its tools for financial management. With the transfer of APSA's ordinary section to the Secretariat for the Economy, APSA's remaining extraordinary section will become more akin to a central bank, and will be re-established as a “Central Treasury.” The Central Treasury  will be responsible for maintaining relationships other central banks, in order to – a July 9 Holy See press office bulletin reads – “continue guaranteeing the Holy See’s liquidity and financial stability.” The offices of the Secretariat for the Economy are currently housed in the Vatican's St. John Tower, but the dicastery is in the process of relocating “to improve access and communication.” Read more

Vatican City, Oct 1, 2014 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Having met for the first time last week, the committee to reform the Vatican's media and communications will continue to formulate its proposals, being able to present them by Easter of 2015. In an interview granted to Vatican Radio Sept. 24, Chris Patten, who chairs the committee, emphasized that the Church’s resources must be “spent as effectively as possible” to communicate its unique message of “healing, love, hope and generosity of spirit.” Patten's words thus disclose that the committee's first goal is to rationalize the expenses of the Vatican's media. The committee was established in July, and met Sept. 22-24. It will again meet in November and December, making an in-depth analysis of the state and structure of Vatican media. In addition to L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's media branches include Vatican Radio, CTV, the Holy See press office, the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, as well as its internet presence. It includes five media experts from Europe, the U.S., Latin America, and Asia, and six representatives of Vatican offices, including the “Office for Information” of the Secretariat of State. During their first meeting, the committee started the analysis of functioning, expenses, and duties of Vatican media, and the first presentation was reportedly made by Fr. Giuseppe Costa, director of Libreria Editrice Vaticana. The committee will hear other top managers of the Vatican's media branches in its following meetings. Vatican media are living a moment of transition, given the Vatican reform of economy issued July 7, and with a wider reform of the Roman curia in the offing. As part of the economic reform, the Holy See press office is now under the “umbrella” of the Secretariat for the Economy regarding expenses and investments, as well as being under the Secretariat of State. The Secretariat of State is also a head over Vatican Radio, CTV, and L'Osservatore Romano. The reform of the Roman curia and of Vatican finances will both push forward the reform of Vatican media. According to a source inside the Vatican, the current reform “should be one of having a unique platform providing content to be delivered to the various Vatican media, which would be under the umbrella of this platform.” In his interview with Vatican Radio, Patten stressed that some Vatican budgets are “a little more opaque than one might like,” but he insisted the reform's main goal is to listen to peoples’ concerns and to ensure that the different parts of the Vatican's media work more closely and efficiently together. The committee will also discuss how to improve the digital agenda of Vatican media, since – as Patten put it – “the media finds itself having to run constantly to keep up with changing technology. One is aware of the extent to which the young receive information in a different way from that in which I’ve received it traditionally.” Read more