{"id":19036,"date":"2017-04-01T01:27:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-01T01:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/be-the-soul-of-the-us-popes-representative-tells-catholics-70464\/"},"modified":"2017-04-01T01:27:00","modified_gmt":"2017-04-01T01:27:00","slug":"be-the-soul-of-the-us-popes-representative-tells-catholics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/be-the-soul-of-the-us-popes-representative-tells-catholics\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Be the soul’ of the US, Pope’s representative tells Catholics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Washington D.C., Mar 31, 2017 \/ 07:27 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Pope Francis\u2019 representative to the U.S. said that Catholics must be \u201cbe the soul of this country\u201d in a panel discussion this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe as Catholics \u2013 as Christians, and we are in the majority of this country \u2013 we should be the soul of this country,\u201d Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, insisted at a panel discussion at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what the Pope says,\u201d he continued, adding later that \u201cthe Church is, again, the soul of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nuncio spoke at a Monday panel discussion on Pope Francis\u2019 influence four years into his pontificate. John Carr, director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown, moderated the discussion and began with a one-on-one conversation with the nuncio.<\/p>\n

Later, other panel members joined \u2013 Kim Daniels, a member of the Vatican\u2019s Secretariat for Communications and a founder of Catholic Voices USA; Ken Hackett, former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See from 2013-17; and Maria Teresa Gaston, managing director of the Foundations of Christian Leadership Program at Duke Divinity School.<\/p>\n

The conversation ranged from Pope Francis\u2019 priorities for the Church to current affairs, including a tumultuous 2016 presidential election that ended in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think pro-life issues are central to our politics, and they should be, care for the voiceless and vulnerable, and particularly the unborn,\u201d Kim Daniels commented on the recent election, which she said exposed a \u201ccrisis of solidarity\u201d in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Catholics in general were looking for solidarity,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I think that it\u2019s a misplaced understanding of solidarity to say that it is \u2018us against them\u2019,\u201d she added. \u201cI think the Catholic understanding of solidarity is one that includes everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked what the Pope\u2019s priorities are, Archbishop Pierre replied that it is \u201cfirst of all, the Gospel\u201d and \u201cto announce the Gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, \u201cif you want to be coherent with the Gospel,\u201d he added, \u201cyou need to give priority to the poor, you need to respect life, life in all its dimensions.\u201d<\/p>\n

He quoted from Pope Francis\u2019 address to the U.S. bishops during his 2015 visit to the U.S., where the Pope insisted:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe innocent victim of abortion, children who die of hunger or from bombings, immigrants who drown in the search for a better tomorrow, the elderly or the sick who are considered a burden, the victims of terrorism, wars, violence and drug trafficking, the environment devastated by man\u2019s predatory relationship with nature \u2013 at stake in all of this is the gift of God, of which we are noble stewards but not masters. It is wrong, then, to look the other way or to remain silent.\u201d<\/p>\n

And to truly respect life \u2013 as \u201cthe social doctrine of the Church\u201d teaches \u201cthat the human person is at the center\u201d of society \u2013 the family must be included in any discussion of the human person, the nuncio added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we speak of the human person, we cannot avoid speaking about the family. There is no human person without the family. If you separate the family, you destroy the person,\u201d he said, responding to a reference made by moderator John Carr about the separation of immigrant families through deportation.<\/p>\n

True evangelization, however, must begin with receiving the Sacrament of Confession, the nuncio insisted.<\/p>\n

The Pope has emphasized that \u201cthe people need to be reached in their misery,\u201d and \u201cin their brokenness, in their sinfulness so that they may be evangelized,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cevangelization is forgiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was part of the impetus behind the Holy Father\u2019s proclamation of a Jubilee Year of Mercy from December 2015 to November 2016, Archbishop Pierre continued.<\/p>\n

People have been warning of a \u201chuge crisis of the Sacrament of Reconciliation\u201d in recent decades, he said, yet \u201csuddenly, it seems that a lot of people are rediscovering\u201d it, \u201cwhich is absolutely necessary\u201d for discipleship.<\/p>\n

One of the challenges to evangelization is \u201cpolarization\u201d in the world, noted Daniels, and Catholics must look to establish true unity with each other in order to evangelize today, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur first step should be realizing that we can\u2019t sow this kind of division,\u201d she said. Catholics should \u201cfocus on the things we share, and that\u2019s serving the voiceless and vulnerable, it\u2019s resisting the throwaway culture, it\u2019s respecting the family and the good that it does in society.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s when we start looking at what we share, looking at what makes us distinctive as Catholics \u2013 the sacraments, our parish life, our life in community \u2013 and drawing on those resources to build unity,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

Archbishop Pierre suggested that one model for evangelization is Fr. Jacques Hamel, a French priest executed by ISIS terrorists last July at his morning Mass at a Normandy parish.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt touched me, because he\u2019s a priest, he\u2019s the type of priest I\u2019ve known,\u201d said the nuncio, who is originally from France.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a man who\u2019s a victim of the time, but also he\u2019s a martyr,\u201d he continued. \u201cI come from Mexico, I have seen the church of martyrs through these years of persecution. It\u2019s the making of the Church.\u201d Archbishop Pierre was formerly the papal nuncio to Mexico before his move to the U.S. in 2016.<\/p>\n

In October, Pope Francis approved the opening of Fr. Hamel\u2019s cause for beatification by the diocese of Rouen, France.<\/p>\n

Fr. Hamel \u201cgave his life\u201d under ordinary circumstances, at a daily Mass amidst a small congregation, the nuncio said. He was faithful to his calling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see that person as really the sign of God for today,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd his death had a huge impact on the whole society.\u201d
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington D.C., Mar 31, 2017 \/ 07:27 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Francis’ representative to the U.S. said that Catholics must be “be the soul of this country” in a panel discussion this week.<\/p>\n

“We as Catholics – as Christia…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\n'Be the soul' of the US, Pope's representative tells Catholics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Mar 31, 2017 \/ 07:27 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Francis’ representative to the U.S. said that Catholics must be “be the soul of this country” in a panel discussion this week. “We as Catholics – as Christia...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/be-the-soul-of-the-us-popes-representative-tells-catholics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Be the soul' of the US, Pope's representative tells Catholics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Mar 31, 2017 \/ 07:27 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Francis’ representative to the U.S. said that Catholics must be “be the soul of this country” in a panel discussion this week. “We as Catholics – as Christia...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/be-the-soul-of-the-us-popes-representative-tells-catholics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-01T01:27:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/shutterstock_417704272.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/be-the-soul-of-the-us-popes-representative-tells-catholics\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/be-the-soul-of-the-us-popes-representative-tells-catholics\/\",\"name\":\"'Be the soul' of the US, Pope's representative tells Catholics\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-01T01:27:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-01T01:27:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Washington D.C., Mar 31, 2017 \/ 07:27 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Francis’ representative to the U.S. said that Catholics must be “be the soul of this country” in a panel discussion this week. “We as Catholics – as Christia...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/be-the-soul-of-the-us-popes-representative-tells-catholics\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/be-the-soul-of-the-us-popes-representative-tells-catholics\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/be-the-soul-of-the-us-popes-representative-tells-catholics\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"‘Be the soul’ of the US, Pope’s representative tells Catholics\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"'Be the soul' of the US, Pope's representative tells Catholics","description":"Washington D.C., Mar 31, 2017 \/ 07:27 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Francis’ representative to the U.S. said that Catholics must be “be the soul of this country” in a panel discussion this week. “We as Catholics – as Christia...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/be-the-soul-of-the-us-popes-representative-tells-catholics\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"'Be the soul' of the US, Pope's representative tells Catholics","og_description":"Washington D.C., Mar 31, 2017 \/ 07:27 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Francis’ representative to the U.S. said that Catholics must be “be the soul of this country” in a panel discussion this week. “We as Catholics – as Christia...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/be-the-soul-of-the-us-popes-representative-tells-catholics\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2017-04-01T01:27:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/shutterstock_417704272.jpg"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/be-the-soul-of-the-us-popes-representative-tells-catholics\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/be-the-soul-of-the-us-popes-representative-tells-catholics\/","name":"'Be the soul' of the US, Pope's representative tells Catholics","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-04-01T01:27:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-04-01T01:27:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Washington D.C., Mar 31, 2017 \/ 07:27 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Francis’ representative to the U.S. said that Catholics must be “be the soul of this country” in a panel discussion this week. “We as Catholics – as Christia...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/be-the-soul-of-the-us-popes-representative-tells-catholics\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/be-the-soul-of-the-us-popes-representative-tells-catholics\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/be-the-soul-of-the-us-popes-representative-tells-catholics\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"‘Be the soul’ of the US, Pope’s representative tells Catholics"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19036\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}