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The World Seen From Rome
Daily dispatch - November 28, 2008
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VATICAN DOSSIER Plácido Domingo Puts John Paul II Poetry to Music WORLD FEATURES Irish Bishops Unite Against Civil Partnership Bill Holy See Warns of Financial Crisis Worsening Migrants Are a Hidden Treasure, Bishops Affirm Holy See: Human Needs Lost in Fight Against Hunger Interreligious Dialogue Seen as Risk and Grace NEWS BRIEFS New Archbishop and Auxiliary for Africa INTERVIEW Cubans Recognize a Hero of Charity (Part 2) DOCUMENTS AT ZENIT WEB PAGE Conclusions of African-European Migration Meeting DOCUMENTS Holy See on Food Insecurity CLASSIFIED ADSDvd: "John Paul Ii - The Pope Who Made History"
VATICAN DOSSIER
Plácido Domingo Puts John Paul II Poetry to Music
Tenor Presents "Amore Infinito"
By Carmen Elena Villa
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 28, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Pope John Paul II's poetry is "incredible, profound and complex," according to the well-known tenor who has put the texts to song on a CD that was released in Italy today.
Plácido Domingo joined with Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, to present his latest recording, "Amore Infinito" (Infinite Love), during a press conference in the Vatican press office today.
The CD includes duets with Andrea Bocelli, Vanessa Williams and Katherine Jenkins and an international version will be released in January.
"This unique initiative brings together two art forms, poetry and music which, brilliantly combined, have produced an album," Bishop Crepaldi said.
"Listening to these songs, so magnificently interpreted by Placido Domingo and the London Symphony Orchestra, brings back the memory of John Paul II and of an entire life, frequently marked by dramatic episodes, lived with a passion for God and for man. What is the secret of this 'Wojtylian' poetic, which he translated into so many poetical texts?" asked the bishop. "For John Paul II everything begins with God's 'yes' to man, everything arises from God's plan of 'infinite love.' God's 'yes' to man means 'yes' to his dignity, to his authentic needs. It means 'yes' to the world [...] and to everything that is beautiful, good and just in life."
The texts of Domingo's songs "cover many subjects: family affections, work, war, homeland, etc, but all of them," the prelate affirmed, "are inspired by God's 'yes' to man, by the infinite love of God."
Artistic project
Domingo explained that the idea for the album arose from his last encounter with the Polish Pontiff. He recalled how he offered a concert for peace in Italy in 2003, in which he sang a prayer for peace written by the Holy Father.
"It was the last time I saw John Paul II," the tenor said. "I told him, 'I would like to sing your poems.' And he answered me, 'why not?'"
The singer explained that as he selected the poems, though most of them regard spiritual themes, he was drawn to those on topics such as liberty, love and family.
Thus, he said, something that began as a "more spiritual project later became a more artistic project."
Domingo contended that though there is no need to spread the fame of John Paul II, there was a need to make known "this truly important part of his life."
The tenor recalled that he had the chance to be close to the Pope at various times in his life.
"I carry in my heart the moment I saw him with the children in Mexico, when he was in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe," he said. "To see how he welcomed them -- he looked like an angel -- with enormous tenderness and patience, speaking in Spanish, singing with them ... this has certainly touched me."
Domingo plans to promote the CD with 10 international concerts.
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WORLD FEATURES
Irish Bishops Unite Against Civil Partnership Bill
Archbishop Laments "Contrived Polemic" in Press
By Genevieve Pollock
DUBLIN, Ireland, NOV. 28, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Faced to a misleading report in the Irish media, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin affirmed his unity with other bishops in upholding Church teaching on the issue of civil unions.
The archbishop of Dublin said this in response to an article published Wednesday by the Irish Times, titled "Bishops differ over emphasis on civil unions." The article featured quotes from a press conference with the prelate on the forthcoming Civil Partnership Bill, that could give cohabiting same-sex or opposite-sex couples in Ireland almost all of the legal benefits of marriage.
In a letter that appeared in the same newspaper today, the archbishop wrote, "I have received a number of calls from people who feel that my remarks [...] seem to indicate that I do not accept Catholic teaching on marriage."
He continued, "It is possible that the manner in which my different remarks appeared may have given rise to false interpretation. While saying that I might have addressed the theme differently, I did clearly say that I was supportive of the basic content of Cardinal [Sean] Brady's position on the bill and of his comments at the recent Ceifin conference."
In this conference, Cardinal Brady, archbishop of Armagh, called on the government to uphold the Constitution by guarding the institution of marriage, and pointed out the need for children to be raised within stable marriages.
The Irish Times quoted Archbishop Martin as asserting that the Catholic Church favors marriage, but is not against other forms of intimacy.
He clarified today: "While stressing, as I have consistently done, the Christian teaching on the mutuality of the sexes as fundamental to the understanding of marriage, I am fully aware of the need to protect the rights of a variety of people in caring and dependent relationships, different to marriage.
"Unfortunately, some members of the public and some public commentators seize on such comments and concern as an opportunity to say that I advocate positions in conflict with Catholic teaching.
"For my part, I regret if my comments may have appeared unclear. On the other hand, the contrived polemic of such commentators does little to promote marriage and its value to society."
Episcopal conference
The prelate echoed themes from the Irish bishops' conference, which has discussed the civil partnership bill in its last two meetings. According to a press release last September, the conference stated: "As a faithful, exclusive and lifelong union between one man and one woman, marriage is both a relationship of persons and the fundamental unit upon which society is built."
It continued by referencing the bishops' 2005 statement to the government's committee on the family: "It may, in certain circumstances, be in the public interest to provide legal protection to the social, fiscal and inheritance entitlements of persons who support caring relationships which generate dependency, provided always that these relationships are recognized as being qualitatively different from marriage and that their acceptance does not dilute the uniqueness of marriage.
"However, it would seem discriminatory to confine this protection to those in sexual relationships and thereby exclude from protection the interests of siblings and other non-sexually involved cohabitees."
They pointed out that creating an additional category of "marriage like" relationships with the same rights and protections therein would contradict the Irish Constitution's pledge to "guard with special care the institution of marriage."
The official statement of the bishops regarding the bill is forthcoming as they examine its implications for society. However, they have not held back their continued defense of marriage as the Church understands it.
Archbishop Martin reiterated this in his letter to the press: "Above all my remarks wished to stress that the Christian teaching on marriage, rather than starting out from negative criticisms, is a positive endorsement of the unique and irreplaceable contribution to society made by the family based on marriage, that is, on the mutual and exclusive love of husband and wife."
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Holy See Warns of Financial Crisis Worsening
Says Human Person Needs to Be at Center of Solution
NEW YORK, NOV. 28, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- The worldwide financial crisis will become a catastrophe if the dignity of the human person is not protected, the Holy See is cautioning.
This is the warning sounded by Archbishop Celestino Migliore, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, a day before the Doha conference on progress in international cooperation in development.
The conference begins Saturday and runs through Dec. 2.
"For some time now, we've found ourselves in the middle of a financial crisis that could become a catastrophe if it is allowed to affect other crises: economy, food, energy," the archbishop told Vatican Radio. "It seems that a decided return of the public sector to financial markets is necessary. It is necessary to increase coordination and unity in the search for solutions.
"It is necessary to recover some basic dimensions of finances, that is, the primacy of labor over capital, of human relationships over mere financial transactions, of ethics over the sole criterion of efficacy."
The Holy See representative recalled that "experts tell us that in this situation it would be highly counterproductive to raise up new barriers, as much for the interchange of goods and services, as for investments. Every protectionist measure of this kind could increase the tension of the current economic situation."
Above all, Archbishop Migliore affirmed, "criteria more in line with the human person" need to be adopted.
That is why, he concluded, the problem is ethical: "There were already many rules and ethical codes before the crisis; the problem is that great impunity was given to those who didn't respect them.
"It is also a problem of leadership, of governments' moral authority at all levels, which have the primary responsibility of protecting citizens, above all workers, those who save, normal people who do not have the possibilities of following the complicated financial engineering and who have to be defended against the tricks and abuse of the smart alecks."
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Migrants Are a Hidden Treasure, Bishops Affirm
Note Their Creativity and Culture
LIVERPOOL, England, NOV. 28, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- Not only are migrants children of God and heirs to his Kingdom, they are also a wealth of culture, intelligence and creativity, bishops from Europe and Africa are affirming.
This was one of the concluding affirmations from a conference sponsored by the Council of European Episcopal Conferences and the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar. The Nov. 19-23 event focused on "The Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees and Foreign Students."
"[W]e would like to affirm that the stranger is not to be seen as a threat or a problem, but rather to be seen, through the lens of the Holy Scriptures and the teachings of the Church, as the migrant or refugee who should be welcomed first and foremost as a child of God. [...] Secondly, the migrant is also saved by the blood of the savior Jesus Christ, and therefore is heir to the Kingdom of God," the bishops stated.
But migrants' value are not just spiritual, they continued: "We also are convinced that the migrant is indeed an occasion of grace from God and he [or] she brings with him [or] herself a new wealth of culture, spirituality, intellect and intelligence, creativity and still more of humanity."
Based on this assumption, the European and African bishops called on episcopal conferences of their two continents "to put in place, where they are absent, appropriate institutions for the study of migrants, and especially for welcoming them and providing pastoral care for them."
In this regard, the congress conclusions called for regional bishops' conferences, and skilled pastoral agents to minister to migrants, "with special attention to women, children and students who are most easily exploited by unscrupulous persons and cartels, which render them victims of immoral practices, drug pushers and crime rings."
Particular obligation
The two episcopal conferences affirmed that prelates have a special role to play in defending migrants. But they also encouraged laity to "be the salt of the earth" in this realm.
The bishops also reflected on the mutual benefits of migration gained by their two continents.
"We are indeed grateful to the Church in Africa for making available missionary priests and religious who are serving as pastors and pastoral agents in parishes and institutions in Europe, thus returning something of the gifts that Africa received from the Church and missionaries of Europe in centuries gone by," the final message stated. "We also thank God for the rich liturgical celebrations and pastoral vitality that Europe is experiencing of late, thanks to the presence of migrants from Africa who are of the Catholic faith.
"The Church in Africa is also most grateful for the many gifts she receives through fraternal sharing and exchanges that arise from the presence of our African brothers and sisters who are migrants in Europe today and are receiving great pastoral care and concern."
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On the Net:
Final message: http://www.zenit.org/article-24396?l=english
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Holy See: Human Needs Lost in Fight Against Hunger
Emphasizes Importance of Agriculture in Development
ROME, NOV. 28, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- In the fight against hunger, human needs are not always ranked first, and the results are negative, says a Holy See representative.
Monsignor Renato Volante, permanent observer of the Holy See at the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), affirmed this at the group's 35th special session, held last week.
The priest affirmed that the address from his delegation "does not want to offer technical solutions, but rather to suggest an ideal orientation which may help in making concrete choices, focusing on the needs of each human person, especially when they are limited by conditions of life which compromise a dignified human life."
The FAO, he noted, is more and more called on to respond to the needs of states that have a growing lack of food.
These needs, the monsignor said, "are determined by a more general economically unfavorable situation, by natural conditions, but also by human interventions which often pursue partial interests or even show signs of indifference toward the fight against malnutrition."
Nevertheless, Monsignor Volante continued, the FAO faces more than just this problem.
He said that it is clear that "there are 'new' situations involving the agricultural sector. [...]. Among these, as underlined by the recent food crisis, the judgment about the central role of agriculture seems to stand out with a particular emphasis in the wider reality of economic activity and its important contribution to a realistic, sustainable development."
To make the FAO more effective, the monsignor contended, "it is necessary to recognize that fighting against hunger is conditioned by multiple factors and by the motives inspiring it. But too often strategies are adopted which pursue particular goals rather then a holistic vision which ranks the human needs first. Such an attitude produces negative effects in the rural sector, especially where poverty, underdevelopment, malnutrition and environmental degradation are more evident."
Thus, he said, the Holy See is "firmly convinced that the FAO structure and its activities must underline the essential importance of agriculture in the development processes, not promoting the mere management but those far-sighted management criteria and interventions which will really respond to the needs."
In the future
Monsignor Volante suggested that the future of the "rural world" will contain two main aspects: "First, the protection of the different agricultural ecosystems which are conditioned by climatic change causing floods or desertification even in areas that had never known such phenomena before.
"Second, the growing role of new processing techniques and the support that they receive both in their production process and in the food trade and use."
These situations are well-understood, the Holy See representative contended, and remedies for problems are known, but "the rush toward more immediate objectives causes a postponement of their feasibility, which should start from those possible and urgent recovering interventions in consumption standards and in the respect for creation."
A reform of the FAO "does not mean to be closed to new and perhaps better results made possible by scientific and technological research and new production systems," he clarified, "but what it does propose is an ordered balance between those systems and a proper prevention of the risks for people and the ecosystems."
"This means that an ordered research aimed at improving agricultural production so as to meet the growing food demand, must not forget the reasons of food security which is the consumers' health, nor crop sustainability, i.e. the environmental protection," he said.
Monsignor Volante concluded by urging the FAO to "further effort to cope with problems by paying proper attention to the needs of the least, in our case of those who suffer from hunger and malnutrition and more generally those who draw their living, employment and income from rural work."
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On the Net:
Complete address: http://www.zenit.org/article-24395?l=english
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Interreligious Dialogue Seen as Risk and Grace
And It's Definitely a Necessity, Says Cardinal Tauran
NAPLES, Italy, NOV. 28, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- There can be risks with interreligious dialogue, but this interchange also helps believers to grow and give witness to their faith, says the Vatican official who oversees dialogue between religions.
Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, spoke of the benefits and the necessity of dialogue at the opening of the academic year of the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy, reported L'Osservatore Romano today.
"Falling into syncretism" is the risk the cardinal warned against, though he said this danger is relative if believers use their reason to go deeper in their faith and can thus defend it. In that case, the risk becomes a grace, because "it puts believers in a permanent state of spiritual vigilance and obliges them to be consistent and to witness."
The Vatican official acknowledged that interreligious dialogue can be particularly challenging for Christians because "it presents the problem of how to reconcile our faith in Christ as sole mediator with appreciation for the positive values we find in other religions."
In this regard, the cardinal referred to "Nostra Aetate" from the Second Vatican Council, and explained that in every human being "the light of Christ exists and, consequently, all that exists that is positive in religions is not darkness" but "participates in the great light that shines above all lights."
Cardinal Tauran went on to consider four aspects in interreligious dialogue, which he described as not a dialogue between religions, but "between religious persons."
He noted the dialogue of life, by which believers share joys and trials; the dialogue of works, by which they collaborate in the wellbeing of all; theological dialogue, when an exchange is possible between religious heritages; and spiritual dialogue, which puts at the other's disposition one's own life of prayer.
In sum, the cardinal explained that dialogue "is the quest for understanding between two individuals, with the help of reason, in face of a common interpretation of their agreement or disagreement."
"It is not a question of being agreeable to please the other, or of a diplomatic negotiation, but, without giving up one's own faith, of allowing oneself to be questioned by the other's convictions. Obviously, it is not about pursuing a universal religion, or a lowest common denominator between all religions," he stressed. "It is about recognizing that God is present and operates in the soul of those who earnestly seek him."
Modern demand
Cardinal Tauran contended that the need for dialogue stems from the "multi-religious and multi-ethnic present-day reality," rather than from the famous theory of historian Samuel Huntington about a clash of civilizations.
"There is no religiously pure civilization, but complex civilizations that are transformed through a permanent process of interaction," he explained. Moreover, "God has returned to our societies. There has never been as much talk about religion as now."
In this connection, the cardinal made his own the affirmation of French president Nicolas Sarkozy -- that 21st-century society is marked by two preoccupations: the environment and religion.
And Cardinal Tauran acknowledged that the need for interreligious dialogue has been forwarded by Islam.
"Muslims in Europe, where they have become a significant minority, have requested space for God in society," he explained.
Dialogue is also necessary today, the Vatican official continued, because religions are now sometimes "perceived as a danger."
"Religions are capable of the best and the worst," he acknowledged. "They can be at the service of a plan of holiness or alienation. They can preach peace or war. Hence the need to reconcile faith and reason, since to go against reason, in fact, is to go against God."
Moreover, dialogue can be of "great service to society" as "believers are also called to contribute to the common good, to genuine solidarity, to the overcoming of crises and to intercultural dialogue," he affirmed.
Authorities, Cardinal Tauran concluded, should "favor dialogue between religions," and take from them the values "useful for contributing to the common good of citizens," so that people "are not slaves of fashions, consumerism and profit."
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NEWS BRIEFS
New Archbishop and Auxiliary for Africa
KISANGANI, Congo, NOV. 28, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI continues to fill episcopal sees in Africa, just before his March visit to the continent and the synod on Africa.
Archbishop Marcel Utembi Tapa, 49, until now the bishop of Mahagi-Nioka, Congo, was appointed the archbishop of Kisangani.
Marcel Utembi Tapa was born in Luma, Congo, in 1959 and ordained a priest in 1984. He was made a bishop in 2002.
The Archdiocese of Kisangani, in north central Congo, has some 575,000 Catholics, served by 91 priests and 193 religious.
Father William Avenya, 53, of the clergy of Makurdi, Nigeria, was named an auxiliary bishop for that diocese, where he will assist Bishop Athanasius Atule Usuh.
William Avenya was born in Ishangev Tiev, Nigeria, in 1955 and ordained a priest in 1981.
The Diocese of Makurdi has about 1.5 million Catholics, served by 157 priests and 163 religious.
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INTERVIEW
Cubans Recognize a Hero of Charity (Part 2)
Friar Is 1st to Be Beatified on Caribbean Island
By Dominik Hartig
HAVANA, Cuba, NOV. 28, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The people of Cuba will witness Saturday the first beatification ceremony performed on the island, as Friar José Olallo Valdés is raised to the altar.
Called a "hero of charity," the religious of the Hospitaller Order of the Brothers of St. John of God is the second Cuban to be beatified.
ZENIT interviewed Father Félix Lizaso, of that same order, the postulator for the beatification cause, to learn about the spiritual legacy of Brother Valdés.
Part 1 of this interview appeared Thursday.
Q: What is Friar Valdés' secret in becoming "blessed"?
Father Lizaso: There is no actual secret about the fact that a Servant of God would be named "blessed" or a saint. We might say that the secret is his recognized sainthood; in other words, that the Church approved his saintly life with the proof of a miracle.
In the case of the new blessed, Olallo Valdés, the Church has already recognized his worthy and exemplary life, wholly devoted to welcoming and assisting the poor, the sick and the abandoned.
Blessed Olallo was such a perfect follower of St. John of God, his founder, that, like him, Olallo was known as a "hero of charity," "apostle of charity" and "father of the poor," among other names.
Q: For a beatification, a miracle needs to have occurred. What was it in this case?
Father Lizaso: Upon Brother Olallo's death, the whole town poured into the streets and began showing their veneration with extraordinary manifestations of sorrow and prayer. They participated in his funeral and burial, and they continued visiting his tomb afterward.
From a spirit of commemoration and grateful admiration, his devotees began a moving veneration: They visited him, prayed to him, took him flowers, requested his assistance and intercession, and experienced his protection and patronage, while, in turn, they expressed the graces and favors received.
The memory and admiration became veneration and intercession, a clear sign of his renown for sainthood, and kept up for one hundred years, subsequently claimed and declared by a number of witnesses at the court of his process of sainthood.
When the process and examination of his sainthood began, this veneration increased even more. During the postulation, letters were frequently received reporting new graces and favors received through the intercession of Father Olallo.
Among the various cases reported, one was chosen for its peculiarity: that of the healing of a three-year-old girl, Danielita Cabrera Ramos, from the town of Camaguey itself. She suffered from a disease catalogued and diagnosed as "non-Hodgkin's, probably Burkitt's lymphoma, in stage three to four, with vast abdominal diffusion, complicated by acute kidney insufficiency and early relapse."
Her immediate and perfect cure occurred on the evening of Saturday, Sep. 18, 1999. This can be attributed to continuous community prayer on the part of an entire parish, in addition to other groups and neighbors of the family. These people, brought together and encouraged by the example of faith and confidence in the Servant of God, Olallo, shown by Danielita's parents, admitted that the more serious the disease became, the more they turned to prayer.
Q: The new blessed lived at a time which was in no way easy for the religious. Can you describe some of the challenges of those days and how Friar José Olallo and his order reacted?
Father Lizaso: Indeed, the days in which Blessed Olallo lived, in the 19th century, were really not easy. The island of Cuba, like most countries in Latin America, was building its identity, seeking independence, and in the process of social and political development. These were days of poverty, lack of hygiene, serious epidemics, times of slavery, when the strongest prevailed, etc.
Brother Olallo worked for 54 years in a hospital for the poor and elderly, with a shortage of means, hunger, war, epidemics, slavery, political and social rivalry, in a long-lasting and sustained commitment toward this environment and its needs.
One author writes: "During the turbulent period of strife that came about as human passions combated unleashed, he was perhaps the only person who, removed from the turmoil, did not harbor grudges and who, on finding himself on his own, did not lose stability nor falter in his work, and who rejected esteem, however well-deserved, and forgave discredit, always unfair."
In the midst of this disastrous social situation, he was also faced with the difficult period the Church and religious were undergoing, with land being disentailed and secularized, and its rather devastating consequences for priests, convents and consecrated people.
Forced to put aside his external identity as a religious, Brother Olallo continued at the hospital as a lay nurse, greatly admired and recognized by the people for his lifestyle.
Of the last 25 years of his life, he spent the first 10 nursing his only remaining religious companion, Brother Juan Manuel Torres, through a serious illness. After the latter's death, he spent the last 13 years of his life completely alone at the hospital, as the only surviving Hospitaller. God and a few benefactors were his only company.
Q: The charism of the Hospitaller Order is hospitality. What did this involve, in Friar José Olallo's lifetime, and what does it entail today? What does "hospitality" mean?
Father Lizaso: According to the most common use of the term "hospitality," it focuses on welcoming pilgrims. However, with St. John of God, the term acquires a more specific, deeper and more direct meaning.
It becomes a general charism of Christian and evangelical welcome and attention to the sick, and of assistance to the poor and needy.
In the concrete figure of Olallo Valdés, the hospitaller charism took the form of loving closeness, welcome, assistance, and healing of anyone sick and needy. From the start, Olallo -- who arrived in Camaguey at the age of 15 -- devoted himself entirely to the sick, and soon became an expert in assisting cholera morbus patients. He always geared himself up for all situations, whether simple or difficult.
Under normal circumstances, he showed equal concern and dedication for the elderly, very often abandoned, for the poor and infirm, and for street children, even those without schooling, making no kind of distinction between people.
He viewed every sick person as someone in need. In addition to being a nurse, on account of the hospitaller charism, he learned and practiced the roles of surgeon, doctor, pharmacist, and even teacher and educator, without taking the place of any professional, but standing in when these were lacking.
Today, aside from health and social assistance toward the sick and needy, the hospitality of the Order of St. John of God aims more at meeting, replacing, and supplementing insufficiently covered social and welfare needs; this, always bearing in mind places and circumstances, in addition to Third World missions and countries.
Q: What trait do you most appreciate in the new blessed? Is there something you learned from him? What do you consider truly impressive about him?
Father Lizaso: When I became acquainted with him, my first reactions were of admiration and regret.
Admiration at such an outstanding figure, honorable, exceptional, and upright as a human being, as a hospitaller, and as a saint. Regret at his having spent so many years without being known or recognized.
Other than Olallo's extraordinary behavior, what caught my attention most, from the beginning, was his magnanimous nature and his perseverance. Particularly, I admired his positive reaction toward the rather disdainful welcome from his first superior in Camaguey who, considering him an immature youngster, soon changed his caution to "fondness and trust," admitting that Olallo had grown to be like "his hands and feet."
As I learned of the testimonies about Olallo, I understood God's designs upon him: The Gospel's criterion according to which the humble are exalted, since he had remained in the historical shadow, hidden within the heart of the Camagueyan people.
His testimony arose vigorously at this precise moment, so that his figure surged like a new star in the firmament, the precious pearl of the Gospel, which appeared in order to enrich and illuminate Camaguey, the whole of Cuba, the Order of St. John of God, and finally, the Church, like an evangelical model of Jesus, the compassionate and merciful, and the Good Samaritan.
And in a more particular way, Olallo has become a special brother to me, from a stranger to a close companion, one who has encouraged me and even denounced me; he also appeared to me as someone in need, not on behalf of himself nor for himself, but as a new brother who the Lord was giving us, for our own good, to enlighten us all with his testimony.
He, together with the order, the Church, and God, were requesting my contribution as a postulator-brother of St. John of God, to allow his extraordinary charismatic testimony of heroic hospitality to become known and recognized, and, from the Church, to light up the way for Cuba and the order in the essence of the Gospel, love, in the form of service to the suffering.
I feel the beatification of Brother Olallo Valdés is the moment when the precious pearl is presented, disclosed, to all, by the Church.
[Translated by Clara Iriberry]
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On the Net:
Part 1 of interview: www.zenit.org/article-24392?l=English
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DOCUMENTS at ZENIT Web Page
Conclusions of African-European Migration Meeting
LIVERPOOL, England, NOV. 28, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- The final statement from a conference sponsored by the Council of European Episcopal Conferences and the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar is available at the ZENIT Web site.
The Nov. 19-23 conference focused on "The Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees and Foreign Students."
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On the Net:
Full text: http://www.zenit.org/article-24396?l=english
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DOCUMENTS
Holy See on Food Insecurity
"Fighting Against Hunger Is Conditioned by Multiple Factors"
ROME, NOV. 28, 2008 (
Zenit.org).- Here is the address given by Monsignor Renato Volante, permanent observer of the Holy See at the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), at the group's 35th special session, held last week.
* * *
Mr. Chairman,
1. Thank you for giving me the floor, I wish first of all to congratulate you on your election as chair this Conference, called in particular to consider the results of the evaluation of FAO management, and the proposals to make it possible for the Organization to deal more effectively with the problems related to the rural world situation and food prospects. As we can easily understand, it is not only about specific indications on results so far reached, but also about the criteria to face the ever increasing needs.
In effect, as indicated by the High Level Conference on Food Security last June, the responsibilities of FAO are those of its member States, which are called on to face a recurring food insecurity that has recently seen a significant increase in the number of people suffering from hunger. This has occurred in spite of the earlier consideration of the production data and the food supply in different areas. It is paradoxical that on the one hand the fundamental and irreplaceable role of the Organization, with its true mission among the intergovernmental Institutions working in the development and cooperation sector, was shown; on the other the responsibilities of Governments, structures and people concerned in international action would seem to have surrendered in the face of the increasing volume of hunger and malnutrition.
2. Following the agenda of this Conference, the Delegation of the Holy See does not want to offer technical solutions, but rather to suggest an ideal orientation which may help in making concrete choices, focusing on the needs of each human person, especially when they are limited by conditions of life which compromise a dignified human life.
If we consider the data regarding FAO activities, they show a constant and active engagement, more and more responding to the needs of the member States, in particular of those whose economic system require new paths for the development of the agricultural sector and to satisfy the growing needs for food. As we well know, these requirements are determined by a more general economically unfavourable situation, by natural conditions, but also by human interventions which often pursue partial interests or even show signs of indifference towards the fight against malnutrition. This is a situation that stirs up a certain preoccupation in every corner of the earth, even where there is a high level of development.
At the same time, just looking at the future of FAO, it becomes clear that there are "new" situations involving the agricultural sector which demand efforts by the Organization and its member States. Among these, as underlined by the recent food crisis, the judgement about the central role of agriculture seems to stand out with a particular emphasis in the wider reality of economic activity and its important contribution to a realistic, sustainable development. It is here that we can find the essential role of FAO; a role which is complementary and harmonious, by means of an agile structure, to the action by Governments in favour of the hungry.
To bring about a reform of FAO, it is necessary to recognize that fighting against hunger is conditioned by multiple factors and by the motives inspiring it. But too often strategies are adopted which pursue particular goals rather then a holistic vision which ranks the human needs first. Such an attitude produces negative effects in the rural sector, especially where poverty, underdevelopment, malnutrition and environmental degradation are more evident.
This is why the Delegation of the Holy See is firmly convinced that the FAO structure and its activities must underline the essential importance of agriculture in the development processes, not promoting the mere management but those far-sighted management criteria and interventions which will really respond to the needs.
If, in fact, the use of certain words may indicate and prove the importance paid to particular topics, and that programs are important for the ordered course of the activities - which obviously have to respect rules and regulations - it is also true that the effectiveness of the work of an Organization comes mainly from the generous and motivated service carried out by the Organization staff. The more it is done with a serving spirit and enthusiasm in a mood of sincere cooperation, keeping well in mind - especially in our case - the target of the work itself, i.e. helping the poor to overcome hunger, the more fruitful it will be. Therefore, FAO must be an Organization made up of people serving other people and their fundamental needs which we all know are fundamental rights.
3. It is clear that the future, or the "new", of the rural world will contain two main aspects.
First, the protection of the different agricultural ecosystems which are conditioned by climatic change causing floods or desertification even in areas that had never known such phenomena before.
Second, the growing role of new processing techniques and the support that they receive both in their production process and in the food trade and use.
We often know, and thanks to FAO, the causes of these situations for which we see remedies, but the rush toward more immediate objectives causes a postponement of their feasibility, which should start from those possible and urgent recovering interventions in consumption standards and in the respect for creation. The reform of FAO, also in light of the objectives indicated by the recent High Level Conference of last June, must be supported. The reform will be the more meritorious the more concrete it is.
It does not mean to be closed to new and perhaps better results made possible by scientific and technological research and new production systems, but what it does propose is an ordered balance between those systems and a proper prevention of the risks for people and the ecosystems.
This means that an ordered research aimed at improving agricultural production so as to meet the growing food demand, must not forget the reasons of food security which is the consumers' health, nor crop sustainability, i.e. the environmental protection. For these objectives invoked - in different ways - by every State as a "priority", it is necessary that FAO must continue to have the resources and the necessary trust of the international Community as a whole.
Mr. Chairman,
The attention of the member States, as well as that of the civil society and its precious forms of organization, must be focused on the engagements that FAO is called to assume now and in the future toward the different regions of the world. Engagements that demand further effort to cope with problems by paying proper attention to the needs of the least, in our case of those who suffer from hunger and malnutrition and more generally those who draw their living, employment and income from rural work. Our thought goes to rural families and to their natural reality that, moreover, characterizes it as an economic subject, able to take part in the decision making of the production processes and choices.
Meanwhile, we ask for a better commitment in giving the Organization an accrued momentum that allows it to be always that "gathering point" for the study and distribution of agricultural data, production techniques and regulations as required by its own Constitution and as we all wish.
The Holy See, for its part, wants to reaffirm the availability of the Catholic Church, Its structure and organizational bodies, to contribute to this effort so that everybody can receive his "daily bread", as the motto of FAO itself reminds us: "Fiat panis"!.
Thank you.
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