[ZE120127] The World Seen From Rome
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ZENIT
The World Seen From Rome
Daily dispatch - January 27, 2012
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VATICAN DOSSIER
ANALYSIS
Where God Weeps
DOCUMENTS
VATICAN DOSSIER
Pope Tells What's Most Important on Path to Priesthood
Emphasizes Importance of Studying the Faith as an Organic Whole
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 27, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says the most important thing on the journey toward the priesthood and in priestly life is a personal relationship with God in Christ.
The Pope affirmed this Thursday when he addressed three of Italy's regional seminaries.
After noting the value of seminaries that draw from several dioceses as a preparation for collaboration in the universal Church, the Holy Father went on to speak about the philosophical-theological formation of future priests.
"As I wrote in my letter to seminarians at the close of the Year for Priests, it is not only a question of learning obviously useful things but of knowing and understanding the structure of the faith in its totality -- which is not a summary of theses but an organism, an organic vision -- so that it becomes an answer to the questions of men, who change in externals from generation to generation but who remain fundamentally the same," he said.
The Pontiff also emphasized that the study of theology must be connected with the life of prayer.
"It is important," he said, "that the seminarian well understands that the object that he applies himself to is in fact a 'Subject' who calls to him, that Lord who spoke to him, inviting him to spend his life in service to God and to his brothers."
Promoting sanctity
Benedict XVI reflected on the integration of ministry and spiritual life, observing how important the human formation of the priest is.
"It is in fact in our humanity that we present ourselves before God to be authentic men of God in the eyes of our brothers. [...] Thus, the most important thing in the journey toward the priesthood and during the whole priestly life is a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ," he affirmed.
The Pope cited his predecessor, Blessed John XXII, affirming: "In view of the mission with which you will be entrusted for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, this is the purpose of your education: forming the mind, sanctifying the will. The world awaits saints: this above all. Before cultured, eloquent, up-to-date priests, there is a need of holy priests who sanctify (sacerdoti santi e santificatori)."
"These words still have resonance today," Benedict said, "because in the whole Church, as well as in the regions from which you come, there is much more than ever the need for workers of the Gospel, credible witnesses and those who promote sanctity with their own lives."
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On ZENIT's Web page:
Full text: www.zenit.org/article-34201?l=english
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Pope's February Through April Schedule
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 27, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican Information Service released the schedule of the liturgical celebrations over which Benedict XVI will preside from February through April:
FEBRUARY
Thursday 2: Feast of the Presentation of the Lord and the World Day of Consecrated Life. At 5.30 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Vespers with members of institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life.
Saturday 18: At 10.30 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, ordinary public consistory for the creation of new cardinals and for the vote on a number of causes of canonisation.
Sunday 19: Solemnity of the Cathedra of St. Peter. At 9.30 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Mass with new cardinals.
Wednesday 22: Ash Wednesday. At 4.30 p.m. in the basilica of Sant'Anselmo, "statio" and penitential procession. At 5 p.m. in the basilica of Santa Sabina, blessing and imposition of the ashes.
Sunday 26: First Sunday of Lent. At 6 p.m. in the "Redemptoris Mater" Chapel of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, beginning of the spiritual exercises of the Roman Curia.
MARCH
Saturday 3: At 9 a.m. in the "Redemptoris Mater" Chapel, conclusion of the spiritual exercises of the Roman Curia.
Sunday 4: Second Sunday of Lent. At 9.30 a.m., Mass in the Roman parish of "San Giovanni Battista de La Salle al Torrino".
Saturday 10: At 5.30 p.m., Vespers in the basilica of San Gregorio al Celio for the visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Friday 23 to Thursday 29: Apostolic trip to Mexico and Cuba.
APRIL
Sunday 1. Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Lord. At 9.30 a.m. in St. Peter's Square, blessing of palms, procession and Mass.
Thursday 5. Holy Thursday. At 9.30 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Chrism Mass. At 5.30 p.m. in the basilica of St. John Lateran, beginning of the Easter Triduum with the Mass of the Last Supper.
Friday 6. Good Friday. At 5 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, celebration of the Lord's Passion. At 9.15 p.m. at the Colosseum, Way of the Cross.
Saturday 7. Holy Saturday. At 9 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Easter vigil.
Sunday 8. Easter Sunday. Mass in St. Peter's Square at 10.15 a.m. At midday, from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, "Urbi et Orbi" blessing.
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ANALYSIS
Contraceptive Coverage Decision Decried
Religious Freedom Under Threat in the USA
By Father John Flynn, LC
ROME, JAN. 27, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The federal government decision last week on insurance coverage for contraceptives in the United States has been widely condemned.
Under the new health care law passed by Congress it was left to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to decide which institutions would be exempted from having to pay for contraceptives under their health plans.
Last Friday the HHS announced that while churches would not have to pay for contraceptives other associations linked to churches, such as schools, hospitals and charitable agencies would not have any exemption.
The only concession offered was to allow employers extra time, until August 2013, to comply with the law: a concession that some observers noted conveniently pushes the obligation beyond the next elections.
“I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services,” declared the HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, in a press release announcing the decision.
A position not shared by many others who in the succeeding days expressed their views on the matter.
“In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” said Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a press release dated January 20.
He noted that the ruling means that sterilization and abortifacient contraceptives will also be included in the items that must be covered by health plans.
Disease
“The government should not force Americans to act as if pregnancy is a disease to be prevented at all costs,” he stated.
“Never before in our US history has the Federal Government forced citizens to directly purchase what violates our beliefs,” declared Cardinal Daniel DiNardo in his homily at the opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life on January 22.
At stake here, he said, “is the survival of a cornerstone constitutionally protected freedom that ensures respect for conscience and religious liberty.”
Sr. Carol Keehan, DC, the president of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, expressed her disappointment at the decision. “This was a missed opportunity to be clear on appropriate conscience protection,” she said.
Criticism has come from all quarters. “I cannot imagine a more direct and frontal attack on freedom of conscience than this ruling today,” said Cardinal Roger Mahony in a January 20 note on his blog. The recently retired archbishop of Los Angeles declared: “For me there is no other fundamental issue as important as this one as we enter into the Presidential and Congressional campaigns.”
Even the Washington Post condemned the HHS ruling. In a January 23 editorial the paper said: “The administration’s feint at a compromise -- giving such employers another year to figure out how to comply with the requirement -- is unproductive can-kicking that fails to address the fundamental problem of requiring religiously affiliated entities to spend their own money in a way that contradicts the tenets of their faith.”
Moreover, “requiring a religiously affiliated employer to spend its own money in a way that violates its religious principles does not make an adequate accommodation for those deeply held views.”
“It is imperative,” said Pope Benedict XVI addressing a group of American bishops just the day before the HHS decision, “that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres.”
“Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion,” he insisted.
Elections
There is speculation about what impact this decision will have on the elections to be held this November.
William McGurn, in a post dated January 24 on the Web site of the Wall Street Journal, commented that Barack Obama had obtained a majority of the Catholic vote in 2008.
Now, however, many Catholics who had previously favored Obama are horrified at the HHS decision, he noted. This includes people such as the president of Notre Dame, the Reverend John Jenkins, who had come under strong criticism for inviting the president to speak at the university and awarding him an honorary degree.
“The irony, of course, is that the ruling is being imposed by a Catholic Health and Human Services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, working in an administration with a Catholic vice president, Joe Biden,” McGurn observed.
It is not just Catholics who are upset. Last December 21 more than 60 Protestant and Orthodox Jewish religious leaders wrote a letter to President Obama asking him not to require all private insurers to provide contraception and sterilization coverage.
“It is emphatically not only Catholics who deeply object to the requirement that health plans they purchase must provide coverage of contraceptives that include some that are abortifacients,” they said.
“We believe that the Federal government is obligated by the First Amendment to accommodate the religious convictions of faith-based organizations of all kinds, Catholic and non-Catholic,” they insisted.
An affirmation that will undoubtedly be repeated many times in the coming months as the elections draw nearer.
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Where God Weeps
The Church: Standing Her Ground in Uganda
Bishop of Kotido on Evangelization, Education and Development
ROME, JAN. 27, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The bishop of Kotido explains that his diocese is the poorest in the central African country of Uganda. And he admits that he doesn't much like being a bishop. But with his missionary heart, he has outlined the main priorities of his Church and is working step by step. What does he say he needs the most? People to help him.
Marie Pauline Meyer for Where God Weeps in cooperation with Aid to the Church in Need spoke with Bishop Giuseppe Filippi, a 66-year-old Comboni missionary originally from Italy.
Q: Can you describe the life of the people in your diocese?
Bishop Filippi: Yes, they are very, very poor. Their only concern is survival -- to continue living day to day -- and most of the time they are starving. The World Food Program supports them. Their diet is made of milk from cows and goats as well as meat and blood; they drink blood because the milk of the cow is not enough to sustain them.
Q: Do you have many tribes in your diocese?
Bishop Filippi: There are two main tribes and two smaller tribes. The biggest is the Jabwor, which occupies the southern part of the diocese. They are generally in a better area where there are mountains, and the rainy season is a bit longer, so they can cultivate different crops to survive. Another major tribe is the Krimojong divided into two groups, the Jie and the Dodos. They are [sustained through caring for animals] but they are very strong and powerful. Unfortunately they are armed with guns and they use them to steal or raid the cattle of neighboring tribes. This creates tensions and difficulty among themselves -- but that is their pattern of life, and unless the government and the institutions are able to provide an alternative way of life, this will go on.
Q: Are these tribes Catholics or what are their beliefs?
Bishop Filippi: Most of these people believe in traditional religions. There is a common element in their religions, which is the belief in one God, and that God is the creator and the giver of everything, which is good. They also believe in many spirits which have the power to intervene in their lives: the spirit of the river, of the dry season, rainy season, and so on. They have to deal with all these spirits to avoid all the troubles that may come from them. They also have the spirits of the ancestors that are to be obeyed. All these create a bit of fear. Generally, these tribes are more materialistic than any other of the Ugandan tribes because of their physical strength, power and the capacity to cope with the hard life, so they do not practice much their traditional religion except during great need, great suffering, or events with which they are incapable of coping.
Q: What is your work like?
Bishop Filippi: My work is evangelization. People generally welcome the teaching of the Church, though they are resistant to conversion. They perceive our teaching as attractive and very appealing to their needs. Their resistance is their perception that to be a Christian they have to change their lives, which means that they have to stop raiding the cattle of their neighbors. They have to stop killing and they find it a contradiction. They are not able to give up their pattern of life in order to take up a new pattern of life, which is less productive because if they live in peace the question arises, how do we survive?
Q: So peace means poverty?
Bishop Filippi: Yes, so, for this reason the Catholic Church and the other churches try to provide the Karimojong people with alternative ways of living, like agriculture and the development of other resources like the Arabica gum -- but it is not easy. Men are particularly resistant to conversion. They do not despise religion. They listen. They want to know about it, but they leave conversion to the end of their lives when they are elderly, when they are no longer warriors, when they can live in peace and are in need of peace.
Q: Is the Catholic faith the largest community in your diocese?
Bishop Filippi: Yes, it is the largest because the presence of the Catholic mission is very strong, strong in various ways, and in number. We can attribute this almost totally to the Catholic schools. The people have a great trust in the Catholic Church, which cannot be said about other institutions like the government or NGOs.
Q: What are your priorities in your diocese?
Bishop Filippi: I have three basic problems. The first is evangelization. We need to find a common way to evangelize people, not just proclaiming [the faith] and making people part of our diocese, but to help them find their identity. So we are working hard to set up a center of formation in order to form all types of leaders, particularly geared to lead the Christian community to a better life. The second priority is education. Education is a challenge.
Q: Why?
Bishop Filippi: It is not an issue of few schools. We have enough schools. It is the standard of the schools, which is very low. We are marginalized because we are in the periphery of the country and most of the teachers allocated to our schools are the rejects. The government controls the teachers and often the teachers engage in business or are not as committed. My purpose is not to reject or dismiss them but to try to help them to become more motivated to do their job. I have no other choice.
Q: And the third issue?
Bishop Filippi: The third is human development. We need to be realistic. Starvation has been a normal way of life for several years. Many NGOs have good will and a desire to help these people to improve the standard of their lives and the various NGOs come in and think that they can solve the problems in two or three years, but in Karimojo it takes 20 years. I would like to review the old system of assisting our people to find out ways that are more adapted to the place and take into consideration the nature of the people: their own resources their own capability, even if it means that we have to work for 20 years before we achieve something.
Q: You are an Italian missionary. How have the people accepted you?
Bishop Filippi: There are some people who are not happy and that is understandable, however, most people I see are happy. I, of course, have been there a long time now. I went there in 1978 and learned the language and I think I understand the culture quite well. So I feel at home. This understanding of the culture helps me to have a greater trust in them, and it is reciprocal.
Q: Can you give specific examples of these targets you have set for them?
Bishop Filippi: For example schools, alternative ways of surviving, the search for a way of making Arabica gum from the Acacia tree, the source of life, adult education. We promise a little bit and we do it. Recently, we had cholera so I helped those who were sick and told them how to avoid cholera, and for nurses who abandoned their post, I paid those who came back. I did it and they see that I am concerned with them, not myself as such, but the Church. The Church stands her ground, she does not run away, does not escape from difficulties and is ready to help. That is a way of creating trust.
Q: You sound as though you have been a bishop for a long time.
Bishop Filippi: No, I only became a bishop on Dec. 19, 2009, so I am a novice. I am still learning but the work compels you to do something, to act and to move and involve people, to listen, to see what is possible.
Q: Do you like being a bishop?
Bishop Filippi: No. I am a missionary and my previous training was studying as an engineer and working as an engineer for several years in a big factory in Italy. And then, following my missionary spirit that was given to me by my mother, because when I was still a child my mother used to talk to us about the mission. In addition, when we complained because we were quite poor -- it was just after the Second World War -- my mother used to say you cannot complain because people in Africa are suffering more than you, so you have no right to complain. This became part of my training and with this background I feel that I am equipped and I am prepared to work with people, less to be on a chair or in a role where there is honor and glory. This kind of thing is not for me. In a way I am happy to be the bishop of Kotido because it is the most miserable diocese in Uganda. So it is the right diocese for me, but I do not like being a bishop very much. People still call me Father.
Q: Are you comfortable in Uganda?
Bishop Filippi: As a missionary working in different places in different situations, and with different responsibilities, I have developed an attitude to be present where I am. When I was in Zambia, I set aside Uganda; when I returned to Uganda in 2005 I set aside Zambia. As a missionary I learn to get in involved with the people where I am sent. And if I am there, it is as if I've never been anywhere else.
Q: Your diocese is in the north of Uganda. What is your experience with the Lord's Resistance Army?
Bishop Filippi: The rebels attacked my mission. In 1998, some 300 rebels came and looted the mission completely, destroyed the dispensary, looted the leprosy section. They took 50 of our people and killed five or six. I experience personally the cruelty of these people. In 2007, the Lord's Resistance Army moved to Congo. The reason for this departure was due to the peace treaty in Sudan and this cost Joseph Kony, the rebel leader who was a refugee in Sudan, the loss of support from the government in the north of Sudan. The rebel camps in Uganda have slowly been dismantled and we can say that Uganda is enjoying the peace.
Q: Bishop Filippi, what is your episcopal motto?
Bishop Filippi: My motto is "Your Word is Peace" because there is no permanent peace between the various groups. There are the constant skirmishes among them. And peace meetings do not amount to long-term peace agreements. The real peace will not be a result of these peace meetings but will only occur when people consider a change of heart, when it becomes similar to the heart of Christ. For this reason, I've put on my coat of arms the Bible with two drops of blood and water in memory of Christ on the Cross being pierced by the lance and out of it came blood and water. That is the life in the spirit and the human life coming together. I talk to the people this way: unless we get the life of the spirit through our human life, then peace will never come.
Q: What can the Universal Church do?
Bishop Filippi: My diocese is poor and the Universal Church has sent me help. I feel that the Church supports me. I can get along with the little resources, but what I really need is people because people are the main resource. If you do not have people, then money is useless. I do not need that much money because I do not have enough people to work with. It is like building a cathedral in the desert and they do not function without the people for support. We need committed people to serve, lead and work with them with confidence and trust in God.
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This interview was conducted by Marie-Pauline Meyer for "Where God Weeps," a weekly television and radio show produced by Catholic Radio and Television Network in conjunction with the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.
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On the Net:
For more information: www.WhereGodWeeps.org
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DOCUMENTS
Pope's Address to 3 Regional Seminaries of Italy
"The World Awaits Saints: This Above All"
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 27, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave Thursday to superiors and seminarians from three Italian regional pontifical seminaries in Assisi, Catanzaro and Naples.
* * *
Lord Cardinals, venerable Brothers, and dear Seminarians!
I am very happy to receive you on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Pontifical Seminaries Campano, Calabro and Umbro. I greet my confreres in the episcopate and the priesthood, the three rectors with their collaborators and instructors, and above all I greet you, dear seminarians!
The birth of these three regional seminaries, should be understood in the broader work of augmenting the formation of candidates for the priesthood carried forward by Pope St. Pius X in continuity with Leo XIII. To meet the growing demand for formation the route taken was the combining of diocesan seminaries into new regional seminaries together with the reform of theological studies, which produced a noticeable raising of the qualitative level, thanks to the acquisition of a basic common culture for everyone and to a sufficiently long and well-structured period of study. The Society of Jesus played an important role in this. The Jesuits, in fact, were entrusted with the direction of five regional seminaries, including the one in Catanzaro, from 1926 to 1941, and in Posillipo, from its foundation to today. But it was not only the academic formation that proved beneficial. The promotion of a common life among young seminarians hailing from different diocesan realities led to a noteworthy human enrichment. The case of the Campano Seminary in Posillipo was singular. Beginning in 1935 it was opened to all of the southern regions after it was given permission to grant academic degrees.
In the current historical and ecclesial context the experience of the regional seminaries is still quite suitable and valid. Because of relationships with theological faculties and institutes it is possible to have access to high-level courses of study, which provides training that is adequate to the complex cultural and social situation in which we live. Moreover, the interdiocesan character [of these seminaries] manifests an efficacious "palestra" of communion that is developed in the encounter with different sensibilities harmonized in the one service of the Church of Christ. In this sense, the regional seminaries furnish an incisive and concrete contribution to the path of communion among dioceses, fostering awareness, capacity for collaboration and enrichment of ecclesial experiences between future priests, between formators and among the bishops themselves of the particular Churches. The regional dimension, furthermore, presents a valid mediation between the lines of the universal Church and the demands of local realities, avoiding the danger of particularism.
Your regions, dear friends, are rich with great spiritual and cultural patrimonies but are also experiencing their share of social problems. I am thinking, for example of Umbria, the homeland of St. Francis and St. Benedict! Impregnated with spirituality, it is ever the destination of pilgrimages. At the same time this small region suffers like others, but still more than they, from an unfavorable economic situation. In Campania and Calabria the vitality of the local Church, strengthened by a still lively religious sense thanks to solid traditions and devotions, must translate this into a renewed evangelization. In these areas, the witness of the ecclesial communities must come to grips with serious social and cultural crises such as lack of jobs, above all for young people, and the phenomenon of organized crime.
Today’s cultural context demands a solid philosophical-theological formation for future priests. As I wrote in my letter to seminarians at the close of the Year for Priests, it is not only a question of learning obviously useful things but of knowing and understanding the structure of the faith in its totality -- which is not a summary of theses but an organism, an organic vision -- so that it becomes an answer to the questions of men, who change in externals from generation to generation but who remain fundamentally the same (cf. n. 5). What is more, the study of theology must always have an intense connection with the life of prayer. It is important that the seminarian well understands that the object that he applies himself to is in fact a "Subject" who calls to him, that Lord who spoke to him, inviting him to spend his life in service to God and to his brothers. In this way, in the seminarian of today, and the priest of tomorrow, there can be realized that unity of life desired by the conciliar document "Presbyterorum Ordinis" (n. 14), which finds its visible expression in pastoral charity, "the interior principle, the virtue that animates and guides the spiritual life of the priest insofar as he is configured to Christ the head" (John Paul II, post-synodal exhortation "Pastores dabo vobis," 23). The harmonious integration of ministry, with its multiple activities, and spiritual life is indispensable. "It is important for the priest, who is called to accompany others through the journey of life up to the threshold of death, to have the right balance of heart and mind, reason and feeling, body and soul, and to be humanly integrated" (Letter to Seminarians, 6). These are the reasons why so much attention is given to the human dimension of the formation of candidates for the priesthood. It is in fact in our humanity that we present ourselves before God to be authentic men of God in the eyes of our brothers. Indeed, he who wants to become a priest must above all be a "man of God," as St. Paul writes to his pupil Timothy (1 Timothy 6:11). Thus, the most important thing in the journey toward the priesthood and during the whole priestly life is a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ (Letter to Seminarians, 1).
Blessed John XXIII, in receiving the superiors and students of the Campano Seminary on the 50th anniversary of the founding, on the threshold of Vatican Council II, expressed this firm conviction in this way: "In view of the mission with which you will be entrusted for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, this is the purpose of your education: forming the mind, sanctifying the will. The world awaits saints: this above all. Before cultured, eloquent, up-to-date priests, there is a need of holy priests who sanctify (sacerdoti santi e santificatori)."
These words still have resonance today because in the whole Church, as well as in the regions from which you come, there is much more than ever the need for workers of the Gospel, credible witnesses and those who promote sanctity with their own lives. May each one of you respond to this call! For this I assure you of my prayer and I entrust you to the maternal guidance of Blesses Virgin Mary, imparting a special Apostolic Blessing from my heart. Thank you.
[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]
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Vatican Message for World Leprosy Day
Seeking the Transformation of Leprosy From a Threat to a Memory
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 27, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a message from Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, for the 59th World Leprosy Day, which will be marked Sunday.
The message is titled: "In the Fight Against Hansen's Disease the Commitment of All Men of Good Will in Required."
* * *
People treated for, and cured of, leprosy can, and must, express all of the riches of their dignity and spirituality, as well as full solidarity towards others, above all those who have been equally afflicted and have been marked indelibly by this infection! All the forces involved in the fight against Hansen’s disease must at the same time continue their work tenaciously so that the successes that have been obtained are made definitive and always improved, reducing as much as possible relapses and new cases.
Mycobacterium Leprae, in fact, has not as yet been eradicated, even though the official number of new cases of the infection continues to decrease and at the present time are about 200,000, according to the estimates of the World Health Organisation for the years 2010-2011. In addition to supporting the free distribution of those drugs and medicines that are required, one should, therefore, further promote speedy diagnosis and perseverance in receiving therapies. It is of fundamental importance, furthermore, that the work directed towards sensitising and training communities and families that run the risk of contagion be strengthened.
The gospel phrase ‘Stand and go; your faith has saved you’ (Lk 17:19), chosen by the Holy Father Benedict XVI as the theme for the twentieth World Day of the Sick which will be held on 11 February of this year throughout the world, constitutes an exploration and a call that touches in a particular way those who have been afflicted by this infection; in this passage from St. Luke, indeed, we are told about ten lepers who were healed by Jesus, readmitted to the community and reintegrated into the social and occupational fabric.
As is emphasised by the Holy Father in his Message for this year, ‘help us to become aware of the importance of faith for those who, burdened by suffering and illness, draw near to the Lord. In their encounter with him they can truly experience that he who believes is never alone! God, indeed, in his Son, does not abandon us to our anguish and sufferings, but is close to us, helps us to bear them, and wishes to heal us in the depths of our hearts (cf. Mk 2:1-12).
The faith of the lone leper who, on seeing that he was healed, full of amazement and joy, and unlike the others, immediately went back to Jesus to express his gratitude, enables us to perceive that reacquired health is a sign of something more precious than mere physical healing, it is a sign of the salvation that God gives us through Christ; it finds expression in the words of Jesus: your faith has saved you. He who in suffering and illness prays to the Lord is certain that God's love will never abandon him, and also that the love of the Church, the extension in time of the Lord's saving work, will never fail’.
This love, which is also expressed through individual action and through Church institutions and volunteer organisations, amongst which the Raoul Follereau Foundation and the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta, as well as the successes that have been obtained hitherto in terms of a strong reduction in the number of people infected by this disease, certainly do not exempt governments and international organisations from increasing the attention they pay to, and their work to combat, the spread of leprosy, or from their responsibilities as regards prevention, in educational and hygiene/health-care terms, and the ‘readmission’ of people who have been cured, as well as support for all the victims of infection.
On the other hand, those who have been cured and have followed the difficult pathway of social reintegration can communicate their gratitude in a practical way as well, becoming themselves witnesses, contributing to the dissemination of the criteria of prevention and the swift identification of this disease, as well as providing moral support for those people who have been infected; and, where possible, in addition, cooperating with institutions and ad hoc initiatives so that the necessary therapies are completed and then followed by the social reintegration of those who have been cured. Those who have attained a cure can in this way communicate all their interior riches and experience and at the same time, in helping their neighbour, all their dignity and profundity as people touched by suffering and involved in working for the health of the community to which they belong.
This will amount to a further and relevant contribution to progress in the fight against Hansen’s disease which for millennia has constituted a terrible scourge and involved automatic exclusion from society. Indeed, only the involvement of everyone – and at all levels – will allow the transformation of leprosy from being a threat and a scourge into being a memory, however frightening, of the past.
To Mary, Mother of Mercy and Health of the Sick, we entrust our brothers and sisters who are afflicted by leprosy so that her maternal compassion and nearness may accompany them always, in the daily events of life as well.
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