In a message entitled ‘Communicating the Family: A Privileged Place of Encounter with the Gift of Love’, the Pontifical Council of Social Communications said:
“Oftentimes cultural changes do not help us appreciate how much the family is a good for society. Today, how can we tell people who are wounded and disillusioned that love between a man and a woman is a good thing? How can we help children know they are a most precious gift? How can we warm the hearts of people who are disappointed, and help them rediscover the beauty of love? How can we show that the family is the privileged place where we experience the beauty of life, the joy of love, the consolation of forgiveness offered and received, and the encounter with the other?”
Ex-bishop reacts
Mgr Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano, who was removed from his post of bishop in Paraguay, made a strong-worded statement that “the Pope must answer to God”. He said other bishops had conspired against him.
Vatican spokesperson Fr Federico Lombardi said Mgr Plano was removed due to his “difficult” relations with other bishops, not because he appointed a priest accused of sexual abuse as his vicar general.
In a comment following Mgr Plano’s outburst, Fr Lombardi observed that the “very violent reaction” of the deposed bishop “maybe [makes] it is easier to understand why there was a problem”.
Humanitarian disaster in South Sudan
At the end of an three-day meeting, South Sudan’s bishops issued a strong statement. “We can accept no excuses nor conditions from any party or individual for the continuation of the war. The fighting and killing must stop immediately and unconditionally,” they said.
They noted that as a result of the thousands of South Sudanese who had been killed and the hundreds of thousands who had been displaced, the country’s “traumatised population has been re-traumatised by atrocities we have rarely seen before”. They added that displaced people are living in appalling conditions, whether in the countryside, or in UN camps in the cities, or as refugees in neighbouring countries.
“A famine is looming in parts of the country. International humanitarian access is limited due to insecurity. Once again we declare this war immoral, and we demand an immediate end to all hostilities so that these humanitarian concerns can be addressed,” they said.
Secularism in Ghana
Bishop Joseph Osei-Bonsu of Konongo-Mampong, president of Ghana’s episcopal conference, said: “The secular mentality is certainly a challenge for the Church in Ghana. More people have a secular mentality to the point that the Church is forced to try to re-evangelise those who profess to be Catholics or other Christians, and yet continues its work of first evangelisation, trying to reach those who are not Christians. We focus especially in spreading Christian values that are challenged by the secular mentality.”
‘Help wounded, drop theoretical baggage’
Pope Francis told members of the Focolare movement that with so much spiritual, social and moral suffering in the world, the Church has “no right” to stay locked up in an ivory tower, engaging in “byzantine” philosophical reflection.
“We have to go out! So that – I’ve said this before – the Church seems like a field hospital” where the first order of the day “is heal the wounds, not measure people’s cholesterol. That comes later. Got it?” he said to applause.
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)