Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

July 1, 2018 

Readings:

First Reading: Wisdom 1: 13-15; 2: 23-24

Psalm: 30

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 8: 7, 9, 13-15

Gospel reading according to Mark 5:21-43 (or 5: 21-24, 35b-43

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Homily:

Jesus continued his journey.  He did not stop journeying just to bring the good news everywhere and to as many people as he can reach. “When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea” (Mk. 5: 21).  Anywhere he went people in large number who heard his coming they were flocking around him.  Some in the crowds have different purposes in seeing Jesus, some of them were sick and ill, others have different needs, others to catch gossip, and others were truly and willingly to listen to the good news he was giving through his preaching.  Some people in the crowds were synagogue officials, scribes and Pharisees, high ranking officials, rich and poor alike, others were ordinary people.  Because of the crowds, he might be pressed and crushed by them; so he remained in the boat yet near the seashore so that when he preaches people can still hear him.  The crowd brought to the attention of Jesus their wants and needs.  One of them was the synagogue official.  “One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward” (Mk. 5: 22).  This time, a synagogue official, a leader in managing the flow of worship and preparing the readings from the Scriptures in the synagogue (like our small chapel), and he was highly respected by his community members, came to Jesus and begged Jesus on his knees.  “Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, ‘My daughter is at the point of death.  Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live’.” (Mk. 5: 22-23).  As a good father of the family, Jairus, will do anything to heal and live his twelve years old daughter or any members of his family, even following Jesus outside of his community and as far as he can find Jesus.  Maybe he heard many good things Jesus performed, and faith and belief were springing in him toward this Jesus of Nazareth, as other towns and cities said, “Is there something good coming from Nazareth?”  Jairus has big faith in Jesus.  That’s why he came to Jesus, and when he saw him, knelt down on his feet, and expressed his purpose for coming to him.  His twelve years old daughter was at the verge of death.  Just mere touch of his hand and his daughter shall get well and live.  See how big Jairus’s faith in Jesus was.  Because of what he showed, he was granted and received from Jesus what he desired of his heart.  Jesus with compassionate heart and felt the heavy burden this father was carrying went off the boat and accompanied Jairus in his house. “He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him” (Mk. 5: 24).  This was the chance of so many sick people in the crowd to press Jesus so that they may touch him, as what we are doing in our saints in their altars, (punupunasan natin sila), we wipe the hands and legs and feet, and dress of the saints and rub it all over to our sick body parts.

There was another person in the crowd, an unknown woman.  “There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.  She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had.  Yet she was not helped but only grew worse” (Mk. 5: 25-26), a woman who had bleedings for almost twelve years, like the dying twelve-year old girl, who spent all her savings and sold all her property to pay for different doctors she consulted to cure her infection but nothing happened rather she became poorer and worse than before, she suffered a lot and her bleedings continued.  When you come closer to her, you can smell the bad odor coming out from her body.  She’s skinny and dirty with lots of blood stain in her clothes.  Maybe she had no better hygiene nor taking a bath or cleansing her body and wound.  Nobody is taking care of her maybe because her husband and children abandoned her, even her relatives and friends left her because of her physical condition, and in relation to her community and in the synagogue maybe they disowned her and driven out for that’s the Law of Moses.  Nobody can touch her or else he or she can also be contaminated by her disease and experience the same fate of rejection.  But what she was doing in the crowd following Jesus?  And why the crowd did not drive her away nor mind her?  Maybe because all of them are sick and need healing of mind and body, soul and spirit.  “She had heard about Jesus” (Mk. 5: 27).  Like Jairus, she also heard about Jesus that he healed many kind of sicknesses, illnesses and diseases.  She took her chance inspite of her condition and weak body but with strong determination; and she tried also if Jesus can heal her, anyway nothing will lose if she tries.  “. . .  and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak.  She said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured’.” (Mk. 5: 27-28).  She tried her best to come closer to Jesus despite of the crowd and said to herself, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.”  This was her personal conviction and belief.  There is faith and confidence in her, for this is her last chance.  She initiated to come at the back of Jesus and reached the edge of his clothes and with firm faith and resolved that she will be cured; she dared to touch even the edge of clothes of Jesus and even without asking permission.  “Immediately her flow of blood dried up.  She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction” (Mk. 5: 29).  As usual, she received what she wanted from Jesus Christ instantaneously.  She was cured.  Her flow of blood stopped and it dried up.  She was totally healed for she felt the healing power of Jesus Christ even by mere touching his clothes.  When we pray hard and sincere for whatever we need and desire for our good (like that woman with hemorrhages) and the good of others (like Jairus for his daughter), God will listen and grant our prayers.

“Jesus aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who had touched my clothes?’” (Mk. 5: 30).  A sensitive person to the needs of others can sense that something comes out from within him/herself.  He or she can feel the goodness coming out from him/her.  Despite of so many people, Jesus can sense that someone in the crowd touched him, for power released in him, and immediately healing came.  Jesus healed for he was aware of it for he felt it.  “But his disciples said to him, ‘You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’”  There is a good sense to what his disciples thought about the question of Jesus.  It was true that there were many people pressing Jesus and how did he said, “Who touched me?”  But he who was sensitive to the needs of others can also feel the empathy to other himself.  This may have some reference to the resurrection event when Mary Magdalene clings to Jesus’ feet who said, “Do not touch me. ....”

He did not mind what his disciples said but instead his eyes were searching in the crowd.  “And he looked around to see who had done it” (Mk. 5: 32).  He would like to find out who he/she was.  “The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling.  She felt down before Jesus and told him the whole truth” (Mk. 5: 33).  The woman, after receiving healing, instead of leaving the crowd and going home, she remained and followed Jesus Christ.  Maybe she was waiting an occasion or opportunity where she can say and give thanks to Jesus.  As one who received graces, her heart was full of gratitude and at the same time fear for what she had done.  She came forward “in fear and trembling,” after she heard Jesus said, “Who touched me,” felt down on her knees and told the whole truth.  Jesus, like a good father, understood her and the more he loved her that’s why he called this woman without a name – my daughter.  “He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has saved you.  Go in peace and be cured of your affliction’.” (Mk. 5: 34). 

While still talking to that unnamed woman and approaching the house of the synagogue official, some people came and announced that Jairus’ daughter had passed away. “While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, ‘Your daughter has died, why trouble the teacher any longer?’” (Mk. 5: 35).  They told also not to bother the teacher, Jesus, any longer. Here comes again the “pakialamero” and the “pakialamera” (the preponderant and the chatters), as if they know everything.  They even stopped Jesus to wake up the sleeping child, and letting her father losing his faith in God’s grace.  But Jesus knew the heart of this father and immediately came to the rescue by encouraging him to trust in the Lord God.  “Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, ‘Do not be afraid, just have faith’.” (Mk 5: 36).  Jesus did not mind nor give importance to the message reported, he disregarded it for it was not true and correct (we called it “fake news”), but rather he said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid, just have faith’,” for unlike the woman who suffered hemorrhages for twelve years but full of trust and have faith that saved her. 

They continued their walking towards the house of the synagogue official.  They found out more people were there, weeping and wailing loudly, for they were paid criers.  These people were not relatives of the deceased.  They are paid to cry and to give an atmosphere of bereft for the dead loved one.  “He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James and John, the brother of James.  When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.  So he went in and said to them, ‘Why this commotion and weeping?  The child is not dead but asleep’.” (Mk. 5: 37-39).  He only allowed coming with him his three apostles, Peter, James and John, and the parents of the deceased young girl, while the rest of the people he sent them away.   When he said that “the child is not dead but asleep,” they made fun of him.  “And they ridiculed him.  Then he put them all out.  He took along the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was” (Mk 5: 40).

Although the little girl was already dead, “He took the child by hand and said to her, ‘Talitha kaum!,’ which means, ‘Little child, I say to you, arise!’  The girl, a child of twelve, aroused immediately and walked around.  At that they were utterly astounded” (Mk. 5: 41-42).  In just holding the child’s hand and saying mere words, “Little child, I say to you, arise!,”  the girl rose immediately, she got well and live, and as if nothing had happened.  How happy the father seeing his daughter rose and walked.  Maybe there were lots of praises and thanksgiving in that house on that day.  As usual, “He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat” (Mk. 5: 43).  Thanks be to God.

Christian Witness in Middle East Severely Tested

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Pope Francis: Christian Witness in Middle East Severely Tested

Address to Participants of the Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches (ROACO)

June 22, 2018 16:42ZENIT StaffFrancis

 

Pope Francis on June 22, 2018, expressed his gratitude to participants of the Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches (ROACO), for their Christian witness in the Middle East, while lamenting the threats inherent in that work. He spoke to the group in the Consistory Hall of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.

“The study of various projects and their financing, made possible by the generosity of so many of the faithful worldwide, has enabled the Oriental Catholic Churches, both in their native lands and in the diaspora, to carry forward their witness to the Gospel,” the Holy Father said. “That witness has been severely tested, often amid sufferings and persecution, first by the totalitarian regimes of Eastern Europe and then, more recently, by forms of allegedly religious fundamentalism and fanaticism, to say nothing of apparently interminable conflicts, especially in the Middle East.

The Holy Father’s Address

I am pleased to meet you at the conclusion of your Plenary Assembly, which this year coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of ROACO. I offer a cordial greeting to Cardinal Sandri and I thank him for his words of introduction. My greetings and my appreciation go likewise to the Papal Representatives of the countries of the Middle East, who daily accompany the aspirations of Christians and people of other religious traditions in lands tragically marked by conflict and suffering. I also greet with gratitude the representatives of the Catholic agencies and the benefactors of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, as well as all those who in the past have offered their services and are present for this important anniversary.

In the wake of the recent celebrations marking the centenary of the Congregation, ROACO now celebrates its own jubilee year. According to the Scriptures, every fiftieth year was heralded by the shofar, the horn that proclaimed the year of freedom for slaves, the cancellation of debt, the restitution of land, all based on the people’s acknowledgment of God’s gracious gift of the Covenant and of the land that was its sign. I invite you to think back with gratitude on the years that have passed, and especially on the faces of so many people – some of whom have already ended their earthly pilgrimage – that have worked in the Congregation and in your various agencies in support of their works of charity and assistance. The study of various projects and their financing, made possible by the generosity of so many of the faithful worldwide, has enabled the Oriental Catholic Churches, both in their native lands and in the diaspora, to carry forward their witness to the Gospel. That witness has been severely tested, often amid sufferings and persecution, first by the totalitarian regimes of Eastern Europe and then, more recently, by forms of allegedly religious fundamentalism and fanaticism, to say nothing of apparently interminable conflicts, especially in the Middle East. The concrete solidarity that you have shown has helped meet emergency situations resulting from wars and movements of migration, but above all, it has helped ensure the very existence of the Churches, their activities of pastoral care and evangelization, and their social and charitable works. All these make manifest the face of Christ’s Church, which proclaims the Gospel in action and in word, thus making present God’s charity for mankind. Indeed, the “year of grace” of the Lord is always marked by liberation, both within the heart of sinful human beings and without, in the new life of the redeemed, which prefigures the new heavens and that new earth where justice will dwell.

Saint Peter, on the day of Pentecost, recalled the prophecy, so dear to me, of Joel: “I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams” (Joel 2:17). The Oriental Catholic Churches, as living witnesses to their apostolic origins, are called in a special way to protect and pass on a spark of Pentecostal fire. They are called daily to discover anew their own prophetic presence in all those places where they dwell as pilgrims. Beginning with Jerusalem, the Holy City, whose identity and particular vocation needs to be safeguarded beyond different tensions and political disputes, Christians, even though present as a small flock, draw strength from the Spirit for their mission of witness. Today that mission is more urgent than ever before. From the holy places, where God’s plan was fulfilled in the mystery of the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, may there come about a renewed spirit of strength to inspire Christians in the Holy Land and the Middle East to embrace their special vocation and to offer an account of their faith and their hope. May the sons and daughters of the Oriental Catholic Churches cherish their prophetic charge to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus, even in settings that are often even more secularized than in the West, where they come as immigrants or refugees. May they find a welcome, both on the practical level and in the Church’s life, as they seek to preserve and enrich the patrimony of their various traditions. These men and women, thanks also to your help, can bear witness to us, whose hearts are often dulled, that it is still worth living and suffering for the Gospel, even as a minority, or the object of persecution, for the Gospel is the joy and the life of men and women of every age.

Allow me to offer a final word of thanks and encouragement. Because of the work of ROACO, through the attentiveness and the acts of charity that sustain the life of the Oriental Churches, the Successor of Peter is able also to continue his mission of pursuing possible paths to the visible unity of all Christians. In the effort to extend a cordial and sincere hand to our most distant brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters are no less loved, and certainly not forgotten. With your help, they are always listened to and helped to continue their journey as the Church of the Risen Christ, amid every challenge, and every spiritual and material suffering, in the Middle East and in Eastern Europe.
Dear brothers and sisters, may God’s constant assistance always accompany you in your activities. To all of you, I impart my Apostolic Blessing, which I extend to the agencies you represent, your families and the communities to which you belong. And I ask you, please, to please pray for me. Thank you.

© Libreria Editrice Vatican

June 22, 2018 16:42Francis

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) The Nativity of St. John the Baptist

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

The Nativity of St. John the Baptist

June 24, 2018 

Readings:

First Reading: Isaiah 49: 1-6

Psalm: 139

Second Reading: Acts of the Apostles 13: 22-26

Gospel reading according to Luke (1: 57-66, 80)

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Homily:

Every woman, who is married, is expected to bear a child (or children) in her younger years.  In the case of Elisabeth, wife of Zechariah, it is different for she was already an old woman as well as her husband, and her monthly period stopped long time ago, but in God nothing is impossible, all is possible, for He gave her a wonderful gift, she conceived a son whom she will call him John, as the Archangel Gabriel announced to her and to her husband Zechariah, while he was offering an incense to the altar of God in the Temple of Jerusalem when the lots fell on him.  He asked God, for so long a time until the present to have a child, and this was answered by God and announced to him by the Archangel Gabriel but he did not believe the angel, that was why he became mute.  “When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son” (Lk. 1:57).  As the Archangel Gabriel foretold Elizabeth that she will conceive a child and so it happened.  She carried her child with Zechariah in her womb, for God listened to their prayers to have even only one child.  Elizabeth believed to the angel while her husband Zechariah did not.  Also, God had a plan for the salvation and liberation of His people through their son, John.

The news about her pregnancy spread wide and far.  It reached to as many people in Jerusalem, Judea and as far as Nazareth, to the house of Joseph and Mary who also pregnant to Jesus for three months, and as near as her neighbors and relatives in Ain Karim, where they were living.  “Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her” (Lk. 1: 58).  God is merciful to those who believe in Him.  He listens to their prayers and grants, according to His desire and design, what they prayed and asked.  He “had shown his great mercy toward her,” and to as many people who begged Him. God fulfilled the prophecy earlier spoken to John's father by the Archangel Gabriel.

After John’s birth and on the eight day, and the time of circumcision according to the Law of Moses came, and at the same time of giving name, “When they came on the eight day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, ‘No.  He will be called John’.” (Lk. 1: 59-60).  Usually, the father is the one giving name to their child.  Giving name is very important to a child, for his or her name will symbolize, more or less, what he or she will become or the role to perform.  Like John which means God (Yahweh) has been gracious; has shown favor, and reflecting on his unique role as the precursor and who will prepare the way of the Lord, Jesus Christ.  In giving name, like for example, Zechariah which means, the Lord has remembered.  It shows that God remembers His promises.  Elizabeth which means either oath of God or God is satisfaction.  That God gives satisfaction.  And to other names that give importance to the child in his or her future.  Because Zechariah could not speak then, his neighbors and relatives as well were the ones giving name to his son after to his name; but the mother, Elizabeth, intervened and with strong conviction and firmness to fulfill the oath she swore to the Archangel Gabriel, she said, “No!”.  Nobody can change the satisfaction and the graciousness of God toward her.  She strongly and with firmness said, “He will be called John,” to fulfill what the Archangel told her the name to be given to her son.      

In the eyes and hearing of the neighbors and relatives they were not satisfied.  They wanted to confirm from the father what the mother said, for they were insisting.  “But they answered her, ‘There is no one among your relatives who has this name” (Lk. 1: 61).  They were as if more knowledgeable than Elizabeth, but before she conceived a child they were accusing Elizabeth as well as Zechariah sinners and were punished by God for not having a child in their younger age.  Now, they are too “pakialamero at pakialamera” (preponderant) to the two couple.  “So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.  He asked for a tablet and wrote, ‘John is his name,’ and all were amazed” (Lk. 1: 62-63).  Elizabeth and Zechariah before the birth of their son already agreed the name to be given to him as what the Archangel Gabriel told them.  This name came from the Lord God almighty, and they should not change it or give a new name aside from John. Their neighbors and relatives were dumbfounded and speechless, they could not believe that even the father agreed with his wife which is supposed to be the father is more powerful, more authoritarian and to be followed by his household members.  But instead the two couple shown they were equal.  Anyone of them can listen to and talk and decide freely.  In the house of Zechariah, there is, the Lord has remembered and the oath of God or God is satisfaction for God has been gracious.  He has shown his favor with them.    

When everything has been fulfilled and satisfied, and because now Zechariah believed to what the Archangel said to him, “Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God” (Lk 1: 64).  His tongue was loosened; he opened his mouth, praising God and gave a prophetic word about his son, John, called Zechariah’s Canticle.

Because of what had happened and what they witnessed about the birth of John, many were amazed, and fear of the Lord enveloped those who were present.  “Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea” (Lk. 1: 65).  This event of what God had made to the family of Zechariah also spread wide throughout the hill country of Judea; some took it as a gossip, others gave praised and honor to God who satisfied the hearts’ desire of his faithful people, some discussed this incident.  “All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, ‘What, then, will this child be?’ For surely the hand of the Lord was with him” (Lk. 1: 66).  Like Mary and Elizabeth, those who heard the news kept them to their hearts.  They were also asking and imagining what will happen to John since the hands of the Lord are working in him. 

“The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel” (Lk. 1: 80).  When John grew up and full of the spirit of the Lord, and when his parents were gone, he stayed in the desert, practicing his power to preach repentance and baptizing, and waiting for the coming of the Messiah, the anointed One of the Lord God. 

The Pope’s Homily at Mass in Geneva

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The Pope’s Homily at Mass in Geneva (Full Text)

Let us Never Tire of Saying ‘Our Father’
 

June 21, 2018 17:46ZENIT StaffPilgrimages

 

Pope Francis celebrated Mass on June 21, 2018, at the Geneva Palexpo, the last major event of his one-day ecumenical pilgrimage to Geneva to mark the 70^th anniversary of the foundation of the WCC.

Following is the text of his homily, provided by the Vatican:

Father, bread, forgiveness. Three words that the Gospel offers us today. Three words that take us to the very heart of our faith.

“Father”. The prayer begins with this. We can continue with other words, but we cannot forget this first one, for the word “Father” is the key to opening God’s heart. Simply by saying Father, we are already praying in the language of Christianity. As Christians, we do not pray to some generic deity, but to God who is, before all else, our Father. Jesus told us to say “Our Father, who are in heaven”, not “God of heaven, who are Father”. Before all else, even before his being infinite and eternal, God is Father.

All fatherhood and motherhood are derived from him (cf. Eph 3:15). In him is the origin of all goodness and life itself. The words “Our Father” reveal our identity, our life’s meaning: we are God’s beloved sons and daughters. Those words solve the problem of our isolation, our sense of being orphans. They show us what we have to do: love God, our Father, and others, our brothers and sisters. The “Our Father” is the prayer of us, of the Church. It says nothing about me and mine; everything is caught up in the you of God (“your name”, “your kingdom”, “your will”). It speaks in the first person plural. “Our Father”: these two simple words offer us a roadmap for the spiritual life.
Every time we make the sign of the cross at the start of the day or before any other important activity, every time we say “Our Father”, we reclaim our roots. We need those roots in our often rootless societies. The “Our Father” strengthens our roots. Where the Father is present, no one is excluded; fear and uncertainty cannot gain the upper hand. Suddenly we remember all the good things because in the Father’s heart we are not strangers but his beloved sons and daughters. He does not group us together in little clubs, but gives us new life and makes us one large family.

Let us never tire of saying “Our Father”. It will remind us that just as there are no sons or daughters without a Father, so none of us is ever alone in this world. It will also remind us that there is no Father without sons or daughters, so none of us is an only child. Each of us must care for our brothers and sisters in the one human family. When we say “Our Father”, we are saying that every human being is part of us, and that, in the face of all the wrongs that offend our Father, we, as his sons and daughters, are called to react as brothers and sisters. We are called to be good guardians of our family, to overcome all indifference towards our brothers or sisters, towards any of our brothers or sisters. This includes the unborn, the older person who can no longer speak, the person we find hard to forgive, the poor and the outcast. This is what the Father asks us, indeed commands us, to do: to love one another from the heart, as sons and daughters in the midst of their brothers and sisters.

 

Bread. Jesus tells to ask our Father for bread each day. Nothing else: just bread, in other words, what is essential for life. Before all else, bread is what we need this day to be healthy and to do our work; tragically, so many of our brothers and sisters do not have it. Here I would say: Woe to those who speculate on bread! The basic food that people need for their daily lives must be accessible to everyone.

To ask for our daily bread is also to say: “Father, help me lead a simpler life”. Life has become so complicated. Nowadays many people seem “pumped up”, rushing from dawn to dusk, between countless phone calls and texts, with no time to see other people’s faces, full of stress from complicated and constantly changing problems. We need to choose a sober lifestyle, free of unnecessary hassles. One that goes against the tide, like that of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, whose feast we celebrate today. It would involve giving up all those things that fill our lives but empty our hearts. Let us choose the simplicity of bread and so rediscover the courage of silence and of prayer, the leaven of a truly human life. Let us choose people over things so that personal, not virtual, relationships may flourish. Let us learn once more to love the familiar smell of life all around us. When I was a child at home, if a piece of bread fell from the table, we were taught to pick it up and kiss it. Let us value the simple things of everyday life: not using them and throwing them away, but appreciating them and caring for them.

Our “daily bread”, we must not forget, is Jesus himself. Without him, we can do nothing (cf. Jn 15:5). He is our regular diet for healthy living. Sometimes, however, we treat Jesus as a side dish. Yet if he is not our daily bread, the center of our days, the very air we breathe, then everything else is meaningless. Each day, when we pray for our daily bread, let us ask the Father, and keep reminding ourselves: simplicity of life, care for what is all around us, Jesus in everything and before everything.
Forgiveness. It is not easy to forgive. We always retain a dram of bitterness or resentment, and whenever those we have forgiven annoy us, it rises to the surface once again. Yet the Lord wants our forgiveness to be a gift. It is significant that the only really original commentary on the Our Father is Jesus’ own. He tells us simply: “If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Mt 6:14-15). Forgiveness is the catchphrase of the Our Father. God frees our hearts of all sin, he forgives every last thing. Yet he asks only one thing of us: that we in turn never tire of forgiving. He wants us to issue a general amnesty for the sins of others. We should take a good x-ray of our heart, to find out if there are blockages within us, obstacles to forgiveness, stones needing to be removed. Then we can say to the Father: “You see this stone? I hand it over to you and I pray for this person, for that situation; even if I struggle to forgive, I ask you for the strength to do it”.

Forgiveness renews, it works miracles. Peter experienced Jesus’ forgiveness and became the shepherd of his flock. Saul became Paul after the forgiveness he received from Stephen. Forgiven by our Father, each of us is born again as a new creation when we love our brothers and sisters. Only then do we bring true newness to our world, for there is no greater novelty than forgiveness, which turns evil into good. We see it in the history of Christianity. Forgiving one another, rediscovering after centuries of disagreements and conflicts that we are brothers and sisters, how much good this has done us and continues to do! The Father is pleased when we love one another and we forgive each other from the heart (cf. Mt 18:35). Then, he gives us his Spirit. Let us ask for the grace not to be entrenched and hard of heart, constantly demanding things of others. Instead, let us take the first step, in prayer, in fraternal encounter, in concrete charity. In this way, we will be more like the Father, who loves without counting the cost. And he will pour out upon us the Spirit of unity.

© Libreria Editrice Vatican

June 21, 2018 17:46Pilgrimages

Geneva: Holy Father’s Address to WCC

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Geneva: Holy Father’s Address to WCC Ecumenical Meeting (Full Text)

‘What is really needed is a new evangelical outreach.’

June 21, 2018 16:29ZENIT StaffEcumenism and Interreligious dialogue, Pilgrimages

 

Pope Francis on June 21, 2018, addressed the ecumenical meeting to mark the 70^thanniversary of the foundation of the World Council of Churches  (WCC)  at the WCC Ecumenical Center in Geneva.

The Full Address of the Holy Father, provided by the Vatican

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am happy to meet you and I thank you for your warm welcome. In particular, I express my gratitude to the General Secretary, the Reverend Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, and the Moderator, Dr. Agnes Abuom, for their kind words and for their invitation on this seventieth anniversary of the founding of the World Council of Churches.

In the Bible, seventy years represents a significant span of time, a sign of God’s blessing. But seventy is also a number that reminds us of two important passages in the Gospel. In the first, the Lord commands us to forgive one another not only seven times but “seventy times seven” (Mt 18:22). That number, of course, does not serve as a limit, but opens up a vast horizon; it does not quantify justice but serves as the measure of a charity capable of infinite forgiveness. After centuries of conflict, that charity now allows us to come together as brothers and sisters, at peace and full of gratitude to God our Father.

If we are here today, it is also thanks to all those who went before us, choosing the path of forgiveness and sparing no effort to respond to the Lord’s will “that all may be one” (cf. Jn 17:21). Out of heartfelt love for Jesus, they did not allow themselves to be mired in disagreements, but instead looked courageously to the future, believing in unity and breaking down barriers of suspicion and of fear. As an ancient Father in the faith rightly observed: “When love has entirely cast out fear, and fear has been transformed into love, then the unity brought us by our Saviour will be fully realized” (SAINT GREGORY OF NYSSA, Homily XV on the Song of Songs). We are heirs to the faith, charity, and hope of all those who, by the nonviolent power of the Gospel, found the courage to change the course of history, a history that had led us to mutual distrust and estrangement, and thus contributed to the infernal spiral of continual fragmentation. Thanks to the Holy Spirit, who inspires and guides the journey of ecumenism, the direction has changed and a path both old and new has been irrevocably paved: the path of a reconciled communion aimed at the visible manifestation of the fraternity that even now unites believers.

The number seventy reminds us of yet another Gospel passage. It recalls those disciples whom Jesus, during his public ministry, sent out on mission (cf. Lk 10:1), and who are commemorated in some Churches of the Christian East. The number of those disciples reflects the number of the world’s peoples found on the first pages of the Bible (cf. Gen 10). What does this suggest to us, if not that mission is directed to all nations and that every disciple, in order to be such, must become an apostle, a missionary. The World Council of Churches was born in service to the ecumenical movement, which itself originated in a powerful summons to mission: for how can Christians proclaim the Gospel if they are divided among themselves? This pressing concern still guides our journey and is grounded in the Lord’s prayer that all may be one, “so that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21).
Dear brothers and sisters, allow me to thank you for your commitment to unity, but also to express a concern. It comes from an impression that ecumenism and mission are no longer as closely intertwined as they were at the beginning. Yet the missionary mandate, which is more than diakonia and the promotion of human development, cannot be neglected nor emptied of its content. It determines our very identity. The preaching of the Gospel to the ends of the earth is part of our very being as Christians. The way in which the mission is carried out will, of course, vary in different times and places. In the face of the recurring temptation to tailor it to worldly ways of thinking, we must constantly remind ourselves that Christ’s Church grows by attraction.
But what makes for this power of attraction? Certainly not our own ideas, strategies or programmes. Faith in Jesus Christ is not the fruit of consensus, nor can the People of God be reduced to a non-governmental organization. No, the power of attraction consists completely in the sublime gift that so amazed the Apostle Paul: “to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings” (Phil 3:10). This is our only boast: “the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 4:6), granted us by the Holy Spirit, the Giver of Life. This is the treasure that we, though earthen vessels (cf. v. 7), must offer to our world, so beloved yet so deeply troubled. We would not be faithful to the mission entrusted to us, were we to debase this treasure to a purely immanent humanism, adapted to the fashion of the moment. Nor would we be good guardians if we tried only to preserve it, burying it for fear of the world and its challenges (cf. Mt 25:25).

What is really needed is a new evangelical outreach. We are called to be a people that experiences and shares the joy of the Gospel, praises the Lord and serves our brothers and sisters with hearts burning with a desire to open up horizons of goodness and beauty unimaginable to those who have not been blessed truly to know Jesus. I am convinced that an increased missionary impulse will lead us to greater unity. Just as in the early days, preaching marked the springtime of the Church, so evangelization will mark the flowering of a new ecumenical spring. As in those days, let us gather in fellowship around the Master, not without a certain embarrassment about our constant vacillations, and, together with Peter, let us say to him: “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life (Jn 6:68).

Dear brothers and sisters, I wanted to take part personally in the celebrations marking this anniversary of the World Council, not least to reaffirm the commitment of the Catholic Church to the cause of ecumenism and to encourage cooperation with the member churches and with our ecumenical partners. In this regard, I would like to reflect briefly on the motto chosen for this day: Walking, Praying and Working Together.

Walking. Yes, but where? From all that has been said, I would suggest a two-fold movement: in and out. In, so as to move constantly to the center, to acknowledge that we are branches grafted onto the one vine who is Jesus (cf. Jn 15:1-8). We will not bear fruit unless we help one another to remain united to him. Out, towards the many existential peripheries of today’s world, in order to join in bringing the healing grace of the Gospel to our suffering brothers and sisters. We might ask ourselves whether we are walking in truth or simply in words, whether we present our brothers and sisters to the Lord out of true concern for them, or if they are removed from our real interests. We might ask ourselves too, whether we keep walking in our own footsteps, or are setting out with conviction to bring the Lord to our world.

Praying. In prayer too, like walking, we cannot move forward by ourselves because God’s grace is not so much tailored to fit each individual as spread harmoniously among believers who love one another. Whenever we say “Our Father”, we feel an echo within us of our being sons and daughters, but also of our being brothers and sisters. Prayer is the oxygen of ecumenism. Without prayer, communion becomes stifling and makes no progress, because we prevent the wind of the Spirit from driving us forward. Let us ask ourselves: How much do we pray for one another? The Lord prayed that we would be one: do we imitate him in this regard?

Working together. Here I would like to reaffirm that the Catholic Church acknowledges the special importance of the work carried out by the Faith and Order Commission and desires to keep contributing to that work through the participation of highly qualified theologians. The quest of Faith and Order for a common vision of the Church, together with its work of studying moral and ethical issues, touch areas crucial for the future of ecumenism. I would also mention the active presence of the Church in the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism; collaboration with the Office for Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation, most recently on the important theme of education for peace; and the joint preparation of texts for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. These and various other forms of working together are fundamental elements in a sound and time-tested cooperation. I also value the essential role played by the Bossey Ecumenical Institute in the training of future pastoral and academic leaders in many Christian Churches and Confessions worldwide. The Catholic Church has long participated in this educational project through the presence of a Catholic professor on the faculty, and each year I have the joy of greeting the group of students who visit Rome. I would likewise mention, as a good sign of “ecumenical team spirit”, the growing participation in the Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.

I would also note that the work of our Christian communities is rightly defined by the word diakonia. It is our way of following the Master who came “not to be served but to serve” (Mk 10:45). The broad gamut of services provided by the member churches of the World Council finds emblematic expression in the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace. The credibility of the Gospel is put to the test by the way Christians respond to the cry of all those, in every part of the world, who suffer unjustly from the baleful spread of an exclusion that, by generating poverty, foments conflicts. The more vulnerable are increasingly marginalized, lacking their daily bread, employment, and a future, while the rich are fewer and ever more wealthy. Let us be challenged to compassion by the cry of those who suffer: “the programme of the Christian is a heart that sees” (Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, 31). Let us see what we can do concretely, rather than grow discouraged about what we cannot. Let us also look to our many brothers and sisters in various parts of the world, particularly in the Middle East, who suffer because they are Christians. Let us draw close to them. May we never forget that our ecumenical journey is preceded and accompanied by an ecumenism already realized, the ecumenism of blood, which urges us to go forward.

Let us encourage one another to overcome the temptation to absolutize certain cultural paradigms and get caught up in partisan interests. Let us help men and women of good will to grow in concern for events and situations that affect a great part of humanity but seldom make it to the front page. We cannot look the other way. It is problematic when Christians appear indifferent towards those in need. Even more troubling is the conviction on the part of some, who consider their own blessings clear signs of God’s predilection rather than a summons to responsible service of the human family and the protection of creation. The Lord, the Good Samaritan of mankind (cf. Lk 10:29-37), will examine us on our love for our neighbor, for each of our neighbors (cf. Mt 25:31-46). So let us ask ourselves: What can we do together? If a particular form of service is possible, why not plan and carry it out together, and thus start to experience a more intense fraternity in the exercise of concrete charity?
Dear brothers and sisters, I renew to you my cordial thanks. Let us help one another to walk, pray and work together, so that, with God’s help, unity may grow and the world may believe. Thank you.
[00994-EN.01] [Original text: Italian] 

 

© Vatican Media

June 21, 2018 16:29Ecumenism and Interreligious dialogue, Pilgrimages

Pope Francis in Geneva: Address at WCC

© Vatican Media

Pope Francis in Geneva: Address at WCC Ecumenical Center (Full Text)

‘Walking in the Spirit means rejecting worldliness.’

June 21, 2018 13:57ZENIT StaffPilgrimages

Pope Francis began his June 21, 2018, ecumenical pilgrimage to mark the 70^th anniversary of the foundation of the World Council of Churches  (WCC) with an address to a prayer service at the WCC Ecumenical Center.

The Pope’s Full Address, provided by the Vatican

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We have heard the words addressed by the Apostle Paul to the Galatians, who were experiencing conflict and division. Groups were fighting and hurling accusations at one another. It is in this context that the Apostle, twice in the space of a few verses, invites us to “walk in the Spirit” (cf. Gal 5:16.25).

Walking. We human beings are constantly on the move. Throughout our lives, we are called to set out and keep walking: from our mother’s womb and at every stage of life, from when we first leave home to the day we depart from this earthly existence. The metaphor of walking reveals the real meaning of our life, a life that is not self-sufficient but always in search of something greater. Our hearts spur us to keep walking, to pursue a goal.

Walking is a discipline; it takes effort. It requires patience and exercise, day after day. We have to forego many other paths in order to choose the one that leads to the goal. We have to keep that goal constantly before us, lest we go astray. Remembering the goal. Walking also demands the humility to be prepared at times, when necessary, to retrace our steps. It also involves being concerned for our traveling companions, since only in company do we make good progress. Walking, in a word, demands constant conversion. That is why so many people refuse to do it. They prefer to remain in the quiet of their home, where it is easy to manage their affairs without facing the risks of travel. But that is to cling to a momentary security, incapable of bestowing the peace and joy for which our hearts yearn. That joy and peace can only be found by going out from ourselves.
That is what God has called us to do from the beginning. Abraham was told to leave his native land and to set out on a journey, equipped only with trust in God (cf. Gen 12). So too Moses, Peter and Paul, and all the Lord’s friends were constantly on the move. But Jesus himself set us the greatest example. He is himself the Way (cf. Jn 14:6). He left his divine state (cf. Phil 2:6-7) and came down to walk among us. Our Lord and Master, he became a wayfarer and a guest in our midst. When he returned to the Father, he granted us his Spirit, so that we too might have the strength to walk towards him. As Paul tells us: to walk in the Spirit.

In the Spirit. If we human beings are constantly on the move, and by closing our hearts to others we deny our very vocation, this is even more true of us Christians. For as Paul emphasizes, the Christian life involves an unavoidable decision. We can either walk in the Spirit along the path opened up by our baptism or else we can “gratify the desires of the flesh” (Gal 5:16). What does this last expression mean? It means thinking that the way to fulfillment is by acquiring possessions, selfishly attempting to store up here and now everything we desire. Rather than letting ourselves quietly be led where God would have us, we go our own way. It is easy to see the result of this tragic loss of direction. The thirst for material things blinds us to our companions along the way, and indifference prevails in the streets of today’s world. Driven by our instincts, we become slaves to unbridled consumerism, and God’s voice is gradually silenced. Other people, especially those who cannot walk on their own, like children and the elderly, then become nuisances to be cast aside. Creation then comes to have no other purpose than to supply our needs.

Dear brothers and sisters, today more than ever the words of the Apostle Paul challenge us. Walking in the Spirit means rejecting worldliness. It means opting for a mindset of service and growing in forgiveness. It means playing our part in history but in God’s good time, not letting ourselves be caught up in the whirlwind of corruption but advancing calmly on the way whose signpost is the “one commandment: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (v. 14). The path of the Spirit is marked by the milestones that Paul sets forth: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (v. 22).

We are called, together, to walk along this path. This calls for constant conversion and the renewal of our way of thinking so that it can conform to that of the Holy Spirit. In the course of history, divisions between Christians have often arisen because at their root, in the life of communities, a worldly mindset has seeped in. First, self-concern took priority over concern for Christ. Once this happened, the Enemy of God and man had no difficulty in separating us, because the direction we were taking was that of the flesh, not of the Spirit. Even some past attempts to end those divisions failed miserably because they were chiefly inspired by a worldly way of thinking. Yet the ecumenical movement, to which the World Council of Churches has made so great a contribution, came about as a grace of the Holy Spirit (cf. Unitatis Redintegratio, 1). Ecumenism made us set out in accordance with Christ’s will, and it will be able to progress if, following the lead of the Spirit, it constantly refuses to withdraw into itself.

It might be objected that to walk in this way is to operate at a loss, since it does not adequately protect the interests of individual communities, often closely linked to ethnic identity or split along party lines, whether “conservative” or “progressive”. To choose to belong to Jesus before belonging to Apollos or Cephas (cf. 1 Cor 1:12); to belong to Christ before being “Jew or Greek” (cf. Gal 3:28); to belong to the Lord before identifying with right or left; to choose, in the name of the Gospel, our brother or our sister over ourselves… In the eyes of the world, this often means operating at a loss. Let us not be afraid to operate at a loss! Ecumenism is “a great enterprise operating at a loss”. But the loss is evangelical, reflecting the words of Jesus: “Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it” (Lk 9:24). To save only what is ours is to walk according to the flesh; to lose everything in the footsteps of Jesus is to walk in the Spirit. Only in this way does the Lord’s vineyard bear fruit. As Jesus himself teaches, those who store up riches for themselves bear no fruit in the Lord’s vineyard, only those who, by serving others, imitate the “mindset” of God, who never stops giving, even to the gift of his very self (cf. Mt 21:33-42). Such is the mindset of Easter, which alone truly bears fruit.

Looking at our own journey, we can see a reflection of ourselves in some of the experiences of the early communities of Galatia. How difficult it is to overcome hard feelings and to foster communion! How hard it is to leave behind centuries-old disagreements and mutual recriminations! It is even more formidable to withstand the subtle temptation to join others, to walk together, but for the sake of satisfying some partisan interest. This is not the “mindset” of the Apostle, but that of Judas, who walked with Jesus but for his own purposes. There is only one way to shore up our wavering footsteps: to walk in the Spirit, purifying our hearts of evil, choosing with holy tenacity the way of the Gospel and rejecting the shortcuts offered by this world.

After so many years of ecumenical commitment, on this seventieth anniversary of the World Council, let us ask the Spirit to strengthen our steps. All too easily we halt before our continuing differences; all too often we are blocked from the outset by a certain weariness and lack of enthusiasm. Our differences must not be excuses. Even now we can walk in the Spirit: we can pray, evangelize and serve together. This is possible and it is pleasing to God! Walking, praying and working together: this is the great path that we are called to follow today.

And this path has a clear aim, that of unity. The opposite path, that of division, leads to conflict and breakup. We need but open our history books. The Lord bids us set out ever anew on the path of communion that leads to peace. Our lack of unity is in fact “openly contrary to the will of Christ, but is also a scandal to the world and harms the most holy of causes: the preaching of the Gospel to every creature” (Unitatis Redintegratio, 1). The Lord asks us for unity; our world, torn by all too many divisions that affect the most vulnerable, begs for unity.

Dear brothers and sisters, I have desired to come here, a pilgrim in quest of unity and peace. I thank God because here I have found you, brothers and sisters already making this same journey. For us as Christians, walking together is not a ploy to strengthen our own positions, but an act of obedience to the Lord and love for our world. Obedience to God and love for our world, the true love that saves. Let us ask the Father to help us walk together all the more resolutely in the ways of the Spirit. May the Cross guide our steps because there, in Jesus, the walls of separation have already been torn down and all enmity overcome (cf. Eph 2:14). In him, we will come to see that, for all our failings, nothing will ever separate us from his love (cf. Rom 8:35-39). Thank you.

© Libreria Editrice Vatican

June 21, 2018 13:57Pilgrimages

Pope's World Council of Churches visit

Pope's World Council of Churches visit takes on significance in divisive era

June 21 one-day trip is being styled as an 'ecumenical pilgrimage'

Jun 18, 2018

by Joshua J. McElwee

Vatican

Pictured in April 2015, St. Peter (St. Pierre) Cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland, was built between 1160 and 1252. Following some destruction in 1535 and the Protestant Reformation, it now is part of the Reformed Protestant Church of Geneva. (Wikimedia Commons/Yair Haklai) 

 

Pope Francis' upcoming visit to Geneva to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches, a fellowship of 348 Christian denominations, is taking on special significance because of the increasingly divisive nature of global politics, say several former ecumenical dialogue participants.

The June 21 one-day trip — only the third such visit by a pope to the council's headquarters, with the last undertaken by John Paul II in 1984 — could work to highlight the possibility of living in harmony even amidst sometimes stubborn and long-lived disagreements, they say.

"What we're seeing around the world with the rise of populist and nationalist movements is greater and greater fragmentation," said Brooklyn Auxiliary Bishop James Massa, who led the U.S. bishops' ecumenical and interreligious secretariat from 2005-2011.

"When the Bishop of Rome gathers with leaders of other Christian communions, he and they are making a statement about the unity to which God calls us, not only as members of the Christian family but as members of the human family," said Massa.

The pope's visit to the World Council of Churches, which is being styled as an "ecumenical pilgrimage" and takes the theme "Waking, Praying and Working Together," will primarily consist of three brief encounters: an ecumenical meeting, an ecumenical prayer, and a lunch with the organization's leadership.

Pope John Paul II listens as the Rev. Philip Potter, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, speaks during the pope's visit to the WCC in Geneva June 12, 1984. Also pictured is Metropolitan Emilianos Timiades, right. Pope Francis is scheduled to attend an ecumenical prayer service and meeting at the WCC during a one-day visit to Geneva June 21. (CNS/Peter Williams, courtesy of World Council of Churches) 

 

Paulist Fr. Ron Roberson, the current associate director at the U.S. bishops' secretariat, called the pope's coming visit "an expression of the Catholic Church's support for the World Council and the work that it's been doing."

The World Council of Churches was an outgrowth of a late 19th-century ecumenical movement that brought together many Protestant denominations and Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches. More than 100 churches voted to found the organization at the end of the 1930s, but its first assembly was delayed until 1948 due to World War II.

The group holds an assembly every six years; the last was held in South Korea in 2013.

Maryknoll Sr. Joan Delaney, who worked for the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in the 1980s and was assigned to the staff of the World Council's Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, noted that the June 21 trip is the first of a pontiff specifically coming to visit the World Council.

When Pope Paul VI visited the organization in 1969, he had primarily come to Geneva for the 50th anniversary of the International Labor Organization. In 1984, John Paul spent five days in Switzerland and visited a total of 14 cities.

"It's very significant that we would celebrate specifically this anniversary with them," said Delaney.
Massa, who Francis appointed to Brooklyn in 2015, said the pope "wants to honor the legacy" of the council, which he also called "a catalyst for the Catholic engagement with the modern ecumenical movement."

He remarked on the influence that World Council documents had on renowned theologian Dominican Fr. Yves Congar, evinced in both his 1966 book Tradition and Traditions and in the priest's drafts that led to the Second Vatican Council document Dei Verbum.

"You can see the streams that are flowing into official Catholic doctrine as articulated by the council that are coming out of these ecumenical discussions that were sponsored by the WCC," Massa said. "It's just a great legacy."

Among specific issues expected to be discussed by the Francis and World Council leadership are those that have most defined Francis' papacy: immigration, climate change and the range of global conflicts.

Pope Paul VI greets members of the Protestant community of Geneva during his visit to the World Council of Churches in Geneva June 10, 1969. (CNS/Courtesy of World Council of Churches)

Msgr. John Radano, who was a staff member at Christian Unity from 1984-2008 and participated in a number of the Catholic Church's dialogues with Protestant denominations, said care for creation might be a particular area of discussion as the council, like Francis, has expressed "deep concern" about environmental destruction.

Delaney, however, wondered if it might not be time for the Christian leaders to have a frank conversation about a difficult topic: the primacy of the pope, bishop of Rome, among the churches. She said that after his 1984 visit, John Paul II had asked the council to consider the matter.
"I think it would be an appropriate time to evaluate where that discussion is at," she said.
"If you just discuss [other] things it can be a meeting of something like NGOs," said Delaney, adopting language Francis has often used to warn against the Catholic Church acting as if it were a nongovernmental organization.

"What these things have to be discussed in is in the light of Christian unity," she said. "How far do these efforts promote or hinder Christian unity? That tends sometimes to be a bit overlooked."
Delaney noted that the conversation around papal primacy is "very difficult," but said finding unity is "the fundamental aim of the World Council, and it's our fundamental aim in cooperation with them."
"One issue is that when the problems are difficult, you tend to move into things that are more practical and more satisfying and less controversial," she added. "So you have to be called back to the original purpose."

Radano, now an adjunct theology professor at Seton Hall University, said the World Council had recently brought up the issue of papal primacy in a 2013 document written by its Faith and Order Commission, titled "The Church: Towards a Common Vision."

While that document did not go into depth about the matter, he said the fact it even mentioned the issue was "very important."

The commission said that there had been "significant ecumenical discussion" about a "universal ministry of primacy" but that "there is still much work to be done to arrive at a convergence" on the issue.

Radano said the 2013 study pointed to one of the benefits to the Catholic Church's ongoing dialogue with the World Council, which takes place through a Joint Working Group. He said the group does a "particular service to the whole ecumenical movement" by occasionally undertaking theological studies.

"It helps to keep people informed with ecumenical developments," he said. "In a certain way, the study documents provide a source for a think tank on what is going on in the ecumenical movement."
Delaney said the dialogue between the Catholic Church and the World Council is of unique value among the many such ecumenical dialogues.

"It's the only way we can keep in touch with developments in the Protestant churches and how they help or hinder Christian unity," she said. "So, it's very important."

Francis' trip to Geneva will be his 23rd outside Italy. Switzerland will be the 34th country he has visited.

Among those trips, the pope has taken four other one-day visits: to Tirana in Albania, to Strasbourg in France for speeches to the European Council and Parliament, to Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to the Greek island of Lesbos to visit migrants entering Europe.

Francis' next scheduled visit is to Ireland Aug. 25-26, to participate in the World Meeting of Families.
*An earlier version of this story made an incorrect claim about Pope Francis' upcoming celebration of the Mass in Geneva.

[Joshua J. McElwee is NCR Vatican correspondent. His email address is jmcelwee@ncronline.org. Follow him on Twitter: @joshjmac.]