ol’ s s e rvator e romano tiziana maria di blasio, lecturers on church history at the pontifical...

Price € 1,00. Back issues € 2,00

L’O S S E RVATOR E ROMANOWEEKLY EDITION

Unicuique suum

IN ENGLISHNon praevalebunt

Fifty-first year, number 3 (2530) Vatican City Friday, 19 January 2018

The weaponsof unity

Pope Francis on an Apostolic Journey with the people of Chile

Sowing peace through closeness

CONTINUED ON PA G E 12

GI O VA N N I MARIA VIAN

The Pope’s visit to Chile concludedwith a Mass in Iquique, in the coun-try’s northern desert region. ThePontiff then went on to Peru, the lastdestination of his sixth visit to theAmericas. After a day spent entirelyin the Chilean capital, the final por-tion of his itinerary in Chile was, asPope Bergoglio had planned, dedic-ated to encounters with the indigen-ous peoples of Temuco, the capital ofAraucanía in southern Chile, thenwith young people in the nationalShrine of Maipú, and lastly with thestudents, instructors and staff of thePontifical Catholic University in San-tiago.

In these days spent in Chile thePontiff continually directed his gazetoward the future of the country:thus he spoke to the entire universitycommunity about national coexist-ence and about the need to “p ro g re s sas a community”, while with theyouth, Francis shared somewhat of aprelude to the meeting that will in-troduce the Synod dedicated to themin October. “What would Christ doin my place?”, the Jesuit AlbertoHurtado had wondered, and thePope repeatedly addressed the samequestion to the young people, recom-mending that they ask themselvesthis at every moment.

During the encounter with youngpeople, Francis wished to read sever-al words which had been addressedto them by another of Chile’s greatCatholic figures, Cardinal Raúl SilvaHenríquez. The Cardinal’s words re-turned to the Pope’s lips severaltimes. Be like the Samaritans andCyrenes; like Zaccheus, “who turnshis heart from materialism to solidar-ity”; like Mary Magdalene, “passion-ately seeking love, who finds in Jesusalone the answers she needs”; andhave the heart of Peter, the love ofJohn, the openness of Mary, thegreat Archbishop of Santiago had re-commended.

Upon arriving in Auracanía, thePope used the verses of two poets,Gabriela Mistral and Violeta Parra,to describe the beauty and the painof this land tortured by “the in-justices of centuries”. With an expli-cit and moving recollection of thedark years of the recent military dic-tatorship, during which the Maque-hue aerodrome, where Francis celeb-rated Mass, had been “the site ofgrave violations of human rights”: forthis reason the Mass was offered “for

Pope Francis began his Apostolic Journey to Chile and Peru, arriving inSantiago, Chile on Monday evening, 15 January. On Tuesday, 16 Janua-ry his day in Chile’s capital city included Mass, a visit with inmates atthe women’s penitentiary, and meetings with Authorities, bishops andmembers of the religious community. On Wednesday the 17th, he travel-led to Temuco in the country’s southern region, where he celebratedMass and met with indigenous peoples and had lunch with them beforereturning to Santiago for a meeting with youth and a visit to the Catho-lic University. On Thursday the 18th, he travelled to Iquique where hecelebrated Mass and had lunch with the Papal entourage at the retreathouse of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary before departing for Peru,where he arrived on Thursday evening. Coverage of his visit to Chilebegins on page 5. See next week’s issue for coverage of his encounterwith Chile’s young people and of his time in Peru.

The Holy Father celebrated Massin Saint Peter’s Basilica for WorldDay of Migrants and Refugees onSunday, 14 January.

PAGE 3

Overcome fears

L’OSSERVATORE ROMANOWEEKLY EDITION

Unicuique suumIN ENGLISHNon praevalebunt

Vatican Citye d . e n g l i s h @ o s s ro m .v a

w w w. o s s e r v a t o re ro m a n o .v a

GI O VA N N I MARIA VIANEditor-in-Chief

Giuseppe FiorentinoAssistant Editor

Editorial officevia del Pellegrino, 00120 Vatican City

telephone +390669899300, fax +390669883675

TIPO GRAFIA VAT I C A N A EDITRICEL’OS S E R VAT O R E ROMANO

don Sergio Pellini S.D.B.Director General

Photo [email protected] w w w. p h o t o .v a

Advertising AgencyIl Sole 24 Ore S.p.A.

System Comunicazione PubblicitariaVia Monte Rosa 91, 20149 Milano

s e g re t e r i a d i re z i o n e s y s t e m @ i l s o l e 2 4 o re . c o m

Subscription rates: Italy - Vatican: € 58.00; Europe: € 100.00 - US$ 148.00 £ 80.00; Latin America, Africa,Asia: € 110.00 - US$ 160.00 - £ 88.00; Oceania, North America: € 162.00 - US$ 240.00 - £ 130.00.Management Office: phone +390669899480; fax +390669885164; e-mail [email protected] India: The weekly English Edition of L'Osservatore Romano is published and distributed inIndia by Carmel International Publishing House, Cotton Hill, Trivandrum- 695 014, Kerala-India;phone: +91471327253, fax: +91471328191, 329934; e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] North America: L’Osservatore Romano (USPS 016-419) is published fifty times per year (weekly, except third week inAugust and last week in December) by Our Sunday Visitor, L’Osservatore Romano, English Edition, 200 Noll Plaza,Huntington, IN 46750. Periodicals Postage Pending at Huntington, IN, and additional mailing offices, USA – phone:800-348-2440 x2171; fax: 866-891-7390 – e-mail: [email protected]: Send address changes to Our Sunday Visitor, 200 Noll Plaza, Huntington, IN 46750

page 2 L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO Friday, 19 January 2018, number 3

VAT I C A NBULLETIN

AUDIENCES

Wednesday, 10 January

Bishop Santiago Olivera, MilitaryOrdinary for ArgentinaThursday, 11 January

Archbishop Luis Francisco LadariaFerrer, S J, Prefect of the Congrega-tion for the Doctrine of the FaithMr Gilbert F. Houngbo, Presidentof the International Fund for Agri-cultural Development (I FA D )Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, titularArchbishop of Victoriana, ApostolicNuncio in ColombiaArchbishop Marek Solczyński, titu-lar Archbishop of Caesarea inMauretania, Apostolic Nuncio inTa n z a n i aPastor Jens-Martin Kruse, of theEvangelical Lutheran Community ofRome, with his familyCardinal Stanisław Ryłko, Archpriestof the Papal Basilica of Saint MaryMajorH.E. Mr Jonghyu Jeong, Ambassad-or of Korea, on a farewell visitFriday, 12 January

Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect ofthe Congregation for the Evangeliz-ation of PeoplesHon. Mr Nicola Zingaretti, Presid-ent of the Lazio RegionHon. Mrs Virginia Raggi, Mayor ofRome

Saturday, 13 January

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, PSS, Prefectof the Congregation for BishopsBishop Claudio Cipolla of Padua,ItalyCardinal Dominique Mamberti, Pre-fect of the Supreme Tribunal of theApostolic SignaturaArchbishop Salvatore Fisichella,President of the Pontifical Councilfor the Promotion of the New Evan-gelizationMsgr Luigi Mistò, Secretary of theAdministration of the Secretariat forthe EconomyCardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, SDB,Bishop emeritus of Hong Kong,China

OR I E N TA L CHURCHES

The Holy Father accepted the resig-nation of Bishop AnthonyChirayath, of the Eparchy of Sagarfor Syro-Malabars, India (12 Jan.).The Holy Father appointed FrJames Athikalam, M S T, as Bishop ofSagar for Syro-Malabars. Until nowhe has served as Director of theNirmal Jyoti Mental Health Pro-gramme of Bhopal, India (12 Jan.).

Bishop-elect Athikalam, 59, wasborn in Pulincunnoo, India. He wasordained a priest on 22 March 1984.He holds a licence in Sacred Scrip-ture, a Master’s in literature and a

doctorate in patrology. He hasserved in parish ministry and as:professor and procurator of theMinor Seminary of Ujjain; professorat the MST Minor Seminary; directorof the Missionary OrientationCourse; professor of patrology at theRuhalaya Major Seminary of whichhe later became rector; director gen-eral of the Missionary Society ofSaint Thomas the Apostle.

The Synod of Bishops of the MajorArchiepiscopal Syro-MalabarChurch, having accepted the resig-nation of Bishop Mathew Anikuzhi-kattil, of the Eparchy of Idukki, In-dia and received Pontifical assent,appointed Fr John Nellikunnel asBishop of the Eparchy of Idukki.Until now he has served as Dean ofthe Faculty of Philosophy at SaintJoseph’s Pontifical Seminary,Mangalapuzha (12 Jan.).

Bishop-elect Nellikunnel, 44, wasborn in Kadaplamattom, India. Hewas ordained a priest on 30 Decem-ber 1998. He then served in parishministry. He was sent to Romewhere he obtained a licence and adoctorate in philosophy. On return-ing to his diocese he served as: Ep-archial chancellor; secretary to theBishop; director of catechesis and ofthe Biblical apostolate.

CO N G R E G AT I O N FOR THECAU S E S OF SAINTS

The Holy Father appointed as mem-bers of the Congregation for theCauses of Saints: Archbishop Vin-cenzo Paglia, Bishop emeritus of

Terni-Narni-Amelia, Italy, Presidentof the Pontifical Academy for Life,and Bishop Demetrio FernándezGonzález, of Córdoba, Spain (11Jan.).On Saturday, 13 January, the HolyFather appointed as Consultors tothe Congregation for the Causes ofSaints Fr Silvano Giordano, O CD, FrRoberto Fornaciari, OSB. Cam, andProfessor Tiziana Maria Di Blasio,lecturers on Church History at thePontifical Gregorian University inRome.

PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FORPROMOTING CHRISTIAN UNITY

The Holy Father appointed as mem-ber of the Pontifical Council forPromoting Christian Unity Arch-bishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Fer-rer, S J, titular Archbishop of Thibica,Prefect of the Congregation for theDoctrine of the Faith. Until now hehas been consultor to the sameCouncil (11 Jan.).

SPECIAL ENVOY

The Holy Father appointed CardinalRoger Michael Mahony, Archbishopemeritus of Los Angeles, as his Spe-cial Envoy to the celebration of the150th anniversary of the foundationof the Diocese of Scranton, USA, tobe held on 4 March (13 Jan.).

NECROLO GY

Bishop Remídio José Bohn ofCachoeira do Sul, Brazil, at age 67(6 Jan.)Bishop Geevarghese DivannasiosOttathengil, Bishop emeritus of Pu-thur for Syro-Malankars, India, atage 67 (16 Jan.)Bishop Eugeniusz Juretzko, OMI,Bishop emeritus of Yokadouma,Cameroon, at age 78 (16 Jan.)

With the Mayor of Rome

On Friday, 12 January, the Holy Fathermet with the Mayor of Rome, Mrs Virginia Raggi.

President of the Lazio Region

On Friday, 12 January, the Pope metMr Nicola Zingaretti, President of Italy’s Lazio Region.

number 3, Friday, 19 January 2018 L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO page 3

Overcome our fearsPope Francis marks World Day of Migrants and Refugees

The fears of those who welcome and of those who are welcomed are“based on doubts that are fully comprehensible from a human point ofview”, but “the sin is to allow these fears to determine our responses, tolimit our choices, to compromise respect and generosity, to feed hostilityand rejection”. Pope Francis emphasized this in his homily during Massin Saint Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, 14 January, World Day ofMigrants and Refugees. The following is the English text.

This year I wanted to celebratethe World Day of Migrants andRefugees with a Mass that in-vites and welcomes you espe-cially who are migrants, refugeesand asylum seekers. Some ofyou have recently arrived inItaly, others are long-time resid-ents and work here, and stillothers make up the so-called“second-generation”.

For everyone in this assembly,the Word of God has resonatedand today invites us to deepenthe special call that the Lordaddresses to each one of us. Ashe did with Samuel (cf. 1 Sam3:3b-10, 19), he calls us by name— each one of us — and asks usto honour the fact that each ofus has been created a uniqueand unrepeatable being, eachdifferent from the others andeach with a singular role in thehistory of the world. In theGospel (cf. Jn 1:35-42), the twodisciples of John ask Jesus,“Where do you live?” (v. 38),implying that the reply to thisquestion would determine theirjudgment upon the master fromNazareth. The response of Jesusis clear: “Come and see!” (v. 39)and opens up to a personal en-counter which requires sufficienttime to welcome, to know and toacknowledge the other.

In the Message for this year’sWorld Day of Migrants andRefugees I have written, “Everystranger who knocks at our dooris an opportunity for an en-counter with Jesus Christ, whoidentifies with the welcomedand rejected strangers of everyage (Mt 25:35, 43).” And for thestranger, the migrant, the

refugee, the asylum seeker andthe displaced person, every doorin a new land is also an oppor-tunity to encounter Jesus. Hisinvitation, “Come and see!”, isaddressed today to all of us, tolocal communities and to newarrivals. It is an invitation toovercome our fears so as to en-counter the other, to welcome,to know and to acknowledgehim or her. It is an invitationwhich offers the opportunity todraw near to the other and seewhere and how he or she lives.In today’s world, for new ar-rivals to welcome, to know andto acknowledge means to knowand respect the laws, the cultureand the traditions of the coun-tries that take them in. It evenincludes understanding theirfears and apprehensions for thefuture. For local communities towelcome, to know and to ac-knowledge newcomers means toopen themselves without preju-

dices to their rich diversity, tounderstand the hopes and po-tential of the newly arrived aswell as their fears and vulnerab-ilities.

True encounter with the otherdoes not end with welcome, butinvolves us all in the three fur-ther actions which I spelled outin the Message for this Day: toprotect, to promote and to integ-rate. In the true encounter withthe neighbour, are we capable ofrecognizing Jesus Christ who isasking to be welcomed, protec-ted, promoted and integrated?As the Gospel parable of the fi-nal judgment teaches us: theLord was hungry, thirsty, naked,sick, a stranger and in prison —by some he was helped and byothers not (cf. Mt 25:31-46).This true encounter with Christis source of salvation, a salva-tion which should be an-nounced and brought to all, asthe apostle Andrew shows us.After revealing to his brother Si-mon, “We have found the Mes-siah” (Jn 1:41), Andrew bringshim to Jesus so that Simon canhave the same experience of en-c o u n t e r.

It is not easy to enter into an-other culture, to put oneself inthe shoes of people so different

from us, to understand theirthoughts and their experiences.As a result we often refuse toencounter the other and raisebarriers to defend ourselves.Local communities are some-times afraid that the newly ar-rived will disturb the establishedorder, will ‘steal’ something theyhave long laboured to build up.And the newly arrived also havefears: they are afraid of con-frontation, judgment, discrimin-ation, failure. These fears are le-gitimate, based on doubts thatare fully comprehensible from ahuman point of view. Havingdoubts and fears is not a sin.The sin is to allow these fears todetermine our responses, to lim-it our choices, to compromiserespect and generosity, to feedhostility and rejection. The sinis to refuse to encounter theother, to encounter the different,to encounter the neighbour,when this is in fact a privilegedopportunity to encounter theLord. From this encounter withJesus present in the poor, the re-jected, the refugee, the asylumseeker, flows our prayer oftoday. It is a reciprocal prayer:migrants and refugees pray forlocal communities, and localcommunities pray for the newlyarrived and for migrants whohave been here longer. To thematernal intercession of MaryMost Holy we entrust the hopesof all the world’s migrants andrefugees and the aspirations ofthe communities which welcomethem. In this way, responding tothe supreme commandment ofcharity and love of neighbour,may we all learn to love the oth-er, the stranger, as ourselves.

L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO Friday, 19 January 2018, number 3

The Holy Father’s request at the Angelus

Accompany me with your prayers

Dear Brothers and Sisters,Good morning!As in the Feast of the Epiphanyand in that of the Baptism ofJesus, so too today’s Gospelpassage (cf. Jn 1:35-42) proposesthe theme of the manifestation ofthe Lord. This time it is Johnthe Baptist who points Him outto his disciples as “the Lamb ofGo d” (v. 36), thus inviting themto follow Him. And thus it is forus: the One whom we have con-templated in the Mystery ofChristmas, we are now called tofollow in daily life. Therefore,to day’s Gospel passage intro-duces us perfectly into OrdinaryLiturgical Time, a time thathelps to invigorate and affirmour journey of faith in ordinarylife, in a dynamic that movesbetween epiphany and sequela,between manifestation and voca-tion.

The Gospel narrative indic-ates the essential characteristicsof the journey of faith. There isa journey of faith, and this isthe journey of the disciples ofall times, ours too, beginningwith the question that Jesus asksthe two who, urged by theBaptist, set out to follow Him:“What do you seek?” (v. 38). It isthe same question that the Ris-en One asks Mary Magdaleneon Easter morning: “Wo m a n ,whom do you seek?” (cf. Jn20:15). Each of us, as a humanbeing, is seeking: seeking happi-ness, seeking love, a good and

full life. God the Father has giv-en us all this in his Son Jesus.

In this search, the role of atrue witness — of a person whofirst made the journey and en-countered the Lord — is funda-mental. In the Gospel, John theBaptist is this witness. For thisreason he is able to direct thedisciples toward Jesus, who en-gages them in a new experience,saying: “Come and see” (Jn1:39). And those two [disciples]will never forget the beauty ofthat encounter, to the extentthat the Evangelist even notesthe time of it: “It was about thetenth hour” (ibid.). Only a per-sonal encounter with Jesus en-genders a journey of faith andof discipleship. We will be ableto experience many things, toaccomplish many things, to es-tablish relationships with manypeople, but only the appoint-ment with Jesus, at that hourthat God knows, can give fullmeaning to our life and renderour plans and our initiativesf ru i t f u l .

It is not enough to build animage of God based on thewords that are heard; one mustgo in search of the divine Mas-ter and go to where he lives.The two disciples ask Jesus,“where are you staying?” (v. 38).This question has a powerfulspiritual meaning: it expressesthe wish to know where theLord lives, so as to abide withhim. The life of faith consists in

the wish to abide in the Lord,and thus in a continuing searchfor the place where he lives.This means that we are called tosurpass a methodical and pre-dictable religiosity, rekindlingthe encounter with Jesus inprayer, in meditating on theWord of God and in practicingthe Sacraments, in order toabide with him and bear fruitthanks to him, to his help, tohis grace.

Seeking Jesus, encounteringJesus, following Jesus: this is thejourney. Seeking Jesus, encoun-tering Jesus, following Jesus.

May the Virgin Mary supportus in this prospect of followingJesus, of going to abide wherehe lives, in order to listen to hisWord of life, to adhere to himwho takes away the sin of theworld, to recover in him hopeand spiritual impulse.

After reciting the Angelus, theHoly Father continued:

Dear brothers and sisters,today is the World Day of Mi-grants and Refugees. Thismorning I celebrated Mass witha large group of migrants andrefugees residing in the Dioceseof Rome. In my Message forthis Day I emphasized that mi-grations today are a sign of thetimes. “Every stranger whoknocks at our door is an oppor-tunity for an encounter with Je-sus Christ, who identifies withthe welcomed and rejectedstrangers of every age (Ma t t h e w25:35-43)”.... In this regard, Iwish to reaffirm that “our sharedresponse may be articulated byfour verbs” which are foundedon the principles of the Doc-trine of the Church: “to wel-come, to protect, to promoteand to integrate”. From now on,for pastoral reasons, the World

Day of Migrants and Refugeeswill be celebrated on the secondSunday of September. The next,namely, the 105th, will be onSunday, 8 September 2019.

Tomorrow I will set out forChile and Peru. I ask you to ac-company me with your prayerson this Apostolic Journey.

I greet all of you, people ofRome and pilgrims: families,parish groups and associations.

I address a special greeting tothe Latin American communityof Santa Lucia in Rome, whichis celebrating 25 years since itsfounding. En este felízaniversario, le pido al Señor queles colme de bendiciones para quepuedan seguir dando testimonio desu fe en medio de las dificultades,alegrías, sacrificios y esperanzas desu experiencia migratoria. Gracias.

And I wish a happy Sundayto all. Please, do not forget topray for me. Enjoy your lunch.Ar r i v e d e rc i !

At the Angelus on Sunday, 14 January, World Day of Migrants andRefugees and the eve of his departure for his Apostolic Journey to Chileand Peru, Pope Francis shared a reflection on the day’s Gospel passagewith the faithful who had gathered in Saint Peter’s Square. Heannounced that beginning in 2019 the current World Day will becelebrated in September. He also asked the faithful to accompany himwith prayers during his Apostolic Journey to the two South Americancountries. The following is a translation of the Holy Father’s reflection,which he shared in Italian.


In Chile Pope Francis recalls that justice and the common good are acquired day by day

Building the future through listening

A return to Chile

The Pontiff speaks to reporters on flight to Santiago de Chile

Work for Nuclear Disarmament


The Pope’s journey to Chile andPeru, the sixth in the five years ofhis Pontificate, is a return to Lat-in America. And a return to San-tiago, in a country where theyoung Bergoglio completed partof his formation, as he wished torecall — with gratitude and quot-ing verses by the national poetGabriela Mistral — in his greetingto the authorities in the Presiden-tial Palace of Moneda. In a dis-course which unhesitatingly ad-dressed the main points of thisjourney during the bicentenary ofChile’s Independence.

First and foremost with praisefor the democratic method,demonstrated through the exerciseof the vote in political electionswhich a month ago confirmed thelegitimacy of a presidency afteryears of military dictatorship,gone but certainly not forgotten.Such democracies, though neces-sary, would prove inadequateshould the common and everydaywill to contribute to the good ofthe country not be substantiated.In fact, we are “builders of themost beautiful work: our home-land”, the Pontiff said, quotingthe words of Cardinal Raúl SilvaHenríquez, the Archbishop whowas able to withstand the darkestperiod in Chile’s recent historyand who several years before thecoup d’état had emphasized thatthis construction should indeed beeveryone’s responsibility.

The Pontiff associated thesewords with those of another fig-ure dear to him and canonized byhis Predecessor: Alberto Hurtado,the Jesuit who conceived of thenation as “a mission to be ful-filled”, above all through listen-ing, in a country characterized byplurality. Thus one must listen tothe unemployed and the indigen-ous peoples — who are “often for-gotten” and whose rights and cul-ture should instead be encour-aged —, to migrants and youngpeople — who must be protectedagainst “the scourge of drugs” —,to the elderly and to children,Francis enumerated.

In this regard, in a Catholiccontext marred by the dire phe-nomenon of abuse, the Pope ex-pressed his “pain and shame atthe irreparable damage caused tochildren by some ministers of theC h u rc h ”. For this reason, togetherwith the Episcopate of Chile, thePontiff stated that “it is right toask for forgiveness and makeevery effort to support the vic-tims”, and to undertake to ensurethat this scandal, which has soseverely threatened the credibilityof the clergy, never happensagain.

Shortly after his arrival in San-tiago and during the flight thattook him to Chile, Pope Ber-goglio made two equally powerfulgestures. As the first act of his vis-



Madam President,Members of the Government ofthe Republic and of theDiplomatic Corps,Representatives of Civil Society,Distinguished Authorities,Ladies and Gentlemen,It is a joy for me to stand onceagain on Latin American soil andbegin this visit to Chile, this landso close to my heart, which wel-comed and schooled me in myyounger years. I would like mytime with you also to be a momentof gratitude for that welcome. Ithink of a stanza of your nationalanthem, which I just heard: “Howpure, Chile, are your blue skies /How pure the breezes that sweepacross you / And your countrysideembroidered with flowers / Is thevery image of Eden”. It is a truesong of praise for this land, so fullof promises and challenges, but es-pecially of hope for the future. Ina certain sense, this is what Presid-ent Bachelet said.

Thank you, Madam President,for your words of welcome.Through you, I would like to greetand embrace all the Chileanpeople, from the extreme northernregion of Arica and Parinacota tothe southern archipelago with its“riot of peninsulas and canals”.1

Their rich geographical diversitygives us a glimpse of the rich cul-tural polyphony that is also theircharacteristic feature.

I am grateful for the presence ofthe members of the Government,the Presidents of the Senate, theChamber of Deputies and the Su-preme Court, as well as the otherstate authorities and their officials.I greet the President-elect, Mr Se-bastián Piñera Echenique, who re-cently received the mandate of theChilean people to govern thecountry for the next four years.

Chile has distinguished itself inrecent decades by the growth of ademocracy that has enabled steadyprogress. The recent political elec-tions were a demonstration of thesolidity and civic maturity that you

have achieved, which takes on par-ticular significance in this yearmarking the two-hundredth an-niversary of the declaration of in-dependence. That was a particu-larly important moment, for itshaped your destiny as a peoplefounded on freedom and law, onethat has faced moments of turmoil,at times painful, yet succeeded insurmounting them. In this way,you have been able to consolidateand confirm the dream of yourfounding fathers.

In this regard, I remember theemblematic words of Cardinal

Silva Henríquez’s in a Te Deumhomily: “We — all of us — a rebuilders of the most beautifulwork: our homeland. The earthlyhomeland that prefigures and pre-pares the (heavenly) homelandthat has no borders. That home-land does not begin today, withus; but it cannot grow and bearfruit without us. That is why wereceived it with respect, with grat-itude, as a task begun many yearsago, as a legacy that inspires in usboth pride and commitment”.2

Each new generation must takeup the struggles and attainmentsof past generations, while settingits own sights even higher. This isthe path. Goodness, together withlove, justice and solidarity, are notachieved once and for all; they

On Tuesday morning 16 January, the Pope met political and civil authoritiesand members of the diplomatic corps in La Moneda Palace in Santiago deChile. Following a welcome address by President Michelle Bachelet, thePontiff shared a discourse in his native Spanish. The following is the Englishtext of the Pontiff’s address.

In an international context in whicha mishap could trigger war, it is ne-cessary to work for nuclear disarma-ment. Pope Francis stressed this onMonday morning, 15 January, in re-sponse to a reporter’s question putto him on the plane traveling toSantiago de Chile. The questionwas asked by one of the 70 journal-ists aboard the flight, after Vaticanstaff distributed a black and whitephotograph of two victims of theatomic bombing of Nagasaki in

1945. On the back, Pope Francishad written “the fruits of war”.

The image, published in L’Osser-vatore Romano on 31 December,shows a young Japanese boy carry-ing his little dead brother on hisshoulders. He is waiting in line todeliver the lifeless body to authorit-ies for cremation. Pope Francis saidthat he had come across the photo-graph by chance and, very moved,had wanted to share it because suchan image “says more than a thou-sand words”.

Greeting the journalists at thestart of his 22nd journey, the Pontiffnoted that the duration of theflight, 15 hours and 40 minutes, al-lowed plenty of time for rest butalso for work. Thanking the journal-ists for their work, he said the jour-ney, which foresees three days inChile and three days in Peru, willbe a demanding one. He added thathe is more familiar with Chile as hehad once studied there for a year.

Before leaving Rome, the HolyFather posted the following tweetfrom his Twitter account, @Ponti-fex: “I ask you to accompany me onmy journey to Chile and Peru inyour prayers”.


At Mass in O’Higgins Park, the Pope appeals for the building of a new Chile founded on the Beatitudes

Sowing peace through closenessOn Tuesday morning, 16 January,joined by some 400,000 faithful inSantiago’s O’Higgins Park, Franciscelebrated the first Mass of his22nd international journey. Afterpronouncing his homily in Spanish, thePontiff coronated the statue of theBlessed Virgin of Mount Carmel. Thefollowing is the English text of theHoly Father’s homily.

“When Jesus saw the crowds…” (Mt5:1). In these first words of today’sGospel which we have just heard,we discover how Jesus wants to en-counter us, the way that God alwayssurprises his people (cf. Ex 3:7). Thefirst thing Jesus does is to look outand see the faces of his people.Those faces awaken God’s viscerallove. Jesus’ heart was not moved byideas or concepts, but by faces, per-sons. By life calling out for the Lifethat the Father wants to give us.

When Jesus saw the crowds, hesaw the faces of his followers, andwhat is most remarkable is that they,for their part, encounter in the gazeof Jesus the echo of their longingsand aspirations. This encountergives rise to the catalogue of theBeatitudes, that horizon towardswhich we are called and challengedto set out. The Beatitudes are notthe fruit of passivity in the face ofreality, nor of a mere onlooker gath-ering grim statistics about currentevents. They are not the product ofthose prophets of doom who seekonly to spread dismay. Nor are theyborn of those mirages that promisehappiness with a single “click”, inthe blink of an eye. Rather, theBeatitudes are born of the compas-sionate heart of Jesus, which en-counters the hearts, compassionateand in need of compassion, of menand women seeking and yearning for

a life of happiness. Men women whoknow what it is to suffer, who appre-ciate the confusion and pain of hav-ing the earth shake beneath theirfeet or seeing dreams washed awaywhen the work of a lifetime comesto nought. But men and womenwho also know what it is to per-severe and struggle to keep going,what it is to rebuild their lives andto start again.

How much the heart of theChilean people knows about re-building and starting anew! Howmuch you know about getting upagain after so many falls! That is theheart to which Jesus speaks; so thatthis heart may receive theBeatitudes!

The Beatitudes are not the fruit ofa hypercritical attitude or the “cheapw o rd s ” of those who think theyknow it all yet are unwilling to com-mit themselves to anything or any-one, and thus end up preventingany chance of generating processesof change and reconstruction in ourcommunities and in our lives. TheBeatitudes are born of a merciful

heart that never loses hope. A heartthat experiences hope as “a new day,a casting out of inertia, a shaking offof weariness and negativity” ( Pa b l oNeruda, El habitante y su esperanza,5).

Jesus, in proclaiming blessed thepoor, the grieving, the afflicted, thepatient, the merciful… comes to castout the inertia which paralyzes thosewho no longer have faith in thetransforming power of God ourFather and in their brothers and sis-ters, especially the most vulnerableand outcast. Jesus, in proclaimingthe Beatitudes, shakes us out of thatn e g a t i v i t y, that sense of resignationthat makes us think we can have abetter life if we escape from ourproblems, shun others, hide withinour comfortable existence, dullingour senses with consumerism (cf.Apostolic Exhortation EvangeliiGaudium, 2). The sense of resigna-tion that tends to isolate us fromothers, to divide and separate us, toblind us to life around us and to thesuffering of others.

The Beatitudes are that new dayfor all those who look to the future,who continue to dream, who allowthemselves to be touched and sentforth by the Spirit of God.

How good it is for us to thinkthat Jesus comes from the mountainof Cierro Renca or Puntilla to say tous: blessed, blessed indeed are you,and you, and you, each one of us….Blessed are you if, moved by theSpirit of God, you struggle andwork for that new day, that newChile, for yours will be the kingdomof heaven. “Blessed are the peace-makers, for they will be called chil-dren of God” (Mt 5:9).

Against the resignation that like anegative undercurrent underminesour deepest relationships and di-vides us, Jesus tells us: Blessed arethose who work for reconciliation.Blessed are those ready to dirty theirhands so that others can live inpeace. Blessed are those who try notto sow division. That is how theBeatitude teaches us to be peace-makers. It asks us to try to makeever greater room for the spirit of re-conciliation in our midst. Do youwant to be blessed? Do you want tobe happy? Blessed are those whowork so that others can be happy.Do you want peace? Then work forp eace.

Here I cannot fail to mentionSantiago’s great bishop, who in a Te

Deum once said: “If you want peace,work for justice”… And if someoneshould ask us: “What is justice?” orwhether justice is only a matter of“not stealing”, we will tell them thatthere is another kind of justice: thejustice that demands that every manand woman be treated as such”(Cardinal RAÚL SI LVA HENRÍQUEZ,Homily at the Ecumenical Te Deum,18 September 1977).

To sow peace by nearness, close-ness! By coming out of our homesand looking at peoples’ faces, by go-ing out of our way to meet someonehaving a difficult time, someonewho has not been treated as a per-son, as a worthy son or daughter ofthis land. This is the only way wemust forge a future of peace, toweave a fabric that will not unravel.A peacemaker knows that it is oftennecessary to overcome great orsubtle faults and ambitions born ofthe desire for power and to “gain aname for oneself”, the desire to beimportant at the cost of others. Apeacemaker knows that it is notenough simply to say: “I am nothurting anybody”. As Saint AlbertoHurtado used to say: “It is verygood not to do wrong, but very badnot to do good” (Meditación radial,April 1944).

Peacebuilding is a process thatcalls us together and stimulates ourcreativity in fostering relationshipswhere we see our neighbour not as astranger, unknown, but rather as ason and daughter of this land.

Let us commend ourselves toMary Immaculate, who from C e r roSan Cristóbal watches over and ac-companies this city. May she help usto live and to desire the spirit of theBeatitudes, so that on every cornerof this city we will hear, like a gentlewhisper: ““Blessed are the peace-makers, for they will be called chil-dren of God” (Mt 5:9).

A return to ChileCONTINUED FROM PA G E 5

it, the Pope in fact wished tomake a stop in the periphery ofthe capital to pray at the tomb ofan emblematic and highly reveredfigure in Chilean Catholicism, En-rique Alvear, known as the “Bish-op of the Poor” and who hadbeen among other things the Aux-iliary of Cardinal Silva Henríquez.

And to the journalists who areaccompanying him on this Jour-ney, the Pope consigned a photo-graph — taken by a young photo-grapher from the United Statesshortly after the nuclear bombingof Nagasaki — which he’d hadprinted to demonstrate “the fruitsof war” more effectively thanwords ever could: the heartrend-ing image of a little boy carryinghis dead baby brother on hisback, biting his lip until it bleeds,trying to hold back the tears ashe waits his turn to have the tinybody cremated.

G.M.V.

Prayer at the tomb of the‘Bishop of the Poor’

Shortly after his arrival in Santi-ago on Monday, 15 January, PopeFrancis made an unscheduledstop at the parish of San LuisBeltrán in an eastern suburb ofthe capital to pray at the tomb ofChile’s beloved “Bishop of thep o or”: Enrique Alvear Urrutia, aSalesian priest and bishop whodied in 1982 and whose Cause forBeatification and Canonizationwas officially opened in Decem-ber 2011. Accompanied by theArchbishop of Santiago, CardinalRicardo Ezzati Andrello, SDB, thePope prayed several minutes atthe tomb of Bishop Alvear, whowas widely revered for his selflesswork in favour of the poor andthe needy.

Born in 1916 in Cauquenes deMaule, the eighth of 11 children,Alvear was ordained a priest in1941. He was appointed AuxiliaryBishop of Talca in 1963, and in1965 Bishop of San Felipe. In1974, he was appointed AuxiliaryBishop of Santiago de Chile, a

post he held until his death. Hewas known for tirelessly defend-ing human rights at a time whenthey were systematically violatedunder the dictatorship of AugustoPinochet. His visits to politicalprisoners and his outspoken con-demnation of abuses earned himdeath threats, and a bomb wasonce planted in his office to in-timidate him into silence. Thediocesan phase of his Cause wasconcluded in 2014.


A sentence without a future is tortureThe Holy Father visits the women’s penitentiary in Santiago

On Tuesday afternoon, 16 January, PopeFrancis visited the women’s penitentiary inSantiago de Chile. The Pope was greeted bySister Nelly, who is in charge of pastoral careat the detention centre, and by a representativeof the more than 600 detainees. The followingis the English text of Pope Francis’ re m a rk s ,which he delivered in the institution’s gym.

Dear Sisters and Brothers:Thank you, thank you, thank you for whatyou have done and thank you for giving methis opportunity to visit you. For me it isimportant to share this time with you anddraw closer to our many brothers and sisterspresently deprived of their freedom. Thankyou, Sister Nelly, for your kind words andespecially for testifying that life always tri-umphs over death, always. Thank you,Janeth, for coming forward and sharingyour hurt with all of us, and for your cour-ageous request for forgiveness. How muchwe all have to learn from your act of cour-age and humility! I quote your words: “Weask forgiveness from all those whom wehave harmed by our misdeeds”. I thank youfor reminding us that without this attitudewe lose our humanity, all of us need to askforgiveness, me first of all, all of us, that iswhat makes us human. Without this atti-tude of asking forgiveness, we forget that wedid wrong and that we can make mistakesand that every day is an invitation to startover, one way or another.

I also think of the words of Jesus: “Lethim who is without sin among you be thefirst to throw a stone” (Jn 8:7). And do youknow what I tend to do in my homilieswhen I speak about all of us havingsomething inside either due to weakness orbecause we fall or because we hide it well? Itell the people: Let’s see, we are all sinners,we all have sins. I don’t know, is there any-one here without sin? Raise your hand. Noone dares raise their hand. Jesus asks us toleave behind the simplistic way of thinkingthat divides reality into good and bad, andto enter into that other mindset that recog-nizes our weaknesses, limitations and evensins, and thus helps us to keep moving for-w a rd .

As I came in, some mothers met me withtheir children. They welcomed me, and theirwelcome can nicely be expressed in twowords: mother and c h i l d re n .

Mo t h e r. Many of you are mothers and youknow what it means to bring a new life intothe world. You were able to “take uponyourself” a new life and bring it to birth.Motherhood is not, and never will be aproblem. It is a gift, and one of the mostwonderful gifts you can ever have. Todayyou face a very real challenge: you also haveto care for that life. You are asked to carefor the future. To make it grow and to helpit to develop. Not just for yourselves, butfor your children and for society as a whole.As women, you have an incredible ability toadapt to new circumstances and move for-ward. Today I appeal to that ability tobring forth the future that is alive in eachone of you. That ability enables you to res-ist everything that might rob you of youridentity and end up by killing your hope.None of us are things, we are all personsand as such we have the dimension of hope.Let us not be robbed of our identity. I amnot a number, I am not a prisoner with agiven number, I have a name and I havethe ability to bring forth hope, because Iwant to give birth to hope.

Janeth was right: losing our freedom doesnot mean losing our dreams and hopes. Thisis true, it is very painful, but this does notmean losing hope, nor losing the ability todream. Losing our freedom is not the samething as losing our dignity, it is not thesame thing. Dignity must not be touched, itmust be cared for, protected, and showntenderness. No one must be deprived ofdignity. You are deprived of freedom. Thatis why we need to reject all those pettyclichés that tell us we can’t change, that it’snot worth trying, that nothing will make adifference. As the Argentinean tango says:“Go ahead, keep it up, we’ll all meet therein hell”. It’s not true that we cannot make adifference. No, dear sisters! Some things domake a difference! All those efforts we maketo build for a better future — even if often itseems they just go down the drain — all ofthem will surely bear fruit and be rewarded.

The second word is c h i l d re n . Children areour strength, our future, our incentive. Theyare a living reminder that life has to belived for the future, not remain in the past.Today your freedom has been taken away,but that is not the last word. Not at all!Keep looking forward. Look ahead to theday when you will return to life in society.A prison sentence without a future is not ahuman sentence, it is torture. Every sen-tence being lived out to pay a debt to soci-ety must have a perspective, that is, it musthave the horizon of reintegration and pre-paration for being reintegrated. This issomething you must demand of society. Al-ways have this outlook, look forwards, to-wards reintegration into today’s society. Forthis reason, I applaud and encourage everyeffort to spread and support projects likeEspacio Mandela and the Fundación Mujerlevántate.

The name of that Foundation makes methink of the Gospel passage where peoplelaughed at Jesus because he said that thedaughter of the synagogue leader wasn’tdead, but only asleep. They laughed at him.Jesus showed us how to meet that kind ofderision: he went straight to her room, tookher by the hand and said: “Little girl, I sayto you, get up!” (Mk 5:41). For all, the girlwas dead, but for Jesus, not so. Projects likethose I mentioned are a living sign of thisJesus, who enters into each of our homes,pays no attention to ridicule and never givesup. He takes us by the hand and tells us to“get up”. It is wonderful that there are somany Christians and people of good will,that there are people of different beliefs inlife or who have no religion but show goodwill, who follow in the footsteps of Jesusand decide to come here to be a sign of thatoutstretched hand that lifts us up. I askyou: “Get up”. Always get up.

We all know that, sadly, a jail sentencecan be thought of or reduced to the idea ofa punishment, offering no opportunities forpersonal growth. This is what I was explain-ing about hope, about looking forwards,generating processes of reintegration. Thismust be your dream: reintegration. If thepath is long, do your best to make it short-er, but always with the idea of reintegration.Society has an obligation — an obligation —to provide for your reintegration, for all ofyou. When I say this, I mean to reintegrateeach of you in your own personal way. Onewill do it one way, another will do it in adifferent way. One will take more time, an-other less. But it is always a person who isbeing reintegrated. Please have this firmlyin your minds and demand it. This is whatit means to generate a process. On the con-trary, those initiatives that offer job trainingand help to rebuild relationships are signsof hope for the future. Let us help them togrow. Public order must not be reduced tostronger security measures, but should beconcerned primarily with preventive meas-ures, such as work, education, and greatercommunity involvement.

With these thoughts I want to bless all ofyou and also greet the pastoral workers, vo-lunteers and professional personnel, espe-cially the police officers and their families. Ipray for you. Your work is sensitive andcomplex, and so I ask you, the authorities,to try to provide the conditions needed tocarry out your work with dignity. A dignitythat engenders dignity. Dignity is conta-gious, more so than the flu. Dignity is con-tagious, dignity engenders dignity.

Mary is our Mother and we are her chil-dren, you are her daughters. We ask her tointercede for you, for each of your childrenand your dear ones. May she cover you withher mantle. And I ask you, please, pray forme because I need it. Thank you.

number 3, Friday, 19 January 2018 L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO page 8/9

In the discourse in the Cathedral the Pope recalls the evil of abuse

The courage to beg forgivenessVictims and families who saw the trust they had placed in the Church’s ministers betrayed

Pain and shame for abuses

The frank, sorrowful and prayerful recognition ofour limitations, far from distancing us from ourLord, enables us to return to Jesus in theknowledge that he is able to renew our lives


The first full day of the Pope’s journey toChile and Peru was an intense one, spentin Santiago: first celebrating Mass in thelarge O’Higgins Park for countless faithful,then receiving, on his own in the nunci-ature, a group of victims of abuse bypriests. The Pontiff then visited the wo-men’s penitentiary centre, and afterwardsmet with clergy, bishops and Jesuits. Lastlyhe paid his respects at the tomb of AlbertoHurtado, who, in the first half of the 1900s,along with Manuel Larraín (who later be-came Bishop of Talca), was one of the em-blematic figures of contemporary Catholi-cism in Chile. The underlying theme — theneed to look reality in the face — was em-phasized above all in Pope Bergoglio’slengthy meditation which he held in theCathedral with priests, men and women re-ligious, and seminarians.

The Pontiff’s constant reference was infact the comparison of reality with the Gos-pel, through the contemplation of Jesus ac-cording to the Ignatian model, from Fran-cis’ homily during the morning’s great cel-ebration to his festive and touching en-counter with several hundred female, oftenyoung, inmates, many of whom were withtheir very young children. Visibly moved,Pope Francis was able to touch the heartsof these women, speaking of the future,that is, the necessity of looking ahead andof the dignity that no one should take awayfrom any human being.

Shortly after the encounter with abusevictims, the Pope addressed the clergy, withwhom he spent ample time meditating onthe figure of Peter and the disciples afterJesus’ death: a community disheartened,shown mercy, and transfigured. “I have al-ways liked the way the Gospels do not ad-orn or soften things”, the Pope said, be-cause “they show us life as it is”, withoutbeing “afraid to show us the difficult, andeven tense, moments experienced by thedisciples”. Quoting one of his texts fromthe late 1980s, he observed that the worstof all temptations is perhaps that of “dwell-ing on our own discouragement” in timesof difficulty.

And once again, as he had not hesitatedto do in his first discourse to the Authorit-ies, Pope Bergoglio returned to speakingabout the scandal of abuses and of the“harm and sufferings of the victims andtheir families, who saw the trust they hadplaced in the Church’s ministers betrayed”.For this reason, he added, it is imperativeto have the “clear-sightedness to call realityby its name” and the courage to ask for-giveness.

But looking reality in the face mustmean confronting it with its changes,without nostalgia and despite all the diffi-culty in understanding them, as in the bib-lical account of Exodus. “Sometimes wedream of the ‘fleshpots of Egypt’ and weforget that the promised land lies ahead ofus, not behind us, and that the promise isnot about yesterday but about tomorrow”,the Pontiff emphasized.

After the Resurrection, “Jesus Christdoes not appear to his disciples without hiswounds”, the Pope then said: therefore wemust not ignore or hide our own wounds,because “a Church with wounds can under-stand the wounds of today’s world andmake them her own, suffering with them,accompanying them and seeking to healthem”. Without setting herself at thecentre, because there is only “one who canheal those wounds, whose name is JesusChrist”.

Looking reality inthe face


al challenges, thinking that theSpirit has nothing to say aboutthem. In this way, we forget thatthe Gospel is a journey of conver-sion, not just for “others” but forourselves as well.

Whether we like it or not, weare called to face reality as it is —our own personal reality and thereality of our communities and

Speaking to political and civil au-thorities gathered at Santiago’sLa Moneda Palace on Tuesday, 16January, Pope Francis emphas-ized that it is “necessary to listen”to the needs of the country: tolisten to the unemployed, nativepeoples, migrants, young peopleand the elderly. And it is also ne-cessary, he stressed, to listen “tochildren who look out on theworld with eyes full ofamazement and innocence, andexpect from us concrete answersfor a dignified future”. And here,the Pope paused to say that hefelt duty bound to express his“pain and shame, shame at the ir-reparable damage caused to chil-dren by some ministers of theChurch. I am one with my broth-er bishops, for it is right to askfor forgiveness and make every ef-fort to support the victims, evenas we commit ourselves to ensur-ing that such things do not hap-pen again”.

Pope Francis also met with asmall group of victims of sexualabuse by priests on Tuesday. In astatement, Vatican spokesman,Greg Burke said that the HolyFather had received the groupafter lunch in the apostolic nunci-ature of Santiago. “The meetingwas of a strictly private nature.No one else was present: only thePope and the victims”, Burke

said; “this enabled them to re-count their sufferings to PopeFrancis, who listened, prayed andwept with them”.

Speaking to reporters later onTuesday, Burke said that thePope had also acknowledged thepain of priests who have beenheld collectively responsible forthe crimes of a few.

In fact, Tuesday evening, in hiswords to priests, men and womenconsecrated and seminariansgathered in Santiago’s cathedral,the Pope spoke of how the “g re a tand painful evil” of clerical sexualabuse had not only harmed andcaused suffering to the victims,but had also caused pain to thebroader Church and to all reli-gious, “who, after working sohard, have seen the harm that hasled to suspicion and questioning;in some or many of you this hasbeen a source of doubt, fear or alack of confidence. I know that attimes you have been insulted inthe metro or walking on thestreet, and that by going aroundin clerical attire in many placesyou pay a heavy price”. For thisreason, he continued, “I suggestthat we ask God to grant us theclear-sightedness to call reality byits name, the strength to seek for-giveness and the ability to listento what he tells us and not dwellon our discouragement”.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, goodafterno on!I am happy to be meeting withyou. I like the way that CardinalEzzati presented you: Here youare ... consecrated women, con-secrated men, priests, permanentdeacons and seminarians. H e reyou are. It made me think of theday of our ordination or consec-ration, when after being presen-ted, each of us said: “Here I am,Lord, to do your will”. In thismeeting, we want to tell theLord: “Here we are”, and renewour “yes” to him. We want to re-new together our response to thecall that one day took our heartsby surprise.

I think that it can help us tostart with the Gospel passage thatwe heard, and to share three mo-ments experienced by Peter andthe first community: Peter andthe community disheartened,Peter and the community shownmercy, and Peter and the com-munity transfigured. I play withthis pairing of Peter and the com-munity since the life of apostlesalways has this twofold dimen-sion, the personal and the com-munitarian. They go hand-in-hand and we cannot separatethem. We are called individuallybut always as part of a largergroup. Where vocation is con-cerned, there is no such thing as

a selfie! Vocation demands thatsomebody else take your picture,and that is what we are about todo! That is the fact of the matter.

1. Peter disheartened, thecommunity disheartenedI have always liked the way the

Gospels do not adorn or softenthings, or paint them in nice col-ours. They show us life as it isand not as it should be. The Gos-pel is not afraid to show us thedifficult, and even tense, mo-ments experienced by the dis-ciples.

Let us reconstruct the scene.Jesus had been killed, but somewomen said he was alive (Lk24:22-24). Even after the discipleshad seen the risen Jesus, theevent was so powerful that theywould need time to understand it.Luke says that “in their joy, theycould not believe”. They wouldneed time to understand whathad happened. That understand-ing would come to them at Pente-cost with the sending of the HolySpirit. The encounter with theRisen Lord would require time tofind a place in the hearts of hisdisciples.

The disciples go home. Theygo back to do what they knewhow to do: to fish. Not all ofthem, but only some of them.Were they divided? Fragmented?We don’t know. The Scripturestell us that those who were there

caught nothing. Their nets weree m p t y.

Yet another kind of emptinessunconsciously weighed uponthem: dismay and confusion atthe death of their Master. He wasno more; he had been crucified.But not only was he crucified,but so were they, since Jesus’sdeath raised a whirlwind of con-flicts in the hearts of his friends.Peter had denied him; Judas hadbetrayed him; the others had fledand hid themselves. Only a hand-ful of women and the beloveddisciple remained. The rest tookoff. In a matter of days,everything had fallen apart. Th e s eare the hours of dismay and confu-sion in the life of the disciple. Thereare times “when the tempest ofpersecutions, tribulations, doubts,and so forth, is raised by culturaland historical events, it is noteasy to find the path to follow.Those times have their owntemptations: the temptation todebate ideas, to avoid the matterat hand, to be too concerned withour enemies… And I believe thatthe worst temptation of all is tokeep dwelling on our own dis-couragement”.1 Yes, dwelling onhow disheartened we are. So itwas with the disciples.

As Cardinal Ezzati told us,“the priesthood and consecratedlife in Chile have endured andcontinue to endure difficult timesof significant upheavals and chal-lenges. Side by side with the fi-delity of the immense majority,

societies. The nets — the disciplessay — are empty, and we can un-derstand their feelings. They re-turn home with no great tales totell; they go back empty-handed;they return disheartened.

What became of those strong,enthusiastic and self-assured dis-ciples who felt themselves chosenand had left everything to followJesus (cf. Mt 1:16-20)? What be-came of those disciples who wereso sure of themselves that theywould go to prison and even givetheir lives for the Master (cf. Lk22:33), who to defend him wouldhave liked to send fire upon theearth (cf. Lk 9:54). For whomthey would unsheathe theirswords and fight (cf. Lk 22:49-51)? What became of that Peterwho reproached the Master abouthow he should live his life andbring about our redemption? Dis-couragement (cf. Mk 8:31-33).

2. Peter shown mercy, thecommunity shown mercy

It is the hour of truth in thelife of the first community. It istime for Peter to have to confronta part of himself. The part of himthat many times he didn’t want tosee. He experienced his limita-

confident in himself and in hispossibilities, had to acknowledgehis weakness and sin. He was asinner like everyone else, as needyas the others, as frail as anyoneelse. Peter had failed the one hehad promised to protect. It is acrucial moment in Peter’s life.

As disciples, as Church, we canhave the same experience: thereare moments when we have toface not our success but ourweakness. Crucial moments in thelife of a disciple, but also thetimes when an apostle is born.Let us allow the text to guide us.

“When they had finishedbreakfast, Jesus said to SimonPeter, “Simon son of John, doyou love me more than these?”(Jn 21:15).

After they ate, Jesus takes Peteraside and his only words are aquestion, a question about love:Do you love me? Jesus neither re-proaches nor condemns. The only

tion, his frailty andhis sinfulness.Peter, the tem-peramental, im-pulsive leaderand saviour,self-suffi-cient andover-

there have sprung up weeds ofevil and their aftermath of scan-dal and desertion”.

Times of upheaval. I know thepain resulting from cases of abuseof minors and I am attentive towhat you are doing to respond tothis great and painful evil. Pain-ful because of the harm and suf-ferings of the victims and theirfamilies, who saw the trust theyhad placed in the Church’s minis-ters betrayed. Painful too for thesuffering of ecclesial communit-ies, but also painful for you,brothers and sisters, who, afterworking so hard, have seen theharm that has led to suspicionand questioning; in some ormany of you this has been asource of doubt, fear or a lack ofconfidence. I know that at timesyou have been insulted in themetro or walking on the street,and that by going around in cler-ical attire in many places you paya heavy price. For this reason, Isuggest that we ask God to grantus the clear-sightedness to callreality by its name, the strengthto seek forgiveness and the abilityto listen to what he tells us andnot dwell on our discouragement.

There is something else Iwould like to mention. Our soci-eties are changing. Chile today isquite different from what I knewin my youth, when I was atschool. New and different cultur-al expressions are being bornwhich do not fit into our familiarpatterns. We have to realize that

many times we do notknow how to dealwith these new situ-ations. Sometimes wedream of the “flesh-pots of Egypt” and weforget that the prom-ised land lies ahead ofus, not behind us, andthat the promise is notabout yesterday butabout tomorrow. Atthose times, we canyield to the tempta-tion of becomingclosed, isolatingourselves and defend-ing our ways of seeingthings, which thenturn out as nothingmore than fine mono-logues. We can betempted to think thateverything is wrong,and in place of “go o dnews”, the only thingwe profess is apathyand disappointment.As a result, we shutour eyes to the pastor-

After his visit to Santiago de Chile’s women’s penitentiary, on Tuesdayafternoon, 16 January, the Pope went to the Cathedral of the Assumptionto meet priests, consecrated men and women, and seminarians, whom headdressed at length after a greeting by Cardinal Ezzati Andrello, SDB. Thefollowing is the English text of the Holy Father’s discourse.


The courage to beg forgiveness

thing that he wants to do is to savePeter. He wants to save him fromthe danger of remaining closed inon his sin, constantly dwelling withremorse on his frailty; he wants tosave him from the danger of renoun-cing, because of that frailty, on allthe goodness he had known with Je-sus. Jesus wants to save him fromself-centredness and isolation. Hewants to save him from the destruct-ive attitude of becoming a victim orof thinking “what does it matter”,which waters down any commitmentand ends up in the worst sort of re-lativism. Jesus wants to set him freefrom seeing his opponents as en-emies and being upset by oppositionand criticism. He wants to free himfrom being downcast and, above all,negative. By his question, Jesus asksPeter to listen to his heart and tolearn how to discern. Since “it wasnot God’s way to defend the truthat the cost of charity, or charity atthe cost of truth, or to smooththings away at the cost of both.Peter has to discern. Jesus wants toavoid turning Peter into someonewho hurts others by telling thetruth, or is kind to others by tellinglies, or simply someone paralyzed byhis own uncertainty”,2 as can hap-pen to us in these situations.

Jesus questioned Peter about loveand kept asking until Peter couldgive him a realistic response: “L o rd ,you know everything; you know thatI love you” (Jn 21:17). In this way,Jesus confirms him in his mission.In this way, he now makes himdefinitively his apostle.

What is it that confirms Peter asan apostle? What sustains us asapostles? One thing only: that we“received mercy” (1 Tim 1:12-16).“For all our sins, our limitations, ourfailings, for all the many times wehave fallen, Jesus has looked uponus and drawn near to us. He hasgiven us his hand and shown usmercy. All of us can think back andremember the many times the Lordlooked upon us, drew near andshowed us mercy”.3 I ask you tokeep doing this. We are not here be-cause we are better than others; weare not superheroes who stoop downfrom the heights to encounter meremortals. Rather, we are sent as menand women conscious of havingbeen forgiven. That is the source ofour joy. We are consecrated, shep-

herds modelled on Jesus, whosuffered died and rose. A consec-rated man or woman — and with theword “consecrated” I am referring toall of us here — sees his or herwounds as signs of the resurrection;who sees in the wounds of thisworld the power of the resurrection;who, like Jesus, does not meet hisbrothers and sisters with reproachand condemnation.

Jesus Christ does not appear tohis disciples without his wounds;those very wounds enabled Thomasto profess his faith. We are notasked to ignore or hide our wounds.A Church with wounds can under-stand the wounds of today’s worldand make them her own, sufferingwith them, accompanying them andseeking to heal them. A woundedChurch does not make herself thecentre of things, does not believethat she is perfect, but puts at thecentre the one who can heal thosewounds, whose name is Jesus Christ.

The knowledge that we arewounded sets us free. Yes, it sets usfree from becoming self-referentialand thinking ourselves superior. Itsets us free from the prometheantendency of “those who ultimatelytrust only in their own powers andfeel superior to others because theyobserve certain rules or remain in-transigently faithful to a particularCatholic style of the past”.4

In Jesus, our wounds are risen.They inspire solidarity; they help usto tear down the walls that encloseus in elitism and they impel us tobuild bridges and to encounter allthose yearning for that merciful lovewhich Christ alone can give. “Howoften we dream up vast apostolicprojects, meticulously planned, justlike defeated generals! But this is todeny our history as a Church, whichis glorious precisely because it is ahistory of sacrifice, of hopes anddaily struggles, of lives spent in ser-vice and fidelity to work, tiring as itmay be, for all work is ‘the sweat ofour brow’”.5 I am concerned when Isee communities more worried abouttheir image, about occupying spaces,about appearances and publicity,than about going out to touch thesuffering of our faithful people.

How searching and insightfulwere the words of warning issued byone Chilean saint: “All those meth-ods will fail that are imposed byuniformity, that try to bring us toGod by making us forget about our

brothers and sisters, that make usclose our eyes to the universe ratherthan teaching us to open them andraise all things to the Creator of all,that make us selfish and close us inon ourselves”.6

Go d’s people neither expect norneed us to be superheroes. They ex-pect pastors, consecrated men andwomen, who know what it is to becompassionate, who can give a help-ing hand, who can spend time withthose who have fallen and, like Je-sus, help them to break out of thatendless remorse that poisons the soul.

3. Peter transfigured, thecommunity transfigured

Jesus asks Peter to discern, andevents in Peter’s life then begin tocome together, like the propheticgesture of the washing of feet. Peter,who resisted having his feet washed,now begins to understand that truegreatness comes from being lowlyand a servant.7

What a good teacher our Lord is!The prophetic gesture of Jesuspoints to the prophetic Church that,washed of her sin, is unafraid to goout to serve a wounded humanity.

Peter experienced in his flesh thewound of sin, but also of his ownlimitations and weaknesses. Yet helearned from Jesus that his woundscould be a path of resurrection. Toknow both Peter disheartened andPeter transfigured is an invitation topass from being a Church of the un-happy and disheartened to a Churchthat serves all those people who areunhappy and disheartened in ourmidst. A Church capable of servingher Lord in those who are hungry,imprisoned, thirsting, homeless, na-ked and infirm… (Mt 25:35). A ser-vice that has nothing to do with awelfare mentality or an attitude ofpaternalism, but rather with the con-version of hearts. The problem isnot feeding the poor, or clothing thenaked or visiting the sick, but ratherrecognizing that the poor, the na-ked, the sick, prisoners and thehomeless have the dignity to sit atour table, to feel “at home” amongus, to feel part of a family. This isthe sign that the kingdom of heavenis in our midst. This is the sign of aChurch wounded by sin, shown

mercy by the Lord, and madeprophetic by his call.

To renew prophecy is to renewour commitment not to expect anideal world, an ideal community, oran ideal disciple in order to be ableto live and evangelize, but rather tomake it possible for every dis-heartened person to encounter Jesus.One does not love ideal situationsor ideal communities; one loves per-sons.

The frank, sorrowful and prayer-ful recognition of our limitations, farfrom distancing us from our Lord,enables us to return to Jesus in theknowledge that “with his newness,he is always able to renew our livesand our communities, and even ifthe Christian message has knownperiods of darkness and ecclesialweakness, it will never grow old...Whenever we make the effort to re-turn to the source and to recover theoriginal freshness of the Gospel, newavenues arise, new paths of creativityopen up, with different forms of ex-pression, more eloquent signs andwords with new meaning for today’sworld”.8 How good it is for all of usto let Jesus renew our hearts.

When this meeting began, I toldyou that we came to renew our“yes”, with enthusiasm, with passion.We want to renew our “yes”, but asa realistic “yes”, sustained by thegaze of Jesus. When you return toyour homes, I ask you to draw up inyour hearts a sort of spiritual testa-ment, along the lines of CardinalRaúl Silva Henríquez and his beau-tiful prayer that begins:

“The Church that I love is theholy Church of each day… Yo u r s ,mine, the holy Church of each day...

“Jesus Christ, the Gospel, thebread, the Eucharist, the humbleBody of Christ of each day. Withthe faces of the poor, the faces ofmen and women who sing, whostruggle, who suffer. The holyChurch of each day.”

I ask you: What sort of Church isit that you love? Do you love thiswounded Church that encounterslife in the wounds of Jesus?

Thank you for this meeting.Thank you for the chance to say“yes” once more with you. May OurLady of Mount Carmel cover youwith her mantle. And please, do notforget to pray for me.

CONTINUED FROM PA G E 8

1 JORGE M. BERGO GLIO, Las Cartas de la tribulación, 9, ed. Diego deTorres, Buenos Aires, 1987.2 Ibid.3 Video Message to CELAM for the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy on theAmerican Continent, 27 August 2016.4 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 94.5 Ibid., 96.6 SAINT ALBERTO HURTAD O, Address to the Young People of Catholic Ac-tion, 1943.7 “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all”(Mk 9:35).8 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 11.


The Pope warns against the temptation of clericalism

Lay peopleare not servants

In the late afternoon of Tuesday, 16January, in the sacristy of theCathedral of Santiago de Chile, thePontiff addressed some 50 of thecountry’s bishops after greetings fromthe President of the Chilean EpiscopalConference, Bishop Santiago SilvaRetamales. The following is the Englishtext of the Holy Father’s remarks.

Dear Brothers:I thank you for the greeting that thePresident of the Conference hasoffered to me in the name of allp re s e n t .

Before all else, I would like togreet Bishop Bernardino PiñeroCarvallo, who this year celebrateshis sixtieth anniversary of episcopalordination — he is the oldest bishopin the world, not only in age butalso in years of episcopate — whowas present for four sessions of theSecond Vatican Council. A marvel-lous living memory.

Soon a year will have passed sinceyour ad limina visit. Now it is myturn to come and visit you. I ampleased that our meeting followsthat with our consecrated men andwomen, for one of our principaltasks is precisely to be close to con-secrated life and to our priests. Ifthe shepherd wanders off, the sheeptoo will stray and fall prey to anywolf that comes along. The father-hood of the bishop with his priests,with his presbyterate! A fatherhoodthat is neither paternalism nor au-thoritarianism, but a gift to besought. Stay close to your priests,like Saint Joseph, with a fatherhoodthat helps them to grow and to de-velop the charisms that the HolySpirit has wished to pour out uponyour respective presbyterates.

I know that ours was meant to bea brief meeting, since we already dis-cussed a great deal in the two ex-tensive sessions we had during thead limina visit. But I would like toreiterate some of the points I madeduring our meeting in Rome. I cansum them up in the followingphrase: the consciousness of being apeople, of being the People of God.

One of the problems facing oursocieties today is the sense of beingorphaned, of not belonging to any-one. This “p ostmo dern” feeling canseep into us and into our clergy. Webegin to think that we belong to noone; we forget that we are part ofGo d’s holy and faithful people andthat the Church is not, nor will itever be, an élite of consecrated menand women, priests and bishops.Without this consciousness of beinga people, we are not able to sustainour life, our vocation and our min-istry. To forget this — as I said to theCommission for Latin America —“carries many risks and distortionsin our own experience, as individu-als and in community, of the min-istry that the Church has entrustedto us”.1 The lack of consciousness ofbelonging to God’s faithful people

as servants, and not masters, canlead us to one of the temptationsthat is most damaging to the mis-sionary outreach that we are calledto promote: clericalism, which endsup as a caricature of the vocation wehave received.

A failure to realize that the mis-sion belongs to the entire Church,and not to the individual priest orbishop, limits the horizon, and evenworse, stifles all the initiatives thatthe Spirit may be awakening in ourmidst. Let us be clear about this.The laypersons are not our peons, orour employees. They don’t have toparrot back whatever we say. “Cleric-alism, far from giving impetus tovarious contributions and proposals,gradually extinguishes the propheticflame to which the entire Church iscalled to bear witness. Clericalismforgets that the visibility and thesacramentality of the Church belongto all the faithful people of God (cf.Lumen Gentium, 9-14), not only tothe few chosen and enlightened”.2

Let us be on guard, please,against this temptation, especially inseminaries and throughout the pro-cess of formation. I must confess, Iam concerned about the formationof seminarians, that they be pastorsat the service of the People of God;as a pastor should be, through the

means of doctrine, discipline, thesacraments, by being close to thepeople, through works of charity,but also with the awareness that theyare the People of God. Seminariesmust stress that future priests becapable of serving God’s holy andfaithful people, acknowledging thediversity of cultures and renouncingthe temptation to any form of cleric-alism. The priest is a minister of Je-sus Christ: Jesus is the protagonistwho makes himself present in theentire people of God. Tomorrow’spriests must be trained with a viewto the future, since their ministrywill be carried out in a secularizedworld. This in turn demands that wepastors discern how best to preparethem for carrying out their missionin these concrete circumstances andnot in our “ideal worlds or situ-

ations”. Their mission is carried outin fraternal unity with the wholePeople of God. Side by side, sup-porting and encouraging the laity ina climate of discernment and syn-odality, two of the essential featuresof the priest of tomorrow. Let us sayno to clericalism and to ideal worldsthat are only part of our thinking,but touch the life of no one.

And in this regard, to implorefrom the Holy Spirit the gift ofdreaming. Please do not stop dream-ing, dreaming and working for amissionary and prophetic optioncapable of transforming everything,so that our customs, ways of doingthings, times and schedules, lan-guage and ecclesial structures can besuitably channelled for the evangel-ization of Chile rather than for ec-clesiastical self-preservation. Let usnot be afraid to strip ourselves ofeverything that separates us from themissionary mandate.3

Dear brothers, this is the summaryI wanted to offer you from our dis-cussions during the ad limina visit.Let us commend ourselves to theprotection of Mary, Mother of Chile.Let us pray together for our presby-terates and for our consecrated menand women. Let us pray for God’sholy and faithful people, of whichwe are a part. Thank you!1 Letter to Cardinal Marc Ouellet,President of the Pontifical Commissionfor Latin America (21 March 2016).2 Ibid.3 Cf. Apostolic Exhortation Evan-gelii Gaudium, 27.

Remembering Saint Alberto Hurtado“Sharing” was the key characteristic of Pope Francis’evening encounter with 90 Chilean Jesuits and some40 guests of the Home for street people and theneedy, Hogar de Cristo, founded by the Chilean SaintAlberto Hurtado, himself a Jesuit priest. In the lateafternoon of Tuesday, 16 January, the Pontiff paid aprivate visit to the shrine erected in memory of FrHurtado near Santiago’s main train station. The HolyFather prayed a few minutes in the chapel whichholds Hurtado’s mortal remains; his Jesuit confrèredied at the age of 51 in 1952, was beatified in 1994and was canonized in 2005. The Pontiff was greetedby the Chaplain, Pablo Walker, and heard a testimo-nial from one of the volunteers. Afterwards, in a par-ticularly touching moment, he shared refreshmentsand conversation with the Hogar’s guests and con-cluded the visit with the Our Father p r a y e r.

The Holy Father during a moment of prayer at the Tomb of Saint Alberto Hurtado


At Mass in Temuco the Holy Father recalls that unity cannot be built upon injustice and violence

No to the logic of cultural superiority

Weapons of unity

all those who suffered anddied, and for those who dailybear the burden of those manyinjustices”.

Adding that Jesus on theCross bore “all the sin and thepain of our peoples, in order toredeem it”.

The Pope’s words were heardby innumerable representativesof the indigenous populationsof the southern region, in par-ticular the Mapuche: a peoplevictimized by injustices and at-tempts to assimilate them,which the Pontiff recalled sev-eral times.

For this reason Pope Ber-goglio said that unity, quite dif-ferent from uniformity, “is a re-conciled diversity”; rather, it isan art which demands to beheard and recognized. Thereare two forms of violence thatthreaten unity, he observed: thefirst uses nice words and agree-ments which are never imple-mented and which frustrate allhope; and the second is thatwhich sacrifices human lives.“Violence begets violence”, thePope said sharply, and “eventu-ally makes a most just cause in-to a lie”. He concluded by not-ing that the only path is that ofactive nonviolence and of dia-logue. Indeed, in the search foru n i t y.

G.M.V.


For the Pope, Wednesday, 17January began with a visit to thesouthern Chilean region of Araucanía.After his flight from Santiago to theregional capital, Temuco, the Popecelebrated a “Mass for the progress ofpeoples” at Maquehue Airport. Thefestive celebration included manyfaithful in traditional dress. Thefollowing is the English text of theHoly Father’s homily.

“Mari, Mari” [Good morning!]“Kümetünngün ta niemün”[“Peace be with you!” (Lk 24:36)]I thank God for allowing me tovisit this beautiful part of our con-tinent, the Araucanía. It is a land

died, and for those who daily bearthe burden of those many in-justices. And in remembering, letus together remain a moment insilence before so many wrongsand injustices. The sacrifice of Je-sus on the cross bears all the sinand pain of our peoples, in orderto redeem it.

In the Gospel we have justheard, Jesus prays to the Father“that they may all be one” (Jn17:21). At a crucial moment in hisown life, he stops to plea forunity. In his heart, he knows thatone of the greatest threats for hisdisciples and for all mankind willbe division and confrontation, the

or a segregation that does notvalue the goodness of others. Theunity sought and offered by Jesusacknowledges what each peopleand each culture are called to con-tribute to this land of blessings.Unity is a reconciled diversity, forit will not allow personal or com-munity wrongs to be perpetratedin its name. We need the richesthat each people has to offer, andwe must abandon the notion thatthere are superior or inferior cul-tures. A beautiful “chamal” re -quires weavers who know the artof blending the different materialsand colours, who spend time witheach element and each stage of thework. That process can be imitatedindustrially, but everyone will re-cognize a machine-made garment.The art of unity requires true artis-ans who know how to harmonizedifferences in the “design” oftowns, roads, squares and land-scapes. Unity is not “desk art”, orpaperwork; it is a craft demandingattention and understanding. Thatis the source of its beauty, but alsoof its resistance to the passage oftime and to whatever storms maycome its way.

The unity that our people needrequires that we listen to one an-other, but even more importantly,that we esteem one another. “Thisis not just about being better in-formed about others, but ratherabout reaping what the Spirit hassown in them”.3 This sets us onthe path of solidarity as a meansof weaving unity, a means ofbuilding history. The solidaritythat makes us say: We need oneanother, and our differences sothat this land can remain beauti-ful! It is the only weapon we haveagainst the “d e f o re s t a t i o n ” ofhope. That is why we pray: Lord,make us artisans of unity.

Another temptation can comefrom considering the weapons ofu n i t y.

2. The weapons of unity.If unity is to be built on esteem

and solidarity, then we cannot ac-cept just any means of attaining it.There are two kinds of violencethat, rather than encouraging thegrowth of unity and reconciliation,actually threaten them. First, wehave to be on our guard againstcoming up with “elegant” a g re e -ments that will never be put intopractice. Nice words, detailedplans — necessary as these are —but, when unimplemented, end up“erasing with the elbow, what waswritten by the hand”. This too isviolence. Why? Because it frus-trates hope.

In the second place, we have toinsist that a culture of mutual es-teem may not be based on acts ofviolence and destruction that endup taking human lives. You can-not assert yourself by destroyingothers, because this only leads tomore violence and division. Viol-ence begets violence, destructionincreases fragmentation and separ-ation. Violence eventually makes a

most just cause into a lie. That iswhy we say “no to destructive vi-olence” in either of its two forms.

Those two approaches are likethe lava of a volcano that wipesout and burns everything in itspath, leaving in its wake only bar-renness and desolation. Let usseek, and never tire of seeking dia-logue for the sake of unity.4 Thatis why we cry out: Lord, make usartisans of your unity.

All of us, to a certain extent, arepeople of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7).All of us are called to “the goodlife” (Küme Mongen), as the an-cestral wisdom of the Mapuchepeople reminds us. How far wehave to go, and how much we stillhave to learn! Küme Mongen, adeep yearning that not only risesup from our hearts, but resoundslike a loud cry, like a song, in allcreation. Therefore, brothers andsisters, for the children of thisearth, for the children of theirchildren, let us say with Jesus tothe Father: may we too be one;Lord, make us artisans of unity.

1 GABRIELA MISTRAL, Elogios de latierra de Chile.2 VI O L E TA PARRA, Arauco tiena unapena.3 Apostolic Exhortation EvangeliiGaudium, 246.

blessed by the Creator with im-mense and fertile green fields,with forests full of impressivearaucarías — the fifth “praise”offered by Gabriela Mistral to thisChilean land1 — and with itsmajestic snow-capped volcanoes,its lakes and rivers full of life.This landscape lifts us up to God,and it is easy to see his hand inevery creature. Many generationsof men and women have lovedthis land with fervent gratitude.Here I would like to pause andgreet in a special way the mem-bers of the Mapuche people, aswell as the other indigenouspeoples who dwell in these south-ern lands: the Rapanui (fromEaster Island), the Aymara, theQuechua and the Atacameños,and many others.

Seen through the eyes of tour-ists, this land will thrill us with itsmagnificent landscapes as we passthrough it, but if we stop and putour ear to the ground, we willhear it sing: “Arauco has a sorrowthat cannot be silenced, the in-justices of centuries that everyonesees taking place”.2

In the context of thanksgivingfor this land and its people, butalso of sorrow and pain, we celeb-rate this Eucharist. We do so inthis Maquehue aerodrome, whichwas the site of grave violations ofhuman rights. We offer this Massfor all those who suffered and

oppression of some by others.How many tears would be spilled!Today we want to cling to thisprayer of Jesus, to enter with himinto this garden of sorrows withthose sorrows of our own, and toask the Father, with Jesus, that wetoo may be one. May confronta-tion and division never gain theupper hand among us.

This unity implored by Jesus isa gift that must be persistentlysought, for the good of our landand its children. We need to beon our watch against temptationsthat may arise to “poison thero ots” of this gift that God wantsto give us, and with which he in-vites us to play a genuine role inhistory. What are those tempta-tions?

1. False synonymsOne of the main temptations

we need to resist is that of confus-ing unity with uniformity. Jesusdoes not ask his Father that allmay be equal, identical, for unityis not meant to neutralize or si-lence differences. Unity is not anidol or the result of forced integra-tion; it is not a harmony boughtat the price of leaving somepeople on the fringes. The rich-ness of a land is born preciselyfrom the desire of each of its partsto share its wisdom with others.Unity can never be a stifling uni-formity imposed by the powerful,


Proposing a renewed humanismThe Pope points to the mission of the University

Grand Chancellor, Cardinal RicardoEzzati,My Brothers Bishops,President Dr Ignacio Sánchez,Distinguished UniversityAuthorities,Dear Professors, Administrators,University Personnel,Dear Students,I am happy to be here with you atthis House of Studies, which in its130 years of life has rendered apriceless service to the country. Ithank the President for his words ofwelcome on behalf of all, and foreverything you do with such wisdomto administer the University and de-fend courageously the identity of theCatholic University. Thank you.

The history of this university is insome sense woven into the history ofChile. Thousands of men and wo-men who were educated here havemade significant contributions to thedevelopment of the nation. I wouldlike especially to mention Saint Al-bert Hurtado, who began his studieshere a century ago. His life is a cleartestimony to how intelligence, aca-demic excellence and professional-ism, when joined to faith, justiceand charity, far from weakening, at-tain a prophetic power capable ofopening horizons and pointing theway, especially for those on the mar-gins of society, particularly in ourday where a throwaway culture pre-vails.

In this regard, I would like totake up your words, dear President,when you said: “We have importantchallenges for our country that haveto do with peaceful coexistence as anation and the ability to progress as acommunity”.

Peaceful coexistenceas a nation

To speak of challenges is to ac-knowledge that situations havereached the point where they needto be rethought. What was hithertoan element of unity and cohesionnow calls for new responses. The ac-celerated pace and a sense of disori-entation before new processes andchanges in our societies call for a se-rene but urgent reflection that isneither naïve nor utopian, much lessarbitrary. This has nothing to dowith curbing the growth of know-ledge, but rather with making theUniversity a privileged space for“putting into practice the grammarof dialogue, which shapes en-counter”.1 For “true wisdom [is] thefruit of reflection, dialogue and gen-erous encounter between persons”.2

Peaceful coexistence as a nation ispossible, not least to the extent thatwe can generate educational pro-

cesses that are also transformative,inclusive and meant to favour suchcoexistence. Educating for peacefulcoexistence does not mean simplyattaching values to the work of edu-cation, but rather establishing a dy-namic of coexistence within the verysystem of education itself. It is notso much a question of content butof teaching how to think and reasonin an integrated way. What was tra-ditionally called forma mentis.

To achieve this, it is necessary todevelop an “integrating literacy”capable of encompassing the pro-

will prepare them to face the chal-lenges of the near future. The “di-v o rc e ” of fields of learning from lan-guages, and illiteracy with regard tointegrating the distinct dimensionsof life, bring only fragmentation andsocial breakdown.

In this “liquid” so ciety3 or “so cietyof lightness”,4 as various thinkershave termed it, those points of refer-ence that people use to build them-selves individually and socially aredisappearing. It seems that the newmeeting place of today is the“cloud”, which is characterized byinstability since everything evapor-ates and thus loses consistency.

Such lack of consistency may beone of the reasons for the loss of aconsciousness of the importance ofpublic life, which requires a minim-um ability to transcend private in-terests (living longer and better) inorder to build upon foundationsthat reveal that crucial dimension of

Progressing as a communityHence, the second key element for

this House of Studies: the ability toprogress as a community.

I was pleased to learn of the evan-gelizing outreach and the joyful vi-tality of your university chaplaincy,which is a sign of a young, livelyChurch that “goes forth”. The mis-sions that take place each year indifferent parts of the country are animpressive and enriching reality.With these, you are able to broadenyour outlook and encounter differ-ent situations that, along with regu-lar events, keep you on the move.“Missionaries”, in the etymologicalsense of the word, are never equal tothe mission; they learn to be sensit-ive to God’s pace through their en-counter with all sorts of people whothey either did not know, did nothave daily contact with or were at adistance.

cesses of change now taking place inour societies.

This literacy process requiresworking simultaneously to integratethe different languages that consti-tute us as persons. That is to say, aneducation (literacy) that integratesand harmonizes intellect, affectionsand hands, that is to say, head, heartand action. This will offer students agrowth that is harmonious not onlyat the personal level, but also at thelevel of society. We urgently need tocreate spaces where fragmentation isnot the guiding principle, even forthinking. To do this, it is necessaryto teach how to reflect on what weare feeling and doing; to feel whatwe are thinking and doing; to dowhat we are thinking and feeling.An interplay of capacities at the ser-vice of the person and society.

Literacy, based on the integrationof the distinct languages that shapeus, will engage students in their owneducational process, a process that

our life which is “us”. Without thatconsciousness, but especially with-out that feeling and consequentlywithout that experience, it is verydifficult to build the nation. As aresult, the only thing that appearsto be important and valid is whatpertains to the individual, and allelse becomes irrelevant. A cultureof this sort has lost its memory, lostthe bonds that support it and makeits life possible. Without the “us” ofa people, of a family and of a na-tion, but also the “us” of the future,of our children and of tomorrow,without the “us” of a city that tran-scends “me” and is richer than indi-vidual interests, life will be not onlyincreasingly fragmented, but alsomore conflictual and violent.

The university, in this context, ischallenged to generate within itsown precincts new processes thatcan overcome every fragmentation ofknowledge and stimulate a true uni-v e rs i t a s .

Such experiences cannot remainisolated from the life of the uni-versity. The classic methods of re-search are experiencing certain lim-its, more so when it is a question ofa culture such as ours, which stimu-lates direct and immediate participa-tion by all. Present-day culture de-mands new forms that are more in-clusive of all those who make up so-cial and hence educational realities.We see, then, the importance ofbroadening the concept of the edu-cating community.

The challenge for the communityis to not isolate itself from modes ofknowledge, or, for that matter, todevelop a body of knowledge withminimal concern about those forwhom it is intended. It is vital thatthe acquisition of knowledge lead toan interplay between the universityclassroom and the wisdom of thepeoples who make up this richly

The second day of Pope Francis’ visit to Chile began with a morning celebrationof Mass with the indigenous inhabitants of the Araucanìa region, after whichhe returned to Santiago where he met young people in the Marian Shrineof Maipú. In the late afternoon, he concluded his public events with a visit to thePontifical Catholic University, where he addressed students, professors,administrators and University authorities, after being welcomed by the GrandChancellor. The following is the English text of the Holy Father’s remarks.



Proposing a renewed humanism

Building the future through listening

have to be realized each day. It isnot possible to settle for what wasachieved in the past and compla-cently enjoy it, as if we could some-how ignore the fact that many ofour brothers and sisters still enduresituations of injustice that none ofus can ignore.

Yours is a great and exciting chal-lenge: to continue working to makethis democracy, as your forebearsdreamed, beyond its formal aspects,a true place of encounter for all. Tomake it a place where everyone,without exception, feels called tojoin in building a house, a familyand a nation. A place, a house and afamily called Chile: generous andwelcoming, enamoured of her his-tory, committed to social harmony inthe present, and looking forwardwith hope to the future. Here we dowell to recall the words of Saint Al-berto Hurtado: “A nation, morethan its borders, more than its land,its mountain ranges, its seas, morethan its language or its traditions, isa mission to be fulfilled”.3 It is a fu-ture. And that future depends inlarge part on the ability of its peopleand leaders to listen.

The ability to listen proves mostimportant in this nation, whose eth-nic, cultural and historical diversitymust be preserved from all partisanspirit or attempts at domination, andinspire instead our innate ability toreplace narrow ideologies with ahealthy concern for the commongood (which without being com-munitarian will never be a good). Itis necessary to listen: to listen to theunemployed, who cannot support

the present, much less the future oftheir families. To listen to the nativepeoples, often forgotten, whoserights and culture need to be protec-ted lest that part of this nation’sidentity and richness be lost. Tolisten to the migrants who knock onthe doors of this country in searchof a better life, but also with thestrength and the hope of helping tobuild a better future for all. To listento young people and their desire forgreater opportunities, especially ineducation, so that they can take act-ive part in building the Chile theydream of, while at the same timeshielding them from the scourge ofdrugs that rob the best part of theirlives. To listen to the elderly withtheir much-needed wisdom and theirparticular needs. We cannot aban-don them. To listen to children wholook out on the world with eyes fullof amazement and innocence, andexpect from us concrete answers fora dignified future. Here I feel

bound to express my pain andshame, shame at the irreparabledamage caused to children by someministers of the Church. I am onewith my brother bishops, for it isright to ask for forgiveness andmake every effort to support the vic-tims, even as we commit ourselves toensuring that such things do nothappen again.

With this ability to listen, we areinvited — especially today — to givepreferential attention to our com-mon home. To listen to our commonhome: to foster a culture that cancare for the earth, and thus is notcontent with merely responding tograve ecological and environmentalproblems as they arise. This calls forboldly adopting “a distinctive way oflooking at things, a way of thinking,policies, an educational programme,a lifestyle and a spirituality whichtogether generate resistance to theassault of the technocraticparadigm”4 that allows powerful

economic interests to prevail overnatural ecosystems and, as a result,the common good of our peoples.The wisdom of the native peoplescan contribute greatly to this. Fromthem we can learn that a people thatturns its back on the land, andeverything and everyone on it, willnever experience real development.Chile possesses a deep-rooted wis-dom capable of helping to transcenda merely consumerist view of lifeand to adopt a sage attitude to thef u t u re .

The Chilean soul — the Presidentsaid that it is a little distrusting —the Chilean soul is a vocation to be-ing, a stubborn will to exist.5 It is avocation to which all are summoned,and from which no one should feelexcluded or unneeded. A vocationthat demands a radical option forlife, especially in all those forms inwhich it is threatened.

I thank you once more for the in-vitation to come among you and toencounter the soul of this people. Ipray that Our Lady of Mount Car-mel, Mother and Queen of Chile,will continue to accompany andbring to birth the dreams of thisblessed nation. Thank you!1 GABRIELA MISTRAL, Elegios de latierra de Chile.2 Cf. Homily at an Ecumenical TeDeum (4 November 1970).3 Cf. Te Deum (September 1948).4 Cf. Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’,111.5 Cf. GABRIELA MISTRAL, B re v edescripción de Chile, Anales de laUniversidad de Chile 14, 1934.


blessed land. That wisdom is full ofintuitions and perceptions that can-not be overlooked when we think ofChile. An enriching synergy willthus come about between scientificrigour and popular insight; the closeinterplay of these two parts will pre-vent a divorce between reason andaction, between thinking and feel-ing, between knowing and living,between profession and service.Knowledge must always sense that itis at the service of life, and mustconfront it directly in order to keepprogressing. Hence, the educationalcommunity cannot be reduced toclassrooms and libraries but mustprogress continually towards parti-cipation. This dialogue can onlytake place on the basis of an epistemecapable of “thinking in the plural”,that is, conscious of the interdiscip-linary and interdependent nature oflearning. “In this sense, it is essentialto show special care for indigenouscommunities and their cultural tradi-tions. They are not merely oneminority among others, but shouldbe the principal dialogue partners,especially when large projects affect-ing their land are proposed”.5

The educational community canenjoy an endless number of possibil-ities and potentialities if it allows it-

self to be enriched and challengedby all who are part of the education-al enterprise. This requires an in-creased concern for quality and in-tegration. For the service that theuniversity offers must always aim forquality and excellence in the serviceof national coexistence. We couldsay that the university becomes alaboratory for the future of thecountry, insofar as it succeeds in em-bodying the life and progress of thepeople, and can overcome every ant-agonistic and elitist approach tol e a r n i n g.

An ancient cabalistic traditionsays that evil originates in the riftproduced in the human being byeating from the tree of the know-ledge of good and evil. Knowledgethus gained the upper hand overcreation, subjecting it to its owndesigns and desires.6 This will al-ways be a subtle temptation in everyacademic setting: to reduce creationto certain interpretative models thatdeprive it of the very Mystery thathas moved whole generations toseek what is just, good, beautifuland true. Whenever a “p ro f e s s o r ”,by virtue of his wisdom, becomes a“teacher”, he is then truly capable ofawakening wonderment in our stu-dents. Wonderment at the worldand at an entire universe waiting tobe discovered!

In our day, the mission entrustedto you is prophetic. You are chal-lenged to generate processes that en-lighten contemporary culture byproposing a renewed humanism thateschews any form of reductionism.This prophetic role demanded of usprompts us to seek out ever newspaces for dialogue rather than con-frontation, spaces of encounterrather than division, paths offriendly disagreement that allow forrespectful differences between per-sons joined in a sincere effort to ad-vance as a community towards a re-newed national coexistence.

If you ask for this, I have nodoubt that the Holy Spirit willguide your steps, so that this House

will continue to bear fruit for thegood of the Chilean people and forthe glory of God.

I thank you once again for thismeeting, and please I ask you to re-member to pray for me.1 Address to the Plenary of the Con-gregation for Catholic Education (9February 2017).2 Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, 47.3 Cf. ZYGMUNT BAU M A N , Mo d e r n i d -ad líquida, 1999.4 Cf. GILLES LI P O V E T S KY, De la li-g e re z a , 2016.5 Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, 146.6 Cf. GERSHOM SCHOLEM, La mys-tique juive, Paris, 1985, 86.



In Iquique the Pontiff celebrates concluding Mass before bidding farewell to Chile

Attentive to situations of injusticeBefore bidding farewell to the people of Chile onThursday, 18 January, Pope Francis celebratedMass in Iquique’s Lobito Campus. The followingis the English text of his homily.

“Jesus did this, the first of his signs, inCana of Galilee” (Jn 2:11).

These are the final words of the Gospel wejust heard, which describes Jesus’ public ap-pearance: at a party, no more or less. It couldnot be otherwise, since the Gospel is a con-stant invitation to joy. From the outset, theangel says to Mary: “Rejoice!” (Lk 1:28). Re-joice, he says to the shepherds; rejoice, hesays to Elizabeth, an elderly and barren wo-man…; rejoice, Jesus says to the thief, for thisday you will be with me in paradise (cf. Lk23:43).

The Gospel message is a wellspring of joy:“I have said these things to you so that myjoy may be in you, and that your joy may becomplete” (Jn 15:11). A joy that is contagious,passing from generation to generation, a joythat we have inherited. Because we are Chris-tians.

How much you know about this, dearbrothers and sisters of northern Chile! Howmuch you know about living your faith andyour lives in a festive spirit! I have come as apilgrim to join you in celebrating this beauti-ful way of living the faith. Your patronalfeasts, your religious dances — which at timeseven go on for a week — your music, yourdress, all make this region a shrine of popularpiety and spirituality. Because the party doesnot remain inside the Church, but you turnthe whole town into a party. You know howto celebrate by singing and dancing God’s“fatherhood, providence, constant and lovingp re s e n c e ”, and this engenders “interior atti-tudes rarely observed to the same degree inthose who do not have this religious sense:namely, patience, the sign of the cross indaily life, detachment, openness to others,devotion”.1 The words of the prophet Isaiahcome to life: “The wilderness shall become afruitful field, and the fruitful field will bedeemed a forest” (Is 32:15). This land, sur-rounded by the driest desert of the world,manages to put on party clothes.

In this festive atmosphere, the Gospelshows us how Mary acts to make that joycontinue. She is attentive to everything goingon around her; like a good mother, shedo esn’t sit still. So she notices, amid in theparty and the shared joy, that something isabout to happen that might “water it down”.She approaches her Son and tells him simply:“They have no wine” (Jn 2:3).

In the same way, Mary passes through ourtowns, our streets, our squares, our homesand our hospitals. Mary is the Virgin of laTirana; the Virgin Ayquina in Calama; theVirgin of the Rocks in Arica. She notices allthose problems that burden our hearts, thenwhispers into Jesus’ ear and says: Look, “theyhave no wine”.

Mary does not remain quiet. She goes upto the servants and says to them: “Dowhatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). Mary, a wo-man of few but very pointed words, alsocomes up to each of us and says simply: “Dowhatever he tells you”. In this way, she elicitsthe first miracle of Jesus: to make his friendsfeel that they too are part of the miracle. Be-cause Christ “came to this world not to per-form a task by himself, but with us” — heperforms miracles with us — “with all of us,so as to be the head of a great body, ofwhich we are the living, free and active

cells”.2 This is how Jesus performs miracles:with us.

The miracle begins once the servants ap-proach the jars with water for purification. Sotoo, each of us can begin the miracle; what ismore, each one of us is invited to be part ofthe miracle for others.

Brothers and sisters, Iquique is a land ofdreams (for so its name means in the Aymaralanguage). It is a land that has given shelterto men and women of different peoples andcultures who had to leave everything behindand set out. Setting out always with the hopeof obtaining a better life, yet, as we know, al-ways with their bags packed with fear anduncertainty about the future. Iquique is a re-gion of immigrants, which reminds us of thegreatness of men and women, entire families,who, in the face of adversity, refused to giveup and set out in search of life. In search oflife. They — especially those who had to leavetheir land for lack of life’s bare necessities —are an image of the Holy Family, which hadto cross deserts to keep on living.

This land is a land of dreams, but let uswork to ensure that it also continues to be aland of hospitality. A festive hospitality, forwe know very well that there is no Christianjoy when doors are closed; there is no Chris-tian joy when others are made to feel un-wanted, when there is no room for them inour midst (cf. Lk 16:19-31).

Let us be attentive to those who profit fromthe irregular status of many migrants whodon’t know the language or who don’t havetheir papers “in order”. Let us be attentive tothe lack of shelter, land and employment ex-perienced by so many families. And, likeMary, let us say: They have no wine, Lord.

Like the servants at the party, let us offerwhat we have, little as it may seem. Likethem, let us not be afraid to “lend a hand”.May our solidarity in the commitment forjustice be part of the dance or song that wecan offer to our Lord today. Let us also makethe most of the opportunity to learn andmake our own the values, the wisdom andthe faith that migrants bring with them.Without being closed to those “jars” so fullof wisdom and history brought by those whocontinue to come to these lands. Let us notdeprive ourselves of all the good that theyhave to contribute.

And let us allow Jesus to complete the mir-acle by turning our communities and ourhearts into living signs of his presence, whichis joyful and festive because we have experi-enced that God is with us, because we havelearned to make room for him within ourhearts. A contagious joy and festivity thatlead us to exclude no one from the proclama-tion of this Good News, and to share all thatbelongs to our original culture, in order toenrich it also with what is truly ours, withour own traditions, with our ancestral wis-

Like Mary at Cana, let us make an effortto be more attentive in our squares andtowns, to notice those whose lives have been“watered down”, who have lost — or havebeen robbed of — reasons for celebrating;those whose hearts are saddened. And let usnot be afraid to raise our voices and say:“They have no wine”. The cry of the peopleof God, the cry of the poor, is a kind ofprayer; it opens our hearts and teaches us tobe attentive. Let us be attentive, then, to allsituations of injustice and to new forms ofexploitation that risk making so many of ourbrothers and sisters miss the joy of the party.Let us be attentive to the lack of steady em-ployment, which destroys lives and homes.

dom, so that those who come may encounterwisdom and share their own. This is the cel-ebration. This is the water transformed intowine. This is the miracle that Jesus performs.

May Mary, under her different titles in thisblessed land of the north, continue to whis-per in the ear of Jesus, her Son: “They haveno wine”, and may her words continue tofind a place in us: “Do whatever he tellsyou”.

1 CF. PAU L VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evan-gelii Nuntiandi, 48.2 SAINT ALBERTO HURTAD O, Meditación Sem-ana Santa para jóvenes (1946).


Wine of joyPope Francis bids ‘adiós’ to the people of Chile

After celebrating Mass and before departing for Peru on Thursday, 18 January, PopeFrancis bid farewell to the people of Chile at the Iquique International Airport. Thefollowing is the English text of his concluding remarks.

At the conclusion of this celebration, I thank Bishop Guillermo Vera Soto ofIquique for his gracious words on behalf of his brother bishops and all God’speople. This feels like a farewell.

I renew my gratitude to President Michelle Bachelet for her invitation to visitthe country. In a special way, I thank everyone who helped make this visit pos-sible: the civil authorities and all those whose professionalism enabled us to en-joy this time of encounter.

I also thank the thousands of volunteers for their selfless and silent work.Over twenty thousand. Without their commitment and hard work the jars of wa-ter would have not been here for the Lord to perform the miracle of bringing usthe wine of joy. Thanks too, to all those who in so many ways accompanied thispilgrimage, especially with their prayers. I know the sacrifices you have had tomake in order to take part in our celebrations and gatherings. I appreciate thisand I thank you from my heart. I also thank the members of the planning com-mission. All of you have worked hard, so many thanks.

I now continue my pilgrimage towards Peru, a country that is a friend andbrother to this great nation of Chile, which we are called to cherish and uphold.It is a nation that finds its beauty in the many and varied faces of her people.

Dear brothers and sisters, at every Eucharist we pray: “Look, Lord, on thefaith of your Church, and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordancewith your will”. What more can I ask for you at the end of my visit than to sayto the Lord: Look at the faith of this people and grant them unity and peace!

Thank you, and I ask you, please, to remember to pray for me. I am gratefulfor the presence of so many pilgrims from the brother nations, Bolivia, Peru, andplease don’t be jealous, but especially Argentineans, because Argentina is myhomeland. Thank you to my Argentinean brothers and sisters who have accom-panied me in Santiago, Temuco and here in Iquique. Many thanks.

ol’ s s e rvator e romano tiziana maria di blasio, lecturers on church history at the pontifical...

Documents