The Universal Salvific Will, and EENS

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS FRANCIS FOR WORLD MISSION DAY 2019 

 Baptized and Sent: The Church of Christ on Mission in the World

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

For the month of October 2019, I have asked that the whole Church revive her missionary awareness and commitment as we commemorate the centenary of the Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud of Pope Benedict XV (30 November, 1919). Its farsighted and prophetic vision of the apostolate has made me realize once again the importance of renewing the Church’s missionary commitment and giving fresh evangelical impulse to her work of preaching and bringing to the world the salvation of Jesus Christ, who died and rose again.

The title of the present Message is the same as that of October’s Missionary Month: Baptized and Sent: The Church of Christ on Mission in the World. Celebrating this month will help us first to rediscover the missionary dimension of our faith in Jesus Christ, a faith graciously bestowed on us in baptism. Our filial relationship with God is not something simply private, but always in relation to the Church. Through our communion with God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we, together with so many of our other brothers and sisters, are born to new life. This divine life is not a product for sale – we do not practise proselytism – but a treasure to be given, communicated and proclaimed: that is the meaning of mission. We received this gift freely and we share it freely (cf. Mt 10:8), without excluding anyone. God wills that all people be saved by coming to know the truth and experiencing his mercy through the ministry of the Church, the universal sacrament of salvation (cf. 1 Tim 2:4; Lumen Gentium, 48).

The Church is on mission in the world. Faith in Jesus Christ enables us to see all things in their proper perspective, as we view the world with God’s own eyes and heart. Hope opens us up to the eternal horizons of the divine life that we share. Charity, of which we have a foretaste in the sacraments and in fraternal love, impels us to go forth to the ends of the earth (cf. Mic 5:4; Mt 28:19; Acts 1:8; Rom 10:18). A Church that presses forward to the farthest frontiers requires a constant and ongoing missionary conversion. How many saints, how many men and women of faith, witness to the fact that this unlimited openness, this going forth in mercy, is indeed possible and realistic, for it is driven by love and its deepest meaning as gift, sacrifice and gratuitousness (cf. 2 Cor 5:14-21)! The man who preaches God must be a man of God (cf. Maximum Illud).

This missionary mandate touches us personally: I am a mission, always; you are a mission, always; every baptized man and woman is a mission. People in love never stand still: they are drawn out of themselves; they are attracted and attract others in turn; they give themselves to others and build relationships that are life-giving. As far as God’s love is concerned, no one is useless or insignificant. Each of us is a mission to the world, for each of us is the fruit of God’s love. Even if parents can betray their love by lies, hatred and infidelity, God never takes back his gift of life. From eternity he has destined each of his children to share in his divine and eternal life (cf. Eph 1:3-6).

This life is bestowed on us in baptism, which grants us the gift of rebirth in God’s own image and likeness, and makes us members of the Body of Christ, which is the Church. In this sense, baptism is truly necessary for salvation for it ensures that we are always and everywhere sons and daughters in the house of the Father, and never orphans, strangers or slaves. What in the Christian is a sacramental reality – whose fulfillment is found in the Eucharist – remains the vocation and destiny of every man and woman in search of conversion and salvation. For baptism fulfils the promise of the gift of God that makes everyone a son or daughter in the Son. We are children of our natural parents, but in baptism we receive the origin of all fatherhood and true motherhood: no one can have God for a Father who does not have the Church for a mother (cf. Saint Cyprian, De Cath. Eccl., 6).

Our mission, then, is rooted in the fatherhood of God and the motherhood of the Church. The mandate given by the Risen Jesus at Easter is inherent in Baptism: as the Father has sent me, so I send you, filled with the Holy Spirit, for the reconciliation of the world (cf. Jn 20:19-23; Mt 28:16-20). This mission is part of our identity as Christians; it makes us responsible for enabling all men and women to realize their vocation to be adoptive children of the Father, to recognize their personal dignity and to appreciate the intrinsic worth of every human life, from conception until natural death. Today’s rampant secularism, when it becomes an aggressive cultural rejection of God’s active fatherhood in our history, is an obstacle to authentic human fraternity, which finds expression in reciprocal respect for the life of each person. Without the God of Jesus Christ, every difference is reduced to a baneful threat, making impossible any real fraternal acceptance and fruitful unity within the human race.

The universality of the salvation offered by God in Jesus Christ led Benedict XV to call for an end to all forms of nationalism and ethnocentrism, or the merging of the preaching of the Gospel with the economic and military interests of the colonial powers. In his Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud, the Pope noted that the Church’s universal mission requires setting aside exclusivist ideas of membership in one’s own country and ethnic group. The opening of the culture and the community to the salvific newness of Jesus Christ requires leaving behind every kind of undue ethnic and ecclesial introversion. Today too, the Church needs men and women who, by virtue of their baptism, respond generously to the call to leave behind home, family, country, language and local Church, and to be sent forth to the nations, to a world not yet transformed by the sacraments of Jesus Christ and his holy Church. By proclaiming God’s word, bearing witness to the Gospel and celebrating the life of the Spirit, they summon to conversion, baptize and offer Christian salvation, with respect for the freedom of each person and in dialogue with the cultures and religions of the peoples to whom they are sent. The missio ad gentes, which is always necessary for the Church, thus contributes in a fundamental way to the process of ongoing conversion in all Christians. Faith in the Easter event of Jesus; the ecclesial mission received in baptism; the geographic and cultural detachment from oneself and one’s own home; the need for salvation from sin and liberation from personal and social evil: all these demand the mission that reaches to the very ends of the earth. The providential coincidence of this centenary year with the celebration of the Special Synod on the Churches in the Amazon allows me to emphaze how the mission entrusted to us by Jesus with the gift of his Spirit is also timely and necessary for those lands and their peoples. A renewed Pentecost opens wide the doors of the Church, in order that no culture remain closed in on itself and no people cut off from the universal communion of the faith. No one ought to remain closed in self-absorption, in the self-referentiality of his or her own ethnic and religious affiliation. The Easter event of Jesus breaks through the narrow limits of worlds, religions and cultures, calling them to grow in Here I am reminded of the words of Pope Benedict XVI at the beginning of the meeting of Latin American Bishops at Aparecida, Brazil, in 2007. I would like to repeat these words and make them my own: “Yet what did the acceptance of the Christian faith mean for the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean? For them, it meant knowing and welcoming Christ, the unknown God whom their ancestors were seeking, without realizing it, in their rich religious traditions. Christ is the Saviour for whom they were silently longing. It also meant that they received, in the waters of Baptism, the divine life that made them children of God by adoption; moreover, they received the Holy Spirit who came to make their cultures fruitful, purifying them and developing the numerous seeds that the incarnate Word had planted in them, thereby guiding them along the paths of the Gospel… The Word of God, in becoming flesh in Jesus Christ, also became history and culture. The utopia of going back to breathe life into the pre-Columbian religions, separating them from Christ and from the universal Church, would not be a step forward: indeed, it would be a step back. In reality, it would be a retreat towards a stage in history anchored in the past” (Address at the Inaugural Session, 13 May 2007: Insegnamenti III, 1 [2007], 855-856).

We entrust the Church’s mission to Mary our Mother. In union with her Son, from the moment of the Incarnation the Blessed Virgin set out on her pilgrim way. She was fully involved in the mission of Jesus, a mission that became her own at the foot of the Cross: the mission of cooperating, as Mother of the Church, in bringing new sons and daughters of God to birth in the Spirit and in faith.

I would like to conclude with a brief word about the Pontifical Mission Societies, already proposed in Maximum Illud as a missionary resource.

The Pontifical Mission Societies serve the Church’s universality as a global network of support for the Pope in his missionary commitment by prayer, the soul of mission, and charitable offerings from Christians < throughout the world. Their donations assist the Pope in the evangelization efforts of particular Churches (the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith), in the formation of local clergy (the Pontifical Society of Saint Peter the Apostle), in raising missionary awareness in children (Pontifical Society of Missionary Childhood) and in encouraging the missionary dimension of Christian faith (Pontifical Missionary Union). In renewing my support for these Societies, I trust that the extraordinary Missionary Month of October 2019 will contribute to the renewal of their missionary service to my ministry.

To men and women missionaries, and to all those who, by virtue of their baptism, share in any way in the mission of the Church, I send my heartfelt blessing. From the Vatican, 9 June 2019, Solemnity of Pentecost

FRANCIS

Church Militant Defends Saint Benedict Center

Edit: Voris was defending the dogma long before this.

I’m

The Friends of Saint Benedict Center today are applauding the courageous decision of Michael Voris and ChurchMilitant.com to publicly defend the Saint Benedict Center in Richmond, New Hampshire---a religious community of faithful Catholics struggling to preserve their traditional apostolate in the face of heavy handed attempts by the troubled Diocese of Manchester to suppress them and to close down their beloved Immaculate Heart of Mary School.    In a series of four episodes of “The Vortex,” beginning on Thursday, April 11th, and continuing through Tuesday of Holy Week, April 16th, Voris provided comprehensive coverage of the unjust persecution which the members and supporters of the Saint Benedict Center have been forced to endure at the hands of diocesan bureaucrats in Manchester.    In the first Vortex on April 11th, Voris offered a vigorous defense of the necessity of the Catholic Faith for salvation, embodied in the traditional and thrice defined dogma Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus---Outside the Church there is no salvation.    Voris, in the second episode on April 12th, gave his viewers a thoughtful presentation on the life and work of the late Father Leonard Feeney, debunking many of the myths associated with that heroic priest.    On April 15th, Voris interviewed Brother Andre Marie, Prior of the Saint Benedict Center, who told of the devastating trauma which diocesan decrees have inflicted not only upon the Brothers and Sisters of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but upon the parents, teachers and students of Immaculate Heart of Mary School. Poignantly, Brother Andre spoke of the open door of the empty tabernacle in their chapel, after the diocese forbade them from keeping the Blessed Sacrament there.    In the same episode, Voris also interviewed C. J. Doyle of the Friends of Saint Benedict Center, who raised the question of why, at a time of so much scandal, dissent and corruption in the Church, is the Diocese of Manchester targeting for destruction a group of innocent, unoffending traditional Catholics who are bringing souls into the Church. Doyle also recounted the troubled history of the scandal plagued Manchester diocese.    In a separate segment, Voris gave his viewers the opportunity to watch the entire interview with Brother Andre, who gave a forthright and detailed narrative on the history of the Center, its doctrinal position, and its relationship with the hierarchy.    In the final episode on April 16th, Voris offered his viewers the simple testimony of the Brothers and Sisters of Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, all of whom spoke of their desire to serve Our Lord and Our Lady by saving souls.    C. J. Doyle, spokesman for the Friends of Saint Benedict Center, made the following comment: “Michael Voris is not only to be commended for possessing the theological virtue of Faith, but for possessing, in abundance, and acting upon, the cardinal virtues of fortitude and justice. At a time when Church bureaucrats combine with the secular media and the anti-Christian bigots of the Southern Poverty Law Center to destroy a community of traditional Catholics, it is heartening and encouraging that a Catholic media voice with the range, influence and unquestioned orthodoxy of ChurchMilitant is willing to counter callous lies with a vigorous defense of the truth.”    “The Friends of Saint Benedict Center wish to extend their profound gratitude to Michael Voris and to the entire staff of ChurchMilitant.com.”    The Friends of Saint Benedict Center is an organization of concerned lay Catholics who have come together to provide moral and material support for the Brothers and Sisters of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to advocate for them in the public square, and to oppose the unjust attempts by the Diocese of Manchester to suppress them and their apostolate.    If you wish to support the Saint Benedict Center in their valiant struggle to continue their apostolate, please click the link below.

Pope Rejects Dogma in Emotional Photo Op With Child

Update: here’s the “accurate” report from Rome Reports now that Herald has seemingly taken theirs down.”, which omits the paragraph included in the Herald report.

Edit: another telegraphed Photo Op to attack the words of Christ.  Or is he invoking his Petrine privilege to bind and loose?

'God has the heart of a father, your father was a good man, he is in heaven with Him,' the Pope said

Pope Francis comforted a grieving child by telling him that his atheist father is in heaven.

During a visit to Rome’s deprived Corviale district on Sunday, the Pope answered questions from a group of children. One of them, a boy called Emanuele, burst into tears when he met the Pope.

After giving the child a long hug, Pope Francis asked him what was troubling him. Emanuele whispered in the Pope’s ear that his father, who was an atheist, had recently died and he was worried he could be in hell.

Pope Francis asked Emanuele for permission to tell the crowd what he had said, and then announced (according to La Stampa): “If only we could cry like Emanuele when we have pain in our hearts.”

http://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2018/04/16/pope-tells-grieving-child-your-atheist-father-is-in-heaven/?platform=hootsuite

AMDG

Jesus not found outside the Church, Pope preaches

Edit: Wow!

April 23, 2013 1:34 PM Posted by Tom
Jesus not found outside the Church, Pope preaches



By Estefania Aguirre

Vatican City, Apr 23, 2013 / www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/jesus-not-found-outside-the-church-pope-preaches/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+catholicnewsagency%2Fdailynews+%28CNA+Daily+News%29&utm_term=daily+news

(CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said that people cannot be fully united to Jesus outside of the Church during a Mass to commemorate Saint George, the saint he is named after.

“You cannot find Jesus outside the Church,” he said April 23 in the Apostolic Palace’s Pauline Chapel.

“It is the Mother Church who gives us Jesus, who gives us the identity that is not only a seal, it is a belonging,” he declared in his homily.

The pontiff spoke about Christian identity as well as persecution, making it the sixth time in two weeks he has mentioned those who suffer for the faith.

Speaking about the Gospel reading for today from Saint John, Pope Francis underscored that “the missionary expansion of the Church began precisely at a time of persecution.”

“They had this apostolic fervor within them, and that is how the faith spread!” he exclaimed.

It was through the Holy Spirit’s initiative that the Gospel was proclaimed to the Gentiles, the Pope noted, and the Spirit “pushes more and more in this direction of opening the proclamation of the Gospel to all.”

The pontiff also repeated a line from his April 17 homily in St. Martha’s residence, when he emphasized that being a Christian is not like having “an identity card.”

“Christian identity is belonging to the Church, because all of these (the apostles) belonged to the Church, the Mother Church, because finding Jesus outside the Church is impossible,” he said.

“The great Paul VI said it is an absurd dichotomy to want to live with Jesus but without the Church, following Jesus out of the Church, loving Jesus without the Church,” he added.

Pope Francis said that “if we are not sheep of Jesus, faith does not come” and that it is “a rosewater faith and a faith without substance.”

The Pope also commented on Barnabas, who was sent to Antioch and was glad to see that the grace of God had encouraged people there to remain true disciples.

“Let us think of the consolations that Barnabas had, which is the sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing,” he preached.

“Let us ask the Lord for this frankness, this apostolic fervor that impels us to move forward, as brothers, all of us forward,” he remarked.