Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Catholic News

Home

Home
Catholic
Religion News
Pope warns new cardinals against falling into polemics, division

Pope warns new cardinals against falling into polemics, division

Last updated on: November 19, 2016 at 10:59 am by CNA Daily News

Pope warns new cardinals against falling into polemics, division 2016-11-19T10:59:00+00:00 CNA Daily News

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Vatican City, Nov 19, 2016 / 03:59 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Saturday Pope Francis handed a red hat to 17 new cardinals, warning them against the danger of falling into polemics and animosity and encouraging them to be close to their people, imitating God’s mercy.

“Ours is an age of grave global problems and issues. We live at a time in which polarization and exclusion are burgeoning and considered the only way to resolve conflicts,” the Pope said Nov. 19.

Using the current global migration crisis as an example, he noted how easy it is to view those considered to be “strangers” to be seen as a threat, and to “take on the status of an enemy.”

Whether it’s because they have different customs, different colored skin, a different language, a lower social class or even because they have a different faith, these people are often marginalized and “without our realizing it, this way of thinking becomes part of the way we live and act.”

“Everything and everyone then begins to savor of animosity. Little by little, our differences turn into symptoms of hostility, threats and violence,” Pope Francis said, noting that this has an especially hard impact on the defenseless “because their voice is weak and silenced by this pathology of indifference!”

“How many situations of uncertainty and suffering are sown by this growing animosity between peoples, between us,” he said, stressing that this attitude also infiltrates the Church in her communities, meetings and even priests.

“The virus of polarization and animosity permeates our way of thinking, feeling and acting,” the Pope said, stressing to the cardinals that “we are not immune from this and we need to take care lest such attitudes find a place in our hearts.”

Should this happen, it would be a direct contradiction of “the richness and universality of the Church,” which can be tangible felt within in the College of Cardinals.

“We come from distant lands; we have different traditions, skin color, languages and social backgrounds; we think differently and we celebrate our faith in a variety of rites,” Francis said, adding that “none of this makes us enemies; instead, it is one of our greatest riches.”

Pope Francis spoke to 16 of the 17 bishops and priests he tapped to get a red hat last month, the only absentee being Bishop Sebastian Koto Khoarai, O.M.I, Emeritus of Mohale’s Hoek, Lesotho, for health reasons.

Coming from 11 nations and 5 continents, the new cardinals represent the Pope’s vision of having a broader, more universal representation of the Church.

In addition to having three Americans – Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago, Archbishop Joseph Tobin of Indianapolis and Bishop Kevin Farrell, prefect of the new Congregation for Laity, Family and Life – the appointees include many from small countries or islands that have never before had a cardinal, as well as from countries which present particular challenges in terms of pastoral outreach, such as those stricken with violence or persecution.

In his homily, Francis pointed to the day’s Gospel from Luke, in which Jesus tells his disciples to “set out” and go to the plains to meet the people, rather than staying on top of the mountain.

“The Lord thus shows the Apostles, and ourselves, that the true heights are reached on the plain, while the plain reminds us that the heights are found in a gaze and above all in a call: Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful,” he said.

He then pointed to four “exhortations” that he said molds the vocation of the apostles “through real, everyday situation,” which he named as to “love, do good, bless and pray.”

These “are four things we can easily do for our friends and for those more or less close to us” or that we like, he said, but noted they are much more difficult to do for our enemies.

When we think of our enemies or those whom we don’t like, our first reaction is often “to dismiss, discredit or curse them,” he said, noting how we frequently “try to demonize them, so as to have a sacred justification for dismissing them.”

“But Jesus tells us to do exactly the opposite with our enemies, those who hate us, those who curse us or slander us. We are to love them, to do good to them, to bless them and to pray for them.”

Pope Francis then turned to what he said are “the hallmarks” of Jesus' message, where his “power and secret” are hidden.

The first aspect of this “secret” is that “my enemy is someone I must love,” he said, explaining that “in God’s heart there are no enemies. God only has sons and daughters.”

“We are the ones who raise walls, build barriers and label people. God has sons and daughters, precisely so that no one will be turned away…No matter how sullied our hands may be, God cannot be stopped from placing in those hands the Life he wishes to bestow on us.”

The Pope concluded his homily by pointing to Jesus continues to invite us “to spend our lives sustaining our people in hope, so that they can be signs of reconciliation.”

“As the Church, we are constantly being asked to open our eyes to see the wounds of so many of our brothers and sisters deprived of their dignity, deprived in their dignity,” he said and urged the cardinals to “cherish in your own heart” the summons to be “merciful like the Father.”

In addition to the three American cardinals elevated during the consistory, others of voting age include: Archbishop Mario Zenari, who is and will remain apostolic nuncio to the “beloved and martyred” Syria; Archbishop Dieudonné Nzapalainga of Bangui; Archbishop Carlos Osoro Sierra of Madrid; Archbishop Sergio da Rocha of Brazil; Archbishop Patrick D'Rozario of Dakha, Bangladesh; Archbishop Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo of Merida, Venezuela; Archbishop Joseph de Kesel of Malines Brussels; Bishop Maurice Piat of Port-Louis, Mauritius Island; Archbishop Carlos Aguiar Retes of Tlalnepantla, Mexico and Archbishop John Ribat of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

In addition to the 13 new electoral cardinals, Francis has nominated four others who are of non-voting age due to their notable service to the Church: Anthony Soter Fernandez, Archbishop Emeritus of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Renato Corti, Archbishop Emeritus of Novara and Sebastian Koto Khoarai, O.M.I, Bishop Emeritus of Mohale’s Hoek, Lesotho.

Additionally, he nominated Fr Ernest Simoni, an Albanian priest from the diocese of Shkodra, whose testimony of the persecution of the Albanian Church under the communist regime the Pope cried at during his 2014 daytrip to the country.

The consistory will be the third of Pope Francis’ pontificate, the most recent of which took place last year on Valentine’s Day. With the 17 new cardinal-elects included, the number of voting cardinals comes to 121, and the number of non-voters to 107, for a grand total of 228.

Vatican

Previous Post

November 18, 2016

So what is a consistory, anyway?

Next Post

November 19, 2016 As Pope warns against polarization, new cardinals reflect

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Americas Asia - Pacific Europe Middle East - Africa Uncategorized US Vatican

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who prophesied about the birth of Jesus in the Old Testament?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Daniel Jeremiah Isaiah Ezekiel