POPE FRANCIS MASS AT LATERAN VIDEO AND TEXT - LATEST FROM VATICAN

MASS FOR THE ANNUNCIATION Vatican Radio REPORT For the Christian, "making progress" means "lowering oneself" on the road of humility in order allow God’s love to emerge and be clearly seen. This was the central focus of Pope Francis’ homily on Monday morning at Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae chapel. The liturgy was attended by some of the Sisters of Charity, who renewed their vows, the staff of the Vatican Television Center, the Brazilian Program of Vatican Radio, and the long-time Papal photographer, Arturo Mari. The way of Christian humility rises up to God, as those who bear witness to it “stoop low” to make room for charity. The liturgical feast of the Annunciation occasioned this reflection from Pope Francis, as he celebrated the Annunciation Mass on Monday morning. The Pope said that the road taken by Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem for the imperial census was a road of humility. There was the humility of Mary, who “did not understand well,” but “[entrusted] her soul to the will of God.” Joseph was humble, as he “lowered himself” to take on the “great responsibility” of the bride who was with child. “So it is always with God’s love,” said Francis, “that, in order to reach us, takes the way of humility.” This was the same way that Jesus walked, a way that humbled itself even unto the Cross. Pope Francis went on to say that, for a Christian, “[T]his is the golden rule,” according to which progress and advancement always come through lowering oneself. “One can take no other road,” he said, adding, “if I do not lower myself, if you do not lower yourself, you are not a Christian.” Pope Francis went on to say, “Being humble does not mean going on the road,” with “downcast eyes.” Such was not the humility of Jesus, or his mother or his foster father, Joseph. The Holy Father underlined that the way of humility is the one that leads to the triumph of the Resurrection. “Let us ask God for the grace of humility,” he prayed, “that humility, which is the way by which charity surely passes,” for, “if there is no humility, love remains blocked, it cannot go [forward].” SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA TAKING POSSESSION OF CATHEDRA AS BISHOP OF ROME, POPE SPEAKS OF GOD'S PATIENCE Vatican City, 8 April 2013 (VIS) – At 5:30pm in the Basilica of St. John Lateran yesterday, Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis celebrated Mass, during which he officially took possession of the Cathedra of the Bishop of Rome. At the taking of possession, there was an act of obedience carried out by a representation of Rome's ecclesial community. Just as at the Mass inaugurating his Petrine ministry—when six cardinals, two from each of the three orders: bishop, priest, and deacon, represented the entire College of Cardinals—representatives from the Diocese of Rome made the act of obedience: Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar general of Rome; the vice gerent and an auxiliary bishop of the diocese; a pastor and assistant pastor; a deacon, male religious, and female religious; as well as a family and a young lay man and lay woman. Find below the full text of the Pope's homily. It is with joy that I am celebrating the Eucharist for the first time in this Lateran Basilica, the Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome. I greet all of you with great affection: the very dear Cardinal Vicar, the auxiliary bishops, the diocesan presbyterate, the deacons, the men and women religious, and all the lay faithful. I offer my greetings, too, to the mayor and his wife, and to all the civil authorities. Together let us walk in the light of the risen Lord. 1. Today we are celebrating the Second Sunday of Easter, also known as “Divine Mercy Sunday”. What a beautiful truth of faith this is for our lives: the mercy of God! God’s love for us is so great, so deep; it is an unfailing love, one which always takes us by the hand and supports us, lifts us up and leads us on. 2. In today’s Gospel, the Apostle Thomas personally experiences this mercy of God, which has a concrete face, the face of Jesus, the risen Jesus. Thomas does not believe it when the other Apostles tell him: “We have seen the Lord”. It isn’t enough for him that Jesus had foretold it, promised it: “On the third day I will rise”. He wants to see, he wants to put his hand in the place of the nails and in Jesus’ side. And how does Jesus react? With patience: Jesus does not abandon Thomas in his stubborn unbelief; he gives him a week’s time, he does not close the door, he waits. And Thomas acknowledges his own poverty, his little faith. “My Lord and my God!”: with this simple yet faith-filled invocation, he responds to Jesus’ patience. He lets himself be enveloped by divine mercy; he sees it before his eyes, in the wounds of Christ’s hands and feet and in his open side, and he discovers trust: he is a new man, no longer an unbeliever, but a believer. Let us also remember Peter: three times he denied Jesus, precisely when he should have been closest to him; and when he hits bottom he meets the gaze of Jesus who patiently, wordlessly, says to him: “Peter, don’t be afraid of your weakness, trust in me”. Peter understands, he feels the loving gaze of Jesus, and he weeps. How beautiful is this gaze of Jesus – how much tenderness is there! Brothers and sisters, let us never lose trust in the patience and mercy of God! Let us think too of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus: their sad faces, their barren journey, their despair. But Jesus does not abandon them: he walks beside them, and not only that! Patiently he explains the Scriptures which spoke of him, and he stays to share a meal with them. This is God’s way of doing things: he is not impatient like us, who often want everything all at once, even in our dealings with other people. God is patient with us because he loves us, and those who love are able to understand, to hope, to inspire confidence; they do not give up, they do not burn bridges, they are able to forgive. Let us remember this in our lives as Christians: God always waits for us, even when we have left him behind! He is never far from us, and if we return to him, he is ready to embrace us. I am always struck when I reread the parable of the merciful Father; it impresses me because it always gives me great hope. Think of that younger son who was in the Father’s house, who was loved; and yet he wants his part of the inheritance; he goes off, spends everything, hits rock bottom, where he could not be more distant from the Father, yet when he is at his lowest, he misses the warmth of the Father’s house and he goes back. And the Father? Had he forgotten the son? No, never. He is there, he sees the son from afar, he was waiting for him every hour of every day, the son was always in his father’s heart, even though he had left him, even though he had squandered his whole inheritance, his freedom. The Father, with patience, love, hope and mercy, had never for a second stopped thinking about him, and as soon as he sees him still far off, he runs out to meet him and embraces him with tenderness, the tenderness of God, without a word of reproach: he is back! And that is the joy of the Father. In that embrace of the son there is all of this joy: he is back! God is always waiting for us, he never grows tired. Jesus shows us this merciful patience of God so that we can regain confidence, hope – always! A great German theologian, Romano Guardini, said that God responds to our weakness by his patience, and this is the reason for our confidence, our hope (cf. Glaubenserkenntnis, Würzburg, 1949, p. 28). It is like a dialogue between our weakness and the patience of God, a dialogue that, if we will engage in it, gives us hope.  3. I would like to emphasize one other thing: God’s patience has to call forth in us the courage to return to him, however many mistakes and sins there may be in our life. Jesus tells Thomas to put his hand in the wounds of his hands and his feet, and in his side. We too can enter into the wounds of Jesus, we can actually touch him. This happens every time that we receive the sacraments with faith. Saint Bernard, in a fine homily, says: “Through the wounds of Jesus I can suck honey from the rock and oil from the flinty rock (cf. Deut 32:13), I can taste and see the goodness of the Lord” (On the Song of Songs, 61:4). It is there, in the wounds of Jesus, that we are truly secure; there we encounter the boundless love of his heart. Thomas understood this. Saint Bernard goes on to ask: What can I count on? On my own merits? No, “My merit is God’s mercy. I am by no means lacking merits as long as he is rich in mercy. If the mercies of the Lord are manifold, I too will abound in merits” (ibid., 5). This is important: the courage to trust in Jesus’ mercy, to trust in his patience, to seek refuge always in the wounds of his love. Saint Bernard even states: “So what if my conscience gnaws at me for my many sins? ‘Where sin has abounded, there grace has abounded all the more’ (Rom 5:20)” (ibid.). But some of us may think: my sin is so great, I am as far from God as the younger son in the parable, my unbelief is like that of Thomas; I don’t have the courage to go back, to believe that God can welcome me and that he is waiting for me, of all people. But God is indeed waiting for you; he asks of you only the courage to go to him. How many times in my pastoral ministry have I heard it said: “Father, I have many sins”; and I have always pleaded: “Don’t be afraid, go to him, he is waiting for you, he will take care of everything”. We hear many offers from the world around us; but let us take up God’s offer instead: his is a caress of love. For God, we are not numbers, we are important, indeed we are the most important thing to him; even if we are sinners, we are what is closest to his heart. Adam, after his sin, experiences shame, he feels naked, he senses the weight of what he has done; and yet God does not abandon him: if that moment of sin marks the beginning of his exile from God, there is already a promise of return, a possibility of return. God immediately asks: “Adam, where are you?” He seeks him out. Jesus took on our nakedness, he took upon himself the shame of Adam, the nakedness of his sin, in order to wash away our sin: by his wounds we have been healed. Remember what Saint Paul says: “What shall I boast of, if not my weakness, my poverty? Precisely in feeling my sinfulness, in looking at my sins, I can see and encounter God’s mercy, his love, and go to him to receive forgiveness. In my own life, I have so often seen God’s merciful countenance, his patience; I have also seen so many people find the courage to enter the wounds of Jesus by saying to him: Lord, I am here, accept my poverty, hide my sin in your wounds, wash it away with your blood. And I have always seen that God did just this – he accepted them, consoled them, cleansed them, loved them. Dear brothers and sisters, let us be enveloped by the mercy of God; let us trust in his patience, which always gives us more time. Let us find the courage to return to his house, to dwell in his loving wounds, allowing ourselves be loved by him and to encounter his mercy in the sacraments. We will feel his tenderness, so beautiful, we will feel his embrace, and we too will become more capable of mercy, patience, forgiveness and love. After the Mass, from the Loggia of the Archbasilica, the Holy Father greeted the faithful gathered outside the church, and offered them his blessing:  Brothers and sisters,  Buona sera! I thank you so much for your company in today's Mass. Thank you so much! I ask you to pray for me. I need it. Don't forget this. Thanks to all of you! And let us all go forward together, the people and the Bishop, all together, going forward always in the joy of the Resurrection of Jesus. He is always at our side.  May God bless you!  (He blessed the people.) Many thanks! See you soon!

REGINA COELI: BEATITUDE OF FAITH Vatican City, 8 April 2013 (VIS) – On the Sunday that concludes the Easter Octave, which John Paul II named Divine Mercy Sunday, the Pope greeted the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square to pray the Regina Coeli with the words of the risen Christ: “Peace be with you”. He explained that it is a peace that goes beyond a simple greeting or wish: “It is a gift,” he said. “The precious gift that Christ gives to his disciples, after having passed through death and hell.” It is a peace that is “the fruit of the victory of God's love over evil … and of forgiveness. The true peace that comes from experiencing God's mercy.” The Holy Father then spoke of Jesus' appearances to his disciples who were locked in the Cenacle. Thomas wasn't present at the first appearance and he didn't believe what the apostles told him of it. At the second, when he was there and Jesus invited him to touch his wounds, Jesus said to him “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” “And who are those who believe without having seen?” the pontiff asked. They are “other disciples, men and women of Jerusalem who, although not having met the risen Jesus, believed in the witness of the apostles and the women. This is a very important word about faith; we can call it the beatitude of faith. In every time and in every place there are the blessed who, through the Word of God proclaimed in the Church and witnessed to by Christians, believe that Jesus Christ is God's love incarnate, Mercy incarnate. And that goes for all of us!” However, along with peace, Jesus gave his disciples the Holy Spirit, “so that they might bring the forgiveness of sins—the forgiveness that only God can give and that cost the blood of the Son—to the world. The Church is sent by the risen Christ to bring the remission of sins to humanity and thus to make the Kingdom of love grow; to sow peace in our hearts so that we might also affirm it in our relationships, in society, and in institutions. The Spirit of the risen Christ casts out the fear in the hearts of the Apostles and compels them to leave the Cenacle in order to bring forth the Gospel. Let us also have more courage to witness to our faith in the risen Christ! Let us not be afraid to be Christians or to live as Christians!”

AUDIENCES Vatican City, 8 April 2013 (VIS) – This morning, the Holy Father received in separate audiences: - Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, - Archbishop Charles Daniel Balvo, apostolic nuncio to Kenya and titular of Castello, - Archbishop Hector Ruben Aguer of La Plata, Argentina, and - Dr. Nikolaus Schneider, president of the German Evangelical Church, with his wife and entourage. On Saturday, 6 April, the Holy Father received in audience: - Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and - Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

ACTS CONCERNING THE ORIENTAL CHURCHES Vatican City, 8 April 2013 (VIS) – His Beatitude Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak, Patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts, with the consent of the Synod of Bishops of the Coptic Catholic Church in conformity with Canon 85, para. 2(2) of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches and giving notice to the Apostolic See, has transferred Bishop Boutros Kamal Fahim Awad Hanna to the Eparchial See of Minya of the Copts. Bishop Hanna was previously curial bishop of Alexandria of the Copts and titular of Mareotes. The Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi (of the Italo-Albanians) presented by Bishop Sotir Ferrara, in accordance with canon 201 para. 1 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. At the same time, the Holy Father has appointed Cardinal Paolo Romeo, archbishop of Palermo, Italy, as apostolic administrator "sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis" of the same eparchy, Piana degli Albanesi (area 420, population 30,200, Catholics 28,700, priests 29, permanent deacons 4, religious 159), Palermo, Italy.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS Vatican City, 8 April 2013 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father: - appointed Bishop Michael Owen Jackels as Metropolitan Archbishop of Dubuque (area 45,074, population 979,560, Catholics 206,843, priests 216, permanent deacons 91, religious 861), Iowa, USA. The archbishop-elect, previously bishop of Wichita, Kansas, USA, is a member of the Subcommittee on the Catechism in the U.S. Conference of Bishops. He succeeds Archbishop Jerome George Hanus, O.S.B., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law. - appointed Msgr. John Thomas Folda as bishop of the Diocese of Fargo (area 92,650, population 396,000, Catholics 89,400, priests 120, permanent deacons 43, religious 126), North Dakota, USA. The bishop-elect was born in Omaha, Nebraska, USA in 1961 and was ordained a priest in 1989. Since ordination he has served in several academic and pastoral roles, most recently as rector of the St. Gregory the Great Seminary in Seward, Nebraska, USA. He was named a chaplain of His Holiness in 2007. - appointed Bishop Reynaldo Gonda Evangelista as bishop of Imus (area 1,287, population 2,843,000, Catholics 2,433,000, priests 261, religious 701), Philippines. Previously bishop of Boac, Bishop Evangelista is president of the Commission for Vocations on the Bishops' Conference of the Philippines. - appointed Archbishop Brian Udaigwe, titular of Suelli, as apostolic nuncio to Benin. On Saturday, 6 April, the Holy Father appointed Fr. Jose Rodriguez Carballo, O.F.M., as secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, at the same time elevating him to the dignity of archbishop and assigning him the titular see of Bellicastrum. The archbishop-elect was born in Lodoselo, Spain in 1953 and was ordained a priest in 1977. Since ordination he has served in several academic and administrative roles, most recently as minister general of the Order of Friars Minor. Archbishop-elect Rodriguez is a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.