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Pope's tribute to housewives: "They are true astisans of the home" OASTELPETROSO, Italy (CNS) - Housewives k.ilare "true artisans of the home," skilled labourers who work hard for the good of their families, Pope John Paul II said on the feast of St Joseph. "After a period marked by some confusion and ideological pressures, there is a call from many sides today to look with more serenity and objectivity at the relationship between women, the family and work," the pope said during last Sunday's visit to Castelpetroso. Marking the feast of St. Joseph, patron of workers, the pope called for recognition of "maternal tasks, the hard work they require and the need children have for care, love and affection." He prayed for "all women who work daily so that the domestic community can live in industrious harmony." Artisans and craftspeople were the focus of Pope John Paul's visit to several towns in the Molise region of Italy, an area southeast of Rome famous for its production of church bells.
As part of the St. Joseph's Day festivities, the pope Although the region has been hit by economic hard times and a wave of emigration, the pope visited the Pontifical Marinelli Foundry, a bell-makencouraged the artisans to persevere because their ing business founded in the year 1000 and operated traditional way of life is balanced in such a way as by the Marinelli family without interruption since 1300. to show the true dignity of work. Marinelli bells toll from several Vatican towers. "Work must contribute to people's development, The pope gave special thanks to Enrico Marinelli, not to the suffocation of their dignity," the pope said. a member of the foundry family, who is the Italian People must come before profits, work is not a state police prefect in charge of papal security outcommodity and people are not instruments of proside the Vatican. duction, he said. The foundry gave Pope John Paul a special bronze Skilled crafts show the direct relationship between bell with an inscription from the Book of Isaiah: a person and his or her work, he said. They allow a "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neiworker autonomy and independence while relying ther shall they learn war any more." on initiative, creativity and hard work The pope plans to give the bell to the United to meet one's responsibility to self and to one's Nations during an October visit. family. "It seems to me that the fusion of bronze and other The flexible work schedule, workshops close to metals for the realization of this bell is a beautiful home and the training of children in their parent's metaphor of hope for a world which now more than skills are other traditional values of an artisan's ever needs to harmonize, almost fuse, its diversities work, the pope said. into a solid project of peace," the pope said.
Punishment fits the crime VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Priests should consider pro-life work as a possible penance for people confessing to abortion, Pope John Paul II said. Likewise, charity activity could be advised for those confessing to sins against social justice, he told a study group of church experts last Saturday. The pope was making the point that concrete acts of penitence, and not only prayer, can be useful as penance - especially when they are designed as an "opposite medicine" to the sin. Such penances are suitable when the sin is one committed against a fundamental good, he said. "For example, for the crime of abortion, which is tragically widespread today, there could be the penitential response of a commitment to the defense of life," he said. The form of this penance should be carefully considered to meet the needs of the sinner and those of society, he said.
On the other hand, the pope said, sins against justice are "poisoning relations between people and polluting society." An ideal response in the confessional, he suggested, should begin with the restitution of what has been wrongfully gained. But restitution should not be limited to what has been gained. The pope said a good model was provided by Zacchaeus in St. Luke's Gospel, who promised Christ he would repay extorted money "four times over." "It will not be difficult, judging with the criteria of the faith, to find similar responses for other sins," the pope said. He said that physical penance still has a place in the confessional. Such penances are generally covered under the term of "fasting," and "except in cases of disease of weakness, a reasonable limitation of food is normally possible" for penitents, he said. But he cautioned confessors against assigning, or even allowing, penances that are too physically demanding.
He advised confessors to strive for a balance between the penance and the spiritual needs of the person confessing. Prayer is the simplest and first response, because in it the individual naturally praises God and sees sin as an offense. But here, too, he said, there is a risk of overloading the penitent. He reminded confessors that "a modest penance that is done with enthusiasm is better than a huge penance which is not done or which is performed with annoyance."
He said confessors are often called upon to read the complex spiritual attitudes of the people who come to confess. In general, the priest should offer the penitent trust and hope while assigning a penance that acts to repair the offense against God, he said. This means that in the confessional, the priest should be a teacher of truth, a doctor of souls and "a sensitive friend who does not reproach as much as he corrects and encourages," he said.
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