News From the Vatican
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November 9, 2012
Pope prays for Sandy victims, explains bond of Tradition
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI expressed his concern for everyone affected by Hurricane Sandy and encouraged all those working to rebuild from the disaster. “Conscious of the devastation caused by the hurricane which recently struck the East Coast of the United States of America, I offer my prayers for the victims and express my solidarity with all those engaged in the work of rebuilding,” he said at the end of a recent weekly general audience. Nearly 1,000 miles wide, Sandy’s strong gales reached to the Great Lakes. According to CNN, by November 4, it had caused at least 179 deaths in the U.S., Caribbean Sea and Canada and left millions without power from the Carolinas to Ohio. In the Caribbean government officials put the death toll across the islands at 69, with more than 50 in Haiti, where widespread flooding devastated parts of the already impoverished country. After reciting the Angelus, the pope called for prayers and concrete help for the people of Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and the Bahamas, where, he said, the hurricane struck “with particular violence.” During his main audience talk, the pope underlined the importance of the Church in preserving and passing on the faith across generations and throughout history. Some 10,000 people gathered under the rain in St. Peter’s Square to hear the pope’s catechesis. Though finding Christ is an intensely personal experience that transforms one’s own heart, mind and individual existence, “faith is given in and through the community of the Church,” the pope said. The Creed and one’s beliefs are not built upon a “private dialogue with Jesus,” but are the result of a dialogue and a listening that shatter individualism and open one up to God’s love and to others, he said. “Faith comes to me given as a gift from God through a community of believers, which is the Church,” he said. People discover through Baptism that they are not only united to Jesus, “but also to all those who walked and are walking the same path” toward holiness. “Our faith is truly personal only if it is communal: It can be my faith only if it lives
and moves in the ‘we’ of the Church, only if it is our faith, the common faith of the one Church,” the pope said. It is important to remember that faith is born in the Church and leads people to the Church, he said; “No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as mother.” Tradition is “an uninterrupted chain of the life of the Church, the proclamation of the Word of God and the celebration of the Sacraments that reaches us” from the past, he said. Tradition is what “gives us the guarantee that that which we believe in is the original message of Christ, preached by the Apostles,” he said. This way, every man and woman from every generation and every continent can have access to the “immense resources” of sacred Scripture and the faith, and “enrich themselves from the treasures of grace” given to humanity by God, the pope said. In fact, the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, “Lumen Gentium,” reminded people that God doesn’t seek to make people “holy and save them merely as individuals, without bond or link between one another. Rather it has pleased Him to bring men together as one people, a people which acknowledges Him in truth and serves Him in holiness.” By radiating the truth of the Church, each person becomes a point of reference for others by passing on the person of Jesus and His message, Pope Benedict said. Only by “letting oneself be guided and molded by the faith of the Church,” Christians, who despite their weakness, limits and difficulties, become “like an open window” that lets God’s light shine on the world. Keeping one’s faith closed up inside oneself contradicts the very nature of faith, the pope said. “We need a Church in order to have confirmation of our faith and to experience the gifts of God: His Word, the Sacraments, the support of grace and the witness of love,” he said. In a world of rampant individualism which only weakens human relations, “faith calls us to be Church, carriers of love and of the communion of God for all humanity,” he said.
wedding reception — Newly-married couples wait under umbrellas before Pope Benedict XVI’s general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican recently. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
Second Vatican stem cell conference set for 2013
Vatican City (CNA/ EWTN News — Next year the Pontifical Council for Culture and an adult stem-cell research foundation will host the second international Vatican conference to discuss regenerative medicine and its implications for culture, ethics and faith. Msgr. Tomasz Trafny, head of the Science and Faith department at the Pontifical Council for Culture, said it is the council’s mission to explore the cultural impact of new research. It aims to “offer the best tools for pastoral care” and “encourage understanding of changing culture.” Dr. Robin Smith, president of the U.S.-based Stem for Life Foundation, said recently that the conference will educate people of all backgrounds on the potential of adult stem cells to treat chronic disease. It will generate “truly international dialogue” on regenerative medicine and explore the connections between scientific breakthroughs, faith, culture and ethics. The Second International Vatican Adult Stem Cell Conference’s theme is “Regenerative Medicine — A Fundamental Shift in Science and Culture.” It will take place at the Vatican from April 11-13, 2013. The conference aims to foster dialogue among researchers, physicians, philanthropists, faith leaders and policy-makers to identify unmet medical needs that can benefit from the development of stem-cell therapies. It also strives to raise awareness about present opportunities in existing therapies and reduce misunderstandings about the field. Conference speakers include leading adult stem-cell scientists and clinicians and
thought leaders in faith, ethics, culture and business. Various countries’ health ministers, Holy See ambassadors and regulatory officials will also speak. Moderators for the event include prominent journalists and commentators like NBC News’ Meredith Vieira, Fox News’ Bill Hemmer, Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal and Dr. Max Gomez of WCBS-TV. Researchers and clinicians will present the state of adult stem-cell research, including the results of investigations into growing replacements for damaged and diseased organs, restoring heart function after heart attacks and growing new skin for burn victims. Adult stem cell advances in cancer therapy, treating traumatic brain injuries and chronic diseases will also be discussed. Some patients who have undergone adult stem-cell therapies will speak about how the research has reduced their suffering. The conference also aims to lay the foundation for a network of scientists, educators and patrons interested in the potential
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of adult stem cells. Unlike embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells are not derived from the destruction of human embryos. Msgr. Trafny said the developments in regenerative medicine are “of great interest.” They also cause “deep cultural transformations” in health care, the economy, new technologies and legal issues. “Thus, topics that apparently seem to be circumscribed only to strictly scientific discussions or theoretical ones, in fact modify our understanding of social dynamics, relationships and, in the ultimate analysis, our understanding of the human being,” he said. The Stem for Life Foundation, a conference co-sponsor, is the foundation of the international bio-pharmaceutical company NeoStem Inc. The Pontifical Council for Culture is sponsoring the event through its foundation STOQ International, whose name is an acronym for Science Theology and the Ontological Quest. The conference website is www.adultstemcellconference. org. OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 56, No. 43
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