Bulletins, Newsletters, and Flocknotes

On Tuesday 31 May 2022 , at 13.00 , at the Holy See Press Office, a press conference will be held to present the Tenth World Meeting of Families , to take place in Rome from 22 to 26 June 2022.

During the press conference, a video will be screened with a greeting from Il Volo , a musical group formed by Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble.

The speakers will be:

- Professor Gabriella Gambino , under-secretary of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life;

- Dr. Leonardo Nepi , official of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life;

- Msgr. Walter Insero , director of the Social Communications Office of the diocese of Rome;

- Amadeus Sebastiani and Giovanna Civitillo , spouses, presenters of the Festival of Families (by live link);

- Gigi De Palo and Anna Chiara Gambini , spouses, representatives of the family pastoral service of the diocese of Rome.

The Press Conference will be livestreamed in the original language on the Vatican News YouTube Channel, at https://www.youtube.com/c/VaticanNews .

Resignation of metropolitan archbishop of Perugia-Città della Pieve, Italy

Appointment of auxiliary bishops of Rome, Italy

 

Resignation of metropolitan archbishop of Perugia-Città della Pieve, Italy

The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the metropolitan archdiocese of Perugia-Città della Pieve, Italy, presented by His Eminence Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti.

 

Appointment of auxiliary bishops of Rome, Italy

The Holy Father has appointed as auxiliary bishops of Rome, Italy, the Reverend Riccardo Lamba , of the clergy of Rome, until now parish priest of San Ponziano , assigning him the titular see of Medeli, the Reverend Daniele Salera , of the clergy of Rome, until now parish priest of San Frumenzio , assigning him the titular see of Tituli in Proconsulari, and the Reverend Baldassarre Reina , of the clergy of the metropolitan archdiocese of Agrigento, former rector of the archepiscopal major seminary, assigning him the titular see of Aquae in Mauretania.

 

Curriculum vitae of Msgr. Riccardo Lamba

Msgr. Riccardo Lamba was born in Caracas, Venezuela, on 30 November 1956. He returned with his family to Italy in 1965. He was ordained a priest for the diocese of Rome on 6 May 1986.

He entered the seminary in 1984, after graduating in medicine, and obtained a bachelor’s degree and licentiate in psychology from the Pontifical Gregorian University.

From 1989 to 1991 he served as an assistant at the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary. From 1991 to 2000 he was an assistant of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart.

From 2000 to 2002 he served as parish priest of Sant’Anselmo alla Cecchignola , from 2002 to 2018 at Gesù Divino Lavoratore , and from 2018 to date, at San Ponziano in Rome.

 

Curriculum vitae of Msgr. Daniele Salera

Msgr. Daniele Salera was born on 23 July 1970 in the Torpignattara area of Rome. After attending the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary, he was ordained a priest on 21 April 2002.

He graduated from the La Sapienza University of Rome in sociology, and was awarded a licentiate in spiritual theology and attended the course in science of formation for formators at the ISFO, affiliated to the Pontifical Gregorian University.

From 2002 to 2008 he served as parish vicar of Santa Maria Madre del Redentore in Tor Bella Monaca. From 2003 to 2008 he was a lecturer in Catholic religion. From 2008 to 2014 he served in the diocesan Catechistic Office and as a teacher at the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary, and from 2014 to 2016 as vice rector at the same Seminary.

From 2016 to date, he has served as parish priest of San Frumenzio, and as ecclesiastical assistant at the Centro Urbis zone of AGESCI.

 

Curriculum vitae of Msgr. Baldassarre Reina

Msgr. Baldassarre Reina was born on 26 November 1970 at San Giovanni Gemini, in the province and archdiocese of Agrigento. He entered the archepiscopal seminary in 1981. In 1995 he was awarded a bachelor’s degree in sacred theology, and in 1998, a licentiate in biblical theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome.

He was ordained a priest on 8 September 1995.

From 1998 to 2001 he was a diocesan assistant for Catholic Action, and vice rector of the archepiscopal seminary of Agrigento. From 2001 to 2003 he was parish priest of Beata Maria Vergine dell’Itria in Favara. From 2003 to 2009 he was prefect of studies of the Studio Teologico San Gregorio Agrigentino , and from 2009 to 2013, parish priest of San Leone in Agrigento. From 2013 to 2022 he was rector of the major seminary of Agrigento.

He has also held the following offices in his diocese: teacher of Sacred Scripture at the Institute of Religious Sciences, teacher at the Studio Teologico San Gregorio Agrigentino , director of the Culture Office, canon of the Cathedral Chapter, and member of the Presbyteral Council and the College of Consultors.

This morning, the Holy Father Francis received in audience:

- Bishops from Brazil on their “ad Limina Apostolorum” visit.

This morning, the Holy Father Francis received in audience:

A delegation from the Global Solidarity Fund.

This morning’s General Audience took place in Saint Peter’s Square, where the Holy Father Francis met with groups of pilgrims and faithful from Italy and all over the world.

In his address in Italian, the Pope continued his cycle of catechesis on old age, focusing on Qoheleth: the uncertain night of the meaning and things of life (Bible reading: Qoelet 2: 17-18; 12: 13-14).

After summarizing his catechesis in various languages, the Holy Father addressed special greetings to the groups of faithful in attendance. Then, recalling the mass shooting in a primary school in Texas, he made an appeal against the indiscriminate trade in firearms.

The General Audience concluded with the recitation of the Pater Noster and the apostolic blessing.

 

Catechesis of the Holy Father

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

In our reflection on old age, today we are dealing with the Book of Qoheleth, or Ecclesiastes, another jewel set in the Bible. On a first reading, this short book is striking and leaves one bewildered by its famous refrain: “Everything is vanity”, everything is “fog”, “smoke”, “emptiness”. It is surprising to find these expressions, which question the meaning of existence, within Holy Scripture. In reality, Qoheleth’s continuous vacillation between sense and non-sense is the ironic representation of a knowledge of life that is detached from the passion for justice, of which God’s judgement is the guarantor. And the Book’s conclusion points the way out of the trial: “Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man” (12:13).

Faced with a reality that, at certain times, seems to us to accommodate all opposites, reserving for them the same destiny, which is to end up in nothingness, the path of indifference may also appear to us to be the only remedy to a painful disillusionment. Questions like these arise in us: Have our efforts changed the world? Is anyone capable of validating the difference between the just and the unjust?

It is a kind of negative intuition that can arise in any season of life, but there is no doubt that old age makes the appointment with disenchantment almost inevitable. And so the resistance of old age to the demoralising effects of this disenchantment is decisive: if the elderly, who have now seen it all, keep intact their passion for justice , then there is hope for love , and also for faith . And for the contemporary world, the passage through this crisis has become crucial, a salutary crisis, because a culture that presumes to measure everything and manipulate everything also ends up producing a collective demoralisation of meaning, of love, of goodness.

This demoralisation takes away our will to act. A supposed ‘truth’, which limits itself to registering the world, also registers its indifference to opposites and consigns them, without redemption, to the flow of time and the fate of nothingness. In this form – cloaked in the trappings of science, but also very insensitive and very amoral – the modern quest for truth has been tempted to take leave of its passion for justice altogether. It no longer believes in its destiny, its promise, its redemption.

For our modern culture, which would like to consign practically everything to the exact knowledge of things, the appearance of this new cynical reason – which combines knowledge and irresponsibility – is a harsh repercussion. Indeed, the knowledge that exempts us from morality seems at first to be a source of freedom, of energy, but soon turns into a paralysis of the soul.

Qoheleth, with its irony, already unmasks this fatal temptation of an omnipotence of knowledge – a “delirium of omniscience” – that generates an impotence of the will. The monks of the earliest Christian tradition had precisely identified this illness of the soul, which suddenly discovers the vanity of knowledge without faith and without morality, the illusion of truth without justice. They called it “ acedia ”. It is not simply laziness. It is not simply depression. Rather, it is the surrender to knowledge of the world devoid of any passion for justice and consequent action.

The emptiness of meaning and lack of strength opened up by this knowledge, which rejects all ethical responsibility and all affection for the real good, is not harmless. It does not merely take away the powers of the desire for the good: by counterreaction, it opens the door to the aggressiveness of the forces of evil . These are the forces of reason gone mad, made cynical by an excess of ideology. In fact, with all our progress and prosperity, we have really become a “society of weariness”. We were supposed to produce widespread well-being and we tolerate a scientifically selective market in health. We were supposed to put an insurmountable limit on peace, and we see more and more ruthless wars against defenceless people. Science advances, of course, and that is good. But the wisdom of life is something else entirely, and it seems to be stalled.

Finally, this an-affective and irresponsible reason also takes away meaning and energy from knowledge of truth. It is no coincidence that ours is the age of fake news , collective superstitions, and pseudo-scientific truths. Old age can learn from the wry wisdom of Qoheleth the art of bringing to light the deception hidden in the delusion of a truth of the mind devoid of affection for justice. Elderly people rich in wisdom and humour do so much good for the young! They save them from the temptation of a sad worldly knowledge devoid of the wisdom of life. And they bring them back to Jesus’ promise: " “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Mt 5:6).

 

Appeal of the Holy Father

My heart is broken over the massacre at the primary school in Texas. I pray for the children and adults killed, and their families. It is time to say “no more” to the indiscriminate trafficking of weapons. Let us all strive to ensure that such tragedies can never happen again.