Communion of love

During the Angelus address on June 4, Pope Francis spoke about the Holy Trinity:

“Our God is a communion of love: and this is how Jesus revealed him to us. And do you know how we can remember this? With the simplest gesture, which we learnt as children: with the sign of the cross. By tracing the cross on our body, we remind ourselves how much God loved us, to the point of giving his life for us; and we repeat to ourselves that his love envelops us completely, from top to bottom, from left to right, like an embrace that never abandons us. And at the same time, we commit ourselves to bear witness to God-as-love, creating communion in his name.”

Global Family Compact

The Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences and the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, have just published a document called the Global Family Compact. The document maintained the Church’s stance against IVF and contraception.

“Assisted reproduction, embryo selection to avert the birth of children with genetic disorders or unwanted sex, embryo and gamete donation, [all] lend themselves to a selective mentality by which adults end up projecting unjustified expectations onto their desired children.”

Welcome refugees

Bishop Paul McAleenan, the lead bishop for migrants and refugees of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, has said that welcoming refugees and migrants is a duty for Christians.

He said that for the Christian, supporting refugees and asylum seekers cannot be a “hobby or a niche interest”.

“Going to the aid of migrants, refugees, displaced people and asylum seekers is not simply almsgiving or an act of kindness but an act of justice.”

He called for “an asylum system which is designed for the welfare of refugees and not for their harm”.

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)