Price € 1,00. Back issues € 2,00 L’O S S E RVATOR E ROMANO WEEKLY EDITION IN ENGLISH Unicuique suum Non praevalebunt Fifty-third year, number 26 (2.653) Vatican City Friday, 26 June 2020 On the Feast of Saint Thomas More Humour is a fundamental Christian virtue ANDREA MONDA posed by his old friend, King Henry VIII. “The profound joy of the heart Hence, a sense of humour is is also the true precondition a weapon, or better stated, it is for ‘humour’; and so ‘h u m o u r, ’ a virtue, that a Christian can- under a certain aspect, is an not fail to cultivate. Thomas indicator, a barometer of More did so and was a happy faith”. And, “joy is very closely man, able to offer happiness to united to a sense of humour. A those who were near him. Christian who does not have it More than happy, he was is missing something … to me, blessed, strong because he was a sense of humour is the hu- able to live his personal man attitude closest to God’s ‘b eatitude’ that he summed up grace”. in this brilliant witticism: The first statement is from “Blessed is he who can laugh the 1980s and is from Joseph at himself, because he will nev- Ratzinger; the second is from er stop having fun”. Christian some 40 years later and comes irony is above all self-irony, an from Pope Francis, but it is attitude that suspends the understood that it is not an trenchant judgment of others extemporaneous quip, disen- and at the same time is quick gaged from a ‘daily practice’. to recognize, mercifully, one’s Indeed on that same occasion own limitations. It is in this the Pope indicated that “for 40 point that the association years I have recited Saint between humour and humility Thomas More’s prayer”, pre- — another fundamental Chris- cisely for this reason, in order tian virtue — is welded. The to have “a sense of humour. two words come from the same Christian joy and a sense of root: humus, soil, which is also humour always go together”. the same root of humanitas. So it is fitting to recall One is a human being if he re- these statements on the Feast cognizes he was born of dirt, Day of Saint Thomas More, a composed of mud, limited. On man who, armed with a smile, this fragile, ‘dirty’ essence, was able to face his life, filled however, according to the bib- with triumphs and unexpected lical narrative, God breathed defeats, glory and persecution, his spirit, elevating humanity and above all to joyously meet to the loftiest of creatures, in ‘Sir Thomas More’ by Hans the greatest challenge, an His image and likeness, deliv- Holbein, the Younger (1478-1535) unjust death sentence im- ering him from the merely nat- ural. And it is not by chance that another way to say hu- mour, sense of humour, is to speak of spirit: a humorous Prayer for Good Humour man is spirited, able to joke ‘with spirit’. When Pope Fran- The following is Saint Thomas More’s Prayer for Good Humour cis, for about seven years, General Audience which the Holy Father recites each day. preaches the necessity for Christians to become spiritual On the prayer of David Grant me O Lord, good digestion, men and women, to be open and also something to digest. to the work of the Holy Spirit, PAGE 3 Grant me a healthy body, and this also includes the appar- the necessary good humour to maintain it. ently secondary effect of be- coming spirited men and wo- In the Litany of Loreto Grant me a simple soul that knows men, able to smile first and to treasure all that is good foremost at themselves. In fact, Three new invocations and that doesn’t frighten easily at the sight of evil, Pope Bergoglio has often but rather finds the means to put things back warned against all forms of ri- PAGE 4 gidity, inviting the People of in their place. God to dissolve any stringency Give me a soul that knows not boredom, Pope to delegation from Lombardy that makes the heart sclerotic. grumbles, sighs, and laments, The oil that melts the heart is Positive energy nor excess of stress, because of that also composed of this healthy obstructing thing called “I.” and humble humour. Prayer is PAGE 5 fundamental in order to nour- Grant me O Lord, a good sense of humour, ish this humility that frees us; Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke perhaps the same prayer of Interview to discover in life a bit of joy, Saint Thomas More, which the and to be able to share it with others. Pope has recited daily for 40 Bernice Albertine King years and which — so simple Saint Thomas More, pray for us. and powerful as to need no GISOTTI ON PA G E 10 further comment — accompan- ies this text. page 2 L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO Friday, 26 June 2020, number 26 clergy and administrator of the cathedral (19 June). Bishop-elect Persaud, 63, was born in Georgetown, Guyana. He VAT I C A N was ordained a priest on 14 July 1985. He holds licence in canon law. itavecchia-Tarquinia. Until now he BULLETIN has served as titular Bishop of The Holy Father appointed as Bish- Subaugusta and Auxiliary of Rome, op of Copiapó, Chile, Fr Ricardo Italy (18 June). Basilio Morales Galindo, O. de M. AUDIENCES Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, Presi- Until now he has served as apostolic dent of the Pontifical Academy for Bishop Ruzza, 57, was born in Rome, Italy. He was ordained a administrator sede vacante et ad nu- Thursday, 18 June Life priest on 16 May 1987. He was or- tum Sanctae Sedis of the Archdiocese Cardinal Francesco Montenegro, Thursday, 25 June dained a bishop on 11 June 2016, of Puerto Montt, Chile (20 June). Archbishop of Agrigento, Italy, with subsequent to his appointment as Cardinal Luis Francisco Ladaria Fer- Bishop-elect Morales Galindo, 47, the coadjutor Bishop Alessandro titular Bishop of Subaugusta and rer, S J, Prefect of the Congregation was born in San Fernando, Chile. A Damiano, and with Archbishop Vin- Auxiliary of Rome. for the Doctrine of the Faith member of Order of Our Lady of cenzo Bertolone, S D P, of Catanzaro- Squillace Archbishop Alfred Xuereb, titular The Holy Father appointed as Aux- Mercy, he was ordained a priest on 3 Archbishop of Amantea, Apostolic iliary Bishop of the Diocese of San March 2006. He is a lawyer and H.E. Count John Cornet d’Elzius, Nuncio to Korea and to Mongolia Cristóbal de Venezuela, Venezuela, holds a bachelor’s degree in theo- Ambassador of Belgium, on his Fr Juan Alberto Ayala Ramírez, as- logy, a licence in education, and a farewell visit Mr Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of I FA D signing him the titular episcopal See diploma in canon law. Friday, 19 June of Rusubisir. Until now he has H.E. Mrs Safia Taleb al Souhail, served as episcopal vicar for the “Es- The Holy Father appointed as Aux- Cardinal Angelo Becciu, Prefect of Ambassador of Iraq to Italy, with píritu Santo” territorial zone and iliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of the Congregation for the Causes of her husband parish priest of “Nuestra Señora de Santo Domingo, Dominican Repub- Saints Father Alois, Prior of Taizè los Ángeles” in La Grita (18 June). lic, Fr José Amable Durán Tineo, as- Saturday, 20 June Bishop-elect Ayala Ramírez, 46, signing him the titular episcopal See of Tacia montana. Until now he has Cardinal Marc Ouellet, PSS, Prefect CHANGES IN EP I S C O PAT E was born in San Pedro de Pre- of the Congregation for Bishops gonero, Venezuela. He was ordained served as rector of the Santo Tomás a priest on 1 November 2002. He de Aquino national seminary in H.E. Mr Godwin George Umo, The Holy Father appointed as Bish- op of Caxito, Angola, Fr Maurício holds a licence in education, a spe- Santo Domingo (20 June). Ambassador of Nigeria, on his cialization in priestly formation and Agostinho Camuto, C S S P. Until now Bishop-elect Durán Tineo, 48, farewell visit vocational pastoral care, and a Mas- he has served as director of the Rá- was born in San José de las Matas, H.E. Mr Sibi George, Ambassador dio Ecclesia National Catholic Ra- ter’s in Neurocompetencias para la Dominican Republic. He was or- of India, on his farewell visit dio (15 June). educación. dained a priest on 6 January 2000. Doctors, nurses and healthcare Bishop-elect Camuto, 56, was The Holy Father accepted the resig- He carried out his ecclesiastical workers from Lombardy, Italy born in Colungo Alto, Angola. A nation of Archbishop Francesco studies and he holds a licence in member of Congregation of the Monday, 22 June Panfilo, SDB, from his office as Arch- youth pastoral care. Holy Spirit, he was ordained a priest bishop of Rabaul, Papua New on 28 July 1991. He completed his Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, Vicar Guinea, (19 June). General of His Holiness for the studies in theology and in social PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR communication. The Holy Father appointed Bishop Diocese of Rome LE G I S L AT I V E TEXTS Rochus Josef Tatamai, MSC, as Arch- Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko, Archpriest The Holy Father appointed as Bish- bishop of Rabaul. Until now he has The Holy Father appointed as mem- of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary op of Uruaçu, Brazil, Fr Giovani served as Bishop of Kavieng, Papua Major Carlos Caldas Barroca.