According to an article by Beatrice D’Ascenzi, published by Vatican News, over 1,300 Esperantists from 69 nations met in Turin, Italy for the 108^th World Esperanto Congress. Over the seven days, scholars and enthusiasts focused their discussions on the theme Immigration and the Confluence of Human Values, the Inclusive Experience of Turin.

Two books were offered to participants during the conference: Pope Francis’ I Am I, Do Not Be Afraid. The second was Carmelite Fernando Millán’s Truth in Love: The Life of St. Titus Brandsma, Carmelite. Fr. Fernando was prior general of the Carmelite Order from 2007-2019 and is considered one of the top experts on the life of St. Titus. He was vice postulator for the cause of St. Titus as well.

The saint from the Netherlands was a major promoter of the Esperanto language. He is now considered the patron saint of the Catholic Esperantists. He participated in several of the international congresses and was a member of the Commission for the Ecclesiastical Dictionary of Esperanto. The language facilitated Brandsma’s desire to build community among all the people.

The language, developed by Polish linguist Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof in the second half of the 19th century, is estimated to have a worldwide following in at least 120 countries. It is considered the language of peace as it stresses equality and communion among people brought together by the language. Esperanto was created in order to establish a dialogue between various populations, trying to overcome hostilities and conflicts. Esperanto’s creator, felt that many misunderstandings were the result of linguistic difficulties. Zamenhor wished to solve this by creating a universal idiom, belonging to humanity and not to a single people. This would not only impact inter-personal relationships but political and culture connections.

According to the enthusiasts the artificial language of Esperanto is experiencing a rebirth 150 years after its development. Esperanto associations and the number of enthusiasts on the Internet continues to grow. According to experts, the digital age of communications has been a major plus for the growth in the number of people speaking the language. The simplicity of the language allows people to achieve a satisfactory proficiency in less time than any of the ethnic languages.

With this in mind, the recent world congress in Piedmont was the central event of the year for scholars and enthusiasts, who over the seven days of the event were able to reflect together on an extremely timely topic, "Immigration and the confluence of human values, the inclusive experience of Turin." Inclusive like the practice of Esperanto, which has in its DNA the will to establish a dialogue between different populations, trying to overcome hostilities and conflicts - fueled, according to the creator, also by linguistic misunderstandings - through the use of a universal idiom, belonging to humanity and not to a single people.

In fact, since its inception, Esperanto functioned through with wars and conflicts that have severely tested its scholars, who are culturally inclined to dialogue. However, these are often victims of discrimination and persecution in these situations because of their ability to receive information outside the official channels.

According to the experts, the social changes that followed the conflicts of the last century gradually consigned the national idioms of smaller countries with fewer resources into oblivion. This inevitably forced the inhabitants of these states to have to use the languages of the dominant countries, a practice strongly by Esperantists. Esperanto represents a supranational and neutral idiom, allowing all groups to connect and exchange information without discrimination, but rather protecting idioms considered "minor," otherwise doomed to extinction by the languages of stronger nations.

The flag of Esperanto, the verda stelo, sums up the Esperanto philosophy. The verda stelo is formed by a green background with a white box in the upper left corner with a centered, green 5-pointed star, representing the five inhabited continents. The green color also indicates hope for a better future, while white represents neutrality and peace.

Catholic Esperantists have always maintained a deep-rooted connection with Catholicism. In fact, a separate program for the Catholic Esperantists was offered during the Turin congress, led by President Marija Belošević. The connection, that began as early as the early 1900s and was consolidated after World War II, when Pius XII at a general audience in 1950 welcomed the Esperantists who had come to meet him in their own language. In 1966, two years after Paul VI publicly recognized the importance of the Catholic Esperanto movement and the usefulness of the language, Esperanto was officially recognized as a language in which it is possible to celebrate Mass and pray. Since that time, on the occasion of the Urbi et Orbi blessing on Christmas and Easter Sunday, the pope has occasionally offered greetings in Esperanto. Some of Vatican Radio’s programs are broadcast in the language as well.

A Kingdom for all
(Matthew 15:21-28)

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Pope Francis received a letter from 21-year-old Carmelite Pablo de la Cruz Alonso Hidalgo, who died on July 15 from cancer just two weeks after his profession “in articulo mortis.” Pablo wrote to the pope, expressing the hope of joining the pontiff and all the young people at the World Youth Day in Portugal. Knowing he would not be able to be physically present, Pablo asks to “to give you a hand from Heaven….”

Eva Fernández, the Vatican correspondent for COPE, the radio station of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, delivered the letter to the pope, along with a holy card designed by the Carmelite for his wake. During the flight to Lisbon from Rome, the pope acknowledged being aware of Pablo’s story.

CITOC received a copy of the letter in Spanish and translations in English and Italian which we provide below.

Heaven exists!

Br Pablo Maria de la Cruz’s letter to Pope Francis

Salamanca, July 12, 2023

Dear Pope Francis,

I am Fray Pablo Maria of the Cross Alonso Hidalgo, a Carmelite Friar. I am 21 years old. On June 25, 2023 I received the grace of being admitted for religious profession “in articulo mortis,” taking the vows of poverty, obedience, and chastity within the Carmelite Order, in the priory of San Andrés in Salamanca, a place where St John of the Cross once lived. At this point I can only thank God for this undeserved and great gift rendered to me by the Church our mother, through the Carmelite Order. Its life programme could not be more fascinating: “to live in allegiance to Jesus Christ.”

For the past six years, I have been struggling with Ewing Sarcoma. I know that everything makes sense within God’s plan. Through ups and downs, better days and worse, through much purification by means of this sickness, today I can contemplate my life and confess that I have been and am happy. I have discovered that the center of my life is not my illness but Christ. As I said to my friends, my family, and my Carmelite brothers: “Through suffering by means of this sickness I have encountered God, and by means of death through this illness, I will go to Him. And for this I thank him.”

Currently I am in the Palliative Care Unit at the University Clinical Hospital of Salamanca, and I feel that the Father, in his infinite mercy, will very soon call me to be with him. At this final stage of my life the doctors have given me a piece of great news: that I can return to the priory, and there surrender my life to Jesus, dying in “El Carmen de Abajo,¹ where I have received so many graces at the feet of the Virgin of Carmel. The mystery of the Cross has reigned over my life, but I can shout out loud along with St Titus Brandsma, to whom I entrusted myself a few months ago: “The Cross is my joy, not my sorrow.” Nevertheless, throughout my sickness, I have not been alone. Jesus in the Eucharist has accompanied me day by day, and He has been the best palliative and the best medicine for my pain. I have already arranged for it to be announced at my funeral, that: “Whoever wants to speak to me, it is very easy to do so; let him approach the Eucharist, and there he will always find me available. If you and I, brother, feel the same fire of love for Jesus in the Eucharist, then we are ONE!”

I would have loved to join you at the World Youth Day in Lisbon, together with so many youths who travel there from all over the world. I know from experience that no one can extinguish the interior fire that a young person who is in love with Jesus, can have. I pray the Lord that this fire of love of God will burn in Lisbon. How I would like for young people to get to know Jesus, my Beloved! How much he has given me! How much he has consoled me! How happy he has made me! Physically I am without any strength, but the communion of saints will allow me to join you in another, more profound and by no less distant way. Indeed, I don’t know if, when you receive this letter, I would be able to accompany you with my prayers, or if God in his infinite mercy, would have already called me to himself. In that case, I hope you will allow me to give you a hand–that would be much better!–from Heaven, making a feast with much noise, as you yourself would put it.

I have asked the Lord insistently, that I may be small and poor, and as such, I would be close to the smallest and especially to the sickest persons and their families. The Cross has given me a special faculty of sensing what they go through, and the courage to approach them and touch their wounds. I wish that my offering will also touch the sick persons’ families. For this reason, I unite the weakness of my fragile life–a life however, which I know is precious in the eyes of Jesus–and my intentions to yours, on the strength of the World Youth Day. In the first place, I ask the Lord for the conversion of young people, that they may encounter the love of God through Jesus in the Eucharist. In second place I offer my life for the Church, our mother, and I ask for the help of the Virgin Mary so that all the movements, itineries, ecclesial groups, religious congregations and orders may be one, in a way that no division will scar the face of the Church, and that the beauty of the Body of Christ will shine in our world and within the Church itself. In the third place, I unite myself to the passion of the Lord so that the offering of my poor life, if it is the Lord’s will, will help us do away with the fear of death. Heaven exists!

In Carmel, the Garden of God, antechamber of Heaven, grows Mary, God’s sunflower, whom I love to call and imagine as the Virgin of Spring. I ask her to transform the deserts of suffering into gardens of consolation. And in her hands, I entrust the evangelization of young people.

In my prayer, I entrust to the Lord the Order of Carmel, the Diocese of Salamanca, and the entire Church.

May Jesus and Mary accompany you in your old age and in your proclamation of the Gospel. 

I pray for you. Pray for me

.

Fray Pablo Maria of the Cross,
Carmelite

1. As the Carmelite priory of San Andrés is known locally (note of the translator).

  pdf Read or download the Letter here.(153 KB)

Indonesian Province Begins 100th Anniversary Celebrations in Jakarta

The largest province in the Carmelite Order began its celebration of the 100^th anniversary of its founding with a lively festival of prayer, music, dance, and a gala dinner. During 2023, the Carmelite Province of Indonesia is celebrating its foundation by three Carmelites from the Dutch Province. The first event took place in the parish hall of Mary, Mother of Carmel in Jakarta on Friday, August 11. Besides friends and co-workers from the various area ministries of the Carmelites in the Jakarta area, Carmelites from many parts of the world were in attendance.

The evening began with Carmelite students acting as hosts, introducing the variety of presentations and dances. Internationally known vocalist and harpist, Angela July, led the evening. She was a finalist of the second season of Asia’s Got Talent. At the Carmelite celebration, she sang a number of songs, including two duets, first with the Carmelite Prior General, Miceal O’Neill, and later with the Vice Prior General and member of the Indonesian province, Benny Phang.

The Carmelite formation students from Malang provided both religious moments as well as dance from the various regions that today make up the Indonesian province. A procession of a statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel began the evening with it being carried to a place of honor on the stage of the hall.

For the intermission, the attendees were provided a delicious meal featuring local dishes. Although the Indonesian language dominated, conversations could be heard in a variety of the languages spoken in the provinces around the world. It was a genuine celebration of the internationality of the Order with representations from the Netherlands (the founding province of the Indonesian province 100 years ago), the Philippines (a nearby province also founded by the Dutch), Vietnam, India, Italy, the USA, Perú, and Ireland. Three members of the General Curia in Rome are participating. Besides the prior general and vice prior general, the General Councilor for Asia, Australia, and Oceania, Robert Thomas Puthussery, took part. Sisters from various congregations also joined in the celebration.

Afer the dinner/intermission, the Carmelite formation students took over the stage, performing dances from the various regions of the country where the province now has established communities. As the evening went on, the audience became more and more active in the celebration. Eventually the stage was crowded with the various representations of the Carmelite family who were present.

Following the restoration of the Rio de Janeiro Province in Brazil, the Carmelites in the Netherlands turned their focus to undertaking the work of evangelization in the Dutch East Indies. The mission-minded St Titus Brandsma, then a provincial councilor of the Dutch Province, played no small role in this decision. Carmelites Clement van der Pas, the superior, Paschal Breukel, and Linus Hemckens arrived from the Netherlands to take over the island of Madura and the Eastern part of Java with headquarters in Malang. At the time, less than 200 native Javanese were Catholic.

The province was officially erected in 1967. In 2022 the Province had 405 members in 77 communities in Indonesia. A number of members also serve in other provinces or are residing in other province while they pursue advanced studies.

Other celebrations in Jakarta will be reported on in the next CITOC online. The celebrations continue in Malang this week.  

Pictures/Videos of the Events:

Opening Mass (To Be Posted)

First Banquet (YouTube)

The Carmelite monastery of Santa Maria della Vita (SAR) in Sogliano al Rubicone, Italy, celebrated its triennial elective chapter on August 9, 2023. Bishop Nicolò Anselmi of the Diocese of Rimini presided.

The monastery was founded ib June 26, 1992 by five nuns from the Carmelite monastery in Ravenna. It was dedicated to the Our Lady of Life on April 4, 1992. The Congregation for Religious canonically erected the monastery under the local ordinary on June 30, 2017. 

The monastery website is: www.carmelosantamariadellavita.it

The results of the elective chapter were as follows:

Prioress | Priora | Priora:  
Sr. Maria Vania Spazzoli, O. Carm.

1st Councilor  | 1ª Consejera | 1ª Consigliera:
Sr Marilla Pia Fiumana, O. Carm.

2nd Councilor | 2ª Consejera  | 2ª Consigliera:
Sr Maria Simona Nicita, O. Carm.

Treasurer | Ecónoma | Economa
Sr Maria Eleonora Cicero, O. Carm.

Formator | Formadora | Formatrice
Sr Marilla Pia Fiumana, O. Carm.

Sacristan | Sacristana | Sacrestana
Sr Maria Benedetta Benvenuti, O. Carm.

17 August Optional Memorial

The year of birth of Bl. Angelus Mazzinghi in Florence, Italy, or nearby, is unknown but it was certainly before 1386. He was received into the Order in 1413 and was the first member of the reform at Santa Maria delle Selve.

He was prior there from 1419-30 and again in 1437, and in Florence from 1435-37. A lector in theology, he was particularly noted for his preaching of the word of God. He died in Florence in 1438.

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World Youth Day | Lisbon, Portugal | August 1-6, 2023

At the conclusion of the Holy Year of Redemption in 1984, Pope St. John Paul II invited young people from around the world to join him in St. Peter’s Square for an International Jubilee of youth on the following Palm Sunday. Some 300,000 young people attended. The first World Youth Day was announced in 1985 and the first official World Youth Day was held in 1986.

Its tradition comes from the practice in the Polish Church to have 13 day summer camps for young adults. It provides an opportunity for young people to meet people of the same faith and to share various prayer experiences over the weeklong “Day.”

Pope John Paul II explained his project at his final World Youth Day in Toronto. “When, back in 1985, I wanted to start the World Youth Days… I imagined a powerful moment in which the young people of the world could meet Christ, who is eternally young, and could learn from him how to be bearers of the Gospel to other young people.

The Carmelite Order inaugurated a Carmelite Day within the larger World Youth Day event after 2007. Although most young people were attending World Youth Day through their local diocese, the idea was to bring those from Carmelite ministries around the world together for one day to celebrate the Carmelite family.

The closing Mass for the 1995 World Youth Day in the Philippines, attended by 5 million people, set a world’s record for the largest number of people gathered for a single religious event. (That record was surpassed when 6 million people attended a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis 20 years later in the Philippines.)

World Youth Day | Lisbon, Portugal | August 1-6, 2023

Pope Francis met with some 800,000 young people in Lisbon’s Eduardo VII Park, the hub of many of the events during the 2023 World Youth Day. The Stations of the Cross were focused on prayer for those suffering the effects of mass shootings, wars, abuse, anxiety, eating disorders and persecution. The pope assured those who joined him in the park that Jesus never fails to be present, despite the hardships the youth of today's face.

"Jesus weeps with us," the pope said during the Way of the Cross. Speaking without a script, he said, "All of us in life have cried and we cry still. And there is Jesus with us. He cries with us because he accompanies us in the darkness that leads us to tears."

During the Way of the Cross, video were shown indicating some of the situations today’s youth find themselves in. There were also meditations and reflections on the everyday lives of young people in today’s world. "We live in a world of mirrors where all that matters is our appearance, our image. Selfies after selfies. The tyranny of the right body and the perfect smile," read one reflection. "Photos of us on social media in carefully studied poses. Artificial posts waiting for likes."

The cross of Christ, Pope Francis said to the young people, is a message of hope, one of victory over death, and shows that sacrificial love, while risky, is always worth it. The pope told the young people that despite these temptations, fears and distractions, Christ and the Church offer a message of inclusion and renewal.

It has been reported in various new media that the priests have been hearing more than 10,000 confessions a day. The pope has participated as well, beginning his day by hearing the confessions of three young people from Guatemala, Italy, and Spain. The event organizers have provided makeshift confessionals with simple wooden benches. The pope opted to sit in one of these rather than a larger confessional complete with a cushioned, high back chair.

The pope later went to meet charity workers. Here too he opted to speak spontaneously rather than read through the prepared remarks. He blamed the change being necessary because he was having difficulties with his glasses. However, the pope often put aside prepared remarks to speak to his audience.

"When I shake the hand of someone in need, or a sick person, or a marginalized person, do I do this right after so they don't infect me?," the pope asked while rubbing his hand on his cassock.

"Concrete love," he told the aid workers, "is that which gets one’s hands dirty."

World Youth Day | Lisbon, Portugal | August 1-6, 2023

Pope Francis flew from Rome to Lisbon, Portugal, to participate in the mega gathering of Catholic youth taking place these days in Lisbon. While the official theme of the gathering of hundreds of thousands of Catholic youth from around the world is Mary Went With Haste, a second but often repeated theme are the pope's words “Everyone is welcome in the Church.”

At his opening address to an estimated 500,000 young people on August 3 during the official welcoming ceremony, the pope said, "There is room for everyone in the Church and, whenever there is not, then, please, we must make room, including for those who make mistakes, who fall or struggle.

"The Lord does not point a finger, but opens wide his arms: Jesus showed us this on the cross," Francis continued. "He does not close the door, but invites us to enter; he does not keep us at a distance, but welcomes us."

"Let these be days when we fully realize in our hearts that we are loved just as we are," the pope told a sea of young people, many draped in their country's flags. Many waited several hours to greet the pontiff.

This theme of the Church being a wide tent, allowing everyone to have a place, came up during the pontiff’s talk to some 7,000 students at the Catholic University of Portugal as well. "Christianity cannot be lived as a fortress surrounded by high walls, one that raises the ramparts against the world," Pope Francis said.

When the pope was speaking with the Portuguese clergy and religious, he again pointed out that it is everyone’s responsibility to welcome everyone into the Church.

Although the pope recently spent time at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, students affiliated with Carmelite schools and parishes who are attending the weeklong event have described Pope Francis as energetic and enthused. It has often been noted that the pope appears most relaxed and smiling when he is meeting with the everyday people of the Church.

It has been reported that the pope took the opportunity during his time in Portugal to meet with some victims of the earthquake in Turkey, youth from war torn Ukraine, and victims of the sex scandals that have rocked the Portuguese Church.

World Youth Day | Lisbon, Portugal | August 1-6, 2023

You could not but be impressed by the hundreds of thousands of young people who have come to Lisbon for the 2023 World Youth Day. Like Mary who got up and went in haste into the hill country because she wanted to be with her cousin Elizabeth, these young people have travelled because they want to be here and it looks very much like they are enjoying every moment of it.

They walk for hours. They stand and sit and form human chains and dance all in the heat of the Lisbon sun. They join in the music provided by very good musicians as they wait for the religious ceremonies to begin and in every case once the call to prayer is heard silence, respect and participation take over. That’s the way it was at the opening Eucharist on Tuesday evening, the welcome for Pope Francis on Thursday evening, and the Stations of the Cross on Friday. Now we wait for the Vigil and the Mass for World Youth Day, also referred to as the Mass of Sending Out, on Sunday morning.

The Carmelite Youth Day on Wednesday gave us the same experience of excitement at seeing young Carmelites accompanied by sisters, friars, and older lay Carmelites, converging on the Parish of Sao Antonio dos Cavalheiros, some distance from the centre of Lisbon. They came from the four corners of the earth, Australia and Timor Leste, the Philippines, Zimbabwe, Canada, Honduras, El Salvador, Malta, UK, Italy, Spain and the host country Portugal.

The hospitality provided by the parish was wonderful, which lent to the joy that people felt just in being together as people for whom Carmel is their spiritual home. We were all blessed by this way of visiting one another, attentive to one another, with words and expressions that are born of the faith and love we have received.

Photographic memories will abound, including those taken by a drone. The other memories of feelings and inspirations will also last for a long time.