Threatened by deforestation, Cambodia loses 26 per cent of its forests in 43 years

Francis meets  non-governmental organizations of Catholic inspiration, which have gathered in the last two days in Rome.  "We need more imagination, new ways of encountering culture".

In the speech prepared for "Aggiornamenti Sociali" a Italian Jesuits magazine, Francis states that the preferential option "before rushing to their aid, this option requires that we be on their side, even when we look at the dynamics of society."

The proposal is in a message signed by Francis and Al-Tayeb delivered yesterday to the UN General Secretary who expressed his appreciation and support for the initiative.

"We cannot build our lives on passing things, on appearances, on pretending that all is well. Let's go to the rock, where there is our salvation. And we will all be happy there. All".

Francis writes to the UN Climate Conference in Madrid. 4 years on from the signing of the Paris agreement the awareness of climate change " is still rather weak, unable to respond adequately to that strong sense of urgency for rapid action called for by the scientific data at our disposal." And current studies "show how far words are from concrete actions".

"Faith is trusting abandonment into the hands of a trustworthy God Who makes Himself known not through occult practices but through revelation and with freely-give love". The memory of Father Popieluszko, killed by the communist police. In the meeting with the Governing Council of Solidarnosc the relations between Church and State.

"The Spirit chooses the small, always", Francis said. “It cannot enter the big, the proud, the self-sufficient". Theologians "know everything, but are incapable of doing theology because theology is done on the knees, becoming small.”

Francis’ Message for World Day of Persons with Disabilities, which this year has as its theme "The future is accessible". "I think of people of every age, especially the elderly who, also due to disabilities, are at times considered a burden, a “cumbersome presence”, and risk being discarded, of being denied concrete job prospects for the construction of their future".

Receiving a group of young French business people, Francis pointed out the need for a "conversion" and "concrete changes of habits and style" that will “concretely effect change and, little by little, educate the world of work to a new style ”.

Francis celebrated Mass for Rome’s Congolese Catholic Community on the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the city’s Congolese Catholic Chaplaincy. He lamented that fighting is taking place in the Democratic Republic of Congo, “fuelled also by the outside, amid the silence of many, fighting fuelled by those who enrich themselves by selling weapons.”

Francis expressed his "concern" for the situation in Iraq. "I learnt with sorrow,” he explained, “that the protests in recent days were met with a harsh reaction, which has caused dozens of victims.” Today, he noted, “the first Sunday of Advent, a new liturgical year begins. In the four weeks of Advent, the liturgy prepares us to celebrate the Christmas of Jesus, as it reminds us that He comes every day into our lives, and will return gloriously at the end of time. Such certainty leads us to look to the future with confidence.”

Francis releases letter on the nativity scene, a tradition which he would like to see revived where it might have fallen into disuse. The crèche “helps us to imagine the scene. It touches our hearts and makes us enter into salvation history as contemporaries of an event that is living and real in a broad gamut of historical and cultural contexts.” Plus, “With the simplicity of that sign, Saint Francis carried out a great work of evangelization. His teaching touched the hearts of Christians and continues today to offer a simple yet authentic means of portraying the beauty of our faith.”

“The joy of the Gospel springs from the encounter with Jesus,” Francis said. “It is when we meet the Lord that we are inundated by that love of which he alone is capable. [. . .] Because, at that point, the need to proclaim it arises spontaneously and becomes irrepressible. This is how evangelisation began, on Easter morning, with a woman, Mary Magdalene who, after meeting the Risen Jesus, the Living One, evangelised the Apostles.”

"The Lord tells us to be prepared for the meeting, death is an encounter: it is He who comes to visit us, it is He who comes to take us by the hand and take us with him. I wouldn't want this simple sermon to be a funeral notice! It is simply the Gospel ”.