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Kyrka i rörelse under Trons år.
05-Apr-2013: 
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Jesusmanifestationen i Stockholm 18 maj, program
03-Apr-2013: 
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KKS nyhetsblogg - Påve Franciskus, Karismatiska förnyelsen och ekumeniken
26-Mar-2013:  Att evangelikala och pingstkarismatiska kristna i Sydamerika gladde sig åt att kardinal Bergoglio hade valts till påve fick vi tidigt indikationer på. Den argentinskfödde evangelisten Luis Pauli berättar i Christianity Today om sin personliga vänskap med kardinalen.
Peter Hocken, katolsk präst och ledamot i ICCRS´s kommission för lärofrågor säger att "påve Franciskus kommer att vara till starkt stöd för den Karismatiska förnyelsen och han förstår den ekumeniska samfundsövergripande karaktären av den helige Andes utgjutande i våra dagar." (EUCCRIL 255)
Kardinal Bergoglio var mycket stödjande för Karismatiska förnyelsen i Argentina och hade nära kontakter med ledande personer inom förnyelsen som Julia Torres, ledare för Comunità di Gesù i Buenos Aires. Bergoglio var de argentinska biskoparnas kontaktperson gentemot Karismatiska förnyelsen. 2012 godkände Argentinas biskopar ett grunddokument om förnyelsen där det sägs att Karismatiska förnyelsen är "en ström av nåd".
Bergoglio är, berättar Peter Hocken, van vid att be för människor och frågar alltid också efter andras förbön för honom. Den senare fick vi ju se exempel på direkt då han presenterades som den nyvalde påven från Peterskyrkans balkong. Kardinalen hade också en nära gemenskap med evangelikala ledare och ledare inom Pingströrelsen i Argentina vilket är unikt. På grund av kardinal Bergoglios öppenhet och värme är relationerna mellan evangelikaler och katoliker mycket bättre i Argentina än i övriga delar av Latinamerika.
Kardinal Bergoglio var involverad i årliga dialogsamtal mellan katoliker och pingstvänner såväl som i de ekumeniska reträtter för präster och pastorer som anordnades i anslutning till dessa samtal. I Latinamerika används termen Evangelicos både om evangelikala och klassiska pingstvänner (varav de senare är i majoritet).
Peter Hocken berättar att han var i Buenos Aires i februari och träffade då både kardinal Bergoglio och en ledande pingstpastor och teolog, Norberto Saracco. Saracco säger till Christianity Today:
"His election has been an answer to our prayers, Bergoglio is a man of God. He is passionate for the unity of the Church—but not just at the institutional level. His priority is unity at the level of the people."
Charles Whitehead, tidigare ordf i ICCRS internationella råd säger: "We're going to see a more relaxed, open and simple papacy, a more collaborative and collegial approach to the government of the Church, a simpler and more direct proclamation of Jesus the Saviour of the world." (EUCCRIL 254)
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Drugs shouldn't be first response to children's problems, speakers say at Vatican conference
19-Jun-2013:
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Adding St. Joseph's name to Mass texts, popes share their devotion
19-Jun-2013:
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Pope calls for 'revolutionaries' to change hearts by sharing God's love
19-Jun-2013:
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Man shot at church recovering; priest calls Massgoers' actions 'heroic'
19-Jun-2013:
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Jesus 'wants pastors, not combers of sheep,' Pope Francis says
18-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 18, 2013 / 01:12 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Christians are called to be evangelists, seeking out the sheep who are lost rather than staying at home tending to the few who have never left, Pope Francis said at the Vatican's Paul VI Hall.
“It's the 99 who we're missing! We have to go out, we must go to them,” the Bishop of Rome said June 17 to the participants of the annual convention of the Diocese of Rome.
“The Lord wants pastors, not combers of sheep; pastors! And when a community is closed, always among the same people who talk, this community is not a community that gives life.”
Pope Francis opened his speech discussing grace, and its tremendous power to make saints out of sinners, through the freedom it brings. He called the power of grace “revolutionary,” and that it must have a revolutionary effect on the hearts of Christians.
“Only one thing is necessary to become saints: accept the grace that the Father gives us in Jesus Christ. Behold, this grace changes our heart. We continue to be sinners, because we are all weak, but even with this grace that makes us think that the Lord is good, that the Lord is merciful.”
The heart revolutionized by grace, he said, will be “full of tenderness for those bearing the wounds of life.” He turned to the many people in Rome who live without hope.
Everyone, the Bishop of Rome said, can think of those “who are immersed in deep sadness that they try to get out of, believing to have found happiness in alcohol, in drugs, in gambling, in the power of money, in sexuality without rules.” These people, he said, are living without hope.
“How can we go ahead and offer hope? Go down the street saying, 'I have hope'? No! With your testimony, with your smile, saying: 'I believe that I have a Father.'”
“The proclamation of the Gospel is this: with my words, with my testimony to say: 'I have a Father.'”
Yet, he emphasized, Christians should not proselytize, or to seek to convince others. “The Gospel is a like a seed,” he said, but the sowing must be done with both word and witness.
“The word alone is not enough, not enough. The word without the witness is air. Words are not enough.”
The proclamation of the Gospel, he said, is “destined primarily to the poor, to those who often lack the essentials for a decent life. The good news is first announced to them, that God loves them before all others and comes to visit them through the acts of charity that the disciples of Christ carry out in his name.”
“We have to go to the flesh of Jesus suffering,” Pope Francis said, “to the existential peripheries.”
To do this, he stressed, requires courage, but this courage is necessary to bring the Gospel to neighborhoods, workplaces, and “wherever people … develop relationships.”
Speaking to leaders in his diocese, which is approximately 82 percent Catholic, the pontiff made reference to the Gospel passage of the shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep to seek the one which is lost.
“But, brothers and sisters, we have one; it's the 99 who we're missing! We have to go out, we must go to them! In this culture – let's face it – we only have one. We are the minority.”
“And do we feel the fervor, the apostolic zeal to go out and find the other 99? This is a big responsibility and we must ask the Lord for the grace of generosity and the courage and the patience to go out, to go out and proclaim the Gospel.”
He noted the temptation to “stay home, with the one lamb. It's easier to comb its hair, caress it.”
“But the Lord wants pastors, not combers of sheep; pastors! And when a community is closed, always among the same people who talk, this community is not a community that gives life.”
“It's a sterile community, it is not fruitful. The fruitfulness of the Gospel is by the grace of Jesus Christ, yet through us, our preaching, our courage, and our patience.”
Pope Francis assured his listeners that evangelization is not easy, and that it will be opposed by the devil, but this spiritual battle is “the daily lot of Christians.”
The work of bringing Jesus' grace to others, he said, is a martyrdom. “Martyrdom is this: to fight the fight, every day, through witness … Of some, the Lord asks the martyrdom of life, but there is the martyrdom of every day, of every hour: the witness against the spirit of evil, who does not want us to be evangelists.”
He concluded by focusing on the love God has for each person, noting that the “cross forcefully reminds us that we are sinners, but above all that we are loved, that we are so dear to God's heart.”
“Every person needs to feel themselves loved the way they are because this is the only thing that makes life beautiful and worthy of being lived.”
In our time, when what is freely given seems to fade in our interpersonal relationships, we Christians proclaim a God who, to be our friend, asks nothing but to be accepted,” he said.
“Think of how many live in desperation because they have never met someone who has shown them attention, comforted them, made them feel precious and important.”
“We, the disciples of Christ, can we refuse to go to those places that no one wants to go out of fear of compromising ourselves or the judgment of others, and thus deny our brothers and sisters the announcement of God's mercy?” the Pope added.
“We have received this gratuity, this grace, freely. We must give it freely. Don't be afraid of grace. Don't be afraid to go out of yourselves, out of our Christian communities, to go and find the 99 who are not home.”
“Go out to dialogue with them, and tell them what we think. Go show them our love, which is God's love.”
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Pope explains how Christians can love bombers
18-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 18, 2013 / 11:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis tackled Jesus’ teaching that Christians must love their enemies by asking a series of provocative questions, such as, how can we love those who “bomb and kill so many people?”
As he began his June 18 homily, the Pope illustrated how difficult and wide-ranging Jesus’ teaching on loving one’s enemies can be by posing a series of questions to the congregation.
How can we love those who decide to “bomb and kill so many people?” How can we “love those who out of their for love money prevent the elderly from accessing the necessary medicine and leave them to die?”
And at the more general level, the Pope asked how Christians can love those who only pursue “their own best interests, power for themselves and do so much evil?”
“It seems hard to love your enemy,” he stated, but Jesus asks it of us.
It is a teaching that is “so hard, but so beautiful, because it makes us look like the Father, like our Father: it brings out the sun for everyone, good and bad. It makes us more like the Son, Jesus, who in his humiliation became poor to enrich us, with his poverty,” he preached.
The Holy Father’s homily for daily Mass at his residence was based on the Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and his charge to his disciples to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father.”
Pope Francis told the congregation that there are two ways that Christians should love their enemies and they are both contained in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5.
The first way is to look to the Father who “makes the sun rise on evil and good” and “rain fall on the just and unjust.” God “loves everyone.”
The pontiff added, Jesus “forgive his enemies” and “does everything to forgive them.” Taking revenge, on the other hand, is not Christian, he warned.
The second thing that Christians should do to love their enemies is to pray for them. “When we pray for what makes us suffer, it is as if the Lord comes with oil and prepares our hearts for peace,” he remarked.
“Pray! This is what Jesus advises us: ‘Pray for your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!’ Pray!
“And say to God: ‘Change their hearts. They have a heart of stone, but change it, give them a heart of flesh, so that they may feel relief and love.
Pope Francis then made his homily more personal by posing a question for the congregation to consider.
“Let me just ask this question and let each of us answer it in our own heart: ‘Do I pray for my enemies? Do I pray for those who do not love me?’
“If we say ‘yes,’ I will say, ‘Go on, pray more, you are on the right path!’ If the answer is ‘no,’ the Lord says: ‘Poor thing. You too are an enemy of others!’
“Pray that the Lord may change the hearts of those. We could say: ‘But this person really wronged me,’ or they have done bad things and this impoverishes people, impoverishes humanity. And following this line of thought we want to take revenge or that eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” the Pope preached.
He also pointed out that loving one’s enemies “impoverishes us,” because it makes us poor “like Jesus,” who, when he came to us, “lowered himself and became poor” for us.
And yet, Jesus’ impoverishment was not a “bad deal” but brought about the salvation of the world, pouring out “the grace that has justified us all, made us all rich,” he said.
Pope Francis closed his homily by urging those present to pray for their enemies, “those who do not wish us well: it would be nice if we offered the Mass for them: Jesus, Jesus' sacrifice, for them, for those who do not love us."
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Children's journey of beauty ends with papal visit
18-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 18, 2013 / 09:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- This coming Sunday, almost 500 disadvantaged children will arrive at the Vatican on a special red train, where they will be greeted by Pope Francis as part of their “Journey of Beauty.”
The project focuses on children, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi explained, “because I think that therein lies the root from which we must build a generation of young persons who still have ... the beauty of creativity – that doesn't seem old at the start – who aren't already discouraged the way we are but who are ready to live more the future that awaits them.”
The “Children’s Train: A Journey of Beauty” was unveiled during a June 18 press conference at the Vatican’s press office by Cardinal Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, and other organizers.
The children’s initiative was actually born out of a suggestion by a participant in the pontifical council’s event for creating dialogue between believing and non-believing adults, called the Courtyard of the Gentiles.
The Courtyard of the Children initiative first launched in December 2012, with the aim of giving young kids the chance to directly experience beauty through art and the world of images.
Patrizia Martinez, the coordinator of the Children’s Courtyard, said that it has been very well received by the kids, most of whom come from difficult circumstances.
“I am here to share the joy and enthusiasm of the children,” Martinez said.
In fact, this will be the first time that many of the kids have traveled on a train, let alone a red “Frecciarossa” bullet train.
The June 23 voyage to the Vatican will begin in Milan and stop in Bologna and Florence on the way to Rome.
In each city, disadvantaged children from the city who have been taking part in the Courtyard initiative will board the train, which is being made available by the Italian State Railway.
In total, 450 children of various nationalities and between the ages of six and 10-years-old will travel with their teachers, family members and volunteers to the Vatican.
Prior to the voyage, the children visited the cathedrals in their respective cities and discovered how it was built, learned about the artistic works within it and encountered its beauty.
The Courtyard has also been active at the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital in Rome, where the staff worked to expose the young patients to glimpses of beauty and the strength of cooperation.
The Children’s Train will arrive in Rome on Sunday morning and will pause at Saint Peter’s station, one stop before the Vatican train station.
Since the train is electric and there are no overhead electrical lines inside the Vatican, the train will be pulled the remaining half of a mile by a diesel locomotive.
The children will be welcomed to Rome by a band from the Virgilio Institute and 50 other kids who have prepared works of art for them.
The pinnacle of the event will be a gathering in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, where the children will be treated to an hour of entertainment and music and be visited by Pope Francis.
The Vatican press office director, Father Federico Lombardi, told reporters June 18 that he expects the Pope will meet with the group after he recites the noontime Angelus in St. Peter’s Square.
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Catholics, Lutherans look to commemoration of Reformation anniversary
18-Jun-2013:
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Pope: Politics, economics must serve all people, protect poor, unborn
17-Jun-2013:
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Pope says false ideas of freedom spawn threats to human life
17-Jun-2013:
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Jesus makes slaps, insults 'nothing,' Pope declares
17-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 17, 2013 / 11:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Jesus makes it possible for Christians to “turn the other cheek” because they have received “all” from him, making slights, insults and even good things “nothing,” Pope Francis said.
He delivered his comments in his June 17 homily on Matthew 5:38-42, where Jesus tells his disciples, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.”
Pope Francis said that Christians should pray that, “when we are confronted with the choice of the slap, the coat, the 100 kilometers, we must pray the Lord to ‘open up our heart’ so that ‘we are benevolent and meek.’ We must pray so that we do not fight for small things, for the ‘nothings’ of daily life.”?
“A true Christian,” he remarked, “knows how to solve this bi-polar opposition, this tension that exists between ‘all’ and ‘nothing,’ just as Jesus has taught us: ‘First search for God’s Kingdom and its justice, the rest comes afterwards.’”??
The Pope then reflected on the kind of righteousness that Jesus brings, which is “totally different from ‘eye for eye, tooth for tooth.’”
Jesus’ justice is explained by St. Paul, the Holy Father said, pointing to his description of Christians as “people who have nothing in themselves but possess all things in Christ.”
“So, Christian security is exactly this ‘all’ that is in Christ. ‘All’ is Jesus Christ. Other things are ‘nothing’ for a Christian,” he added.??“This is the secret of Christian benevolence that always goes together with meekness,” Pope Francis emphasized.??
“A Christian is a person who opens up his or her heart with this spirit of benevolence, because he or she has ‘all’: Jesus Christ. The other things are ‘nothing.’
“Some are good, they have a purpose, but in the moment of choice he or she always chooses ‘all,’ with that meekness, that Christian meekness that is the sign of Jesus’ disciples: meekness and benevolence,” the Pope said.
He also pointed out that living “like this is not easy, because you really do receive slaps! And on both cheeks!”
The Holy Father also commented on times when Christians and the Church make errors, saying, “all our errors stem from when we say ‘nothing’ is ‘all,’ and to ‘all’ we say it does not count.”
Pope Francis even linked this mentality and disposition to war.
“When one takes on an option for ‘nothing,’ it is from that option that conflicts arise in families, in friendships, between friends, in society. Conflicts that end in war: for ‘nothing!’ ‘Nothing’ is always the seed of wars, because it is the seed of selfishness,” he said.
“Following Jesus is not easy,” the Pope concluded, “but it’s not difficult either, because on the path of love the Lord does things in such a way that we can go forward; it is the Lord himself who opens up our heart.”
?Cardinal Attilio Nicora concelebrated the Mass with the Pope in St. Martha’s House and was accompanied by people from the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority. Cardinal Luis Tagle of Manila, who is in Rome to take possession of his titular parish, was also present at the celebration.
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Interim bank appointment means Pope wants cardinals' advice
17-Jun-2013:
Rome, Italy, Jun 17, 2013 / 10:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The temporary selection of a prelate for the so-called Vatican Bank shows Pope Francis is waiting for the advice of the cardinals he tapped as advisors before deciding the fate of the financial institute, according to a source in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.
The appointment of the prelate “must not be charged too much with expectations of a reform. The Pope needed to fill a post and wanted to give a signal that he really cares about the IOR issue, but he also showed the sensibility to make an ‘ad interim’ appointment, presumably waiting for the cardinals’ suggestions,” the anonymous State Secretariat source said June 15.
Monsignor Battista Ricca was appointed as prelate for the Institute for Works of Religion, also known by its Italian initials IOR, on June 15.
The prelate serves as a liaison between the cardinals’ oversight commission – composed of five cardinals and traditionally presided over by the Secretary of State – and the council of superintendents, which is made up of five laymen who are bankers or financial experts.
The institute is headquartered inside Vatican City and is entrusted with safeguarding and administering property or funds that are designated by clients to benefit religious works or charities.
The commission of cardinals typically chooses the candidate for the prelate position without the Pope’s formal approval.
But Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office took the unusual step of saying in his June 15 announcement that the appointment was made with the “approval of the Holy Father.”
According to the prominent Italian Vatican expert Sandro Magister, this would mean “it is a prelate of the Pope, more than of the IOR.”
Actually, the prelate post remained vacant since 2010, when the previous prelate, then-Monsignor Piero Pioppo, was appointed papal nuncio to Cameroon and Guinea.
The secretary of Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Msgr. Pioppo, received his appointment as prelate for the institute while his boss chaired its oversight commission. At that time, it had already been announced that Cardinal Sodano would leave the post in a few months and be replaced by Cardinal Bertone, the current Secretary of State.
By appointing his secretary, “Sodano kept the institute under his shadow,” said Gianfranco Svidercoschi, the former vice director of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, in a June 17 conversation with CNA.
Before Msgr. Pioppo’s appointment in 2006, the post of prelate was vacant since 1993, when Monsignor Donato de Bonis was made a bishop and no replacement was named.
A monsignor who works in the Vatican’s Curia and requested anonymity explained June 15 that Pope Francis decided to make sure the prelate post was filled to “show his resolution to solve the case” and because “too many rumors had been circulating” about the Institute for Works of Religion.
The new prelate, Msgr. Battista Ricca, is a Vatican diplomat who works in the Second Section of the Secretariat of State and also manages a set of religious houses, including St. Martha’s House, where Pope Francis has decided to live.
Msgr. Ricca and Pope Francis are also friends and reportedly have lunch together every day, making it significant that the Holy Father moved ahead with the appointment, disregarding any chatter about him promoting his friends.
In Svidercoschi’s view, “this proves his will to govern without any external or internal interference.”
Given that the appointment of Msgr. Ricca is temporary, the next moment for assessing Pope Francis’ plan for reforming the Curia will likely be the Oct. 2-4 meeting of the eight cardinals who will advise the pontiff.
They will probably also counsel the Pope on reforming the Institute for Works of Religion, but whether or not this will lead to a complete overhaul remains to be seen.
According to Sandro Magister, that the appointment is “ad interim” proves that “a big reform for the IOR is coming up or at least will be discussed.”
But an even bigger signal that financial reform will continue at the Vatican has already been sent.
This past April 10, the Vatican said it will report on its progress in responding to the Key and Core areas of recommended changes that the European Council’s financial oversight committee, Moneyval, said it should make. The committee had asked only for an update on the core areas.
The recommendations were the result of a voluntary evaluation that Moneyval carried out to help the Vatican comply with international standards on preventing money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
In a June 17 follow-up interview, the same Secretariat of State source said, this fact alone “lets us presume that the whole Vatican financial system will be reformed.”
If that reading is correct, the cardinals “might suggest to reform, change or even to abolish the IOR,” the source added, but the financial institute will always have to fulfill the requirements of the Vatican’s oversight financial system.
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Vatican diplomat, hotel director named to body overseeing Vatican bank
17-Jun-2013:
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Economy, politics must serve man, Pope tells G8
17-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 17, 2013 / 08:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a message to Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron, Pope Francis underscored that the “material and spiritual welfare” of every person must be the impetus behind political and economic efforts to remedy the economic crisis and help the poor.
The goal of both economics and politics, the Pope said in his June 15 letter, “is to serve humanity, beginning with the poorest and most vulnerable wherever they may be, even in their mothers’ wombs.”
Pope Francis wrote his reply to David Cameron after the British prime minister sent him a letter dated June 5, in which he outlined his priorities for the United Kingdom’s turn as president of the Group of Eight Industrialized Nations, which is meeting June 17-18 in Northern Ireland.
The prime minister told the Pope that he wants to help developing and developed nations by “restoring strong and sustainable growth to the world economy.” He plans to employ as tools: increasing international cooperation to prevent tax evasion, expanding free trade and improving governmental transparency.
The Holy Father responded to Cameron’s plan by writing, “(i)f this topic is to attain its broadest and deepest resonance, it is necessary to ensure that all political and economic activity, whether national or international, makes reference to man.”
“Every economic and political theory or action,” the Pope explained, “must set about providing each inhabitant of the planet with the minimum wherewithal to live in dignity and freedom, with the possibility of supporting a family, educating children, praising God and developing one's own human potential.”
“This is the main thing,” he stated, “in the absence of such a vision, all economic activity is meaningless.”
“Money and other political and economic means must serve, not rule, bearing in mind that, in a seemingly paradoxical way, free and disinterested solidarity is the key to the smooth functioning of the global economy,” Pope Francis wrote, repeating a theme that has frequently appeared in his daily homilies.
The G8 is holding its annual meeting in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland and one topic that will certainly be raised is the ongoing conflict in Syria.
On that score, the Pope said, “I earnestly hope that the Summit will help to obtain an immediate and lasting cease-fire and to bring all parties in the conflict to the negotiating table.”
He also observed that achieving peace “demands a far-sighted renunciation of certain claims, in order to build together a more equitable and just peace.”
Pope Francis told Prime Minister Cameron that he is pleased to see that Britain is working to place man at the center of its priorities by listing among its goals improving food security and protecting women and children from sexual violence during conflict.
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Archbishop Mueller: human dignity central to education
17-Jun-2013:
Glasgow, Scotland, Jun 16, 2013 / 04:17 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Speaking at the launch of a foundation at the University of Glasgow, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stressed the importance of upholding human dignity in education.
Archbishop Gerhard L. Mueller delivered the Cardinal Winning Lecture on June 15 at the Scotland university.
The lecture marks the launch of the Saint Andrew's Foundation for Catholic Education, a new venture to form Catholic educators. It is the fruit of a partnership among the Church, the University of Glasgow and the Scottish government.
Archbishop Mueller's talk focused on the nature and distinctiveness of Catholic education, as well as the challenges it both faces and presents in today's world.
Catholic education, he said, arises out of the encounter between the Church and cultures. He recalled Saint Augustine's vision of his own culture, the best of which he thought “had its roots in Plato and Aristotle … who had articulated the truth of the supreme Good.”
This supreme Good, for those thinkers, was “the development of the rational mind in conformity with the truth and the nourishing of the will through the attainment and practice of the virtues.” The basis for this vision was the human person, and his natural drive for the good and the true.
St. Augustine added to this foundation the theological virtues which, “in addition to the natural goods and virtues of the human person, are the heart of education.”
Archbishop Mueller advocated for an understanding of “Catholic” which includes the breadth of “all that is good in the philosophies of societies and human culture.”
“To equip Catholic teachers with this broad philosophy of life is the key to the mission of the new St. Andrew’s Foundation. This will serve the self-confidence of Catholic teachers in their work in schools and provide a contribution to society as a whole.”
Focusing on education, the archbishop spoke of relativism as a threat, because the objects of education, the true and the good, “stand in some way outside the person” and are transcendent.
“A danger in the relativism of modern society is the assumption that human freedom essentially entails creating one’s own truth and moral good.”
The implications of relativism, he said, “would lead to the breakdown of society...if pursued to their logical conclusion.”
Archbishop Mueller examined the underlying purpose of education, saying, “it is surely part of the enterprise of higher education that it not simply mirror back the values of the society at large, nor simply that it produce those who will serve the economy through excellence in business or industry, science or the arts.”
“An important element is also the ability to take a critical stance and examine the underlying assumptions, philosophies and ideologies in society today and especially those underlying the very disciplines that higher education pursues.”
He encouraged the St. Andrew's Foundation to be a place for “critical engagement” with the philosophies underpinning education, suggesting that many academic disciplines are value-laden, contrary to popular belief.
Archbishop Mueller said that education has a “central place” in proclaiming the dignity of the human person. He lauded the vision of Blessed John Henry Newman, whom he said was “firmly opposed to any reductive or utilitarian approach” to education.
“He sought to achieve an educational environment in which intellectual training, moral discipline and religious commitment would come together,” reflected the archbishop.
This holistic approach must take into account the communal aspects of the person, as well as his overall dignity, he explained.
“The Church is almost alone, it seems, in being prepared to assert the dignity the human person as bearing the image of God – a vision available to reason, and once deep at the heart of western culture, but which is now so generally denied,” he said.
He lamented that the youth are growing up in a culture of relativism, individualism, utilitarianism and “a lack of interest in the fundamental truths of human life.”
In such an atmosphere which denies the dignity of the human person, “freedom is reduced to mere arbitrary whim, and the pursuit of true value is reduced to a consumerism that never satisfies,” he said.
“The Church must give back to young people the true understanding of their own value that has been taken from them,” through communication of the faith and our destiny in Christ in Catholic education.
“This re-proclamation and defense of humanity and its true worth lies at the center of the Church's Mission,” Archbishop Mueller said.
He added that he hopes the St. Andrew Foundation will study this vision, form teachers according to it, and support the schools “in which this vision becomes realized.”
During his visit to Scotland, the congregation head also visited a primary school, addressed clergy at the cathedral of the Motherwell diocese, and delivered a message from Pope Francis to the Catholics of Scotland.
Pope Francis, said the message, hopes the St. Andrew Foundation “will help promote and improve the quality of instruction … given to future educators in the country’s Catholic schools.”
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Pope's friendliness impresses Harley-Davidson crowd
16-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 16, 2013 / 09:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Harley-Davidson owners flocked to St. Peter’s Square today for a chance to greet Pope Francis, and they came away struck by his friendliness and closeness to the people.
“To be here and see the Pope is absolutely amazing. He’s so friendly, he’s just so friendly,” said Bob from the Lakeside, England chapter as he spoke to CNA June 16.
His fellow Lakeside member Harry agreed. “He’s so friendly and he comes to you,” he commented.
A Swiss motorcyclist went even further in her esteem for the new pontiff. “For me, he is the best Pope now – Papa Francesco,” said Simone from Lucerne.
For his part, Pope Francis offered a short greeting to the motorcyclists after celebrating a Mass for the Gospel of Life weekend that was organized by the Vatican as part of the ongoing Year of Faith.
Before praying the Angelus, the Pope noted with pleasure that Edward Focherini, a journalist and father of seven who was killed by the Nazis because of his faith, was beatified yesterday in Carpi, Italy.
“He saved many Jews from Nazi persecution. Together with the Church in Carpi, we give thanks to God for this witness of the Gospel of Life!” he declared.
Pope Francis also offered his sincere thanks to everyone who came “from Rome and from many parts of Italy and the world, especially families and those who work more directly for the promotion and protection of life.”
In his homily for the Gospel of Life Mass, the Pope underscored the importance of following God’s call for living a fruitful life, contrasting it with self-centered lifestyles that lead to slavery and death.
The motorcyclists drove to Rome from all over Europe and even overseas to take part in the 110th anniversary celebrations for the Harley-Davidson brand. They began invading the city on Thursday, and the low rumble of their engines has been present around the Vatican since then.
Via della Conciliazione, the street that leads to St. Peter’s Square, was packed with rows of Harleys parked along both sides of the road, about four or five bikes deep. Many of the motorcyclists decked out their rides with flags, stickers with the Vatican keys or pictures of Pope Francis.
Besides seeing the Pope, the “Harleyste” – as they are known in Italian – enjoyed the world famous architecture, such as the Coloseum. “The old buildings are just amazing and this place (St. Peter’s) is just fantastic,” said Bob from the Lakeside Chapter.
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Pope: Selfish living leads to slavery, death
16-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 16, 2013 / 06:25 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As he met with thousands of pro-life advocates from around the globe, Pope Francis stressed that the Gospel is the “way to freedom and life,” but lifestyles that are “dictated by selfishness” lead to slavery and death.
“Dear brothers and sisters,” the Pope urged, “let us look to God as the God of Life, let us look to his law, to the Gospel message, as the way to freedom and life. The Living God sets us free!”
He addressed his homily for the June 16 Mass in St. Peter’s Square to pilgrims from Australia, Asia, Europe and North and South America, who filled the famous piazza up to its gates.
They were also joined in the square by around 1,400 people on their Harley-Davidson motorcycles, who came to Rome to celebrate 110 years of the iconic American machine and to receive the Pope’s blessing during the Angelus prayer that followed the Mass.
Pope Francis based his homily on the first reading from 2 Samuel, which recounts King David committing adultery with Bathsheba and conspiring to have her husband killed, and the Gospel reading from Luke 4, where Jesus forgives the adulterous woman of her sins.
The Holy Father distilled his reflections into three simple points: “first, the Bible reveals to us the Living God, the God who is life and the source of life; second, Jesus Christ bestows life and the Holy Spirit maintains us in life; and third, following God’s way leads to life, whereas following idols leads to death.”
King David’s adultery serves to show “human drama in all its reality: good and evil, passion, sin and its consequences,” the Pope said, underscoring that despite his evil actions, God brought life to David when he repented.
“Whenever we want to assert ourselves, when we become wrapped up in our own selfishness and put ourselves in the place of God, we end up spawning death,” he said as he examined the consequences of David’s actions.
This raises the question of what our image of God is, Pope Francis remarked.
“Perhaps he appears to us as a severe judge, as someone who curtails our freedom and the way we live our lives. But the Scriptures everywhere tell us that God is the Living One, the one who bestows life and points the way to fullness of life,” the pontiff preached.
He then turned to the Gospel reading from Luke, in which Jesus allowed himself to be approached by a woman who was a sinner and forgave her sins.
The Pope said that in this interaction it can be seen how “Jesus is the incarnation of the Living God, the one who brings life amid deeds of death, sin, selfishness and self-absorption.
“Jesus accepts, loves, uplifts, encourages, forgives, restores the ability to walk, gives back life. Throughout the Gospels we see how Jesus by his words and actions brings the transforming life of God,” he preached.
Thelife-giving power of God is also given through the Holy Spirit, Pope Francis taught.
“The Christian is someone who thinks and acts in everyday life according to God’s will, someone who allows his or her life to be guided and nourished by the Holy Spirit, to be a full life, a life worthy of true sons and daughters. And this entails realism and fruitfulness,” he explained.
The Pope cautioned that this “does not mean that we are people who live ‘in the clouds,’ far removed from real life, as if it were some kind of mirage. No! Those who let themselves be led by the Holy Spirit are realists, they know how to survey and assess reality. They are also fruitful; their lives bring new life to birth all around them.”
Returning to the theme of the weekend – The Gospel of Life – Pope Francis made his final point: that following God leads to life but all other ways lead to death.
“But all too often, people do not choose life, they do not accept the ‘Gospel of Life’ but let themselves be led by ideologies and ways of thinking that block life, that do not respect life, because they are dictated by selfishness, self-interest, profit, power and pleasure, and not by love, by concern for the good of others,” he said.
This way of living is not new, the Pope explained, calling it “the eternal dream of wanting to build the city of man without God, without God’s life and love – a new Tower of Babel.”
“It is the idea that rejecting God, the message of Christ, the Gospel of Life, will somehow lead to freedom, to complete human fulfillment,” he noted.
The result of this turning away from God is that he “is replaced by fleeting human idols which offer the intoxication of a flash of freedom, but in the end bring new forms of slavery and death,” the Pope stated.
He finished his homily by invoking the intercession of “Mary, Mother of Life,” asking her “to help us receive and bear constant witness to the ‘Gospel of Life.’”
After the Mass finished, Pope Francis prayed the Angelus with the faithful and gave a special mention to the Harley-Davidson contingent.
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Obama nominates retired CRS president as U.S. ambassador to Vatican
15-Jun-2013:
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Pope calls Jesuit magazine to dialogue without relativism
15-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 15, 2013 / 01:27 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis met with the staff of the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica on Friday morning, encouraging them to dialogue with everyone and to avoid the failings of a “self-referential” Church.
“Even the Church, when it becomes self-referential, gets sick and old,” Pope Francis said. “May our gaze, well fixed upon Christ, always be prophetic and dynamic towards the future. In this way you will always remain young and daring in your reading of events!”
La Civilta Cattolica, whose name means “Catholic civilization,” is a primarily Italian-language review that has been published in Rome since it was founded in 1850.
The Pope told the review’s staff that dialogue means “being convinced that the other has something good to say” and “making room for their point of view” without falling into relativism.
Dialogue requires one to “lower the defenses and open the doors.”
“Your fidelity to the Church still needs you to stand strong against the hypocrisies that result from a closed and sick heart,” he told the review’s staff. “But your main task isn’t to build walls but bridges. It is to establish a dialogue with all persons, even those who don't share the Christian faith but ‘who cultivate outstanding qualities of the human spirit.’”
He said dialogue should take place even with “those who oppress the Church and harass her in manifold ways.”
“Through dialogue it is always possible to get closer to the truth, which is a gift of God, and to enrich one another,” he said.
He noted the example of Father Matteo Ricci, S.J., a pioneering sixteenth-century Jesuit missionary who sought to present Christianity in terms that Asian cultures would find more understandable and accessible.
The Pope praised the “Jesuit treasure” of spiritual discernment. He said this discernment “seeks to recognize the Spirit of God’s presence in human and cultural reality, the seed already planted by his presence in events, feelings, desires, in the deep tensions of our hearts and in social, cultural, and spiritual contexts.”
Pope Francis said La Civilta Cattolica staff are called to help heal the “rift” between the Gospel and the culture, “which even passes through each of your and your readers’ hearts.”
“In today’s world, which is subject to quick changes and is shaken by questions of great importance for the life of faith, it is urgent to have a courageous commitment to educating a convinced and mature faith that is capable of giving meaning to life and of giving convincing answers to those in search of God,” the Pope exhorted.
“Be strong! I’m sure I can count on you.”
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Defending life in politics part of New Evangelization, Cardinal Burke states
15-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 15, 2013 / 09:25 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Participating in the political process in favor of human life is a part of the New Evangelization, Cardinal Raymond L. Burke said as he kicked-off a pro-life weekend at the Vatican.
“While the transformation of hearts is the most fundamental means of new evangelization regarding human life, Catholics and all persons of good will must be attentive to all laws, which safeguard the dignity of human life,” Cardinal Burke said June 15 at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome.
The morning of formation was part of a weekend dedicated to celebrating Pope John Paul II’s encyclical “Evangelium vitae.” It was attended by about 140 people, many of whom were from the United States.
Cardinal Burke, who runs the Church’s highest court, began his talk by focusing on how the Gospel of Life is intertwined with evangelizing and the Year of Faith, which the Church is currently celebrating.
When he came to the topic of the law and protecting life, Cardinal Burke mentioned Pope John Paul II’s statement from “Evangelium vitae” in which he said, “I repeat once more that a law which violates an innocent person's natural right to life is unjust and, as such, is not valid as a law.”
In this context, the cardinal underscored the “irreplaceable role which law plays in culture” and urged Catholic families to get involved in political life, saying, it “is essential to the cause of life.”
A second area for involvement that Cardinal Burke highlighted was the importance of “developing and supporting truly pro-life and pro-family media, and organizing public manifestations.”
“The culture of death advances in good part because of a lack of attention and information among the public,” he stated.
The importance of public demonstrations in favor of life was also recently endorsed by Pope Francis, the cardinal noted, when he sent a message to the second annual March for Life in Rome.
After Cardinal Burke’s remarks and a short break, the crowd heard from Professor Francis Beckwith of Baylor University and Robert Royal, president of the Faith and Reason Institute.
Professor Beckwith of Baylor University spent his time demonstrating how the arguments put forth in an article for the journal Ethics backing post-birth abortion actually showed there is a dormant understanding of the sanctity of life.
Panelist Robert Royal from the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington, D.C. said in his remarks that he believes the current culture requires Catholics to be active in proposing their faith but also in building “communities of protection” where the faith and virtue is taught.
The Evangelium vitae weekend continued after the talks with a Holy Hour at Santo Spirito in Sassia parish. Participants from all the language groups will take part in a candlelight procession down Via della Conciliazione, the street that leads to St. Peter’s Basilica, on the evening of June 15.
The events will finish with a June 16 morning Mass with Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square.
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Cardinals fill important 'Vatican bank' position
15-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 15, 2013 / 06:31 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The commission of cardinals that oversees the so-called Vatican bank has filled a key position by naming Monsignor Battista Ricca the secretary for the board and the commission itself.
Vatican press office director Father Federico Lombardi announced the appointment of Msgr. Ricca in a June 15 statement.
“The Supervisory Commission of Cardinals Institute for Works of Religion, with the approval of the Holy Father has appointed Msgr. Battista Mario Salvatore Ricca Prelate of the Institute,” Fr. Lombardi said.
His role will involve serving as the secretary for the meetings of the cardinals’ commission and assisting in meetings of the Board of Superintendents.
Msgr. Ricca currently oversees St. Martha’s House, where Pope Francis has decided to live, as well as several other Vatican houses around Rome.
The previous prelate for the institute was Monsignor Piero Pioppo, who filled the role from 2006 until 2011, when he was made ambassador to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.
By filling the prelate position today and choosing Ernst von Freyberg as the financial institute’s president on Feb.15, the commission of cardinals has filled two key roles.
This will prove important as the institute prepares to file its next report with Moneyval in Decemeber.
Moneyval is the financial oversight committee of the Council of Europe, which helps ensure compliance with measures to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Its first evaluation of the Vatican was issued in July 2012, and it found the Holy See and Vatican City State were largely in compliance, with 9 key and core areas receiving a positive assessment and seven needing improvement.
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Jesuit magazine can help heal rift between Gospel, culture, pope says
15-Jun-2013:
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Addressing U.S., global child malnutrition a top priority for advocates
15-Jun-2013:
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Pope: Don't pretend to be sinless; preaching Gospel demands humility
14-Jun-2013:
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Vatican expected SNAP case against Benedict XVI to fail
14-Jun-2013:
Rome, Italy, Jun 14, 2013 / 12:44 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican is not at all surprised the International Criminal Court rejected a request by an abuse victims’ advocacy group to investigate Benedict XVI for crimes against humanity.
“We have always thought that the Court would answer this way, given the unfounded accusation,” the Holy See’s press office director, Father Federico Lombardi, told CNA June 14.
The court rejected a request from the U.S.-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests to investigate Benedict XVI and certain cardinals for crimes against humanity, according to a May 31 letter from the court.
It stated there is “no basis” for the network’s claims that the abuse was perpetrated by the Vatican.
“There is not a basis at this time to proceed with further analysis,” the tribunal, based in The Hague, told the network’s lawyers in the letter.
“The matters described in your communication do not appear to fall within the jurisdiction of the court,” a court official told the Center for Constitutional Rights, the nonprofit legal group that represents the advocacy group.
The legal center submitted the application to the court in Sept. 2011, saying that cases of pedophilia by priests should have been investigated as crimes against humanity.
The lawyers for SNAP argued that Pope Benedict and top Vatican officials had put in place policies that allowed abuse to continue.
Jane Adolphe, an associate law professor at Ave Maria Law School, told CNA June 14 that it is “unlikely” a request to investigate the former Pope will ever succeed in the future.
“When the petition was first filed, the decision to reject the request for investigation was predicted by many commentators who discussed some of the same temporal and subject matter jurisdictional obstacles mentioned in the current decision,” said Adolphe, who is well-versed in Vatican affairs.
She believes that the request was filed with one of three motives: as a campaign to raise awareness about clerical sex abuse, as a smear campaign against the Church, or to help the legal center attract some publicity.
“There might be a bit of truth in all of the above,” Adolphe remarked.
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Pope, Anglican leader meet, pledge to continue search for unity
14-Jun-2013:
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Be humble 'from head to toe,' Pope Francis says
14-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 14, 2013 / 09:27 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said people must to admit their sins like Saint Paul and not just their good deeds during his daily morning Mass.
“We have to be humble, but with real humility, from head to toe,” said Pope Francis June 14.
“If we only pride ourselves on our service record and nothing more, we end up going wrong,” said Pope Francis.
He made his comments in his homily for morning Mass in the chapel of Saint Martha’s House. The head of the Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, concelebrated the Mass with the Pope, while staff and clergy from the congregation attended it.
“Not sinners with that kind of humility, which seems more a put-on face, no?” the Holy Father remarked. “Oh no, strong humility.”
He highlighted that “this is the model of humility for us priests, too.”
“We cannot proclaim Jesus Christ the Savior if we do not feel him present and at work deep down,” he added.
“Brothers, we have a treasure, that of Jesus Christ the Savior, the Cross of Jesus Christ, this treasure of which we pride ourselves, but we have it in a clay vessel,” said Pope Francis. “Let us vaunt our ‘handbook’ of our sins.”
The Pope underscored that Jesus is “a gift that we can only understand, only receive, in earthen vessels.”
He based his homily on the first reading for today, which was taken from 2 Corinthians 4.
The pontiff stated it is precisely from “the relationship between the grace and power of Jesus Christ and ourselves, poor sinners as we are, that the dialogue of salvation springs.”
“This dialogue, moreover, must avoid any self-justification and be between God and ourselves as we are,” he said.
The Pope stressed that St. Paul, author of the letter to the Corinthians, shows us his own weakness and sin, which is that he persecuted Christians.
“It always comes back to his memory of sin, he feels sinful but even then he does not say ‘I was a sinner, but now I am holy,’ no,” he said. ‘Even now, a thorn of Satan is in my flesh,’ the Pope said, quoting from St. Paul.
“He is a sinner who accepts Jesus Christ, who dialogues with Jesus Christ,” said Pope Francis.
According to him, “the key is humility” and believes that St. Paul proved this.
“He publicly acknowledges his track record of service, all he had done as an Apostle of Jesus, but he does not hide or gloss over his handbook of sins,” the Pope said.
He emphasized that the Samaritan woman also behaved similarly to St. Paul because she first admitted her sins before speaking of having met Jesus.
“I believe that this woman is in heaven,” he said.
“As Manzoni once said, I have never found that the Lord began a miracle without finishing it well, and this miracle that he began definitely ended well in heaven,” he said.
“The humility of the priest, the humility of a Christian is concrete, therefore, if a Christian fails to make this confession to himself and to the Church, then something is wrong,” he stated.
He stressed that “the first thing to fail will be our ability to understand the beauty of salvation that Jesus brings us.”
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Pope, Anglican archbishop: unity begins with common love of God
14-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 14, 2013 / 08:42 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury and Pope Francis met for the first time and issued a joint call for unity, rooted in the love of God.
“I know that during Your Grace’s installation in Canterbury Cathedral you remembered in prayer the new Bishop of Rome. I am deeply grateful to you – and since we began our respective ministries within days of each other, I think we will always have a particular reason to support one another in prayer,” Pope Francis said June 14.
The meeting began with a private audience at 11:00 a.m. in the Papal Library, which was followed by their separate addresses and an exchange of gifts. The Pope and archbishop concluded their encounter with a moment of prayer in the Redemptoris Mater Chapel.
In his address to Archbishop Welby, Pope Francis offered him a warm welcome that recalled when Archbishop Michael Ramsey visited Paul VI in 1966, the first time an Anglican primate visited Rome.
Pope Francis then noted that the “history of relations between the Church of England and the Catholic Church is long and complex, and not without pain.”
But “recent decades” have been marked by “a journey of rapprochement and fraternity, and for this we give heartfelt thanks to God,” he said.
“These firm bonds of friendship,” he added, “have enabled us to remain on course even when difficulties have arisen in our theological dialogue that were greater than we could have foreseen at the start of our journey.”
Pope Francis offered particular thanks for “the sincere efforts” by the Church of England made to “understand the reasons that led my Predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, to provide a canonical structure able to respond to the wishes of those groups of Anglicans who have asked to be received collectively into the Catholic Church.”
“I am sure this will enable the spiritual, liturgical and pastoral traditions that form the Anglican patrimony to be better known and appreciated in the Catholic world,” he remarked.
The Holy Father also highlighted that the “search for unity among Christians is prompted not by practical considerations, but by the will of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who made us his brothers and sisters, children of the One Father.”
He pointed to several concrete areas of unity, including Anglicans and Catholics’ witness, to “God and the promotion of Christian values in a world that seems at times to call into question some of the foundations of society, such as respect for the sacredness of human life or the importance of the institution of the family built on marriage.”
Also on Pope Francis’ mind were efforts to achieve “greater social justice, to build an economic system that is at the service of man and promotes the common good,” giving a voice to the poor and working for peace between nations.
“In this regard, together with Archbishop Nichols, you have urged the authorities to find a peaceful solution to the Syrian conflict such as would guarantee the security of the entire population, including the minorities, not least among whom are the ancient local Christian communities.
“As you yourself have observed,” the Pope said, “we Christians bring peace and grace as a treasure to be offered to the world, but these gifts can bear fruit only when Christians live and work together in harmony.”
He concluded his address by saying, let us “travel the path towards unity, fraternally united in charity and with Jesus Christ as our constant point of reference. In our worship of Jesus Christ we will find the foundation and raison d’être of our journey.”?
For his part, Archbishop Welby prayed, “the nearness of our two inaugurations may serve the reconciliation of the world and the Church.”
The Anglican archbishop also acknowledged the “journey is testing and we cannot be unaware that differences exist about how we bring the Christian faith to bear on the challenges thrown up by modern society.”
“But our ‘goal is great enough to justify the effort of the journey,’” he said, quoting Benedict XVI’s encyclical “Spe Salvi.”
In Archbishop Welby’s view, the way forward “must reflect the self-giving love of Christ, our bearing of his Cross, and our dying to ourselves so as to live with Christ, which will show itself in hospitality and love for the poor. We must love those who seek to oppose us, and love above all those tossed aside—even whole nations—by the present crises around the world.”
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Harley-Davidson enthusiasts roll into Rome
14-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 14, 2013 / 04:30 am (CNA).- The low rumbling of hundreds of Harleys is overtaking the buzz of scooters and cars in the streets surrounding the Vatican, and on Sunday it will even be present St. Peter’s Square.
The first Vatican-related Harley-Davidson event was with Pope Francis himself on Wednesday afternoon, following his weekly general audience. Accompanied by Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, the Pope received the unusual gift of a biker jacket and two of the famous motorcycles.
The City of Rome expects up to 500,000 Harley-Davidson aficionados to arrive for the 110th anniversary celebration of the iconic American street machines.
Although the celebrations will include a beach party in the nearby port town of Ostia and a music festival, there is also a spiritual aspect to some of the events.
This morning, for example, some bikers were able to participate in an 8:00 a.m. morning Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. Afterwards they gathered in the Pius XII Square, across the street from St. Peter's, and took in the sights.
On Saturday morning, the motorcycle enthusiasts will begin lining up for a massive parade from Ostia to downtown Rome.
The spiritual capstone of the anniversary celebration, which is the biggest in Europe, will be on Sunday, June 16, when Pope Francis blesses about 800 bikers and their rides in St. Peter’s Square.
The crowd in the square for the blessing will be decidedly eclectic, since the Pope will be celebrating a Mass for pro-life movements right before he prays the Angelus and blesses the crowd.
The agreement to have the hundreds of Harleys in the square was arranged under Pope Benedict, but Pope Francis will surely have no trouble mingling with the diverse crowd.
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What the pope's leaked comments really tells us about the church
14-Jun-2013:
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Pope says structures for collaboration, collegiality need strengthening
13-Jun-2013:
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Quebec's end-of-life bill decried as Belgian-style euthanasia
13-Jun-2013:
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Pope confirms faith encyclical nearly done
13-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 13, 2013 / 10:44 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis put aside his prepared remarks this morning and told members of the Synod of Bishops that the encyclical on faith is almost ready and the exhortation on evangelization will be finished before the Year of Faith is over.
“Now the four hand encyclical should be released, which Pope Benedict XVI had begun,” Pope Francis said June 13.
“He handed it to me, it is an intense document,” he told the bishops. “He has been the one to do the great work,” he added.
Pope Francis made his comments during a meeting with 25 members of the Synod of Bishops on June 13 in the Consistory Hall of the Apostolic Palace.
The group gathered in Rome today to help him choose the theme of their next general assembly, which will take place in 2015.
“I thought that the Year of Faith should not end without a nice document that can help us,” said Pope Francis, referring to the exhortation from the new evangelization synod that was held in Oct. 2012.
“I thought about this, an exhortation on evangelization,” he said.
The Pope issues post-Synodal Exhortations after a synod of bishops is held. The documents are the fruit of the discussion and prayer that takes place during the gathering, combined with the unique contributions of the Holy Father.
“I liked the idea and I will take that road,” Pope Francis said of the synod.
“I have written something, and in August I’ll be more relaxed and I will be able to do something more at home and advance in it.”
During his off-the-cuff discussion with the bishops he also stressed the need to recover a “sane vision of the family” and a healthy anthropology.
He said the crisis of the family is “a serious problem” and “needs to be addressed by the Church’s pastors” and teachers in cooperation.
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Francis celebrates first Mass in Spanish as Pope
13-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 13, 2013 / 10:12 am (CNA/EWTN News).- “It feels good,” Pope Francis said today as he celebrated Mass in his native language of Spanish for the first time in 48 days.
“It’s the first time I celebrate Mass in Spanish since February 26!” he exclaimed during his homily for daily Mass in the chapel of Saint Martha’s House.
The Eucharistic celebration was attended by employees of Argentina’s embassies and consulates, alongside staff of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization in Rome.
Pope Francis emphasized to them the importance of not speaking badly about other people, underscoring that “we lose if we are not able to keep our tongues in check.”
“There is no need to go to a psychologist to know that when we denigrate another person it is because we are unable to grow up and need to belittle others, to feel more important,” he said. “This is an ugly mechanism.”
“In the end we are all traveling on the same road, we are all traveling on that road that will take us to the very end,” the Pope said.
And if people do not choose a “fraternal” path, he warned, “it will end badly, for the person who insults and the insulted.”
“Jesus, with all the simplicity says, ‘do not speak ill of one another, do not denigrate one another, do not belittle one another,’” he said, referencing the day’s Gospel reading from Matthew 5.
“Natural aggression, that of Cain toward Abel, repeats itself throughout history,” noted the Pope.
He believes that the reason people insult is because “we are weak and sinners” and because “it is much easier to resolve a situation with an insult, with slander, defamation instead of resolving it with good means.”
In Matthew’s fifth chapter, Jesus tells the disciples that it is more important to make amends with others than to offer God sacrifices.
“Anger towards a brother is an insult, it’s something almost deadly, it kills him,” he said.
“If our heart harbors bad feelings towards our brothers, something is not working and we must convert, we must change,” Pope Francis insisted.
The Holy Father gave a challenging assessment of the Christian life, saying that anyone who lives it will have greater demands made of them than others.
“Sometimes we go hungry and think, ‘what a pity I didn’t taste the fruit of a tasty comment against another person,” said the pontiff.
“But that hunger bears fruit in the long run and is good for us,” he said.
“I would ask the Lord to give us all the grace to watch our tongues, to watch what we say about others,” he told the Argentinians.
He noted, “it is a small penance but it bears a lot of fruit.”
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Pope confirms he's finishing encyclical begun by Pope Benedict
13-Jun-2013:
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Pope confident bishops will keep improving dialogue
13-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 13, 2013 / 08:18 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said he trusts that bishops will continue to improve their dialogue and collaboration with him and with each other in their next general assembly.
“We are confident that the Synod of Bishops will discover further developments to facilitate even more the dialogue and collaboration between the bishops, and between them and the Bishop of Rome,” Pope Francis said June 13.
“I am sure that with the discernment, accompanied by prayer, this work will bring abundant fruits to the whole Church,” he said at the Consistory Hall of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.
The Pope made his comments to leaders of the synod, who gathered in Rome to help him choose the theme of their next general assembly.
Archbishop Nikola Eterovi?, secretary general of the synod, told CNA June 13 that the next meeting will be in 2015, but the exact time and place are up to the Holy Father to decide.
In his remarks today, Pope Francis described the Synod of Bishops as “one of the fruits” of the Second Vatican Council.
“Thanks be to God that, in these almost 50 years, we have been able to feel the benefits of this institution that, in a permanent way, is at the service of the Church’s mission and communion as an expression of collegiality,” said Pope Francis.
Their last gathering was called “The new evangelization for the transmission of the Christian faith.” It was their 13th assembly and took place in Oct. 2012.
“There is a close connection between these two elements, the transmission of the Christian faith is the purpose of the new evangelization and of all the Church’s evangelizing work, which exists precisely for this,” Pope Francis said.
“The expression ‘new evangelization,’ therefore, highlights the increasingly clear awareness that, even in countries with an ancient Christian tradition, a renewed proclamation of the Gospel is necessary,” he added.
He noted that this is necessary “to bring us back to the encounter with Christ that truly transforms our lives and that isn’t superficial or marked by routine,” and this encounter has “consequences for pastoral activity.”
“I would encourage the whole ecclesial community to be evangelizing, not to be afraid of going out to announce themselves,” said the Pope.
“The techniques are certainly important, but even the most advanced ones couldn’t substitute the gentle but effective action of he who is the principal agent of evangelization, the Holy Spirit,” he added.
It is “necessary” for people to let themselves be led by the Holy Spirit, Pope Francis stated, “even if he takes us along new paths.”
He believes it is necessary “so that our announcement might be made with words that are always accompanied by the simplicity of our lives, our spirit of prayer, and our charity towards all.”
“Especially (towards) the lowliest and poorest, by our humility and self-detachment, and by the holiness of our lives,” said the pontiff.
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Rabbi calls friend's election to papacy good for dialogue
13-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 13, 2013 / 04:49 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Rabbi Abraham Skorka believes that Pope Francis’ election offers a chance for Christian-Jewish relationships to grow, especially as the world experiences a crisis of belief.
The difficulties religions are facing in the modern world prompted Rabbi Skorka to ask how Jews and Catholics can “re-create the dialogue we experienced and lived in Buenos Aires,” since his “querido amigo Jorge Mario Bergoglio” is the Pope.
Rabbi Skorka, who is from Argentina, came to Italy to participate in a Jewish-Christian dialogue organized by the Focolari Movement in Castel Gandolfo, just 15 miles southeast of Rome.
On Wednesday morning, the group attended Pope Francis’ general audience, and “for the first time this morning” – Skorka told CNA June 12 – “I was able to greet the Pope.”
According to Gustavo Clarià, an Argentinian member of the Focolari movement, Rabbi Skorka became sympathetic to Catholic religion when he took part in one of the several Jewish-Catholic round table discussions organized by Focolari in Argentina.
Alberto Barlocci, former director of the Argentinian magazine Ciudad Nueva said June 11 that “interreligious dialogue is a matter of fact in Argentina. Catholics, Jews, even the small Muslim community always concretely live the dialogue among religions.”
This is the ground in which the friendship of Rabbi Skorka and Cardinal Bergoglio flourished.
Rabbi Skorka said that the then-Archbishop of Buenos Aires “proved to me several times that he is a true friend.”
“Not casually,” he added, “we wrote a book together on dialogue.” Their aim with “Between Heaven and Earth” was to find concrete path to experience and live dialogue between religions.
Rabbi Mario Burman from the Jewish Organization for Interreligious Dialogue in Argentina explained at a June 12 media briefing in Rome that Cardinal Bergoglio “made ecumenism and interreligious dialogue one of the pillars of his pastoral work.”
For his part, Rabbi Skorka sees several similarities between the Jewish-Christian dialogue of the first centuries and the Jewish-Christian dialogue of today.
He asserted, “even in the Talmud, we can find the blossoms of the dialogue among the first communities of Christians and Jews.”
The first centuries after Christ were a difficult time for Jewish world, with its tradition truncated by the fall and destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.
And today religions are suffering through a difficult time.
The 2013 annual world report on the Social Doctrine of the Church, issued by the Van Thuan Observatory, stressed that Argentina is one of the countries undergoing the strongest assault by secularizing forces.
“It is now time” – Rabbi Skorka stated – “to recreate the kind of dialogue the first Christians and Jews had, to overcome the crisis.”
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Pope is a 'spiritual success' who will emphasize change, rabbi says
13-Jun-2013:
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Pope calls for end to 'plague' of child labor
12-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 12, 2013 / 10:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has launched an appeal against child labor, calling it an “deplorable phenomenon" during his Wednesday general audience.
“It is my heartfelt hope that the international community will initiate still more effective measures in addressing this authentic plague,” said Pope Francis on June 12.
“Listen, it is a deplorable phenomenon which is constantly increasing, especially in poor countries,” he told thousands gathered in Saint Peter’s Square.
He made his comments on the World Day Against Child Labor, a day created by the United Nation’s International Labor Organization.
The organization states in its “decent work agenda” that it has “gender equality as a crosscutting objective.”
But the organization’s report released June 12 focused more on domestic work for children than on illegal employment of children.
The report stated around 10.5 million children worldwide work in homes and some have conditions “similar to slavery.”
Pope Francis exclaimed, “woe to those who stifle them in their joyful enthusiasm of hope!”
“A serene childhood allows children to look with confidence towards life and tomorrow,” the Pope said on a hot, sunny day in Rome.
“All children must be able to play, study, pray and grow, in their families, this in a harmonic context, in love and serenity, but these people instead of playing are slaves, and this is a plague,” he affirmed.
The pontiff also stated, “this is their right and our duty.”
“There are millions of children, mostly girls, who are victims of this hidden form of exploitation that often involves abuse, mistreatment and discrimination,” Pope Francis said.
The organization created the World Day Against Child Labor in 2002 to prevent child labor “in economic and military fields.”
Its report added that over half of the children involved in domestic work are aged five to 14 and over 71 percent are girls, many of whom endure physical or sexual violence.
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'God is stronger,' Pope insists as he urges outreach
12-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 12, 2013 / 10:19 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis asked the tens of thousands of Catholics gathered in Saint Peter’s Square to overcome divisions and the fear of evangelizing by trusting that “God is stronger.”
“Just as I said, it is enough to open a newspaper and we see that around us there is the presence of evil, the Devil is at work,” he said at the June 12 general audience.
“But I would like to say in a loud voice God is stronger, Do you believe this, that God is stronger?” he asked the thousands of pilgrims.
He asked several times for them to repeat with him, “God is stronger!”
“And you know why he is stronger?” he asked. “Because he is the Lord, the only Lord, God is stronger!”
Pope Francis delivered his reflection on “the people of God” as part of a series on the Church as depicted in the documents of the Second Vatican Council.
The Pope called on the crowd to make their lives “a light of Christ” to “bring the light of the Gospel to the whole world.”
“Let’s think of the Olympic Stadium in Rome or that of San Lorenzo in Buenos Aires,” he said.
“If on a dark night one person lights up a lamp, you can barely see it, but if each of over 70,000 spectators switches on his own light, the whole stadium lights up,” he remarked.
Pope Francis also urged the crowd not be close themselves off from the world around them.
“Jesus does not tell the Apostles and us to form an exclusive group, an elite group, Jesus says, ‘go and make disciples of all nations,’” he underscored.
“The Church’s doors must be open so that all may come and that we can go out of those doors and proclaim the Gospel,” he added.
The Pope also asked Catholics to be “yeast that ferments the dough, the salt that gives flavor and preserves from decay, and the light that brightens.”
The pontiff explained that the term means “God does not really belong to any people.”
He noted that the law of “the people of God” is “the law of love, love for God and love for our neighbor according to the new commandment that the Lord left us.”
“It is recognizing God as the only Lord of life and, at the same time, accepting the other as a true brother, overcoming divisions, rivalry, misunderstandings, selfishness,” said Pope Francis.
But according to him, the Church still has “far to go” to be able to live the law of love and we must ask God “to help us understand it.”
“When we see in the many wars between Christians in the newspapers or on TV, how can the people of God understand this?” he asked.
“Within the people of God there are so many wars and in neighborhoods, in workplaces, so many wars due to envy, jealousy!” the Pope remarked.
The pontiff underscored that even within the same family, there are “so many internal wars.”
He also spent time explaining how people become a part of “the people of God.” It is not through physical birth, he said, but through “a new birth.”
“It is through Baptism that we are introduced to this people, through faith in Christ, the gift of God which must be nurtured and tended to throughout our whole life,” the Pope taught.
The pontiff advised the pilgrims to ask themselves how they tend to the faith they have received and how they can make it grow.
The Pope then explained that the ultimate goal is full communion with the Lord.
“It’s to enter into his divine life where we will live the joy of his love without measure, that full joy,” he said.
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Pope targets longing for past, 'adolescent progressivism'
12-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 12, 2013 / 10:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The progress of the Church can be hindered by the dual temptations of wanting to remain in the past and “adolescent progressivism,” Pope Francis said.
The danger of a progressive approach to the Holy Spirit is that believers becomes “like teenagers who in their enthusiasm want to have everything, and in the end? You slip up…” he said at the June 12 morning Mass.
“It’s like when the road is covered in ice and the car slips and go off track ... This is the other temptation at the moment! We, at this moment in the history of the Church, we cannot go backwards or go off the track!” the Pope stressed.
The track the Church must follow, he said during his homily, “is that of freedom in the Holy Spirit that makes us free, in continuous discernment of God's will to move forward on this path... .”
Pope Francis’ homily was inspired by today’s Gospel reading from Matthew 5:17, where Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.”
Christ brought the new law of the Spirit, the Pope noted, calling it the “road to maturity” for the Church.
“Part of the law’s journey to maturity, which comes with preaching Jesus, always involves fear; fear of the freedom that the Spirit gives us.
This freedom of the Spirit requires embarking on “a path of continuous discernment to do the will of God” and this can frighten us, the Holy Father observed.
He warned that the fear that comes with this way “brings two temptations with it.”
The first, is to “go backwards” to say that, “it’s possible up to this point, but impossible beyond this point” which ends up becoming “let’s stay here.”
It’s a fear that “it is better to play it safe.”
To illustrate his point, Pope Francis told a story about a superior general who spent years compiling a list of rules for his religious in the 1930s.
Then he traveled to Rome to meet a Benedictine abbot, who told him that his efforts “had killed his congregation’s charism,” “he had killed its freedom” since “this charism bears fruit in freedom and he had stopped the charism.”
“This is the temptation to go backwards, because we are ‘safer’ going back: but total security is in the Holy Spirit that brings you forward….”
This way of living “does not give us that human security,” the Pope noted.
“We cannot control the Holy Spirit: that is the problem! This is a temptation,” he explained.
The second temptation that comes with relying on the Holy Spirit’s guidance is to engage in “adolescent progressivism,” which ends up sending things off-track.
The temptation, Pope Francis said, lies in seeing a culture and “not detaching ourselves from it.”
“We take the values of this culture a little bit from here, a little bit from there ... They want to make this law? Alright, let’s go ahead and make this law. Let’s broaden the boundaries here a little.”
“In the end, let me tell you, this is not true progress,” he stated.
The Mass was concelebrated by Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life, as well as priests, religious and lay staff from the dicastery.
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Pope decries 'real slavery' of children forced to work
12-Jun-2013:
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Catholics must grow in love of God, neighbor, pope says at audience
12-Jun-2013:
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Cardinal Burke backs pro-life legislative efforts
12-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 12, 2013 / 07:41 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Just three days before a Vatican pro-life summit, Cardinal Raymond L. Burke urged people to actively resist efforts to pass anti-life legislation, because “many strong forces are at work.”
“Catholics should be involved in various groups, which are organized to influence legislation so that it can respect the dignity of human life,” Cardinal Burke told CNA in an exclusive June 11 interview.
“They should make it a point to be in contact with their legislators and with others who are responsible for their local and national political life in order to promote the cause of life,” he said.
He also called on everyone, especially faithful Catholics, to “be alert and awake against the forces of death” and give “strong witness” to the dignity of human life.
“In all of these democratic countries, the people have a voice, and if they insist on this, the government will have to change,” said Cardinal Burke.
“But if the people do not insist and if there is not a strong teaching by Church leaders and a strong support for the good lay faithful who are leading the pro-life movement, then the Church is failing,” he added.
Cardinal Burke, who is the head of the Church’s highest court – the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura – will give the keynote speech in English on June 15 for a weekend pro-life gathering at the Vatican.
The “Evangelium vitae” (Gospel of Life) weekend is being organized by the Vatican as part of the celebrations for the Year of Faith.
It will include talks in different languages based on Blessed John Paul II’s encyclical “Evangelium vitae,” which he wrote to defend the dignity of life at all stages.
Thousands of pilgrims will also take part in Eucharistic Adoration, a pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Peter and a candlelit procession down Via della Conciliazione to affirm their stance against abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide and same-sex “marriage.”
Cardinal Burke emphasized, “it is important that good Catholics enter into politics to influence a change in the direction in which a number of nations are going, which is very anti life and anti family.”
He also spoke about the growing European pressure for Poland and Ireland to legalize abortion and same-sex “marriage.”
“The Church has a very critical role to play in Ireland and Poland,” he stated.
“I can’t believe that the people of Poland and Ireland, once they understand what is happening, will not stand up in defense of human life.”
“The important thing is that the citizens be well informed about what is happening, which is against the most fundamental moral truth, and that they be encouraged to resist,” the cardinal said.
He believes there are “many strong forces at work, which are not open to life, for many reasons, including the so-called agents of death, who have made of abortion an industry.”
“They want to eliminate those that are weak and feeble because they are no longer so-called useful to society,” he said. “It is a completely totalitarian view of human life.”
Cardinal Burke believes that although those forces “are great,” there are also “many good people.”
“They understand that if there is no respect for human life, then all of society is reduced to violence and death and society destroys itself,” said the Vatican’s Supreme Court head.
And that makes Blessed John Paul II’s call in “Evangelium vitae” for conscientious objection by the people who know and understand the moral law necessary, he said.
“The attacks on human life are more true today than ever,” the cardinal alerted.
“What Blessed John Paul II urges in order to establish a civilization of love and life is also more timely than ever.”
“He was prophetic in many aspects but especially regarding human life because having suffered himself so many attacks on human life in his homeland during the Nazis, he was especially sensitive,” he said.
The culture of life is not just Catholic, Cardinal Burke emphasized, but is “written in the hearts of everyone.”
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Scottish adoption agency celebrates despite closure threat
12-Jun-2013:
Glasgow, Scotland, Jun 12, 2013 / 04:17 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Friends of the St. Margaret’s Children and Family Care Society gathered at Glasgow’s cathedral on June 9 to commemorate its years of service and to support the society’s adoption agency against the threat of forced closure.
Ronnie Convery, director of communications for the Archdiocese of Glasgow, Scotland, said there was “a mood of celebration” at the annual Mass and reception at St. Andrew’s Cathedral.
“Of course this year there is a storm cloud on the horizon, namely the threat from secularists to try to have the agency closed down,” Convery told CNA June 11.
“That galvanizes people, they feel bad that the service they have enjoyed from St. Margaret’s – and which they know to be professional, caring and supportive – may be threatened.”
Hundreds of people, including many children, gathered at the cathedral June 9. The society has placed hundreds of babies and children with adoptive families since its founding in 1955.
Convery said the annual event has become “a real celebration for families who have adopted children through St. Margaret’s.”
“The word which comes to mind is ‘family’ – what we see each year at this Mass is the ‘St. Margaret’s family’ coming together to thank God and to enjoy each other’s company at the follow up buffet.”
However, this year’s celebration came at a time when the society’s future is uncertain.
In March, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator affirmed a previous decision that the society cannot follow its policy of placing children only with a married mother and father, in accord with Catholic teaching. The regulator said this policy has a negative impact on cohabiting and same-sex couples.
Almost all religious adoption agencies in the U.K. have already been forced to shut down or disaffiliate from their church sponsors due to anti-discrimination laws.
Convery said attendees at the Sunday celebration were determined “to do all possible to save St. Margaret’s from going the way of other Catholic agencies in this country.”
Brian McGuigan, a member of the society’s board, said the society’s managing council is “intent on fighting this at every available opportunity.
“Saint Margaret’s origins and identity are inseparable from the Catholic Church and her values and moral teaching in respect to marriage and the family,” he said in a June 7 statement.
“The ultimate irony is that apparently in the name of tolerance, societies such as Saint Margaret’s are no longer to be tolerated. The reality is that the issue is not one about equality or diversity, but about freedom of religion and belief,” he said.
The society has said that it will seek to overturn the charity regulator’s ruling.
St. Margaret’s Children and Family Care Society is still continuing with plans to move to a new home in Glasgow’s Newton Place to open a new family center and offer more family services.
Archbishop Philip Tartaglia of Glasgow praised the society as “a treasure of the Church in Scotland.”
“It does nothing but good work for children and families of all faiths and none,” he said on June 7. “The whole Church is united in support for its work and we hope that common sense will prevail, and it will be allowed to continue to serve children in Scotland who need loving families.”
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Theologian thinks papal trip to Brazil critical for younger generations
12-Jun-2013:
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Pope calls for 'culture of encounter' towards disabled
11-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 11, 2013 / 12:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Highlighting the spiritual gift of faith seen in Jesus’ healing of the blind, Pope Francis encouraged an ‘active participation’ of the disabled in society.
“The Gospels tell us that Jesus had a particular care for the blind,” the Pope said on June 11. “Besides other sick persons, He healed many blind persons. But the healing of a visually impaired person has special symbolic meaning: it represents the gift of faith.”
Speaking in an audio message to the Italian Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Holy Father explained that Christ’s healings are “a sign that concerns us all because we all need the light of faith to walk along the path of life.”
“This is why Baptism, which is the first Sacrament of Faith, was also called 'illumination' in antiquity.”
According to Vatican Radio, Pope Francis prayed that each member of the association be granted a renewed faith, filled with “the light of love that makes sense of our lives, illuminates it, gives us hope, and makes us good and available to our brothers and sisters.”
“I also wish the best for your association,” he said, encouraging them to “spread a culture of encounter, solidarity and hospitality towards persons with disabilities, not just asking for the proper social services but also encouraging their active participation in society.”
The Pope’s message was sent for the association’s summer program in Le Torri Centre in Tirrenia, Italy, which specializes in rehabilitation studies and is currently hosting around 75 people, mostly elderly.
“I know that … some of you wanted to come to Rome,” the Holy Father said. “Thanks to modern technology, I can come to you!”
Asking for their prayers, he entrusted them to the protection of the Virgin Mary and offered them his blessing.
“Thank you for your appreciation, for your affection, and especially for your prayers,” he said.
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Pope encourages Church rich in praise, not wealth
11-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 11, 2013 / 10:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis pointed out that Saint Peter did not have a bank account, as he warned against the dangers of a Church that finds its security in resources instead of the free gift of the Gospel.
“St. Peter did not have a bank account, and when he had to pay taxes, the Lord sent him to the sea to catch fish and find the money in the fish to pay,” said the Pope during Mass in the chapel of Saint Martha’s House.
“Philip, when he met Queen Candace’s finance minister, did not think ‘ah, good, let’s set up an organization to support the Gospel,’” he added during his June 11 homily.
Instead, the pontiff noted, Philip “preached, baptized and left.”
Pope Francis made his comments based on Matthew 10 and said “the key word” is in the mandate given by Jesus, “freely you have received, freely give.”
“When we find the apostles who want to build a rich Church and a Church without the gratuitousness of praise, the Church becomes old, the Church becomes an NGO, the Church becomes lifeless,” he remarked.
“The proclamation of the gospel must follow the path of poverty,” he asserted.
The only wealth Christians should have should be the gifts they receive from God.
“This poverty saves us from becoming managers, entrepreneurs,” he remarked.
“The works of the Church must be brought forward, and some are a little complex, but with a heart of poverty, not with the heart of an investment broker or an entrepreneur,” he clarified.
Pope Francis explained that poverty and the ability to praise the Lord are two signs of an apostle who lives a gratuity, the free gift of the Kingdom of God.
“The Church is not an NGO, it is something else, something more important, and this is the result of gratuity, received and proclaimed,” he said.
“When an apostle does not live this gratuity, he or she loses the ability to praise the Lord,” the Pope said.
The pontiff noted that “praising the Lord is essentially gratuitous” and a kind of freely given prayer because “we do not ask, we only praise.”
“There is the temptation to seek strength elsewhere than in gratuity,” he stated.
“This temptation creates a little confusion where proclamation becomes proselytizing,” the Pope said. “Instead our strength is the gratuitousness of the Gospel.”
He underscored that the Lord “has invited us to preach, not to proselytize.”
Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, concelebrated the Mass with Pope Francis.
Employees of the congregation also attended the Eucharistic celebration.
“Everything is grace, everything,” he told them.
“The Church does not grow through proselytizing but by drawing people to her, and this attraction comes from the testimony of those who freely proclaim the gratuity of salvation,” said Pope Francis.
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Wealth obscures power of God's word, free gift of salvation, pope says
11-Jun-2013:
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For Mother Dolores Hart, it's time for her close-up -- again
11-Jun-2013:
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Rome visit deepens former NFL quarterback's faith
11-Jun-2013:
Rome, Italy, Jun 11, 2013 / 09:35 am (CNA).- As he stood next to St. Peter’s Square, former NFL quarterback Rich Gannon reflected on how his family’s first visit to Rome deepened their faith.
The Gannons had been thinking about a trip to the Vatican for years and their faith has always been important to them, but the election of Pope Francis made things even more personal for Rich.
“I was really excited when Pope Francis became the Pope. I went to a Jesuit private boys high school in Philadelphia … so to have a Jesuit become a Pope was kind of special to me, having been trained by the Jesuits,” he told CNA June 10.
The former Oakland Raiders quarterback, along with his wife and two teenage daughters, spent a few days visiting the Eternal City’s churches and also got a chance to see the Holy Father.
“We had a private (papal) audience with 150,000 other people here in the square. … And even though it only lasted a couple minutes, we did get a blessing,” Gannon joked.
The importance of what the Church does to preserve and promote art also struck them and they signed up to become Vatican patrons of the arts.
“We’re learning more and more about what they’re doing to preserve so many beautiful pieces of art that have been left for us to be able to appreciate and enjoy as a family,” Rich Gannon said.
“The chance to come over here and see the restoration process, projects and the work they’re doing – I think it’s really impressive,” he remarked.
The trip also had an impact on Rich’s wife Shelley and his daughters Alexis and Danielle.
“To be able to do it as a family, all four of us together, it’s been a trip we dreamt about for a long time. … it just strengthens our faith as a family so much,” Shelley Gannon commented.
Their oldest daughter, Alexis, agreed and said she hopes to grow “a little closer to God” through the trip, which also helped her glimpse “the future of the faith in Pope Francis.”
The Holy Stairs, which tradition says Jesus walked on as he faced Pilate and then went to his death after being scourged, were also on the Gannon’s itinerary.
Danielle Gannon was most touched by going up the stairs on her knees, as many pilgrims do.
“There were actually windows on the stairs, which are covered with wood,” she explained.
“You could see the blood that Jesus shed.
“You could feel the pain of kneeling down on the stairs,” which made her think about “what Jesus went through for us to be able to save us from our sins,” she said.
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French priest suspended after Freemasonry revealed
11-Jun-2013:
Paris, France, Jun 11, 2013 / 02:02 am (CNA).- Bishop Yves Boivineau of Annecy in southeastern France has barred a local priest from public ministry after he was exposed as an active Freemason.
Father Pascal Vesin, 43, was suspended for his active membership in a Masonic lodge of the Grand Orient of France. He became a member in 2001, five years after his 1996 ordination as a Catholic priest, the French newspaper Le Figaro reports.
The priest served a parish in the Alpine ski resort of Megeve and Bishop Boivineau suspended him at Rome's request, his parish said.
Membership in Masonic societies has long been condemned by the Catholic Church. This condemnation was repeated in a 1983 document from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, which said Masonic principles “have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church.”
“The faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion,” the congregation said in a declaration signed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI.
The disciplinary action against Fr. Vesin followed the priest’s refusal to renounce Freemasonry.
The priest told Le Figaro that he did not choose to place Freemasonry against the Church. He said his action is “the expression of my absolute freedom of conscience within the Catholic institution.”
The diocese said that the priest's suspension is not final and can be lifted. It described it as a “medicinal” penalty intended to encourage the priest’s return to Catholic practice.
The Catholic Church has opposed Freemasonry on account of its secret nature, its religious indifferentism and its history of conspiring against the Church.
A 1985 letter to the U.S. bishops by then-Archbishop of Boston Cardinal Bernard Law criticized Freemasonry’s dedication to a form of “naturalistic” religion that is “incompatible with Christian faith and practice.”
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Bishops warn against changes in immigration bill that could kill it
11-Jun-2013:
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Comfort of Holy Spirit, world don't mix, Pope states
10-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 10, 2013 / 11:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis said Christians cannot receive consolation from both the Holy Spirit and the spirit of the world if they want to be saved.
“You cannot serve two masters, you either serve the Lord or you serve the spirit of this world; we cannot pick and mix,” Pope Francis said at the chapel of Saint Martha’s House.
“A bit of the Holy Spirit, a bit of the spirit of this world, no!” he exclaimed June 10 during his homily. “It’s one thing or the other.”
The Pope said that salvation is to live “in the consolation of the Holy Spirit, not the consolation of the spirit of this world,” which he called a sin.
“Salvation is moving forward and opening our hearts so they can receive the Holy Spirit’s consolation, which is salvation,” the Pope said.
“This is non-negotiable, you can’t take a bit from here and a bit from there,” he insisted.
Pope Francis made his comments based on the day’s readings, 2 Corinthians 1 and Matthew 5.
He explained that Saint Paul uses the word “consolation” several times in first reading.
“He speaks to Christians who are young in the faith, people who have recently begun to follow the path of Jesus,” the pontiff recalled.
“They were normal people, but they had found Jesus.”
He noted this was such a life-changing experience that “a special strength from God was needed and this strength is consolation.”
“Consolation is the presence of God in our hearts, but we must open the door and his presence requires our conversion,” he explained.
Pope Francis then linked the first reading to the Gospel reading, which recalls when Jesus gives the beatitudes in his Sermon on the Mount.
He explained that the beatitudes are the “law of the free” and that they “would seem silly” if we did not open our hearts to the Holy Spirit.
“Just look, being poor, being meek, being merciful will hardly lead us to success,” he commented.
“If we do not have an open heart and if we have not experienced the consolation of the Holy Spirit, which is salvation, we cannot understand this,” he added.
Pope Francis said he believes people’s hearts are closed to salvation because they are afraid of it and people want to stay in control of themselves.
“In order to understand these new commandments, we need the freedom that is born of the Holy Spirit, who saves us, who comforts us and is the giver of life,” he preached.
It is hypocrisy, he said, to “not allow the Spirit to change our hearts with his salvation.”
“The freedom of the Spirit, which the Spirit gives us, is also a kind of slavery, of being enslaved to the Lord which makes us free, it is another freedom,” said the Pope.
“Instead, our freedom is only slavery, but not to the Lord, but to the spirit of the world,” he said of the mankind’s concept of freedom.
He then prayed that grace would open people’s hearts to the consolation of the Holy Spirit, “so that this consolation, which is salvation, allows us to understand these commandments.”
The president and undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko and Bishops Josef Clemens, as well as Indian Archbishop George Valiamattam of Tellicherry, concelebrated the Mass.
A group of priests and collaborators of the Pontifical Council for the Laity also attended the Eucharistic celebration.
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Jesuit writers get quick answer to papal audience request
10-Jun-2013:
Rome, Italy, Jun 10, 2013 / 04:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Just one month after their request, Pope Francis has scheduled a private audience with the college of writers from La Civiltà Cattolica, the Jesuit cultural review whose articles are approved by the Vatican’s secretary of state before publication.
The private audience has been officially scheduled for June 14, according to a Monday post on the magazine's Twitter feed.
The meeting will begin with Father Adolfo Nicolàs, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, greeting the Pope in the name of the writers of Civiltà Cattolica. The gathering will also include a short speech by Pope Francis on the work of the Jesuit monthly magazine.
Father Antonio Spadaro, director of La Civiltà Cattolica, said in a June 10 interview with CNA that he “personally asked Father Nicolàs to be at the meeting and hold the speech” since “Civiltà Cattolica is directly under his supervision.”
Fr. Spadaro also revealed that he first asked the Pope to meet with the writers in a phone conversation on May 14, which was unusual because it was the Holy Father who called Fr. Spadaro.
The director of La Civiltà Cattolica said that Pope Francis called looking for him at La Civiltà Cattolica headquarters, but he was out of the office.
The telephone operator looked around for Fr. Spadaro and once he found him he called back to the Pope’s personal secretary to “say that I know the Pope was looking for me” and here is my mobile number.
Some hours later, the Pope called Fr. Spadaro and was able to connect with him.
“I must say,” Fr. Spadaro commented, “that I felt a great proximity. Even though a phone call by the Pope is quite unusual, I felt the conversation was normal, simple and natural. We were just two Jesuits speaking.”
On that occasion, the magazine director told the Pope that “he would be pleased” if he could the writers could meet with him. And then, a week later he reiterated the invitation when he met the Pope in St. Martha’s House, the Vatican residence where Pope Francis lives.
Fr. Spadaro explained that “the college of writers of La Civiltà Cattolica has always been received in a private audience by the new elected Pope,” but “it is unusual and special that the audience will take place so little time after our request.”
In their private conversation, Fr. Spadaro told the Pope “that we of La Civiltà Cattolica are at his complete disposal for anything he wants us to focus on.”
Ultimately, he noted, “as Jesuits we are bound to this by our fourth vote of absolute obedience to the Pope.”
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Pope: God forgives sins that wound
09-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 9, 2013 / 02:23 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis on Sunday emphasized the mercy of God, declaring that God always those who show him the “inner wounds” of their sins.
“If we show our inner wounds, our sins, he always forgives us,” Pope Francis told thousands of pilgrims at Saint Peter’s Square.
“Let us never forget this, he is pure mercy, let us go to Jesus!” he exclaimed during his Angelus noon prayer June 9.
Pope Francis emphasized that we should not be afraid to approach Jesus because he has a “merciful heart.”
The Church traditionally dedicates the month of June to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which reveals his infinite mercy towards people.
The Pope said that the Feast of the Sacred Heart, celebrated June 7, “sets the tone” for the whole month.
“The heart of Jesus is the ultimate symbol of God’s mercy, but it is not an imaginary symbol, it is a real symbol, which represents the center, the source from which salvation for all humanity gushed forth,” said the Pope.
“But the mercy of Jesus is not just sentiment: indeed it is a force that gives life, that raises man up!” he exclaimed on the cloudy day at the Vatican.
He stated that there are several references to the heart of Jesus in the Gospels.
He cited Matthew 11, where Jesus says “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.”
Pope Francis also cited “the key story” of the death of Jesus according to Saint John.
“This evangelist testifies to what he saw on Calvary, that a soldier, when Jesus was already dead, pierced his side with a spear, and from the wound flowed blood and water,” he said.
“Saint John recognized in that, apparently random sign, the fulfillment of prophecies,” he added. “From the heart of Jesus, the lamb slain on the cross, flow forgiveness and life for all men.”
The Pope cited Sunday’s gospel reading, taken from Luke 7, as another example of the mercy of Jesus.
The reading tells how Jesus, with his disciples, arrived in the village of Nain in Galilee at the very moment in which a funeral is taking place.
“A boy is buried, the only son of a widow, Jesus’ gaze immediately fixes itself on the weeping mother,” Pope Francis said.
Saint Luke wrote, “seeing her, the Lord was moved with great compassion for her.”
“This compassion is the love of God for man, it is mercy, the attitude of God in contact with human misery, with our poverty, our suffering, our anguish,” said the Pope.
He believes that the biblical term “compassion” links the way God loves us to the way a mother loves her children, to the point of experiencing their pain when they suffer.
“What is the fruit of this love?” he asked. “It is life!”
The Pope told how Jesus said to the widow of Nain “do not weep” and then called the dead boy awaking him as if he had been asleep.
“The mercy of God gives life to man, it raises him from the dead,” said the pontiff.
“The Lord is always watching us with mercy, always awaits us with mercy,” he added.
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Pope dwells on God's wordless love
07-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 7, 2013 / 01:14 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said God does not love us with words but through closeness and tenderness during his morning Mass on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
“He does not love us with words, he comes close and gives us his love with tenderness,” the Pope said.
“Closeness and tenderness!” he stressed on June 7 at the chapel in Saint Martha’s House.
God loves us by “drawing near” and “giving all his love,” he preached, adding that he does so “even in the smallest things, with tenderness.”
Pope Francis made his comments based on Ezekiel 34, in which God shows his love by caring for the lost, wounded and sick sheep.
He referred to the feast as “the feast of love” of a “heart that loved so much.”
The pontiff then dwelt in greater depth on how Jesus loved with his deeds and life.
“This is a powerful love, because closeness and tenderness reveal the strength of God’s love,” said Pope Francis.
“The Lord loves us tenderly, the Lord knows that beautiful science of caresses, the tenderness of God.”
Besides God’s love being given through acts, the Holy Father underscored that God loves more by giving than receiving.
“These two criteria are like the pillars of true love, and the Good Shepherd above all else represents the love of God,” said Pope Francis.
“He knows his sheep by name because his is not an abstract or general love, it is love towards everyone,” he remarked.
He described God as “drawing near out of love,” “walking with his people” and that “this walk comes to an unimaginable point.”
How can we return all this love to God? Pope Francis asked the congregation.
“By loving, by being closer to him, by being tender with him, but this alone is not enough,” he said.
“It is more difficult to let God love us, than to love him!” he exclaimed.
According to the Pope, the best way to love him in return is to “open our hearts and let him love us.”
“Let Him draw close to us and feel Him close to us,” he said.
“This is really, very difficult, letting ourselves be loved by him and that is perhaps what we need to ask today in the Mass,” the Pope said.
The archivist and librarian of the Holy Roman Church, Archbishop Jean-Louis Bruguès, and the prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives, Monsignor Sergio Pagano, concelebrated the Mass with him.
Employees of the Vatican’s Secret Archives were also invited to attend.
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Pope gives children advice on facing doubts about faith
07-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 7, 2013 / 12:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Setting aside his prepared text, Pope Francis tackled questions from children about having faith in times of doubt, his friends and his favorite aspects of Jesuit spirituality.
“Walking is an art because if we always walk in a hurry we get tired and we can’t reach the end,” he said in response to an older boy who admitted he had doubts about his faith.
“Walking is the art of looking at the horizon thinking where I want to go, but also to accept the tiredness of the walk,” the Pope reflected.
“So many times the walk is difficult.”
Pope Francis received around 7,000 students from Jesuit-run schools in Italy and Albania, accompanied by their teachers, alumni and family members in Paul VI Hall on June 7.
The overall atmosphere was relaxed, with the Pope joking that his five-page set of remarks was “boring” and giving honest and sometimes funny answers to the children who posed questions.
The rapport Pope Francis had with the students inspired him to set aside his prepared address and speak off-the-cuff in a question and answer format.
“There are days of darkness and some days of falls, one falls, falls. But always think this, don’t be afraid of the failures, don’t be afraid of the falls,” he said as he continued his words of encouragement to the student with doubts.
“Don’t be afraid of falling, in the art of falling that was important isn’t not falling, but not remaining down,” he said.
The Pope noted, “this is beautiful, working on this each day, this walking humanly, but it is ugly and boring to walk alone.”
“Walk in community with friends and it helps us arrive to the end where we need to arrive,” he remarked.
A young girl asked him if he still kept his friends from Argentina.
“I’ve only been Pope for two and a half months and my friends are very far from here, but they write me,” said Pope Francis. “You can’t live without friends, that’s important.”
He then answered a question on what he liked the most about being a Jesuit, which he said was the missionary work.
“When I studied theology, I wrote to the general so that he send me to Japan,” said the Pope.
“But he answered that my pulmonary illness wasn’t good for such a work, so I stayed in Buenos Aires,” he explained.
He mentioned “going out of oneself” and “announcing Christ” and not remaining “within one’s self” as particular aspects that the Jesuit spirituality focuses on.
“For us Jesuits, the key point for the growth of people is magnanimity,” said the Pope.
“We have to be magnanimous with a big heart, without fear, submit yourself to big ideals, but also magnanimity with small things, with daily things with a big heart,” he said.
He underscored the importance of finding this magnanimity “with the contemplation of Jesus.”
The pontiff described this generosity of heart as “walking with Jesus” and “being attentive to what Jesus says,” adding that he is the one who “opens the windows to the horizon.”
“In this path, I would like to say something to educators,” he stated. “Educating is like a balance, balancing well the steps.”
He explained that balancing involves “a firm step in the frame of safety” and another step “in a risky zone.”
“When that risk become safe, the other step searches for another area of risk,” said the Pope.
During the exchange the Holy Father also revealed that he did not want to become Pope going into the conclave that resulted in his selection and that he decided to live in Saint Martha’s House because he needs to be near people.
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'I didn't want to be Pope,' Francis tells children
07-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 7, 2013 / 08:16 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis told thousands of children who gathered at the Vatican on Friday that he did not want to be the head of the Church before his election.
“Someone who wants, who has the desire to be Pope doesn't love themselves, but I didn't want to be Pope,” he said at a June 7 meeting in Paul VI Hall.
“Do you know what it means if someone doesn’t love themselves very much?” he asked the 7,000 children from Jesuit-run schools in Italy and Albania in response to a girl’s question.
The students were accompanied by their teachers and family members, as well as alumni of the schools, on the trip to the Vatican.
Pope Francis chose to speak off-the-cuff for a little over five minutes instead of reading a five-page set of remarks.
He then answered questions posed by a few children, who waited on the side of the stage, close to where he was sitting.
One of them asked him why he had chosen to live in Saint Martha’s House instead of the Papal Apartments in the Apostolic Palace.
“I can’t live alone, do you understand?” he remarked. “It's not a question of my personal virtue, it's just that I can't live alone.”
“A professor asked me this question, ‘why don't you go live there?’ and I answered, ‘listen, professor, it’s for psychiatric reasons’ because that’s my personality,” the Pope said.
He told the children jokingly not to worry because “that apartment (in the Apostolic Palace) isn’t so luxurious.”
“In a world where there is so much wealth, so many resources to feed everyone, it is unfathomable that there are so many hungry children, that there are so many children without an education, so many poor people,” he remarked.
“Poverty today is a cry, we all have to think if we can become a little poorer, all of us have to do this,” he added.
He asked them, “how can I become a little poorer in order to be more like Jesus, who was the poor teacher?”
A young boy asked Pope Francis if it had been difficult to leave his family when he decided to become a Jesuit at the age of 21.
“It’s always hard, it was hard for me,” he affirmed.
“Jesus gives you joy, but sometimes you feel dryness and alone. But it’s beautiful following Jesus and then more beautiful moments arrive,” he said.
He then turned the question back to the children.
“How do you think about walking ahead with difficulties?” he asked them. “With the Lord, all is possible.”
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Pope Francis decides not to spend summer at Castel Gandolfo
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Pope Francis calls careerism a 'leprosy' on the priesthood
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'Stop hiding idols in your saddles,' Pope advises
06-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 6, 2013 / 10:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said everyone has “hidden idols” buried in their personalities and recommended discovering and discarding them in order to better follow God.
“Idolatry is subtle, we all have our hidden idols, and the path of life to follow to not be far from the kingdom of God involves discovering our hidden idols,” said Pope Francis.
“The idols, hidden in the many saddles, which we have in our personalities, in the way we live. Drive out the idol of worldliness, which leads us to become enemies of God,” he prayed June 6 during morning Mass.
The Pope made his comments in a homily on Mark 12 at the chapel of the Saint Martha’s House.
“There is a danger of idolatry, which is brought to us through the spirit of the world. And in this Jesus was clear, the spirit of the world? ‘No.’” said Pope Francis.
“At the Last Supper he asks the Father to defend us from the spirit of the world, because the spirit of the world leads us to idolatry,” he pointed out.
He said people “hide their idols in a saddle” like the Bible passage that tells how Rachel, Jacob's wife, pretends she is not carrying idols, which she took from her father's house and hides in her saddle.
“But we have to look for them and we have to destroy them because, to follow God, the only path is that of a love based on loyalty,” Pope Francis said.
“Loyalty demands we drive out our idols, that we uncover them,” he remarked. “They are hidden in our personality, in our way of life.”
According to the pontiff, “these hidden idols mean that we are not faithful in love.”
“Whoever is a friend of the world is an idolater, is not faithful to the love of God!” he taught.
“The path that is not distant, that advances, moves forward in the Kingdom of God, is a path of loyalty which resembles that of married love,” he added.
The Pope asked “even with our small or not so small idolatries, how is it possible not to be faithful to a love so great?”
“To do this, you need to trust in Christ, who is total loyalty and who loves us so much,” he affirmed.
The pontiff focused his homily on the Bible passage in which a scribe asked Jesus what the first commandment was and after Jesus responded and the scribe approved of his reply, Jesus said, “you are not far from the Kingdom of God.”
“With that ‘you are not far,’ Jesus wanted to say to the scribe, “you know the theory very well, but you are still some distance from the Kingdom of God,” said the Pope.
“That is, you have to walk to transform this commandment into reality because we profess God through our way of life,” he stated.
Archbishop José Vitti of Curitiba, Brazil, Archbishop Juan Segura of Ibiza, Spain and Archbishop Chirayath Anthony of Sagar, India concelebrated the Mass with him.
Lateran University employees, its vice rector, Monsignor Patrick Valdrini, staff from the Vatican Library and its vice-prefect Ambrose Piazzoni also attended the Eucharistic celebration.
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Pope to future diplomats: 'don't be ridiculous'
06-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 6, 2013 / 10:22 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis warned priests studying to serve in the papal diplomatic corps and the Vatican’s Secretariat of State not to be career-driven and end up looking ridiculous.
“Please don’t be ridiculous, either be saints or go back to the diocese and be a pastor, but don’t be ridiculous in the diplomatic service, where there is so much danger of becoming worldly in spirituality,” Pope Francis said June 6.
When there is a secretary or a nuncio that doesn’t strive for sanctity, the pontiff added, he “gets involved in so many forms, in so many kinds of spiritual worldliness” and “he looks ridiculous, and everyone laughs at him.”
In his address to 45 members of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in the Clementine Hall, he also warned against focusing on their service as a career and trying to climb the ranks.
“This freedom from ambition or personal aims, for me, is important, it’s important!” he exclaimed.
“Careerism is leprosy! Leprosy! Please, no careerism!” he pleaded.
The academy trains priests to be official representatives of the Pope. The intensive formation process takes four years: two earning a licentiate in canon law and two obtaining a doctorate in canon law.
They also learn diplomatic history, multiple languages and diplomatic writing, as well as other practical skills needed to work as an official papal emissary.
The Pope emphasized to the students that they are being prepared for a ministry, not a profession.
“This ministry calls you to go out of yourself, to a detachment from self that can only be achieved through an intense spiritual journey,” he said.
He explained it also involves “a serious unification of your life around the mystery of the love of God and of the inscrutable plan of his call.”
Pope Francis then asked them to cultivate their spiritual life for the inner freedom that is necessary for their careers.
“The work that is done in the pontifical diplomatic service requires, like any type of priestly ministry, a great inner freedom.”
“It means being free from personal projects, from some of the concrete ways in which perhaps one day you had thought of living your priesthood,” he stated.
The pontiff added it also means being free from the possibilities of “planning for the future, from the perspective of remaining for a long time in a “your” place of pastoral action.”
And “above all, it means vigilance in order to be free from ambition or personal aims, which can cause so much harm to the Church.”
Being free, he counseled, means trying not to put first “your own self-fulfillment or the recognition that you could get,” but rather “the greater good of the cause of the Gospel.”
“It means freeing yourself, in some way, even with respect to the culture and mindset from which you came,” said the Pope.
“Not by forgetting it, much less by denying it, but by opening yourself up, in charity, to understanding different cultures and meeting with people even from worlds very far from your own.”
The Holy Father also advised the future diplomats to take “great care” of their spiritual life, which he called the “source of inner freedom.”
“Without prayer, there is no interior freedom,” the Pope remarked.
He told them to “cultivate a life of prayer” and make their daily work their “gymnasium of sanctification.”
“Diplomacy should always be permeated by a pastoral spirit, otherwise it counts for nothing and makes a holy mission ridiculous,” he remarked.
“I ask you to pray for me … may the assurance of my prayers and of my blessing, which I cordially extend to all your loved ones, go with you,” he finished.
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Pope Francis will brave Rome's summer heat
06-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 6, 2013 / 09:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Breaking with the practice of his predecessors, Pope Francis will not take a long summer vacation and will stay in Rome, just making short trips to Castel Gandolfo.
In two announcements issued by the Vatican on June 6th, the Pontifical Household shed light on the Pope’s summer plans.
Though he will make at least a one-day visit to Castel Gandolfo, the pontifical residence 15 miles outside of Rome, Pope Francis will continue living at Saint Martha’s House during the summer.
He will lead the Angelus at Castel Gandolfo on July 14, prior to spending the last week of the month in Brazil for World Youth Day.
While Pope Francis’ decision is in keeping with his practice in Buenos Aires, it contrasts with the normal retreat Popes make to the lakeside villa between July and September, the time when the heat is most intense.
Benedict XIV and John Paul II both spent their last summers in the papacy at the residence through September.
One thing that will stay the same is that all general and private audiences with the Pope in July will be canceled, as well as the daily morning Mass that he has been celebrating in St. Martha’s chapel ever since he was elected.
The last Mass in St. Martha’s will be held on July 7, and it is not clear when they will resume.
The Vatican’s press office director, Father Federico Lombardi, told CNA June 6, “All we know is that Mass will stop on July 8. I don't know when it will start again, maybe in September, but I don't know.”
Pope Francis will resume the weekly general audiences at the Vatican on August 7, a full two months before they normally begin.
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Seduced by worldly things, people cheat on God, pope says
06-Jun-2013:
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Expert says Church's abuse prevention should differ for each culture
06-Jun-2013:
Rome, Italy, Jun 6, 2013 / 06:35 am (CNA/EWTN News).- An expert on dealing with sexual abuse cases within the Church says prevention guidelines being developed with Vatican oversight should vary from country to country.
“We’ve realized learning habits and how people respond to some questionnaires and comply to rules varies from country to country,” said Father Hans Zollner, a German Jesuit who heads the Gregorian University’s Centre for Child Protection.
“It is most interesting and most inspiring to see this across the different cultures,” Fr. Zollner told CNA June 5.
He explained that some guidelines should apply to all countries equally, since “sexual abuse is sexual abuse, no matter what.”
“But in the Philippines, for example, there is the ‘culture of touch.’”
“It means that if you don’t touch children, hugging and kissing them, there is something wrong and pathological,” Fr. Zollner said.
Korea, on the other hand, is a country where even just talking about sexual abuse is a complete taboo.
“In the Korean society it is impossible to talk about this, even within families, so the West needs to realize our point of view is not the same in the rest of the world,” said Fr. Zollner.
Fr. Zollner met with Pope Francis June 4 along with some participants in a child abuse conference being held in Rome.
“He repeated three times to ‘go ahead, your work is important,’ so we felt very much encouraged,” the German Jesuit reported.
“He is very well aware of the problem and he was listening deeply,” he added.
The conference, which took place May 31 – June 4 was co-sponsored by the U.S. Bishops’ Conference and the bishops of Sri Lanka had the theme “Prevention of abuse: We are going Global.”
Although the conference began in 1996 with English-speakers, the gathering has since brought in representatives from the developing world, especially after the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith mandated in 2011 that all bishops’ conferences draw up guidelines for responding to allegations of sexual abuse.
Fr. Zollner underscored that although sexual abuse is a significant problem within the Church, “it is a much bigger problem in society at large.”
He explained that 67 percent of the cases happen within families and “many more happen in sport organizations and schools.”
“But it doesn’t take away the deep wound, and the Church has to live up to the Gospel and to Jesus, who is the most important model,” he said.
“It is so deplorable and really against the Gospel for any Catholic who abuses minors, especially priests who are meant to heal people,” he stated.
The Centre for Child Protection was founded in 2010 and includes three institutions: the Pontifical Gregorian University’s Institute of Psychology, the Department for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of Germany’s Ulm University Hospital, and the German Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.
Its main purpose is the creation of a global online training center that provides academic resources for people in pastoral roles who respond to the sexual abuse of minors, taking into account multilingual and intercultural issues.
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The suffering deserve our prayers, not our analysis, pope says
05-Jun-2013:
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Meeting on sex abuse expands reach, promoting global approach
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Pope says lamenting suffering is form of prayer
05-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 5, 2013 / 11:20 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said lamenting suffering is a form of prayer and is not a sin, during his daily morning Mass.
“A priest I know once said to a woman who lamented to God about her misfortune, ‘but, madam, that is a form of prayer, go ahead with it,’” Pope Francis said in his June 5 homily.
“To lament before God is not a sin,” he added.
Pope Francis based his reflections on a reading from the third chapter of Tobit, which was read at Mass today.
It tells the story of Tobit, who was blinded despite a life of good works, and Sarah, who married seven men that all died before their wedding night. They both pray to God to let them die.
“They are people in extreme situations and they seek a way out,” Pope Francis said.
“They complain, but they do not blaspheme.”
He also mentioned malnourished children, refugees and the terminally ill as examples of those suffering.
Pope Francis went on to speak of the day’s Gospel from Mark 12 in which the Sadducees ask Jesus, if a woman is widowed and marries seven times, which man will be her husband in heaven.
He noted the Sadducees were talking about this woman “as if she were a laboratory, all aseptic” and that “hers was an abstract, moral problem.”
“When we think of the people who suffer so much, do we think of them as though they were an abstract, moral conundrum, pure ideas … ?” asked Pope Francis. “Or do we think about them with our hearts, with our flesh, too?”
“I do not like it when people speak about tough situations in an academic and not a human manner, sometimes with statistics and that’s it,” he remarked. “In the Church there are many people in this situation.”
The Pope advised people to pray for those who suffer, noting “here is the mystery of the communion of saints.”
“They must come into my heart, they must be a cause of restlessness for me, my brother is suffering, my sister suffers,” he stated.
“Pray to the Lord, ‘but, Lord, look at that person, he cries, he is suffering,’” the Pope said.
Pope Francis explained that because of their prayers, God did not let Tobit and Sarah die, but rather healed Tobit and gave a husband to Sarah.
“Prayer always reaches God, as long as it is prayer from the heart,” he said.
“When it is an abstract exercise, such as that the Sadducees were discussing, it never reaches him because it never goes out of ourselves,” he remarked.
In those cases, the Holy Father asserted, it “is an intellectual game” and “we do not care.”
He then asked people to pray for those who live in dramatic situations and suffer as much as Jesus on the cross.
The Mass was attended by members of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, as well as some personnel from the Vatican Apostolic Library.
The prefect of the congregation, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Archbishop Augustine DiNoia, secretary of the same congregation, and Monsignor Cesare Pasini, prefect of the Library, also participated.
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Pope stresses threats to human person on Environment Day
05-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 5, 2013 / 09:52 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said that it is urgent to focus on people and not just on nature on World Environment Day.
“The human person is in danger, this is certain, the human person is in danger today, here is the urgency of human ecology!” exclaimed Pope Francis June 5 during his general audience.
“We are called not only to respect the natural environment, but also to show respect for, and solidarity with, all the members of our human family,” he told the estimated 70,000 pilgrims who gathered in Saint Peter’s Square.
Pope Francis told the crowd that people are often driven by the pride of dominating things, having possessions, and manipulation and exploitation.
“We do not care for it, we do not respect it, we do not consider it as a free gift that we must care for,” he affirmed.
“We are losing the attitude of wonder, contemplation, listening to creation,” the Pope said.
In the Pope’s assessment, the world is not only suffering from an economic management crisis, but also a lack of “concern for human resources.”
Not enough people think about “the needs of our brothers and sisters living in extreme poverty, and especially for the many children in our world lacking adequate education, health care and nutrition,” he said.
“Consumerism and a culture of waste have led some of us to tolerate the waste of precious resources, including food, while others are literally wasting away from hunger,” he warned.
“I ask all of you to reflect on this grave ethical problem in a spirit of solidarity grounded in our common responsibility for the earth and for all our brothers and sisters in the human family,” the Pope said.
The pontiff called on people to reflect on “our responsibility to cultivate and care for the earth in accordance with God’s command.”
But Pope Francis a step beyond how people normally think of cultivating and caring for man and creation, saying, “it also involves human relationships.”
In that area, he warned, “Man is not in charge today, money is in charge, money rules.”
Pope Francis said the verb cultivate reminds him of the care a farmer gives to his land so that it bears fruit.
“How much attention, passion and dedication!” he exclaimed.
The mission of cultivating and caring for creation is part of God’s plan and an indication given to everyone at the beginning of history and now.
“It means nurturing the world with responsibility and transforming it into a garden, a habitable place for everyone,” the Pope said.
He then reminded people of the Bible passage, which he spoke about on the feast of Corpus Christi, in which Jesus performed the miracle of multiplying five loaves of bread and two fishes.
“The conclusion of the piece is important,” said Pope Francis.
“They all ate and were satisfied and when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled 12 wicker baskets,” he recalled.
According to the Pope, Jesus asks his disciples not to throw anything away.
There were 12 baskets, the number of the tribes of Israel, which symbolically represent all people.
“This tells us that when food is shared in a fair way, with solidarity, when no one is deprived, every community can meet the needs of the poorest,” he said.
“Human ecology and environmental ecology walk together,” said the pontiff.
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Help Syria, pope says; 'where there is suffering, Christ is present'
05-Jun-2013:
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Pope says 'throwaway culture' harms environment and human life
05-Jun-2013:
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Pope to Syrian Christians: you have 'great task' of remaining
05-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 5, 2013 / 05:49 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis vigorously appealed for peace in Syria and told the Christians there that they have “the great task” of remaining in their homeland despite the ongoing war.
“These (communities) have the great task of continuing to offer a Christian presence in the place where they were born and it is our task to ensure that this witness remains there,” he said June 5.
“The participation of the entire Christian community in this important work of assistance and aid is imperative at this time,” he added during the meeting with Catholic aid agencies in the hall of Saint Martha’s House.
The pontiff made his comments at a June 5 gathering organized by the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum” for Catholic charities engaged in helping Syrian refugees within their own country, as well as in neighboring ones.
“Faced with the continuing violence and abuse, I strongly renew my appeal for peace,” he told them.
“I ask you to encourage humanitarian aid to refugees and displaced Syrians, aiming first at the good of the person and the protection of his dignity,” he stated.
Pope Francis noted that in “recent weeks, the international community has reaffirmed its intention to take concrete steps to begin a fruitful dialogue with the aim of putting an end to the war.”
These are “attempts that should be supported and which will hopefully lead to peace,” he said.
The pontiff also reminded Cor Unum members that the Church “feels called to give testimony to the humble” and that it must do so with “concrete and effective charity.”
“We cannot hold back, precisely from those situations where the pain is greatest!” he exclaimed.
“Your presence in the coordination meeting shows the will to continue with loyalty the valuable work of humanitarian assistance in Syria and in neighboring countries that generously accommodate those fleeing war,” the Pope said.
The charities’ work, he said, is “timely and coordinated” and an “expression of that communion which is itself a testimony as suggested by the recent Synod on the Middle East.”
“The work of Catholic Charities agencies to help the Syrian people, beyond ethnic or religious affiliations, is extremely significant for the Holy See,” said the pontiff.
“It is the most direct way to make a contribution to peace and the building up of a society open to all the different components,” he stated.
The Pope then gave them his apostolic blessing, emphasizing that it extends in particular to “the dear faithful who live in Syria and all those Syrians who are currently forced to leave their homes because of the war.”
“You here present are the instrument to tell the dear people of Syria and the Middle East that the Pope accompanies them and is close to them,” he said.
“The Church does not abandon them!” he insisted.
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Prelates remind G-8 leaders to protect poor, help developing countries
05-Jun-2013:
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Church to beatify father of seven who saved 100 lives
04-Jun-2013:
Rome, Italy, Jun 4, 2013 / 01:20 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Odoardo Focherini will be beatified in the Italian city of Carpi on June 15 for his life of faith and dedication to helping those in need, including 100 Jews he helped escape the Nazis.
“One of the Jews whom he saved said, ‘we are the miracles of Odoardo Focherini,’ and they saw his as their savior and angel,” said Focherini’s grandson, Francesco Manicardi.
“His neighbors weren’t just Jews, but also his family, of which there are now 21 great grandsons,” he added during a June 4 Vatican Radio press conference.
Focherini, an Italian journalist and father of seven children, died at 37-years-old in the Hersbrueck Nazi concentration camp in 1944, after a wound in his leg became infected.
On Saturday, June 15, he will also be beatified, the step before being recognized as a saint, for having managed his work and family life as an exemplary Catholic.
Focherini married his beloved wife Maria Marchesi in 1930, and by 1943 they had seven children.
During those years, Focherini helped organize important diocesan events, such as Eucharistic congresses, and in 1939 he became the managing director of L’Avvenire d’Italia, a Catholic newspaper.
He first started helping Jews flee the Nazi persecution in 1942, but his large-scale effort did not begin until Sept. 8, 1943, when he asked his wife’s permission to help provide false identity cards so that the Jewish refugees could cross the Italian-Swiss border.
Bishop Francesco Cavina of Carpi, who also attended today’s press conference, underlined that the beatification “isn’t a fruit of speculation.”
According to the bishop, Focherini showed “no separation between his spiritual and family life.”
“He is a complete man because work, family, apostolate in the Church have been his path to beatification,” he stated.
“He let himself be transformed by Jesus Christ until he, like him, died,” he said.
The postulator of his cause, Franciscan Father Giovangiuseppe Califano, reported that extensive studies clearly showed that his persecutors acted “in odium fidei,” or “in hatred of the faith.”
“The proofs are those (things) he himself revealed (in his writings): that there was an anti-Catholic tone by his interrogators in his first interrogation,” said the Franciscan.
“There was an intention to suppress a Catholic activist,” said Fr. Califano.
According to the postulator, Focherini never uttered “a word of hatred against his persecutors.”
“We can attribute to him, not only the crown of faith, but also the crown of charity,” Fr. Califano said.
He will be beatified in a Mass held at 9:30 a.m. on June 15 in Carpi. Organizers are expecting 4,000 people and around 20 bishops to attend the ceremony.
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Pope Francis recognizes martyrdom of 95 victims of Spanish Civil War
04-Jun-2013:
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Truth must be spoken with love, pope says
04-Jun-2013:
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Pope: Christian speech is genuine, not self-serving
04-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 4, 2013 / 07:06 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Instead of sugar-coated words and flattery, when Christians speak they should offer the truth with love, without seeking to serve their own interests, Pope Francis said.
“Let us think closely today: What is our language? Do we speak in truth, with love, or do we speak with that social language to be polite, even say nice things, which we do not feel?” the Pope asked during his June 4 homily in Saint Martha’s House.
Those who are corrupt, he added, “are trying to weaken us with this language” by playing off a “certain inner weakness,” stimulated by “vanity” that enjoys hearing people say good things about us.
The Holy Father’s remarks were spurred by today’s reading from Mark 12, in which a group of Pharisees and Herodians tried to trap Jesus by asking him if Jews should pay taxes to Caesar.
These men approached Jesus “with soft words, with beautiful words, with overly sweet words. They try to show themselves his friends,” the Pope said.
However, all of their posturing is false because “they do not love the truth” but only themselves, Pope Francis stated. This results in the Pharisees trying to deceive Jesus about the reason for their questions.
“Hypocrisy is the very language of corruption. And when Jesus speaks to his disciples, he says: ‘let your language be, Yes, yes! No, no.’”
The Pope then stressed that truth is always accompanied by love.
“There is no truth without love. Love is the first truth. If there is no love, there is no truth. They want a truth enslaved to their interests. There is a love, of sorts: it is love of self, love for oneself. That narcissist idolatry that leads them to betray others, that leads them to the abuse of trust,” he told the congregation.
He highlighted that betrayal by noting that with Jesus, those who “seem so amiable in their language, are the same people who will go to fetch him on Thursday evening in the Garden of Olives, and will bring him to Pilate on Friday.”
Jesus’ command to speak truth with love stands in stark relief to this way of acting, the Pope said, as he described how it is the “language of the simple, the language of a child, the language of the children of God … .”
“And the meekness that Jesus wants us to have, has nothing, has nothing of this adulation, this sickly sweet way of going on. Nothing! Meekness is simple, it is like that of a child. And a child is not hypocritical, because it is not corrupt. When Jesus says to us: ‘Let your speech be, Yes is yes! No, is no! ‘with the soul of a child,’ he means the exact opposite to the speech of these (hypocrites).”
The morning Mass was concelebrated by the Armenian Catholic Patriarch, Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, Bishop Vianney Fernando of Kandy in Sri Lanka, and Msgr. Jean Luis Brugues of the Vatican Library.
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Obey God to build peace, Pope tells John XXIII devotees
04-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 4, 2013 / 05:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Imitate Blessed John XXIII by growing in obedience to God and self-mastery to achieve peace, Pope Francis urged as he observed the 50th anniversary of his predecessor’s death.
“If peace was the outward hallmark (of Pope John), obedience constituted his inner disposition,” he said at Saint Peter’s Basilica on June 3.
“Obedience, in fact, was the instrument with which to achieve peace,” he told pilgrims from the Diocese of Bergamo, where John XXIII served before being chosen as pontiff.
The current shepherd of the diocese, Bishop Francesco Beschi, accompanied pilgrims from the northern Italian city, located 24 miles outside of Milan, to join Pope Francis in commemorating the anniversary.
After celebrating Mass with Bishop Beschi in St. Peter’s, the faithful were addressed by Pope Francis, who had just spent a few moments in prayer at the tomb of his predecessor.
The Pope underscored that John XXIII’s obedience led him to live “a more profound faithfulness, which could be called, as he would say, abandonment to Divine Providence.”
Peace as his most “obvious aspect,” Pope Francis underscored.
“Angelo Roncalli was a man who was able to communicate peace, a natural, serene, friendly, peace,” he said of John XXIII.
“A peace that, with his election to the pontificate, was manifested to all the world and came to be called ‘his goodness,’” he noted.
According to Pope Francis, that characteristic was “undoubtedly a hallmark of his personality, which enabled him to build strong friendships everywhere.”
The bishop from Bergamo reigned as Pope for nearly three decades, and Francis noted how he was often in contact with people “far removed from that Catholic universe in which he was born and formed.”
“It was in those environments that he proved an effective weaver of relationships and a good promoter of unity, inside and outside the Church community, open to dialogue with Christians of other Churches, with members of the Jewish and Muslim traditions,” he said.
The pontiff noted he conveyed peace because he had “a mind deeply at peace, the fruit of a long and challenging work on himself.”
“There we can see the seminarian, the priest, the bishop Roncalli struggling with the path to the gradual purification of the heart,” the Pope said.
“We see him, day by day, careful to recognize and mortify the desires that come from his own selfishness, careful to discern the inspirations of the Lord,” he remarked.
Pope Francis believes that his writings show “a soul taking shape, under the action of the Holy Spirit working in his Church.”
He affirmed that his “prophetic intuition of convoking the Second Vatican Council and the offering of his life for its success, remain as milestones in the history of the Church of the 20th century and as a beacon of light for the journey that lies ahead.”
Pope Francis exhorted the faithful from Bergamo to “keep his spirit, continue to deepen the study of his life and his writings, but above all, imitate his holiness.”
“May he obtain for (the Church) from the Lord the gift of many holy priests, vocations to religious and missionary life, as well as to family life and lay commitment (to service) in the Church and in the world,” he added.
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Pope John XXIII's life shows faith leads to interior peace, pope says
04-Jun-2013:
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Scouts' policy change said to be 'not in conflict' with church teaching
04-Jun-2013:
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Pope prays that Christians avoid 'road of corruption'
04-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 3, 2013 / 04:04 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis on Monday warned about corrupt Christians who think they are “strong” and “independent of God,” emphasizing that Catholics should instead take saints as their models.
“How bad are the corrupt in the Christian community! May the Lord deliver us from sliding down this road of corruption,” the Pope said in his June 3 homily during Mass at the Casa Santa Marta residence in Vatican City.
Attendees at the Mass included priests and collaborators of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Cardinal Angelo Amato, who heads the congregation, concelebrated the Mass.
Pope Francis distinguished between saints, sinners and “corrupt persons” in a reflection on the Gospel parable of the wicked tenants in the vineyard. The tenants beat the vineyard owner’s servants who sought to collect rent and ended up killing the owner’s son.
These tenants “slipped on that autonomy, that independence in their relationship with God,” adopting the attitude that “We don’t need that Master,” and he shouldn’t come and disturb us, the Holy Father said.
“These are the corrupt! These were sinners like all of us, but they have taken a step beyond that, as if they were confirmed in their sin: they don’t need God!” he added.
But this is a false illusion, he continued, “for in their genetic code there is this relationship with God. And since they can’t deny this, they make a special god: they themselves are god.”
The Pope said Christians should be mindful of this temptation, warning “this is a danger for us, too.”
He criticized groups in Christian communities that think only of their own group and are “only out for themselves.”
He said that Judas was one of these, a “greedy sinner” who “ended in corruption.”
“The road of autonomy is a dangerous road: the corrupt are very forgetful, have forgotten this love, with which the Lord made the vineyard, has made them! They severed the relationship with this love! And they become worshipers of themselves.”
By contrast, he said, the saints are those who “collect the rent” at the vineyard despite the threats to them.
“They know what is expected of them,” he said, and they “do their duty.”
“The saints are those who obey the Lord, those who worship the Lord, those who have not lost the memory of the love with which the Lord has made the vineyard,” Pope Francis explained, adding that the saints do “much good” for the Church.
He noted that St. John said the corrupt are “the antichrist” and that they are “among us, but they are not of us.” By contrast, Scripture says the saints are “like light” and will be “before the throne of God in adoration.”
The Pope prayed that God would grant Christians the grace to “walk in the paths of holiness” as they seek sanctity in their own lives.
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Pope ends Marian month meeting children with cancer, praying rosary
03-Jun-2013:
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Pope's Sunday focuses on need for peace, gift of Eucharist
03-Jun-2013:
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Pope unites Church with global Holy Hour
03-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 3, 2013 / 09:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis united churches from all world dioceses today when he presided Eucharistic Adoration in Rome to mark the feast day of Corpus Christi.
He led the prayer, which consists of adoring the body of Christ, for worldwide Catholics who gathered in churches and cathedrals.
The pontiff presided the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ in front of thousands of people inside Saint Peter’s Basilica from 5 to 6 p.m. Rome time.
“In the feast of Corpus Christi we are called to worship the Lord, to adore the Lord in the presence of the Eucharist,” Father Charles Rochas told Vatican Radio June 2.
“Being invited by the Pope to adore the Blessed Sacrament is a strong and powerful way for all of us to stay focused on the center of our faith, the essential part of the Christian Faith, meeting the Lord himself,” said the priest who belongs to the diocese of Lyons, France.
He noted being a Christian “is all about being a friend of Jesus, and being a friend of Jesus is, all about staying with Him, and looking at Him and also being looked at by Jesus and being loved by Jesus himself.”
The idea for churches to be united worldwide in prayer today is linked to the Year of Faith with the theme “One Lord, one faith.”
Archbishop Rino Fisichella, who leads the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, announced May 28 that there were two intentions for the Holy Hour.
The first was for the “Church throughout the world united today in Adoration of the Most Holy Eucharist,” that the Lord makes her ever obedient to his word so that she appears before the world as “beautiful, without spot or wrinkle, holy and without blemish.”
The second intention was dedicated to people around the world who are suffering from violence, drug or human trafficking, economic insecurity, and those who have been pushed to the margins of society.
The New Evangelization council had received responses from hundreds of dioceses worldwide, including all of those in Vietnam and South Korea.
The list is a virtual tour of the globe, stretching from Reykjavik, Iceland in the north, to dioceses in South Africa, Chile and New Zealand in the south.
Christ was also adored in the Eucharist in the Cook Islands, Samoa, Honolulu, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Guam.
Other countries with a large number of parishes or dioceses that participated were: the United States with 243, India with 163, Brazil with 56, and Italy with 50.
While Pope Francis prayed in Italian and Latin, the local Holy Hours were conducted in the local language.
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Faith requires sharing, Pope teaches
02-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 2, 2013 / 09:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The multiplication of the loaves and fish highlights our need to share our faith with others as part of a conversion to a deeper unity with Christ, Pope Francis says.
“The feast of Corpus Christi asks us to convert to faith in Providence, to share the little that we are and that we have, and to not ever close ourselves in,” said Pope Francis June 2.
During his Sunday Angelus address on the Feast of Corpus Christi, which celebrates the Institution of the Eucharist, Pope Francis reflected on Jesus' multiplication of the fish and loaves found in Luke 9.
Something that “always strikes me and makes me think,” the Holy Father said of the Gospel passage, is the way that Jesus involves his disciples in the process of feeding the multitudes.
When the crowds who had followed Jesus to the Sea of Galilee became hungry, he says to his disciples “'you give them something to eat,'” the Pope said.
“The disciples are baffled and they said, 'We have only five loaves and two fish' as if to say just enough for us,” he added.
The pontiff explained that Jesus “knows what to do” but wants to involve his disciples and wants to educate them.
According to him, the disciples seek a “realistic solution” by wanting to send them away to find their own food.
“Jesus' attitude is distinctly different, and is dictated by the union with the Father and compassion for the people, but also by the desire to give a message to the disciples,” the Pope said.
“With those five loaves, Jesus thinks 'here is providence!' and from this little God can satisfy everyone's needs,” he remarked.
The pontiff noted “Jesus totally trusts the heavenly Father and knows that in him all things are possible.”
He stated that when Jesus asked his disciples to sit in groups of fifty, this was“not accidental”and that it meant they “become a community” and no longer simply a crowd.
Pope Francis explained that then Jesus took the loaves and fishes and raised his eyes to heaven adding that this “is a clear reference to the Eucharist.”
“He begins to give it to the disciples, and the disciples distribute the bread and fish and do not stop!” he exclaimed.
“Here's the miracle, that it is more a sharing than a multiplying, animated from faith and prayer,”said the Pope.
He underscored that it “is the sign of Jesus, the bread of God for humanity.”
Pope Francis also took time to pray for the victims of the conflict in Syria, especially the civilians and the victims of kidnappings.
“My concern is always alive and suffering at the persistence of the conflict which for more than two years inflames Syria and affects especially the civilian population, who aspires to peace in justice and understanding.”
“This troubled war situation brings with it tragic consequences: death, destruction, massive economic and environmental damage, as well as the scourge of kidnapping,” he said.
He assured those kidnapped and their families of his prayers and sympathy and asked their captors to have “humanity” and to release the victims.
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Vatican conference to reveal harm of prescription drugs for children
01-Jun-2013:
Vatican City, Jun 1, 2013 / 11:27 am (CNA/EWTN News).- An upcoming conference at the Vatican will examine the harmful effects of using prescription drugs rather than therapy to treat emotional disorders and mental illnesses in children and expectant mothers.
“We want this conference to show a scholarly perspective and then we also want to disseminate our information to a wider audience with the Vatican’s help,” a psychologist who has helped organize the conference, Barry Duncan, told CNA May 31.
An event six years in the making, “The Child as a Person and as a Patient: Therapeutic Approaches Compared,” will take place June 14 to 15 in St. Pius X Hall and will feature several psychiatrists and psychologists, a social worker, family therapist and an investigative journalist.
The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers has organized the conference in hopes of bringing together professionals to discuss the harmful consequences of overusing prescription drugs for treating mental and emotional disorders in children as well as how a similar trend is hurting pregnant mothers.
“Pharmaceutical industries spend millions and millions of dollars on misinformation and we want to counteract that with this conference,” Duncan said.
According to Duncan, misinformed physicians are now frequently recommending children to take one of two main groups of drugs, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, better known as SSRIs, and anti-psychotics.
“SSRIs double the risk of suicide for children while anti-psychotics cause cardiovascular problems, obesity and diabetes,” said Duncan.
He said prescriptions for psychiatric drugs have increased by 274 percent globally in over 50 countries since 2003. In the United States alone, 11 million SSRIs are being given to children each year, he added.
“Anti-psychotics used to be reserved for adults with serious mental disorders but now they’re being given to children who are poor because it is the easier option,” he added.
The conference hopes to prove that “psychosocial options” are better than “psychotropic care.” In other words, a sort of psychotherapy is safer than drugs, which are the cheaper and faster option.
“The cause of their problems varies a lot since they could have parents with alcohol or drug addictions or it could just stem from poverty issues so the causes to their behavior could be wide ranging,” he said.
According to the psychologist, the people giving these children drugs are not treating the root of their problems and are just “sedating and controlling” them to make the unruly children more “manageable.”
“That’s why we need to take the time to find out the problem looking at poverty and despair and not just a quick fix,” he added.
Duncan explained that this is mostly affecting children aged 6 to 17, but younger children are also being unnecessarily drugged, even by health care workers who are not doctors and are therefore not aware of the severe side effects of the medication.
“Nurses and psychologists can prescribe them with these drugs in some states in the U.S., but it is mostly primary care physicians prescribing them and they do not know much about clinical trial results,” he stated. “One of the problems is that epidemiological research is always two or three years behind.”
Experts taking part in the conference also hope to show that the risks heavily outweigh the benefits of the drugs.
“Honest science recommends no first usage of psychiatric drugs and to try everything else first because there is good sound data to prove this,” said Marcia Barbacki, an occupational therapist who has experience treating children told CNA May 30.
Barbacki said patients are not well informed of all of the side effects because “it is hard to access all of the data.”
“If it is very difficult for doctors to obtain all of the data and be informed of all of the side effects, how will family and patients be informed?” she asked. “This is why this conference is so important for them.”
The therapist noted people “should have all of the information about these drugs so they can have informed consent.”
“I have witnessed an increased usage of psychiatric drugs as well as people who consume more than one psychiatric drug simultaneously and it’s increased my concern,”she said.
The president of the Council, Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, will make the opening speech.
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Keeping up with Francis: The nuances of Vatican communications
01-Jun-2013:
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For Jesuit, Syrian war is professional challenge, personal heartache
31-May-2013:
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State legislators organizing to respond to religious freedom challenges
31-May-2013:
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Pope closes Mary's month reflecting on her spiritual attitude
31-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 31, 2013 / 01:10 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- After a Rosary in St. Peter’s Square to mark the end of May, Pope Francis asked people to “listen, decide, and take action” like Mary did.
“Listen to everyday reality, to people, to the facts because the Lord is at our door and knocks in many ways, he places signs in our path; he give us the ability to see them,” the Pope said in front of thousands of pilgrims, following the 8:00 p.m. Rosary.
He spoke about the Gospel reading for May 31 that recounted Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist.
Cardinal Angelo Comastri, the Vatican City State’s vicar general and Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, led the Rosary at 8:00 p.m.
During the celebration, the statue of the Virgin was carried in procession around the different parts of St. Peter’s Square.
Pope Francis said Mary’s attitude can be summed up as listening, deciding and acting, and it indicates a road for us “in front of what the Lord asks of us in life.”
He explained that listening relates to “attention, acceptance, and openness to God” and not “the careless way in which sometimes we put ourselves in front of the Lord or others.”
Mary’s decisiveness, the Pope taught, was present when she refused to be carried away by events.
“In life it is difficult to make decisions, we often tend to postpone them, to let others decide for us,” he said.
“We often prefer to get carried away by events and follow the fashion of the moment,” he added.
The pontiff noted, “sometimes we know what we should do, but we do not have the courage to do it or it seems too difficult because it means going against the current.”
But he believes Mary was decisive, especially on two occasions: when she listened to God and visited Elizabeth despite being pregnant herself and when she relied on her son to “save the joy of the wedding.”
As for the third characteristic of Mary’s attitude, action, Pope Francis explained that one should not hesitate when one knows God’s will, and only meditate if it remains unclear.
“Mary is not in a hurry … she does not get carried away by events, but when it’s clear what God asks of her she does it quickly,” he remarked.
“Sometimes, we also stop listening, stop reflecting on what we should do and perhaps it’s even clear to us the decision we should make, but we do not make the transition to action,” stated the Pope.
Instead, he counseled, we should “move quickly toward others to give them our help, our understanding and our charity.”
“To give them, like Mary, that which we have of most value and have received, Jesus and his Gospel, with the word and especially with the concrete testimony of our actions,” he said.
Pope Francis then invoked Mary’s intercession so that God may “open our ears,” so that he may give us “courage to take decisions,” and so that we “may move quickly toward others in charity.”
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Legion of Christ update presented to Pope Francis
31-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 31, 2013 / 12:04 pm (CNA/Europa Press).- The papal delegate overseeing the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christ met with Pope Francis on Monday to discuss the progress that has been made in reforming the two religious bodies.
During their 45-minute meeting, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis said, he and the Pope discussed the drafting of a new constitution for the Legion of Christ, which will be presented at the order’s General Chapter in early 2014.
They also discussed the general statutes that govern Regnum Christi and its consecrated and lay members. New leaders of both congregations will be elected at the General Chapter.
Cardinal De Paolis described Regnum Christ to the Holy Father as “a precious reality that enriches and complements the work of the Legion.”
The final results of the renewal process will be presented to the Holy Father for his approval, he said.
The meeting comes as part of ongoing reform efforts for the Legion after revelations that its founder, Fr. Marcel Maciel, lived a double life, sexually abused seminarians and fathered children. The Vatican responded by calling for a period of renewal that includes a redefinition of the Legion’s mission and governing structure.
The Legionaries of Christ and the members of Regnum Christi recently announced a period of atonement and prayer in preparation for the General Assemblies that will determine their future, as well as Pope Francis’ expected decision about their spiritual family.
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Vatican bank head says reputation needs more work than operations do
31-May-2013:
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Praising God frees us from sorrow, Pope proclaims
31-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 31, 2013 / 09:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Christians often act like they are “going to a funeral procession rather than to praise God,” Pope Francis declared, urging believers to spend time praising God so they are not slaves to their sorrows.
“You here at Mass,” the Pope said in the chapel of St. Martha’s House, “do you give praise to God or do you only petition God and thank God?
“Do you praise God?” he repeated, pointing out that this “is something new, new in our new spiritual life.”
Anticipating a common excuse for not praising God, he said, “‘this Mass is so long!’”
“If you do not praise God, you will never know the gratuity of spending time praising God, the Mass is long. But if you go with this attitude of joy, of praise to God, that is beautiful! This is what eternity will be: giving praise to God! And that will not be boring; it will be beautiful! This joy makes us free,” Pope Francis said in his May 31 homily.
He based his words on the daily readings, one from the prophet Zephaniah and the other from Luke’s Gospel, which recounted Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeth.
The Old Testament reading contains the exclamation “Rejoice! Cries of joy, the Lord is in your midst,” while the story of Mary’s visit recalls how John the Baptist “rejoices” in Elizabeth’s womb when he hears Mary’s greeting.
Both of the readings speak of joy, “the joy that is celebration,” the Pope said.
But “we Christians are not so accustomed to speak of joy, of happiness. … I think often we prefer to complain,” he stated.
“Without joy,” he added, “we Christians cannot become free, we become slaves to our sorrows. The great Paul VI said that you cannot advance the Gospel with sad, hopeless, discouraged Christians. You cannot.”
Being joyful “comes from praise, Mary’s praise, this praise that Zephaniah speaks of, Simeon and Anna’s praise: this praise of God!” the Pope preached.
Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who is “the author of joy, the Creator of joy,” Pope Francis said that Christians learn to praise and become joyful, which leads to “true Christian freedom.”
He finished his homily by pointing to Mary as the model of “this praise” and “this joy.”
“The Church,” the Pope noted, “calls her the ‘cause of our joy,’ Cause Nostrae Letitiae. Why? Because she brings the greatest joy that is Jesus.”
“We need to pray to Our Lady, so that by bringing Jesus she gives us the grace of joy, the joy of freedom. That it gives us the grace to praise, to praise with a prayer of gratuitous praise, because he is worthy of praise, always.”
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Vatican bank president focusing on image change
31-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 31, 2013 / 08:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The new head of the Vatican’s Institute for Works of Religion, Ernst von Freyberg, says his main goal is to improve the image so that the Pope’s message remains in the spotlight.
“My dream is that our reputation is such that people don’t think of us any more, when they think about the Vatican, but that they listen to what the Pope says,” remarked von Freyberg in an exclusive May 31 interview with Vatican Radio.
The president of the so-called Vatican bank stated that contrary to some eye-catching headlines, the institute remains one of the safest places in the world for people’s money.
“During the financial crisis we were never in trouble,” he recalled.
“No government had to bail us out. We are very, very safe.”
He labeled the outfit as a “well managed, clean financial institution.”
“We can improve on all areas as can everybody else and we are trying to be as good as the comparable institutes are,” admitted von Freyberg, who was appointed to his post on Feb. 15.
The Vatican institute is not technically a bank because it does not carry out certain transactions that are commonly done by banks.
“We do not lend money, we do not make direct investments, we do not act as financial counterparts so you cannot get a swatch or a hedge from us,” he explained.
“We receive money as deposits and we then invest it in government bonds, some corporate bonds and in the inter-banking market where we deposit with other banks, for a slightly higher interest rate than we receive,” he reported.
He noted that this is done in order to be able to “give it back to our customers whenever they want it.”
The institute contributes 55 million euros to the Vatican budget, making it one of its most important economic pillars.
Von Freyberg underscored the institute earns that amount through the interest it pays to those who deposit and then the interest income the institute gains from that.
“That is our most important part of the income and that in any year would be between 50 and 70 million euros, from that you deduct our costs,” he said.
“Then we have some gains on bond prices which move up and down so you arrive at our profit,” he remarked.
According to him, it is an interest margin and “changes in values of bonds we own” from which the operating cost of roughly 25 million euros is deducted.
Another effort he is undertaking to improve the reputation of the institute is working closely with the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority, a watchdog agency that began operating in April 2011to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Von Freyberg’s job also comes with an unusual perk. When he travels from Frankfurt to the Vatican three times a week, he stays in Saint Martha House, the same place where Pope Francis lives.
“A normal day starts in the most extraordinary way because I have the privilege to live in Saint Martha and I am allowed to occasionally attend Mass with the Pope,” he said.
“That itself is a privilege, to be there at seven o’clock in the morning and to listen to his short and always very poignant sermons,” he remarked.
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Pope made apartment choice to avoid isolation
31-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 31, 2013 / 12:27 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis told his friend he lives a normal life as pontiff and that he decided not to move into the Papal Apartments so would not become isolated.
“I let people see me and I live a normal life; (I have) public Mass in the morning, I eat in the dining room with everyone, etc.,” he wrote to his friend Father Enrique Rodriguez in a letter dated May 15.
“This does me good and prevents me from being isolated,” he explained to his friend “Quique.”
Pope Francis also told his friend that he tries “to keep my nature and my way of behaving that I had in Buenos Aires because if I change at my age, I would surely make a fool out of myself.”
And despite all of the changes to his life, the Holy Father said, “I’m well and I haven’t lost peace after a totally surprising event, and I consider this a gift of God.”
According to the Argentinian daily El Clarín, which published the message on May 28 in Spanish, Fr. Rodriguez gave an interview on radio La Red La Rioja saying he received the letter without a return address.
“That called my attention and I immediately opened it, which gave me a nice surprise that it was the Pope’s response, whom I knew from a long time ago,” he said.
Fr. Rodriguez received the letter just before saying Mass and decided to read it at the end of the Eucharistic celebration, according to El Clarín.
“It made the community happy, so much that the congregation clapped after I finished reading it,” he said.
Pope Francis told his friend that his May 1 letter that he was responding to “brought him a lot of joy” and that Fr. Rodriguez’s description of a national feast day gave him “fresh air.”
Pope Francis also explained that he did not want to live in the Papal Apartments because it would isolate him and that he only goes there to work and for audiences.
“I stayed to live in Saint Martha House, which is a guest house (where we stayed during the conclave) for bishops, priests and lay people,” he wrote.
“I ask you, please, to pray for me and to ask others to pray for me,” he stated.
Pope Francis also offered his “greetings to Carlos and Miguel.”
“May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin take care of you,” he said. “Fraternally, Francisco.”
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Study documents abortion's global health threat to women
31-May-2013:
Geneva, Switzerland, May 31, 2013 / 12:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A new study released during the 66th annual World Health Assembly identified and exposed what it claimed to be the harmful and often overlooked impact that abortion has on women's health.
Decades-long research analysis issued by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life Global Outreach and National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund makes the case that rather than being a routine medical procedure, abortion is detrimental to the health of women globally.
“The evidence is overwhelming: abortion is dangerous for women,” executive director Scott Fischbach of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life Global Outreach said in a May 22 statement.
The analysis “How Abortion Hurts Women” released during the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, examined the harmful side effects of abortion that are often overlooked or even “exacerbated” when performed in developing nations.
“Abortion is by its very nature a violent and damaging procedure,” Fischbach said.
The study shows that women who have undergone abortions – both surgical and non-surgical – in are at greater risk of breast cancer, pre-term birth, infertility and psychological problems than those who have not had abortions.
These risks are increased in areas where the quality of maternal healthcare is lacking, the report shows.
“The incidence of maternal mortality is mainly determined by the quality of maternal health care. Legalization does not improve outcomes, but only increases the number of women subjected to the risks of abortion,” Jeanne Head, R.N., National Right to Life vice-president for international affairs and U.N. representative said in the statement.
Rather than promoting the legalization of abortion worldwide, the group suggested that the World Health Organization adopt measures that “protect women from abortion” while at the same time working to “improve women’s health care.”
The release of the analysis came just before the May 27 close of the World Health Assembly where a resolution passed which placed contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs in the category of “life-saving commodities for women and children,” along with antibiotics and oral rehydration salts.
In the resolution, Member States of the World Health Organization are urged to “improve the quality, supply and use” of said “life-saving commodities” as well as “develop plans to increase demand and facilitate universal access.”
The resolution focused upon the promotion of female condoms, contraceptive implants and emergency contraception. These methods rank among the least popular modern artificial modes of preventing pregnancy, according to a 2009 study by the United Nations.
Implanted contraceptives are a long-acting hormonal device injected under the woman’s skin, halting the woman’s natural cycle of ovulation for up to three years. It must be inserted and removed by a doctor.
Emergency contraceptives have generated controversy for their potential to induce early abortions. While all forms can prevent ovulation, it is not known if these drugs can prevent the embryo from taking root in the mother implanting in the mother’s uterus.
Additionally, certain types of emergency contraception, specifically the drug ulipristal, is nearly chemically identical to the drug used for medical abortions, mifopristal, and is labeled as toxic to fetuses.
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Eucharist nourishes, sustains and should transform people, pope says
31-May-2013:
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Man prayed over by Pope says he suffered from demons
31-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 30, 2013 / 04:12 pm (CNA).- A 43-year-old Mexican man whom Pope Francis prayed over in St. Peter’s Square on Pentecost Sunday said that he had suffered from demonic possession for more than a decade.
Father Gabriele Amorth, the famous exorcist of the Diocese of Rome, told CNA on May 22 that Angel had received a “prayer of deliverance” from the Pope, who laid hands on him and prayed after Mass on May 19.
In an interview published by the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, the man, identified as Angel, recalled that his problems began one day in 1999 as he returned from Mexico City to his hometown in Michoacan by bus.
“I felt an energy enter the bus. I did not see it with my eyes but I felt it,” he said. “I noticed that it approached me and stood in front of me. And suddenly, I felt like a knife stabbed me in the chest and then, little by little, I had the sensation that it was opening my ribs.”
Initially, Angel thought it was a heart attack, but he did not die. However his health worsened, because he vomited everything he ate.
“I felt punctures all over my body, as if it were full of needles,” he said. “Even the sheets hurt me. I started losing the ability to walk.”
Soon, he said that he began falling into trances, uttering blasphemies and speaking in unknown languages, with doctors who attended him unable to explain what was wrong.
Angel’s health became so poor that he received last rites on four different occasions. The anointing brought an improvement to his health, so he started praying with a particular devotion to the Divine Mercy.
In 2004, he attended a lecture in the Mexican city of Morelia by a Ukrainian priest who explained his case.
“I told him what was happening to me, how bad I felt. He touched a relic of Padre Pio to my chest and I saw a special light that surrounded me,” he recalled.
“I felt a great peace. But at the same time, I noticed something that began to scratch inside me. That something knocked me down and started to manifest itself. I couldn’t do anything, that presence was stronger than me and it overpowered me.”
That day, Angel said, it was clear that he was possessed, and this knowledge made him feel fearful and “very dirty.”
“My family reacted at first with disbelief and, in fact, between my siblings there are some who are still skeptics and who believe that what I have is the result of a psychological imbalance,” he stated.
Initially, a priest in Mexico City performed four or five exorcisms on Angel. During one of them, the priest “asked the demon how he had entered into me and it said it was because of a curse that someone put on me.”
Angel’s health continued to deteriorate despite several exorcisms. He became unable to work and had to close his advertising company. He was forced to sell his house in order to support his wife and two children.
However, he recently had a dream in which he saw Pope Francis “dressed in red and praying with an incense burner in his hand and surrounded by bishops and cardinals.”
He said that he initially didn’t give it much thought, but when he woke up, he turned on the television and saw “a Mass with the Pope dressed in red and with incense burning in his hand, surrounded by bishops and cardinals.”
“And a thought came to my mind: Do I have to go to Rome?” he said.
Although Angel was hesitant to travel because he was so sick, he eventually decided to make the trip to Rome with a priest that he knew.
He had been reading the book “The Last Exorcist,” by Fr. Amorth, “which states that both Benedict XVI and John Paul II had performed exorcisms and prayers of delivery over the possessed.”
Fr. Amorth witnessed the Pope’s prayer over Angel and said the next day, “there is no doubt that he is possessed.”
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Spiritual generosity is form of solidarity, Pope states
30-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 30, 2013 / 12:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis says that even though solidarity is an idea “frowned down upon by the world,” people need to practice it by spiritually feeding others.
“A keyword that we need not fear is ‘solidarity,’ that is, knowing how to make available to God what we have, our humble capacity, because only in the gift of sharing our lives will we be fruitful,” he said during his homily May 30 at Rome’s Basilica of Saint John Lateran.
“The solution of Jesus goes in another direction, a direction that surprises the disciples – ‘you give them something to eat,’” he stated.
The Pope based his homily on this year’s Gospel reading from Luke 9, which tells how Jesus multiplied five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000 people in the wilderness.
“Jesus speaks in silence in the mystery of the Eucharist and each time reminds us that following him means to come out of ourselves and not make our life our possession, but a gift to him and to others,” he told the congregation.
“This evening we are the crowd of the Gospel, we also strive to follow Jesus to listen to him, to enter into communion with him in the Eucharist, to accompany him and find why he accompanies us,” said Pope Francis.
The feast of Corpus Christi, which celebrates the gift of the Body and Blood of Christ, is celebrated on May 30 in Rome, but some countries have moved the feast to the following Sunday.
Pope Francis, who is the Bishop of Rome, celebrated the Mass in St. John Lateran because it is the cathedral of the diocese.
He underscored in his reflection that the Eucharist is “real food that sustains our life even at times when the going gets tough and when the obstacles slow down our steps.”
“Let us ask ourselves, ‘how do I follow Jesus?’” he said.
The Mass reading recalls how the 12 disciples asked Jesus to send the people away to find lodging and food, since they were in a deserted place and only had five loaves of bread and two fish.
“In the Gospel we have just heard, there is an expression of Jesus that always strikes me, ‘you give them something to eat,’” Pope Francis remarked, referring to how Jesus responded to his disciples.
“From this sentence, I let myself be guided by three words, discipleship, fellowship and sharing,” he explained.
The pontiff noted “the invitation that Jesus makes to his disciples to feed the multitude themselves is based on two elements.”
“First, the crowd who followed Jesus, is in an open space, away from inhabited areas, while evening comes,” he pointed out.
Jesus’ response is also rooted in “the concern of the disciples who ask Jesus to send the crowd away to go into neighboring countries to find food and lodging,” he said.
According to the Pope, “everyone thinks about himself” and dismisses others.
“How many times do we, Christians, have this temptation!” he exclaimed.
“We do not care for the needs of others, dismissing them with a pitiful ‘God help you,’” he said.
But Jesus, on the other hand, was not discouraged and asked the disciples to seat people in groups of 50 people, the Pope underlined.
He labeled the moment when Jesus raised his eyes to heaven, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave it to the disciples to distribute as “a moment of deep communion.”
“The crowd, quenched by the word of the Lord, is now nourished by the bread of his life and they were all satisfied,” he stated.
“The Lord in the Eucharist makes us follow his path, that of service, of sharing, of giving, and what little we have, what little we are, becomes wealth if shared, because the power of God, which is that of love, comes down upon our poverty to transform it,” the Pope preached.
After the evening Mass, Pope Francis will lead a procession with the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of Rome to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, a distance of about one mile.
Parishes, confraternities and other groups of faithful will take part in the procession, which was revived during the pontificate of Blessed John Paul II.
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Shelters along Mexican border strained by migrants returning from U.S.
30-May-2013:
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Vatican explains availability of Pope's daily homilies
30-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 30, 2013 / 09:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican is not publishing the full text of the Pope’s daily homilies because it wants to avoid giving them a level of authority that is not intended.
“We must insist on the fact that, in all of the Pope’s activities, the difference between different situations and celebrations, as well as the different levels of authority of his words, must be understood and respected,” Vatican press office director Father Federico Lombardi said May 30.
He explained that while the full text of Pope Francis’ public events is made available, the daily homilies are only summarized because of “the character of the situation, and the spontaneity and familiarity of the Pope’s remarks.”
Pope Francis, he added, wants to retain the familiar atmosphere that characterizes the daily Mass, which is typically attended by a small number of the faithful. “For that reason,” Fr. Lombardi said, the Pope has specifically requested that the live video and audio not be broadcast.
Another contributing factor to the decision is the fact that the pontiff is not a native Italian speaker, the press director said.
The demand from the public for the full version of the Pope’s daily homilies in the chapel of Saint Martha’s House has been high.
So, in order to respect both the circumstances and the requests from the public, the Vatican decided to have its news outlets attend and summarize the essentials of the homily.
After “careful consideration,” Fr. Lombardi said in his May 30 statement, “it seems the best way to make the richness of the Pope’s homilies accessible to a wide audience, without altering the nature of his remarks, is to publish a detailed summary, rich in direct quotations that reflect the genuine flavor of the Pope’s expressions.”
“L’Osservatore Romano undertakes this responsibility every day. Vatican Radio, on account of the nature of the medium, offers a shorter synthesis, including some of the original sound, while CTV offers a video clip corresponding to one of the audio inserts published by Vatican Radio,” he explained.
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Saying kids suffer most, Vatican reiterates call to end Syrian violence
30-May-2013:
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Ancient art form of iconography called 'Scripture in paint'
30-May-2013:
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Holy See decries intolerance 'in the name of tolerance'
30-May-2013:
Washington D.C., May 29, 2013 / 05:48 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A statement from the Holy See warned that prejudice against Christianity is growing in Europe, often under the guise of “tolerance.”
“Intolerance in the name of ‘tolerance’ must be named for what it is and publicly condemned,” said Bishop Mario Toso, SDB. “To deny religiously informed moral argument a place in the public square is intolerant and anti-democratic.”
“Or to put it another way, where there might be a clash of rights, religious freedom must never be regarded as inferior,” he explained.
Bishop Toso delivered a Statement of the Holy See at the High Level Conference on Tolerance and Non-discrimination held in Albania on May 21-22. The gathering was convened under the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
The bishop charged that in Europe, there is “a sharp dividing line has been drawn between religious belief and religious practice.”
Because of this distinction, he said, Christians are told “that they can believe whatever they like in their own homes or heads, and largely worship as they wish in their own private churches, but they simply cannot act on those beliefs in public.”
“This is a deliberate twisting and limiting of what religious freedom actually means, and it is not the freedom that was enshrined in international documents,” he stated.
Bishop Toso pointed to severe restrictions on Christian speech and conscience that “can become the grounds of a criminal complaint, or at least intolerance, in many European countries.” He also noted an increase in vandalism and acts of violence against Christians and Christian institutions.
The bishop warned that discrimination against Christians is as great a threat to society as anti-Semitism and Islamaphobia.
He called it “remarkable” that in the 21st Century, Christians are faced with having to “abandon their faith and act against their conscience, or resist and face losing their livelihood.”
On behalf of the Holy See, he asked that the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe work to “guarantee that intolerance and discrimination against Christians is ended.”
Bishop Toso called for the promotion of authentic religious freedom, stressing that the “right to believe in God and to practice that belief is a fundamental human right.”
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Legion of Christ, Regnum Christi begin stage of prayer and penance
30-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 29, 2013 / 04:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Legionaries of Christ and the members of Regnum Christi will enter a period of atonement and prayer in preparation for upcoming events that will determine the future of their spiritual family.
The announcement was made in a May 28 letter signed by Fr. Sylvester Heereman, the Vicar General and acting Director General of the Legion, along with Gloria Rodríguez and Jorge López; directors of the female and male branches respectively of the consecrated members of Regnum Christi.
“It is a great joy to be able to send you this letter as the feast of the Sacred Heart approaches – a celebration of one of the pillars of our spirituality,” the letter explained. “What is the meaning of this feast in light of the moment of history we are living? We are approaching the end of an institutional journey.”
Representatives of Regnum Christi will soon hold a meeting in Rome, while this summer, territorial assemblies will be held to revise the draft of the Constitutions of the Legionaries.
In the fall, invitations to the General Chapter of the Legion will be sent, while the General Assemblies of the Consecrated Men and Women, and the General Assembly of all of Regnum Christi, will take place early in 2014.
The events follow a period of turmoil in the Legion after revelations that its founder, Fr. Marcel Maciel, lived a double life, sexually abused seminarians, and fathered children. The Vatican responded by calling for a period of reform and renewal, including a redefinition of the Legion’s mission and governing structure.
The General Assemblies will determine the future of the Legion. In addition, Pope Francis is expected to make a final decision regarding the spiritual family by 2014.
“These external milestones that are passing are being accompanied by the interior journey of each one of us,” the letter said.
“We have to bear the wounds of a painful institutional past, above all the feeling of a broken fatherhood and the pain associated with the human errors that have been committed and that have made us suffer.”
For many, the letter observed, “this situation has led us to find the Lord once again in our lives and vocations. This experience of grace calls for deep gratitude towards God. Yet, others have experienced new sufferings. Thus we realize that, at least to some degree, some of the sense of the beauty of our calling has been lost.”
As a consequence, it continued, “our mutual esteem and trust – so necessary for the life of a family – have atrophied. To this we can add the pain of those who have chosen to leave consecrated life or apostolic commitment in Regnum Christi, either because they felt deceived or as a result of a personal journey.”
The authors of the letter say that the preparation for the “Easter” of the upcoming general assemblies has to be preceded by a “Lent” aimed at renewing the Legion and Regnum Christi in holiness.
Therefore, the leaders of the spiritual family are calling for a renewal “in our personal lives,” which “presupposes prayer, a sincere effort to go along with the grace of conversion” and an authentic “willingness to reach out to those who feel hurt or have distanced themselves from us.”
“Those of us in positions of authority hope to continue moving forward along the path of renewal that the Church has marked out for us,” the letter said.
“We want to arrive at the Chapter and the Assemblies having reached a greater clarity regarding the gift God is giving to the Church by means of Regnum Christi, having determined the rules and structures that will most help us to conserve the charism, and having put in place what is needed to overcome what needs to be purified in our mentality and customs.”
It added that the authorities are “committed to continue reaching out to those who have suffered more.”
The letter is accompanied by a special novena to the Sacred Heart.
One of the prayers included in the novena says: “Grant us, Lord, the grace to forgive others with the goodness with which you embrace our own sins and to let go of grudges against those who have made us suffer. For the times in which we have closed our hearts to forgiving our brothers and sisters, letting ourselves be driven by bitterness and spite... Heart of Jesus, wounded out of love for us, forgive our sins and give us a new heart.”
One day before the release of the letter and novena, Pope Francis received the Pontifical Delegate of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, in a private audience.
According to a press release from the Legion of Christ, “the whole outcome of the journey of renewal that Regnum Christi and the Legion of Christ have undertaken, hand-in-hand with the Pontifical Delegate, will be presented to the Holy Father, who will have the final say.”
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Legionaries, Regnum Christi members begin novena of atonement, healing
29-May-2013:
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Dark moment reminded Pope to seek God's will above success
29-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 29, 2013 / 10:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- At his daily Mass in St. Martha’s residence this morning, Pope Francis warned about the dangers of a Church that is too concerned with “organization and success” by recalling a “dark moment” of his spiritual life.
“A Church that only thinks about triumphs (and) successes, does not know that rule of Jesus: the rule of triumph through failure, human failure, the failure of the Cross.
“And this is a temptation that we all have,” the Pope told employees of the Vatican City State Governorate at the May 29 Mass.
For Pope Francis, today’s Gospel reading from St. Mark reminded him of when “I was in a dark moment in my spiritual life and I asked a favor from the Lord.”
“Then I went to preach the annual spiritual retreat to nuns and on the last day the made their confession.
“One elderly nun, over 80 years of age, but with clear, bright eyes came to confession: she was a woman of God. In the end I saw that she really was a woman of God so I said ‘Sister, as penance, pray for me, because I need a grace, ok? If you ask the Lord for this grace on my behalf, I am sure to receive it.’
“She stopped for a moment, as if in prayer, and said, ‘Of course the Lord will grant you this grace, but do not be deceived: in His own divine manner,’” the Pope recalled.
“This did me a lot of good. To hear that the Lord always gives us what we ask for, but in His own divine way. And this is the divine way to the very end. The divine way involves the Cross, not out of masochism: no, no! Out of love. For love to the very end,” he said.
Pope Francis told the story to drive home his point that there is a risk of becoming “half-way Christians,” that is believers who do shun suffering and only look for what they perceive to be success.
In the gospel reading for today, James and John ask Jesus – just after he has described how he will suffer, die and rise – if they can sit on his right and left when he enters into his glory.
Pope Francis said the disciples want to do things differently, they plan to go only half way, so they discuss among themselves how to arrange the Church and arrange salvation.
And this temptation is the same one that Jesus faced in the desert, the Pope said, when the devil proposed another path to him: “Do everything with speed, preform a miracle, something that everyone can see.
Let’s go to the temple and skydive without a parachute, so everyone will see the miracle and redemption will come to pass.”
Saint Peter was also confronted with the temptation when he at did not accept the passion of Jesus, the pontiff noted.
“It is the temptation of a Christianity without the Cross, a half-way Christianity” that is more concerned with apparent victory than with the Father’s plan.
It “is the temptation of triumphalism. We want the triumph now, without going to the Cross, a worldly triumph, a reasonable triumph,” Pope Francis preached.?
“Triumphalism in the Church, impedes the Church. Triumphalism among Christians impedes Christians. A triumphalist, half-way Church, that is a Church that is content with what it is or has, well sorted – well organized - with all its offices, everything in order, everything perfect, no?” he said.
This kind of Church might be efficient, but it is one that “denies its martyrs, because it does not know that martyrs are needed for Churches’ the journey towards the Cross,” the Pope warned.
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Pope Francis: What have you done to make the church holy, welcoming?
29-May-2013:
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Pope: Jesus' plan for humanity requires Catholic Church
29-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 29, 2013 / 07:56 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis began a new series of reflections by saying that although some people want Jesus but not the Church, “it is the Church that brings us Christ” and reunites us to God.
“Even today, some say, ‘Christ yes, the Church no,’ like those who say, ‘I believe in God, but in priests, no.’ They say, ‘Christ: yes. Church: no.’ Nevertheless, it is the Church that brings us Christ and that brings us to God. The Church is the great family of God’s children,” the Pope said May 29 to around 90,000 pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square.
“Of course,” he noted, the Church “also has the human aspects: in those who compose it, pastors and faithful, there are flaws, imperfections, sins – the Pope has his, as well: he has lots of them; but the beautiful thing is that, when we become aware that we are sinners, we find the mercy of God. God always forgives: do not forget this.”
Pope Francis began his regular Wednesday audience by complimenting the pilgrims on withstanding the periodic rain that swept through the square as he was touring through it in the open-air popemobile. Since he did not use an umbrella or the covered popemobile, the Pope arrived at the stage with a damp cassock, apparently unfazed.
He announced to the crowd that today he was beginning a new set of reflections on the Church, which he will illustrate using well-known phrases from the Second Vatican Council’s documents. This new theme marks the end of the series on the Creed that Benedict XVI initiated and Francis continued for the Year of Faith.
Citing “the parable of the prodigal son or the forgiving father,” the Pope Francis taught that God’s plan is “to make us all the one family of his children, in which each of you feels close to Him and feels loved by Him – feels, as in the Gospel parable, the warmth of being the family of God.
“In this great design, the Church finds its source,” he explained.
The pontiff also said what the Church is not. It is “not an organization founded by an agreement among (a group of) persons, but – as we were reminded many times by Pope Benedict XVI – it is the work of God: it was born out of the plan of love, which realizes itself progressively in history.”
Being in this family means that God “urges us to escape from individualism, the tendency to withdraw into ourselves, and calls us – convokes us – to be a part of his family.”
“This convocation has its origin in creation itself,” he asserted.
“God created us in order that we might live in a relationship of deep friendship with him, and even when sin had broken this relationship with God, with others and with creation, God did not abandon us.
Pope Francis then gave a brief tour of salvation history, outlining how God has been working to rebuild his family since Adam and Eve fell from grace.
When we read the Gospels, he said, “we see that Jesus gathers around him a small community that receives his word, follows him, shares his journey, becomes his family – and with this community, he prepares and builds his Church.”
He drew his reflection to a close by answering the question, ‘Where is the Church born from?’
“It is born from the supreme act of love on the Cross, from the pierced side of Jesus from which flow blood and water, a symbol of the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. In the family of God, the Church, the lifeblood is the love of God that is realized in loving him and others, loving all without distinction, without measure. The Church is a family that loves and is loved,” he told the crowd.
And the Church manifests itself when “the gift of the Holy Spirit fills the hearts of the Apostles and pushes them to go out and start the journey to proclaim the Gospel, to spread the love of God,” Pope Francis added.
“Let us ask ourselves today: how much do I love the Church? Do I pray for her? Do I feel myself a part of the family of the Church? What do I do to make the Church a community in which everyone feels welcomed and understood, (in which) everyone feels the mercy and love of God who renews life?” he challenged the pilgrims.
The Pope also made a reference to the Year of Faith, saying, “we ask the Lord, in a special way in this Year of the faith, that our communities, the whole Church be ever more true families that live and carry the warmth of God.”
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Examine what prevents intimacy with Christ, Pope says
29-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 29, 2013 / 12:06 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The faithful need to examine their lives to find the “riches” that prevent them from “getting close to Jesus” like the young man who refuses to give his possessions to the poor in order to follow Christ.
Pope Francis focused his homily May 27 on the episode in the Gospel in which Jesus asks a young man to give all his riches to the poor and then follow him. However, rather than following Christ’s call, the young man goes away sad.
During his daily Mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, Pope Francis told those present that we all have “riches” that create obstacles in our intimacy with Jesus.
One of those riches is the “culture of economic well-being which causes us to be lacking in courage” and “makes us lazy and selfish.”
For example, he said, a couple might say, “No, no, not more than one child because we will not be able to go on holiday, we will not be able to go out, we will not be able to buy a house.”
Economic well-being, the Pope said, “deprives us...of the courage we need to get close to Jesus.” This belief demonstrates the attitude that, “It’s all very well to follow the Lord, but only up to a certain point,” Pope Francis said.
Another one of the “riches” our world promotes is our “fascination with the temporary” rather than the eternal. “These two riches are the ones that, in this moment, prevent us from going forward.”
While Christ is the “Lord of time” we have become “masters of the moment,” obeying him only “up to this point.”
Rather than fixing ourselves on the temporary, we must take “definitive” steps to follow Jesus. However, often times “we like what is temporary because we are afraid of God’s time.”
Pope Francis recalled hearing about a man who wanted to become a priest, “but only for 10 years, not any longer” saying that this attitude reflects an attempt to “live for the moment.”
He contrasted this position with missionaries or men and women who have “left their homes to commit to a lifelong marriage” to one another. This, he said, is what it is “to follow Jesus closely.”
The pontiff closed by saying that even the disciples were “disconcerted” by Jesus’ requests of them, just as we often are as well.
In order to “rid ourselves” of the “riches” of “economic well-being” and “hoping in time,” we should pray to God for the “courage to go forward” to reach the “end of the journey where He awaits us.”
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Vatican officials decry persecution of Christians around the world
29-May-2013:
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Program founded by Catholic priest gives lifeline to former prisoners
29-May-2013:
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Pope: when Christians lack difficulties, 'something is wrong'
29-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 28, 2013 / 04:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Faithful Christians will always face difficulties, said Pope Francis on Tuesday, warning that a worldly, career-based approach to faith avoids the suffering and persecution inherent in following Christ.
“Many Christians, tempted by the spirit of the world, think that following Jesus is good because it can become a career, they can get ahead,” the Pope said.
“When a Christian has no difficulties in life – when everything is fine, everything is beautiful – something is wrong.”
He suggested this temptation is common for a Christian who is “a great friend of the spirit of the world, of worldliness.”
“You cannot remove the cross from the path of Jesus, it is always there,” he added.
Pope Francis delivered his homily at morning Mass at the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta residence. Archbishop Rino Fisichella and Monsignor José Octavio Ruiz Arenas, respectively the president and secretary of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, concelebrated Mass.
“Think of Mother Teresa: what does the spirit of the world say of Mother Teresa? ‘Ah, Blessed Teresa is a beautiful woman, she did a lot of good things for others.’ The spirit of the world never says that the Blessed Teresa spent, every day, many hours in adoration ... Never!” the Pope said.
He explained that the worldly spirit “reduces Christian activity to doing social good.”
“As if Christian life was a gloss, a veneer of Christianity,” he said. “The proclamation of Jesus is not a veneer: the proclamation of Jesus goes straight to the bones, heart, goes deep within and changes us. And the spirit of the world does not tolerate it, will not tolerate it, and therefore, there is persecution.”
Just as Pope Francis criticized career-based Christianity, he also warned about a solely culture-based approach to the faith.
He criticized the attitude of following Jesus because one was born in a Christian culture. He said this ignores “the necessity of true discipleship of Jesus, the necessity to travel his road.”
“If you follow Jesus as a cultural proposal, then you are using this road to get higher up, to have more power. And the history of the Church is full of this, starting with some emperors and then many rulers and many people, no?” the Pope observed.
The Holy Father said that this attitude is present even among some priests and bishops.
He concluded with an exhortation to follow Jesus Christ truly.
“Following Jesus is just that: going with him out of love, behind him: on the same journey, the same path. And the spirit of the world will not tolerate this and what will make us suffer, but suffering as Jesus did,” he said.
“Let us ask for this grace: to follow Jesus in the way that he has revealed to us and that he has taught us. This is beautiful, because he never leaves us alone. Never! He is always with us. So be it.”
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At Roman parish, pope gives children first Communion, catechism lesson
28-May-2013:
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Vatican organizing worldwide, simultaneous eucharistic adoration this Sunday
28-May-2013:
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Pope Francis plans to complete encyclical on faith, spokesman says
28-May-2013:
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Adoration with Pope energizing Catholics worldwide
28-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 28, 2013 / 06:39 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Catholic world will be united with Pope Francis on the Feast of Corpus Christi as he leads a “historic” hour of simultaneous Eucharistic Adoration.
“Even some islands in the middle of the ocean … at two in the morning – they don’t have electricity – but even with that they will be in communion with us and Pope Francis for one hour,” Archbishop Rino Fisichella said as he explained the intense reaction he is seeing to the June 2 event.
“I am proud to say that this is a historical moment for the history of the Church because for one hour all the churches in the world will be united. … We are united because the Eucharistic makes us all one body and one spirit, so we enter into the deepest meaning of the Eucharist,” the archbishop told CNA in a May 28 interview.
Archbishop Fisichella, who leads the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, said that the strong response to the event did not surprise him because he has seen “an increasing number of people engaged in adoration” in recent years.
The gathering will be an hour of simultaneous adoration for the Feast of Corpus Christi, which Pope Francis will begin in St. Peter’s Basilica at 5:00 p.m. Rome time.
Archbishop Fisichella announced May 28 that there are two intentions for the Holy Hour.
The first is for the “Church throughout the world united today in Adoration of the Most Holy Eucharist,” that the Lord makes her ever obedient to his word so that she appears before the world as “beautiful, without spot or wrinkle, holy and without blemish.”
The second intention is dedicated to people around the world who are suffering from violence, drug or human trafficking, economic insecurity, and those who have been pushed to the margins of society.
As of May 28, the New Evangelization council had received responses from hundreds of dioceses worldwide, including all of those in Vietnam and South Korea.
The list is a virtual tour of the globe, stretching from Reykjavik, Iceland in the north, to dioceses in South Africa, Chile and New Zealand in the south.
Christ will also be adored in the Eucharist in the Cook Islands, Samoa, Honolulu, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Guam.
Other countries with a large number of parishes or dioceses participating are: the United States with 243, India with 163, Brazil with 56, and Italy with 50.
While Pope Francis will pray in Italian and Latin, the local Holy Hours will be conducted in the local language.
The New Evangelization council has posted the program that will be used in Rome on its website and will soon make it available there in six languages.
The Year of Faith will be celebrated with another weekend event on dedicated to Pope John Paul II’s encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” (The Gospel of Life), which take place in Rome June 15-16.
Pilgrims will be coming from all over the world and will be able to make a pilgrimage to St. Peter’s tomb, take part in a teaching session with different cardinals or archbishops depending on their language, hold a silent candlelight march to St. Peter’s Square and attend Mass with Pope Francis.
English-speaking participants will receive catechesis from Cardinal Raymond Burke at the Pontifical Urban College, and attend a panel discussion with Professor Francis Beckwith from Baylor University and Robert Royal of the Faith and Reason Institute.
For further information on the Year of Faith events and to register for them, visit: www.annusfidei.va.
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Pope dubs parish 'sentinel' for Rome diocese
27-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 27, 2013 / 09:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Saints Elizabeth and Zechariah was the first church in the Diocese of Rome that Pope Francis visited, and enthusiasm was high as presided over First Communion for 16 children.
The Pope was welcomed by thousands of parishioners and the pastor, Father Benoni Ambarus, who noted that the parish, located on the northern outskirts of Rome in Prima Porta, can be seen either as the last one in the Rome diocese, or as the first, as a sentinel that guards the door.
“Dear sentinels,” Pope Francis responded off-the-cuff, “I like what you said: ‘That periphery has a negative sense, but also a positive sense.’ Do you know why?”
“Because … we understand reality better not from the center, but from the outskirts,” he answered.
The Holy Father arrived at the parish via helicopter at 8:30 a.m. and spent time greeting the faithful, the sick and those who were baptized in the past year. He also heard some confessions before celebrating Mass at 9:30 a.m. in the square in front of the parish.
Pope Francis based his homily on both the story of Mary going to visit her cousin Elizabeth and the fact that May 26 was the Feast of the Holy Trinity.
“When Our Lady, had just received the announcement that she would be the mother of Jesus, and also the news that her cousin Elizabeth was pregnant - the Gospel says - she left in haste, she did not wait. She did not say: ‘But now I'm pregnant, should I care for my health. My cousin will probably have friends who will help,”’ he noted.
“She is our Mother, who always comes in haste when we need help,” the Pope said, telling the children and the congregation that she also helps us “understand God well.”
The way that Mary is constantly ready to help us made Pope Francis, remark, “it would be nice to add to the litanies of Our Lady one that says ‘Our Lady who sets out in haste, pray for us!’”
Then the Pope launched into a back and forth dialogue with the children who were about to receive their First Communion, teaching them about the Trinity and counseling them to ask Mary to help them understand God more deeply.
“The Father gave us life; Jesus gave us salvation. He accompanies us, guides us, supports us, and teaches us. And the Holy Spirit? What does the Holy Spirit give us? He loves us! He gives us love,” he summarized.
“Let us think about God like this and ask Our Lady, Our Lady who is our Mother, who is always quick to help us, to teach us to understand how God is: how the Father is, how the Son is, and how the Holy Spirit is.”
During the Mass 16 children received their First Communion from Pope Francis, as well as 28 others who had recently received the sacrament on previous Sundays.
After Mass the First Communicants sang a song to the Pope, which was followed by a time to greet the parish staff before flying back to the Vatican to preside over the Angelus.
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Cardinal from Wisconsin takes Roman see
26-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 26, 2013 / 02:11 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Far from his native Milwaukee, Cardinal James Michael Harvey now has what is called his “titular church” in Rome. It is a vibrant suburban parish that will now look to him as its cardinal patron.
“Be assured of my continued remembrance in the Lord and of my friendship, my friendship for all of you regardless of how you collaborate within this reality, this parish community,” Cardinal Harvey told parishioners of the Church of St. Pius V a Villa Carpegna at Mass on May 26.
In Catholic tradition, each cardinal is given a “titular see” in Rome as a highly symbolic link to the Successor of St. Peter, the Pope.
Cardinal Harvey currently serves across the city at the head of the Roman Basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls. When Pope Benedict XVI gave him the red “biretta” last November 24, he also named him titular of St. Pius V, just a half mile southwest of the Vatican.
Sunday's Mass there was inserted into the normal morning line-up, with accompaniment from the parish choir and organist. The church was filled to overflowing and reasons for celebration abounded.
Not only was it the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, but Rome was celebrating the feast one of its patrons, St. Philip Neri, who incidentally carried out his ministry during the years of Pope St. Pius V.
As all cardinals do when they “take possession” of their Roman see, the cardinal first met the parish priest at the central door of the church. There, he kissed a depiction of Christ on the Cross and proceeded to the Altar of the Most Blessed Sacrament, where he paused for a moment in prayer.
Parish priest, Fr. Donato Le Pera, said that the presence of Cardinal Harvey fortifies the relationship between the parish and the Pope.
“Every cardinal is a de-facto priest of Rome, as they have been throughout history, and that's what we want today to mark, through our links of friendship and collaboration with His Eminence, Cardinal Harvey,” he told CNA.
The parish of St. Pius V a Villa Carpegna serves 15,000 people in the surrounding neighborhood. In addition to the local individuals, families, elderly and youth, there are many religious orders in the area.
Also present at Mass were acquaintances of the cardinal's from throughout his three decades of living and working in Rome, first as a Vatican diplomat and later as the prefect of the Pontifical Household. Among them was Paolo Gabriele, Pope Benedict XVI's ex-butler who was hired by then-Archbishop Harvey. He was convicted of theft by the Vatican court system in October 2012 for leaking the Pope's internal correspondence, jailed and pardoned just before Christmas.
After Mass, Cardinal Harvey joined the parishioners for a "rinfreschino", the Italian equivalent of coffee and rolls, in the parish auditorium.
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Pope prays for Mafia's conversion
26-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 26, 2013 / 07:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Sicily celebrated the beatification of Father Giuseppe Puglisi yesterday, and Pope Francis used it as an occasion to pray for the conversion of the Mafia.
After he recited the Angelus on May 25, Pope Francis noted that Fr. Puglisi – a priest who was killed in 1993 by the Mafia – was beatified in Palermo on Saturday.
“Don Puglisi was an exemplary priest, devoted especially to youth ministry. He was teaching children according to the gospel and taking them out of the mob, and so they tried to defeat him and killed him. In reality, though, is he that won, with Christ Risen,” the Pope told the crowd in St. Peter’s Square.
These gangs “cause so much pain to men, women and even to children,” he said, mentioning prostitution as one type of slavery or social pressure used by the mafia.
Pope Francis urged the faithful in the square to “pray for these gangsters so that they convert.”
The murder of Fr. Puglisi was a turning point for the Church in how it dealt with the Mafia.
Blessed Puglisi pursued a course of winning people away from the influence of the mob, as opposed to a protest model of resistance, which was more common among clergy at the time.
Shocked by his death and inspired his example, many of Sicily’s priests began to follow the more influence-driven approach of Bl. Puglisi.
“We praise God for his luminous testimony,” Pope Francis said after the Angelus, “and we treasure his example!”
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God is love but not in 'emotional' sense, Pope says
26-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 26, 2013 / 06:25 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As he celebrated the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, Pope Francis spoke about how God is love, but not in an “emotional” or “sentimental” way.
“The light of Easter and Pentecost have renewed in us each year the joy and wonder of faith that recognizes that God is not something vague, abstract, but has a name: ‘God is love,’” the Pope said May 26, before reciting the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square.
And this love “is not sentimental, emotional, but the love of the Father who is the source of all life, the love of the Son who died on the cross and rose, the love of the Spirit who renews man and the world,” he stated.
Pope Francis then reflected on how the Trinity “is not the product of human reasoning, it is the face which God himself revealed, not from the top of a throne, but walking with humanity in the history of the people of Israel, and above all in Jesus of Nazareth.
“Jesus is the Son who made us know the merciful Father and brought to the world his ‘fire,’ the Holy Spirit,” he said.
On today’s feast, he explained, “we praise God not for a particular mystery, but for himself, ‘for his glory is immense,’ as the liturgical hymn says. We praise him and thank him because he is love, and for how he calls us to enter the embrace of his communion, which is eternal life.”
Because of celebrations for the Year of Faith in previous weeks, today was the first time in a month that the Pope delivered his words from the window of the papal apartment.
Without those festivities, the crowd was also not as large as before, but it made up for it with the presence of a troupe of people dressed in medieval garb – accompanied by a section of drums and trumpets – a large delegation from an Italian military association and a group of faithful from China who came to Rome to pray for their local Church.
Pope Francis explained to the assembly that he had just finished making his first trip as pontiff to a parish in the Rome diocese and he thanked the Lord for the visit.
He also asked the crowd to “pray for my pastoral service in this Church, which has the mission of presiding in universal charity.”
Before he reciting the Angelus with the faithful, Pope Francis said, “we entrust our praise to the hands of the Virgin Mary.
“She, the most humble of creatures, through Christ has already reached the goal of our earthly pilgrimage: she is already in the glory of the Trinity. She shines for us as a sign of sure hope and solace and accompanies us on the path.”
After the Marian prayer, the Pope highlighted a beatification that took place in Palermo, Sicily on Saturday for Father Giuseppe Puglisi, a priest who was killed by the Mafia in 1993.
“Don Puglisi was an exemplary priest, devoted especially to youth ministry. He was teaching children according to the gospel and taking them out of the mob, and so they tried to defeat him and killed him. In reality, though, is he that won, with Christ Risen.
The murder of Fr. Puglisi was a turning point for the Church in how it dealt with the Mafia.
Blessed Puglisi pursued a course of winning people away from the influence of the mob, as opposed to a protest model of resistance, which was more common among clergy at the time. Shocked by his death and inspired by his example, many of Sicily’s priests began to follow the more pastoral approach of Bl. Puglisi.
“We praise God for his luminous testimony,” Pope Francis said after today’s Angelus, “and we treasure his example!”
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Dignity of man central to 'rethinking solidarity,' says Pope
25-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 25, 2013 / 10:15 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Speaking to an international group dedicated to promoting education of the Church’s social teaching, Pope Francis called for a new economic view that places the human person at the center.
“We must return to the centrality of man, to a more ethical view of business and human relations, without the fear of losing something,” the Pope said on May 25.
Pope Francis addressed members of the Fondazione Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice at the end of their three-day conference at the Vatican. Founded by Blessed Pope John Paul II in 1993, the organization is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
The Holy Father greeted the members of the international gathering and thanked them for their efforts to promote a greater understanding of the Church’s social doctrine.
He reflected on the theme of the conference, “Rethinking solidarity for employment: the challenges of the 21st century.”
The call to “rethink solidarity” is not a call to challenge Church teaching, but rather to apply it to the new circumstances and situations presented by the ever-changing socio-economic development of the modern world, the Pope said.
It is also an opportunity to deepen reflection on the value of solidarity, a key component of Catholic social teaching which is deeply rooted in the Gospel, he added.
Pointing to the “current economic and social crisis,” Pope Francis explained that rising joblessness makes the task of rethinking solidarity more urgent.
“There is no worse form of material poverty… than that which makes it impossible to earn a living and which deprives someone of the dignity of work,” he stated.
“The current crisis is not only economic and financial, but is rooted in an ethical crisis and anthropology,” the Holy Father observed, noting that all too often, profit and power are turned into “idols,” while the value of the human person is forgotten.
He reiterated the words of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, that the human dimension of the economic sphere must not be forgotten.
He also urged the restoration of solidarity as a “social value,” noting that much of the business and economic world do not hold it in high esteem.
Observing that ethical and economic problems are widespread, Pope Francis stressed that rethinking solidarity will require not only aid to the poor, but also a global reform of the system in ways that respect the inherent rights and dignity of the human person.
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Don't create sacrament of 'pastoral customs,' Pope preaches
25-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 25, 2013 / 06:31 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis warned that some Christians establish the eighth sacrament “of pastoral customs” when they insist on protocol instead of seeking to meet spiritual needs.
He made his remarks during his May 25 homily on the Gospel reading from Mark 10 in which the disciples rebuked people who were bringing children to Jesus.
“I remember once, coming out of the city of Salta, on the patronal feast, there was a humble lady who asked for a priest’s blessing,” Pope Francis recalled in the chapel of St. Martha’s House.
“The priest said, ‘All right, but you were at the Mass’ and explained the whole theology of blessing in the Church. You did well: ‘Ah, thank you father, yes father,’ said the woman. When the priest had gone, the woman turned to another priest: ‘Give me your blessing!’
“All these words did not register with her,” the Pope underscored, “because she had another necessity: the need to be touched by the Lord. That is the faith that we always look for, this is the faith that brings the Holy Spirit. We must facilitate it, make it grow, help it grow.”
He also pointed to the story of the blind man of Jericho, who was rebuked by the disciples because he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
“The Gospel says that they didn’t want him to shout, they wanted him not to shout but he wanted to shout more, why? Because he had faith in Jesus! The Holy Spirit had put faith in his heart. And they said, ‘No, you cannot do this! You don’t shout to the Lord. Protocol does not allow it.’”
Pope Francis also used a more modern example by describing an encounter of a young couple with a parish secretary.
“‘Good morning, the two of us - boyfriend and girlfriend - we want to get married,’” the couple says.
“And instead of saying, ‘That's great!’ They say, ‘Oh, well, have a seat. If you want the Mass, it costs a lot ... .’ This, instead of receiving a good welcome – ‘It is a good thing to get married!’ – But instead they get this response: ‘Do you have the certificate of baptism, all right ... .’ And they find a closed door,” the Pope said.
He described the situation as one where a “Christian has the ability to open a door, thanking God for this fact of a new marriage” but instead the secretary controlled the faith when it was possible to have facilitated the couples’ faith.
“There is always a temptation,” he said, “to try and take possession of the Lord.”
Before finishing his homily, Pope Francis painted one final scenario, that of a single mother who wants to have her child baptized.
“Think about a single mother who goes to church, in the parish and to the secretary she says: ‘I want my child baptized.’
“And then this Christian, this Christian says: ‘No, you cannot because you're not married!’
“But look, this girl who had the courage to carry her pregnancy and not to return her son to the sender, what is it? A closed door! This is not zeal! It is far from the Lord! It does not open doors!
“And so when we are on this street, we have this attitude, we do not do good to people, the people, the People of God. But Jesus instituted the seven sacraments, (and) with this attitude and we are establishing the eighth: the sacrament of pastoral customs!” he warned.
The Pope noted, “Jesus is indignant when he sees these things” because those who suffer are “his faithful people, the people that he loves so much.”
He concluded his homily by asking everyone to think about “the Holy People of God, a simple people, who want to get closer to Jesus and we think of so many Christians of goodwill who are wrong and that instead of opening a door they close the door of goodwill ... So we ask the Lord that all those who come to the Church find the doors open, find the doors open, open to meet this love of Jesus. We ask this grace.”
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Gauchos and God: Pope draws life lessons from Argentine cowboy culture
25-May-2013:
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Pope prays for Chinese Catholics, talks about loving one's enemies
24-May-2013:
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Papal encyclicals expected on faith and poverty, bishop reveals
24-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 24, 2013 / 02:19 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- According to an Italian bishop, Benedict XVI is concluding work on what was to have been his encyclical on faith, and Pope Francis will be writing an encyclical on poverty.
“Benedict XVI is finishing writing the encyclical on faith which will be signed by Pope Francis. Following this, he himself will prepare his first encyclical on the poor: Beati pauperes,” Bishop Luigi Martella of the Molfetta-Ruvo-Giovinazzo-Terlizzi diocese wrote May 23 on his diocesan website.
“Beati pauperes” is Latin for “Blessed are the poor,” and Bishop Martella added that it is to be about poverty “understood not in an ideological and political sense, but in the sense of the Gospel.”
Bishop Martella learned of these developments from Pope Francis earlier this month, while meeting with him. The bishops of the Italian region of Puglia travelled to Rome for their “ad limina” meeting with the Roman Pontiff from May 13 to 16.
The Bishop of Rome “wished to make a confidence, almost a revelation,” to the Puglian episcopacy, Bishop Martella wrote, in telling them of the encyclicals.
In April, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi had said he “would not exclude” the possibility of Pope Francis issuing his first encyclical “within this year.”
Benedict's had been preparing an encyclical on the virtue of faith when he announced his abdication on Feb. 11.
The following day, Fr. Lombardi said it “remains an awaited document, but one that we will not have in the way we expected, perhaps we will have it in a different way.”
Should Pope Francis promulgate Benedict's faith encyclical, it would not be the first time that one Pope has signed off on the work of another. It is reported that “Deus Caritas est,” Benedict's first encyclical, was based on unfinished writings of John Paul II.
In October, a high-ranking curial official told “Vatican Insider” that the text, even unfinished, “is beautiful. Benedict XVI manages to express even the most complex and very deep truths using simple language which has a widespread reach that goes beyond all imagination.”
The initial intention of the encyclical on faith was to form a trilogy with two of Benedict's other encyclicals on the theological virtues, “Spe salvi” and “Deus Caritas est.”
Before Benedict's decision to abdicate his role as Bishop of Rome, a Vatican official said “we expect it will be published during the Year of Faith.”
In his revelatory post on his diocesan website, Bishop Martella discussed the general topics touched on at the Puglian ad limina. He called Pope Francis an “extraordinary man” of “disarming simplicity.”
The Roman Pontiff spoke of his predecessor with “great kindness,” saying Benedict is “doing much better now,” after looking rather exhausted during their first meeting at Castelgandolfo, shortly after Pope Francis' election.
During ad liminas, bishops relate to the Roman Bishop the situation in their dioceses. Bishop Martella says he stressed to Pope Francis the goodness of the people of Molfetta, and that the area is “a land of welcome and of immigration.”
“I spontaneously told him: 'Your Holiness, visit Molfetta, we would be very happy,'” Bishop Martella wrote. “In response I got a beautiful smile, and I realized that the request was premature.”
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New leader of Friars Minor says pope has energized Franciscans
24-May-2013:
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Impact of sequestration felt outside of Washington political arena
24-May-2013:
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Pope calls human trafficking 'despicable, a disgrace'
24-May-2013:
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Pope stresses vigilant love of God as guard against laziness
24-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 24, 2013 / 09:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis counseled the Italian bishops to avoid becoming lukewarm by remaining vigilant in their love for God, as he reflected on Jesus asking Peter if he loved him.
“The question is addressed to me and to each one of you, to all of us,” the Pope told them on May 23, as they listened to his meditation on John 21 inside Saint Peter’s Basilica.
“If we avoid reacting too hastily and superficially, it encourages us to look within, to enter into ourselves,” he stated.
The pontiff warned that a “lack of vigilance … makes the pastor lukewarm” and he “runs the risk, like the Apostle Peter, of denying the Lord, even if he is present to us and speaks in his name.”
“He becomes distracted, forgetful and even impatient,” the Pope said.
A careless priest can become seduced by “the prospect of a career, the lure of money, and compromises with the spirit of the world,” he added.
The lack of attentiveness “makes him lazy, turning him into a functionary, a cleric worried more about himself, about organizations and structures, than about the true good of the People of God,” he told the bishops.
The Italian bishops were gathered in Rome to hold their 65th general assembly. Their meeting culminated in a Thursday evening prayer service that included a Liturgy of the Word, a reflection from Pope Francis, and a solemn profession of faith that he led.
The ceremony began with Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, delivering opening remarks and offering his thanks to the Pope.
After the Liturgy of the Word, Pope Francis offered a brief meditation on the Bible passages that were read, including John 21, where Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him.
Turning to Jesus response to Peter – “feed my sheep” – Pope Francis said that being pastors means “walking in front of the flock, freed from the burdens that hinder a healthy apostolic swiftness, and without hesitation in leading, to make our voice recognizable both to those who have embraced the faith, but also to those who are not of this fold.”
And it also means to be “capable of listening to the silent story of the suffering and bearing up the steps of those who are afraid of not succeeding,” the Holy Father reflected.
He said that they should do this “to raise up, to reassure, and inspire hope” and encouraged them to share their faith with “the humble” and particularly with priests, whom he called “our sons and our brothers.”
“A special place is reserved for our priests,” advised the Pope. “Especially for them, our hearts, our hands, and our doors remain open at all times.”
“They are the first faithful we bishops have, our priests,” he added. “Let us love them, let us love them from the heart!”
The bishops and Pope Francis closed their encounter by making a solemn profession of faith in front of St. Peter’s tomb.
“The profession of faith that we now renew together is not a formal act, but is a renewal of our response to the ‘follow me’ with which the Gospel of John concludes,” the pontiff said.
“Allow your own life to unfold according to the project of God, committing your whole self to the Lord Jesus,” he remarked.
According to Pope Francis, the consequence of loving the Lord is “giving absolutely everything, even one’s very life.”
“This is what must distinguish our pastoral ministry, it is the litmus test that shows how profoundly we have embraced the gift received in response to the call of Jesus, and how we are joined to the people and the communities that have been entrusted to us,” he said.
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Schönstatt Movement overjoyed at receiving original chapel
24-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 24, 2013 / 09:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- One of the oldest movements in the Church will be celebrating its 100th anniversary next year, but on Wednesday its members received an early gift when they learned that the chapel where it all started was being given to them.
Father Andrew Pastore, the movement’s communications officer, explained in a May 23 interview with CNA that the Pallottine Fathers announced during their provincial assembly that “they’re actually going to give the shrine to the Schönstatt Movement as a gift for this great jubilee year in the hope that we can together move forward.”
The provincial superior of the movement, Father Theo Breitinger, added in a May 22 statement that the community received the “surprising” news with “great joy” and that the gift shows the Pallottine’s “good will.”
The movement first began on Oct. 18, 1914, when Pallottine Father Joseph Kentenich lead a group of his students in dedicating themselves to Mary in the small chapel that had served as a garden tool shed before they refurbished it.
“You can imagine 1914 was the outbreak of the First World War. Father Kentenich was looking for ways to ground these people in faith and to give them a strength that they needed to take on the challenges of the transforming world around them,” Fr. Pastore said.
“There weren’t many people in the little chapel, there was Father Kentenich and a few of the boys who were around the age of 14 to 16,” he explained.
“Fr. Kentenich just very tentatively said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if Our Lady would take up her throne here and from this little place she could work throughout the course of history, the course of time, the course of the world.”
With the transfer of the original chapel, both the Pallottines and the Schönstatt movement hope that “the things that have happened in these last 100 years can happen in the 100 years to come.”
The historical interaction has not been without its difficulties, though, as is often the case with new movements that are born from a pre-existing community.
In 1964 the Schönstatt movement and Fr. Kentenich parted ways with the Pallottine Fathers, but the small chapel remained in the hands of the religious order, which provided for the pastoral needs of those who came to the shrine.
Fast-forward 50 years and the movement is present all over the globe and is gearing up to celebrate its 100th anniversary, with activities planned in Schönstatt and Rome.
The organizers expect around 15,000 pilgrims from 48 countries to attend the Oct. 16-19, 2014 festivities at the shrine in Schönstatt, which will also include a Mass with Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko.
Fr. Pastore explained the importance of also holding a celebration in Rome by quoting from the words inscribed on their founder’s coffin: “Delexit Ecclesiam” (He loved the Church).
The gathering in the Eternal City will take place between Oct. 23-26 next year, and will feature a pilgrimage on foot from the Basilica of St. Mary Major to St. Peter’s Basilica, visits to the shrines run by the movement, and a possible meeting with Pope Francis.
During the meetings the movement will also focus on five areas in the culture that it is working to proclaim the message that “Mary bears Christ as the answer to the burning questions of the age.”
Those areas are: marriage and family life, working with youth, education, integrating its charism into diocesan life, and renewing society.
To learn more about the Schönstatt Movement and its celebrations, please visit: http://www.schönstatt.org.
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Famous exorcist says Pope's simple prayer cast out demon
24-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 24, 2013 / 03:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Rome’s most well known exorcist says Pope Francis performed an exorcism in St. Peter’s Square last Sunday and that the man was possessed because of Mexico’s abortion law.
“The Pope, in good faith, got close to him and performed an exorcism on him in the form of a liberation prayer, not like the classical exorcism that one does with a book,” said Father Gabriele Amorth in a May 22 evening interview with CNA.
“He is really a soul of God, which the Lord is using to criticize Mexico for legalizing abortion,” he said.
According to Fr. Amorth, he himself performed an exorcism for over an hour on the Mexican man before the Pope prayed over him later that same day in St. Peter's Square.
“I’m well informed about that young man; a good, golden, young man, he appears younger than what he is,” said Fr. Amorth. “He is 43 years-old (and) married with children.”
“I saw John Paul II do this same prayer three times,” he said. “Pope Francis laid his hands on him, prayed, and that’s it. It is enough.”
Fr. Amorth, aged 88, has performed over 70,000 exorcisms during the past 27 years. The number is high because carrying out an exorcism can require multiple sessions and each time the rite is administered it is counted as one instance.
After the interview with CNA, he made comments May 22 at Rome’s Lepanto Foundation, a Catholic book organization where he was invited to speak on his two latest books: “The last exorcist, my battle against Satan” and “The sign of the exorcist, my latest battles against Satan.”
“You will have noticed that in his first 10 short speeches, this Pope has always named the devil ‘your excellency,’” he said during the evening meeting, which had a dramatic feel to it because of the subject matter and the pouring rain and thunder outside.
“What did he do last Sunday?” asked the exorcist. “When Mass finished, as he normally does, with his simplicity, he walked over to greet a few sick, and a Mexican priest pointed out to him a young man possessed by the devil.”
He noted that the Pope “did not hide himself in this liberation prayer that he did on this young man at the Square.”
“Jesus did exorcisms on the street, in homes, wherever,” said Fr. Amorth. “I’ve had to change 23 places in Rome to be able to do exorcisms.”
“I would like for everyone to attend exorcisms,” he added. “I’ve seen many priests that, after having seen one, did not doubt anymore about the existence of Satan. One has to see it.”
Fr. Amorth said people no longer believe in the devil now and there is a shortage of exorcists.
“Today there are no more exorcists because of the bishops,” he charged. “I’ve been saying for 27 years that when a bishop doesn’t provide, he commits a mortal sin.”
“But not all bishops are in the state of mortal sin, shucks that would be a lot of bishops,” he joked.
Fr. Amorth stated that everyone has the power to cast out devils if they have enough faith in Jesus Christ, and that these abilities are “gifts of the Holy Spirit.”
“But if one truly has this gift he keeps it hidden and is humble about it,” he pointed out.
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Bipartisan tribute on Hill celebrates Father Hesburgh's life, ministry
24-May-2013:
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Pope Francis urges Christians to not be 'museum pieces'
24-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 23, 2013 / 04:07 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis reflected May 23 on Jesus Christ's exhortation to be “salt of the earth,” warning that Christians who do not live their faith become “flavorless salt” and are fit to be museum pieces.
The pontiff said that God gives Christians the “salt” of faith, hope and charity. This salt should not be hoarded “because if the salt is preserved in a bottle it does not do anything: it is good for nothing.”
“We can show the salt: this is my salt – and how lovely it is! This is the salt that I received in Baptism, this is what I received in Confirmation, this is what I received in catechesis,” he said. “But look: museum-piece Christians! A salt without flavor, a salt that does nothing.”
The Pope’s comments came in his homily during morning Mass at the chapel of St. Martha's residence in the Vatican, Vatican Radio reports. The day’s gospel reading, from the Gospel of Mark’s ninth chapter, contains Jesus’ question to his disciples: “if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor?”
Pope Francis said that faith preached with this salt helps others receive it according to their own individual circumstances, as when it is used judiciously on food.
“Each with his own peculiarities receives the salt and becomes better,” he added. “The Christian originality is not a uniformity! It takes each one as he is, with his own personality, with his own characteristics, his culture – and leaves him with that, because it is a treasure.”
He said this “salt” also gives something more. “It gives flavor!” he said. “This Christian originality is so beautiful.”
He said those who want everything to be salted in the same way risk a situation where a cook throws in too much salt.
“One tastes only salt and not the meal,” he said. The Christian originality is this: each as he is, with the gifts the Lord has given him.”
He urged Christians to “get out there with the message, to get out there with this richness that we have in salt, and give it to others.”
The Pope said Christians may give this salt both in service to others and in service to God. The “salt” of faith also keeps its flavor through preaching, prayer and adoration.
“With the worship of the Lord I go beyond myself to the Lord, and with the proclamation of the Gospel I go out of myself to give the message,” he said.
He repeatedly encouraged Christians to share their faith.
“Salt makes sense when you (use) it in order to make things more tasty,” he said. “The salt that we have received is to be given out, to be given away, to spice things up. Otherwise, it becomes bland and useless.”
He said Christians should pray that God not let them become “Christians with flavorless salt that stays closed in the bottle.”
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Pope Francis to visit birthplace of his namesake on saint's feast day
23-May-2013:
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Be salt of the earth, not 'museum Christians,' pope says at Mass
23-May-2013:
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With no bishop, Shanghai priests concerned about Masses, pilgrimages
23-May-2013:
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El Salvador's leader gives pope bloodstained relic of Archbishop Romero
23-May-2013:
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Health care includes spiritual needs, archbishop tells World Assembly
23-May-2013:
Geneva, Switzerland, May 23, 2013 / 12:03 am (CNA).- The head of a Vatican delegation to the World Health Assembly on Wednesday called for universal health care coverage and an “integral” approach to health care that responds to a person’s spiritual needs.
Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, head of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, stressed the need for “integral development.” This approach, he said, does not focus only on health care or economic growth, but also attends to “the spiritual state of the person.”
“Health and development ought to be integral if they are to respond fully to the needs of every human person. What we hold important is the human person - each person, each group of people, and humanity as a whole,” he said May 22 to the 66th World Health Assembly.
The assembly is meeting from May 20-28 in Geneva. It is the decision-making body of the World Health Organization, the public health arm of the United Nations.
The archbishop said that health care contributes to the development of nations “and benefits from it.” He said that the Holy See “strongly believes” that universal health care coverage as a goal of government policy is a more certain way to achieve “the wide range of health concerns,” including preserving present advances.
Archbishop Zimowski then turned to efforts to save the lives of millions of people who die each year “from conditions that can easily be prevented.” He praised a resolution before the assembly to improve the quality, supply and use of 13 “life-saving commodities.”
“The Holy See strongly agrees with the need to achieve further reductions in the loss of life and prevention of illness through increased access to inexpensive interventions that are respectful of the life and dignity of all mothers and children at all stages of life, from conception to natural death,” he said.
However, he voiced “serious concerns” about the assembly’s secretariat report and its executive board-recommended resolution that includes “emergency contraception.” He said some of these drugs have an abortifacient effect.
“For my delegation, it is totally unacceptable to refer to a medical product that constitutes a direct attack on the life of the child in utero as a ‘life-saving commodity’ and, much worse, to encourage ‘increasing use of such substances in all parts of the world’,” he said.
The archbishop welcomed the assembly’s proposed global action plan to control non-communicable diseases. He said his delegation was “especially pleased” that the plan recognizes the “key role” of civil society institutions including faith-based organizations in encouraging the prevention and treatment of these diseases.
“Our delegation is aware that Catholic Church-inspired organizations and institutions throughout the world already have committed themselves to pursue such actions at global, regional, and local community levels,” he said.
Archbishop Zimowski also voiced interest in aspects of preventing and controlling diseases in older age, noting faith-based institutions’ long tradition of care for the aged and the rapid growth of the elderly population. He noted that the Vatican will host an international conference Nov. 21-23 about caring for the elderly with neurodegenerative diseases.
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Vatican financial investigator says laws, roles will be strengthened
23-May-2013:
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Pope says everyone can do good, regardless of belief
23-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 22, 2013 / 04:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Every human person despite his or her beliefs can do good, and a sharing in good works is the prime place for encounter among those who disagree, Pope Francis said at his Mass today.
“The Lord created us in his image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and he does good and all of us have this commandment at heart: do good and avoid evil. All of us,” the Pope taught in his homily May 22 at St. Martha's residence in the Vatican.
“We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.”
The Mass was concelebrated by Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, and attended by employees of the Vatican's governorate, or executive branch.
During his homily, the Bishop of Rome reflected on Christ's response to his disciples, who thought that anyone outside their group could not do good.
“If he is not one of us, he cannot do good. If he is not of our party, he cannot do good.” This viewpoint, Pope Francis said, “was wrong...Jesus broadens the horizon.”
He went on to explain that all human persons are created in the image of God, who is goodness himself and the source of goodness.
“But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.' Yes, he can. He must. Not can: must! Because he has this commandment within him.”
The pontiff called this view, that only Catholics can do good, an intolerance and a “closing off” that can lead to war and blasphemy. Blasphemy, he explained, includes “killing in the name of God.”
He emphasized the universality of Christ's saving act on the cross as a compliment to the universal call to holiness, regardless of religious belief.
“The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone.”
“Even the atheists. Everyone,” Pope Francis stressed.
He said that the saving blood of Christ “makes us children of God of the first class. We are created children in the likeness of God and the blood of Christ has redeemed us all. And we all have a duty to do good.”
The Pope said that because to do good is inscribed on the human heart and does not derive from creeds, “it is an identity card that our Father has given to all of us, because he has made us in his image and likeness. And he does good, always.”
Similarly, doing good “is a duty” for all people. The universal commandment to do good, he said, “is a beautiful path towards peace.”
“If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much.”
Noting the memorial of Saint Rita of Cascia, he concluded saying, “let us ask of her this grace, this grace that all, all, all people would do good and that we would encounter one another in this work.”
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Pope praises Missionaries of Charity's 'beautiful' Vatican ministry
22-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 22, 2013 / 12:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis thanked the Missionaries of Charity for their work and described one of their houses located inside the Vatican “a beautiful reality” and “a school of charity.”
“I thank all those who in various ways support this beautiful reality of the Vatican,” said Pope Francis during a May 21 evening visit to celebrate the residence’s 25th anniversary.
“This house is a place that teaches charity, a school of charity, that teaches us to go out to every person, not for profit, but out of love,” he stated at the Gift of Mary House.
He noted that “at the border between the Vatican and Italy, it is a powerful reminder to all of us, to the Church, to the city of Rome, to always be more of a family, a home in which we are open to welcome, to attention, and to fraternity.”
Blessed John Paul II placed the house under the care of the sisters on May 21, 1998.
“How many people have you fed in these years, how many wounded, above all wounded spiritually, have you cared for!” he emphasized.
“My presence here tonight is to give first of all my heartfelt thanks to the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, working here for 25 years, with many volunteers, in favor of so many people in need of help, thank you!” he told them.
Around 25 homeless women are allowed to live in the residence, and the sisters feed around 60 people each day at the house.
“A home represents the most precious human wealth, that of encounter, that of the relationships between persons of different ages, cultures, and histories who live together and who, together, help one another to grow, and that is what this house has sought to be for 25 years,” said Pope Francis.
Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Prefect of the Papal Household, and Monsignor Alfred Xuereb, the Pope’s personal secretary, accompanied the pontiff on his 5:30 p.m. visit.
The meeting was held in the courtyard located between the Gift of Mary House, the Palace of the Holy Office and the Atrium of the Paul VI Hall.
Cardinal Angelo Comastri and the Mother General of the Missionaries of Charity, Sister Mary Prema Pierick, welcomed Pope Francis.
The sisters then placed a garland of flowers around the Pope’s neck, following Indian tradition.
Over 100 people were also at the house, including its patrons, employees, friends and guests as well as Missionaries of Charity from other different communities around Rome.
The Pope described the homeless women living at the house as its “gift” and “a gift to the Church.”
“You tell us that loving God and our neighbor is not something abstract but profoundly concrete,” he stated.
“It means seeing in every person the face of the Lord to serve and serving him concretely,” he added.
According to the Pope, people everywhere must recover the entire sense of gift, gratuity and solidarity.
“A savage capitalism has taught the logic of profit at any cost, give in order to get, exploitation without looking at persons, and we see the results in the crisis we are living through!” said the pontiff.
Pope Francis noted that another feature of the house is that it is “qualified as a gift of Mary” and she is an example of living charity towards our neighbor, “not out of social duty, but starting from God's love.”
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Selfishness is a downer; proclaiming Christ brings joy, pope says
22-May-2013:
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Religious freedom reports see little improvement in troubling countries
22-May-2013:
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Pope says Christians must recognize good others do, work with them
22-May-2013:
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Vatican's financial intelligence unit nets suspicious activity
22-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 22, 2013 / 09:59 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican revealed that its enhanced procedures have enabled it to flag more suspicious transactions in 2012 than it did in 2011.
“I’m not saying that everything is great and perfect, but that a lot of progress has been made in the last two years,” said Rene Brülhart, director of the Financial Information Authority, at the Vatican’s press office.
“It’s important that we’re setting a system here to protect the Holy See,” he added.
The Vatican’s Financial Information Authority made the statistics public at a May 22 press conference, where it made its first-ever annual report available.
The report shows that in 2012 there were six reports of suspicious activity, versus one in 2011.
Brülhart said this proves that his department and its system, which became operational in April 2011, are working well.
The director explained that the six suspicious transactions involved sums of money greater than 10,000 Euros ($13,000) but would not provide additional details.
He also revealed that the Financial Authority asked the Promoter of Justice’s office within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to study two of the cases and said that they could be related to money laundering.
He stressed that international cooperation to help combat money laundering was “absolutely key and crucial” and that the Vatican is “a key player in global fight of money laundering.”
The Financial Information Authority was set up to help combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism and hired Brülhart as its director just a few months ago.
According to the Swiss native, combating money laundering in the Vatican began back in 2010 after Pope Benedict XVI released a “motu proprio” that laid out the procedures.
“There’s no financial sector in the Vatican, no stock exchange, so it’s a completely different environment,” Brülhart said.
He noted that his office has two functions: to work as an intelligence unit and to supervise the so-called Vatican bank, which is officially called the Institute for Works of Religion.
The Vatican bank also recently received a new president, Ernst von Freyberg, who announced May 13 that it will make its annual report public and launch a website to better inform the public about its mission.
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Pope: Ask if your life promotes unity or division
22-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 22, 2013 / 06:44 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Holy Spirit made it possible for everyone to hear the apostles in their own language on Pentecost, uniting people who were divided, Pope Francis said, calling on Christians to witness to the faith in a way that reconciles and is forgiving.
“We should all ask ourselves: ‘how do I let myself be guided by the Holy Spirit so that my witness of faith is one of unity and communion? Do I bring the message of reconciliation and love that is the Gospel to the places where I live?’” the Pope said in his May 22 message for the general audience.
The descent of the Holy Spirit undid “the dispersion of peoples and the confusion of tongues” that began with the Tower of Babel, the Pope noted, explaining that the men of the time acted with “arrogance and pride” in wanting to build the tower on their “own strength, and without God.”
Pope Francis address to the crowd of around 50,000 pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square was dedicated to examining the phrase from the Creed, “We believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.” The talk was part of an ongoing series of reflections during the Year of Faith on the Creed that was started by Benedict XVI.
The pontiff stated that the previous line of the Creed on the Holy Spirit has “a deep connection” to the mission and characteristics of the Church that he dwelt on today.
The Holy Spirit “gives life to the Church, guides her steps. Without the presence and the incessant action of the Holy Spirit, the Church could not live and could not accomplish the task that the Risen Jesus has entrusted her: to go and make disciples of all nations,” the Pope explained.
For that reason, he focused his reflection on three ways that the anointing of the Holy Spirit changes people, marks the Church and prepares it to evangelize.
“Sometimes it seems that what happened at Babel is repeated today; divisions, the inability to understand each other, rivalry, envy, selfishness,” the Holy Father observed.
So he asked the crowd to think about the questions, “What do I do with my life? Do I bring unity? Or do I divide with gossip and envy?”
“Bringing the Gospel means we in the first place must live reconciliation, forgiveness, peace, unity, love that the Holy Spirit gives us. Let us remember the words of Jesus: ‘By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another,’” the Pope said, quoting John 4.
The second way the Spirit prepares believers to share the Gospel is by instilling courage in them, he told the crowd.
“Here is another effect of the Holy Spirit: Courage! – the courage to proclaim the newness of the Gospel of Jesus to all, with self-confidence (parrhesia), in a loud voice, in every time and in every place,” he said.
“And this happens even today for the Church and for each of us,” Pope Francis insisted, urging people, “never be closed to this action!”
“Because evangelizing, announcing Jesus, evangelizing brings us joy! It energizes us. Being closed up within ourselves brings bitterness. Proclaiming the joy and hope that the Lord brings to world lifts us up!” the Pope proclaimed.
But all of this is not possible without a “faithful and intense relationship with God,” the pontiff said as he moved into his third point.
“I will only mention a third element, but it is particularly important: a new evangelization, a Church that evangelizes must always start from prayer, from asking, like the Apostles in the Upper Room, for the fire of the Holy Spirit.
“Without prayer our actions become empty and our proclamation soulless; it is not animated by the Spirit,” he stressed.
Pope Francis encouraged Christians to entrust themselves to the Holy Spirit because he “enables us to live and bear witness to our faith, and enlighten the hearts of those we meet.”
He finished his thoughts on the connection between the Church and the Holy Spirit by recalling Benedict XVI’s statement that the Church today “especially feels the wind of the Holy Spirit that helps us, shows us the right path, and so, with new enthusiasm, we are on our journey and we thank the Lord.”
At the end of the audience the Pope also offered a special message the Catholic in China, who will celebrate the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians on May 24.
May they proclaim Christ “dead and risen, with humility and joy; be faithful to his Church and the Successor of Peter; and live their everyday lives in service to their country and their fellow citizens in a manner consistent with the faith they profess,” he said.
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Pope makes fourth appeal for Oklahoma tornado victims
22-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 22, 2013 / 03:52 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As he hosted his weekly Wednesday audience in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis made his fourth appeal for prayer for the victims of the tornado that killed 24 people in Oklahoma.
Before he greeted all of the English-speaking people at the May 22 general audience, Pope Francis invited everyone present to pray for those who were killed or injured by the May 20 tornado that ravaged the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore.
The death toll was originally reported as 91 people, including 20 children, but subsequent counts showed that some casualties were counted twice in the chaos. According to the state’s chief medical officer Doctor Eric Pfeifer, the correct number of dead stands at 24, with nine of those being children.
Besides his request at the general audience, the Pope also sent a May 21 message to Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, in which he asked the archbishop to “convey to the entire community the assurance of his solidarity and closeness in prayer.”
“Conscious of the tragic loss of life and the immensity of the work of rebuilding that lies ahead, he asks Almighty God to grant eternal rest to the departed, comfort to the afflicted, and strength and hope to the homeless and injured,” reads the message sent by Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
In his first two requests for prayer – during the prayer intentions for his daily Mass and then via Twitter – Pope Francis singled out for particular prayer the tragic death of the children who were killed by the storm.
He repeated that plea in his message to the Oklahoma City archbishop, saying, “in particular way he commends to the Father of Mercies the many young children among the victims and their grieving families.”
“Upon the local civil and religious leaders, and upon all involved in the relief efforts His Holiness invokes the Risen Lord's gifts of consolation, strength and perseverance in every good,” his telegram concluded.
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Pope, visiting shelter, says Christian charity is witness of God's love
22-May-2013:
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Tornadoes exact deadly toll; region needs 'a lot of prayers right now'
22-May-2013:
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Pope: power struggles outside Jesus' vision of Church
21-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 21, 2013 / 01:39 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- While acknowledging that power struggles have existed in the Church since it began, Pope Francis said Jesus’ teaching on power leaves no room for them.
“In the Church the greatest is the one who serves most, the one who is at the service of others,” said Pope Francis on May 21.
“This is the rule, yet from the beginning until now there have been power struggles in the Church, even in our manner of speech,” he said in his homily, which was based on the day’s Gospel reading from Mark 9.
In the reading, Jesus catches the disciples arguing about which of them is the greatest.
“In the Gospel of Jesus, the struggle for power in the Church must not exist because true power, that which the Lord by his example has taught us, is the power of service,” said the Pope.
But the Pope believes the struggle for power in the Church is “nothing new” and that it first appearing when Jesus was forming his disciples.
Pope Francis noted, “when a person is given a job, one that in the eyes of the world is a superior role, they say ‘ah, this woman has been promoted to president of that association, or this man was promoted.’”
“This verb, to promote, yes, it is a nice verb and one we must use in the Church,” he said.
“Yes, he was promoted to the Cross, he was promoted to humiliation,” the Pope remarked.
“True promotion,” he underscored, “is that which makes us seem more like Jesus.”
“If we do not learn this Christian rule, we will never, ever be able to understand Jesus’ true message on power,” said Pope Francis.
“Real power is service as he did, he who came not to be served but to serve, and his service was the service of the Cross,” he said.
The pontiff explained that Jesus “humbled himself unto death, even death on a cross for us, to serve us, to save us and there is no other way in the Church to move forward.”
Pope Francis also drove home his point by recalling that Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of his religious order the Jesuits, asked Jesus for the grace of humiliation.
“This is the true power of the service of the Church, this is the true path of Jesus, true and not worldly advancement,” said the pontiff.
“The path of the Lord is being in his service as he carried out his service, we must follow him, on the path of service, that is the real power in the Church,” he stated.
The congregation included the president and vice-president of the Focolare Movement, Maria Voce and Giancarlo Faletti, as well as the director of the magazine Civiltà Cattolica, Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro.
Staff from Vatican Radio and the Office of the Vatican City State Governatorate also attended.
During the prayers of the faithful, Pope Francis prayed for the victims of the tornado that hit the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on the afternoon of May 20. The twister claimed the lives of at least 91 people, including 20 children.
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Vatican denies pope performed public exorcism
21-May-2013:
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Struggle for power in church is sin, pope says at Mass
21-May-2013:
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Pope Francis helped young addict in struggle against drugs
21-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 21, 2013 / 12:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- According to an Argentine priest, Pope Francis when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires helped save a young mailman from the abyss of drug addiction and became his spiritual father.
Jesuit priest and Vatican Radio commentator Father Guillermo Ortiz recounted to CNA knowing then-Cardinal Jorge Bergolio when he was still provincial superior of the Jesuits in Argentina, as well as his own personal introduction to the young man.
“When I was living in Buenos Aires,” he recalled, “I met this guy. He listened to me on the radio and since he was a mailman, he knew the address of my office and he began seeking me out to talk about spiritual questions. He was getting out of drugs thanks to prayer, and he always asked for spiritual guidance.”
After a while, however, the young man stopped coming to visit, and Fr. Ortiz began to worry, until one day he ran across him on the street and found that he had completely recovered.
“Do you know who I have been with, Father? Cardinal Bergoglio!” the young man said. “I went by the chancery and I left a note with my name and number saying I wanted to speak with him, and the next Saturday I was in my room resting and my father knocked on the door.”
“I said, 'Don’t knock, this is my day off and I want to sleep a little bit more!' But my father said, 'No, you can’t right now, the cardinal is on the phone,'” he remembered.
“The cardinal himself had called to tell him when he could meet,” Fr. Ortiz said. “Without any calendar, he answered him immediately! These things are wonderful and one can only ask, 'How did he find the time?'”
Fr. Ortiz said the young mailman eventually overcame his addition through prayer and spiritual direction from priests and in this case from Cardinal Bergoglio, who helped him “continue his struggle against drugs.”
What he most admired about the cardinal was his “closeness to the people. He didn’t have any boundaries. Even as bishop and as cardinal he didn’t have a secretary and he called people himself and met with everyone that he could,” Fr. Ortiz said.
Fr. Ortiz is currently the director of Vatican Radio's Spanish-language broadcast. Since the election of Pope Francis, he has spoken with the pontiff on several occasions.
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Pope praying for children, others struck by Oklahoma tornado
21-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 21, 2013 / 08:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis sent special condolences to those parents who lost their children in a tornado that killed around 100 people in Oklahoma.
“I am close to the families of all who died in the Oklahoma tornado, especially those who lost young children,” the Pope said on his Twitter account on May 21.
“Join me in praying for them,” he added. Pope Francis also tweeted the same message in Spanish.
Earlier in the day during his morning Mass in the Vatican, the Pope personally added a prayer intention for the tornado victims and those who are missing, especially the children.
There are 20 children among the 91 who have died, but officials said the death toll is expected to increase since the tornado hit southern Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on May 20.
The tornado, which was two miles wide at its greatest, touched down at 2:56 p.m. and lashed the area for 45 minutes with winds of up to 200 mph.
It destroyed homes, businesses, the local hospital and other buildings, including Plaza Towers Elementary School.
Local hospitals have treated at least 145 people in Oklahoma City.
President Obama declared the area a major disaster and will be sending federal aid.
In May 1999, Moore was hit by a tornado that broke records with a wind speed of 302 mph.
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Pope prays for victims of Oklahoma tornado
21-May-2013:
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Vatican spokesman denies Pope conducted exorcism
21-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 21, 2013 / 04:31 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis did not perform an exorcism when he prayed over a young disabled man in St. Peter’s Square on Pentecost Sunday, according to the Vatican’s spokesman.
“The Pope had no intention of doing an exorcism, so it is absolutely false that this has been done. He simply prayed for the sick person,” Vatican press office director Father Federico Lombardi told CNA May 21.?
The idea that Pope Francis performed an exorcism was fueled by a video posted online by channel TV2000, which is overseen by the Italian bishops’ conference.
In the video, which is a preview of the May 24 episode of “Vade Retro” (“Go Back” in Latin), a young man is presented to the Pope by Legionary Father Juan Rivas.
What he said to the pontiff is unknown, but the Pope seemed to become serious and began praying over the young man in a wheelchair, placing both his hands on his head.
As the Pope prayed, what sounds like a growl can be heard coming from the young man as he opened his mouth and recoiled downward in his chair.
The Pope’s security detail can be seen hovering in the background, and one of them comes in to quickly take a letter from the Fr. Rivas, before the Pope passes on the next person.
“As usual, the Pope had many patients and many people in difficulty presented to him, and the Pope always prays intensely for them,” Fr. Lombardi said about the encounter.
Marta Jimenez Ibanez contributed to this report.
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Chaldean patriarch warns surge in Iraqi violence will divide country
21-May-2013:
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Pope tells Catholics to shout 'Jesus' instead of 'Francis'
21-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 20, 2013 / 04:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis asked those gathered for the Pentecost Vigil Mass at the Vatican to chant Christ's name instead of his own, highlighting his role as Christ's vicar on earth.
“From now on no more 'Francis,' only 'Jesus,' alright?” he asked rhetorically during the Pentecost Vigil Mass said May 18 at Saint Peter's Square.
“All of you in the square shouted out 'Francis, Francis, Pope Francis,' but where was Jesus?” he admonished them. “I want to hear you shout out 'Jesus, Jesus is Lord, and he is in our midst.'”
During his homily, he spoke to the more than 200,000 people gathered from ecclesial movements from around the world.
The Pope told how his grandmother was the first to pass on the faith to him, and insisted that a person's faith begins through their family.
“I received my first Christian proclamation right from this woman, from my grandmother. That is something beautiful,” he exclaimed.
“The first proclamation is in the home, within the family. This makes me think of the love of many mothers and so many grandmothers in the transmission of the faith,” he said.
He told mothers to conscientiously transmit faith to their children, because “God puts people alongside us who help our journey of faith.”
He also told how, at the age of 16, he felt a sudden urge to go to confession one day. It was there that he heard the call to priesthood.
“After the confession I felt that something had changed, I was not the same. I felt a voice call me, and I was convinced that I had to become a priest.”
“This experience of faith is important,” he added. “We say that we must seek God, go to him to ask for forgiveness but when we go, he is waiting for us, he is the first one there.”
Attendants had posed four questions to the pontiff, which he answered during his homily. The first question inquired about how he has achieved “certainty of faith” and how he would guide each of them to “overcome our fragility of faith.”
“Fragility’s biggest enemy, curiously enough, is fear. But do not be afraid,” he advised. “We are weak, we know it. But Jesus is stronger and if you are with him, then there is no problem.”
The second question given him was on the challenge of evangelization for ecclesial movements and how to effectively communicate the faith in today’s world.
“If we push ahead with planning and organization – beautiful things indeed – but without Jesus, then we are on the wrong road. Jesus is the most important thing,” emphasized Pope Francis.
The pontiff underscored the importance of prayer and “letting God gaze at you.”
He said that he prays the rosary daily, but often “nods off” in front of the tabernacle. “But he understands me. I feel so much comfort when I think that he is looking at me.”
The Bishop of Rome underscored the need for letting one’s self be guided by God. He reflected on St. Peter's vision of “the sheet with all the animals,” when Christ told him to eat non-kosher foods, Christ having made them clean.
Though St. Peter was at first reluctant and did not understand, “some non-Jews came to call him to go into a house, and he saw how the Holy Spirit was there.”
“Peter was guided by Jesus to reach that first evangelization to the Gentiles,” Pope Francis said. “Be guided by Jesus' own leadership,” he urged.
The third question was concerning suffering, and how the movements may address it for the good of the Church and of society.
“When the Church becomes closed in on itself, it gets sick,” Pope Francis said, appealing to people to “not close in on themselves, on their own friends and movements.”
“Think of a closed room, a room locked for a year, when you go in, has a smell of damp,” he said. “A Church that is closed in on itself is just the same – it is a sick Church.”
When Christians are “starched,” speaking “of theology calmly over tea,” rather than being courageous and encountering non-Christians and the poor, the Church is sick, he said.
The pontiff believes people cannot rest in peace knowing that a starving child is not news worthy.
“We cannot become starched Christians, too polite, who speak of theology calmly over tea, we have to become courageous Christians,” he said.
Catholics must themselves reach out to the poor and assist them on a personal level, he stressed.
“A poor Church for the poor begins with going to the flesh of Christ,” which he called the poor.
Personally helping the poor, for Pope Francis, is a theological response to Christ's own poverty. It is a loving response to God's own solidarity with us, since he “humbled himself” and “became poor, walking with us on the road.”
He also emphasized the danger of letting worldliness creep into the Church. “There is a problem that is not good for Christians: the spirit of the world, the worldly spirit, the spiritual worldliness.”
The final question asked of the pontiff regarded how Catholics can help and support those who are persecuted for their faith.
“We must try to make them feel, these brothers and sisters, that we are deeply united to their situation,” he said, highlighting the importance of praying in solidarity with them.
“In the prayer of every day we must say to Jesus, 'Lord, look upon this brother, look at this sister who suffers so much,'” he concluded.
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At Pentecost vigil, pope shares personal stories of his faith
20-May-2013:
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Courageous prayer leads to miracles, Pope reflects
20-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 20, 2013 / 11:35 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis encouraged bold prayer and faithful trust in God during his homily at Mass today at Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican.
“A courageous prayer, that struggles to achieve a miracle,” the Bishop of Rome said May 20. “Not prayers of courtesy: 'Ah, I will pray for you,' I say an Our Father, a Hail Mary and then I forget.”
Rather, he said, “strong prayer is needed. Humble and strong prayer that enables Jesus to carry out the miracle.”
Highlighting the importance of faith in Christ, he told of how an Argentine girl who fell ill and was expected to live but a few hours was miraculously healed after her father prayed intensely for her.
“Her father, an electrician, a man of faith … took a bus to the Marian shrine of Lujan, 70 kilometers (43 miles) away.”
“He finally arrived after 9:00 p.m., when everything was closed. And he began to pray to Our Lady, with his hands gripping the iron fence and he prayed, and prayed, and wept, and prayed … and that’s the way he remained all night long,” Pope Francis added.
The man returned to the hospital the following morning and found his wife weeping. She told him that the doctors came and said the fever was gone and that she would live.
“This still happens,” the Pope reminded his listeners. “Miracles do happen.”
Pope Francis was reflecting on the day's Gospel, which recounts the disciples’ failure to heal a child, and Jesus intervenes saying everything is possible for those who have faith.
According to him, a prayer for a miracle must be “an involved prayer, a prayer that unites us all.”
He took as models the prayer of Abraham, “who struggled with the Lord” to save Sodom and Gomorrah, and Moses' prayer, when he “held his hands high and tired himself out.”
“When people ask us to pray for the many people who suffer in wars, all refugees … pray. But with your heart to the Lord,” he exhorted.
“Do it, but tell him, 'Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.'”
The pontiff stated there is disbelief when “the heart will not open, when the heart is closed, when the heart wants to have everything under control.”
“It is a heart, then, that does not open and does not give control of things to Jesus,” he concluded. “Prayer does wonders, but we have to believe.”
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Rome university launches course on liturgical music
20-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 20, 2013 / 09:34 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A pontifical university in Rome has launched a master's program in Gregorian chant and the use of the organ at Mass so as to build unity among Catholics world-wide.
“The most important thing is that music, when it is truly liturgical, creates community,” Father Jordi Piqué, dean of the Pontifical University of Saint Anselmo's liturgical institute, said May 20.
“When one hears a Mass that is sung or the organ interpreting a beautiful melody, it’s never individualistic, it’s always as a group,” he added at the Benedictine Abbey where the university is located.
Fr. Piqué, who plays the organ, is from the Benedictine Abbey of Montserrat, Spain, and was named dean of the program six months ago.
“The Pontifical Liturgical Institute has always had liturgical sources as its base and since the Second Vatican Council studies have been adapted to spread and make liturgy be valued by the faithful,” he explained.
“A very important part of liturgy is the music and chants, and now we’ve been able to unite with the Pontifical University of Sacred Music and offer this Master's.”
The degree will require that students study Gregorian chant with “a scientific reflection” as well as seeing its central place, “directed within the liturgy.”
Classes for the two-year program will be held every Thursday evening and will be divided into three main topics: liturgy, music, and theology.
The university will regularly invite speakers to lecture on topics such as organ improvisation, the sources of Gregorian chant, and music composition.
Students will also learn about how to use the principles of Gregorian chant to compose chant in their own vernacular languages.
There will also be guests for the course including the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, will lecture on the vision of music within the liturgy.
“The biggest challenge of liturgical music is the same as always been: to take modern-day musical languages and translate them into liturgical languages, or vice versa,” reflected Fr. Piqué.
“We have to invite composers to adapt popular and modern day music, but within the environment of the (Eucharistic) celebration.”
Fr. Piqué believes that music can help people pray, but that liturgical celebrations should include times of silence, as well.
“Music needs silence,” he stated.
In explaining the essential link between Gregorian chant and the Roman liturgy, Fr. Piqué noted Saint Augustine's well-known dictum, “who sings, prays twice.”
St. Benedict directed his monks to “sing with pleasure, sing with wisdom,” he added.
He noted that liturgical participation includes not only singing the chants, but attentively listening to them as well.
“Whoever sings, or listens to music, is praying,” he explained, “because you are praying when you are listening” and that “by singing, you reveal what your heart contains.”
He also believes that sacredness has not been lost, but is “transforming itself and taking on new forms that are related to our times.”
Fr. Piqué noted the increasing use of Gregorian chant at Mass, and interpreted it as a refuge from the hurried pace of modern life.
“But our times are very filled with noise, and so music within the liturgy is taking on again the calm, tranquil and serene aspect that this open and serene dialogue with God needs to have,” he concluded.
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Diversity is a blessing when all are united in faith, pope says
20-May-2013:
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Pope ties Church movements Mass to Pentecost
19-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 19, 2013 / 07:22 am (CNA/EWTN News).- St. Peter’s Square was “transformed into an open-air Cenacle,” Pope Francis said after he celebrated Pentecost with Church movements.
“This celebration of faith is about to end, which began yesterday with the Vigil and culminated this morning in the Eucharist.
“A renewed Pentecost that has transformed St. Peter's Square into an open-air Cenacle,” Pope Francis said May 19 before reciting the Regina Caeli Marian prayer with around 200,000 pilgrims.
His brief reflection prior to the prayer recapped his main message for the Mass, which was that the Holy Spirit brings “newness, harmony and mission” to the lives of Christians.
He saw newness in the pilgrims reliving “the experience of the early Church, who agreed in prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus.”
The harmony inspired by the Holy Spirit was evident in the Square with the “variety of charisms” and the beauty of those being united in the Church.
Finally, Pope Francis thanked the communities and associations for the gift they are to the Church. He then urged them to mission, the third aspect of the Spirit’s work in Christians’ lives.
“Always carry the power of the Gospel! Always have the joy and passion for communion in the Church! The Risen Lord is always with you and the Madonna protects you!” he proclaimed.
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Spirit's surprises are way to happiness, Pope teaches
19-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 19, 2013 / 06:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Around 200,000 pilgrims packed St. Peter’s Square to celebrate Pentecost with Pope Francis, who called on them to be open to “God’s surprises” because they bring true happiness.
“This is not a question of novelty for novelty’s sake, the search for something new to relieve our boredom, as is so often the case in our own day,” the Pope said May 19.
“The newness which God brings into our life is something that actually brings fulfillment, that gives true joy, true serenity, because God loves us and desires only our good,” he stated.
Pope Francis gave his homily during a 10:30 a.m. Mass with Church movements and associations from Europe, Asia and Africa in St. Peter’s Square.
They arrived in Rome for a series of weekend events centered on the Year of Faith, which included a pilgrimage to St. Peter’s tomb, music and testimonies. Their encounter with the Pope began on Saturday afternoon when he held a prayer vigil with them, and it finished with today’s Mass.
The Holy Father dedicated his homily to three ways that the Holy Spirit works in the lives of Christians: “newness, harmony and mission.”
Speaking about the “newness” the Holy Spirit brings, he explained that it requires letting him be the soul and guide of our lives in our every decision.
But the newness and change he brings lasts because it is truly fulfilling and creates joy, the Pope said.
He then posed a series of questions to the crowd:
“Are we open to ‘God’s surprises?’ Or are we closed and fearful before the newness of the Holy Spirit? Do we have the courage to strike out along the new paths which God’s newness sets before us, or do we resist, barricaded in transient structures which have lost their capacity for openness to what is new?”
The second aspect of the Spirit’s work is that he gives different gifts to people, creating diversity in the Church that ends up all being united in harmony by him.
“One of Fathers of the Church has an expression which I love: the Holy Spirit himself is harmony – ‘Ipse harmonia est,’” the Pope said.
He warned that when “we are the ones who try to create diversity and close ourselves up in what makes us different and other, we bring division.”
The key, Pope Francis taught, is to “let ourselves be guided by the Spirit” and live in and with the Church.
“It is the Church which brings Christ to me, and me to Christ; parallel journeys are dangerous!” he cautioned.
“When we venture beyond (proagon) the Church’s teaching and community, and do not remain in them, we are not one with the God of Jesus Christ,” the Pope told the communities.
“So let us ask ourselves: Am I open to the harmony of the Holy Spirit, overcoming every form of exclusivity? Do I let myself be guided by him, living in the Church and with the Church?”
Pope Francis’ final point centered on how the “Holy Spirit is the soul of mission.”
“The older theologians,” he recalled, “used to say that the soul is a kind of sailboat, the Holy Spirit is the wind which fills its sails and drives it forward, and the gusts of wind are the gifts of the Spirit. Lacking his impulse and his grace, we do not go forward.”
He explained that the Holy Spirit “draws us into the mystery of the living God and saves us from the threat of a Church which is gnostic and self-referential, closed in on herself.”
Instead, the Spirit “impels us to open the doors and go forth to proclaim and bear witness to the good news of the Gospel, to communicate the joy of faith, the encounter with Christ,” the Pope preached.
Although the events of Pentecost took place “almost 2,000 years ago,” they are not “something far removed from us; they are events which affect us and become a lived experience in each of us.”
“The Holy Spirit,” Pope Francis noted, “makes us look to the horizon and drive us to the very outskirts of existence in order to proclaim life in Jesus Christ.
“Let us ask ourselves: do we tend to stay closed in on ourselves, on our group, or do we let the Holy Spirit open us to mission?”
He closed his homily by asking God the Father to pour out the Holy Spirit again, using the Latin invocation, “Veni, Sancte Spiritus!” (Come Holy Spirit!).
After Mass Pope Francis recited the Regina Caeli prayer with the assembly, thanking them for their presence and saying that the Holy Spirit renewed Pentecost and changed St. Peter’s Square into an open-air Upper Room.
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Gossip is like slapping Jesus, Pope asserts
18-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 18, 2013 / 09:15 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis spoke today about how gossip by Christians is a “slap” to Jesus “in the person of his children.”
“All three - disinformation, defamation and slander - are sins! This is sin! It is to slap Jesus in the person of his children, his brothers,” the Pope said May 18 in the chapel of St. Martha’s House.
The topic game up in Pope Francis’ homily because of the day’s Gospel reading from John 21 in which Peter asks if John will be alive when Jesus returns to earth.
?“What is it to you?” the pontiff began his homily, referring to Jesus’ response to Peter, who was being tempted “to interfere in the lives of others.”
Peter became “nosy,” Pope Francis remarked, noting that there are two ways people are tempted to get involved in others’ lives. The first is “to compare oneself with others” and the second is to gossip.
“It seems nice to chat,” he reflected, “I do not know why, but it looks nice. Like sweet of honey, right? You take one and then another, and another, and another, and in the end you have a stomach ache. And why? The chatter is like that eh? It is sweet at first and it ruins you, it ruins your soul!”
The Pope then referred back to Genesis, saying that gossip is “‘a little’ like the spirit of Cain who killed his brother, his tongue; it kills his brother!”??The consequence of gossiping is that “we become Christians of good manners and bad habits,” he warned, later repeating the description.
According to Pope Francis, people fail in this area in three ways: by giving “misinformation,” by making known the faults of others, and by telling lies about others.
“That is why Jesus does with us what he did with Peter when he says: ‘What is it to you? Follow me.’ The Lord in this instance points the way,” he said.??
“This kind of talk will not do you any good,” the Pope stated, “because it will just bring to the Church a spirit of destruction. ‘Follow me!’ These are the beautiful words of Jesus, it is so clear, that he has so much love for us. As if to say: ‘Don’t have fantasies, believing that salvation is in the comparisons with others or in gossip. Salvation is to go behind me.’”
Pope Francis finished his homily by saying, “Today we ask the Lord Jesus to give us this grace not to ever get involved in the lives of others, not to become Christians of good manners and bad habits, it is to follow Jesus, to walk behind Jesus on his way. And this is enough.”
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American seminarians win Clericus Cup second time
18-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 18, 2013 / 07:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The North American Martyrs succeeded in clinching the Clericus Cup for the second year in a row, beating the seminarians from Mater Ecclesiae by a score of 1-0.
The game was closely fought, with the Martyrs scoring the game’s only goal about 25 minutes into the second half on a break away down the right-hand side of the field.
The match was primarily a showcase of defense, with the Martyrs appearing to have a slight edge over Mater Ecclesiae throughout the game.
In keeping with tradition, the boisterous American fans showed up dressed as super heroes, including Batman, Captain America and Uncle Sam. They sang patriotic songs, chanted as a drum thumped out the beat, and blew air horns.
The Mater Ecclesiae supporters also turned out for the game in strong numbers, filling the stands and backing their team with the occasional cheer and beating of a drum.
The match was held at the Knights of Columbus Fields, which meant the seminarians could see St. Peter’s Basilica in the background as they duked it out.
As the final whistle sounded, the North American Martyrs fans could be heard changing their chant from “We believe we will win,” to “We believe we have won!”
The Clericus Cup is organized by the Centro Sportivo Italiano, and this year it brought together 13 teams from local Roman seminaries to compete for the prize.
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Vatican Legal: Church teaching doesn't change, but church laws can
17-May-2013:
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Sainthood cause of 16th-century Jesuit moves to Vatican
17-May-2013:
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Spanish bishop exhorts faithful to speak out against abortion
17-May-2013:
Cordoba, Spain, May 17, 2013 / 12:02 pm (CNA).- Bishop Demetrio Fernandez of Cordoba, Spain, is calling on the faithful not to remain silent about the genocide of abortion and to work for “policies inspired in the culture of life.”
“The hundreds of thousands – more than a million – abortions that have taken place in recent years constitute the slow suicide of nation that is incapable to transmitting life to the next generation,” he warned.
In his latest pastoral letter, Bishop Fernandez said the defense of life from the moment of conception is not a religious matter, but is “above all a human matter.”
“The light of God makes us see more clearly that which simply human reason can perceive, if it is not obscured by selfish interests,” he explained.
“We are living in turbulent times in many areas,” the bishop said. For this reason, “we need the Holy Spirit to make clear to us the truth about God and man, to give us the strength to follow the will of God, to inspire us in the mission of brining the Gospel to every person.”
He noted that some people debate about how late into a pregnancy abortion should be allowed. However, he said, “any law that allows abortion will always be a law that is unfit for mankind,” because it allows for the killing of an innocent human life.
Because of the murders that are taking place in the womb, he cautioned, “Europe, and Spain included, is dying of old age.”
Policies should be enacted to encourage births and not to penalize “the family that is generously open to life,” Bishop Fernandez urged.
He also called the faithful to let the Holy Spirit enter into their lives as the “Lord and giver of life.”
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Recognize your sin, ask forgiveness, pope says at Mass
17-May-2013:
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Missio: Pope Francis unlocks app for Pontifical Mission Societies
17-May-2013:
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Pope's mission app launch spreads Gospel
17-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 17, 2013 / 11:30 am (CNA).- With the touch of an iPad, Pope Francis became the first pontiff to unlock a new smartphone application and expanded the Church’s footprint in the digital world.
“I was quite anxious that we were going to get the signal and it was all going to work. Because this isn’t made up, these folks are actually waiting for the Holy Father to hit this button before it works,” said Father Andrew Small in a May 17 CNA interview.
The launch of the MISSIO App took place May 17 in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall during a meeting of the Pope and the 120 national directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies.
The mission society’s application for mobile devices and smartphones collects news from Rome, stories and photos from the missions and other material and makes it available to the world.
The actual unlocking of the app was simple.
Fr. Small, the U.S. national director, presented his iPad to the Pope, who asked, “I push here?”
“As soon as the Holy Father hit the button, a little notice came across the top – what they call a ‘push notice’ – and it said, ‘Pope Francis has unlocked the MISSIO App.’
“And he sort of looked a little bit surprised,” Fr. Small recalled.
The button was labeled “Evangelizantur,” which means, “that they be evangelized” in Latin.
Since the app is available in English, Spanish, Italian, German, French,
Portuguese, Chinese and Arabic, Fr. Small explained that the developers settled on the Latin phrase for the launch.
The purpose of the application is to help the Pope and the Church extend the reach of its message, with a particular emphasis on young people.
“Ever since his election, Pope Francis has reached far beyond the Vatican, touching people's lives in simple and meaningful ways,” Fr. Small observed.
By making the app available the Pope is putting “the missionary Gospel in the pockets of millions of people, young and old, rich and poor, believer and searcher,” he added.
The MISSIO App was developed by the company Little iApps and is available for free in the iTunes App Store and on Google Play.
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Pope tells story of bishop who felt 'unworthy'
17-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 17, 2013 / 10:35 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis told the story of a man who felt ashamed of being a bishop to say that people should not worry of being sinners but should concentrate on allowing Jesus to transform them.
“He was ashamed because he did not feel worthy, he had a spiritual torment and he went to the confessor,” Pope Francis said at his May 17 daily Mass.
“The confessor heard him and said, ‘but do not worry, if after the mess Peter made of things, they made him Pope, then you go ahead!’” he recalled.
The Pope delivered his homily on the Gospel reading from John 21, which tells the story of Jesus asking Peter if he loved him three separate times.
According to the pontiff, people should try harder to encounter Jesus rather than focus on their own sins.
“Many times, we look the other way because we do not want to talk with the Lord or allow ourselves to encounter the Lord,” he stated.
“Meeting the Lord is important, but more importantly, let us be met by the Lord, this is a grace,” he added.
“Peter let himself be shaped by his many encounters with Jesus,” the Pope noted, “and this is something we all need to do as well, for we are on the same road.”
“Peter is great, not because he is good, but because he has a nobility of heart, which brings him to tears, leads him to this pain, this shame and also to take up his work of shepherding the flock,” he remarked.
The pontiff noted “the problem is not that we are sinners: the problem is not repenting of sin; not being ashamed of what we have done, that’s the problem.”
“The Lord makes us mature with many meetings with Him, even with our weaknesses, when we recognize them with our sins,” Pope Francis said.
“The point is that this is how the Lord is, that’s the way He is,” he said.
Referring back to the Gospel reading, Pope Francis said the questions Jesus posed to Peter are “a dialogue of love between the Lord and his disciple.”
He explained that the narration goes back to the history of Peter’s meetings with Jesus, from his invitation to follow the Lord, to his receiving the name of the Rock, “a mission which was there, even if Peter understood nothing of it at the time.”
“Peter was saddened that, for a third time, Jesus asked him, ‘do you love me?’” said Pope Francis.
Peter was a great man, the Holy Father remarked, but he was also a sinner and this question made him feel “pain” and “shame.”
“The Lord makes him feel that he is a sinner, makes us all feel that we are sinners,” but this shame and humility “brings him to a new encounter with Jesus” and “to the joy of forgiveness,” the Pope preached.
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Pope points mission societies toward young churches
17-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 17, 2013 / 09:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis met this afternoon with the directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies and encouraged them to help “the young churches” that operate in difficult and sometimes hostile circumstances.
After reminding them not to forget the universal and missionary nature of their work, Pope Francis underscored the importance of helping those in “the young churches, which often operate in a climate of difficulty, discrimination, and persecution.”
The 120 national directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies and Cardinal Fernando Filoni, head of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, met with the Pope at 12:30 p.m. in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall.
During the encounter, Pope Francis became the first pontiff to unlock an app for smartphones. He launched the MISSIO app on an iPad by pressing a button that said “Evangelizantur,” which means, “that they be evangelized” in Latin.
The app that he unlocked offers news from the Vatican, stories and photos from the missions, and a way to donate to the society. It is available for Android and Apple devices.
Father Andrew Small, who is the U.S. national director, said in a May 17 interview with CNA that during the directors’ meeting with the Pope he “reclaimed us as the Bishop of Rome, as the Roman pontiff” by emphasizing that they are pontifical institutes.
He also told the leaders that they are, “in a sense, my specialists in the missionary work of the Church,” Fr. Small recalled, before going on to explain how the societies work to help the poor and needy and proclaim the Gospel.
The Pope also underlined the relevance of the societies, saying that they are “still necessary today because there are so many peoples who have still not known and met Christ and it is urgent to find new forms and new ways that God's grace might touch the heart of each man and each woman and bring them to him.”
Pope Francis acknowledged that their mission is a difficult one, but “with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it becomes an exciting mission. … This is what we should always draw courage from: knowing that the strength of evangelization comes from God, belongs to him.”
The Pope also touched on one of his major themes, telling the societies to bring God’s mercy and to the poor and abandoned while maintaining an outward focus on evangelization, instead of becoming “wrapped up in themselves.”
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Pope's plan to visit Bonaria shrine thrills pastor
17-May-2013:
Cagliari, Italy, May 17, 2013 / 05:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Father Giovannino Tolu said his heart began racing when he heard that Pope Francis will the visit the shrine he oversees on the Italian island of Sardinia, making it the fourth time he has received a pontiff.
Pope Francis announced at the end of his May 15 general audience that he will travel to the city of Cagliari in September to venerate Our Lady of Bonaria at the basilica of the same name.
“Can’t you hear my heart going tick, tick, tick?” Fr. Tolu, the basilica’s pastor, asked in reaction to the Pope’s declaration.
“We still don’t know yet if Pope Francis will be here one day or if he will be here several days because we just found out yesterday about this,” Fr. Tolu explained in a May 16 interview with CNA.
But regardless of how long the pontiff stays, Fr. Tolu said, “I feel my heart has accelerated; we have the joy of already having had three Popes here.”
Pope Paul VI visited the shrine in 1970, Blessed John Paul II in 1985 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2008.
“The shrine has a special tie to this Pope because he is from Argentina,” the priest explained.
The link between the two places a world apart is that the city of Buenos Aires is named after Our Lady of Bonaria.
The city’s Spanish founder, Pedro de Mendoza, wanted to name the area “City of the Most Holy Trinity,” but Sardinian sailors, who knew of the special devotion to the Mary, wanted to name the city after her.
They then agreed to call the city “City of the Most Holy Trinity and Port of Our Lady of Bonaria.” But because the name was so long it was eventually shortened to “Bonaria,” which is translated into Spanish as “Buenos Aires,” which means “good air.”
“Our basilica here is an old sanctuary from the time of the Spanish soldiers who came here and built a small church for the soldiers,” said Fr. Tolu.
“But in 1704 they felt the need to expand the basilica, and there is a lot of devotion here,” he added.
Fr. Tolu revealed that the connection between the city and the basilica will soon be further strengthened by a small, blessed replica of the Madonna that measures around four feet (1.10 meters) and will be sent to Buenos Aires on July 1.
The devotion to Our Lady of Bonaria originated in 1370 when a violent storm began to strip all of the equipment from a Spanish sailing vessel.
But when a heavy wooden chest fell overboard and hit the water, the sea suddenly calmed.
The box was found on the shore at the port of Bonaria by some friars, who discovered a locust-wood statue of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus in her left arm and a lit candle in her right hand.
Devotion to the Madonna soon took root among the island’s inhabitants and especially among the sailors who looked to her for protection.
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'Chasm' exists between Pope, liberation theology
17-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 16, 2013 / 08:04 pm (CNA).- Even though Pope Francis is deeply concerned for the poor and has been praised by liberation theologians, there is a stark divide between the pontiff and them, according to a Vatican analyst.
“There is a chasm between the vision of the Latin American liberation theologians and the vision of this Argentine pope,” Sandro Magister wrote May 16 in the Italian publication “L'Espresso.”
This is despite perceptions that “when, just three days after his election as pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio called for 'a Church that is poor and for the poor,' his admission among the ranks of the revolutionaries seemed like a done deal.”
Liberation theology developed in Latin America in the 1950s as a Marxist interpretation of the gospel, focusing on freedom from material poverty and injustice rather than giving primacy to spiritual freedom.
While Pope Francis has been praised by Leonardo Boff, a former Franciscan priest and a leader among liberation theologians, the Roman Pontiff “always registered his disagreement with (liberation theology), even at the cost of finding himself isolated.”
“He knows liberation theology well, he saw it emerge and spread among his Jesuit confrères as well,” Magister wrote.
Rather than being influenced by Boff and other radical liberation theologians, Pope Francis took to Father Juan Carlos Scannone, one of his professors.
Magister said that Fr. Scannone “elaborated a theology not of liberation, but 'of the people,' founded on the culture and religious devotion of the common people, of the poor in the first place, with their traditional spirituality and their sense of justice.”
It was this “people's theology” that the Bishop of Rome has embraced, and not a theology of liberation.
In the preface to a 2006 book by Guzmán Carriquiry on the legacy and future of Latin America, Pope Francis wrote of liberation theology: “After the collapse of 'real socialism,' these currents of thought were plunged into confusion. Incapable of either radical reformulation or new creativity, they survived by inertia, even if there are still some today who, anachronistically, would like to propose it again.”
This “dismissive” judgement of liberation theology, Magister said, is “an enthusiasm for progress that in reality backfires” on Catholic identity.
Pope Francis' frequent references to spiritual realities are a sign of his non-alignment with the immanence characteristic of liberation theology, while at the same time having a deep concern for the poor.
During a homily for a daily Mass said April 30, the Roman Pontiff said that Christ is the one to whom “the prince of this world” comes but can do nothing against. “If we don’t want the prince of this world to take the Church into his hands, we must entrust it to the One who can defeat the prince of this world,” said Pope Francis.
And yet, on May 16, he reminded new ambassadors to the Holy See that he “loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but the Pope has the duty, in Christ's name, to remind the rich to help the poor, to respect them, to promote them.”
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Ripple effect continues five years after immigration raid on Iowa plant
17-May-2013:
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Vatican official urges renewal of spouses' life-long 'yes'
17-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 16, 2013 / 04:12 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, said a cultural change is needed to recover the value and meaning of the life-long “yes” that spouses give each other in marriage.
“Unfortunately, today if you give a ‘life-long yes’ to your football team, that is more acceptable than if you give it to your husband or wife,” Archbishop Paglia said during a meeting with reporters on May 14 in Rome.
“This needs to be re-introduced into the culture,” he stressed.
“Today, spouses do not jointly own their possessions because, they say, ‘You never know,’” he observed, adding that people are perceived as “crazy” if they say that are committed to their marriage “forever.”
Society today suffers from a grave cultural problem because the family is no longer supported by the culture, the archbishop continued.
“Thirty or forty years ago, it was not accepted in society if you didn’t get married by a certain age. But today it is the exact opposite,” he said, adding that there is a lack of trust in modern culture.
Archbishop Paglia lamented the growth of single-parent families and children with no siblings. He observed that families comprised of a father, a mother and children “are the backbone of our countries” and said that the state should promote these stable families.
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When church is too serious, it loses its loving, tender side, pope says
16-May-2013:
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Church needs believers with zeal, not couch-potato Catholics, pope says
16-May-2013:
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Pope: 'If we annoy people, blessed be the Lord'
16-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 16, 2013 / 10:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Pope told Christians it is better to be “annoying” and “a nuisance” than lukewarm in proclaiming Jesus Christ.
“If we annoy people, blessed be the Lord,” said Pope Francis during his morning Mass at the Vatican on May 16.
“We can ask the Holy Spirit to give us all this apostolic fervor and to give us the grace to be annoying when things are too quiet in the Church,” he said at the chapel of the Saint Martha residence, where he lives.
He celebrated the Mass alongside Cardinal Peter Turkson and Bishop Mario Toso, the president and the secretary of the Vatican Council for Justice and Peace.
Council staff and employees from Vatican Radio were among those attending the Eucharistic celebration.
The Pope preached on today’s first reading from Acts 22 and contrasted “backseat Christians” with those who have apostolic zeal.
“There are those who are well mannered, who do everything well, but are unable to bring people to the Church through proclamation and apostolic zeal,” he stated.
The pontiff said apostolic zeal “implies an element of madness,” which he labeled as “healthy” and “spiritual.”
He added that it “can only be understood in an atmosphere of love” and that it is not an “enthusiasm for power and possession.”
Pope Francis also dwelt on St. Paul’s actions in the reading from Acts.
“Paul, in preaching of the Lord, was a nuisance, but he had deep within him that most Christian of attitudes, apostolic zeal,” he stated.
“He was not a man of compromise, no!” he exclaimed. “The truth, forward! The proclamation of Jesus Christ, forward!”
The Pope noted that St. Paul’s fate was one “with many crosses, but he keeps going, he looks to the Lord and keeps going.”
“He is a man who, with his preaching, his work, his attitude irritates others, because testifying to Jesus Christ and the proclamation of Jesus Christ makes us uncomfortable.
“It threatens our comfort zones, even Christian comfort zones, right?” he asked the congregation. “It irritates us.”
Pope Francis underscored that the Lord “always wants us to move forward, forward, forward, not to take refuge in a quiet life or in cozy structures.”
Saint Paul’s apostolic zeal, he observed, comes from knowing Jesus Christ.
Paul did not find and encounter Jesus Christ with an intellectual or scientific knowledge, but with “that first knowledge of the heart and of a personal encounter.”
According to the Pope, St. Paul was a “fiery” individual who was always in trouble, “not in trouble for troubles’ sake, but for Jesus” because “proclaiming Jesus is the consequence.”
“The Church has so much need of this, not only in distant lands, in the young churches, among people who do not know Jesus Christ, but here in the cities, in our cities, they need this proclamation of Jesus Christ,” Pope Francis stressed.
“So let us ask the Holy Spirit for this grace of apostolic zeal, let’s be Christians with apostolic zeal, onwards, as the Lord says to Paul, take courage!” he exclaimed.
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Relations with China affect timing of Matteo Ricci cause
16-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 16, 2013 / 10:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Approval for the beatification of the Italian Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci, who ministered in China 500 years ago, depends to some degree on the Vatican’s relations with China.
“Part of the beatification depends on the political relations between China and the Vatican,” said Father Anton Witwer, the postulator of his cause.
“It’s possible to wait, even if all things are clear for a beatification, something like five years to see if the political situation has changed and is more favorable for the cause,” he told CNA in a May 15 interview.
Jesuit Father Matteo Ricci was an expert in mathematics, cosmology and astronomy, who helped spread the Gospel in China during the 16th century.
The Italian Jesuit was the first Westerner invited into the Forbidden City, the Chinese imperial palace where the emperor lived, and he produced the first map of China where Africa, Europe and America also appeared.
The process of naming him a saint involves several steps, beginning with his life being recognized as one of “heroic virtue,” before he can be beatified, which is the step before sainthood.
According to Fr. Witwer, the process began in 1985 in the Italian town of Macerata, but “it was only a historical opening so it was not sufficient.”
“This is why we had to make a new process,” he added, referring to the one initiated on Jan. 24, 2010.
The German priest, who is the General Postulator of the Society of Jesus, also explained some of the considerations that can impact the timing of Fr. Ricci’s beatification.
“First, a beatification has to help the local church (in China) to sustain and grow faith, and if there is a political impediment, it is sometimes necessary to choose the just time,” Fr. Witwer said.
In fact, the Vatican asked Fr. Witwer to introduce the cause of Fr. Ricci’s lay collaborator Xu Guanqi because “for China, it would maybe be better if a European and a Chinese are beatified more or less together,” he explained.
“This would be better for China because it is easier to accept a Chinese Blessed and not only a missionary working in China,” he added.
But according to the Jesuit postulator, Xu Guanqi’s beatification process is on hold since it was introduced in Shanghai, which is currently without a bishop.
The Italian Diocese of Macerata finished studying the case of Fr. Ricci on May 10, and passed it to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
The congregation will now examine the case to decide whether or not to give the missionary, who spoke fluent Chinese and embraced the country’s culture and customs, the status of heroic virtue.
The postulator pointed out that if the Vatican gives Fr. Ricci that status, it would mean “he lived as a virtuous of faith, obedience and poverty, more than the average Christian.”
The next step in eventually proclaiming him a saint would be to beatify him, making him Blessed Mateo Ricci. That step, among other things, will involve a miracle being attributed to his intercession and have it certified as miraculous by separate panels of medical doctors, cardinals and the Pope.
“We still have to wait for the beatification because we have to wait for a miracle, which we don’t have yet,” Fr. Witwer reported.
“The Diocese of Macerata will now bring documents to the congregation and we will have to examine their canonical correctness,” said Fr. Witwer.
The postulator explained that the next step in determining whether Fr. Ricci lived a life of heroic virtue involves drafting a document of around 500 pages – known as a “Positio” – that details the life, writings and virtues of the priest.
It will be directed by the relator of the saints congregation, a “sort of thesis moderator, and then studied by historians, theologians and finally by cardinals,” said Fr. Witwer.
“Maybe in two years we can finish the Positio, then several years will be needed to study it, and then a few more years may be needed before the beatification finally takes place,” he said.
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Pope calls for global, ethical finance reform, end to cult of money
16-May-2013:
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'Money has to serve, not rule!' Pope tells new ambassadors
16-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 16, 2013 / 05:47 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis told the new ambassadors to the Holy See from Kyrgyzstan, Antigua and Barbuda, Luxembourg and Botswana to use money to serve and asked them to help reform the world economy along “ethical lines.”
“Money has to serve, not rule!” he said during a May 16 meeting with the new ambassadors of four countries who do not have a physical location for their embassy to the Holy See in Rome.
Pope Francis used the occasion to underscore that “wanting power and possession has become limitless” and “the selfish sprawling of corruption and tax evasion have gone global.”
“The Pope urges a return to the unselfish solidarity and ethics in favor of man in financial and economic reality,” he said during the 11:00 a.m. meeting in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall.
No official explanation was given of why Pope Francis chose to speak about economics with diplomats from such diverse parts of the world, but the four countries have all experienced the effects of the global financial crisis.
The Pope also stressed to the ambassadors that there is a need for financial reform “along ethical lines that would in its turn produce an economic reform to benefit everyone.”
That lesson is one that the people of Antigua and Barbuda know very well, since in 2009 Allen Sanford was accused of running an $8 billion Ponzi scheme from the country.
Pope Francis said he “loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but the Pope has the duty, in Christ's name, to remind the rich to help the poor, to respect them, to promote them.”
“This would require a courageous change of attitude on the part of political leaders,” he stated.
“I urge them to face this challenge with determination and farsightedness, taking account, naturally, of their particular situations,” he added.
The pontiff spoke about the dangers of the current economic crisis, noting it is “a new, invisible tyranny, sometimes virtual.”
“The joy of living is decreasing, indecency and violence are on the rise, and poverty is becoming more evident,” said Pope Francis.
“You must fight to live and often to live in a non-decent way,” he observed.
According to him, one of the causes of the situation lies in the relationship that people now have with money and “its dominion over us and our societies.”
“We have created new idols, the ancient worship the golden calf has found a new and ruthless image in fetishism of money and the dictatorship of the economy without purpose nor a truly human face,” said the Pope.
“It reduces man to one of its demands, consumption and even worse, the human being is today considered himself as a commodity that you can use and then throw away,” he remarked.
The Holy Father also warned that solidarity is often considered counterproductive and contrary to financial and economic logic.
“Financiers, economists and politicians consider God as manageable, even dangerous because it calls man to his full realization and independence from any kind of slavery,” said Pope Francis.
“While the income of a minority is growing exponentially, that of the majority weakens,” he said, pointing to the growing disparity between the rich and poor.
He believes this imbalance stems from “ideologies that promote the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation.”
The Pope asked the new ambassadors to assure their natives of his prayers and tell them of his “feelings of gratitude and respect.”
The new ambassadors are Bolot Iskovich Otunbaev of Kyrgyzstan, David Shoul of Antigua and Barbuda, Jean-Paul Senninger of Luxembourg, and Lameck Nthekela of Botsawana.
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Vatican bank plans website launch, annual report
16-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 16, 2013 / 04:18 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The institution often called the Vatican bank will launch a new website and begin publishing its annual report, as it continues to improve its transparency and image.
News of the latest efforts was announced by the Institute for Works of Religion’s new president, Ernst von Freyberg, during a May 13 meeting with the staff.
He was appointed by Benedict XVI on Feb. 15 as part of an ongoing effort to revamp the institute by updating its controls against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
At the Monday meeting, von Freyberg “expressed his appreciation for the efforts of all, for the high professionalism and the positive results achieved” during his first three months at the helm, Vatican Radio said in a May 14 report.
He also revealed that the institute has obtained the services of an “international organization” to ensure that its transactions meet international and Vatican money-laundering standards.
The main purpose of the website is to increase communication with the public about what the institute does, and it will not offer online banking.
In June 2012, the director of the institute, Paolo Cipriani, told the press that it oversees about 6 billion euros ($7.4 billion) in assets and has around 33,000 accounts.
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Clergy must be shepherds, not wolves, says Pope
16-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 15, 2013 / 04:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said on Wednesday that bishops and priests must take care to avoid temptations in order to be an effective shepherd, protecting their flock from dangers.
He urged the Catholic faithful to pray for bishops and priests, “because if we go on the road to riches, if we go on the road to vanity, we become wolves and not shepherds.”
The Pope’s words came in his May 15 homily in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae residence at the Vatican.
“A bishop is not a bishop for himself,” Pope Francis said. “He is for the people, and a priest is not a priest for himself. He is for the people: to serve, to nurture them, to shepherd them, who are his flock – in order to defend them from the wolves.”
When the bishops and priests do this, he said, they foster a “relationship of protection and love” between God and the pastor and between the pastor and the laity.
This shows “a true love” that unites the Church, he explained.
The Pope based his homily on the Acts of the Apostles passage in which St. Paul exhorts the Church of Ephesus to guard against the “ravening wolves” and “men speaking perverse things, to draw disciples after them,” Vatican Radio reports.
Pope Francis repeated his prayers for bishops and priests who face temptation.
“We are men and we are sinners,” he said. “We are tempted.”
He cited St. Augustine’s commentaries on the prophet Ezekiel. Augustine warned against the temptations of wealth and vanity, when the bishop and priest “take from the people,” make deals and become “attached to money.”
The Holy Father added that “when a priest, a bishop goes after money, the people do not love him – and that's a sign….he ends badly.”
A bishop or priest on “the road to vanity” is one who “enters into the spirit of careerism – and this hurts the church very much,” the Pontiff said. Such a man “ends up being ridiculous: he boasts, he is pleased to be seen, all powerful – and the people do not like that!”
He pointed to the example of St. Paul, who “did not have a bank account” but worked with his hands and accomplished God’s will.
Pope Francis asked the Catholic faithful to pray for bishops and priests “that we might be poor, that we might be humble, meek, in the service of the people.”
He urged bishops and priests to pray much and to “boldly preach the message of salvation.”
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Marian statue connects pope's native city of Buenos Aires with Sardinia
15-May-2013:
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Researchers' embryonic stem-cell advance decried as morally troubling
15-May-2013:
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Pope highlights religious freedom on Edict of Milan anniversary
15-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 15, 2013 / 01:31 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis stressed the importance of religious freedom in a message for the 1,700th anniversary of the Roman Emperor Constantine legalizing Christianity.
The Pope said in his message, released May 15 by the Vatican’s Secretary of State, that “this historical decision” which gave religious freedom to Christians, “opened new ways to the Gospel and contributed decisively to the birth of the European culture.”
He added that “thanks to the foresight of civil authorities, the right to express one’s own faith is respected everywhere,” and Christianity’s continued contribution “to culture and to the society of our times is accepted.”
Issued in 313 A.D., Emperor Constantine’s decree legalizing Christianity throughout the Roman Empire is known as the “Edict of Milan.” At the time, the empire included modern-day Istanbul, which was called Constantinople during that period.
Cardinal Angelo Scola and the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, will celebrate the publication of the edict with a ceremony in Milan on May 16.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, in collaboration with the Council of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of Europe, organized the meeting of the two Church leaders.
Given that the edict impacted Christians in both the East and West, Pope Francis said in his message that he hopes “that, today as back then, the common witness of Christians of East and West, supported by the Spirit of the Risen Christ, contributes to the spread of the message of salvation in Europe and in the whole world.”
Cardinal Scola will co-chair an ecumenical prayer service and will comment on the texts chosen for the Liturgy – Acts of the Apostles 26 and John 17 – alongside Patriarch Bartholomew.
The Byzantine Choir of the Conservatory of Acharnes will sing, and there will be music from the chapel of the Cathedral of Milan to emphasize the beauty of the Church.
After Mass, Cardinal Scola and Patriarch Bartholomew will go down into the crypt to venerate the relics of Saint Ambrose and the Saints Gervase and Protaso, a devotion that unites Catholics and Orthodox.
Cardinal Scola will donate to Bartholomew the new Ambrosian Gospels and some relics of St. Ambrose of Milan, martyrs and witnesses of faith.
This will be the second time an Orthodox patriarch has visited the Archdiocese of Milan this week, after the Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Tawadros II, stopped there on May 14.
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Pope says there are no part-time Christians; faith is a full-time job
15-May-2013:
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Vatican tells cardinal to leave Scotland for period of prayer, penance
15-May-2013:
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Pope asks prayers for pastors that they not become 'wolves'
15-May-2013:
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Archbishop says people returning to confession because of pope
15-May-2013:
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Church movements bringing 50,000 more than Vatican expected
15-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 15, 2013 / 10:45 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The attendance response to a Pentecost weekend event for Church movements has exceeded the Vatican’s expectations by 50,000 people.
“Over 120,000 people have signaled their attendance, around 150 different ecclesial realities coming from around the world are registered attesting to the fact that the Church's catholicity knows no boundaries,” said Archbishop Rino Fisichella, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization.
“The Year of Faith is going better than what I thought, because the response has been great so far,” he remarked in a May 15 interview with CNA.
“We expected 70,000 people and we’re reaching double the numbers,” he added.
The Vatican has organized the May 18-19 weekend for Church movements to gather in Rome as part of the “Year of Faith,” an initiative aimed at evangelizing and helping Catholics become more fervent in faith.
The Church movements are typically focused on presenting the Gospel in depth, building and promoting Christian community, and preparing their members to witness to their faith in the public square.
“New movements and associations are the young face of the Church and it’s a fruit of the Second Vatican Council,” the archbishop explained.
Participants in the weekend will have a chance to experience the faith in several ways.
Starting at 7:00 a.m. on May 18, groups of around 50 people will be guided by experts in theology on a pilgrimage to St. Peter’s tomb inside Saint Peter’s Basilica.
Later in the afternoon, between 3-6 p.m., members of the Focolare movement’s Gen Verde musical group, along with a choir of over 150 singers from the various movements will provide music for those gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
Once the music has finished, Pope Francis will join in the celebration with a prayer in front of the image of the Virgin Mary Salus Populi Romani.
The event will continue with two strong testimonies by Irish writer John Waters and Pakistani surgeon Paul Bhatti, whose brother was killed by the Taliban for standing up against the country’s blasphemy law.
Members of the movements will then ask the Pope some questions, which he will respond to off-the-cuff.
A large group of people with disabilities, the parents of a child killed in L’Aquila’s earthquake, and Italian politicians from the Communion and Liberation movement will be among those attending.
The weekend ceremony will conclude on Sunday with Pentecost Mass presided over by Pope Francis at 10:00 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square.
The archbishop explained that Pope Benedict XVI launched the Year of Faith to call people to be witnesses of faith.
“On the other hand, the new Pope’s presence and his simplicity is attracting many people to Rome who want to listen, touch and see him,” said Archbishop Fisichella.
“This is great. And it’s in some way an effect of the Year of Faith, especially seeing Pope Francis being the first witness,” he stated.
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Cardinal O'Brien leaving Scotland for penance, prayer
15-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 15, 2013 / 09:39 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Cardinal Keith P. O’Brien will be spending several months in penance and prayer outside of Scotland after meeting with Pope Francis, according to the Vatican.
The Vatican press office released a one-paragraph statement on May 15 which says that Cardinal O’Brien “for the same reasons he decided not to participate in the last Conclave, and in agreement with the Holy Father, will be leaving Scotland for several months for the purpose of spiritual renewal, prayer, and penance.”
“Any decision regarding future arrangements for His Eminence shall be agreed upon with the Holy See,” it added.
In the days before the election Pope Francis, Cardinal O’Brien – who was the Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh – became the focus of media attention following accusations by three priests and one former priest that he made inappropriate sexual advances toward them in the 1980s.
The cardinal revealed on Feb. 18 that he would not attend the conclave and at the same time announced that Pope Benedict had accepted his resignation, effective Feb. 25.
Where the cardinal will be living out his time of penance and renewal is not known, and the Scottish Catholic Media Office could not provide any additional information.
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Holy Spirit leads to truth amid relativism, Pope counsels
15-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 15, 2013 / 04:42 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As he looked ahead to Pentecost, Pope Francis spoke about the Holy Spirit’s role in guiding Christians to know Jesus, who is the Truth, in an age of relativism.
“We live in an age rather skeptical of truth,” the Pope said, as he encouraged Christians to let themselves “be imbued with the light of the Holy Spirit, so that he introduces us into the Truth of God.”
But “you cannot grab the truth as if it were an object, you encounter it. It is not a possession, is an encounter with a person,” Pope Francis noted as he recalled Pontius Pilate posing the question, “What is truth?” to Jesus.
The Holy Father made his remarks in the context of an ongoing series of reflections on the Creed that he has been offering each Wednesday, as well as the Feast of Pentecost which will be celebrated this coming Sunday.
For those reasons he focused on the role of the Holy Spirit in leading believers to the Truth.
“First of all, he reminds and imprints on the hearts of believers the words that Jesus said, and precisely through these words, God’s law – as the prophets of the Old Testament had announced – is inscribed in our hearts and becomes within us a principle of evaluation in our choices and of guidance in our daily actions, it becomes a principle of life,” the Pope taught.
The second way that the Holy Spirit leads us, the pontiff taught, is by guiding “us ‘into’ the Truth, that is, he helps us enter into a deeper communion with Jesus himself, gifting us knowledge of the things of God.”
“We cannot achieve this on our own strengths. If God does not enlightens us interiorly, our being Christians will be superficial,” Pope Francis stated.
The May 15 general audience featured more off-the-cuff remarks from the Pope than previous meetings have, and today he seemed to spontaneously compose a prayer to encourage people to be more open to the Holy Spirit.
“And this is a prayer we need to pray every day, every day: Holy Spirit may my heart be open to the Word of God, may my heart be open to good, may my heart be open to the beauty of God, every day,” he urged.
“Will you do it?” he asked the crowd packed into St. Peter’s Square. The pilgrims responded “yes,” but Pope Francis was not satisfied, so he replied, “I can’t hear you!” He was rewarded with a much louder and enthusiastic “Yes!”
Pope Francis also held up Mary as an example and “her ‘yes,’ her total availability to receive the Son of God in her life, and who from that moment was transformed.”
“Do we live in God and of God, is our life really animated by God? How many things do I put before God?” he asked the pilgrims.
Living this way means not being “a ‘part-time’ Christian, at certain moments, in certain circumstances, in certain choices,” he said.
The Pope closed his address by asking Catholics to look at how they have spent the Year of Faith so far.
Have we “actually taken a few steps to get to know Christ and the truths of faith more, by reading and meditating on the Scriptures, studying the Catechism, steadily approaching the Sacraments.
"But at the same time let us ask ourselves what steps we are taking so that the faith directs our whole existence,” he said.
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Tango dancer dedicates performance at St. Peter's to Pope
15-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 14, 2013 / 04:05 pm (CNA).- A professional Argentine dancer, who recently travelled to Rome to see his fellow countryman, Pope Francis, hopes to one day perform for the Holy Father in person.
“It is truly a pleasure and an honor for Argentineans to have him as Pope,” Oscar Flores told CNA on May 8 after the Pope’s general audience. “He is a very charismatic person and he knows how to reach the people.”
The dancer was joined by a group of Latin Americans, including Mexicans, Peruvians, Argentineans and Colombians, who filled St. Peter’s with joyful songs dedicated to the Pontiff.
The group was led by Peruvian priest Father Luis Sandoval, who works with immigrants in the Italian Diocese of Benedetto de Tronto.
Flores delighted a group of the faithful with a performance of the traditional tango in St. Peter’s Square.
“I dedicate this dance to Francis,” he said, adding that “it would be an honor and a dream” to dance for the Holy Father in person someday.
Flores began dancing 18 years ago in Argentina, where he teaches various dance styles. He is currently in Italy to attend several different festivals.
This week, Flores will perform in San Benedetto de Tronto, where one of the largest Latin American communities in Italy resides. He will later return to Buenos Aires to teach at a dance academy.
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Vatican commissions art for display at Venice international exhibition
14-May-2013:
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Patroness, inspiration, intercessor: Mary is beloved in Latin America
14-May-2013:
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Pontificate of Pope Francis consecrated to Our Lady of Fatima
14-May-2013:
Lisbon, Portugal, May 14, 2013 / 12:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- At the Holy Father’s personal request, Cardinal Jose Polycarp, the Patriarch of Lisbon, consecrated the pontificate of Pope Francis to Our Lady of Fatima on her feast day.
Addressing Our Lady of Fatima during the ceremony, Cardinal Polycarp said, “Grant (Pope Francis) the gift of discernment to know how to identify the paths of renewal for the Church, grant him the courage to not falter in following the paths suggested by the Holy Spirit, protect him in the difficult hours of suffering, so that he may overcome, in charity, the trials that the renewal of the Church will bring him.”
In statements to CNA, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said, “As we know, an important celebration takes place on May 13 in Fatima during which it is normal that the pontificate be entrusted to Our Lady of Fatima.”
The consecration took place at the Portuguese shrine dedicated to Our Lady, with thousands of the faithful present.
Cardinal Polycarp recalled that Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI visited Fatima and expressed his desire that Pope Francis do so as well.
“From here, at this altar of the world, he will be able to bless humanity, to make the world of today feel that God loves all men and women of our time, that the Church loves them and that you, Mother of the Redeemer, lead them with tenderness on the paths of salvation,” the cardinal said.
The path of Church renewal leads to a “rediscovery of the relevance” of the Fatima message and of the need to “converse with God,” he explained.
“Contemporary humanity needs to feel loved by God and by the Church,” Cardinal Polycarp said. “If humanity feels loved, it will overcome the temptation to violence, materialism, estrangement from God, loss of direction, and it will be able to advance towards a new world in which love will prevail.”
During the Mass, Bishop Antonio Marto of Leiria-Fatima read a message from Pope Francis to the Apostolic Nunciature in Portugal.
“The Holy Father said he was pleased with the initiative and expressed deep acknowledgment for satisfying his desire united in prayer with all the pilgrims of Fatima, upon whom he whole-heartedly confers the apostolic blessing,” the message stated.
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Pope: Satan tricks people into being selfish, leaving them loveless
14-May-2013:
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Vatican announces its debut at Venice art festival
14-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 14, 2013 / 09:33 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican is participating for the first time in a famous international art exposition in Venice under the theme “Creation, Un-Creation and Re-Creation,” with the aim of promoting modern dialogue on faith.
The 55th edition of Venice’s Biannual Art Festival, known as the “Biennale di Venezia” in Italian, will take place June 1 to Nov. 24 and will bring together exhibits from 88 different countries.
The Vatican’s contribution will use the Book of Genesis as its narrative thread.
It is “a project that is not only extraordinarily innovative, but also responds to its own objectives, that is instituting and promoting occasions of dialogue within an ever broader and diversified context,” said Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture.
“The Pontifical Council for Culture holds contemporary art at the heart of its interests, for it is one of the most important cultural expressions of recent decades,” he added during a May 14 press conference at the Vatican.
The exhibit is being curated Vatican Museums director Antonio Paolucci, who described to the press how each of the themes in linked together.
“None of the three artistic works can be fully appreciated without recourse to the overall meaning of the three moments as presented in the Genesis,” he said.
“Each and every one of these moments is able to contain and comprehend the other two,” he added.
According to the director, the theme of creation “triggers a dialogue, awash with echoes and reverberations, between the vegetable and animal kingdom and the human diemsion.”
“It leads, via memory to other personal narrations on the concept of origins within an interactive plane that is also a temporal intersection,” said Paolucci.
Studio Azurro has been entrusted with the theme of “creation” as well as the last theme, “re-creation.”
Josef Koudelka’s photographs have been chosen to represent “de-creation.”
Paolucci noted that the photographs show “the destruction brought about by war, the material and conceptual consumption of history through time and the two opposing poles of nature and industry are made to emerge.”
“The photographer’s images expose an abandoned, wounded world and at the same time are able to transform fragments of reality into works of art bordering on abstraction,” he commented.
The third theme, “re-creation”, was entrusted to the artist Lawrence Carroll, who Paolucci said is capable of giving life to “salvaged materials.”
The display will cost the private Foundation for the Heritage and Artistic Activities of the Church a total of 750,000 Euros ($970,000), and the costs will be covered entirely by donations.
Miss Micol Forti, who works for the Pontifical Council for Culture, explained the method the Vatican used to select which artists would develop the three sections.
“The theme was the real guide that has conducted our work of reflecting, discussing and then selecting and choosing,” said Forti.
“It was a work that was shared by a scientific committee that reflected thoroughly, based on the … theme’s vitality,” she added.
At the end of his remarks, Cardinal Ravasi alluded to how the Church has been increasing its support for artistic endeavors.
“Clearly, each of these aspects was only a starting point for the selected artists.
“A vital, rich, and elaborate dialogue has been established with them and is a sign of a renewed, modern patronage. To them, my most heartfelt thanks.”
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Satan 'always rips us off,' Pope warns
14-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 14, 2013 / 08:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Christians who buy into Satan’s temptation to live selfishly get swindled, while those who live life as a “gift” to others are immersed in love and the Church community, Pope Francis said.
“And, we must say, with Satan the payback is rotten. He always rips us off, always!” the Pope emphasized as he contrasted the kind of selfish living that the devil promotes with the generous way of living Jesus exemplified.
“When a Christian begins to isolate himself, he also insulates his consciousness from the sense of community, from a sense of the Church, and from the love that Jesus gives us,” he explained.
“Instead, the Christian who gives his life, what Jesus calls ‘lost,’ finds it and finds it in its fullness,” the Pope preached May 14 in his homily on John 15.
A group of employees from the Vatican Museums and some students of the Pontifical Portuguese College attended the 7:00 a.m. Mass in the chapel of St. Martha’s residence.
The Pope concelebrated the Mass with the Colombian Archbishop of Medellín, Ricardo Antonio Restrepo Tobón.
The Holy Father explained that wanting to live just for oneself is like Judas, who “in the end loses” his life.
“If we really want to follow Jesus, we must live life as a gift to give to others, not as a treasure to be preserved,” said Pope Francis.
The pontiff compared the path of Jesus to a path of love, while the way of Judas is one of selfishness.
“Jesus tells us today strong words, ‘no one has a stronger love than this, to lay down his life,’” he said.
“But today’s liturgy also shows us Judas, who had just the opposite attitude, and this is because he never understood the meaning of a gift,” he added.
Pope Francis noted that Judas was “off in his solitude” and that his “attitude of selfishness developed into the betrayal of Jesus.”
He explained that the person who loves you gives his life as a gift, but the selfish person “grows in this selfishness and becomes a traitor, but always alone.”
“Those who give their life for love are never alone and are always in the community and in the family,” Pope Francis said.
“ On the other hand, he who isolates his conscience in selfishness, loses it in the end,” he stated.
Judas, the Pope pointed out, was “an idolater, attached to money.”
“This idolatry led him to isolate himself from the community, this is the drama of isolated consciousness,” he said.
Pope Francis finished his homily by invoking the Holy Spirit, asking for “a heart able to love with humility and meekness.”
He asked that the Holy Spirit “free us always” from “the way of selfishness, which eventually ends badly.”
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Syrian crisis part of Western geopolitical strategy, says patriarch
14-May-2013:
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Board game created by nun becomes a hit in Spain
14-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 13, 2013 / 04:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A new faith-based board game created by a Spanish nun has become one of the most popular First Communion gifts in Spain this year.
Sister Maria Granados Molina created the new game, “The Joy of the Faith,” which tests players’ knowledge of Catholicism. The game’s publisher said 2,000 copies have been made since the game went on sale a few months ago, and there are hopes to market it in the United States and Latin America.
Thirty-five year-old Sr. Molina was born in Granada and belongs to a Carmelite order in the city of Cuenca. She works as a catechist for the Diocese of Cuenca.
In an interview with CNA, Sr. Molina said she never imagined the game would become so popular. She made the first version of the game at home with her own printer and the help “of the sisters from my congregation in Cuenca.”
“The Joy of the Faith” is intended to help players learn about Jesus and the experience of being a Christian. Players roll dice and answer questions about the Catholic faith to move along the spaces on the board. The game incorporates drawings, gestures and prayers.
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Sr. Molina debuted the game in Madrid last year during a conference on catechesis. It was picked up by a national distributor and made available later throughout the country.
“The game is the fruit of a desire, a concern and a prayer…and I think it has received a surprising reception. Nobody thought that with the way Spain is right now that a game like this would be a success,” she said.
The game is based on the children’s catechetical book “Jesus is Lord,” which was approved by the Bishops’ Conference of Spain. It is intended for children ages 7 and up, and it can be played by groups of young people, families, schools and catechists.
“I wanted people to draw closer to the experience of Jesus,” Sr. Molina said.
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Tens of thousands march for life in Rome
13-May-2013:
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Focusing on self rather than Jesus makes prayer boring, pope says
13-May-2013:
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Pope: Holy Spirit reminds people they once were lost, now found by God
13-May-2013:
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Church is growing worldwide, especially in Asia, Africa, Vatican says
13-May-2013:
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Vatican stats show continued growth in Africa, Asia
13-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 13, 2013 / 11:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Vatican statistics released today show that the number of Asian and African Catholics is continuing its upward trajectory, while the Church in Europe is still shrinking.
The number of religious excluding priests has risen 18.5 percent in Africa and a whopping 44.9 percent in Asia in just 10 years, according to the 2013 Pontifical Yearbook.
The Yearbook, which was published May 13 and contains data from 2011, revealed Catholics still make up less than 18 percent of the world’s population, but the Church is growing the fastest in Africa and Asia.
And although it shows “a strong downward trend was observed in data for the professed religious women with a decrease of 10 percent from 2001 to 2011,” there has also been “a sustained increase” with over 28 percent in Africa and 18 percent in Asia.
The Yearbook states that although the number of Catholics in the world increased by just 1.5 percent from 2010 to 2011, it increased by 4.3 percent in Africa and 2 percent in Asia.
The total number of Catholics that were baptized in 2011 had the highest representation in the Americas at 48.8 percent, followed by Europe with 23.5 percent, Africa was at 16 percent, Asia had 10.9 percent and Oceania came in at just under one percent.
“The dynamics of the number of priests in Africa and Asia is somewhat comforting,” says the document.
It reports that there were over 3,000 new priests in the two continents in 2011 and that in 10 years the numbers increased by 39.5 percent in Africa and 32 percent in Asia.
“America remains stationary around an average of 122,000 priests and Europe, in contrast to the global average, has seen a decrease of 9 percent in the past decade,” the Yearbook says.
Another surprising fact is that the number of permanent deacons has also boomed, especially in Europe and the United States, increasing by over 40 percent in the last 10 years.
The Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and the Substitute for General Affairs Archbishop Angelo Becciu presented the Yearbook on May 13 to Pope Francis.
It was edited by several people, including Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, head of the Central Bureau of Statistics of the Church, and Enrico Nenna, the chief statistician in the Vatican’s Central Office for Church Statistics.
The number of Catholics worldwide has remained steady at 1.214 billion for the year 2011.
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Spirit prevents 'Nobel Prize for Holiness' thoughts, Pope says
13-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 13, 2013 / 10:31 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Holy Spirit helps Christians remember their personal history so they do not think they are “a winner of the ‘Nobel Prize for Holiness,’” Pope Francis said this morning.
“And when a little vanity creeps in, when someone believes themselves to be a winner of the ‘Nobel Prize for Holiness,’ then memory is also good for us: ‘But ... remember where I took you from, the very least of the flock. You were behind, in the flock,’” the Pope preached May 13 in his homily on Acts 19.
Vatican Radio technicians and staff from the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrant attended the 7:00 a.m. Mass in the chapel of St. Martha’s residence.
The reading from the Acts of the Apostles recalled a trip that St. Paul made to Ephesus, where he met some disciples and asked them if they received the Holy Spirit. They replied, “We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
This response served as the launching point for the Pope’s homily.
These first Christians’ lack of awareness is not something that was confined to the first ages of the faith, he noted.
“Even now, many Christians do not know who the Holy Spirit is, what the Holy Spirit is. And you sometimes hear: ‘But I get on well enough with the Father and with Son, because I pray the Our Father to the Father, I have communion with the Son, but I do not know what to do with the Holy Spirit …’” Pope Francis remarked.
These people see the Holy Spirit as “‘the dove, the one that gives us the seven gifts,’” he explained.
“But in this way,” the Pope said, “the poor Holy Spirit always comes last and finds no place in our lives.”
Pope Francis described the Holy Spirit as “God active in us,” “God who helps us remember,” who “awakens our memory.” Jesus himself explained this to the Apostles before Pentecost: the Spirit that God will send in my name “will remind you of everything I have said.”?
“Memory is a great grace, and when a Christian has no memory – this is a hard thing, but it’s true – he is not a Christian, he is an idolater,” the Holy Father stated.
He explained that this is because people who have no memory fall into the trap of thinking that they do not need God and can save themselves.
But the Holy Spirit helps believers “enter into history,” he said, pointing to St. Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews.
There, the Pope taught, “the author says: ‘Remember your fathers in the faith’ – memory; ‘remember the early days of your faith, how you were courageous’ - memory. A memory of our life, of our history, a memory of the moment when we had the grace of meeting Jesus, the memory of all that Jesus has told us.”?
“That memory that comes from the heart, that is a grace of the Holy Spirit,” Pope Francis stressed.
He said remembering also means recalling “one’s own misery, that which makes us slaves, and together with them, the grace of God that redeems us from our miseries.”?
Pope Francis concluded with an invitation to Christians to ask the grace of memory, so that they will never forget the paths that have been taken, “that they will not forget the graces of their lives; that they will not forget the forgiveness of their sins; that they will not forget that they were slaves and the Lord has saved them.”
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Popemobile trip surprises March for Life participants
13-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 13, 2013 / 08:25 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pro-lifers who had just finished the third annual Italian March for Life on Sunday were surprised to see Pope Francis coming toward them in the popemobile.
“It was a great joy for us because we didn’t expect this at all, we just expected his message,” said March for Life organizer Virginia Coda Nunziante.
“It was extraordinary because I met the people who unexpectedly saw him coming,” she told CNA on May 13.
The popemobile brought the Pope down the first block of Via della Conciliazione after he finished his first canonization Mass and the weekly Regina Caeli prayer on Sunday.
May 12 was also the day that around 20,000 pro-lifers from Italy and beyond converged on Rome to defend the unborn and call for an end to abortion in the country.
Their route took them from the Coliseum to Castel Sant’ Angelo, which sits on the end of Via della Conciliazione. A large number of the pro-lifers then continued down the street to be present for Pope Francis reciting the Regina Caeli.
Before praying the Marian prayer, the Pope acknowledged the presence of the group.
“I greet the participants of the March for Life which took place this morning in Rome and invite everyone to stay focused on the important issue of respect for human life, from the moment of conception,” he said.
“I think Pope Francis understands the importance of this and he encourages all Catholics to stand up against abortion,” said Coda Nunziante.
Speakers at the march included the Mayor of Rome, Giovanni Alemanno, well-known American pro-life activist Lila Rose, and the president of the U.S. March for Life, Jeanne Monahan.
But one speaker at the event, a Chinese seminarian who wore sunglasses and asked participants not to take his picture, stood out because he gave his testimony without revealing his identity.
“His words were very touching and he spoke about what is happening in China where over 400 million babies have been aborted in 40 years,” Coda Nunziante recalled.
Irene Van der Wende, who was conceived in rape and aborted her baby after she was also raped at age 15, also spoke out against abortion at the Coliseum.
“I’ve come here to educate the public about what abortion does to children,” said Van der Wende.
“It’s only when we show the graphics, pictures and the reality that people will be moved in their hearts,” she told CNA.
The event’s main speaker was Jeanne Monahan, the president of the U.S. March for life, who said she thinks the annual American gathering is the largest civil demonstration in the world.
“But coming here is amazing,” Monahan said.
“Italians’ understanding of being involved in the public sphere is very different to ours, so this is pretty new to them,” she commented.
For Monahan “it’s also fascinating to be in Rome” because she is Catholic.
“Italians are a little shy and discouraged to get involved because of the culture of death. So everything that we can do makes a huge difference,” said Monahan.
“I also think it’s beautifully ironic that today is Mother’s Day in Italy and in the U.S. because the call to many women is to be a mother, either spiritually or physically,” she said, summing up the holiday.
On the other hand, “abortion is the most anti-woman thing that anyone could every do,” Monahan stated.
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Pope warns comfortable living causes 'gentrification of the heart'
13-May-2013:
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Italian pro-lifers hope Rome march has global reach
13-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 13, 2013 / 04:39 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The main organizer of Italy’s March for Life hopes that its location in Rome means it has global influence by sending “a message to the whole Christian world.”
“This event is very important for us and it gives a worldwide impact since it is in Rome. And I think in the future it could be the most important one,” said Virginia Coda Nunziante, organizer of Italy’s March for Life.
“Rome is the seat of Christianity and to host this here is important because it gives a message to the whole Christian world,” she remarked May 12 during the annual March for Life.
Sunday’s demonstration was the third time the Italian March for Life was held and the second time it took place in Rome.
Some news accounts reported around 40,000 participants for the demonstration, but CNA’s staff on the ground estimated the crowd at around 20,000 marchers.
The annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. regularly draws crowds in the hundreds of thousands that are underreported in the American media.
The most recent march, which took place on January 25, drew around 400,000 people, with about 80 percent of those demonstrators being young people, according to organizers.
People from the United States, Europe and Africa gathered on May 12 outside the Coliseum where they heard from pro-life advocates before beginning their route to Castel Sant’Angelo.
After completing their march, they joined thousands of pilgrims at Saint Peter’s Square who were there for a canonization ceremony and Pope Francis’ weekly Regina Caeli address.
The pro-life marchers were not disappointed, since the Pope greeted them in particular.
“I greet the participants of the March for Life which took place this morning in Rome and invite everyone to stay focused on the important issue of respect for human life, from the moment of conception,” he said.
However, contrary to some news reports, the Pope did not join the march but made a brief trip in the popemobile outside of St. Peter’s Square, as he has done in recent weeks. Participants in the march were at the end of his route and had the chance to see Pope Francis.
The event was organized by several Italian pro-life groups and featured well-known speakers, such as the president of the U.S. March for Life, Jeanne Monahan, pro-life activist Lila Rose, and the Mayor of Rome, Giovanni Alemanno.
“We would like to spread the culture of life in Italy so this is an occasion to get all of Italy’s associations and groups together to say a clear ‘yes’ to life and ‘no’ to abortion,” said march organizer Coda Nunziante.
Italy legalized abortion in 1978, leading to the deaths of six million babies between then and now, according to Coda Nunziante.
But Italians were not the only ones present, since groups from Poland, France, Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Albania and Nigeria also traveled to Rome to defend the unborn.
“This is very important for Italians to understand that abortion is a worldwide problem, so we all have to be tied together in order to have a wider impact,” she said.
A pro-life group from Szczecin, which is very active in Poland, also participated in last year’s march in Rome.
“We shouldn’t only demonstrate defending life in Poland but in the whole world because life is the most important value, it is global and universal,” said Alicia Kanselarcik outside the Coliseum.
Alan Holdren contributed to this report from Rome.
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Pope canonizes hundreds of Italian martyrs
12-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 12, 2013 / 01:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis on Sunday canonized hundreds of fifteenth century Italian martyrs who died rather than renounce their Christian faith.
“The martyrs’ faithfulness even unto death and the proclamation of the Gospel are rooted in the love of God that has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit,” said Pope Francis during the May 12 canonization Mass at the Vatican.
He saw in their lives an inspiration for victims of persecution today.
“Let us ask God to sustain those many Christians who, in these times and in many parts of the world, right now, still suffer violence, and give them the courage and fidelity to respond to evil with good,” the Pope said.
In 1480, Turkish invaders beheaded Antonio Primaldo and his hundreds of companions in the far southeastern Italian town of Otranto after they refused to give up their faith.
Pope Francis compared Antonio Primaldo to the first Christian martyr, Saint Stephen, who is described in the Acts of the Apostles as “a man full of the Holy Spirit.”
“This means he was full of the love of God, that his whole person, his whole life was animated by the Spirit of the risen Christ, so as to follow Jesus with total fidelity, even unto to the gift of self,” he said.
He said St. Antonio Primaldo and companions found their strength “in faith, which allows us to see beyond the limits of our human eyes, beyond the boundaries of earthly life, to contemplate the heavens opened and the living Christ at the right hand of the Father.”
The Pope also named two other new saints.
The first canonized Columbian-born saint, Laura di Santa Caterina da Siena Montoya y Upegui, was “an instrument of evangelization,” he said.
“This first saint born on the beautiful Colombian soil teaches us to be generous together with God, not to live the faith alone but to communicate, to radiate the joy of the Gospel by word and witness of life in every place we find ourselves,” he added.
Pope Francis said she was a teacher who then became “the spiritual mother of the indigenous peoples.” She gave them hope and welcomed them with “the love she learned from God,” bringing them to God in a way that respected their own culture.
He underscored that the saint “teaches us to see the face of Jesus reflected in the other, to overcome indifference and individualism.”
The Pope said she teaches us this by “welcoming everyone without prejudice or constraints, with love, giving the best of ourselves and above all, sharing with them the most valuable thing we have, Christ and his Gospel.”
Pope Francis also canonized Maria Guadalupe García Zavala, a Mexican vowed religious who co-founded the Congregation of the Handmaids of St Margaret Mary Alacoque and the Poor.
The Pope said she “gave up a comfortable life to follow the call of Jesus” and taught people to love poverty “in order the more to love the poor and the sick.”
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Stay focused on human life, Pope tells pro-life marchers
12-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 12, 2013 / 11:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis greeted the thousands of people who had gathered this morning in Rome to protest against abortion, praising efforts to secure legal protection for human beings at their earliest stages of life.
“I greet the participants of the March for Life which took place this morning in Rome and invite everyone to stay focused on the important issue of respect for human life, from the moment of conception,” said the Pope at St. Peter’s Basilica.
He addressed the pro-life advocates at Saint Peter’s Square in his comments for the May 12 Regina Caeli prayer. They had gathered in St. Peter’s Square after marching against abortion earlier that day in Rome.
The march began at Rome’s Colosseum and ended at Castel Sant’Angelo, just a few hundred feet from the Vatican.
Pope Francis praised other pro-life efforts in Italy.
“I am pleased to recall the petition that today takes place in many Italian parishes, in order to support the initiative European ‘One of Us’ to ensure legal protection to the embryo, protecting every human being from the first moment of its existence,” the Pope said.
He announced that the Vatican will host events dedicated to Pope John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” on June 15 and 16. Pope Francis said this occasion would be “a special moment for those who have cared about the defense of the sanctity of human life.”
The Pope made his comments during the Regina Caeli prayer, which followed a Mass he celebrated at Saint Peter’s Square to canonize many new saints.
He canonized Blessed Antonio Primaldo and Companions, hundreds of martyrs who were massacred by Turkish invaders when they refused to give up their faith.
Also canonized were the first Colombian-born saint, teacher Bl. Laura di Santa Caterina da Siena Montoya y Upegui, and Bl. Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala, a Mexican vowed religious who co-founded the Congregation of the Handmaids of St Margaret Mary Alacoque and the Poor.
He offered a special greeting to official delegations of Italy, Colombia and Mexico who had just previously attended the canonization Mass.
“The martyrs of Otranto help the beloved Italian people to look with hope to the future, trusting in the nearness of God who never abandons, even in difficult times,” said the Pope.
The pontiff also announced that Father Luigi Novarese had been beatified on May 11 in Rome, saying he was “pleased” by it.
Fr. Novarese was the founder of the lay associations the Apostolate of the Suffering and the Silent Workers of the Cross.
“I join in the thanksgiving for this exemplary priest, who was able to renew pastoral care of the sick by making them active participants in the Church,” said Pope Francis.
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Mass held in Rome for kidnapped Syrian bishops
11-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 11, 2013 / 11:39 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Eastern Catholic clergy celebrated a Mass in Rome’s Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin to pray for two archbishops and two priests who remain the hostages of rebels in Syria.
Archimandrite Mtanious Haddad, rector of the Greek Melkite Catholic Basilica, said there are “so many” people who have been kidnapped.
“Our Mass today was to pray for all those Christians and moderate Muslims who have been kidnapped,” he told CNA / EWTN News.
According to Fr. Haddad, the rebels “want to show that there is no more coexistence between Christians and Muslims but this isn’t true.”
Greek Orthodox Archbishop Paul Yazigi and Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim were kidnapped by rebels on April 22 and are still being held in a village northwest of Aleppo.
Gunmen pulled the two Christian archbishops out of their car and shot their driver, a deacon.
They were on their way to Aleppo from the Turkish border in an effort to negotiate the release of two priests, Armenian Catholic Father Michel Kayyal and Father Maher Mahfouz, a Greek Orthodox Christian.
The priests had been abducted on Feb. 9 when the bus they were riding on from Aleppo to Damascus was stopped. They are still being held captive.
Fr. Kayyal was the student of Monsignor Georges Dankaye Noradounguian, the rector of Rome’s Pontifical Armenian College. Msgr. Dankaye concelebrated the solemn Mass in Rome on May 10.
He described Fr. Kayyal as “an excellent and very good person with a lot of faith.”
“He was trying to distribute humanitarian aid with three or four other priests so he has been living the war in a very special way,” the monsignor told CNA/EWTN News after the Mass.
The Lebanese Ambassador to the Holy See, Georges El Khoury, attended the Eucharistic ceremony as did as the Iraqi Ambassador to the Holy See, Habeeb Al-Sadr, who is Muslim.
Msgr. Dankaye said news coverage of Syria is too uniform.
He said that “the international community’s 600 TV channels broadcast the exact same version, while the only Syrian TV channel that exists and broadcasts daily news in English has been blocked.”
“People against the regime are outside Syria,” he said. “War always has its reasons and its logic, and the true reasons for it are always hidden.”
Fr. Haddad also criticized the war.
“The Syrian war is not a crisis between Muslims and Christians or Muslims and other Muslims and it’s not a Syrian civil war from and for Syrians,” he told CNA / EWTN News.
“This is a war imported from outside and we have traitors who have sold themselves to outsiders for a bit of money.”
He said that the rebels are “trying to show there is a problem between Christians and Muslims in Syria when there isn’t and there never has been.”
During his homily he called the kidnappers “traitors” and said Syrians need to solve their own issues “like in a conclave, without outside intervention.”
“Our petro-dollar Arabic neighbors have bought some Syrians and it’s a surprise to me when a Syrian is happy to see a Syrian soldier murdered,” said Fr. Haddad at the basilica.
He added that now there are “terrorists and non-terrorists from Libya, Pakistan and Afghanistan who have gone to fight in Syria saying they want to liberate Jerusalem.”
“But can one liberate Jerusalem from Aleppo?” he asked. “We all know where the path to Jerusalem is.”
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Comic book tackles wage theft with goal of empowering aggrieved workers
11-May-2013:
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Pope says Catholics, Coptic Orthodox united by 'ecumenism of suffering'
10-May-2013:
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Under soot: Spring cleaning means sometimes finding forgotten gems
10-May-2013:
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Through blogs, Catholic moms share their faith as 'digital disciples'
10-May-2013:
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Pope: Sad Christian faces are like pickled peppers
10-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 10, 2013 / 09:33 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis underscored the importance of being joyful by contrasting sad Christian faces – which are more like “pickled peppers” – with the testimony of a beautiful life.
“Sometimes these melancholic Christians faces have more in common with pickled peppers than the joy of having a beautiful life,” Pope Francis said May 10.
“If we keep this joy to ourselves it will make us sick in the end, our hearts will grow old and wrinkled and our faces will no longer transmit that great joy, only nostalgia and melancholy which is not healthy,” he added.
The Pope delivered his homily on the reading from Acts 18 in the chapel of St. Martha's residence.
He concelebrated the Mass with the Archbishop of Mérida, Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo, and the abbot primate of the Benedictine monks, Notker Wolf.
Vatican Radio staff and their director, Father Federico Lombardi, also attended the Eucharistic celebration.
The pontiff told them Christians should not keep joy “bottled up” for themselves because they risk becoming nostalgic.
Christian joy is not like “having fun, which is good,” he explained, rather it “is more, it is something else.”
“If we want to have fun all the time, in the end it becomes shallow, superficial, and also leads us to that state where we lack Christian wisdom, it makes us a little bit stupid, naive, no?” Pope Francis said.
“Joy is something that does not come from short term economic reasons, from momentary reasons, it is something deeper, it is a gift,” he preached.
The pontiff described joy as “a gift from God” that “fills us from within” and “cannot be held at heel, it must be let go.”
“It is a virtue of the great, of those great ones who rise above the little things in life, above human pettiness,” said Pope Francis.
He explained that it is a virtue “of those who will not allow themselves to be dragged into those little things within the community, within the Church” and that “they always look to the horizon.”
He added that today’s visit by Coptic Pope of Egypt Tawadros II was “a very good reason to be joyful because he is a brother who comes to visit the Church of Rome to speak and to walk part of the path together.”
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Ohio University band gives Vatican taste of America
10-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 10, 2013 / 09:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Priests and Vatican employees opened their office windows this afternoon to find out why they were hearing trumpets and drums, and in the piazza below them they discovered the University of Ohio marching band.
“We thought it would be a very epic way to perform, you know. And a lot of people came to watch us,” 22-year-old trumpet player Jenna Smith told CNA.
The sights and sounds of an American marching band are not something people are used to hearing or seeing around the Vatican. In fact, the closest thing to it is probably the Italian national police band, which only appears on rare occasions.
Even more unusual was hearing the song “Gangnam Style” by the Korean pop star Psy being played in view of St. Peter’s Basilica.
As the band played through their list, which included “Cheer,” “Long Train” and the school’s fight song, a crowd gathered to hear the lively music.
The display of Americana ended with a rousing cheer for Ohio University.
The band, known as the Marching 110, arrived in Rome on the evening of May 9 and will be here for four days. The school’s Wind Symphony will perform this evening at 9:00 p.m. in the University of Rome’s Aula Magna Sapienza.
Before arriving in Rome, the band and wind symphony traveled to Ireland, where they played at Dublin’s Green Isle Hotel.
The trip was organized to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Ohio University Bands and the 45th anniversary of the Marching 110.
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Sourpusses hurt the church's witness, mission, pope says at Mass
10-May-2013:
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Coptic Pope stresses urgency of Christian unity at Vatican
10-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 10, 2013 / 07:06 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt met with Pope Francis at the Vatican and spoke about the urgent need for unity among Christians in the Middle East.
“We must prepare our people for this very real and needed unity that we know and live, we must work quickly and seriously,” said Pope Tawadros II in May 10 remarks provided to CNA by his office.
His visit to the Vatican is significant because he leades Egypt’s largest Christian Church with ten million members, as well as historic, since the May 9-13 trip is the first to Rome in 40 years.
Coptic Pope Shenouda III, Tawadros II’s predecessor, visited Pope Paul VI in May 1973 and Pope John Paul II returned the visit to Egypt in 2000.
Coptic Pope Tawadros was elected to succeed Shenouda III in Nov. 2012.
“The rising of Islamic parties in countries like Egypt and Syria means Christians are now feeling they are second or third class citizens,” said Father Rafic Greiche, director of the press office for the Catholic Church in Egypt.
“We Egyptian Christians want our brothers of all world churches to help us, to pray for us and to be real brothers in our Lord Jesus Christ,” he told CNA on May 10 in Rome.
He noted that since the Egyptian uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, “nothing changed for Christians and normal modern Muslims.”
“People are getting poorer, the middle class is getting poorer and homeless, and there is no work or tourism,” said Fr. Greiche.
“So we hope our brothers will not help us with money, but with solidarity and that they take our message out to their governments to feel all Christians worldwide are one heart,” he added.
Pope Tawadros prayed with Pope Francis for about 20 minutes after their 15-minute meeting in the Clementine Hall at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.
“The most important aim for both the Catholic and Coptic Churches is the promotion of ecumenical dialogue in order to get to the most pursued goal, unity,” Pope Tawadros said in his remarks to Pope Francis.
He said he wished “the excellent relationships between the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Catholic may become stronger and more prosperous.”
Pope Tawadros also invited Pope Francis to visit Egypt and suggested that from today forward the two Churches should observe May 10 as “a celebration of brotherly love between the Catholic Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church.”
Pope Francis answered him assuring him of his prayers and invoking the protection of the apostles Saints Peter and Mark, who established the two Churches.
“If one member suffers, all suffer together, if one member is honored, all rejoice together,” Pope Francis said, quoting St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.
“Let me assure you that your efforts to build communion among believers in Christ, and your lively interest in the future of your country and the role of the Christian communities within the Egyptian society find a deep echo in the heart of the Successor of Peter and of the entire Catholic community,” he added.
Pope Francis noted that “the sharing of daily sufferings can become an effective instrument of unity.”
“From shared suffering can blossom forth forgiveness and reconciliation, with God’s help,” he pointed out.
Before their meeting the Egyptian leader visited the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and other Roman Curia departments.
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Blind singer-pianist says he relies on God to be his eyes
10-May-2013:
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Thousands expected at March for Life in Rome
10-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 9, 2013 / 04:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- More than 15,000 people are expected to gather outside the historic Roman Coliseum on May 12 to take part in the third March for Life.
Included among expected participants are leading representatives of pro-life originations from around the world, as well as members of the clergy and European royalty.
Lila Rose, the president of undercover investigative group Live Action, and Nicholas Windsor, the son of the Duchess of Kent and grandson of Queen Elizabeth of England, are only a few of the leading figures who are expected to join in the March.
The march will be preceded by a conference on bioethics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum and a prayer vigil on May 11, led by the prefect of the Apostolic Signature, Cardinal Raymond Burke.
The spokesman for the March, Virginia Coda Nunciante, told CNA, that “the main purpose of the march is to stop and to say ‘no’ to the 1978 law that legalized abortion in Italy, causing the deaths of more than five million children.”
“There are many dioceses and parishes that are committed to coming, in addition to the 120 movements and associations that have joined in this initiative,” she continued.
“ Let us take to the streets to reiterate a great yes to life, the first of all rights, because without life no other right can exist, and that is why we have so many families with children with us.”
“The defense of life is not only the responsibility of Catholics, but all those who acknowledge the existence of a natural law, written on the heart of each man which prohibits the killing of the innocent,” Coda said. “Abortion not only violates Catholic morality, but also natural law, which is valid for every man in every age and in all places.”
“We are also marching against euthanasia, which many want to introduce into our legislation, and to oppose the manipulation of embryos, for example, through a law on assisted fertilization,” she added.
According to data from the Ministry of Health, she observed “the number of abortions has fallen, but we also know that there has been an increase in sales of the abortion pill RU486.”
Coda invited all those who will be in Rome on May 12 to take part in the demonstration.
“We need to bring about real change to our own culture, so that it will be easier to understand the seriousness of each attack against life,” she said.
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Belarusian kids with cancer find home away from home at St. Luke's
09-May-2013:
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Sisters encouraged, grateful Pope met with them
09-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 9, 2013 / 10:09 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Sister Alice Matilda Nsiah says that Pope Francis’ decision to meet with her and other superiors general on Wednesday left them encouraged, grateful and proud to be Catholic.
“Our faith is renewed with the Pope and we are very grateful that he give (sic) us the audience. We are very grateful that he has time for us. We are very grateful that we are working together for the Church. So we are very proud to be Catholics,” said Sr. Nsiah, mother superior of the Daughters of the Most Blessed Trinity.
She is one of about 800 religious sisters who were in Rome May 3-7 for the general assembly of the International Union of Superiors General, which discussed the prophetic nature of the Church and the nature of authority.
When they had their last gathering in 2010, Pope Benedict did not meet with them, so the time they had with Pope Francis was eagerly welcomed.
The sisters met with the Pope at 9:30 on Wednesday morning in the Paul VI Hall, about an hour before the start of his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square.
Pope Francis spoke with the sisters about how important their work is for the Church and reflected on their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.
As she left St. Peter’s Square after the May 8 general audience, Sr. Nsiah recounted the meeting for CNA.
“He gave a very good encouragement about our commitment to the Lord, how we are called by the Lord to serve him in the Church and how we are important in the Church,” she said.
The Pope also stressed the importance of the sisters being spiritual “mothers and not spinsters!”
“Chastity enlarges the freedom of your gift to God and others with Christ's tenderness, mercy, and closeness. But, please, (make it) a ‘fertile’ chastity, which generates spiritual children in the Church,” he told the consecrated women.
“Forgive me if I talk like this,” he added, “but this maternity of consecrated life, this fruitfulness is important!”
For Sr. Nsiah, the Holy Father’s words underscored that “without us, the maternity of the Church is lacking.”
Apostolate in Ghana
Sr. Nsiah also shared some of the struggles her congregation, the Daughters of the Most Blessed Trinity, experiences in its work to care for poor women and impoverished mentally or physically disabled people.
“Number one, we have a problem of finances because we are a developing country,” she explained.
The shortage of funding means that the sisters sometimes are not able to help all the people who come to them for assistance.
And although the political situation in Ghana is stable, Sr. Nsiah described development in that realm as “very slow.”
“And so it affects all of us: our mission and our dreams. So it is very difficult,” she explained
“But we are managing to do our best to serve the Lord, in the poor, in the simple, in the children, in the women especially, who are always left behind,” she commented.
When it comes to the Church in Africa as a whole, Sr. Nsiah believes that it is strong and “very committed.”
“Now the Church is greater in Africa and the morale is very high. So we are very proud. The Church is Africa and Africa is gradually growing; growing bigger and bigger everyday. So we are very happy,” she reported.
When she returns to her sisters in the central city of Kumasi, Sr. Nsiah said that she will tell them, “the vocation we have chosen, it is the Lord’s.”
“The work – our work – is the work of the Lord. When we do it well, the Lord will bless us and our reward is in heaven. And our mother, Mary, is our inspiration. And since she was able to work with Jesus, with her support, we are able to do our work.
“So we will not be discouraged, we are there, firm!” she joyfully proclaimed.
Marta Jiménez Ibáñez contributed to this report.
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Church spokesman: Catholics not divided by remarks over women deacons
09-May-2013:
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Pope says evangelists build bridges, not walls
08-May-2013:
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Pope Francis marks Argentina's Our Lady of Lujan feast
08-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 8, 2013 / 01:50 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis commended Argentina to the protection of its patron saint Our Lady of Lujan, bringing white flowers to her statue and pausing in prayer ahead of his Wednesday general audience.
“This is the day in which we celebrate Our Lady of Lujan, heavenly Patroness of Argentina,” the Pope said at his general audience May 8.
“I wish to send to all the children of these beloved Argentine lands my sincere affection while I place all their joys and worries in the hands of the Most Holy Virgin.”
He asked Argentine pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square to give a round of applause for the Virgin of Lujan.
“Stronger. I can’t hear it. Stronger!” he encouraged the crowd which broke out in cheers.
Our Lady of Lujan is a terracotta image of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception which is about 14 inches tall. It has been venerated in Argentina since 1630.
That year, a Portuguese ranch owner tried to take the statue from Buenos Aires via caravan to his ranch.
After three days of travel, the oxen pulling the statue’s cart stopped moving near the Lujan river about 42 miles northwest of Buenos Aires. After much failed coaxing, the ox driver unloaded the image and found the oxen would again move. The caravan took this as a sign that the Virgin Mary wanted the statue to be venerated at that place.
Many miracles have been attributed to Our Lady of Lujan’s intercession. Prayers honor her as the foundress of the city of Lujan.
Pope Leo XIII honored the statue in 1886 with a papal coronation. Pope Pius XI declared Our Lady of Lujan to be the patroness of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay in 1930. The statue is now housed in the Basilica of Lujan.
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Only Holy Spirit can fill hearts thirsting for love, peace, pope says
08-May-2013:
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Cardinal says both sides in LCWR case must be open to dialogue
08-May-2013:
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Without evangelization, Church is barren, says Pope
08-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 8, 2013 / 10:52 am (CNA/EWTN News).- If the Church does not have the “apostolic courage” that led Saint Paul to evangelize, she becomes a “stalled Church … without fertility,” Pope Francis said in his May 8 homily.
“Paul teaches us this journey of evangelization ... because he is sure of Jesus Christ and does not need to justify himself, to seek reasons to justify himself,” the Holy Father said during Mass at the Chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae in the Vatican.
“When the Church loses this apostolic courage, she becomes a stalled Church, a tidy Church, a Church that is nice to look at, but that is without fertility, because she has lost the courage to go to the outskirts, where there are many people who are victims of idolatry, worldliness of weak thought, (of) so many things.”
The Mass was concelebrated by Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, and was attended by employees of the Vatican's general services of the governorate, tribunal chancery, and the floreria, which cares for the state's furniture and decorations.
Pope Francis upheld St. Paul at the Greek Areopagus as a model of apostolic courage and evangelization. At that time, St. Paul sought dialogue with the Greek philosophers, saying their altar “to the unknown God” was a sign of the one true God.
“Paul does not say to the Athenians: ‘This is the encyclopedia of truth. Study this and you have the truth, the truth.’ No! The truth does not enter into an encyclopedia,” said Pope Francis.
“The truth is an encounter - it is a meeting with Supreme Truth: Jesus, the great truth. No one owns the truth. We receive the truth when we meet it.”
St. Paul's willingness to dialogue follows in the footsteps of Christ, who “spoke with everyone,” shunning neither sinners and tax collectors nor teachers of the Jewish law, he said.
“The Christian who would bring the Gospel must go down this road: he must listen to everyone.”
The Roman Pontiff said that as a child, “one would hear in Catholic families, in my family, ‘No, we cannot go to their house, because they are not married in the Church.’ It was as an exclusion. No, you could not go. Neither could we go to the houses of socialists or atheists.”
He said that one benefit of the last 50 or 60 years has been a change from this attitude.
“Now, thank God, people do not say such things, right? (Such an attitude) was a defense of the faith, but it was one of walls: the Lord made bridges … Christians who are afraid to build bridges and prefer to build walls are Christians who are not sure of their faith, not sure of Jesus Christ.”
Christians are called, like St. Paul, to “build bridges and to move forward,” he said.
“A Christian,” Pope Francis said, “must proclaim Jesus Christ in such a way that he be accepted: received, not refused – and Paul knows that he has to sow the Gospel message. He knows that the proclamation of Jesus Christ is not easy, but that it does not depend on him. He must do everything possible, but the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the proclamation of the truth, depends on the Holy Spirit.”
“Let us today ask St. Paul to give us this apostolic courage, this spiritual fervor, so that we might be confident,” concluded the Holy Father.
“'But Father,' you might say, 'we might make mistakes' ... 'Well, what of it,' I might respond, 'Get on with you: if you make a mistake, you get up and go forward: that is the way. Those who do not walk so as not to err, make the more serious mistake.'”
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Pope to sisters: living with Jesus outside Church is absurd
08-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 8, 2013 / 10:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis told leaders of women’s religious orders today that their vocations can only be recognized within the fold of the Church.
“Your vocation is a fundamental charism for the Church's journey and it isn't possible that a consecrated woman or man might 'feel' themselves not to be with the Church,” he told around 800 female superiors general on May 8.
The International Union of Superiors General has been meeting for its general assembly in Rome since May 3.
Present this year were more than 150 American sisters, some of whom also belong to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which has had a strained relationship with the Vatican since it was required in April 2012 to undergo reform.
Bishop Leonard Blaire of Toledo carried out a four-year review and found “serious doctrinal problems” and the need for the LCWR to undergo renewal.
The assessment of the leadership conference expressed concern over “certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith” that were in some presentations sponsored by the conference.
One such address discussed religious sisters “moving beyond the Church” and beyond Jesus.
In addition to highlighting the need for the organization to provide adequate doctrinal formation for its members, the report also voiced concern over letters from LCWR officers suggesting “corporate dissent” from Church teaching on topics such as the sacramental male priesthood and homosexuality.
Pope Francis seemed to address this history during today’s meeting. He told the sisters about the “‘feeling’ of being with the Church,” given to them through baptism.
It is a “feeling,” he said, “that finds its filial expression in fidelity to the Magisterium, in communion with the pastors and Successor of Peter, Bishop of Rome, visible sign of that unity.”
To be otherwise, he said, would be against their vocation.
“It is an absurd dichotomy to think of living with Jesus but without the Church, of following Jesus outside of the Church, of loving Jesus without loving the Church,” he stated.
“Feel the responsibility that you have of caring for the formation of your institutes in sound Church doctrine, in love of the Church, and in an ecclesial spirit,” Pope Francis added.
The Vatican’s doctrine department put Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle in charge of working with the sisters to reform the organization for a period of up to five years.
On May 5, Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, who heads the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, made waves when he told the sisters gathered in Rome that he was not consulted about the doctrine department’s decision on reforming the LCWR.
His words drew a rare May 7 statement from the doctrine office, which aimed to dismiss the idea of a “divergence” between the doctrine and religious congregations.
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Pope tells sisters the church needs them, they need the church
08-May-2013:
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God's living water satisfies deepest desires, Pope reflects
08-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 8, 2013 / 05:20 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Holy Spirit is the “living water” that fulfills our lives because he tells us “we are loved by God,” Pope Francis proclaimed.
“The living water that is the Holy Spirit quenches our lives because it tells us that we are loved by God as His children, that we can love God as his children, and that by his grace we can live as children of God, as did Jesus,” the Pope said May 8.
The pontiff offered his reflections on the Holy Spirit to the estimated 70,000 pilgrims who filled St. Peter’s Square for his weekly general audience, which took place on a sunny day with mostly clear skies.
As he made his way through the crowd he got out of the popemobile several times before reaching a section of children with Down Syndrome near the front of the square. Pope Francis made his way up the length of the aisle, shaking hands, kissing the disabled and occasionally blowing a kiss.
He then walked up the steps to his chair and began his address to the throng by noting that the Church is currently living in the season of Easter, which is the “time par excellence of the Holy Spirit.”
Pope Francis has been reflecting on different phrases from the Nicene Creed at his Wednesday audiences, continuing a course of teaching that was initiated by Benedict XVI for the Year of Faith.
Today he looked at the statement, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life,” emphasizing that the Spirit is “truly God” and the “third Person of the Blessed Trinity.”
“But I would like to focus on the fact that the Holy Spirit is the inexhaustible source of God’s life in us,” the Pope explained as he launched into the substance of his address.
“Man is like a traveler who, crossing the deserts of life, has a thirst for living water, gushing and fresh, capable of quenching his deep desire for light, love, beauty and peace.
“We all feel this desire!” Pope Francis exclaimed.
“And Jesus gives us this living water: it is the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and who Jesus pours into our hearts,” he said.
The Pope recalled the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, whom he told that he would give “eternally abundant ‘living water’” to all those who recognize him as the Son sent by the Father to save us.”
The living water, who is the Holy Spirit, makes it so that “our life may be guided by God, may be animated by God, may be nourished by God.
“When we say that a Christian is a spiritual man, this is what we mean: a Christian is a person who thinks and acts according to God, according to the Holy Spirit,” the Pope explained.
Pope Francis finished his meditation by delving into how the Holy Spirit can “quench our deep thirst.”
“The ‘living water,’ the Holy Spirit, the Gift of the Risen One who comes to dwell in us, cleanses us, enlightens us, renews us, transforms us by rendering us partakers of the very life of God who is Love,” he responded.
The Holy Father taught that the “precious gift that the Holy Spirit brings into our hearts” is “the very life of God, the life of true children, a relationship of familiarity, freedom and trust in the love and mercy of God.”
This new life within believers has the effect of giving them a “new vision of others, near and far, seen always as brothers and sisters in Jesus to be respected and loved,” he said.
“That’s why the living water that is the Holy Spirit quenches our lives because it tells us that we are loved by God as his children, that we can love God as his children, and that by his grace we can live as children of God, as did Jesus.”
“And us? Do we listen to the Holy Spirit who tells us: God loves you? Do we really love God and others as Jesus did?” he concluded.
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Vatican, US sign anti-money-laundering memo
08-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 8, 2013 / 03:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican continued its efforts to update its financial standards by signing an agreement with the United States to allow the two countries to exchange information to prevent money laundering and terrorism funding.
“This is a clear indication that the Holy See and the Vatican City State take international responsibilities to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism very seriously and that we are cooperating at the highest levels," said René Brülhart, director of the Vatican Financial Information Authority.
The Memorandum of Understanding was agreed upon with the American Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which came into being after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The agreement allows the two states to exchange information that will help them prevent criminal financial activity from taking place and was signed in Washington, D.C. on May 7.
The financial developments take place against the backdrop of the Vatican working to show it is making every effort to bring its financial standards up to speed.
Brülhart said that the arrangement with the U.S. demonstrates that the Vatican “is a credible partner internationally and has made a clear commitment in the exchange of information in this fight.”
The Vatican has already inked deals with Belgium, Spain and Slovenia, but the U.S. agreement is clearly the most important one to date.
The Financial Information Authority is currently pursuing agreements with more than 20 other countries and it expects to finalize several of those this year.
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Ethicist lauds Ireland's ruling against assisted suicide
08-May-2013:
Dublin, Ireland, May 8, 2013 / 02:02 am (CNA).- The finding of the Irish Supreme Court that citizens have no right to assisted suicide is being welcomed by an ethicist and healthcare professional as an affirmation of the value of human life.
“It's a clear tragedy when society endorses assisted suicide...I was happy to see the supreme court decision in Ireland,” Doctor Marie Hilliard, director of bioethics and public policy at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, told CNA May 7.
On April 29, the supreme court of the Republic of Ireland ruled against Marie Fleming, who has multiple sclerosis and so is unable to commit suicide. Fleming wanted to ensure that she could end her life with the help of her partner, Tom Curran.
Fleming is in an advanced stage of multiple sclerosis, and is restricted to bed much of the time and has only some effective use of her arms. She reports also having difficulty speaking and swallowing, and frequent severe pain. She cannot control her electric wheelchair, has no bladder control, and requires assistance to eat and drink, and be washed and dressed.
Ireland decriminalized suicide in 1993, but assisting another person to kill themselves is still a criminal offence. Fleming argued that there is a “right to die” and that the prohibition against assisted suicide discriminates against the disabled.
Fleming “states that she now lives with little or no dignity,” and her condition has “left her feeling totally undignified,” according to the ruling.
In its finding, the court said that “there is no constitutional right to commit suicide or to arrange for the determination of one’s life at a time of one’s choosing,” and so Fleming “has no right which may be interfered with by any disability.”
In remarks to CNA, Hilliard reflected that a right to assisted suicide “would undermine the role of physicians as healers, expose the vulnerable to abuse, and would initiate a steady slide toward euthanasia.”
“We don't kill the sufferer to kill the suffering; that's not what health care is about. And it's a societal failure too, in terms of walking with our loved ones.”
She also called the promotion of assisted suicide a “palliative care failure.” Those with diseases such as multiple sclerosis can often fear abandonment, that they won't be cared for because they “won't have the same value in our society.”
“From a medical standpoint, a nursing standpoint, and a social standpoint, it's a communal palliative care failure...so certainly we're happy to see that the Irish supreme court saw this.”
Hilliard pointed out the similarities between the Fleming case and a 1997 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Washington v. Glucksberg.
In that decision, authored by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, a Nixon appointee, the court found that the U.S. Constitution does not protect the right to assistance in committing suicide.
The loneliness and fear which motivate calls for assisted suicide “means we don't have good palliative and hospice care,” according to Hilliard.
To promote assisted suicide “does the opposite of what people think, in terms of developing a caring approach to end of life care.” Rather, a “holistic perspective” needs to be adopted, which integrates families, palliative care nurses, physicians, patients, and pain control.
Hilliard emphasized the difference between subjects of terminal illness and terminal illnesses themselves. Palliative care deals with “how suffering is to be alleviated, not how to alleviate the sufferer,” she said.
The ethicist said it is important for Catholics to engage in hospice care, because “we can't just say we're against assisted suicide and then let folks continue to suffer.”
“We have to have an organized way of addressing what people think is an unresolvable problem in terms of suffering at the end of life. It's not.”
The good works of palliative care, she said, “are the real alternatives that are going to spare the patient, the physicians, and society from doing down that road towards eugenics.”
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Minnesota family endures son's suffering with help from Mary
08-May-2013:
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Pope says Christians must learn to patiently endure trials, each other
07-May-2013:
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Vatican says its congregations collaborate, including on LCWR decision
07-May-2013:
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In Brazil, pope to meet slum-dwellers, politicians, world's youth
07-May-2013:
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How a postage stamp delivered one boy a dream of being a Swiss Guard
07-May-2013:
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Vatican doctrine office confused by cardinal's LCWR comments
07-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 7, 2013 / 08:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican’s doctrine congregation has released a statement saying the media misreported a cardinal’s remarks about the ongoing reform of a group of American sisters, but an inside source at the department says it is confused because the matter is their "exclusive responsibility."
An official at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith told CNA May 7 on the condition of anonymity that it is “perplexed” by Cardinal João Braz de Aviz saying it did not discuss with him their decision to require an American group of religious superiors to undergo reform.
“We are perplexed because the matter is the exclusive responsibility of the congregation and we aren’t stepping on anyone’s toes,” the source said early on Tuesday afternoon.
The decision was the outcome of a four-year assessment that found the Leadership Conference of Women Religious promoted “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith” and dissent from Church teaching on topics including the sacramental male priesthood and homosexuality.
On the afternoon of May 7, the Vatican doctrine congregation released an official statement that said “media comments” on Cardinal Braz de Aviz’s May 5 remarks “suggested a divergence” between the two offices and that “such interpretation of the Cardinal’s remarks were not justified.”
The prefects of these two congregations “work closely together according to their specific responsibilities and collaborated throughout the process of the Doctrinal Assessment of the LCWR,” the statement underscored.
The doctrine congregation’s head, Archbishop Gerhard Müller, and Cardinal Braz de Aviz also met on May 6 and “reaffirmed their common commitment to the renewal of Religious Life, and particularly to the Doctrinal Assessment of the LCWR and the program of reform it requires,” it added.
Cardinal Braz de Aviz, who heads the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, made his claims on Sunday during the general assembly of the International Union of Superior Generals in Rome, one year after the doctrine congregation’s reform mandate was issued.
The cardinal also revealed that Pope Francis allowed him to choose his secretary and said this demonstrated the Pope’s trust in him.
Commenting on his statements about the doctrine congregation, the inside source said, “One does not do this. I don’t know how his comments benefit him or the Church, and he makes it seem that injustice is being done.”
“This was a very slow and objective process and our members are extremely professional theologians and philosophers who consult weekly with the Pope,” he explained.
But according to the source, “there is a lot of pride and one always wants to believe they are right.”
“People are very misinformed theologically, philosophically and academically” about the positions taken by the LCWR, he added.
The doctrine official believes that “the most important part has already happened, which is that Catholics have been informed that these women are wrong.”
He explained that the LCWR follow the “gender ideology” and “have developed an exacerbated ultra feminism which makes them reject all type of male authority.”
“They have been fired in many parishes because they teach things that provoke great discomfort within communities,” he said.
Referring to the April 15, 2013 statement from the doctrine office in which Pope Francis confirmed the finding that the sisters’ conference must be reformed, the source underscored that “this is not an issue about a Pope being spoiled.”
Attempts by CNA to obtain comment from the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life were referred to Cardinal Braz de Aviz who was unavailable.
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Good Christians don't whine about suffering, Pope says
07-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 7, 2013 / 06:55 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Reflecting on how St. Paul endured pain for Christ, Pope Francis said that good Christians do not complain about their trials but endure them with patient silence because their hearts are at peace.
A Christian “who constantly complains, fails to be a good Christian: they become Mr. or Mrs. Whiner, no? Because they always complain about everything, right?” the Pope remarked in his May 7 homily at St. Martha’s residence.
The Christian response to suffering is “silence in endurance, silence in patience,” he stated.
During his Passion, the Pope noted, Jesus “did not speak much, only two or three necessary words ... But it is not a sad silence: the silence of bearing the Cross is not a sad silence. It is painful, often very painful, but it is not sad. The heart is at peace.”
The pontiff based his homily on the first reading of the day, Acts 16, in which St. Paul and Silas were persecuted and thrown in jail for proclaiming the Gospel.
But they “were joyful because they followed Jesus in on the path of his passion. A path the Lord travelled with patience,” he added.??“This does not mean being sad. No, no, it's another thing!” Pope Francis taught.
“This means bearing, carrying the weight of difficulties, the weight of contradictions, the weight of tribulations on our shoulders. This Christian attitude of bearing up, of being patient.”
“This is a process – allow me this word ‘process’ – a process of Christian maturity, through the path of patience. A process that takes some time, that you cannot undergo from one day to another. It evolves over a lifetime, arriving at Christian maturity. It is like a good wine.”??The Pope observed that many martyrs were joyful as they approach their final moments, such as the martyrs of Nagasaki who helped each other, as they “waited for the moment of death.”
Some of those men and women went to their martyrdom as if they were going to a “wedding party,” he said. This attitude of endurance, he added, is a Christian’s normal attitude, but it is not masochistic. It is an attitude that leads them “along the path of Jesus.”?
Returning to the example of Paul and Silas, Pope Francis noted that in spite of being in prison, they were praying in peace. “They were in pain, because then it is said that the jailer washed their wounds while they were in prison – they had wounds – but endured in peace. This journey of endurance helps us deepen Christian peace, it makes us stronger in Jesus.”??The Holy Father finished his remarks by repeating that a Christian is called to endure suffering just like Jesus, “without complaint, endure in peace.”
This patience “renews our youth and makes us younger,” he said, mentioning how he has seen this among elderly people in hospice care “who have endured so much in life.”??“Look at their eyes, (they have) young eyes, they have a youthful spirit and a renewed youth,” he underscored.
“And the Lord invites us to this: to be rejuvenated Easter people on a journey of love, patience, enduring our tribulations and also - I would say – putting up with one another. We must also do this with charity and love, because if I have to put up with you, I'm sure you will put up with me and in this way we will move forward on our journey on the path of Jesus.”
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Pope celebrates diversity of popular piety, unity of church
06-May-2013:
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Elderly face danger of 'covert euthanasia,' pope says in book
06-May-2013:
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Absorb Church's Catholic identity, Pope tells new Swiss Guards
06-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 6, 2013 / 11:55 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On the day that it will swear in 35 new members and commemorate the fallen, the Swiss Guard was told by Pope Francis that it has “a privileged opportunity” to deepen its knowledge of Christ by breathing in the catholicity of the Church.
Every May 6, the corps remembers the 147 Swiss soldiers who died defending Pope Clement VII during the 1527 Sack of Rome. In addition, the Swiss Guard also swears in new members for two years of service at the Vatican.
In anticipation of the new recruits joining the corps, the Pope received them and their families in an audience today at 12:45 p.m.
“Today,” he began, “you are not called to this heroic gesture but to another form of sacrifice, which is also challenging: to put your youthful energies at the service of the Church and the Pope. To do this you must be strong, motivated by love, and sustained by your faith in Christ.”
Pope Francis advised them to remember the faith that led them to choose to join the Swiss Guard.
“(T)he faith that God has given you on the day of your baptism is the most precious treasure you have! And your mission of service to the Pope and the Church also finds its source there,” he said.
The Holy Father also pointed out that their service has a missionary aspect, since they “are called upon to bear witness to your faith with joy and a courteous manner.
“How important this is for so many people who pass through Vatican City! But it is also important for those who work here for the Holy See and for me as well!” he added.
Pope Francis also noted that their presence “is a sign of the strength and the beauty of the Gospel that, in every time, calls the young to follow it.”
He finished by saying, “(t)oday when some of you swear to faithfully carry out your service in the Guard and others renew this oath in their hearts, think that your service is a testimony to Christ who calls you to be authentic men and true Christians, protagonists of your own existence.”
The swearing-in ceremony will be held at 5:00 p.m. this evening in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall. It was originally scheduled for the St. Damaso Courtyard, but rain led to a change of location.
Archbishop Angelo Becciu will be present at the ceremony as the Pope’s representative, as well as the president of the Swiss Confederation, Ueli Maurer.
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Mary is a mother who helps Christians grow, pope says at rosary
06-May-2013:
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Cardinal says dialogue was missing from Vatican's look at LCWR
06-May-2013:
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Only defense against devil, hatred is word of God, humility, pope says
06-May-2013:
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Pope suggests daily Holy Spirit review
06-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 6, 2013 / 07:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said people should ask themselves what the Holy Spirit did in them at the end of each day.
“We should get into the habit of asking ourselves before the end of the day, what did the Holy Spirit do in me?” and “what witness did he give me?” he said during daily Mass on May 6.
He explained that, “it is in this way that we can see how Jesus worked in our hearts. It is the Holy Spirit that opens our hearts to know Jesus.”
The pontiff celebrated the Mass alongside the Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, Cardinal Angelo Comastri.
Employees who work in the basilica were among those invited to attend the Pope’s morning Mass.
“The Spirit prepares us for our encounter with Jesus, he leads us down the path of Jesus and works in us throughout the day and throughout our lives,” the Pope observed.
He noted that living without the Holy Spirit “would be a religious life, a compassionate life of someone who believes in God but without the vitality that Jesus wants for his disciples.”
According to the pontiff, “without this presence, our Christian lives cannot be understood.”
“He is a divine presence that helps us move forward in our lives as Christians,” he taught.
The Holy Spirit is also important for mission, the Pope said, because he “bears witness to Jesus so that we can give it to others.”
Pope Francis recalled the story of a woman named Lydia whose heart was opened to pay attention to the words of Saint Paul.
“I ask that people be granted the grace to become accustomed to the presence of the Holy Spirit, this witness of Jesus who tells us where Jesus is, how to find Jesus, what Jesus tells us,” he remarked.
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Pope sends Dallas auxiliary bishop to El Paso
06-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 6, 2013 / 05:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has appointed Spanish-speaking Bishop Mark J. Seitz to lead the El Paso diocese in western Texas, placing him just across the border from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
“Since I entered the seminary here in Dallas as a young 18-year-old boy, I have loved Dallas and the Church of Dallas,” Bishop Seitz said in a May 6 statement.
“But when I presented myself for ordination as a deacon, I gave my life to God’s service and I promised to be at the disposal of the Church. I accept this call as a new opportunity to follow the Good Shepherd and, with His help, to be one,” he added.
He was ordained as an auxiliary bishop for the Dallas diocese in April 2010, and has been serving there under Bishop Kevin J. Farrell.
“I happily congratulate Bishop Mark Seitz and applaud the decision of our Holy Father to appoint him to lead the Catholic faithful in this important border diocese,” Bishop Farrell said.
His ability to speak Spanish “will be a tremendous asset but he also possesses a prayerful, pastoral manner, keen theological insight and deep devotion to our Church,” the Dallas bishop remarked.
Bishop Seitz was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on January 10, 1954.
He was ordained a priest on May 17, 1980 and holds master’s degrees in liturgical studies, divinity and theology.
The move from Dallas to El Paso will bring Bishop Seitz across almost the entire state and place him on the border with Mexico.
The diocese was established in 1914 and consists of 10 counties spread over 26,686 square miles. The diocese serves 656,035 Catholics out of a population of 811,739, and is made up of 55 parishes, 20 missions, and has 17 ministries that serve the multicultural, multilingual community.
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Pope remembers child abuse victims, offers prayers
05-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 5, 2013 / 06:57 am (CNA/EWTN News).- At the end of Mass, Pope Francis noted that the Day of Child Victims of Violence is observed today and assured all those who “have suffered and are suffering because of abuse” that they “are present in my prayers.”
“I would also say emphatically that we must all commit ourselves with clarity and courage to every human person, especially children, who are among the most vulnerable,” the Pope told the crowd of thousands on May 5, before reciting the Regina Caeli prayer.
He also spoke to the groups from throughout Europe who are devoted to particular saints and were present at the Mass.
“The love for Our Lady is one of the characteristics of popular piety, which needs to be valued and well oriented,” the Pope explained.
He invited them to “meditate on the last chapter of the Constitution of the Second Vatican Council on the Church, Lumen Gentium, which speaks precisely of Mary in the mystery of Christ and the Church.”
“There it is said that Mary ‘advanced in her pilgrimage of faith’ (n. 58). Dear friends, in the Year of Faith I leave this icon of Mary’s pilgrimage, which follows her Son Jesus and precedes all of us in the journey of faith,” he said.
Pope Francis also greeted all of the Eastern Christian Churches that use the Julian Calendar and are celebrating Easter today.
“I wish to send to these brothers and sisters a special greeting, uniting myself with all my heart to them in proclaiming the good news: Christ is risen! he exclaimed.
The beatification of Blessed Francisca de Paula De Jesus, who was known as “mother of the poor,” also drew the Pope’s notice.
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Pope uses Latin American experience to guide confraternities
05-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 5, 2013 / 06:28 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Drawing on the experience of the Latin American Church, Pope Francis called on groups dedicated to specific saints to grow in their faith, help unite the Church and evangelize through their public acts of devotion.
“Three words, don’t forget them: Evangelical spirit, ecclesial spirit, missionary spirit. Let us ask the Lord always to direct our minds and hearts to him, as living stones of the Church, so that all that we do, our whole Christian life, may be a luminous witness to his mercy and love,” the Pope told the thousands of devotees gathered May 5 in St. Peter’s Square.
Most of the pilgrims began arriving in Rome this past Friday, and their colorful outfits brought a certain flair to the streets surrounding the Vatican. They came for the Year of Faith weekend event dedicated to confraternities – groups of Catholics who are dedicated to a particular saint or spirituality – many of which have ancient roots.
The culmination of the weekend was a Mass that Pope Francis celebrated with them in St. Peter’s Square at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, May 5.
Although Saturday was sunny, Sunday morning began with an overcast sky that turned to rain just before Mass was about to start, leading the Pope to congratulate the pilgrims for their perseverance.
“Dear brothers and sisters,” he began his homily, “you were very courageous to come with this rain … May the Lord bless you very much!”
The confraternities – which came from Italy, France, Ireland, Malta, Spain and Poland for the event – were welcomed by the Pope, who noted that they are “a traditional reality in the Church, which in recent times has experienced renewal and rediscovery.”
Throughout his homily on the day’s readings, Pope Francis drew on Benedict XVI’s pervious message to confraternities, but also added insights from the Latin American bishops’ remarks on the groups.
His first exhortation to the crowd was to nurture their devotions as a “treasure possessed by the Church, which the bishops of Latin America defined, significantly, as a spirituality, a form of mysticism, which is a place of encounter with Jesus Christ.
“Draw always from Christ, the inexhaustible wellspring; strengthen your faith by attending to your spiritual formation, to personal and communitarian prayer, and to the liturgy,” he urged.
Pope Francis then recalled how the first Christians solved their problems within the Church, not from without.
“And this brings up a second element which I want to remind you of, as Benedict XVI did, namely: ecclesial spirit. Popular piety is a road which leads to what is essential, if it is lived in the Church in profound communion with your pastors,” he said.
The Holy Father observed that this morning St. Peter’s Square contained “a great variety, first of umbrellas, and then of colors and signs.”
“This is also the case with the Church: a great wealth and variety of expressions in which everything leads back to unity, the variety leads back to unity and unity to the encounter with Christ,” he said, repeating a theme he has raised in his daily Masses.
Pope Francis’ final point for the confraternities was that they should have a “missionary spirit.”
“You have a specific and important mission,” he stated, “that of keeping alive the relationship between the faith and the cultures of the peoples to whom you belong. You do this through popular piety.”
“When, for example, you carry the crucifix in procession with such great veneration and love for the Lord, you are not performing a simple outward act … you are reminding yourselves first, as well as the community, that we have to follow Christ along the concrete path of our daily lives so that he can transform us,” he preached.
Quoting from the Latin American bishops’ “Aparecida Document,” Pope Francis said, “(i)n effect, journeying together towards shrines, and participating in other demonstrations of popular piety, bringing along your children and engaging other people, is itself a work of evangelization.”
After Mass finished, the Pope recited the Regina Caeli and greeted the Meter Association, which is dedicated to preventing the abuse of children.
“It allows me the opportunity to turn my thoughts to the many who have suffered and continue to suffer because of abuse,” he said.
“I wish to assure them that they are present in my prayers, and I would also like to say that each of us must do all we can and commit ourselves with clarity and courage so that every human person, especially children, who are in the category of the most vulnerable, are always defended and protected.”
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Pope: Mary helps us not be 'teenagers for life'
04-May-2013:
Rome, Italy, May 4, 2013 / 11:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After praying the Rosary this evening, Pope Francis reflected on how Mary “gives us health” by helping Christians mature in their faith and not remain “teenagers for life.”
“Dear brothers and sisters, how hard it is, in our time, to make the ultimate decisions! The temporary seduces us. We are victims of a trend that pushes us to the temporary ... as if we wanted to stay teenagers for life! We should not be afraid of the agreed commitments, commitments that involve and affect the whole life! In this way, our lives will be fruitful!” the Pope said May 4.
The occasion for his reflection was a trip he made to take possession of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major Basilica, one of the five major basilicas of Rome that every Pope oversees. Pope Francis symbolically took possession of the basilica by kissing the crucifix.
His visit began at 6:00 p.m. with a brief visit to the icon of Our Lady Salus Populi Romani (Our Lady Saving Health of the Roman People), where he prayed in silence for a few minutes.
Pope Francis was then greeted by the archpriest of the basilica, Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló, and then prayed the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary with the faithful. Following the Marian prayer, the Holy Father offered a meditation on how Mary is “our health” and “gives us health.”
“Tonight we are here in front of Mary. We prayed under her maternal guidance that she lead us to be more and more united to her Son Jesus, we have brought our joys and our sorrows, our hopes and our difficulties, we invoked with the grand title of ‘Salus Populi Romani,’ asking for all of us, for Rome, for the world, to give us health,” the Pope began.
He then reflected on the meaning of Mary maintaining “our health,” saying, “I think mainly of three aspects: she helps us to grow, to face life, and to be free.”
“A mother helps children grow,” Pope Francis said, “which is why she trains them not to give in to laziness … not to recline in a comfortable life which is content to just have things.
“Our Lady does just that with us, helps us to grow humanly and in faith, to be strong and not give in to the temptation of being human and Christian in a superficial way, but to live with responsibility, to strive higher and higher,” he pointed out.
And when a child meets obstacles, the Pope explained, their mother helps them “be realistic about the problems of life and not to get lost in them, but confront them with courage, not to be weak, and to know how to overcome, in a healthy balance that a mother ‘feels’ between the areas of safety and risk.”
“Mary experienced many difficult moments in her life,” he recalled, from “the birth of Jesus, when ‘there was no place for them to stay,’ up to Calvary.
“And like a good mother she is close to us, because we never lose courage in the face of adversity in life, in front of our weakness, in front of our sins, she gives us strength, shows us the way of her Son.
The final way that Mary keeps her children’s health is by showing them how to make important decisions with full freedom, as she did when she “answered ‘yes’ to God’s plan for her life,” the Pope said.
“But what is freedom? It is certainly not doing everything you want, being dominated by passions, moving from one experience to another without discernment, following the fashions of the time,” he counseled.
“Freedom,” the Pope stated, “is given to us because we make good choices in life!”
Through her motherhood, he said, Mary “teaches us to be fruitful, to be open to life and to be more fruitful in goodness, joy, hope, and to give physical and spiritual life to others.”
Pope Francis concluded by praying, this “we ask you tonight, O Mary, Salus Populi Romani, for the people of Rome, for all of us: give us health that only you can give us, to always be signs and instruments of life.”
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Benedict XVI needs new coat of arms, designer says
04-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 4, 2013 / 06:06 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The cardinal who designed Pope Benedict XVI's coat of arms says he needs a new one now that he is no longer the pontiff.
“The problem now is whether the Pope Emeritus can keep that same coat of arms or not,” said Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo.
“And as a person who has always dedicated himself to this, I say ‘no,’” he told CNA during a May 2 interview.
The cardinal, who served from 1990 to 1998 as the first Apostolic Nuncio to Israel and Palestine, designed Benedict’s coat of arms in 2005.
His fascination with ecclesiastical heraldry is a lifelong interest. And that has led him to design the coat of arms for many Catholic institutions, bishops and cardinals.
But now he believes that the “coat of arms needs to be transformed to show that he is a Pope Emeritus,” he stated.
He has drawn up a new coat of arms, which he believes could be used now by the former pontiff.
He moved the big keys of Saint Peter from the back of the coat of arms to the top part of the shield and made them much smaller.
“That shows that he had a historic possession but not a current jurisdiction,” said the cardinal.
He also included the motto that Benedict used as a cardinal at the bottom, a feature that a papal coat of arms does not include.
“But this is only a proposal, it isn’t official,” Cardinal Lanza di Montezemolo qualified.
“I allowed myself to send him a note with suggestions because the elements of jurisdiction in effect need to be removed,” he stated.
The cardinal told how Benedict replied to him with a note stating that he felt “very unsure” and that he “does not dare.”
“But we will see, because the topic is still open,” said the expert in ecclesiastical heraldry.
He explained that while Pope Francis did not ask for his services, Benedict XVI contacted him as soon as he was elected Pope.
“He called on me the following day at 8 o’clock in the morning at the Saint Martha residency,” the cardinal recalled.
“I asked him what he wanted, he showed me the coat of arms that he had as Archbishop of Munich and as cardinal, and then asked me what I thought about it,” he said.
The cardinal answered him that it was good, but “not very correct” because it had four parts with two repeated elements.
“I suggested to put the main elements in three parts, and he replied he did not want the papal tiara,” said Cardinal Lanza di Montezemolo.
“He had a very clear idea of what he wanted, so I proposed some arrangements and I designed eight trials after working all day and night,” he recounted.
The next day the cardinal returned to the Saint Martha’s at 8:00 a.m. with the eight samples and Benedict chose one “very decisively” and signed it.
“It’s interesting how decided he was in adding and removing certain elements on the design,” the cardinal commented.
“I suggested using the miter, the symbol of the bishops.”
‘But one wouldn’t be able to see the difference between a coat of arms of a bishop and that of a Pope,’” Benedict XVI replied.
The cardinal added the keys of Saint Peter behind the coat of arms. Below, he added the pallium, which had never been done by a previous Pope, to show the collegiality between the Pope and the bishops.
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School-choice movement gains slow but steady momentum
04-May-2013:
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St. Mary Major: monument to Mary as protector of the church
03-May-2013:
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Pope moves queen, Italian laywoman closer to sainthood
03-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 3, 2013 / 12:06 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has approved miracles attributed to a Sicilian queen and a 20th-century Italian laywoman, placing them one step closer to sainthood.
As groups of lay people devoted to saints from Italy, Spain, France and England converge on Rome for a Year of Faith event this weekend, the Pope advanced four causes for sainthood.
Queen Maria Cristina of Savoy, who married King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, is one of the two women who had miracles recognized by Pope Francis.
She was known for being shy but also a dedicated advocate for the poor and those condemned to death. She died in 1836, nine days after giving birth to Francis.
Maria Bolognesi, the other woman for whom a miracle was approved, was an Italian mystic who was known as the “silent woman of charity.” Besides receiving visions, she also opened a convalescent home and lived a life of poverty close to the poor.
Pope Francis also recognized a Spanish priest and a Polish nun as having lived lives of “heroic virtue.”
Father Joaquim Rossello Ferra, founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and Mother Janina Kierocinska, who founded the Carmelite Sisters of the Infant Jesus, can both now be referred to as “venerable.”
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Bishops hail repeal of capital punishment in Maryland
03-May-2013:
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Pope: People have guts to be ambitious; instead, be courageous for God
03-May-2013:
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Pope, Lebanese president appeal for aid for Syrian refugees
03-May-2013:
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Lebanese president discusses Syria refugees with Pope
03-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 3, 2013 / 10:25 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis and Lebanese president Michel Sleiman met to discuss the Syrian fighting and the influx of refugees it has sent into his country.
According to Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican press office director, the meeting focused on “the regional situation, with special reference to the Syrian conflict.”
“The Pope is concerned with the large number of Syrian refugees who have sought refuge in Lebanon and neighboring countries,” he said.
The Lebanese president appealed for aid for the countries absorbing the flood of refugees as well as for the people themselves, according to a May 3 statement from the Vatican Secretariat of State.
President Sleiman, a Maronite Catholic, was accompanied by his wife for the May 3 meeting in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.
“During the cordial talks they discussed the situation in the country, stressing the importance of dialogue and cooperation between members of different ethnic and religious communities,” said the May 3 statement.
President Sleiman also met with the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and the Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti.
Lebanon’s parliamentary elections are scheduled for June 9, after the country’s prime minister resigned on March 22, 2013.
“Best wishes were given for the formation of the new government, which will face major challenges to national and international level,” said the Vatican’s press release.
The Syrian conflict has led to growing tensions in Lebanon, which suffered a civil war from 1975 to 1990.
Syrian troops then dominated the small country and ultimately pulled out in 2005 after they were accused of being involved in the assassination of the Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.
“A speedy and successful resumption of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians is also hoped for, which are more and more necessary for the peace and stability of the region,” said the Vatican statement.
“The delicate situation of Christians throughout the Middle East was not overlooked as well as the meaningful contribution that they can offer,” it added.
The post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation “Ecclesia in Medio Oriente,” an important point of reference for Middle Eastern Catholic communities, was also mentioned.
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Pope warns against lukewarm faith with personal story
03-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 3, 2013 / 08:29 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In keeping with his style, Pope Francis cautioned about the dangers of a lukewarm faith by telling a childhood story on the importance of believing in the physical resurrection of Jesus.
“I remember, excuse me, a personal story,” he said during his daily morning Mass on May 3.
“As a child, every Good Friday my grandmother took us to the Procession of Candles and at the end of the procession the recumbent Christ came and my grandmother made us kneel down,” he recalled.
“She told us ‘children, look, he is dead, but tomorrow he will be risen!’” he said.
Pope Francis concelebrated the morning Mass with Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, the president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and other priests.
Around 35 Swiss Guards and their commander Daniel Rudolf Anrig were among the approximately 50 guests invited to attend the Mass.
The Pope explained that his grandmother’s remarks were the vehicle that allowed his “faith in Christ, crucified and risen” to enter his heart.
“In the history of the Church there have been many, many people who have wanted to blur this strong certainty and speak of a spiritual resurrection,” remarked the Pope.
But this view is wrong because “Christ is alive,” he insisted.
In contrast with this deep faith is a lukewarm one that results in only “the courage to get involved in our small things, in our jealousies, our envy, our careerism and in selfishly going forward,” he noted.
“But this is not good for the Church, the Church must be courageous!” he exclaimed.
“Lukewarm Christians, without courage ... that hurts the Church so much because this tepid atmosphere draws you inside,” the Holy Father warned.
The consequence of this is that problems “arise among us, we no longer have the horizon or courage to pray towards heaven or the courage to proclaim the Gospel,” he stated.
Pope Francis pointed to prayer as the antidote to this kind of timidity.
“We all have to be courageous in prayer, in challenging Jesus!”
“Jesus, to put it in stronger terms, challenges us to prayer and says ‘whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son,’” he said.
The pontiff noted that “this is really powerful” and that “we must have the courage to go to Jesus and ask him to do it.”
“Do we have this courage in prayer or do we pray a little, when we can, spending a bit of time in prayer?” he asked the congregation.
The Swiss Guard will swear in 35 new recruits on May 6 at the Vatican and the Holy Father offered those at the Mass a special greeting, telling them that their service is “a beautiful testimony of fidelity to the Church” and “love for the Pope.”
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Pope names Jesuit to lead Oakland diocese
03-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 3, 2013 / 04:25 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has appointed Jesuit Father Michael C. Barber the next bishop of the Oakland, California diocese.
Bishop-designate Barber is currently the Director of Spiritual Formation at Saint John’s Seminary in Brighton, Mass. and has been serving in that capacity since 2010.
The announcement of his appointment was made on May 3 by the Holy See’s press office. He will succeed Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone who now leads the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
The bishop-designate entered the Jesuits in 1973 and was ordained a priest in 1985.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and history at Gonzaga University in 1978, completed his theological studies at Regis College at the University of Toronto in 1985, and obtained an ecclesiastical license in dogmatic theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1989.
At 59 years-old, Bishop-designate Barber has served in numerous capacities, including as a missionary in Western Samoa, an assistant professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, a tutor and chaplain at the University of Oxford, and as chaplain for the U.S. Navy Reserve.
During his time at the Gregorian, he taught dogmatic theology and conducted research on unpublished manuscripts of sermons by Blessed John Henry Newman.
His time as a military chaplain included being called to active duty in 2003 to serve the 6,000 troops in the 4th Marine Air Wing who participated in the invasion of Iraq.
He speaks English, Italian, Spanish and Latin.
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Theologian dismisses call for women 'deacons'
03-May-2013:
Bern, Switzerland, May 3, 2013 / 02:02 am (CNA).- Theologian Father Manfred Hauke said recent comments from a German archbishop appearing to support a particular diaconate for women are confusing to Catholics and others.
“Allowing women to be deacons would create great confusion for the faithful,” Fr. Hauke, a professor of patristics and dogmatics at the Theological Faculty of Lugano, told CNA April 30.
“You would have to explain to them the difference between male and female deacons,” he pointed out.
Female “deacons” would not be ordained to the sacrament of Holy Orders, and that to call them deacons would be “ambiguous,” Fr. Hauke said. Women could “receive a benediction for services of charity” but not ordination, he clarified.
At the conclusion of a diocesan conference on possible Church reforms last week, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg im Breisgau discussed the possibility of “a specific office of deacon for women.”
This “specific,” or “particular” office of deacon for women was an example of how the Church might “promote the use of new Church ministries and positions, open also to women.”
Archbishop Zollitsch went on to speak of the importance of leadership roles for women, and had earlier talked of the importance of being a more strongly charismatic-oriented Church and the strengthening of the “common priesthood of all the baptized.”
He believes the Church needs to commit to reform in order to regain credibility and strength.
Fr. Hauke said that Archbishop Zollitsch, who was ordained a priest in 1965, has made some confusing remarks on previous occasions and that he probably “got his idea” to introduce a “specific office of deacon for women” from fellow German Cardinal Walter Kasper.
However, Cardinal Kasper, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, had clearly distinguished between a service ministry for women and the sacramental ordination of men as deacons.
Fr. Hauke said that that most people who advocate for women deacons “ultimately want women in the priesthood.”
The Code of Canon Law makes clear that ordination, including to the diaconate, is validly received only by “a baptized male,” and John Paul II's 1994 apostolic letter “Ordinatio sacerdotalis” teaches definitevly that only men may be ordained priests.
On May 29, 2008, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith decreed that whoever “shall have attempted to confer holy orders on a woman” – including necessarily the diaconate – “as well as the woman who may have attempted to receive holy orders, incurs a latae sententiae excommunication.”
Fr. Hauke noted that in 2003, the International Theological Commission “published a document with evidence that we have no historical basis for the sacramental diaconate being bestowed on women.”
And in September 2001, the prefects of the Congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith (Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope emeritus Benedict), of Divine Worship, and of Clerics prepared a document, which was approved by John Paul II. It affirmed that “it is not licit to put in place initiatives which in some way aim to prepare female candidates for diaconal ordination,” according to the Italian paper La Stampa.
Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg has said he can appreciate Archbishop Zollitsch's call for a greater role for women in the Church, but that the sacramental diaconate cannot be received by females.
He was quick to distance himself from Archbishop Zollitsch's remarks, and said that a non-sacramental female diaconate would not satisfy the desire for a greater leadership role by women in the Church.
Bishop Voderholzer pointed out that abbesses, general superiors, and school principals all generally have more influence than deacons.
“The sacramental diaconate – like the priesthood and episcopacy – is inextricably a sacrament, which according to the bible-based Tradition of the Church – even the Eastern Churches – is reserved to men,” he stated April 28.
Some have called for the ordination of women deacons by noting ancient documents referring to “deaconesses,” including a letter of Saint Paul.
Fr. Hauke responded that in such instances, the “deaconesses” “cannot be identified as really deacons.”
The word 'deacon' comes from a Greek word which simply meant 'servant,' and so early references to “deaconesses” signify women in roles of service in the Church.
In the early Church, which more frequently practiced baptism by immersion, such “deaconesses” assisted in the baptism of females for the sake of modesty.
These deaconesses were servants of the Church but were not sacramental deacons, as there is no mention of a bishop laying hands on them in an act of ordination.
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Cardinal Dolan asks for prayers for kidnapped Orthodox clergy in Syria
03-May-2013:
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Pope: 'yes' to Holy Spirit prevents division
02-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 2, 2013 / 12:33 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said that Church divisions begin when it does not say ‘yes’ to the Holy Spirit and allow it to work.
“The divisions in the Church begin, the sects, all of these things, when we do not let him work because we are closed to the truth of the Spirit,” he said in the homily for his May 2 morning Mass.
“He always does a nice job, the Holy Spirit, throughout history,” he quipped, as he celebrated Mass with Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith from Colombo, Sri Lanka and staff from the Vatican Museums.
Pope Francis explained that allowing the Holy Spirit to work results in a Church that says ‘yes.’
He noted that this ‘yes’ happens “when a Christian community lives in love, confesses its sins, worships the Lord, forgives offenses, is charitable towards others and manifests love.”
“It feels the obligation of fidelity to the Lord to observe the commandments,” he underscored.
The pontiff also spoke about the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, which relates how the Church “went to the outskirts of faith” to proclaim the Gospel after Pentecost.
In his unscripted homily, the Pope said the Holy Spirit first “pushed and created problems” and then “fostered harmony within the Church.”
He explained that although there were disagreements among the first disciples in Jerusalem on whether or not to allow Gentiles into the Church, some believers were open to it because of their love for Jesus.
“There was a ‘no’ Church that said ‘you cannot, no, no, you must not’ and a ‘yes’ Church that said ‘but let’s think about it, let’s be open to this, the Spirit is opening the door to us’,” said Pope Francis.
“The commandments are fulfilled from this ‘yes,’ a community of open doors,” he stated.
The Church teaches that the Holy Spirit is the continual exchange of love between Jesus Christ and God.
The Pope noted that “Jesus asks us to remain in His love.”
He said that that means “carrying a yoke” and is a ‘yes’ that “defends us from the temptation of becoming Puritans, in the etymological sense of the word, to seek a para-evangelical purity and from being a community of ‘no.’”
The pontiff also mentioned James, a Bishop of Jerusalem, who said people “should not impose a yoke on the neck of the disciples that the same fathers were not able to carry.”
“When the service of the Lord becomes such a heavy yoke, the doors of the Christian communities are closed and no one wants to come to the Lord,” he remarked.
In contrast, it is from love “that the observance of his commandments is born and this is the Christian community that says yes.”
“This love leads us to be faithful to the Lord … I will not do this or that because I love the Lord,” he said.
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Israeli court OKs construction of barrier through Salesians' property
02-May-2013:
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Pope Francis welcomes retired Pope Benedict back to Vatican
02-May-2013:
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Saying 'yes' to God's love makes saying 'no' to sin easier, pope says
02-May-2013:
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Pope Francis welcomes Benedict back to Vatican
02-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 2, 2013 / 10:26 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Benedict XVI has returned to the Vatican after moving to the papal summer household outside of Rome to not interfere with the papal election.
“He is now pleased to return to the Vatican, where he intends to devote himself, as he announced on Feb. 11, to the service of the Church in prayer,” said a Vatican statement released on May 2.
The former Pope was picked up by helicopter at 4:30 p.m. from the grounds of Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence that is located on the edge of a volcanic crater lake, about 15 miles southeast of Rome.
He had been living in the house for two months as a temporary arrangement since he resigned on February 28.
“The former Pope is happy to return to the Vatican because that is the normal situation for him,” said Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Holy See’s press office.
“He will live a normal life, I believe that he can walk and also receive visitors and so on, but that depends on him and how he wants to live his life,” Fr. Lombardi told Vatican Radio.
Benedict XVI arrived at around 4:45 p.m. at the Vatican’s heliport and was greeted by Vatican staff and authorities including Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals, and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Secretary of State.
Also in attendance were Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, the President of the Vatican City State Governorate; Archbishop Angelo Becciu, deputy of the Secretariat of State; Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, who is the State Secretariat’s chief of relations with States; and Bishop Giuseppe Sciacca, the secretary for the Vatican City State government.
From the heliport, Benedict XVI took a car to his permanent home, the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, where Pope Francis met him.
After their greeting, the two walked into the chapel of the monastery for a short moment of prayer.
The monastery is located within the Vatican gardens and is a 10-minute walk from the Saint Martha residence where Pope Francis lives.
Renovations to the monastery, which began in Nov. 2012, were recently completed and involved replacing old windows, fixing a problem with humidity in the basement and making repairs to a rooftop terrace.
“It is small but has been well prepared,” Fr. Lombardi commented.
“There is, for example, a study room and a small library and there is also a room for when his brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, comes to visit,” he said.
The monastery also includes a chapel and a choir room.
Benedict XVI will live alongside five other people, including his secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, and the four Memores Domini who lived with him at the Pontifical Household throughout his pontificate.
The Memores Domini are members of a lay association whose members practice obedience, poverty and chastity, and live in a climate of silence and common prayer.
As for the former pontiff’s health, Fr. Lombardi said he is healthy and there is no reason for any “special concern.”
“He is not a young man, he is old and strength slowly goes backwards, but there is no specific illness,” said the Vatican spokesman.
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Flood of reform rumors premature, Vatican official states
02-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 2, 2013 / 08:45 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The number two official from the Vatican’s Secretariat of State has dismissed wide-ranging speculation about the reforms Pope Francis will make as “absolutely premature.”
“The Pope has not yet met with the group of advisers who have been chosen and already advice is raining down,” Archbishop Angelo Becciu said in a May 1 interview with the Vatican’s newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.
“After having spoken with the Holy Father, I can say that, at this moment, it is absolutely premature to put forward any hypothesis about the future structure of the Curia,” he stated.
Archbishop Becciu characterized the current time as one in which Pope Francis “is listening to everyone but, in the first place, he will want to listen to those whom he has chosen as advisers.”
Among the proposals that have surfaced are: creating a moderator for the Curia, naming two “papal secretaries” – one to handle the Church’s administration and another for international relations – and finally, the idea of shutting down the Vatican’s Institute for Religious Works, which has been the target of negative headlines.
The Pope did recently comment on the institute, known in Rome by its acronym IOR, during a daily Mass where some of its employees were present.
As he spoke about how institutions should not get in the way of the love story of the Church, he said, “I know that people from the IOR are here, so excuse me. Offices are necessary but they are necessary only up to a certain point.”?
The barb was interpreted by some as an indication that Pope Francis was planning to dismantle the institute, which typically funds missions and other outreach projects in places where stable financing is hard to obtain.??But Archbishop Becciu insisted that this was a misreading of the Pope’s meaning.
“The Pope was surprised to see words attributed to him that he never said and that misrepresent his thoughts,” he told L’Osservatore Romano.
“The only mention about it was during a brief homily at the Santa Marta, made off the cuff, in which he passionately recalled how the essence of the Church consists in a story of love between God and human beings, and how the various human structures, the IOR among them, should be less important.”
?The archbishop also said that he does not know the timing of when Pope Francis will begin his reform project, but he did say that the temporary status of the heads of all the Vatican dicasteries and councils is tied to the Holy Father’s desire for prayer and reflection.
Finally, Archbishop Becciu addressed the suggestion that the commission of cardinals Pope Francis created to advise him would in some way diminish his primacy.
“It is a consultative, not a decision-making, body and I truly do not see how Pope Francis' choice might put the primacy in question,” he said.
Their mission of advising the Pope should be understood in theological terms, he said, likening it to groups “in dioceses and parishes, or of councils of superiors, provincials, and generals in the Institutes of consecrated life.”
In the secular world it would not make sense to have a council without decision making power, he acknowledged, but “theologically, advising has a function of absolute importance: helping the superior in the task of discernment, in understanding what the Spirit asks of the Church in a precise historical moment,” he explained.
Archbishop Becciu also noted that process will not move as fast as some have suggested, given that reforms to the apostolic constitution “Pastor Bonus” – which details the structure of the Curia – will still need to go through another process to be implemented.
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Vatican invites Buddhists to help build culture of life
02-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 2, 2013 / 07:22 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican’s top official for interreligious dialogue, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, sent a message to all Buddhists urging a joint commitment to “unmask the threats to human life.”
In his annual letter for the feast of Vesakh, Cardinal Tauran highlighted the two faiths’ “noble teachings on the sanctity of human life” but lamented that “evil in different forms contributes to the dehumanization of the person” in society, “by mitigating the sense of humanity in individuals and communities.”
“This tragic situation calls upon us, Buddhists and Christians, to join hands to unmask the threats to human life and to awaken the ethical consciousness of our respective followers to generate a spiritual and moral rebirth of individuals and societies,” he wrote in his May 2 letter.
Vesakh is a major Buddhist holy day that commemorates the birth, enlightenment, and death of Gautama Buddha.
According to tradition, the historical Buddha was born, achieved enlightenment and passed away during the full moon of the month of May. This means that Vesakh is a movable feast, which this year falls on May 24 or 25, depending on the country it is celebrated in.
On those days, Buddhists visit local temples to offer the monks food and to hear the teachings of the Buddha, taking special care to meditate and to observe the eight precepts of Buddhism.
This year's message is entitled: “Christians and Buddhists: Loving, Defending, and Promoting Human Life.” The letter is signed by Cardinal Tauran, prefect of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and Father Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot, the council’s secretary.
Cardinal Tauran also recalled that Pope Francis believes in the importance of interreligious dialogue.
“Pope Francis, at the very beginning of his ministry, has reaffirmed the necessity of a dialogue of friendship among followers of different religions. He noted that: ‘The Church is … conscious of the responsibility which all of us have for our world, for the whole of creation, which we must love and protect. There is much that we can do to benefit the poor, the needy, and those who suffer, and to favor justice, promote reconciliation, and build peace.’”
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In Rio slum, residents recall 1980 visit, look forward to Pope Francis
02-May-2013:
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Strong faith is key to church unity, says doctrinal congregation head
01-May-2013:
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Pope: Unemployment, slave labor go against God's plan, human dignity
01-May-2013:
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Pope warns against work that enslaves man
01-May-2013:
Vatican City, May 1, 2013 / 10:42 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Marking the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, Pope Francis said at his General Audience this week that work should serve man and contribute to his dignity, rather than man serving his work.
“How many people worldwide are victims of this type of slavery, in which the person is at the service of his or her work, while work should offer a service to people so they may have dignity,” the Pope said May 1 at St. Peter's Square.
He added a plea to “my brothers and sisters in faith and all men and women of good will for a decisive choice to combat trafficking in persons, which is a part of 'slave labor.'”
Rather than a restricted view of “slave labor” focusing merely on enslavement and human trafficking, the Pope said that any “work that enslaves” could be considered “slave labor.”
Work should rather respect the inherent worth of the human person, as Christ learned growing up from his legal father, St. Joseph.
“Jesus is born and lives in a family, in the Holy Family, learning the craft of carpenter from Saint Joseph in his workshop in Nazareth, sharing with him the commitment, effort, satisfaction, and also the difficulties of every day.”
Pope Francis said this is a reminder for us of the “dignity and importance” of labor. “Work is part of God's loving plan,” he said, and the Lord calls us to “cultivate and care for all the goods of creation,” thereby participating in the “work of creation.”
“Work is fundamental to the dignity of a person. Work, to use an image, 'anoints' us with dignity, fills us with dignity, makes us similar to God, who has worked and still works, who always acts; it gives us the ability to maintain ourselves, our family, to contribute to the growth of our nation.”
The Holy Father then reflected on the unemployment afflicting so many, which he said is often due to “a purely economic conception of society, which seeks selfish profit, beyond the parameters of social justice.”
In light of this situation, he called for solidarity among all persons, for politicians to encourage employment out of care “for the dignity of the person,” and for people everywhere to maintain hope.
“St. Joseph also experienced moments of difficulty, but he never lost faith and was able to overcome them, in the certainty that God never abandons us,” he remarked.
Pope Francis exhorted young people to be committed to their daily duties – study, work, friendship and aid to others – reminding them that “your future also depends on how you live these precious years of your life.”
“Do not be afraid of commitment, of sacrifice” he told them, “and do not look with fear towards the future; keep your hope alive: there is always a light on the horizon.”
He concluded by reflecting that St. Joseph and Mary both focused their attention on Christ, and they are models for us.
“To listen to the Lord, we must learn to contemplate, feel His constant presence in our lives and we must stop and converse with Him, give him space in prayer,” he said. “Let us remember the Lord more in our daily life!”
Noting that May is dedicated to Our Lady, Pope Francis reminded his listeners that the Rosary and the Hail Mary lead us to contemplate the mysteries of Christ, “that is, to reflect on the key moments of his life, so that, as with Mary and St. Joseph, he is the center of our thoughts, of our attention and our actions.”
“It would be nice if, especially in this month of May, we could pray the Holy Rosary together in the family, with friends, in the parish, or some prayer to Jesus and the Virgin Mary!” he suggested. “Praying together is a precious moment that further strengthens family life, friendship!”
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Israeli president invites pope to visit Jerusalem
30-Apr-2013:
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Becoming worldly, weak is church's biggest threat, pope says
30-Apr-2013:
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Vatican official says curia reform needs time, dismisses bank rumors
30-Apr-2013:
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Retired Pope Benedict set to return to Vatican May 2
30-Apr-2013:
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Israeli president discusses Middle East conflict, invites Pope to visit
30-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 30, 2013 / 09:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Israeli president Shimon Peres invited Pope Francis to visit the Holy Land during an April 30 meeting with him at the Vatican.
“I am expecting you in Jerusalem, not just me but the whole country of Israel,” Peres told the Pope in the Apostolic Palace.
He made his invitation in front of journalists after holding a private 30-minute meeting with the pontiff in which they discussed the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.
The Vatican released a statement noting that “a speedy resumption of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians is hoped for.”
“So that,” it added, “with the courageous decisions and availability of both sides as well as support from the international community, an agreement may be reached that respects the legitimate aspirations of the two peoples, thus decisively contributing to the peace and stability of the region.”
Pope Francis and President Peres also spent time discussing the “conflict that plagues Syria” and hoped for a political solution that “privileges the logic of reconciliation and dialogue,” the Vatican communiqué said.
The two heads of State also discussed relations between Israel and the Holy See, as well as relations between state authorities and local Catholic communities.
The Vatican stated that during their talks they appreciated “significant progress made by the Bilateral Working Commission, which is preparing an agreement regarding issues of common interest” and that a rapid conclusion is expected.
The Bilateral Working Commission includes fiscal negotiations, which were resumed in 2004.
Agreements still need to be reached on taxation and what degree of exemption Catholic churches and institutions have in Israel.
Other issues involve agreeing on which ecclesiastical properties and what level of immunity of expropriation they should enjoy.
After his meeting with Pope Francis, the Israeli president met with the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and with the Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti.
President Peres will be travelling on May 1 to Assisi, Italy, the hometown of the Pope’s patron saint, Francis of Assisi.
There he will be awarded with an “Honorary Citizenship for Peace” and with a key to the city.
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Mexico's soon-to-be-saint recalled for her ministry to poor, sick
30-Apr-2013:
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Vatican monastery prepares for Benedict XVI's return
30-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 30, 2013 / 08:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Benedict XVI will return to the Vatican on May 2 by helicopter, coming back the same way he left just two months ago when he resigned as Pope.
The return of a former Pope is something that has no historical precedent, making everything a new one for the Vatican’s staff.
Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican’s press office, told CNA April 30 that “there will be someone there to welcome Benedict XVI” but he is not yet sure who that will be.
The former Pope will arrive by helicopter around 4:30 or 5:00 in the afternoon, and after a brief greeting will head to the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, where he will live a life of prayer and meditation.
Since he resigned from the papacy on Feb. 28, Benedict XVI has been living at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.
Blessed John Paul II opened the cloistered monastery in May 1994 as a place dedicated solely to prayer for the Pope, his ministry and the cardinals.
It contains a chapel, a choir room, a library, a semi-basement, a terrace and a visiting room.
Different groups of nuns have lived in the monastery since it was created, rotating out every three years.
But when Benedict XVI announced Feb. 11 that he would abdicate the papacy, the building was empty.
The last group of religious to live in Mater Ecclesiae left in Nov. 2012 when the Vatican began renovations on the building to take replace old windows, fix a problem with humidity in the basement and make repairs to a rooftop terrace.
Mater Ecclesiae will also be home to four consecrated women who have taken care of the papal household since Benedict became pontiff in 2005, and his personal secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein, who is also the head of the Prefecture of the Papal Household.
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Pope targets worldly Church as biggest threat
30-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 30, 2013 / 06:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The “greatest danger” for the Church is if it becomes worldly, since this prevents her from communicating the message of the Cross, Pope Francis said.
“When the Church becomes worldly, when she has the spirit of the world within herself … it is a weak Church, a defeated Church, unable to transmit the Gospel, the message of the Cross, the scandal of the Cross ... She cannot transmit this if she is worldly,” Pope Francis preached April 30 at his daily Mass.
Pope Francis based his homily on today’s Gospel reading from John 14 in which Jesus says to the disciples, ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you.’
Jesus also encouraged the disciples not to be afraid or troubled, because although he would soon go to the Father and that would involve “the ruler of the world” appearing to have power over him, he would return.
Pope Francis zeroed in on the moment of Christ’s Passion and how it related to the Church today, as he addressed staffers from the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See who were present at the Mass.
“The prince of the world comes but can do nothing against me: if we don’t want the prince of this world to take the Church into his hands, we must entrust it to the One who can defeat the prince of this world,” he stated.
And this raises the question: “do we pray for the Church, for the entire Church? For our brothers and sisters whom we do not know, everywhere in the world?” he asked.
It is “easy to pray for the grace of the Lord,” “to thank him” for blessings or to ask him for things we need, the Pope noted, but our prayers should also include our fellow believers who have “received the same Baptism.”
“Can we safeguard the Church, can we cure the Church, no? We do so with our work, but what’s most important is what the Lord does: he is the only one who can look into the face of evil and overcome it,” he said.
Pope Francis stressed that this way of praying is “also an act of faith” because it acknowledges that God alone can protect the Church and make it holy. ??If Catholics entrust the Church to Christ, including those who are experiencing “great tribulations and persecutions,” he “will give us … the peace that only He can give,” he said.
“May the Lord make us strong so we do not lose faith, so we do not lose hope.”
Offering the Church to the Lord, the Pope concluded, “will do us and the Church good. It will give us great peace (and although) it will not rid us of our tribulations, it will make us stronger in our sufferings.”
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Council of Europe hailed for religious freedom resolution
30-Apr-2013:
Strasbourg, France, Apr 30, 2013 / 04:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A resolution passed by the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly is being lauded as an important – although limited – recognition of religious and conscience rights in the public sphere.
“The important step with this resolution is the mention of the right to conscientious objection and the enlargement of its scope of application,” Dr. Grégor Puppinck, director general of the European Centre for Law and Justice, told CNA April 29.
“It is the first time that I see a document, a source of law, saying there is a right to conscientious objection and freedom of conscience in all 'morally sensitive matters,'” he said, which means it applies to the fundamental right of parents to educate their children.
Resolution 1928, passed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on April 24, says, “The Assembly therefore calls on member States to … accommodate religious beliefs in the public sphere by guaranteeing freedom of thought in relation to health care, education and the civil service.”
However, this accommodation is “provided that the rights of others to be free from discrimination are respected and that the access to lawful services is guaranteed.” This has made some critics wary that rights of religious freedom will be viewed as inferior and secondary to abortion and gay “rights.”
The Council of Europe, which works to promote co-operation among its 47 member states in the area of human rights, adopted the measure almost unanimously, by a vote of 148-3, with seven abstentions.
The resolution's adoption followed spirited debate on a report by an Italian representative, Luca Volonte, on “violence against religious communities.”
The effort to pass the measure met strong resistance from Scandinavian delegates. One Danish representative, complained that the report “insists on putting religious rights above other fundamental rights … of course freedom of religion should be respected, but it should not stand in the way of the right to lawful service, the right to abortion and equality for all, regardless of their homosexuality or heterosexuality.”
Puppinck explained that while “the wording of the resolution is not perfect” and he would have preferred that it be “stronger,” it is not “absolutely bad” and it will in fact “make it easier to uphold Christians' rights” to education of children, freedom of expression and conscientious objection.
The resolution, he said, is a follow-up to a 2011 resolution of the Assembly which focused on the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, which was re-iterated in strong terms in Resolution 1928.
Because it has become “more and more difficult to advocate in Europe” for the three areas of religious freedom mentioned above, Puppinck explained that the resolution is a step forward as an affirmation of those rights.
“Those rights were negated widely in northern Europe, and they are negated by the Socialist governments, so it's important to talk about and to recognize those rights.”
He cited efforts in France, Spain, Germany and Russia which aim to decrease parental rights regarding the education of their children and use state education to promote secularist values.
“In France we are facing a difficult time with our government, which does not at all respect parental rights,” Puppinck explained. “We have some members of the French government who say children belong first to the state, to the community, and secondly to the family.”
He therefore lauded the resolution for reaffirming the “rights of parents concerning the education of children.”
The part of the resolution restricting religious freedom when it clashes with other rights was neither authored by Volonte nor was it present in the original draft, Puppinck said. Rather, this language entered through amendments adopted after debate on the topic, and Volonte assented to them so as to gain a large majority of support for the resolution.
Volonte chaired a seminar after the resolution's adoption which focused on the cases of two British Christians who were penalized in their workplaces for their religious beliefs.
In January, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Shirly Chaplin, a nurse who was kept from wearing a cross at work, and Gary McFarlane, a therapist who was fired for saying he would be unable to give sex therapy to homosexual couples, had not had their rights unduly violated by U.K. workplace discrimination law.
While acknowledging that the religious beliefs motivating their acts at work were worthy of protection, the court decided that British law in their cases fell within a wide “margin of appreciation,” which gives legislatures and employers broad discretion about how to balance conflicting “rights.”
Chaplin and McFarlane have appealed the decision to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, which is also a body of the Council of Europe.
The assembly's resolutions influence the decisions of the court, Puppinck noted, adding that the cases of McFarlane and Chaplin were part of the motivation for introducing the resolution.
In the January decision against Chaplin and McFarlane, the court did find that British law had insufficiently protected another Christian, Nadia Eweida. It ruled that her freedom of religion had been breached after she was kept from wearing a cross in her employment at British Airways.
All these cases, and the resolution, are part of a growing trend of Europe's “clash of rights” cases involving Christian identity and expression in the public sphere.
Chaplin and McFarlane have appealed to the Grand Chamber saying that protections for the freedom of “thought, conscience and religion” will be effectively meaningless if the Court does not clarify how the rights of Christians, and other religious persons, are to be balanced with the rights upheld by secular persons and societies.
The Grand Chamber is not expected to decide whether to hear the case for several weeks.
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Shanghai's Bishop Jin, who worked to rebuild church, dies at 96
30-Apr-2013:
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Pope tells young to 'swim against the tide; it's good for the heart?
29-Apr-2013:
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Pope: Confession is not like dry cleaners, but is encounter with Jesus
29-Apr-2013:
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Last step to confirmation by pope was nerve-wracking, U.S. teens say
29-Apr-2013:
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Confessional not a 'dry cleaner,' says Pope
29-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 29, 2013 / 09:46 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said the Sacrament of Confession does not work like a dry cleaner but is a moment in which Jesus imparts his peace.
“Jesus in the confessional is not a dry cleaner, it is an encounter with Jesus but with this Jesus who waits for us just as we are,” said Pope Francis.
“Many times we think that going to confession is like going to the dry cleaner to clean the dirt from our clothes,” he observed during his April 29 homily.
But what really happens is that Jesus “donates to us the peace that only he gives,” he said.
The Pope usually invites different groups to attend his daily Mass in the chapel of Saint Martha’s residence, where he lives.
Today, the personnel from the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See were among the congregation.
“We are often ashamed to tell the truth, but shame is a true Christian virtue, and even human,” he commented.
“I do not know if there is a similar saying in Italian, but in our country those who are never ashamed are called ‘sin vergüenza,’” he said in his April 29 homily.
“This means ‘the unashamed’ because they are people who do not have the ability to be ashamed. And to be ashamed is a virtue of men and the women who are humble,” he added.
Pope Francis taught that being ashamed of sins is “not only natural, it’s a virtue that helps prepare us for God's forgiveness.”
He underscored that confession is not “a torture session” and that God is not waiting “to beat,” but is instead “always waiting for us, with tenderness to forgive.”
“It is going to praise God, because I, a sinner, have been saved by Him,” said Pope Francis.
“And if tomorrow I do the same?” he asked. “Go again, and go and go and go.”
The Pope encouraged the congregation to “never masquerade before God.”
“Jesus Christ is the righteous (one) and supports us before the Father," he said.
“He defends us in front of our weaknesses, but you need to stand in front of the Lord with our truth of (being) sinners, with confidence, even with joy, without masquerading,” he remarked.
The Holy Father also noted that walking in darkness means being “overly pleased with ourselves and believing that we do not need salvation.”
“That is darkness!” he exclaimed. “When we continue on this road of darkness, it is not easy to turn back.”
“We all have darkness in our lives, moments where everything, even our consciousness, is in the dark, but this does not mean we walk in darkness,” said the Pope.
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Bishop Rey reflects on Pope's liturgy, evangelization connection
29-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 29, 2013 / 07:17 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis understands the important role the liturgy plays in the New Evangelization and combines it with his own style to communicate the grace of God, says Bishop Dominique Rey.
“I think each Pope arrives at his own charism, his own personality. And the personality of Pope Francis is a sense of freedom, simplicity, (an awareness) of context,” Bishop Rey observed in an April 23 interview with CNA.
And the way the faith is conveyed during the liturgy, he said, “is very important.”
Pope Francis, he noted, “speaks each day in the homily, for all the services of the Vatican, and he develops a very strong and simple homily.
“I think many persons are touched by these thoughts, and many persons receive the Holy Father and his teaching as the grace of God,” he said.
Bishop Rey, who heads the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon in France, came to Rome last week to prepare for the June 25-28 summit on the Sacred Liturgy and the New Evangelization, which will be held at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
The international gathering is intended to underscore the “central place” of the liturgy in “the mission of the Church,” he said, adding that the “source and the goal of the New Evangelization is the adoration and the contemplation of God.”
The conference will feature talks on celebrating the Mass in both the ordinary and extraordinary form, which will be given by Cardinals Antonio Cañizares Llovera and Walter Brandmüller, respectively.
Other liturgy-related topics that will be addressed include, sacred architecture, music, new ecclesial movements, academic formation, catechesis, the bishop’s role as guardian of the liturgy, and liturgical law in the Church’s mission.
As for Pope Francis, Bishop Rey thinks his reflections and Magisterium enter into “the traditional sense of the liturgy; there is no change.”
For more information on the conference, please visit http://sacraliturgia2013.com.
Alan Holdren contributed to this report from Rome.
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Pope stresses workers' dignity after Bangladesh factory collapse
28-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 28, 2013 / 01:27 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis offered condolences and prayers, along with calls for worker safety, after a factory collapsed and killed more than 350 people in Bangladesh.
“I express my solidarity and deepest sympathy to the families mourning their loved ones,” he said at Saint Peter's Square on April 28.
In his Regina Caeli address, the Holy Father offered prayers “for the many victims” of the tragedy.
On April 24, an eight-story building collapsed in the Rana Plaza complex in Savar, just north of Dhaka, killing at least 352 people.
Around 30 survivors were found yesterday, but police say nearly 1,000 are still missing, trapped under the building's remains.
Rescue teams were still searching for survivors on the night of April 27, using electric drills, shovels and their bare hands.
Police have detained two of the factory's owners as well as two engineers involved in issuing the building's permits.
The building collapsed just a day after warnings had been given saying it was unsafe. A petition has been launched calling for compensation to be given the victims and their families.
A demonstration outside a Primark retail store was held in London after it was revealed that the company had used a floor of the building that collapsed.
Pope Francis appealed in his address for “the dignity and safety of the worker” to always be respected.
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Pope confirms young people, calls them to be 'steadfast'
28-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 28, 2013 / 09:33 am (CNA/EWTN News).- At a Mass where he confirmed 44 young people, Pope Francis encouraged the youth of the world to persist in their faith even in the midst of obstacles.
“Remaining steadfast in the journey of faith, with firm hope in the Lord, is the secret of our journey,” he told over 70,000 young people gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
“There are no difficulties, trials or misunderstandings to fear, provided we remain united to God as branches to the vine, provided we do not lose our friendship with him, provided we make ever more room for him in our lives,” he said during the 10:00 a.m. Mass on April 28.
The Mass marked the ending of a two-day celebration as part of the Year of Faith, which gathered thousands of youths from around the world.
The day before, the young people had met with teachers of faith, or catechists, at Saint Peter's Square for a pilgrimage to the tombs of Saint Peter and Blessed John Paul II.
The Eucharistic celebration was dedicated to the 44 young people from around the world to whom the Pope imparted the sacrament of Confirmation, and to those who had already received the sacrament earlier this year.
“To go against the current, this is good for the heart, but we need courage to swim against the tide,” Pope Francis noted.
“Jesus gives us this courage,” he stressed.
Examining the day's Gospel reading, the Pontiff observed that the Holy Spirit “makes all things new” and “changes us.”
“The Holy Spirit is truly transforming us, and through us he also wants to transform the world in which we live,” explained the Pope.
“How beautiful it would be,” he said, “if each of you, every evening, could say: Today at school, at home, at work, guided by God, I showed a sign of love towards one of my friends, my parents, an older person!”
He noted that when God makes all things “new,” they are not like “the novelties of this world, all of which are temporary,” but are “lasting, not only in the future but today as well.”
Pope Francis also explained that “we must undergo many trials if we are to enter the Kingdom of God.”
“To follow the Lord, to let his Spirit transform the shadowy parts of our lives, our ungodly ways of acting, and cleanse us of our sins, is to set out on a path with many obstacles, both in the world around us but also within us, in the heart,” he said.
He explained that trials are “part of the path that leads to God's glory” and told the pilgrims that they will always encounter difficulties in life.
“Do not be discouraged,” the Pope emphasized. “We have the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome these trials!”
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Original research team member says science still can't explain Shroud
27-Apr-2013:
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Original research team member says science still can't explain Shroud of Turin
26-Apr-2013:
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Church will benefit from Latin America's evangelization experience
26-Apr-2013:
Rome, Italy, Apr 26, 2013 / 12:24 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Before meeting with the first Latin American Pope on Thursday, Colombian Cardinal Rubén Salazar Gomez said the South American Church will help the universal Church with its rich history of evangelization.
“There is no doubt that the richness of the evangelizing experience of the Latin American Church is going to benefit the universal Church,” Cardinal Rubén Salazar Gomez told CNA on April 24.
Cardinal Salazar is the vice president of the Episcopal Council of Latin America and the Caribbean, or CELAM, and he met with the Pope on April 25 alongside the council’s five other directors to greet him and offer their support.
The Colombian cardinal said that it was “about time” that Latin America “donated” a Pope to the Church.
“This is for us a huge importance and a reason for profound joy,” he commented.
Cardinal Salazar believes that the Church in South America needs to show “a clear example” of how the Church’s evangelization efforts should look.
CELAM has representatives from 22 bishops’ conferences in Latin America and the Caribbean, and its leaders meet every year in Rome to visit the Pope, as well as the different Vatican departments.
On April 24 they visited the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and its members, including the commission’s secretary, Guzmán Carriquiry.
“Our annual visit to the Holy See is an opportunity to dialogue with dicasteries (departments) and be able to help them or to receive their petition to promote a certain subject,” said Archbishop Carlos Aguiar Retes of Tlalnepantla, Mexico.
“It is a pleasure to be able to meet the Pope,” Archbishop Aguiar commented, “and we want to tell him that he can count on us.”
Pope Francis, he said, is not only “a man of wisdom” but also “a decisive man who is capable of governing and knows clearly what the Church needs.”
“I am certain he will carry out the reform that the cardinals proposed in the general congregations,” Archbishop Aguiar said.
In his view, the fact that there is a Latin American Pope means “a great responsibility” for the Church on the continent.
“It’s true that it’s a great joy but that it also means commitment,” said Archbishop Aguiar.
“It’s not a joy for a short moment,” he qualified, “but rather a joy that should move our conscience to realize that if God has set his eyes on a son of Latin America and on the Church that makes a pilgrimage there, he also wants that those that make up this Church give a specific and important contribution to the life of the Church, in general.”
Cardinal Salazar, Archbishop Aguiar and three other bishops met with Pope Francis on April 25 at 11:45 in the morning.
Marta Jimenez Ibanez contributed to this report.
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Ban on religion forced Albanians to pray in secret: one woman's story
26-Apr-2013:
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Christian life is a time to prepare to enjoy heaven, pope says
26-Apr-2013:
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Corruption is worse than sin because heart hardens to God, pope says
26-Apr-2013:
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Pope says life is 'journey of preparation' for heaven
26-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 26, 2013 / 10:06 am (CNA/EWTN News).- “The whole journey of life is a journey of preparation” for heaven, Pope Francis said during his homily at Friday morning Mass.
The Pope reflected on the Gospel passage from St. John for today in which Jesus tells the disciples not to be afraid or troubled because he goes to prepare a place in the Father’s house for them.
“Prepare a place means preparing our ability to enjoy the chance, our chance, to see, to feel, to understand the beauty of what lies ahead, of that homeland towards which we walk,” he remarked.
Members of the Vatican Typography office attended the Eucharistic celebration on April 26, alongside the Vatican Labor Office and Vatican State Police inside St. Martha’s House chapel.
The Pope noted that Jesus talks “like a friend, even with the attitude of a pastor.”
“Let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me,” says Jesus, according to today’s Gospel.
“In my Father’s house there are many rooms, if it were not so would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” Christ asked the disciples.
The Pope called these “really beautiful words” and asked the congregation what they thought that “place” was like.
“What does prepare a place mean, does it mean renting a room up there?” he asked.
He explained that life is a journey of preparation that involves expanding our eyes, minds and hearts.
It means “beginning to greet him from afar. This is not alienation: this is the truth, this is allowing Jesus to prepare our hearts, our eyes for the beauty that is so great. It is the path of beauty and ‘the path to the homeland,’” he preached.
But sometimes “the Lord has to do it quickly as he did with the good thief.”
“He only had a few minutes to prepare him and he did it,” he affirmed.
“But Father,” the Pope said recounting a common objection, “I went to a philosopher and he told me that all these thoughts are an alienation, that we are alienated, that life is this, the concrete, and no-one knows what is beyond.”
“Some think this is so but Jesus tells us that it is not so and says ‘have faith in me,’” the Pope stated.
He compared Jesus to an engineer and an architect when he recalled Jesus saying he would prepare a place in his Father’s house.
“And Jesus goes to prepare a place for us,” he concluded.
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Pope's plans for encyclical, travel disclosed
26-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 26, 2013 / 04:18 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis could issue his first encyclical this year and so far is only planning one international trip in 2013, according to Vatican press office director Father Federico Lombardi.
Fr. Lombardi said that he "would not exclude" the possibility of Pope Francis issuing his first encyclical "within this year," Vatican Radio reported April 25.
The Vatican spokesman explained that Benedict XVI had already laid the groundwork for an encyclical on the virtue of faith in late 2012 and that Pope Francis could easily revise it and add his own insights to the text.
The encyclical was planned for release in early 2013 but the resignation of Benedict XVI caused the timeline to be adjusted.
Speaking to CNA just days before the announcement, Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, said Benedict XVI was “working on a new encyclical on the faith” and that “we expect it will be published during the Year of Faith.”
The idea of a Pope picking up the work of his predecessor is not unprecedented. Pope Benedict reportedly crafted his first encyclical, “Deus caritas est,” using some of John Paul II’s notes.
Fr. Lombardi also revealed on April 25 in a meeting with the international press at Rome’s Foreign Press Association that Pope Francis might only make one trip overseas in 2013.
“I invite you to not expect others to trips abroad this year,” he said, adding that the Pope is likely to visit Assisi.
“The program will follow the desires of the Pope,” Alberto Gassbari, the Pope’s international trip coordinator, told Vatican Radio on April 25.
Finally, Fr. Lombardi confirmed that Benedict XVI is planning to move to Mater Ecclesiae monastery on May 1 and that Pope Francis will remain in Casa Santa Marta.
The Pope “is very well settled,” the Vatican spokesman said. “At the moment, he does not seem to want to change his dwelling, even if a final decision has not been made.”
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Brazil's security officials coordinate safety for World Youth Day
25-Apr-2013:
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Laity key to Irish church's renewal, Dublin archbishop says at Fordham
25-Apr-2013:
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Human evolution: Science, faith explore the mysterious emergence of man
25-Apr-2013:
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Court protects Scottish midwives from abortion involvement
25-Apr-2013:
Glasgow, United Kingdom, Apr 25, 2013 / 12:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Two Scottish midwives won an appeal on April 24 against a court's decision forcing them to indirectly take part in abortions against their will.
“Connie and I are absolutely delighted with today's judgment,” said midwife Mary Doogan in a statement Wednesday.
Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital placed Doogan, 58, and Concepta Wood, 52, in charge of delegating and supporting staff who performed abortions.
Although they objected, the hospital’s management argued that a conscientious objection clause in the 1967 Abortion Act applied only to those directly performing abortions.
The Catholic women then filed a case – with the financial help of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, against NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board – but lost it on Feb. 29, 2012.
Local judge Lady Anne Smith had argued that the 1967 Act allowed only qualified conscientious objection and noted that they were “being protected from having any direct involvement with the procedure to which they object.”
“Nothing they have to do as part of their duties terminates a woman’s pregnancy,” Lady Smith had said last year.
The midwives then appealed the court’s decision and won. Both called the ruling “a welcome affirmation of the rights of all midwives to withdraw from the practice that would violate the conscience and which over time, would indeed debar many from entering what has always been a very rewarding and noble profession.”
The Society for the Protection of the Unborn Children's general secretary, Paul Tully, underscored that “the result is a tremendous victory for these devoted and caring professional women.”
“This outcome will be a great relief to all midwives, nurses and doctors who may be under pressure to supervise abortion procedures and who are wondering whether the law protects their right to opt out,” said Tully in a statement released today by Britain’s largest pro-life organization.
The midwives maintained that their right to opt-out of providing abortions for reasons of conscience was upheld by Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Section 4(1) of the U.K.’s 1967 Abortion Act.
Both Doogan and Wood had worked for over 20 years at Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital and had always openly stated their conscientious objection to abortion.
Hospital management told midwives employed as “labor ward co-ordinators” that they had to oversee abortion procedures when the hospital transferred late abortion patients to the labor ward instead of the gynecology ward.
But three appeal court judges, Lord Donald Mackay, Lady Leonna Dorrian and Lord Robin McEwan, ruled in their favor.
They said the women can exercise their right to conscientious exemption by “refusing to delegate, supervise or support staff in charge of women undergoing abortions.”
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Vatican official says July trip to Brazil being tailored to new pope
25-Apr-2013:
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Preach the Gospel with courage, humility, pope says at Mass
25-Apr-2013:
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Pope Francis' first encyclical might be out this year, says spokesman
25-Apr-2013:
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Church must evangelize humbly, Pope Francis reflects
25-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 25, 2013 / 11:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Christians are called to do the great work of evangelizing to the ends of the world in a spirit of humility rather than an attitude of conquering, Pope Francis said.
“Today we ask the Lord to become missionaries in the Church, apostles in the Church but in this spirit: a great magnanimity and also a great humility,” he said in his April 25 homily at Mass for members of the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops at Casa Santa Marta.
Also present at the Mass were Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, and police from the Vatican Gendarmerie, Vatican Radio reported.
To travel the world preaching the gospel is “the mission of the Church,” Pope Francis said.
“But she does not go forth alone: she goes forth with Jesus...the Lord works with all those who preach the Gospel. This is the magnanimity that Christians should have.”
A timid, or “pusillanimous” Christian, he added, “is incomprehensible: this magnanimity is part of the Christian vocation: always more and more, more and more, more and more, always onwards.”
Preaching the gospel, said the pontiff, requires “humility, service, charity, brotherly love.” To approach evangelization with an imperialism, or attitude of conquering “doesn't work.” Rather, Christians evangelize by their witness.
“The Christian must not be like soldiers who when they win the battle make a clean sweep of everything.”
Pope Francis addressed the tension between magnanimity, or greatness of spirit, and humility in which Christians are called to live.
“When we go forth with this magnanimity and humility, when we are not scared by the great things, by the horizon, but also take on board the little things – humility, daily charity – the Lord confirms the Word.”
“This is divine – it is like a tension between the great and the small,” he said, noting that “Christian missionary activity” proceeds “along this path.”
During his remarks, the Pope also discussed the tension between suffering and Christian triumph.“The triumph of the Church is the Resurrection of Jesus, But there is first the Cross.”
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Irish audits show 'evidence of steady progress' dealing with abuse
25-Apr-2013:
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Feminist group hurls water, insults at archbishop
25-Apr-2013:
Brussels, Belgium, Apr 24, 2013 / 04:13 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Four semi-nude feminist protestors attacked Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard of Malinas-Brussels during a recent conference on freedom of expression.
The April 18 conference took place at the Free University of Brussels and was entitled, “Blasphemy – crime or freedom of expression.”
The four women, who belong to the radical group Femen, removed their shirts and used plastic bottles similar those used by pilgrims at Lourdes to throw water at the archbishop while shouting insults and making violent gestures.
The women painted their bodies with the phrases, “My body, my rules” and “God loves lesbians.” They also carried a sign which read, “Stop homophobia.”
Archbishop Leonard remained silently in prayer until security officials were able to intervene and remove the protestors.
After the incident, the archbishop picked up one of the bottles, which was shaped in the image of the Virgin Mary, and kissed it as a sign of reparation.
In 2010 and 2011, Archbishop Leonard was the target of attacks for his statements against homosexual acts and abortion.
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Church is a love story, Pope Francis says
24-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 24, 2013 / 11:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Church is not merely “a human enterprise,” but rather “a love story,” said Pope Francis, and the faithful must remember that it is only in the path of love that the Church can grow.
The Church began “in the heart of the Father,” said the Pope at an April 24 Mass for Vatican Bank employees in the Chapel of the Casa Santa Marta.
“So this love story began, a story that has gone on for so long, and is not yet ended,” he explained. “We, the women and men of the Church, we are in the middle of a love story: each of us is a link in this chain of love. And if we do not understand this, we have understood nothing of what the Church is.”
Pointing to the growth and persecution of the early Church, Pope Francis stressed that the faithful must not compromise to get “more partners in this enterprise,” Vatican Radio reported.
He cautioned that “the Church does not grow by human strength” but through the path of love.
While some Christians have “taken the wrong path” and “waged wars of religion,” he said, “that is not the story of love.”
“Yet we learn, with our mistakes, how the story of love goes,” he continued, explaining that it is the Holy Spirit rather than any military strength that allows the Church to grow.
The Pontiff asked the mothers in the congregation how they might feel if someone referred to them as “a domestic administrator.” He suggested that they might respond, “No, I am the mother!”
Likewise, he said, “the Church is Mother.”
“And we are in the middle of a love story that continues thanks to the power of the Holy Spirit. All of us together are a family in the Church, who is our Mother,” he explained.
Pope Francis turned to Mary to ask for “the grace of the spiritual joy of participating in this love story” with her son.
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Prepare for Last Judgment by serving the poor, pope says at audience
24-Apr-2013:
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Church is driven by Holy Spirit, not officials or militants, pope says
24-Apr-2013:
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Pope to welcome 70,000 youths, confirm 44
24-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 24, 2013 / 10:31 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis will be receiving over 70,000 young people when he offers the Sacrament of Confirmation to 44 of them this coming weekend.
“We are joyful because we will be receiving so many young people,” said Archbishop Salvatore R. Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.
The archbishop made his announcement April 24 at the Vatican press office, as he detailed two upcoming events in Rome for the Year of Faith.
The first is the April 27–28 weekend gathering, which will bring youths who have received the Sacrament of Confirmation in the past year to Rome for a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Peter and a Mass in which Pope Francis will confirm 44 young people.
The second Year of Faith event is the Day of the Confraternities and Popular Piety, which will take place May 3–5. A confraternity is an organization of lay people that promotes Christian charity and has been officially approved by the Church.
On Saturday, April 27, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., youths will gather at Saint Peter’s Square with teachers of the faith, who are known as catechists. The catechists will guide them on a pilgrimage that will include Michelangelo’s Pietà, the tomb of Blessed John Paul II and the Tomb of Saint Peter, where they will make the Profession of Faith.
They will gather again the next morning at 10:00 a.m. for a closing Mass with Pope Francis, during which he will confirm 44 young people from five different continents representing the universal Church.
The youngest are 11-year-olds from Romania and Italy and the oldest is a 55-year-old from Cape Verde. Two more could be arriving from Haiti, bringing the total number to 46.
Other countries that will be represented are: the Congo, Nigeria, Madagascar, Lebanon, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Argentina, Brazil, Belarus, France, Germany, Ireland and the United States.
“We have not forgotten the presence of a disabled person to represent those who are privileged in the eyes of the Church and deserve their full attention even in the reception of the sacraments,” Archbishop Fisichella said.
“The Pope will also give the youths a small, simple and symbolic present. But I can’t tell you what it is otherwise it wouldn’t be a surprise anymore,” the archbishop quipped.
The event will finish on Sunday evening in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall with a “Witness Festival,” which will include music, and testimonies from world figures and those who have been confirmed.
A boy living in China and a girl from the Pacific island of Tonga will speak about their faith.
“We will have Antonio, who comes from the Diocese of Carpi to give a voice and hope to the victims of the earthquake and to those who still suffer situations of profound discomfort,” he added.
Archbishop Fisichella told journalists that a boy from mainland China, Paul, who has lived in Italy for several years as a refugee, and Malia P. Malani of the Island of Tonga will “tell everyone that even in the most remote parts of the world, the Church is alive and present.”
And over 50,000 people have already signed up for the second event in May.
The international gathering will bring confraternities from Italy, Spain, Malta, France, Poland and Ireland that will give their testimony on local traditions.
Confessions will be heard and there will be Eucharistic Adoration from 4:00 p.m. until midnight on May 3 in Roman churches of the confraternities.
On Saturday, May 4 there will be a pilgrimage to the Tomb of Saint Peter at 7:00 a.m., Adoration and confessions from 8:00 a.m. to noon in churches across Rome, catechesis at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls and an international Mass in the same basilica at 6:30 p.m.
“On Saturday we will follow the pattern of the pilgrimage to the tomb of Peter divided by language groups, while in the afternoon at four different churches we will have a catechesis with the subsequent celebration of the Holy Eucharist,” Archbishop Fisichella explained.
Catechesis will be in several languages, with Archbishop Arthur Roche delivering the English teaching in the Church of Saint Maria in Traspontina, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera catechizing in Spanish at the Church of Saint Mary of the Garden, and Bishop Jean Lafitte speaking in French at the Church of the Trinita dei Monti.
On Sunday morning, May 5, members of the confraternities in their habits will take part in a procession down the Via della Conciliazione until they reach Saint Peter’s Square.
Pope Francis will then celebrate Mass at 10:00 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, followed by the Regina Caeli prayer.
“A moment of faith will be lived, which is found in the simplicity of the expressions of popular piety and rooted in our people, who without interruption live these signs as a strong reminder of the faith of previous generations and a tradition that deserves to be witnessed with courage and enthusiasm,” Archbishop Fisichella said.
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Pope urges Christians to remember final judgment
24-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 24, 2013 / 07:27 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Christians should not be frightened of the final judgment but should let it affect how they live, Pope Francis told the 100,000 pilgrims who filled St. Peter’s Square.
"Human history begins with the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God and concludes with the final judgment of Christ. We often forget these two poles of history, and above all faith in the return of Christ and the final judgment is sometimes not so clear and strong in the hearts of Christians,” Pope Francis said April 24.
The crowd that turned out for the Wednesday audience was one of the largest yet, with the attendance reportedly surpassing expectations by about 25,000 people.
The Pope dedicated his address to the phrase from the Creed, “He will come again in glory, to judge the living and the dead,” continuing a series started by Benedict XVI for the Year of Faith.
He began by noting that Jesus “often focused on the reality of his final coming” during his public ministry.
“Today I would like to reflect on three Gospel texts that help us to enter into this mystery: that of the ten virgins, the talents and that of the final judgment. All three are part of Jesus' discourse on the end times in the Gospel of St. Matthew,” he explained.??At the present moment humanity is living between the moment of Christ’s Ascension and his final return, and this is the context Jesus used when he told the parable of the 10 virgins, the Pope said.
The parable involves 10 virgins who were awaiting the arrival of a bridegroom to his wedding feast. Five of them were wise and had extra lamp oil to provide light until he arrived, but five were foolish, having brought no extra oil.
The foolish virgins were not able to notice the arrival of the bridegroom with their lamps out, and so they were left knocking on the door of the house where the feast was being held.
“They were knocking insistently, but it was too late, the bridegroom responds, ‘I do not know you,’” the Pope recalled.
The Holy Father said that the time of waiting for the bridegroom – who is Jesus – is a period granted by God in his “mercy and patience,” and Christians should not fall asleep, keeping their faith alive through prayer and the sacraments.??Turning to the parable of the talents, Pope Francis recalled how Jesus warned people against letting fear precent them from using the gifts God gave them.
“A Christian who withdraws into himself, hiding all that the Lord has given him, is not a Christian!” the Pope stated.??“I would ask the many young people present to be generous with their God-given talents for the good of others, the Church and our world,” he added.
Pope Francis then spoke about the final parable, in which Jesus describes the final judgment as being like a shepherd who divides his flock into sheep and goats. Those on the right are those who followed the will of God in their lives, while those on the left did not.
“This tells us that we will be judged by God on charity, on how we loved him in our brothers, especially the most vulnerable and needy,” he explained.
“Of course,” the Pope qualified, “we must always keep in mind that we are justified, we are saved by grace, by a free act of the love of God, which always precedes us, we alone cannot do anything. Faith is first of all a gift that we have received.”
“Looking to the final judgment must never frighten us,” Pope Francis concluded.
“Rather, it urges us to live the present better. With mercy and patience, God offers us this time so that we might learn every day to recognize him in the poor and the small, might strive for the good, and might be vigilant in prayer and love,” so that when he comes he will find us his good and faithful servants, he said.
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Swiss theologian: Same-sex civil unions discriminate against married couples
24-Apr-2013:
Rome, Italy, Apr 24, 2013 / 04:31 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After a Vatican official stated that the Church could support same-sex civil unions, a Swiss theologian is saying that if they are equated with marriage these unions discriminate against married heterosexual couples.
“Besides containing an erroneous moral message, it actually means to objectively discriminate against married people, who intentionally have engaged in a union ordered towards the task of the transmission of human life, accepting all the burdens and responsibilities of this task,” said Swiss theologian Father Martin Rhonheimer.
“Conferring legal equality to same-sex unions signifies to publicly establish, in the law system, the principle of dissociation of sexuality and procreation,” he explained in an April 22 telephone interview with CNA.
His comments come after Archbishop Piero Marini, president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses, expressed his openness to same-sex civil unions.
“In these discussions, it is necessary, for example, to recognize the union of people of the same sex, because there are many couples who suffer because their civil rights are not recognized," he said on April 20 in an interview with Costa Rican newspaper La Nacion.
“What cannot be recognized is that that couple be a marriage,” said Archbishop Marini.
A second Vatican official, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, who spoke on the subject in a March 27 news conference, was misquoted by the press to make it seem he favored it.
Archbishop Paglia, the head of the Pontifical Council of the Family, said that the Church is opposed to anything that treats other unions as equivalent to marriage between a man and a woman, but that it could accept “private law solutions” for protecting people’s rights.
In a Vatican press conference on Feb. 4, he said that there are “several kinds of cohabitation forms that do not constitute a family” and that their number is increasing.
The archbishop suggested that countries could find “private law solutions” to help people living in non-matrimonial relations, to “prevent injustice and make their life easier.”
But Archbishop Paglia persisted in reaffirming that it is society’s responsibility to preserve the unique value of marriage.
Fr. Rhonheimer, who teaches political philosophy and ethics at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, said accepting same-sex civil unions is equating them with marriage, which “by its very nature is a union between a man and a woman.”
But he does not exclude private law solutions as mentioned by Archbishop Paglia, protecting same-sex couples’ civil rights and facilitating, for example, mutual care in case of illness and old age, or adaptations in the field of inheritance law.
“When equating homosexual unions to marriage, however, the legal system starts including a principle which in fact transforms the nature of marriage as a social and legal institution,” Fr. Rhonheimer stated.
“Besides being discriminating against those who bear considerable sacrifices in raising children and contribute in a most essential and irreplaceable way to the common good of society over time, it also has non-predictable long term consequences for the entire legal and social system,” he added.
He explained that approving same-sex unions could only be consistently argued for by assuming there is no moral relevant link between sexuality and procreation, an idea which is the legacy of the “sexual revolution” of the second half of the 20th century having disastrous effects on the societies of Western countries.
“Any attempt of proving the equality, in social and political terms, of heterosexual and homosexual unions is vain, simply because homosexual unions are by their very nature non-procreative,” Fr. Rhonheimer said.
According to the Swiss professor, the Church teaches that homosexual orientation is a disorder, but people who experience that disorder should not be blamed or somehow seen as guilty for having it.
“On the other hand, the Church teaches that homosexual acts are gravely and intrinsically sinful and that therefore persons with homosexual orientation should abstain from sexual acts, being continent (equal to unmarried people),” he said.
The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published a document in June 2003 which stated that “respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behavior or to legal recognition of homosexual unions.”
The document, titled “Considerations regarding proposals to give legal recognition to unions between homosexual persons,” says the common good requires that laws recognize, promote and protect marriage as the basis of the family.
“Legal recognition of homosexual unions or placing them on the same level as marriage would mean not only the approval of deviant behavior, with the consequence of making it a model in present-day society, but would also obscure basic values which belong to the common inheritance of humanity,” the document says.
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Gloria Estefan says Christ's teachings are key to peace
24-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 23, 2013 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- Visiting the Vatican to participate in the recent TEDx conference on religious freedom, Cuban singer Gloria Estefan said that the teachings of Jesus Christ are central to ensuring peace in the world.
In an interview with CNA, Estefan said she believes it is important that “the basic teachings of Jesus Christ” be passed on to young people.
“It’s about treating other human beings like you want to be treated, and if we did that, there would be no conflicts or difficulties in life,” she said.
The singer arrived in Rome with her husband Emilio Estefan. During the conference, she performed a song and shared her experience with the hundreds of attendees who arrived from all parts of the world.
“Each religion has love as its foundation,” said Estefan, who was born in Cuba and grew up in Miami.
“We have differences that are more cultural, although religious as well, but I think that it is important that we … try to understand each other, and stop trying simply to change each other’s faith.”
“I think we need to be in communion with others, and I believe a lot in the power of prayer,” the singer stressed.
“I have tried to live that truth even with my music, because my music is like my catharsis, my support, which has helped me get through very difficult times, and having the blessing of my music being heard in other places is a responsibility and a privilege that I take very seriously.”
Estefan said that faith has been a pillar in her life. She recalled the bus accident in 1990 that left her unable to walk and unsure if she would ever sing again. Thanks to the prayers of her fans, she said that she underwent a miraculous recovery.
“When I was in that huge accident I received a lot of prayers from around the world,” she explained. “I believe in God and I will never be an atheist. The world is too beautiful to think that God does not exist.”
After the accident, Estefan composed the song, “Coming Out of the Dark,” a worldwide hit dedicated to God, in which she wanted to “thank all those who sent me their prayers and helped me recover.”
“That song has a very religious meaning for me,” she said. “It signifies the power of prayer and that we all have to help each other.”
Observing that people from all over the world and of different faiths prayed for her, Estefan said she believes that religious freedom “means achieving the goals that all religions share, which are: respect for the human being, respect for women, respect for the family, the values that elevate us and that bring us spiritually to choose the right things.”
The conference was also attended by the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, Guy Consolmagno of the Vatican Observatory, and Alicia Vacas, a Combonian sister who works for peace and unity in Jerusalem.
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Italian media report progress in Blessed John Paul's sainthood cause
23-Apr-2013:
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Debate, protests mark legalization of gay marriage in France
23-Apr-2013:
Paris, France, Apr 23, 2013 / 12:41 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- After months of debate and massive protests, the National Assembly in France passed President Francois Hollande's “marriage for all” bill in to law on April 23.
With 331 votes in favor to the 225 votes against, the lower house approved President Hollande’s draft law which now legalizes “gay marriage,” allows gay couples to receive medical treatment for artificial procreation and to adopt children.
This vote comes after months of protests which saw unprecedented crowds taking to the streets on several occasions to condemn the bill.
One group, La Manif Pour Tous, has organized many of the events, and reported over 1.4 million participants at the March 24 rally in Paris to protest President Hollande’s measure.
The group argues that the now-law is “profoundly discriminatory” towards children since those adopted by two men or two women will, by law, no longer have a mother and father but a “Parent 1” and “Parent 2.”
“(Children) will be deprived of half their origins,” the group said in a statement on their website. “It paves the way for a new, ‘social’ parentage unrelated to human reality. It creates a framework for a new anthropological order founded not on sex but on gender, that is, sexual preference.”
Last week a group of 14,900 French mayors said they would refuse to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples, while some even said they would resign if the measure passed.
Opponents say they have no plans to end the protests and have already organized one to take place in Paris at 7 p.m. local time.
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Catholic members of royal couples won't have to raise kids Catholics
23-Apr-2013:
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Pope offers prayers for Orthodox archbishops kidnapped in Syria
23-Apr-2013:
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One cannot follow Jesus, love Jesus without the church, pope says
23-Apr-2013:
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Jesus not found outside the Church, Pope preaches
23-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 23, 2013 / 07:39 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said that people cannot be fully united to Jesus outside of the Church during a Mass to commemorate Saint George, the saint he is named after.
“You cannot find Jesus outside the Church,” he said April 23 in the Apostolic Palace’s Pauline Chapel.
“It is the Mother Church who gives us Jesus, who gives us the identity that is not only a seal, it is a belonging,” he declared in his homily.
The pontiff spoke about Christian identity as well as persecution, making it the sixth time in two weeks he has mentioned those who suffer for the faith.
Speaking about the Gospel reading for today from Saint John, Pope Francis underscored that “the missionary expansion of the Church began precisely at a time of persecution.”
“They had this apostolic fervor within them, and that is how the faith spread!” he exclaimed.
It was through the Holy Spirit’s initiative that the Gospel was proclaimed to the Gentiles, the Pope noted, and the Spirit “pushes more and more in this direction of opening the proclamation of the Gospel to all.”
The pontiff also repeated a line from his April 17 homily in St. Martha’s residence, when he emphasized that being a Christian is not like having “an identity card.”
“Christian identity is belonging to the Church, because all of these (the apostles) belonged to the Church, the Mother Church, because finding Jesus outside the Church is impossible,” he said.
“The great Paul VI said it is an absurd dichotomy to want to live with Jesus but without the Church, following Jesus out of the Church, loving Jesus without the Church,” he added.
Pope Francis said that “if we are not sheep of Jesus, faith does not come” and that it is “a rosewater faith and a faith without substance.”
The Pope also commented on Barnabas, who was sent to Antioch and was glad to see that the grace of God had encouraged people there to remain true disciples.
“Let us think of the consolations that Barnabas had, which is the sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing,” he preached.
“Let us ask the Lord for this frankness, this apostolic fervor that impels us to move forward, as brothers, all of us forward,” he remarked.
After the Mass in the papal chapel, the Swiss Guard band offered a brief musical performance in the Courtyard of Saint Damaso for the Pope’s name day.
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Bishops: Immigration bill on right track, some changes sought
23-Apr-2013:
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St. George's feast becomes Vatican holiday this year
22-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 22, 2013 / 01:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- St. George's feast day falling on April 23 means Vatican employees will have the day off to celebrate the saint their boss, Pope Francis, is named after.
But the Holy Father, formerly known as Cardinal Jorge (George) Bergoglio, will continue with his practice of presiding over daily Mass.
Instead of holding it at Saint Martha’s as he has been since being elected Pope, the Eucharistic celebration will take place at the Pauline Chapel in the Apostolic Palace, alongside the cardinals who live in Rome.
Under Pope Benedict XVI, the Solemnity of St. Joseph was a Vatican holiday, since his baptismal name is Joseph Ratzinger.
Pope Francis will celebrate the feast of Saint George, a martyr who lived around the year 300 in what is now Turkey.
St. George, the patron saint of England, was a soldier in the army of the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
Diocletian beheaded him in Palestine for protesting against the Emperor's persecution of Christians and refusing to take part.
Christians rapidly began venerating the saint for his bravery in protecting the poor, the defenseless and Christians.
His banner, the red cross of a martyr on a white background, was adopted for the uniform of English soldiers and later became the flag of England.
St. George’s fame grew after James of Voragine published a book in 1265 called “Legenda Sanctorum,” which later became known as the “Legenda Aurea” (The Golden Legend).
The medieval legend goes that he slew a dragon and rescued an innocent maiden from death.
The Church now commemorates St. George, and although his existence is certain, little is known about him.
It is believed that he was killed in 303 on April 23, the day his feast is now observed on.
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Pope speaks on dangers of being 'climbers' and 'good-sense Christians'
22-Apr-2013:
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Pope ordains new priests, talks about learning to hear Jesus' voice
22-Apr-2013:
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Vatican official says Archbishop Romero's sainthood cause 'unblocked'
22-Apr-2013:
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No room for self-promoters in God's kingdom, Pope says
22-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 22, 2013 / 10:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis warned that some people, even in the Church, are “social climbers” that try to promote themselves, instead of seeking to glorify Christ.
?“These social climbers exist even in the Christian communities, no? Those people who are looking out for themselves ... and consciously or unconsciously pretend to enter but are thieves and robbers,” he said at an April 22 Mass for Vatican press office and Vatican Radio employees.
“Why? Why steal the glory from Jesus? They want glory for themselves and this is what (Jesus) said to the Pharisees: ‘You seek for each other's approval,’” the Pope responded.
The result of this approach is that the faith becomes “something of a ‘commercial’ religion,” he reflected.
“I give glory to you and you give glory to me. But these people did not enter through the true gate. The (true) gate is Jesus and those who do not enter by this gate are mistaken.”
Christians can know which way or gate is Jesus’ by looking for the marks of the Beatitudes, he said.?
There are many paths that we can follow, he explained, some perhaps more advantageous than others in getting ahead, but they are “misleading, they are not real; they are false. The only path is Jesus. "
?
"Some of you may say, 'Father, you're a fundamentalist!'” Pope Francis recalled.
“No, simply put, this is what Jesus said: 'I am the gate,' 'I am the path.’ … It is a beautiful gate, a gate of love, it is a gate that does not deceive, it is not false. It always tells the truth, but with tenderness and love.”
But, he noted, “we still have … the source of original sin within us, is not it so? We still desire to possess the key to interpreting everything, the key and the power to find our own path, whatever it is, to find our own gate, whatever it is.”
?
"And this is the temptation to look for other gates or other windows to enter the Kingdom of God.
We can only enter by the gate whose name is Jesus,” he emphasized, reminding the congregation that any other path of entering is for 'thieves and robbers.'
“He is simple, the Lord. His words are not complex. He is simple.”
?Pope Francis concluded by encouraging every to ask for “the grace to always knock on that gate.”
?
“Sometimes it's closed: we are sad, we feel desolation, we have problems with knocking, with knocking at that gate. Do not go looking for other gates that seem easier, more comfortable, more at hand. Always the same one: Jesus. Jesus never disappoints, Jesus does not deceive, Jesus is not a thief, not a robber. He gave his life for me. Each of us must say this: ‘And you who gave your life for me, please, open, that I may enter.’”
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Being Christian means risking following Jesus, Pope teaches
22-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 22, 2013 / 04:57 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Lukewarm Christian try to build a church that conforms to their own common sense and see too much risk in following Jesus, Pope Francis preached.
“They are Christians of good sense only: they keep their distance. Christians, so to speak, who are ‘satellites,’ that have a church small in size: to quote the words of Jesus in Revelation, ‘lukewarm Christians,’” the Pope said at the April 20 morning Mass in the chapel of St. Martha’s residence.
“They walk only in the presence of common sense, common sense ... that worldly prudence: this is a temptation (to use) just worldly prudence,” he added.
He delivered his homily on the Gospel reading from John 6 in which Jesus declares that unless believers eat his flesh and drink his blood they will not have eternal life. Participants in the Mass included volunteers from the Vatican’s St. Martha pediatric dispensary, along with the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent De Paul who run the outreach.
"These people have turned away, they are gone, they say, 'this man is a bit strange, he says things that are hard,’” the Pope said referring to the Gospel reading.
“‘It's too big a risk to go down this road. We have common sense, eh? Let's go back a little and not (be) so close to him.’ These people, perhaps, had a certain admiration for Jesus, but a little from afar: ‘not to meddle too much with this man, because he says things that are a bit strange,’” the Pope summarized.
But “these Christians are not united in the Church, they do not walk in God's presence, they don’t have the security of the Holy Spirit, they do not make up the Church,” he stated, describing them as “Christian satellites.”
Today, the Pope noted, there are so many Christians who “bear witness to the name of Jesus, even unto martyrdom.”
And these believers are not ‘Christian satellites,’ because “they go with Jesus on the path of Jesus,” the Holy Father said.
Reflecting on the first reading that described the life of the early Christians, Pope Francis pointed out that the first believers went through a period of persecution, it walked and grew “in the fear of the Lord and with the comfort of the Holy Spirit.”
"It is a style of the Church. To walk in the fear of the Lord is a sense of adoration, the presence of God, no? The Church walks and so when we are in the presence of God we do not do bad things or make bad decisions,” he commented.
And being “in God’s sight with joy and happiness: this is the security of the Holy Spirit, that is the gift that the Lord has given us - this comfort - that keeps us going,” the Pope preached.
“Let us pray for the Church,” he said, that it “will continue to grow, unite, to walk in the fear of God and with the security of the Holy Spirit.
“May the Lord deliver us from the temptation of that ‘common sense,’ and in inverted commas, the temptation to whisper against Jesus, ‘because it is too demanding,’ and from the temptation of scandal.”
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Minister with constant joy, Pope Francis counsels new priests
21-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 21, 2013 / 07:48 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis ordained 10 men as priests this morning, reminding them that they should carry out their ministry with “constant joy and genuine love.”
“Therefore, carry out the ministry of Christ the Priest with constant joy and genuine love, attending not to your own concerns but to those of Jesus Christ. You are pastors, not functionaries. Be mediators, not intermediaries,” the Pope told the newly ordained.
The Mass of Ordination began at 9:30 a.m. in St. Peter’s Basilica, and the crowd was large enough that it spilled out into the square where the crowd followed along on large screen TVs.
The ceremony fell on the 50th anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which was first instituted by Pope Paul VI.
The men who were ordained came from Rome’s Major Seminary, the diocesan college Redemptoris Mater and the seminary of the Oblates of Divine Love.
Pope Francis’ homily based on the one found in the Italian edition of the Pontificale Romano, with a few personal additions. He was joined in celebrating the ceremony by the Vicar General of Rome Cardinal Agostino Vallini, Bishop Filippo Iannone, the diocese’s auxiliary bishops, and the rectors of the various seminaries.?
An English translation of the Pope’s homily follows:
Beloved brothers and sisters: because these our sons, who are your relatives and friends, are now to be advanced to the Order of priests, consider carefully the nature of the rank in the Church to which they are about to be raised.
It is true that God has made his entire holy people a royal priesthood in Christ. Nevertheless, our great Priest himself, Jesus Christ, chose certain disciples to carry out publicly in his name, and on behalf of mankind, a priestly office in the Church. For Christ was sent by the Father and he in turn sent the Apostles into the world, so that through them and their successors, the Bishops, he might continue to exercise his office of Teacher, Priest, and Shepherd. Indeed, priests are established co-workers of the Order of Bishops, with whom they are joined in the priestly office and with whom they are called to the service of the people of God.
After mature deliberation and prayer, these, our brothers, are now to be ordained to the priesthood in the Order of the presbyterate so as to serve Christ the Teacher, Priest, and
Shepherd, by whose ministry his body, that is, the Church, is built and grows into the people of God, a holy temple.
In being configured to Christ the eternal High Priest and joined to the priesthood of the Bishops, they will be consecrated as true priests of the New Testament, to preach the Gospel, to shepherd God’s people, and to celebrate the sacred Liturgy, especially the Lord’s sacrifice.
Now, my dear brothers and sons, you are to be raised to the Order of the Priesthood. For your part you will exercise the sacred duty of teaching in the name of Christ the Teacher. Impart to everyone the word of God which you have received with joy. Remember your mothers, your grandmothers, your catechists, who gave you the word of God, the faith ... the gift of faith! They transmitted to you this gift of faith. Meditating on the law of the Lord, see that you believe what you read, that you teach what you believe, and that you practice what you teach. Remember too that the word of God is not your property: it is the word of God. And the Church is the custodian of the word of God.
In this way, let what you teach be nourishment for the people of God. Let the holiness of your lives be a delightful fragrance to Christ’s faithful, so that by word and example you may build up the house which is God’s Church.
Likewise you will exercise in Christ the office of sanctifying. For by your ministry the spiritual sacrifice of the faithful will be made perfect, being united to the sacrifice of Christ, which will be offered through your hands in an unbloody way on the altar, in union with the faithful, in the celebration of the sacraments. Understand, therefore, what you do and imitate what you celebrate. As celebrants of the mystery of the Lord’s death and resurrection, strive to put to death whatever in your members is sinful and to walk in newness of life.
You will gather others into the people of God through Baptism, and you will forgive sins in the name of Christ and the Church in the sacrament of Penance. Today I ask you in the name of Christ and the Church, never tire of being merciful. You will comfort the sick and the elderly with holy oil: do not hesitate to show tenderness towards the elderly. When you celebrate the sacred rites, when you offer prayers of praise and thanks to God throughout the hours of the day, not only for the people of God but for the world—remember then that you are taken from among men and appointed on their behalf for those things that pertain to God. Therefore, carry out the ministry of Christ the Priest with constant joy and genuine love, attending not to your own concerns but to those of Jesus Christ. You are pastors, not functionaries. Be mediators, not intermediaries.
Finally, dear sons, exercising for your part the office of Christ, Head and Shepherd, while united with the Bishop and subject to him, strive to bring the faithful together into one family, so that you may lead them to God the Father through Christ in the Holy Spirit. Keep always before your eyes the example of the Good Shepherd who came not to be served but to serve, and who came to seek out and save what was lost.
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Ask Jesus what he wants and be brave, Pope tells youth
21-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 21, 2013 / 06:22 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Just after ordaining 10 men to the priesthood, Pope Francis called on young Catholics to ask Jesus “what he wants from you and be brave!”
“There are many young people today, here in the square. Let me ask this: have you sometimes heard the voice of the Lord through a desire, restlessness, inviting you to follow him more closely? Have you had any desire to be apostles of Jesus?” Pope Francis asked the crowd in St. Peter’s Square.
He urged the youth present in the square for the April 21 Regina Caeli prayers to strive for high ideals. “Ask Jesus what he wants from you and be brave!” he exclaimed.
Pope Francis also encouraged people to pray for those who are discerning their vocation and wondering what God’s will is for their lives.
“Behind and before every vocation to the priesthood or consecrated life,” he said, “there is always strong and intense prayer from someone: a grandmother, a grandfather, a mother, a father, a community ... .”
“Vocations are born in prayer and prayer, and only in prayer can they persevere and bear fruit,” he remarked.
Pope Francis made his remarks after having ordained 10 men as priests for the Diocese of Rome in St. Peter’s Basilica, a celebration that coincided with the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which was created by Pope Paul VI.
In his remarks before reciting the Regina Caeli prayer, he emphasized the importance of the day and asked for prayers for the new priests.
He finished his words by invoking the intercession of Mary, that she would “help us to know better the voice of Jesus and to follow her to walk in the way of life.”
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Papal stargazer, graffiti artist, rabbi hit stage for religious rights
20-Apr-2013:
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Nearly 15,000 French mayors will refuse to marry gay couples
20-Apr-2013:
Paris, France, Apr 19, 2013 / 04:12 pm (CNA).- A group of at least 14,900 French mayors has said it will not perform “gay marriages,” even if the government moves ahead with plans to legalize the practice.
The administration of French President Francois Hollande has put forth a measure that would legalize “gay marriage,” allow gay couples to receive medical treatment for artificial procreation and to adopt children.
“It is foolish to think that the mobilization of the elected mayors would stop if the law is passed,” said Franck Meyer, spokesman for the association Mayors for Children.
“As citizens, we elected officials will not give up,” he emphasized in statements to the media.
Meyer, who is mayor of Sotteville-sous-le-Val in northern France, observed that some of the mayors in the group have said they “would resign if the law is adopted,” while others “have said they will refuse” to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples.
On April 12, the French Senate passed the measure sponsored by President Hollande, but it has yet to go before the French National Assembly.
The Senate adopted the measure despite massive opposition from the public, including a demonstration attended by an estimated one million French citizens through the streets of Paris calling for the measure to be voted down.
Nathalie de Williencourt, a French lesbian and founder of one of the largest homosexual associations in France, said in January that most homosexual individuals in the country do not want “gay marriage” or the right to adopt children.
“I am French, I am homosexual. The majority of homosexuals do not want either marriage or adoption, and we especially don’t want to be treated the same as heterosexuals because we are different,” she said. “We don’t want equality but we do want justice.”
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Pope says ideological interpretations 'falsify the Gospel'
19-Apr-2013:
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Catholic communities band together after tragedy in West, Texas
19-Apr-2013:
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Citing financial problems, Vatican withholds election-year staff bonus
19-Apr-2013:
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Vatican office works to create community of 'one heart'
19-Apr-2013:
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Catholic Charities leaders plead for needs of poor with Congress
19-Apr-2013:
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Former NBA player visits Swiss Guard basketball team
19-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 19, 2013 / 10:25 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The former Los Angeles Lakers player Vlade Divac was thrilled to meet with the Swiss Guard to discuss sports and learn about their work at the Vatican.
“I was very excited to be here, and they have a basketball team here with very tall people,” the 7-foot, 1-inch Divac joked in the Swiss Guard's barracks.
“I also told them that if they need a coach, I can help them out,” he told CNA April 18.
It was the first time the world-famous player met with members of the Pope's protective force. He came with his wife, Ana, and a small group of participants from the TEDx Conference on Religious Freedom, which is what brought him to town.
“They do a lot of hard work to protect the people at the Vatican,” remarked Divac from his seat atop a centuries old cannon. He was taking a break after a brief tour of their facilities and armory.
One of the Swiss guards, Corporal Urs Breitenmoser, said it was “very awesome and great fun” to receive the former professional basketball player at their barracks.
The guards have a small basketball team that plays once or twice a week against teams from around Rome. Corporal Breitenmoser is their center, the same position Divac played for 16 years in the NBA.
“I’m a big basketball fan and I’ve been following the NBA since the 90s, so I have a pretty good idea of what happened at that time and who Vlade Divac was,” he said.
“So for me it was an incredible personal meeting and for him also since he got to know the Swiss guards, our history, and to see how we do our service for the Holy Father.”
Divac gave Breitenmoser and nearly a dozen other off-duty guards an impromptu lesson on the hook shot. They also talked basketball and about his career at the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings, as well as his “retired” life.
Divac is in Rome to speak alongside others, including singer Gloria Estefan, graffiti artist Mohammed Ali and Soumaya Slim, museum curator and daughter of the world’s richest man.
They are participating in an event called TEDxViadellaConciliazione. The "x" in the title indicates the meeting was organized independently of the TED organization, while the last half of the title refers to the main street that leads to the Vatican, where the event was held.
The TED concept -- which stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design -- began in 1984 and it is centered on inviting speakers to give talks on “ideas worth spreading” in 18 minutes or less.
Divac does not play for the Lakers anymore, but he is still involved in sports and is president of the Olympic Committee of Serbia, his homeland.
He now runs Humanitarian Organization Divac, a group that began helping civil war refugees and orphans find homes five years ago.
“We also work with the youth and help them achieve their dreams,” said Divac.
His foundation is currently raising money to help schools in Serbia. He hopes for the peaceful co-existence of people, regardless of religion.
“He is up there,” said Divac, “and we should do things better while we’re here.”
He mentioned that he would one day return to the Vatican and the Swiss Guard for a visit.
“They gave me a jersey with their logo, the number 21, and I promised them to give them an original jersey next time I come,” he said.
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Pope: answering God with the heart protects against ideologies
19-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 19, 2013 / 07:15 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis spent his homily today reflecting on responding to God’s invitations with the heart and not just the intellect, since this leads to ideologies that falsify the Gospel and weigh down the Church.
“The ideologues falsify the gospel. Every ideological interpretation, wherever it comes from – from (whatever side) – is a falsification of the Gospel,” Pope Francis said April 19 at a Mass he celebrated for employees of the Vatican’s printing press and newspaper.
“And these ideologues, as we have seen in the history of the Church, end up being intellectuals without talent, ethicists without goodness – and let us not so much as mention beauty, of which they understand nothing,” he added.?
The Pope based his homily on today’s readings from the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of John.
The first reading, drawn from Acts, recalled the conversion of St. Paul on the Road to Damascus, while the Gospel was about Jesus telling the Jews in Capernaum’s synagogue that they would not have eternal life unless they ate his flesh and drank his blood.
Each time Jesus speaks, the Pope said, his voice “passes through our mind and goes to the heart, for Jesus seeks our conversion.”
The two main characters in the first reading, Paul and Ananias, respond like the great figures in salvation history, such as Jeremiah, Isaiah, Moses and Mary, he noted. ?
“It is the response of humility, of one who welcomes the Word of God with one’s heart.”
“But the doctors,” like those who heard Jesus speaking in the synagogue, “answered only with their heads. They do not know that the Word of God goes to the heart, (they) do not know of conversion.”??
“They are the ones who walk only ‘on the path of duty,’” theirs is the moralistic (outlook) of those who pretend to understand the Gospel with their heads alone,” the Pope explained.
However, he cautioned, they are not “on the road to conversion, that conversion to which Jesus calls us.”??
In fact, the moralists “load everything on the shoulders of the faithful. The ideologues falsify the gospel.”??
In contrast the Holy Father pointed to “the path of love, the way of the Gospel,” which “is simple” and is “the road that the saints understood.”??
Pope Francis finished his homily by encouraging all present to pray for the Church, “that the Lord might free her from any ideological interpretation and open the heart of the Church, our Mother Church, to the simple Gospel, to that pure Gospel that speaks to us of love, which brings love, and is so beautiful!
“It also makes us beautiful, with the beauty of holiness,” he said.
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Pope's Curia reform council reflects Church diversity
19-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 19, 2013 / 04:06 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The eight cardinals Pope Francis has chosen to advise him on church governance and reform of the Curia come from a variety of backgrounds and countries, bringing with them diverse views and realms of experience.
Paolo Gherri, a professor of theology and canon law at the Pontifical Lateran University, told CNA April 16 that he believes it is significant that only one advisor is Italian and all advisors are residential archbishops who do not work in the Roman Curia.
Gherri said the announcement of the advisory council shows that there is “a sort of think tank working on new guidelines of ecclesiastical policy.”
Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano, Italy – the group’s secretary – said that the choice of advisors from various parts of the world allows for “enriching and amplifying the forms of communion in the highest echelons of the church institutions,” the Washington Post reports.
The Roman Curia is the Vatican-based administration that helps the Pope carry out his ministry. It has long been the target of criticism for inefficiency and is sometimes accused of corruption.
Though Italians traditionally have disproportionately high representation in the Curia, only one of Pope Francis’ advisors is from Italy: Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello.
Cardinal Bertello is president of the Vatican City State governorate and a former apostolic nuncio to Rwanda, to the United Nations in Geneva, to Mexico, to Italy and to San Marino. He has been a cardinal since June 2012.
The only other advisor from Europe is Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising in Germany. He is the current president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community.
A cardinal since November 2010, he has served on the Congregation for Catholic Education, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.
Two advisors come from the English-speaking world.
Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston has spent much of his time as Archbishop of Boston helping the archdiocese to recover from the clergy sex abuse scandals that led to the resignation of his predecessor. He has been a cardinal since March 2006.
He is a member of the Congregation for the Clergy and of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, Australia, has served on the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments and has been a member of the Pontifical Council for the Family and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. He has been a cardinal since October 2003.
In addition, two of the advisors are from Latin America.
Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa is Archbishop emeritus of Santiago, Chile. He was president of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) from 2003-2007 and a past superior general of the Schoenstatt Movement. He has been a cardinal since 2001 and has served on the Pontifical Council for Culture and on the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
He is joined by Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Cardinal Maradiaga is a member of the Salesian religious order. He was president of CELAM from 1995-1999 and is currently the President of the Episcopal Conference of Honduras.
He has served on the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy, the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
In June 2007, he was elected President of Caritas Internationalis, a Catholic charitable agency that performs relief work around the world. He became a cardinal in February 2001.
The lone Asian voice on the council is Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, India. He has been a cardinal since 2008 and heads the Asian bishops’ conference. He has served on the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Congregation for Catholic Education and the Pontifical Council for Social Communication.
The final advisor comes from Africa: Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, the Archbishop of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A cardinal since November 2010, he has served on the Congregation for the Evangelization of peoples, the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
The advisory group will hold its first meeting Oct. 1-3. It will have no legislative ability but it will serve in an advisory capacity about curial issues.
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Italian bishops launch TV program on stunning cathedral
19-Apr-2013:
Rome, Italy, Apr 19, 2013 / 02:03 am (CNA).- The Italian bishops' conference have produced a twelve-part television series presenting the Creed from Sicily's Monreale cathedral, a 12th century church covered in rich mosaics which explain the faith.
“Step by step, from inside the cathedral, Fr. Innocenzo will unveil the 'spirit' of the images and therefore of the sacred narration, following the outline of the articles of the Creed,” wrote Sandro Magister in his April 18 post for the Italian magazine l'Espresso.
Magister is one of the creators of the program, called “The Creed in the Mosaics of Monreale.” It's first episode will air April 21 on TV 2000, the channel of the Italian bishops' conference.
Each 30-minute episode will air on Sundays, be streamed on the channel's website and will later be posted on Youtube.
An initiative for the Year of Faith, “The Creed in the Mosaics of Monreale” presents the twelve articles of faith as they are found in Catholic Creed, or profession of faith.
The series is presented by Father Innocenzo Gargano, a monk of the Camaldolese order and scholar of scripture and the Church fathers, and by Sara Magister, an art historian.
The Monreale Cathedral was begun near the end of the 12th century in a Romanesque style and is covered in Byzantine-style mosaics.
“The believers who over the past nine centuries had the opportunity to turn their gaze upward and admire the mosaics of the cathedral of Monreale were for the most part illiterate, but not for this reason fatally destined to remain in ignorance,” said the director of TV 2000, Dino Boffo.
“The nourishment of the faith came through the charm of the beautiful, of the majestic. 'One day we will look upon that beautiful face of the Risen One,' Pope Francis said to the cardinals who had just elected him.”
“And so, one foretaste of that unfathomable beauty is precisely in the vault of the apse of Monreale, where the mosaics that decorate the walls of the cathedral converge.”
The Monreale Cathedral is where Romano Guardini spent Holy Week in 1929, and he was struck by how the mosaics formed the faith of the city's inhabitants.
Guardini was a leader of the Liturgical Movement, an early 20th century effort which sought to help the faithful appreciate the beauty and mystery of the liturgy and to help the liturgy inform faith and the spiritual life.
He wrote that the Monreale Cathedral is “grandiose,” of “ineffable beauty,” and said “I am full of gratitude for its existence.”
“What should I say about the splendor of this place? At first, the visitor’s glance sees a basilica of harmonious proportions. Then it perceives a movement within its structure, which is enriched with something new, a desire for transcendence that moves through it to the point of passing beyond it; but all of this culminates in that splendid luminosity.”
He continued, saying that the cathedral's beauty inspired the prayerful participation in the liturgy which he so strongly advocated.
“The crowd sat and watched. The women were wearing veils… Almost no one was reading. All were living in the gaze, all engaged in contemplation. Then it it became clear to me what the foundation of real liturgical piety is: the capacity to find the 'sacred' within the image and its dynamism.”
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Battle with the devil: Pope Francis frames the fight in Jesuit terms
18-Apr-2013:
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Beyond medical help, physician-runner says spiritual help needed, too
18-Apr-2013:
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Pope phones Argentine shoemaker for shoe repairs
18-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 18, 2013 / 01:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis, who has quickly become known for his austere style, will continue using his simple black shoes and has called his shoemaker from his hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina to repair them.
For 40 years, 81 year-old Carlos Samaria has provided shoes from his store on the outskirts of the Argentine capital for Pope Francis, who was known before his election to the papacy as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio.
“Hello Samaria, it’s Bergoglio,” the phone conversation began.
“But who is this?” the shoemaker responded with surprise.
“Samaria, it's Francis, the Pope!” the Holy Father replied.
According to Vatican Radio’s Brazilian program, the Holy Father told Samaria, “No red shoes, make them black like usual.”
Samaria said the shoes Pope Francis wears “are simple and made of black leather, with a smooth toe and no decorations.
“If you were to grab one of the Pope’s shoes it would feel like a clog, without any adornment but with laces,” the shoemaker explained.
“He doesn’t want new shows, only that I fix his old ones,” Samaria said.
However, he added that he is planning to “make a new but simple pair to be ready for him when he says I can visit, in May.”
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Pope calls for prayers for victims of Texas factory explosion
18-Apr-2013:
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Pope: God is real, concrete person, not mysterious, intangible mist
18-Apr-2013:
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Pope uses Twitter to mobilize prayers for Texas victims
18-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 18, 2013 / 10:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis tweeted a prayer request for the victims of a fertilizer plant explosion in Texas.
“Please join me in praying for the victims of the explosion in Texas and their families," he said on the English channel of his Twitter account, which uses the handle @Pontifex.
Between five and 15 people are believed to be dead and 160 injured in the explosion that took place Wednesday night near Waco, Texas.
Emergency services and rescue workers are still searching through smoldering ruins for missing firefighters and survivors of the huge blast.
The explosion happened at a fertilizer company just off the town of West, a small community of 2,300 people just 20 miles north of Waco.
First-responders were able to evacuate 133 residents of the West Rest Haven Nursing Home, some in wheelchairs, since they were at the plant fighting a fire, about 30 minutes before the deadly blast.
Authorities say 75 houses, several businesses and a 50-unit apartment complex were damaged.
Experts say it is possible that the highly explosive chemical ammonium nitrate, which can be used to make fertilizer, was being stored at the plant.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board said it was sending a large team to investigate the incident.
The Pope has previously launched appeals at his weekly general audience and during his Sunday Angelus where thousands of pilgrims gather.
But his Dec. 12, 2012 Twitter debut gave the pontiff another venue for making his prayer requests or calls for peace when violence breaks out.
The account shows 18 posts since Pope Francis became the Successor of Peter on March 13, 2012.
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Without evangelization Church becomes babysitter, Pope warns
18-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 18, 2013 / 09:47 am (CNA/EWTN News).- If Catholics do not proclaim Jesus with their lives, then the Church becomes “not the mother, but the babysitter,” Pope Francis cautioned in a homily and a separate letter to his brother bishops in Argentina.
When believers share their faith, “the Church becomes a mother church that produces children (and more) children, because we, the children of the Church, we carry that. But when we do not, the Church is not the mother, but the babysitter, that takes care of the baby – to put the baby to sleep. It is a Church dormant,” Pope Francis stated.
The solution to this is “to proclaim Christ, to carry the Church – this fruitful motherhood of the Church – forward,” he said.
The Pope first mentioned the importance of being spiritually fruitful during the April 16 Mass he celebrated for employees of the Vatican’s Institute for Works of Religion in St. Martha’s residence.
He based his homily on a reading from the Acts of the Apostles, which recalled the lives of the first Christians.
“They left their homes,” he recalled, “they brought with them only few belongings, and going from place to place proclaiming the Word.
“They were a simple faithful, baptized just a year or so – but they had the courage to go and proclaim,” the Pope said.
?Pope Francis then turned to a point that he emphasized frequently in Buenos Aires.
The early Christians, he stressed, had nothing but “the power of baptism,” which “gave them apostolic courage, the strength of the Spirit.”
But, he asked, do Christians today really believe in the power of their baptism?
“Is it sufficient for evangelization? Or do we rather ‘hope’ that the priest should speak, that the bishop might speak?”
This way of seeing Christianity often carries with it the attitude of, ‘I was baptized, I made Confirmation, First Communion ... I have my identity card, alright.’ And now, go to sleep quietly, you are a Christian,” the Pope explained.
Instead, he said that believers must be “faithful to the Spirit, to proclaim Jesus with our lives, through our witness and our words.”??Pope Francis repeated this message in a letter he sent to his fellow Argentinian bishops who are meeting for their annual full assembly in Pilar, Argentina.
?“Mission,” he underlined, “is key to ministry.”
“A Church that does not go out of itself, sooner or later, sickens from the stale air of closed rooms,” the Pope wrote.
He acknowledged that in going out the Church runs risks, but “I prefer a thousand times over a Church of accidents than a sick Church.”
The Church, the Holy Father observed, typically suffers from being self-referential, only looking to and relying on itself.
This kind of self-centeredness “leads to a routine spirituality and convoluted clericalism” and prevents people from experiencing the sweet and comforting joy of evangelization, he warned.??
Pope Francis finished his letter by greeting the Argentinian people and asking his fellow bishops to pray “I do not grow proud and always know how to listen to what God wants and not what I want.”?
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Syrian patriarch asks Vatican to increase peace efforts
18-Apr-2013:
Rome, Italy, Apr 18, 2013 / 05:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The most powerful Catholic leader in Syria met Pope Francis today to ask the Vatican to get more involved in bringing peace to his tortured homeland.
“I think it’s time the Vatican plays a bigger role, when we hear about weapons here and there,” said Patriarch Gregory III Laham.
“We want to hear the voice of the Holy Father saying, ‘This is a sin, it is against humanity,’” he told reporters April 17 at Rome’s Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin.
The Patriarch of Antioch, who is the spiritual leader of the Greek Melkite Catholic Church, said the voice of the Holy See “is now extremely important for us, both Christians and Muslims.”
His Church is in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.
Patriarch Gregory said Orthodox Christians, Muslims and government leaders also want to meet with Pope Francis.
At the level of diplomacy, he hopes that whoever the next Vatican Secretary of State is will take “new actions.”
“I hope they have the gesture of sending a cardinal to Damascus to pray with us,” remarked Patriarch Gregory.
“We don’t want a protocol gesture, we want to shock the world by praying for peace,” he stated.
“The Vatican’s voice,” he underscored, “is especially important for the future of Syria.”
In addition to praying for peace, the patriarch called on Christians to stay in the Middle East, fearing that if they left, “Jesus would only be a myth” and people would no longer believe in him.
“The reason to remain in the Middle East is to live alongside Islam, because that is our role as Christians,” he told CNA at the press conference.
He recalled how on April 6 he prayed for three people who were killed in the fighting, two Christians and one Muslim, explaining that it was part of every day life.
Patriarch Gregory presided over a funeral in Saidnaya, Syria for a 26-year-old Catholic who was killed by the opposition.
Later in the day he presented his condolences to a 65-year-old Greek Orthodox and a 75-year-old Muslim, both killed in their own homes and, according to him, for no reason.
“There is a war without a face and warriors without faces,” he said, commenting on the absence of any apparent motive for the murders.
“There is a battle of armed people, bandits, opposition, groups from outside and inside, from east and west, and you don’t know with whom you have to do what,” he added.
According to the patriarch, “this is not a civil war, it is war” and he believes it is “a complot.”
“I don’t understand how Europe can allow this situation and send people to fight,” said the patriarch.
“You’re using the name of democracy and you’re sending warriors!” he remarked.
The patriarch wrote a letter to Pope Francis on March 29 appealing for greater support from the Vatican, and asking him to “come and be our cross.”
He also recalled how the Pope referred to his country as “beloved Syria,” saying it “touched all hearts of everyone including Christians, Muslims and the opposition and those are the kinds of words we like to hear.”
In his opinion, the “whole world is now thinking about weapons and not about dialogue.”
But Patriarch Gregory insisted “Syrians, despite two years of fighting, are still able to discuss with each other.”
“Syria is a battlefield,” he said. “You are in full security in every place and in danger in any place.”
According to the patriarch, 2 million Syrians have been forced to leave their homes, over 1,000 Christians have been killed and 20 churches have been destroyed.
“The biggest problem is that whole world is now occupied with deciding to take up arms, deliver more or less weapons to whom, where and how,” he said.
“The world has to think about peace and not about weapons,” Patriarch Gregory maintained.
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Protest launched over clerical sex abuse video game
18-Apr-2013:
Madrid, Spain, Apr 17, 2013 / 04:04 pm (CNA).- Spanish civil rights groups have launched a campaign calling for the removal of a video game based on clerical sex abuse, in which a Pope figure coordinates abuse and tries to avoid being caught by reporters.
The website HazteOir denounced the company RoundGames.com for its March 14 release of “Vatican Quest,” an arcade game that “mocks the underage victims of sexual abuse and brings the trend of slamming the Church and Catholics into the video game business.”
The video game is being distributed in Spain by Minijuegos.
“Vatican Quest belittles the tragedy of the sexual abuse of minors and mocks its victims” through “a for-profit game for computers and smartphones,” HazteOir said.
In the game, the character that represents Benedict XVI has to “bring children dressed as altar boys to cardinals who are waiting for them at the doors of the Vatican palace.”
“The cardinals take the children under their arms and disappear into a dark room, closing the doors behind them,” the website explained.
Benedict XVI’s opponents in the game are “reporters who investigate cases of sexual abuse in the Church.”
HazteOir is supporting human rights group Maslibres.org, which has launched a petition calling for the removal of the game.
“The ‘Vatican Quest’ game for computers and smartphones hurts many people like me for no reason, by portraying Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI as a pimp and the cardinals as pedophiles,” a spokesman of the group said.
“To reduce the tragedy of the sexual abuse of minors to a cartoon and to profit from it offends the victims and their families,” he explained. “Even satire against Christians and their institutions has a limit.”
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Nigerian bishops: Government should be wary of amnesty for Boko Haram
17-Apr-2013:
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Rejecting Holy Spirit's work in Vatican II is 'foolish,' Pope says
17-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 17, 2013 / 12:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The work of the Holy Spirit at the Second Vatican Council is not yet finished, Pope Francis said, because many in the Church are unwilling to fully embrace what God inspired in the council fathers.
In his homily at an April 16 Mass at St. Martha’s Residence, the Pope observed that the Holy Spirit always “moves us, makes us walk and pushes the Church forward.”
However, he said, we often respond by saying, “Don’t bother us.”
“We want to put the Holy Spirit to sleep,” the Pontiff noted. “We want to ‘tame’ the Holy Spirit. And that doesn’t work, because He is God. He is the wind that comes and goes and we know not from where.”
“He is the strength of God, the one who gives us comfort and drives us to continue forward,” Pope Francis continued. But the idea of “going forward” is what often bothers us, because we want to “remain comfortable,” he explained.
“This temptation is still here today,” the Holy Father observed, pointing the Second Vatican Council as an example.
“The Council was a beautiful work of the Holy Spirit,” he stressed.
“But after 50 years have we done everything that the Holy Spirit told us at the Council?” he asked, questioning whether the Church currently contains the council’s “continuity of growth.”
“No,” he answered.
Some Catholics want to “build a monument” to the council without being willing to change, the Pope lamented. “And what’s more, there are some who want to turn back.”
“This is called being stubborn, this is called wanting to tame the Holy Spirit, this called being foolish and slow of heart,” he stressed.
The same thing happens with our own personal lives, the Holy Father continued, explaining that we often resist when “the Holy Spirit pushes us to take a more evangelical path.”
“Do not resist the Holy Spirit,” Pope Francis urged. “It is the Spirit that makes us free, with that freedom of Jesus, that freedom of the children of God!”
“This is the grace that I wish all of us would ask of the Lord: docility to the Holy Spirit, to that Spirit who comes to us and makes us advance down the path of holiness, that holiness of the Church that is so beautiful,” the Pope concluded.
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In China, young adults plan families based on own experiences as child
17-Apr-2013:
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Best defense against sin, temptation is Jesus, pope says at audience
17-Apr-2013:
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Failure to evangelize makes 'mother church' a 'baby sitter,' pope says
17-Apr-2013:
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Financial decisions key factor in Pope?s reform drive
17-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 17, 2013 / 09:26 am (CNA/EWTN News).- One month into his papacy, Pope Francis has made his first episcopal and administrative appointments and has met with heads of state and the faithful, but one decision that is likely to play a key role in his reform project will be how he deals with the Vatican’s financial operations.
As the Church’s cardinals were preparing to elect the next Pope one month ago, two of them suggested closing down the Institute for Works of Religion, because it has drawn negative media coverage in recent years.
But Pope Francis might not be inclined to take that path because of a financial mess he had to wade through in his former position as Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
A source familiar with the Vatican’s financial operations told CNA April 12 on the condition of anonymity that based on that experience, Pope Francis “should understand that the Holy See needs financial sovereignty, that is, the capacity to carry out its institutional works of religion and charity without the interference of foreign financial institutions.”
Alberto Barlocci, the long-time director of the Buenos Aires-based magazine Ciudad Nueva, explained in a late March interview that when the future Pope was appointed coadjutor Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he inherited “a diocese with a financial disease.”
In 1998, the administration of his predecessor, Cardinal Antonio Quarracino, was involved in trying to prevent the collapse of a bank in which it was a shareholder.
The cardinal’s secretary, Monsignor Roberto Marcial Toledo, signed an agreement in his boss’ name to obtain 10 million dollars from Sociedad Militar Seguro de Vida (Military Society Life Insurance). The archdiocese then gave the money to the cash-strapped Banco de Credito Provincial, which it held shares in.
But in spite of the injection of capital, the bank collapsed. In the midst of the investigation of the meltdown, Msgr. Toledo was imprisoned.
Then-Archbishop Bergoglio swiftly took responsibility for the financial turmoil in his archdiocese.
The key move, according to his former spokesman Federico Wals, was Archbishop Bergoglio deciding to sell off the archdiocese’s bank shares and to transfer its funds to international banks such as HSBC and UBS “as an ordinary client,” rather than as a partial owner.
Now that he is Pope, Francis will have to consider the idea of whether or not to shutter the Institute for Works of Religion, which receives and administers funds for charitable activities, especially in the developing world where the financial strength of institutions is not always robust.
At the moment, he still has not revealed what path he will choose, but before he makes makes any decision, its reasonable to expect that he will consult with the eight cardinals he has chosen to advise him.
Until now, he has met almost all the heads of the Vatican congregations but has only spoken with a few heads of the pontifical councils, which means a decision is not expected soon.
For its part, the cardinals’ council will not hold its first meeting until October, but Pope Francis is currently in touch with them, leaving open the possibility of a decision before the fall.
Any future decision on the Institute for Works of Religion is also clearly linked to the appointment of the new Secretary of State, who traditionally serves as the president of the commission of cardinals who oversee the institute.
New developments in the status of the institute also mean that the decision making process is still very fluid.
The Vatican’s commitment to financial transparency could soon result in another reform of its anti-money-laundering laws, according to a top official at the Secretariat of State who spoke to CNA April 10 on a condition of anonymity.
The state department source thinks “some novelties will come up” because “the Holy See asked the Council of Europe’s financial arm Moneyval to make a report wider than required.”
Moneyval is a committee that evaluates the adherence of member states to international standards for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
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Jesus' Ascension means we are never alone, Pope says
17-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 17, 2013 / 05:56 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis proclaimed “we are never alone” and that Jesus is our defender, as he reflected on the Ascension during his Wednesday general audience.
“We are never alone in our lives, we have this advocate who waits for us,” the Pope told tens of thousands of pilgrims gathered at Saint Peter’s Square to participate in the April 17 audience.
The Pope centered his teaching on the line from the Creed that says, "he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father."
Pope Francis is continuing Benedict XVI’s practice of reflecting on the Catholic statement of belief at his weekly general audiences as part of the Year of Faith.
“We are never alone, the Crucified and Risen Lord guides us and there are many brothers and sisters with us,” he stated.
These Christians “live their faith every day and bring to the world the lordship of God’s love together with us, in silence and obscurity, in their family life and work, in their problems and difficulties, in their joys and hopes,” he said.
Jesus’ ascension in to heaven does not mean he is absent, Pope Francis asserted. Instead, it tells us that he is alive among us “in a new way.”
“The Ascension of Jesus into heaven then reveals to us this reality that is so comforting for our journey, (that) in Christ, true God and true man, our humanity was brought to God,” he remarked.
Jesus “has opened the passage up for us,” the Pope said, comparing Christ to a mountaineer who leads the climb up the rock face, has reached the summit and “draws us up to him leading us to God.”
“If we entrust our lives to him, if we let ourselves be guided by him we are sure to be in safe hands, in the hands of our Savior, our advocate,” the Pope said.
“Jesus is the only and eternal priest, who passed through death and the tomb, and rose again and ascended into Heaven,” he explained.
“He is with God the Father, where he always intercedes in our favor.”
Pope Francis noted that Jesus is no longer “in a definite place in the world as he was before the Ascension.”
“He is now in the lordship of God, present in all space and time, next to each of us.”
But the Pope underscored that entering “into the glory of God requires daily fidelity to his will, even when it requires sacrifice, when at times it requires us to change our plans.”
A prime example of how to be faithful to the Lord can be seen in Jesus’ ascension, which happened on the Mount of Olives, near the place where he had retired in prayer before his passion “to be in profound union with the Father.”
“Once again,” the Pope noted, “we see that prayer gives us the grace to live faithfully to the project of God.”
He advised the pilgrims to not be afraid to turn to Jesus with their fears and ask for his blessing and mercy.
“He always forgives us, he is our advocate, he always defends us (and) we must never forget this,” Pope Francis emphasized.
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Grand jury report likens Gosnell's clinic to a 'baby charnel house'
17-Apr-2013:
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Father of boy killed in bombings grateful for 'thoughts and prayers'
17-Apr-2013:
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Spring Hill College marks school's mention in Rev. King's famed letter
17-Apr-2013:
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Advisory group will not weaken Pope's power, analyst explains
16-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 16, 2013 / 01:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Although some have worried Pope Francis’ creation of a group of cardinals to advise him means he is giving up some of his papal authority, an expert in Church law says a better description of the move is choosing the members of a cabinet.
Paolo Gherri, who teaches the Theology of Canon Law at the Pontifical Lateran University, told CNA in an April 16 interview that he believes Pope Francis “has in some ways chosen the ministers of his administration.”
“The eight cardinals are intended to decide the institutional-political line,” he asserted.
“After that, there will be probably a number of experts to determine the way this line can be put into effect.”
Gherri bases his analysis on a series of observations.
First of all, the choice of the commission is significant as far as Church policy is concerned.
All eight of the cardinals who were selected are residential archbishops, meaning that none of them work in the Roman Curia, the Vatican-based administration that assists the Pope in carrying out his ministry.
Also noteworthy is that only one of them is Italian – Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello – the head of the Vatican City State’s administration, and none of them is a canon law expert, which seems like a necessary skill for developing a reform plan.
It is also evident that “Pope Francis chose people with his same kind of approach,” Gherri said.
Their appointment is an “institutionalization” of a working group of like-minded prelates, he explained, adding that the move communicates “there is a sort of think tank working on new guidelines of ecclesiastical policy.”
But when it comes to how the reform will be carried out, no one is really sure what that will look like.
The debate on how to solve the Curia’s problems is split between those who maintain that the effort of the Holy See as an international body must not be underestimated, and those who underline that diplomacy is secondary and not part of announcing the Gospel.
The collaborator of a cardinal who took part in the conclave revealed in an April 15 conversation with CNA that “the pre-conclave meetings also dealt with the role and function of the Secretariat of State.”
According to the same source, some cardinals pushed for “a new organization to govern the Church.”
They proposed creating two papal secretaries: one that would handle the administration of the Church and one that would manage international relations and in some ways be detached from the central government of the Church.
Currently, the State Secretariat is divided into two sections: the Section for General Affairs and the Section for Relations with States, known as the First Section and Second Section, respectively.
Ways to improve the Curia’s efficiency were also suggested during the pre-conclave meetings.
Several sources agree that Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, put forth a proposal to create a moderator of the Curia (moderator curiae), a prelate who would identify inefficiencies within the Curia and work for a solution.
The idea was widely appreciated by the cardinals since many of them have experienced how slowly Rome responds to their requests and how the Curia’s bureaucracy can stall procedures for months.
But Gherri cautioned that it is “not time to outline how the eight cardinals on the advisory board will act” to reform the Curia, and what their meeting will be about.
The Pope “can bring into effect the Curia reform through an infinite range of jurisdictional choices,” Gherri explained.
“He could write a four-line motu proprio letter abolishing the current form of the Roman Curia or he could issue a more structured apostolic pastoral constitution that “rearranges the whole ‘geography’ of the offices.”
The eight cardinals will have their first meeting with Pope Francis on October 1.
In the meantime, the Vatican’s April 13 official communiqué on the group underlined that the Pope is keeping in touch with them.
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Benedict XVI receives birthday greetings from Pope Francis
16-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 16, 2013 / 12:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis made a phone call on the morning of April 16 to wish a happy 86th birthday to his predecessor, Benedict XVI.
The Holy Father also sent greetings to Benedict’s brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, who has been at Castel Gandolfo with the retired Pope for several days.
Both Pope Francis – formerly Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio – and Msgr. Ratzinger will celebrate the feast day of their namesake, St. George, on April 23.
The Pope also remembered his predecessor at morning Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae.
“Today is Benedict XVI's birthday,” he said as he began the celebration of the Mass, inviting attendees to pray for the retired Pontiff.
“We offer the Mass for him, so that the Lord be with him, comfort him, and give him much consolation,” Pope Francis said.
Pope Benedict announced on Feb. 11 that he would be resigning from the papacy at the end of the month due to old age and declining strength. Pope Francis was elected as the new Pontiff on March 13.
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Vatican unveils plans for International Family Center in Nazareth
16-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 16, 2013 / 10:54 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican is moving ahead with plans to build the International Family Center in Nazareth, a complex that will include a church, meeting spaces, a hotel for visitors and play areas for children, all as part of an effort to build up the family in the Holy Land.
The project was presented April 16 at a Vatican press conference by Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Salvatore Martinez from the Renewal in the Holy Spirit movement, and Auxiliary Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo of the Latin Rite in Jerusalem.
“There are places, endowed with an extraordinary evocative and symbolic strength. Nazareth is one of those. It is the place where Jesus grew up,” where his house and family were, Archbishop Paglia said as he emphasized some of the reasons for choosing Nazareth as the location.
“It is a land—today even more than at his time—full of tension and pain. But perhaps precisely because of this, it is a land that more than any other claims the right to peace and universal brotherhood. … Christian families can become co-authors of this dream,” the archbishop stated.
Salvatore Martinez, who is the national president of Renewal in the Holy Spirit, hopes that the center will “become a privileged place for spreading the 'Gospel of the Family,' a 'showcase' of all the beautiful, the good, the true, and the just that the family offers and witnesses to in the world.”
The project took a major step in October 2012 when Pope Benedict XVI officially erected a foundation based in Vatican City by the same name, giving it the legal status it needed to proceed. The International Family Center in Nazareth Foundation was officially launched under the auspices of the Pontifical Council for the Family on Jan. 18, 2013.
The center will be built on a hill that overlooks the city and the Basilica of the Annunciation. The Holy See already owns some of the land that will be used, while another parcel will have to be purchased.
The total cost of the project is estimated to be 12 million euro (15.75 million dollars).
Once it is fully operational the family center will have a 500-seat auditorium, a diocesan pastoral center, meeting and study rooms, a 500-seat church, lodging for a residential community, a 100-room hotel with a restaurant designed to accommodate families, a playground and an outdoor children's entertainment area.
Archbishop Paglia described the center’s mission as being a place that encourages the spirituality of the family, provides formation of parental and family life and helps families prepare to engage in the New Evangelization.
“It will be a permanent observatory of study on family ministry in the world, especially in the Holy Land and the Middle East. … And it will be a material support to families in need, especially in the Holy Land, through international fund raising projects,” he added.
At the press conference, Martinez also announced the launch of the Portal of the Family, an online site developed under the concept of a “gift economy.”
The portal aims to provide a wide range of free services from doctors, psychologists, economists, lawyers, educators and priests who will interact with families to support grandparents, parents and children in their Christian lives. It will only be available in Italian at first but other languages, including English, are planned for the future.
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Pope offers prayers for victims, first responders in Boston
16-Apr-2013:
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Pope's G-8: Troubleshooters, outspoken leaders will help reform curia
16-Apr-2013:
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Pope Francis says Catholics still need to enact teachings of Vatican II
16-Apr-2013:
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Pope Francis wishes Pope Benedict happy birthday
16-Apr-2013:
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Boston cardinal says all feel 'deep sorrow' for victims of explosions
16-Apr-2013:
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Pope urges Bostonians to combat evil with good
16-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 16, 2013 / 06:46 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis is praying for those affected by the Boston Marathon bombing and encouraging them not to be overcome by evil but fight it with good.
“At this time of mourning the Holy Father prays that all Bostonians will be united in a resolve not to be overcome by evil, but to combat evil with good, working together to build an ever more just, free and secure society for generations yet to come,” reads a message sent to Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley of Boston on behalf of the Pope.
According to the April 16 message, Pope Francis is “deeply grieved by news of the loss of life and grave injuries” caused by the act of violence perpetrated last evening in Boston.”
The attack occurred on Monday evening during the annual Boston Marathon, one of the oldest and most prestigious races in the world.
Two blasts rocked the area around the finish line, about four hours after the contest began. This year’s race had around 23,000 people registered.
Hospitals reported at least 141 people injured, and at least 17 of them critically.
The explosions took the lives of three people, which according to the Boston Globe included Martin Richards, an 8-year-old boy who had come with his mother and sister to watch his dad complete the race.
The Pope’s message, sent via Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said that the Holy Father “invokes God’s peace upon the dead, his consolation upon the suffering and his strength upon all those engaged in the continuing work of relief and response."
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Vatican plans huge pro-life, evangelization gathering
16-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 15, 2013 / 05:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A major highlight for the Year of Faith will be a two-day celebration in Rome on the Church’s teaching about the dignity of life and how it fits with the New Evangelization.
Father Geno Sylva, the English-language official for the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, hopes the event will speak so clearly to the secular world that it is “going to have to listen and say, ‘well, there is a culture of life coming out of the Church.’”
The June 15-16 international gathering will begin on Saturday morning with a catechesis session on “The Gospel of Life and the New Evangelization.”
The event will “explore the enduring and timeless truths of Blessed John Paul II's 1995 encyclical, ‘Evangelium Vitae,’ and the central role that the Gospel of Life continues to have in the Church's mission of the New Evangelization,” according to organizers.
Fr. Sylva explained in an April 12 interview with CNA/EWTN News that it’s important for people to realize that the teaching moments are to help them “understand our faith, what are the reasons why we believe.”
“So, when they come here, we’re hoping that their minds are touched as well as their hearts,” he said.
Cardinal Séan O’Malley of Boston will be offering his reflections for English speakers at the Pontifical Urbanian College, followed by a discussion panel with Prof. Francis Beckwith and Robert Royal.
The presence of Cardinal O’Malley is significant because he is the head of the U.S. bishops pro-life committee. But his profile jumped even higher when Pope Francis named him April 13 as one of eight cardinals who will advise him on reforming the Church’s central administration.
On Saturday afternoon and evening, pilgrims will have the chance to visit the tomb of St. Peter, adore the Blessed Sacrament, receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and process down the main street leading to St. Peter’s Basilica in a candlelight vigil.
The weekend will finish with a Mass presided over by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday morning.
But the Gospel of Life weekend is not all the pontifical council has planned for the Year of Faith, which will finish on Nov. 24, 2013.
Another international event is planned for the Feast of Corpus Christi on June 2. The celebration is being designed so that as many people as possible can participate, even if they cannot be present in Rome.
Pope Francis will lead an hour of Eucharistic Adoration at 5:00 p.m. Rome time in St. Peter’s Basilica. Each bishop around the world is also being invited to simultaneously preside over a Holy Hour for the feast.
Between July 4 and 7, seminarians, novices and those discerning their vocation are being invited to attend a gathering that gives them the chance to pray in front of St. Peter’s tomb and experience the universal nature of the Church.
Looking ahead to the fall, Fr. Sylva highlighted the “wonderful” events the council has planned for catechists, families and a celebration of Mary.
For more information on the Year of Faith events, please visit www.annusfidei.va.
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Religious leaders mark 50th anniversary of famed King letter from jail
15-Apr-2013:
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Pope names international panel of cardinals to advise on Vatican reform
15-Apr-2013:
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Christian credibility undermined by hypocrisy, pope says
15-Apr-2013:
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Pope Francis reaffirms Vatican's call for reform of U.S. nuns' group
15-Apr-2013:
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North American College breaks ground on 10-story building
15-Apr-2013:
Rome, Italy, Apr 15, 2013 / 08:29 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Seminarians filled the North American College with strains of “Holy God We Praise Thy Name” as they took part in the groundbreaking ceremony for a new 10-story structure.
“Things have gone so well in the last decades, that we need more space and it’s wonderful,” Archbishop John J. Meyers of Newark explained to CNA April 12 after he led the ceremony.
James and Miriam Mulva of Bartlesville, Okla. donated $8.5 million to fund the $7-million building and a technology upgrade for the seminary’s two campuses.
The Mulvas, their son Jonathan, Cardinal Edwin O’Brien, Archbishop Meyers and the college’s rector, Monsignor James F. Checchio, all joined in breaking the ground for the new addition.
“We’ve been blessed in so many ways and we have a firm belief that it’s important to give back in every way you possibly can,” James Mulva commented.
“We feel so strongly about the Church and about youth and education. So, what better project, what better initiative could we do than to support this new facility for the North American college,” he said.
The 36,000-square-foot building will be home to four new classrooms equipped with the latest technology, which will also give the college the space it needs for the 250 students it has.
The 10-story tower will also feature a new Blessed Sacrament Chapel, rooms for learning to preach, celebrate Mass and the sacraments.
The top floor of the new addition will offer the seminarians a quiet, well-lit space for reading and study, or a view of St. Peter’s Basilica if their minds wander.
Msgr. Checchio described the launch of the project as “a great day for the North American College and for the Church Universal.”
“Certainly the work of forming new priests is foundational for the Church and the future of the Church. And this building will be not only to provide for the needs of the college now but for the needs for many years to come,” he added.
Archbishop Myers, who is the head of the seminary’s board of governors, highlighted the spiritual impact of the new facility.
“Our previous Pope, Benedict, kept calling for us to internalize the faith.
“The interior life was really what it was all about, and with the chapel and also the prayer space in this facility, they will be encouraged even more to grow in their life of prayer and in their interior life,” the archbishop observed.
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Pope backs reform of US sisters' leadership conference
15-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 15, 2013 / 07:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has reaffirmed the Vatican’s assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which found it had “serious doctrinal problems” and needed to be reformed.
Archbishop Gerhard L. Müller, the prefect for the Vatican’s doctrine congregation, met in Rome with conference president Sister Florence Deacon on April 15, along with Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle, who was named to carry out the reform of the group.
Archbishop Müller told Sr. Deacon that he “recently discussed the Doctrinal Assessment with Pope Francis, who reaffirmed the findings of the Assessment and the program of reform for this Conference of Major Superiors,” an April 15 statement from the congregation said.
“It is the sincere desire of the Holy See that this meeting may help to promote the integral witness of women Religious,” the communiqué stated, and this requires “a firm foundation of faith and Christian love, so as to preserve and strengthen it for the enrichment of the Church and society for generations to come.”
Since it was his first time meeting with the leadership of the group, Archbishop Müller thanked the sisters for their “great contribution” to the Church in the United States, “as seen particularly in the many schools, hospitals, and institutions of support for the poor” that have been founded and staffed by religious.
He also “emphasized that a Conference of Major Superiors, such as the LCWR, exists in order to promote common efforts among its member institutes as well as cooperation with the local Conference of Bishops and with individual Bishops.
“For this reason, such Conferences are constituted by and remain under the direction of the Holy See,” he stated, citing canons 708-709.
On April 18, 2012, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith revealed the findings a four-year doctrinal assessment of the conference, which found “serious doctrinal problems” and the need for reform.
It cited letters from LCWR officers as well as presentations sponsored by the conference which exhibited “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith” and dissent from Church teaching on topics including the sacramental male priesthood and homosexuality.
The assessment also noted that while the group adamantly promotes social justice issues, it largely ignores matters of life, marriage and sexuality, which have played a large role in recent public debates.
The leadership conference responded June 1 to the assessment, describing it as being “based on unsubstantiated accusations” and using “a flawed process that lacked transparency.”
At the same time that it announced its findings, the Vatican placed Archbishop Sartain in charge of carrying out a reform of the group.
He has a five-year mandate to help the conference revise its statues and review its connections to affiliated organizations. In addition, he will help create a new formation program to offer a deeper understanding of Church teaching and will be responsible for approving future speakers and presentations at the organization’s assemblies.
Composed of some 1,500 members, the LCWR consists of about three percent of the 57,000 women religious in the U.S. Because its members are leaders of their religious communities, the group says that it represents 80 percent of American sisters. The average age of its members is 74.
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Sacrifice necessary for Christian life, Pope teaches
14-Apr-2013:
Rome, Italy, Apr 14, 2013 / 12:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis delved deeper into the readings for the Third Sunday of Eater, highlighting proclamation, witness and worship as essential to the Faith, while also recognizing those who suffer for Christ in the world today.
While speaking of the First Reading, the Pope said “what strikes us is the strength of Peter and the Apostles” during his April 14 homily as he celebrated Mass at the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.
Although they were ordered to be silent and not teach about the Risen Lord, the Apostles replied “We must obey God rather than men.”
Even in the face of violence and imprisonment, they “proclaim courageously, fearlessly” the Gospel of Jesus, the Pope said.
“And we? Are we capable of bringing the word of God into the environment in which we live?” Pope Francis asked.
He explained that, “Faith is born from listening, and is strengthened by proclamation.”
He likened the testimony of faith to a “great fresco” that is made up of “a variety of colors and shades,” all of which are “important, even those which do not stand out.”
“In God’s great plan, every detail is important, even yours, even my humble little witness, even the hidden witness of those who live their faith with simplicity in everyday family relationships, work relationships, friendships.”
He said that while the world is filled with “hidden” saints in the “middle class of holiness” in which “we can all belong,” many Christians throughout the world are suffering like Peter and the Apostles.
Whichever way we are called to follow Christ, the Holy Father said, we must remember “one cannot proclaim the Gospel of Jesus without the tangible witness of one’s life.”
The Pope explained that “proclamation and witness” are only possible if we recognize Christ since he is the one who chose us and is calling us out.
As Christians, we must live out an intimate and “intense relationship with Jesus” that comes from recognizing and worshiping Jesus as “the Lord.”
He posed the question of whether or not we worship the Lord. “Do we turn to God only to ask him for things, to thank him?” Or rather, do we “also turn to him to worship him?”
He explained that worshipping God “means learning to be with him” and not simply “trying to dialogue with him,” but rather, “sensing that his presence is the most true, the most good, the most important thing of all.”
In all of our lives, Pope Francis said, we either consciously or unconsciously “have a very clear order of priority concerning the things we consider important.”
“Worshipping the Lord,” he explained, “means giving him the place that he must have.”
Rather than clinging to the “many small or great idols” in our lives “on which we often seek to base our security,” Christians must strip ourselves of idols, “even the most hidden ones,” and choose God as the “center” or the “highway of our lives.”
The Holy Father asked for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Paul to “help us on this journey.”
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Pope prays for courage, comfort in the Church
14-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 14, 2013 / 10:24 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis encouraged the Church to proclaim the Gospel with “frankness and courage” and prayed for persecuted Christians worldwide in his Sunday address at St. Peter’s Square.
In his Regina Caeli address before more than 80 thousand people, the Holy Father summarized a passage from the Acts of the Apostles while explaining that its contents are relevant for everyone, especially for those persecuted for their belief in Christ.
He drew attention to one of the readings for the Third Sunday of Easter, Acts 5:27-32; 40B-41, in which the Apostles’ first preaching in Jerusalem “filled the cities with the news that Jesus truly had risen” despite attempts by the authorities to silence them by imprisonment and scourging.
In addition to that opposition, the Apostles, Pope Francis noted, were not well-educated, but rather “simple” men.
Nonetheless, they were successful in their testimony of the Risen Lord because of the Holy Spirit.
“Only the presence of the Risen Lord with them, and the action of the Holy Spirit can explain this. It was the Lord, who was with them, and the Spirit, who moved them to preach,” he said.
He explained that their encounter with Christ was “so powerful and personal” that they did not fear persecution and even saw it as a “badge of honor.”
The Holy Father said that this episode tells us something very important, which applies “to the Church in every age, and so to us.”
The Apostles’ example teaches us that “when a person truly knows Jesus Christ and believes in Him, one experiences His presence and the power of His Resurrection in one’s life, and one cannot help but communicate this experience.”
Overall, if a Christian “encounters misunderstanding or adversity, one behaves like Jesus in His Passion: one responds with love and with the power of truth.”
This teaching is especially relevant to the “many Christians who suffer persecution in many, many countries” throughout the world today.
The Pope asked for the Blessed Mother’s intercession that the Church would proclaim the Gospel with “frankness and courage” while bearing witness through “signs of brotherly love.”
He asked the Church to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters “from our heart” that they could “feel the living and comforting presence of the Risen Lord.”
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Pope appoints advisors for Curia reform
13-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 13, 2013 / 09:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In response to suggestions during talks leading up to the papal conclave, Pope Francis has appointed advisors for governing the Church and reforming the Curia, the Vatican said.
Eight cardinals from all over the globe will serve to advise the Pope in “the government of the universal Church” and will “study a plan for revising” the Curia, the Vatican announced April 13.
Those selected for the group are Cardinals Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Vatican City State governante; Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, Archbishop emeritus of Santiago, Chile; Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, India; Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany; Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, Archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, United States; George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, Australia; and Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano, Italy will serve as the group’s secretary.
This announcement comes one month after the Holy Father’s election, Vatican Press director, Fr. Federico Lombardi, noted during a briefing saying that the decision shows that Pope Francis “listens attentively” to suggestions of the College of Cardinals.
The group will first meet Oct. 1-3, though the Holy Father is already in touch with all the appointed cardinals.
The group will not have any legislative ability, but will rather serve to advise the Holy Father on governing the Church and revising the Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia Pastor bonus, or Church hierarchy.
The group will not interfere with the normal functions of the Roman Curia, the Vatican said.
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At 50, 'Pacem in Terris' guides 21st-century peacebuilding efforts
13-Apr-2013:
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St. Paul Outside the Walls: monument to a church of evangelization
12-Apr-2013:
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North American College breaks ground for $7 million expansion
12-Apr-2013:
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Vatican honors boy for courage during trachea transplant
12-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 12, 2013 / 11:13 am (CNA/EWTN News).- During the Second International Adult Stem Cell conference at the Vatican, a boy who had his windpipe replaced with one grown using his own stem cells won the “Pontifical Hero Award” for his courage.
Ciaran Finn-Lynch, 14, was the second person to receive the award, and he made the trip from Northern Ireland to the Vatican to receive it.
“Ciaran is a shining example of what this result has shown,” said his father, Paul Finn, in an April 12 interview with CNA.
His mother, Colleen Finn, said “we need to have faith in God to get through all of this.”
“This has made our faith stronger because we need more and more prayers all the time,” she added.
Ciaran was born with long-segment tracheal stenosis, a condition that resulted in a narrow windpipe and made it hard for him to breathe.
He had a major transplant surgery to rebuild his trachea when he was two years-old.
Doctors placed metal stents to hold his windpipe open and he went without any major issues until he was 10 years-old.
One day after school, the stents that had been placed in his windpipe started to cut into his aorta, the main blood vessel coming out of his heart.
He was taken to intensive care at Belfast Hospital and then later transferred to London’s Great Ormond Children’s Hospital.
“He had several operations but he had more bleeding from his stents,” said Doctor Paolo De Coppi, head of the surgery unit at University College London’s Institute of Child Health, during the April 12 morning session of the conference.
“The leader of our team didn’t know what to do next, but an option was to do an operation done before on an adult in Barcelona. But we didn’t have the time to do that,” De Coppi explained.
“But we did something similar and it was a quite difficult operation,” he said.
The operation involved taking a donor trachea and seeding it with stem cells taken from Ciaran’s bone marrow.
The result of the procedure was that after six months, his trachea looked almost normal.
“Ciaran is doing really well and I think he has a chance to become a rock star, since he plays the drums so well,” De Coppi commented after showing a video of Ciaran playing with a band.
Ciaran told CNA that it felt good to receive the award and that he was happy with his life.
His father noted that the stem cells “have been a great contribution to Ciaran’s procedure.”
“What we’ve heard here these last couple of days (at the conference) has been amazing, knowing they’re talking about building other organs,” Paul Finn said.
Ciaran’s mother noted that she was happy that her son is not on any medication, since the operation used his own cells, preventing the need for anti-rejection drugs.
“You just have to keep going on for him, and you can’t show that you’re scared or teary and you just have to put a brave face on,” said Colleen.
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Growing presence demands increased responsibilities, say Latino leaders
12-Apr-2013:
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To understand Bible, one must understand its nature, pope says
12-Apr-2013:
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Pope personally thanks State department for overtime
12-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 12, 2013 / 09:24 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The last month of papal transition meant that the employees of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State worked long hours, so Pope Francis decided that he would offer his heartfelt thanks by making a personal visit.
“Why am I here today? To thank you, because I know that these days - tomorrow marks one month - you have worked a lot more, many hours more, and that you are not paid for this, because you have worked with your heart and this can only be repaid with a ‘thank you’ but a ‘thank you’ from the heart,” Pope Francis told the 300 employees who gathered in the department’s library.
He emphasized that he wanted to personally convey his gratitude, saying, “Thank you very much, from my heart. Thank you.”?
On Saturday, April 13 it will be one month since Pope Francis was elected to succeed Benedict XVI.
So the day before that anniversary, Pope Francis visited the two sections of the Holy See’s state department, General Affairs and Relations with States.
?The secretariat is currently headed by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who welcomed the Pope to the April 11 assembly by saying that the staff is “very pleased with this exceptional visit to the headquarters of the Secretariat of State.”
Cardinal Bertone described the staff as “the great family of your closest collaborators” and pointed out that it is comprised of priests, religious, and lay men and women.??After the short exchange of remarks and a papal blessing, the Holy Father individually greeted the 300 workers.
The 50-minute encounter was significant because the secretariat is the most powerful Vatican department and is part of the Roman Curia that the cardinals spoke about reforming before the conclave that elected Pope Francis.
He is expected to replace Cardinal Bertone as Secretary of State, but that decision is not expected to be made until May, at the earliest because the cardinal is scheduled to ordain new bishops on April 27.?
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'Shepherd in combat boots' awarded Medal of Honor for Korean service
12-Apr-2013:
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Chaplain deserves 'about three or four' Medals of Honor, say veterans
11-Apr-2013:
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Immigration rally cries out to Congress to fix range of problems
11-Apr-2013:
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Vatican office looks at challenges facing couples from different faiths
11-Apr-2013:
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Adult stem cells helping teen with 'brittle bone disease' grow
11-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 11, 2013 / 10:45 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A girl whose bones used to break every two months was awarded for her courage in successfully battling her disease during a stem cell research conference at the Vatican.
“It feels amazing to win an award like this,” said Elizabeth Lobato, who was given the Pontifical Hero Award April 11 at the Second International Adult Stem Cell Conference in Vatican City.
“I heard I was the first to get this award from Rome and that’s awesome,” said the 14-year-old in an interview with CNA.
Elizabeth was diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta, commonly known as brittle bone disease, when she was just 10 months old. People affected by illness – which is caused by a genetic defect – often suffer from muscle weakness, hearing loss, loose joints, curved bones, scoliosis, brittle teeth and short stature.
But the teenager has grown over 13 inches since she began the adult stem cell treatment that involves her receiving bone marrow-derived stem cells from her father.
The teenager, still small for her age and currently in a wheelchair, is in Rome with her parents attending a conference promoting adult stem cell research.
The conference began April 11 at the Vatican’s New Synod Hall under the co-sponsorship of the Pontifical Council for Culture and the New York City-based Stem for Life Foundation.
The first gathering was held back in Nov. 2011, but as the group of physicians, philanthropists and patients assembled in the Vatican hall today, the sense of excitement was palpable.
“Since then it seems the entire world has awakened to a simple reality that adult stem cell therapies have the potential to usher in a new era of health and healing,” said Doctor Robin Smith, chairman and president of the Stem for Life Foundation.
“Adult stem cell therapies hold the promise to vanish countless diseases and dangerous medical conditions, to turn the tide of human suffering, to transform modern-day health care from one that focuses on managing symptoms to one that develops cures,” she said.
Smith added that in the past 17 months there have been thousands of news stories about “breakthrough treatments using adult stem cell research.”
“People have discovered that there already are replacement bladders, tracheas, and skin in a lab,” she explained.
“There are fortunate individuals who have received these precious replacements for organs by participating in clinical trials.”
Elizabeth’s mother called her “a fighter since the moment she was born.”
“I don’t know if I can find the right words to express seeing your child ill from birth and not being able to do the things children her age can do and should be able to do,” said Mary Lobato.
“Now she can spend the day with her friends without us being there, and she spent a week out of town without us. So it’s nice to see her progressing as it should be.”
Terry Lobato, Elizabeth’s father, also underscored that the family is against stem cell research performed using embryos.
“Our faith is very strong, my wife and I were both raised as Catholics and we both believe in God, so that’s why we would never go to embryonic,” he explained.
“As her parents we would do anything for her, we would give our life for our daughter, but we couldn’t ask that of anyone else,” he remarked.
Reflecting on some of the sacrifices involved in caring for his daughter, Terry Lobato said he was “the fortunate one” to be able to give Elizabeth his stem cells, adding that “it is working and she is growing.”
Before finishing the interview, Elizabeth offered some advice to other children suffering with the same disease.
“I would tell them to just never give up, that there is always something, ” she said, with a smile on her face.
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Pope thanks U.S. foundation for fight against poverty, work for peace
11-Apr-2013:
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Pope thanks foundation for fighting material, spiritual poverty
11-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 11, 2013 / 08:55 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis told members of The Papal Foundation that their contributions are helping combat “the many forms of material and spiritual poverty” present throughout the world.
“The needs of God’s people throughout the world are great, and your efforts to advance the Church’s mission are helping to fight the many forms of material and spiritual poverty present in our human family, and to contribute to the growth of fraternity and peace,” the Pope said April 11 in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall.
This year around 100 members of the Philadelphia-based foundation traveled to Rome during the week after Easter to present Pope Francis with their annual contribution.
They were able to present him with an $8.6 million donation, which he will be able to use during the coming year for his charitable activities.
Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, president of the foundation, has been leading the pilgrimage to Rome, and he highlighted the connection between the Pope’s emphasis on the poor and the foundation.
“From the first day of his election, Pope Francis has reminded us of the Church’s fundamental responsibility to the poor and marginalized,” the cardinal said in an April 11 press release.
William Canny, the foundation’s Chief Operating Officer, pointed out that the annual pilgrimage is “always a deeply spiritual experience, but this year we were especially blessed to have a private audience with Pope Francis as he sets the course for his papacy.
“These are exciting, hope-filled days for the Church, and for a world in need,” Canny stated.
During today’s audience, Pope Francis recalled that over the last 25 years the foundation has “helped the Successor of Saint Peter by supporting a number of apostolates and charities especially close to his heart.”
The donations from the foundation have helped fund the formation of clergy and religious, provided shelter for the homeless, offered medical assistance and care for the poor and needy, and created educational and employment opportunities.
Father Patrick Okoye, a priest of the Diocese of Awka in Nigeria, is one recipient of a Papal Foundation scholarship, which has made it possible for him to study spirituality at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
In an April 10 interview with CNA he said that The Papal Foundation “has changed my life, brought a new geography, and I feel a more deep sense of commitment to the Church, and to give back what has been given to me generously.”
The foundation, Fr. Okoye reflected, has provided him with a “great community of love” where he has met many priests, nuns and other people who have been blessed to receive the financial help they needed.
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With Pope Francis, the 'great continental mission' goes global
10-Apr-2013:
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Vatican spokesman denies report that Benedict XVI is ill
10-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 10, 2013 / 12:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi says that contrary to a report in the Spanish daily El Mundo, the Bishop-emeritus of Rome, Benedict XVI, is not suffering from any illness.
The report in El Mundo by Rocio Galvan quotes statements made by Spanish Vaticanista Paloma Gomez-Borrero in Madrid during the presentation of her most recent book.
“Benedict XVI has something very serious. In 15 days his physical condition has deteriorated tremendously, that’s the news I have,” Gomez-Borrero said.
In comments to CNA on April 10, however, Fr. Lombardi underscored that Benedict XVI “does not have any illness” and that “this has been certified by his doctors.”
He said he was saddened by Gomez-Borrero's comments and that the Spanish journalist, whom he has known for many years, “has begun to speculate after seeing images of a tired Benedict.”
“But to say that he has an illness is foolish. There is no basis for this,” the spokesman said.
“As we all know, Benedict XVI led a very engaged pontificate at his age, and therefore he is enduring the aches and pains of an elderly person who has worked very hard,” Fr. Lombardi added.
Benedict XVI was Pope for eight years and resigned just shy of his 86th birthday. During his pontificate, he made the same number of trips that Blessed John Paul II did in same span of time but at a much older age.
He currently resides at the papal residence of Castel Gandolfo but will return to the Vatican to live once renovations at the former monastery of Mater Ecclesia are completed in May.
Pope Francis has visited Benedict XVI on several occasions and the two maintain a cordial and close relationship.
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God's love is source of salvation, dignity, hope, pope says at Mass
10-Apr-2013:
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Being Christian means acting, loving like Christ, pope says at audience
10-Apr-2013:
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Demographic shifts mean Europe no longer Catholic Church's center
10-Apr-2013:
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World misses God but it can see your joy, Pope tells audience
10-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 10, 2013 / 10:37 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis urged Catholics to serve humanity by showing “the joy of being children of God” to the world, since it “no longer seems able to lift its gaze towards God.”
“Let us show the joy of being children of God, the freedom he gifts us to live in Christ … It is a precious service that we give to our world, which is often no longer able to lift its gaze upwards, it no longer seems able to lift its gaze towards God,” he exclaimed to the 40,000 people gathered April 10 in St. Peter’s Square.
“This means that each day we must let Christ transform us and make us like Him; it means trying to live as Christians, trying to follow him, even if we see our limitations and our weaknesses,” Pope Francis explained.
He noted that “without being discouraged by our falls, can we feel loved by Him, our life will be new, inspired by serenity and joy. God is our strength! God is our hope!”
And the sacraments, he stressed, are vital to this father-child relationship with God.
“This filial relationship with God is not like a treasure that in a corner of our lives, but it must grow, must be fed every day by listening to the word of God, prayer, participation in the sacraments, especially Penance and the Eucharist and charity,” he said.
“Christianity is not simply a matter of following commandments,” the Pope explained.
It is about “living a new life, being in Christ, thinking and acting like Christ, and being transformed by the love of Christ, it is allowing Him take possession of our lives and change them, transform them, to free them from the darkness of evil and sin.”
He also linked behaving as children of God with the resurrection of Jesus and its “meaning and salvific value.”
Pope Francis taught that the Catholic faith is based on the resurrection and is “in vain” without it.
“Our faith is based on the death and resurrection of Christ just like a house built on the foundations, without them the whole house collapses,” said Pope Francis.
“On the cross, Jesus offered himself by taking upon himself our sins and going down into the abyss of death, and the resurrection removes them and opens the way to be reborn to a new life,” he added.
He explained that the day’s Gospel says that the Resurrection of Jesus brings something “absolutely new” because “we are freed from the bondage of sin, we become children of God and we are begotten to a new life.”
“The Holy Spirit produces in us this new status as children of God and this is the greatest gift we receive from the Paschal Mystery of Jesus,” said the Pope.
“God treats us as children, understands us, forgives us, embraces us, loves us even when we make mistakes,” he remarked.
The pontiff explained that after the resurrection of Jesus, “God is now our Father.”
“He treats us as his beloved children, he understands us, forgives us, embraces us, and loves us even when we go astray.”
Pope Francis finished his third general audience by imparting his apostolic blessing and then mingling with the crowd for more than 15 minutes. He blessed statues of Mary, autographed a painting of Mary, and greeted children and people with disabilities.
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Vatican response to financial evaluation will exceed requirements
10-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 10, 2013 / 10:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican plans to demonstrate its commitment to financial transparency by presenting progress it has made in areas the Council of Europe’s money laundering prevention committee is not requiring.
“With this initiative, the Holy See wishes to provide a more complete overview of the measures taken over the last year to further strengthen its institutional structure in the area of preventing money laundering and the financing of terrorism,” says an April 10 statement from the Vatican.
The Council of Europe’s financial oversight committee, known as MONEYVAL, requires that the states or institutions it reviews submit an update on how they are working to comply with shortcomings highlighted in the “core recommendations” section of its report.
The report also lists items that are less important, which are called “key recommendations,” but entity being evaluated is not obliged to inform the committee on how it is progressing in those areas.
The April 10 communiqué from the Vatican explained that the European financial committee “accepted the Holy See’s own proposal that this next report cover not only the Core Recommendations, but also all the areas covered by the Key Recommendations.”
The Vatican’s financial team will make a report on its progress to the full MONEYVAL assembly in December.
The original evaluation began in Feb. 2011 and the committee’s report was issued in July 2012.
It found the Holy See and Vatican City State to be largely in compliance, with 9 key and core areas receiving a positive assessment and seven needing improvement.
One item that has already been fixed was a conflict of interest created by Cardinal Attilio Nicora having a role in both the Vatican’s financial watchdog agency and its monetary policy body. He resigned from his position with the policy unit in July 2011 but remained the president of the watchdog agency.
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Pope salutes his favorite soccer team
10-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 10, 2013 / 08:05 am (CNA).- Diverse groups from around the world were present at this morning’s general audience, but one – the Pope’s favorite soccer team – received a greeting from the pontiff that no one else did.
As he moved through the list of those present at the April 10 assembly, he came to the only delegation from his homeland and said, “Ah, this is very important!”
That group was made up of soccer players from the Saint Lawrence Athletic Club, based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They made Pope Francis a member in 2008, and after his election as Pope sent him congratulations, along with a new team jersey.
In response, Pope Francis sent a letter on March 20 to the club’s president, telling him, “I really appreciate this token of appreciation, which I am happy to respond to, asking our Lord to generously repay this delicacy.”
“Aside from the love of football, I ask you to cultivate friendship with Jesus, the true friend, he will always be with you, in good times and also when there are difficulties,” the Pope wrote.
At today’s audience, Pope Francis also spoke at length in Spanish for the first time, giving the summary of his Italian-language catechesis in his native tongue and greeting the various groups from Latin American and Spain.
Also present at the gathering were English-speaking pilgrims from the NATO Defense College and the Germany-based Wounded Warrior Project for U.S. servicemen. The Pope offered “prayerful good wishes” to students at the college, “that their service to international peace and cooperation be always fruitful.”
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Pope celebrates Mass with America's highest-ranking Latino bishop
10-Apr-2013:
Vatican City, Apr 10, 2013 / 05:20 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Pope celebrated Mass with Archbishop José H. Gomez, the highest-ranking American bishop of Hispanic origin, on the feast of the Lord’s Annunciation.
“It was a very special Eucharist for me because we were celebrating the Annunciation and I was ordained a Bishop in Denver on the Solemnity of the Annunciation in 2001,” Archbishop Gomez said in an April 8 Facebook post.
“During the Mass,” the archbishop added, “I was praying for Pope Francis and the Church but especially for our great Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
“After Mass I told Pope Francis that all the faithful of Los Angeles love him and that we are praying for him and his ministry and that he has our loyalty. He said that he is grateful for our prayers and he asked for more prayers!”
Archbishop Gomez, originally from Mexico and the current Los Angeles archbishop, concelebrated Mass with Pope Francis at Saint Martha’s House in the Vatican on April 8.
The archbishop is the head of the largest archdiocese in the United States, which also has the highest number and percentage of Hispanics in the country.
“Archbishop Gomez was extremely delighted and very moved,” said Mario Paredes in an April 9 interview with CNA.
Mario Paredes is the chairman emeritus of the Catholic Association of Latino Leaders, a group based in Los Angeles that aims to strengthen ties between Hispanics and the Church.
Around 50 people attended the Mass for the Annunciation of the Lord in the residence’s chapel.
“It was a very simple Mass, and after it finished the Pope greeted every person individually,” said Paredes.
“I was very moved, and we never imagined we would be so close to him,” he added.
The group of 20 people, which attended the Mass alongside Paredes, is in Rome from April 7–12 to meet with Church leaders.
Interestingly, the delegation is staying at Saint Martha’s House, the same place where the Pope has decided to live.
He said the group is “extremely delighted” to have breakfast, lunch and dinner with Pope Francis every day at the residency for Vatican employees.
“He is very affable, simple and very direct. And although he doesn’t speak much, he is very warm,” said Paredes.
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Bishop: North Korea's threats might aim to increase aid, preserve pride
09-Apr-2013:
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Pope to visit Rome center for undocumented refugees
09-Apr-2013:
Rome, Italy, Apr 9, 2013 / 12:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A priest in Rome says Pope Francis personally called him to say he will visit the Astalli Center, a local facility run by the Jesuits, that helps thousands of undocumented refugees – many with tragic histories.
“Yesterday I received a call on my cell phone. It was Pope Francis and he told me he would come. This is wonderful,” Father Giovanni La Manna, head of the Jesuit Service for Refugees in Rome, posted on his Twitter account April 7.
The Astalli Center offers refugees free medical care, psychological counseling, legal advice, meals, showers, a laundromat and educational assistance. Undocumented refugees can use the services at the Center without fear of being identified and deported, due to an agreement between the Jesuits and the city of Rome.
Most the immigrants at the center are Muslims refugees fleeing from the Middle East and Africa, and the lines to use its services are often long.
In a previous interview with CNA, Fr. Manna, who has been working at the center since 2003, said the stories behind many of the refugees are tragic.
Most of them have fled because their lives were in danger because of political or religious reasons, he said. Others have been forced to flee because “being a Christian in a Muslim country is very difficult.”
“There are also many women who have fled because their families force them to marry someone they don’t love,” the priest added.
The inspiration to help these refugees “comes from the Gospel. We don’t make anything up, we just keep in mind what the Gospel says and teaches,” Fr. Manna noted.
And in welcoming these people we make no distinction for race, language or religion. To us they are people who deserve care and help.”
The Jesuit Service to Refugees started in 1980 and has spread throughout the world to help people in need. The Astalli Center in Rome receives nearly 400 people day, and a team of volunteers helps the Jesuits care for them.
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Pope, U.N. head meet, discuss crises in Syria, Korean peninsula
09-Apr-2013:
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