Pope Francis stresses need to put Jesus at the center of our lives

October 18, 2023 Catholic News Agency 5
Pope Francis at the general audience at St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 18, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 18, 2023 / 09:57 am (CNA).

Pope Francis drew upon the example of St. Charles de Foucauld during his general audience Wednesday in his ongoing catechesis on apostolic zeal to stress the importance of centering our lives on Jesus. 

At the end of his remarks at his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 18, the pope called for peace in the Middle East and announced that Oct. 27 has been designated as a day of prayer and fasting.

Before the assembled faithful, the pope said the “first step” for evangelization and conversion is putting “Jesus at the center of one’s heart.”

The pope, however, admonished that “we risk talking about ourselves, our group, a morality, or, even worse, a set of rules, but not about Jesus, his love, his mercy.” 

He added, in unscripted remarks: “I see this in some new movements that are arising: They talk about their vision of humanity, they talk about their spirituality and they feel they are on a new path… But why don’t you talk about Jesus? They talk about many things, about organization, about spiritual paths, but they don’t know how to talk about Jesus.”

Pope Francis presides over his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Oct. 18, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis presides over his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Oct. 18, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media

Epitomizing this love for the Eucharist was St. Charles de Foucauld, who was canonized by Pope Francis in 2022. Born in 1858, he dedicated his life to missionary work in the Sahara, living and working among the Tuareg people (a subgroup of Berber people). 

After serving in the French cavalry, he went on to become a Trappist, going to serve the poor in Syria, an experience that had a profound impact on him and helped define his understanding of poverty. He later discerned out of the Trappists and went to Palestine, where he went to live close to the Poor Clares. 

“It is in Nazareth that he realizes he must be formed in the school of Christ. He experiences an intense relationship with him, spends long hours reading the Gospels, and feels like his little brother. And as he gets to know Jesus, the desire to make Jesus known arises in him,” the pope said.

It was this time in Palestine that provided him with the inspiration to write his prolific works, including “Letters from the Desert,” “Hope in the Gospels,” and “Meditations of a Hermit.” These writings became the essence of his spiritual legacy, inspiring the formation of numerous future religious congregations. He was assassinated in 1916 at his hermitage in Tamanghasset in southern Algeria after being kidnapped by an armed tribal group associated with the Senussi Bedouins. 

Pope Francis closed his 2020 encyclical on fraternity and social action Fratelli Tutti with a reflection on the saint, writing: “Blessed Charles directed his ideal of total surrender to God towards an identification with the poor, abandoned in the depths of the African desert. In that setting, he expressed his desire to feel himself a brother to every human being, and asked a friend to ‘pray to God that I truly be the brother of all.’ He wanted to be, in the end, ‘the universal brother.’ Yet only by identifying with the least did he come at last to be the brother of all. May God inspire that dream in each one of us.” 

Pope Francis greets pilgrims at his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Oct. 18, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis greets pilgrims at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Oct. 18, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis, in today’s catechism, noted that while de Foucauld lived “a youth far from God” he converted “by accepting the grace of God’s forgiveness in confession.” He was someone who “drawing upon his intense experience of God, made a journey of transformation towards feeling a brother to all,” the pope said, quoting Fratelli Tutti

In contrast to the life of de Foucauld, the pope lamented the loss of Eucharistic devotion today. “I am convinced that we have lost the sense of adoration; we must take it up again, starting with us consecrated people, the bishops, the priests, the nuns, and all the consecrated people. ‘Wasting’ time in front of the tabernacle, to take up again the sense of adoration,” the pope said in an unscripted remark. 

The pope presented the life of de Foucauld as an antidote to this tendency, saying that we “by kneeling and welcoming the action of the Spirit, who always inspires new ways to engage, meet, listen and dialogue, always in collaboration and trust, always in communion with the Church and pastors.” 

“Every Christian is an apostle,” the pope said, quoting de Foucauld. In this way, he continued, “Charles foreshadows the times of Vatican Council II. He intuits the importance of the laity and understands that the proclamation of the Gospel is up to the entire people of God.” 

The Holy Father concluded Wednesday’s general audience by renewing his appeal for peace in the Holy Land. “My thoughts turn to Palestine and Israel. Victims are increasing and the situation in Gaza is desperate. Please do everything possible to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe,” the pope pleaded. 

He added: “War does not solve any problem… It increases hatred and multiplies revenge. War erases the future; it erases the future.” 

In calling for a day of prayer and fasting , the pope invited members of other faiths to join an interfaith prayer vigil for peace on Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. in St. Peter’s Square.

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Synodality must be at the service of evangelization, archbishop says

October 18, 2023 Catholic News Agency 1
Archbishop Gintaras Grušas of Vilnius offers Mass on the feast of St. Luke for the Synod on Synodality delegates in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 18, 2023. / Evandro Inetti/EWTN News/Vatican Pool

Vatican City, Oct 18, 2023 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Synod on Synodality must not be an end in itself, but at the service of the Catholic Church’s evangelizing mission, Archbishop Gintaras Grušas told Synod delegates on Wednesday. 

The Lithuanian-American archbishop of Vilnius addressed the members of the Synod assembly in a homily on the feast of St. Luke as the Synod begins its discussions on “governance and authority” in the Church.

“As we continue to talk about what processes, structures, and institutions that are needed in a missionary synodal Church, we need to make sure that these do in fact assist the mission of bringing the Good News to those who are in need of salvation,” Grušas said on Oct. 18.

“Synodality, including its structures and meetings, must be at the service of the Church’s mission of evangelization and not become an end in itself.”

Mass on the feast of St. Luke in St. Peter's Basilica on Oct. 18, 2023. Vatican Pool
Mass on the feast of St. Luke in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 18, 2023. Vatican Pool

Over the next three days, the Synod on Synodality will discuss questions posed by section B3 of the Instrumentum Laboris, or Synod working document, such as, “How can we renew the service of authority and the exercise of responsibility in a missionary synodal Church?”

In his homily in St. Peter’s Basilica, Grušas urged the Synod delegates to imitate St. Luke’s faithfulness and fortitude.

“We too are called to remain faithful in our commitment to walk together in the life of the Church and through the difficulties of the journey, even when it is not clear where God is leading us in the short term,” he said.

Mass on the feast of St. Luke in St. Peter's Basilica on Oct. 18, 2023. Evandro Inetti/EWTN News/Vatican Pool
Mass on the feast of St. Luke in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 18, 2023. Evandro Inetti/EWTN News/Vatican Pool

The 62-year-old archbishop noted how St. Luke’s Gospel “highlights the important role of women in the life of the Church and in announcing the Good News.”

Not only is St. Luke “the Marian evangelist par excellence,” but he also passed down to us the account of “the Samaritan woman at the well who announced the Messiah, Mary Magdalene, the first to announce the message of the Resurrection, as well as the various women throughout the Acts of the Apostles who assisted the growth of the early Church.”

Grušas underlined that “all of the baptized” are called to announce the Good News of the Kingdom of God, “not just ordained ministers.”

 “It is important that all the baptized hear this call, this vocation and respond to it, committing their lives, words, and actions to Jesus’ mission. For this we must continue to pray,” he said.

Mass on the feast of St. Luke in St. Peter's Basilica on Oct. 18, 2023. Evandro Inetti/EWTN News/Vatican Pool
Mass on the feast of St. Luke in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 18, 2023. Evandro Inetti/EWTN News/Vatican Pool

Grušas was born in Washington D.C., to Lithuanian parents who came to the U.S. during the Cold War. After earning a degree in mathematics at UCLA, he worked for IBM before studying for the priesthood at Franciscan University of Steubenville and the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum). 

He returned to Lithuania, where he was ordained and incardinated for the Archdiocese of Vilnius, in 1994. Benedict XVI named him a bishop to serve as the Military Ordinary of Lithuania in 2010 and Pope Francis appointed him archbishop of Vilnius in 2013. Grušas was elected president of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences in 2021. 

At the end of his homily, Grušas asked for prayers for peace in Israel, Palestine, Ukraine, and other places in the world that lack peace.

“Through our prayers let us be those channels of God’s peace in today’s world,” he said. “And let us continue to pray for St. Luke to pray for us as we continue on our synodal journey.”

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Pope Francis meets with U.S. LGBT group previously denounced by Vatican

October 17, 2023 Catholic News Agency 5
Pope Francis waves to pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square during his Angelus address on Oct. 15, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Oct 17, 2023 / 18:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis met Tuesday at his residence with leadership from the U.S. LGBT organization New Ways Ministry, which was previously denounced by both the U.S. bishops’ conference and the Vatican’s doctrinal office for causing confusion on sexual morality among the Catholic faithful.

It’s unclear what the topic of the meeting was, but the organization said in an Oct. 17 statement that it lasted 50 minutes and its controversial co-founder, Sister of Loretto Jeannine Gramick, thanked the Holy Father for “his openness to blessing same-sex unions, as well as for his opposition to the criminalization of LGBTQ+ people in civil society.”

None of the Holy Father’s comments in the meeting were reported in the organization’s statement. CNA asked the organization what was discussed in the meeting but did not receive a response before publication.

New Ways Ministry was founded in 1977 in the Archdiocese of Washington by Gramick and Father Robert Nugent, who were both “permanently prohibited from any pastoral work involving homosexual persons” after an investigation into their work, the Vatican’s doctrinal office ruled in a 1999 notification.

No authority to bless

Gramick’s words of gratitude to the pope on his alleged “openness” to same-sex blessings refers to a response that the Holy Father gave to five cardinals in July of this year after they requested answers to a set of questions known as “dubia.” 

Several mainstream media outlets were fast to report that Pope Francis was “open” to giving blessings to same-sex couples after the publication of the response in October but were too quick to the trigger, as the Holy Father had already affirmed in 2021 that the Church has no authority to do so.

Additionally, theologians who spoke with the National Catholic Register last week said the pope’s focus was not on same-sex unions but instead on same-sex-attracted persons who may be in some kind of same-sex relationship.

Vatican investigation

Gramick and Nugent began running workshops in Washington, D.C., for “Catholic pastoral workers and others interested in gay and lesbian issues,” the organization’s website said. But they also co-wrote and edited books together, which became the subjects of the Vatican investigation.

The Vatican’s 1998 investigation heavily focused on their book “Building Bridges: Gay and Lesbian Reality and the Catholic Church,” which “summarized their activities and thinking,” the notification said.

The Holy See ultimately concluded that there were “serious deficiencies in their writings and pastoral activities, which were incompatible with the fullness of Christian morality,” the notification said. 

Their case was referred to the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which queried them on their positions on sexual morality.

In their responses, “Sister Gramick and Father Nugent demonstrated a clear conceptual understanding of the Church’s teaching on homosexuality but refrained from professing any adherence to that teaching,” the notification said. 

That notification, signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, said that their positions “regarding the intrinsic evil of homosexual acts and the objective disorder of the homosexual inclination are doctrinally unacceptable because they do not faithfully convey the clear and constant teaching of the Catholic Church in this area.”

In 2010, under the leadership of the late Cardinal Francis George, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement emphasizing that New Ways Ministry “has no approval or recognition from the Catholic Church and that they cannot speak on behalf of the Catholic faithful in the United States.”

Corresponding letters

Tuesday’s meeting comes following a few years of correspondence between Gramick, the organization, and the Holy Father, according to New Ways Ministry’s statement.

In April 2021, the organization’s executive director, Francis DeBernardo, wrote to Pope Francis explaining the organization’s mission, the statement said.

On May 3, 2021, Pope Francis responded to a letter from DeBernardo and said that he read the letter, which helped him to better understand the organization’s history, according to the National Catholic Reporter.

“It helped me a lot to know the full story you tell me,” the Holy Father wrote. “Sometimes we receive partial information about people and organizations, and this doesn’t help. Your letter, as it narrates with objectivity its history, gives me light to better understand certain situations.”

In a June 2021 letter to DeBernardo, the Holy Father thanked him for his “heart, open to your neighbor” and wrote of Gramick that “I know how much she has suffered,” according to the National Catholic Reporter.

“She is a valiant woman who makes her decisions in prayer,” the letter said.

The correspondence has continued since then, “always receiving cordial and affirming handwritten notes in return,” the organization’s statement said. 

“This meeting is remarkable because it reflects the steady acceptance of Catholic officials to LGBTQ+ issues and ministry,” the statement continued.

New Ways Ministry has not only gained an audience with Pope Francis but also with Xavière Missionary Sister Nathalie Becquart, undersecretary at the Synod of Bishops, who gave a lecture to the organization in 2022 titled “Synodality: A Path of Reconciliation.”

The decision to offer the “Father Robert Nugent Memorial Lecture,” given in honor of the priest, who died in 2014, was denounced by Cardinal Raymond Burke, prefect emeritus of the Apostolic Signatura, in comments to the National Catholic Register as “simply wrong.”

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