What Pope Francis did when guards tried to stop these Chinese pilgrims

March 15, 2017 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

Vatican City, Mar 15, 2017 / 03:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis greeted and blessed a group of pilgrims from China who broke protocol and approached him during the Wednesday general audience.

The group of faithful, some of whom approached the Holy Father on their knees, held Chinese flags and amid sobs, asked for him to bless a statue of Our Lady of Fatima they had carried into Saint Peter's Square.

At first, some Swiss Guards tried to prevent the pilgrims from approaching the pontiff, but Francis quickly stopped them and shared a few moments with the pilgrims.

Among the pilgrims there were some children whom the Pope spent a few minutes with.

China only allows Catholic worship services for the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, which is subordinate to the Chinese Communist Party, and rejects the authority of the Vatican to appoint bishops or to govern them.

The Catholic Church faithful to the Pope is not completely clandestine, although it faces constant opposition.

Diplomatic relations between China and the Vatican were broken in 1951, two years after the communists came to power and expelled foreign clerics.

For some years the Holy See has been working on an accord for the reestablishment of  diplomatic relations with China, a rapprochement encouraged by Pope Francis.

In August 2014, while he was on his way  to South Korea, the Holy Father sent  a telegram to the President of China to express his best wishes when his plane was over Chinese airspace.

The fact that the Pope had received permission to fly over Chinese airspace was considered a small step forward. Pope John Paul II had to avoid the airspace of this country during his trips to Asia.

???? VIDEO | El amor de estos católicos chinos conmovió al #PapaFrancisco en la Plaza de San Pedro ???????????????? https://t.co/TrjnxhQgGK pic.twitter.com/T0bl6eEHVz

— ACI Prensa (@aciprensa) March 15, 2017

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Pope Francis appeals for displaced women and children in Syria

February 9, 2020 CNA Daily News 1

Vatican City, Feb 9, 2020 / 06:15 am (CNA).- Pope Francis appealed Sunday for the protection of women and children fleeing violence in northwestern Syria, as more than half a million people have been displaced in two months.

“Painful news continues to arrive from the northwest of Syria, in particular on the conditions of many women and children, people forced to flee due to military escalation,” Pope Francis said Feb. 9.

At least 520,000 people have been displaced from their homes since December during the Russian-backed Syrian government’s offensive in Idlib province, Syria’s last rebel-held territory, which borders Turkey.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 80% of those displaced have been women and children.

“This latest wave of displacement compounds an already dire humanitarian situation on the ground in Idlib,” David Swanson, spokesman for the UN humanitarian office said Feb. 4.

Calling for peaceful negotiation and humanitarian protection, Pope Francis prayed a Hail Mary for Syrians threatened by the violence in Syria’s northwest.

“I renew my heartfelt appeal to the international community and to all the actors involved to make use of diplomatic instruments, dialogue and negotiations, in compliance with international humanitarian law, to safeguard the life and fate of civilians,” Pope Francis said during his Angelus address.

Pope Francis also called for prayer to eliminate “the plague” of human trafficking following the World Day of Prayer, Reflection, and Action against Trafficking in Persons, which occurs each year on the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita.
 
Human trafficking is a $150 billion business with 25 million victims worldwide, according to International Labor Organization statistics.

The pope said “everyone’s commitment is needed” to end human trafficking’s exploitation of the weakest. “It’s a real plague,” he said.

“In the face of violence, injustice, oppression, the Christian cannot close in on himself or hide in the safety of his own fence; even the Church cannot close in on herself. She cannot abandon her mission of evangelization and service,” Pope Francis said.

Francis prayed to the Blessed Virgin Mary to help each Catholic to be salt and light in the world, caring for the little ones and the poor and bringing the good news of God’s love to everyone.

“The Church listens to the cry of the least and the excluded because she is aware of being a pilgrim community called to extend the salvific presence of Jesus Christ in history,” he said.

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