Vatican City, Apr 2, 2017 / 09:41 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Sunday Pope Francis encouraged people from earthquake-damaged communities to continue the process of rebuilding with courage and strength, never losing hope in God’s steadfast love.
“You have endeavored to face, with an evangelical spirit, the precarious situation caused by the earthquake,” Francis said April 2, “recognizing and accepting in the painful events the mysterious presence of a Father who is always loving even in the toughest trials.”
Though you may think that the wounds have healed, the scars may persist for a lifetime, he said. “Remain firm in your intent not to give in to discouragement at the difficulties that still remain.”
Pope Francis met April 2 with people affected by earthquakes in the northern region of Italy in May 2012. The meeting took place at the end of his day trip to the northern Italian town of Carpi, where he celebrated Mass and had a private meeting with priests, seminarians and religious.
He then traveled by car to the town of Mirandola to speak to people from earthquake-struck communities. The meeting took place in a square outside of the town’s Cathedral, which is being rebuilt after experiencing significant damage from a quake.
Before speaking, Francis went into the church to say a prayer and lay flowers on the altar, which he said were “in memory of those who died in the earthquake.”
Afterwards, the Pope went by car to the Parish of St. James in the nearby village of Roncole to place flowers and pay homage at a monument in memory of the victims of the earthquake.
The two 2012 earthquakes, which occurred May 20 and May 29, killed 27 people and caused widespread damage to the area. The Pope’s visit to northern Italy was intended as a sign of encouragement during the rebuilding process.
“I think of the discomfort that you have endured: the wounds to houses, to productive activities, to the churches and other monuments, rich in history and art and a symbol of the spirituality and civilization of a people,” he said.
“But I think especially of the inner wounds: the suffering of those who have lost their loved ones and those who have seen dispersed among them the sacrifices of an entire lifetime.”
In two weeks we will celebrate Easter, the Resurrection of Christ, Francis noted, praying that the strength of the Risen Lord will sustain them and give them hope as they continue to restore and rebuild their communities.
“Indeed, much has been done in the work of reconstruction,” he said, “but it is more important than ever to make a strong commitment to also recover historical centers: they are places of historical memory and are essential areas of social and ecclesial life.”
“My wish is that there is never less fortitude, hope, and the qualities of industriousness that will set you apart.”
Observing that he stood in front of their cathedral, Pope Francis said that the church was “a symbol of the faith and tradition of the area,” asking those present to join him in offering a prayer for the victims of the earthquake and their families, and for those still in precarious situations.
“May the Lord make each of you feel his support!” he said.
“Today I am among you to strengthen the affection of the whole Church and to testify to each of you my closeness and my encouragement for the journey that remains to be done in the reconstruction.”
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Vatican City, Mar 24, 2020 / 06:26 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Tuesday warned Christians to avoid living in a “fog” of sadness, sloth, and complaining, instead of rejoicing in the spiritual healing they have received from Christ.
Pope Francis prays at the consistory for the creation of 21 new cardinals at St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, Dec. 7, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Vatican City, Dec 10, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
On Dec. 7, in the 10th consistory of his pontificate, Pope Francis created 21 new cardinals. In addition to giving each new cardinal a scarlet zucchetto and biretta, and the traditional cardinalatial ring, the Holy Father assigned to each new cardinal a church of Rome — either a presbyteral title or deaconry — as a sign of the pontiff’s pastoral solicitude over the city and in keeping with the very old custom that cardinals are considered titular or honorary members of the clergy of Rome.
In doing so, Francis also continued a trend of establishing new titular churches — nine this time — from among the more than 900 churches in the Diocese of Rome.
At the time of their official entry into the College of Cardinals, both cardinal priests and cardinal deacons are assigned a titular church in Rome, although the cardinals have no rights of governance over their titular church and may not interfere in its proper administration.
Instead, they may assist their church with counsel, financial support, or some other form of patronage. Cardinals take formal possession of their church after they become cardinals in a consistory, and they might visit their church, hear confessions, say Mass there, and even lead pilgrimages in coordination with the church or parish staff.
There are two types of titular churches (Italian, “titoli cardinalizi”) for cardinals: titles and deaconries. A title (Latin, “titulus,” Italian, “titolo”) is typically assigned to cardinal priests and a deaconry (Latin and Italian, “diaconia”) is assigned to cardinal deacons.
By custom, each cardinal is appointed to a rank within the college: cardinal bishop, cardinal priest, or cardinal deacon. Each cardinal receives a titular church according to the rank he possesses. Cardinal bishops are the most senior members of the college, hold the most important offices in the Roman Curia, or are Eastern patriarchs. With the exception of the patriarchs, cardinal bishops receive the title of one of the suburbicarian sees surrounding Rome.
The largest group of cardinals are those belonging to the second rank — cardinal priests. They are mostly bishops and archbishops who head dioceses and archdioceses all over the world (such as New York, Tokyo, or Madrid) or officials of long service in the Roman Curia who have chosen to be promoted from the ranks of cardinal deacons after 10 years.
Cardinal deacons are primarily officials of the Roman Curia and other priests and bishops who are honored for their service to the Church with elevation to the cardinalate.
If, however, a cardinal deacon moves from the ranks of the cardinal deacons to cardinal priests he will customarily receive a new title appropriate for a cardinal priest or possibly request that his deaconry be elevated to a title for the time he holds it. Should a cardinal priest be elevated to the rank of cardinal bishop, he will customarily receive a title to a suburbicarian see.
With the creation of the 21 new cardinals, Pope Francis assigned each a new title or deaconry. The list of new cardinals and their titular churches is as follows:
Cardinal Angelo Acerbi, former nuncio: Ss. Angeli Custodi a Città Giardino (deaconry)
Cardinal Carlos Gustavo Castillo Mattasoglio of Lima, Peru: S. Maria delle Grazie a Casal Boccone (title)
Cardinal Vicente Bokalic Iglic, CM, of Santiago del Estero, Argentina: S. Maria Maddalena in Campo Marzio (title)
Cardinal Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera, OFM, of Guayaquil, Ecuador: Sacra Famiglia di Nazareth a Centocelle (title)
Cardinal Fernando Natalio Chomalí Garib of Santiago, Chile: S. Mauro Abate (title)
Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, SVD, of Tokyo: S. Giovanni Leonardi (title)
Cardinal Pablo Virgilio Siongco David of Kalookan, Philippines: Trasfigurazione di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo (title)
Cardinal Ladislav Nemet, SVD, of Belgrade, Serbia: S. Maria Stella Maris (title)
Cardinal Jaime Spengler, OFM, of Porto Alegre, Brazil: S. Gregorio Magno alla Magliana Nuova (title)
Cardinal Ignace Bessi Dogbo of Abidjan, Ivory Coast: Ss. Mario e Compagni Martiri (title)
Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, OP, of Algiers, Algeria: S. Cuore di Gesù agonizzante a Vitinia (title)
Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu, OFM Conv, of Tehran and Isfahan, Iran: S. Giovanna Antida Thouret (title)
Cardinal Roberto Repole of Turin, Italy: Gesù Divino Maestro alla Pineta Sacchetti (title)
Cardinal Baldassare Reina, vicar for the Diocese of Rome: S. Maria Assunta e S. Giuseppe a Primavalle (title)
Cardinal Francis Leo of Toronto: S. Maria della Salute a Primavalle (title)
Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, coadjutor archpriest of Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major: S. Eustachio (deaconry)
Cardinal Mykola Bychok, CSSR, Eparch of Sts. Peter and Paul of Melbourne of the Ukrainians (Ukrainian bishop in Australia) Australia: S. Sofia a Via Boccea (title)
Cardinal Father Timothy Radcliffe, OP, theologian: Ss. Nomi di Gesù e Maria in via Lata (deaconry)
Cardinal Father Fabio Baggio, CS, undersecretary and head of the section for migrants and refugees at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development: S. Filippo Neri in Eurosia (deaconry)
Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, organizer of papal trips: Diaconia S. Antonio di Padova a Circonvallazione Appia (deaconry)
Cardinal Domenico Battaglia, archbishop of Naples: San Marco in Agro Laurentino (title)
Normally, new cardinals are appointed to titular churches that had fallen vacant either by the death or transfer of the previous holder. At the time of the consistory on Dec. 7, there were12 vacant titles and nine vacant deaconries. Francis filled seven of the vacant titles and five of the vacant deaconries. The remaining nine were entirely new, constituted on the very day of the consistory by Pope Francis, marking the continuation of a trend of the last years.
It must be remembered, of course, that the pope does not have to assign cardinals to vacant presbyteral titles and deaconries; he is entirely free to institute new ones, and that is what he chose to do again for this consistory.
In the last consistory, for example, in 2023, the pope established seven new titles for cardinal priests: St. Bernadette Soubiros to Cardinal Angel Sixto Rossi, archbishop of Cordoba; Santi Cirillo e Metodio to Cardinal Grzegorz Rys, archbishop of Lodz; Santa Gemma Galgani to Cardinal Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla, archbishop of Juba; Santa Maria in Montesanto to Cardinal Protase Rugambwa, archbishop of Tabora; Santa Maria Causa Nostrae Letitiae to Cardinal Sebastan Francis, bishop of Penang; San Giovanni Battista de La Salle to Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan, bishop of Hong Kong; and San Gaetano to Cardinal Diego Rafael Padron Sanchez, archbishop Emeritus of Cumaná.
At the same time, the Holy Father instituted two new deaconries: Santa Monica in Ostia and Sant’Ambrogio della Massima, assigning them to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, and Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches, respectively.
For his 10th consistory, Francis assigned nine new titles: S. Maria delle Grazie a Casal Boccone to Cardinal Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio; S. Maria Maddalena in Campo Marzio to Cardinal Vicente Bokalic Iglic; Sacra Famiglia di Nazareth a Centocelle to Cardinal Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera; S. Mauro Abate to Cardinal Fernando Natalio Chomalí Garib; S. Giovanni Leonardi to Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi; S. Maria Stella Maris to Cardinal Ladislav Nemet; Ss. Mario e Compagni Martiri to Cardinal Ignace Bessi Dogbo; S. Giovanni Antida Thouret to Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu; and S. Maria Assunta e St. Giuseppe a Primavalle to Cardinal Baldassare Reina.
Most of the new titular churches are situated in the suburban municipalities that ring the center of Rome, while Santa Maria Stella Maris is all the way out in Ostia on the coast.
Francis clearly wants his new cardinals to have their churches in every corner of the sprawling Roman diocese.
To drive this point home, only one new title, Santa Maria Maddalena in Campo Marzio, is located in the historic center of the Eternal City, and he deliberately left unfilled several very prominent but currently vacant titles, including the truly historic Basilica of Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill, which has been vacant since 2022.
In total, since the beginning of his pontificate and in 10 different consistories Pope Francis has instituted 41 new presbyteral titles and four new diaconal titles. To date, there are 184 existing presbyteral titles and 71 deaconries.
Using AI, the Vatican recently launched a digital “dashboard” of the College of Cardinals. Users can sort the cardinals by age, country of origin, electoral status, and religious order.
Statuary sits before imagery of the recently canonized saints in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024 / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Vatican City, Oct 20, 2024 / 11:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis canonized 14 new saints on Sunday, including a father of eight and Franciscan friars killed in Syria for refusing to renounce their faith and convert to Islam.
In a Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 20, the pope declared three nineteenth-century founders of religious orders and the eleven “Martyrs of Damascus” as saints to be venerated by the global Catholic Church, commending their lives of sacrifice, missionary zeal, and service to the Church.
“These new saints lived Jesus’ way: service,” Pope Francis said. “They made themselves servants of their brothers and sisters, creative in doing good, steadfast in difficulties, and generous to the end.”
Pope Francis speaks at a Mass and canonization of 14 new saints in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
The newly canonized include St. Giuseppe Allamano, a diocesan priest from Italy who founded the Consolata missionary orders, and St. Marie-Léonie Paradis, a Canadian nun from Montreal known for founding an order dedicated to the service of priests.
Also among the saints are St. Elena Guerra, hailed as an “apostle of the Holy Spirit,” and St. Manuel Ruiz López and his seven Franciscan companions, all martyred in Damascus in 1860 for refusing to renounce their Christian faith.
The final three canonized are siblings, Sts. Francis, Mooti, and Raphael Massabki, lay Maronite Catholics martyred in Syria along with the Franciscans.
Thousands of pilgrims prayed the Litany of the Saints together in St. Peter’s Square before Pope Francis declared the 14 as enrolled among the saints “for the honor of the Blessed Trinity, the exaltation of the Catholic faith and the increase of the Christian life, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul.”
“We confidently ask for their intercession so that we too can follow Christ, follow him in service and become witnesses of hope for the world,” the pope said.
In his homily, Pope Francis highlighted how service embodied the lives of each of the new saints. “When we learn to serve,” he said, “our every gesture of attention and care, every expression of tenderness, every work of mercy becomes a reflection of God’s love. And so we continue Jesus’ work in the world.”
The Gospel for the Mass was chanted in Greek in addition to Latin in honor of the 11 Martyrs of Damascus.
Pilgrims gather in St. Peter’s Square for a Mass and canonization of 14 new saints on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Father Marwan Dadas, a Franciscan friar from Jerusalem, was among those who attended the canonization. He said that the testimony of the martyrs from the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land is especially meaningful to people who are suffering due to the ongoing war and violence in the region today.
“This is a good message to say that even though we have challenges — and it seems we have death continuously — we still have the light of God that is helping us and guiding us through these difficult periods,” Dadas told CNA.
“It’s an important message for me, and I hope it will be the message for all the people of the Holy Land, not only the Holy Land, but for everybody. It is a message from God saying that He is always with us.”
St. Giuseppe Allamano: A missionary heart
One of the most celebrated figures among the new saints is St. Giuseppe Allamano (1851–1926), an Italian diocesan priest who founded the Consolata Missionaries and the Consolata Missionary Sisters. Allamano, though he spent his entire life in Italy, left a global legacy by training missionaries who carried the Gospel to remote corners of Africa, Asia, and South America.
Allamano told the missionaries in the order he founded in northern Italy in 1901 that they needed to be “first saints, then missionaries.”
The medical miracle that led to Allamano’s canonization involved the healing of a man who was attacked by a jaguar in the Amazon rainforest. In 1996, a man named Sorino Yanomami, a member of the indigenous Yanomami tribe in the Amazon, was mauled by a jaguar and left with life-threatening injuries.
As doctors treated his skull fractures, Consolata missionaries prayed in the hospital with a relic of Allamano, seeking his intercession. Miraculously, Yanomami recovered without any long-term damage, according to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.
Allamano, whose spiritual director was St. John Bosco, emphasized the importance of holiness in priestly life, telling his priests, “You must not only be holy, but extraordinarily holy.” His influence has endured through the orders he founded, present today in 30 countries across the globe.
St. Marie-Léonie Paradis: “Humble among the humble”
St. Marie-Léonie Paradis (1840–1912), a Canadian religious sister, also took her place among the new saints. She founded the Little Sisters of the Holy Family, an order whose spirituality and charism is the support of priests through both prayer and by taking care of the cooking, cleaning, and laundry in rectories in “humble and joyful service” in imitation of “Christ the Servant.”
During his homily, Pope Francis praised Paradis’ faith and underlined that “those who follow Christ, if they wish to be great, must serve by learning from Him” who made himself “a servant to reach everyone with his love.”
Born in the Acadian region of Quebec, Paradis also spent eight years in New York serving in the St. Vincent de Paul Orphanage in the 1860s and taught French at St. Mary’s Academy in Indiana, before founding her religious order in New Brunswick, Canada.
Paradis’ canonization was supported by the miraculous healing of a newborn in Canada, attributed to her intercession.
St. Elena Guerra: An “apostle of the Holy Spirit”
Among the canonized was St. Elena Guerra (1835–1914), known for her ardent devotion to the Holy Spirit. Guerra, who founded the Oblates of the Holy Spirit, was instrumental in promoting the first-ever novena to the Holy Spirit under Pope Leo XIII in 1895. Her writings and spiritual leadership inspired many, including St. Gemma Galgani, a mystic and saint who was her student.
For much of her 20s, Guerra was bedridden with a serious illness, a challenge that turned out to be transformational for her as she dedicated herself to meditating on Scripture and the writings of the Church Fathers. She felt the call to consecrate herself to God during a pilgrimage to Rome with her father after her recovery and went on to form the religious community dedicated to education.
During her correspondence with Pope Leo XIII, Guerra composed prayers to the Holy Spirit, including a Holy Spirit Chaplet, asking the Lord to “send forth your spirit and renew the world.
“Pentecost is not over,” Guerra wrote. “In fact, it is continually going on in every time and in every place, because the Holy Spirit desired to give himself to all men and all who want him can always receive him, so we do not have to envy the apostles and the first believers; we only have to dispose ourselves like them to receive him well, and he will come to us as he did to them.”
The Martyrs of Damascus: Courageous witnesses of faith
The solemnity of the ceremony was heightened as Pope Francis canonized the Martyrs of Damascus, a group of 11 men killed in 1860 for refusing to renounce their Christian faith and convert to Islam. The martyrs, including eight Franciscan friars and three laymen, were attacked in a church in the Christian quarter of Damascus during a wave of religious violence.
The canonized Franciscan friars include six priests and two professed religious — all missionaries from Spain except for Father Engelbert Kolland, who was from Salzburg, Austria.
Franciscan Father Manuel Ruiz, Father Carmelo Bolta, Father Nicanor Ascanio, Father Nicolás M. Alberca y Torres, Father Pedro Soler, Kolland, Brother Francisco Pinazo Peñalver, and Brother Juan S. Fernández were all declared saints.
The three laymen were brothers — Francis, Abdel Mooti, and Raphael Massabki — known for their deep piety and devotion to the Christian faith. Francis Massabki, the oldest of the brothers, was a father of eight children. Mooti was a father of five who visited the Church of St. Paul daily for prayer and to teach catechism lessons. The youngest brother, Raphael, was single and was known to spend long periods of time praying in the church and helping the friars.
According to witnesses, the brothers were offered the chance to live if they renounced their faith, but they refused. “We are Christians, and we want to live and die as Christians,” Francis Massabki reportedly said. All 11 were brutally killed that night, some beheaded, others stabbed to death.
“They remained faithful servants,” Pope Francis said. “[They] served in martyrdom and in joy.”
A global celebration
The canonization ceremony was attended by pilgrims from around the world, including Catholics from Kenya, Canada, Uganda, Spain, Italy, and the Middle East. More than 1,000 members of the Consolata order traveled to Rome to witness the canonization of their founder.
And bagpipers from Galicia in northern Spain played traditional music at the end of the Mass to honor the Spanish Franciscans canonized among the Damascus martyrs.
Bagpipers play to honor the Spanish Franciscans canonized among the Damascus martyrs at the Vatican on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. Credit: Courtney Mares
“I thank all of you who have come to honor the new saints,” Pope Francis said. “I greet the cardinals, the bishops, the consecrated men and women, especially the Friars Minor and the Maronite faithful, the Consolata Missionaries, the Little Sisters of the Holy Family and the Oblates of the Holy Spirit, as well as the other groups of pilgrims who have come from various places.”
Pope Francis led the crowd in the Angelus prayer at the end of the Mass and asked people to pray in particular for the gift of peace for “populations who are suffering as a result of war – tormented Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, tormented Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar and all the others.”
The pope also greeted a group of Ugandan pilgrims who traveled from Rome to mark the 60th anniversary of the canonization of the Ugandan Martyrs and urged people to pray for missionaries on World Mission Sunday.
“Let us support, with our prayer and our aid, all the missionaries who, often at great sacrifice, bring the shining proclamation of the Gospel to every part of the world,” he said.
“May the Virgin Mary help us to be like her and like the Saints courageous and joyful witnesses of the Gospel.”
Leave a Reply