Pope Francis says Catholic shrines are a key place for evangelization

Vatican City, Aug 13, 2017 / 04:41 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday Pope Francis repeated a message he often has, warning against putting one’s trust in horoscopes and fortune telling rather than Christ, who is the only true security that gets us through times of trial and darkness.

Pointing to how Peter begins to sink when walking toward Jesus on the water in the day’s Gospel reading, Francis noted that the same thing can happen to us when we put our trust in false securities.

“When we do not cling to the Word of the Lord, but consult horoscopes and fortune tellers, we begin to sink,” the Pope said Aug. 13.

The episode, he said, serves as a reminder “that faith in the Lord and in his word does not open a path where everything is calm and easy; it does not take us away from the storms of life.”

Rather, “faith gives us the security of a presence that pushes us to overcome the existential storms, the certainty of a hand that grabs us in order to help us in difficulties, showing the way even when it’s dark.”

“Faith, then, is not an escape from life’s problems, but it supports on the journey and gives it meaning.”

Pope Francis spoke to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly Angelus address, focusing on the day’s Gospel reading from Matthew, in which Jesus walks on water in the midst of a storm, and beckons Peter to come to him. Peter initially begins to walk toward Jesus, but starts to sink out of fear when he sees the waves, and cries out for Jesus to rescue him.

This episode, Francis said, has a lot of symbolism for both individuals, and for the Church as a whole.

The boat can represent the life of each person, but also the life of the Church, he said, explaining that the wind signifies the “difficulties and trials” each will face.

Peter’s cry of “Lord, command me to come to you,” and then his plea “Lord, save me!” represent both our desire feel close to the Lord, and “the fear and anguish which accompany us in the most difficult moments of our lives and our communities, marked by internal fragility and external difficulty,”  Francis said.

In the moment when he looked at the wind and the waves and began to fear, Peter wasn’t founded on the Word of God, “which was like an outstretched rope to cling to in front of the hostile and turbulent waters.”

The same thing happens to us when we put our faith in trivial, worldly securities, rather than in the Lord, he said.

Pope Francis said the passage is “a stupendous image” of the reality of the Church throughout the ages: “a ship which, along the crossing, must counter winds and storms which threaten to overwhelm it.”

What saves the ship is not the courage and quality of it’s men, he said, but rather, “the guarantee against a shipwreck is faith in Christ and in his word.”

“On this ship we are safe, despite our miseries and weaknesses, above all when we get on our knees and adore the Lord” as the disciples did, who, after Jesus calmed the storm, prostrated themselves and said “truly you are the Son of God!”

To drive the point home, Francis had the crowd repeat the phrase, listening as they shouted “truly you are the Son of God” three times.

Francis closed his address asking that the Virgin Mary intercede in helping all to “stay firm in the faith in order to resist the storms of life, to stay on the boat of the Church, eschewing the temptation to go on amusing, yet insecure boats of ideologies, fashions and slogans.”

He then led pilgrims in praying the traditional Marian prayer and greeted various groups of youth from around Italy before asking for prayer and giving his blessing. 

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Vatican City, Jun 5, 2018 / 11:32 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Ahead the presentation of the Biagio Agnes International Journalism Award, Pope Francis advised journalists to consider of all walks of life in their work, pursue truth, and always introduce hope.

Often, he said, “the nerve centres of news production are found in large centres,” but stories worth telling exist beyond these hubs of human activity. Many of these quiet existences are proof of great “suffering and degradation.”

Francis, however, suggested that these stories also offer perspective: “other times they are stories of great solidarity that can help everyone to look at reality in a renewed way,” he said.

The pope spoke to a delegation of the award June 4 at the Vatican’s Clementine Hall. The award will be presented in Sorrento June 22-24.

The award is named for Biagio Agnes, a well-known Italian journalist who was director of Italy’s state broadcaster, RAI, and who died in 2011.

“By taking to heart his teaching, you all commit yourselves, first of all personally, to a communication able to place the truth before personal or corporate interests,” Francis told the journalists.

“Being a journalist relates to the formation of people, their vision of the world and their attitudes when faced with events,” he reflected.

Practicing self-discipline, the pope said, is also key “so as not to fall into the trap of logics of opposing interests or ideologies.” Journalists should not be afraid to reveal even the most difficult of truths.

“Today, in a world where everything is fast, it is increasingly urgent to appeal to the troubled and arduous law of in-depth research, comparison and, if necessary, also of remaining silent rather than harming a person or a group of people or delegitimizing an event,” he said.

While acknowledging its difficulty, “the story of a life is understood at its end, and this should help us to become courageous and prophetic,” he added.

Finally, Francis encouraged the journalists to incorporate light and hope into their work. While they shouldn’t aim to communicate news in an unrealistically positive way, he said, they should certainly be “denouncing situations of degradation and despair.”

“It is a matter of opening spaces of hope,” he said.

The pope also called for adaptation to quickly evolving technology.

“It is increasingly necessary if we wish to continue to be educators of the new generations,” Francis said.

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Vatican City, Nov 29, 2018 / 05:27 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis wrote in his 2015 encyclical, Laudato si, that, “by learning to see and appreciate beauty, we learn to reject self-interested pragmatism.”

The Holy Father quoted this lin… […]