Rome, Italy, Nov 16, 2017 / 10:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis on Thursday made an unannounced visit to a small makeshift medical center in front of St. Peter's Square where poor and homeless people are receiving free treatment ahead of this weekend's World Day for the Poor.
According to Selene, a young volunteer present when the Pope arrived Nov. 16, “It was absolutely an unforgettable surprise for me, and for all the volunteers serving here,” whom she said are all young Italians.
In comments to CNA, she said she has “no words” to describe the encounter, in which the Pope thanked them for their work, blessed them, and spent time talking with the poor and needy for about 20 minutes.
Pope Francis arrived to the center around 3:45p.m., where he was welcomed by a group of poor people waiting to be seen by specialists.
The center was set up in anticipation of the first World Day of the Poor, which will take place Nov. 19 and is being organized by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.
Open from 9a.m. until 4p.m. every day this week, the center offers patients free visits with doctors who specialize in clinical analysis, cardiology, dermatology, infectious diseases, gynecology, and andrology.
The doctors operate out of small mobile ambulances that patients can go into for a check-up or for a more specialized exam.
After talking and exchanging jokes with the poor and homeless waiting to be seen, the Pope then spoke with nurses from the Italian Red Cross and volunteers with the Confederation of Mercy, who help operate the center.
Dr. Silvia Rosati said the Pope's surprise appearance was “a beautiful experience, a wonderful experience.”
“We are trying to do the little that we can right now,” she said, recounting how the Pope told them to “continue trying to be as present as possible with the poor, and with our attempt to help people as much as we can with our work.”
Established by Pope Francis at the end of the Jubilee of Mercy, the World Day for the Poor this year has the theme “Love not in word, but in deed.”
In addition to access to free medical exams, the poor and needy participating in the event will attend a said Mass by Pope Francis in St. Peter's Basilica. Afterward, they will be offered a three-course lunch at different centers and organizations around Rome, including the Vatican's Paul VI Hall.
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Pope Francis and King Philippe listen to a speech by Belgium Prime Minister Alexander De Croo during the pope’s trip to Belgium in late September 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media
CNA Deutsch, Oct 4, 2024 / 11:50 am (CNA).
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo criticized Pope Francis for comments the pope made on abortion last week when he was returning to Rome from Belgium. The apostolic nuncio in Belgium and Luxembourg, Archbishop Franco Coppola, is being officially summoned to discuss the matter.
“It is absolutely unacceptable for a foreign head of state to make such statements about democratic decision-making in our country,” De Croo said on Thursday.
During the in-flight press conference on the way back from Belgium on Sunday, Pope Francis emphasized: “Women have a right to life, to their lives, and to the lives of their children. Let us not forget to say that.” He then added: “Abortion is a homicide. … It kills a human being. The doctors who carry it out are contract killers. … And there is no debate about that.”
The pontiff emphasized that he was specifically talking “about abortion, and you can’t discuss that. I’m sorry, but that’s the truth.”
In contrast, De Croo said that Belgium “does not need lessons on how our parliamentarians pass laws democratically … Fortunately, the time when the Church dictated the laws in our country is long gone.”
Belgium has a population of less than 12 million people and at least 16,000 children are killed in the womb every year, according to official figures. A peak was reached in 2011 with almost 20,000 deaths by abortion.
The Belgian Parliament is currently debating whether abortion should also be legal after the 12th week of pregnancy. Specifically, it is about extending the limit to 18 weeks, which means that even unborn children older than 4 months could be killed.
During his visit, Pope Francis on Sept. 28 described laws legalizing abortion as “murderous” and “criminal” when he visited the tomb of Belgian King Baudouin in the royal crypt of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Brussels.
King Baudouin refused to sign a law allowing abortions in Belgium in 1990. He was therefore — with his consent — declared unfit to govern for a day by the government, which then enacted the law. He was then reinstated as king.
Against this backdrop, Pope Francis said that Baudouin decided to “leave his office as king in order not to sign a murderous law.”
As prime minister of Belgium, De Croo is a member of the Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten (Open VLD) party. In the elections in June, the party only won 5.5% of the vote. Open VLD also won just 8.5% of the vote in 2019. After more than a year of negotiations, a coalition government consisting of seven parties was finally formed, with De Croo at the helm.
This story was first published by CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Cardinal Gerhard Müller (center) and Father Joseph Hamilton (at left), personal secretary to the late Cardinal George Pell, were among the priests celebrating the Jan. 10, 2024, Mass held on the first anniversary of the cardinal’s death. / Credit: Elizabeth Alva
Rome Newsroom, Jan 10, 2024 / 16:45 pm (CNA).
A requiem Mass was held in Rome on Tuesday evening to mark the first anniversary of the death of Cardinal George Pell and to celebrate the cardinal’s illustrious ecclesiastical career.
The chapel of the Domus Australia was filled to capacity for the Mass, which was celebrated by Cardinal Gerhard Müller. In attendance were numerous cardinals and bishops, an array of priests from Rome, ambassadors to the Holy See, and faithful from Rome and abroad who came to pray for the beloved cardinal.
The chapel of the Domus Australia was filled to capacity for the Jan. 10, 2024, Mass, which was celebrated by Cardinal Gerhard Müller. Credit: Elizabeth Alva
Father Joseph Hamilton, rector of the Domus Australia and Pell’s former secretary, noted in an exclusive interview with EWTN: “I think His Eminence was very loved here in the city of Rome. His witness was very much appreciated and his loss was very unexpected.”
“I think that a beautiful Mass to commemorate his life, to pray for the repose of his soul, and to ask for his intercession here in the chapel, which he renovated and which he loved, I’m hoping will bring consolation and some degree of closure for those who have been grieving for the cardinal over the last year,” Hamilton added in his interview.
Pell died at the age of 81 on Jan. 10, 2023, after suffering a cardiac arrest following a scheduled hip replacement days prior at Rome’s Salvator Mundi hospital. He previously served as archbishop of Sydney and Melbourne before Pope Francis appointed him to head the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy in 2014, making him the most senior Australian prelate.
Cardinal Raymond Burke was among those at the Mass on the first anniversary of Cardinal George Pell’s death Jan. 10, 2024. Credit: Elizabeth Alva
During his homily, Müller reflected on the long illustrious life of the departed cardinal, noting that Pell and Pope Benedict — who passed away less than two weeks before the cardinal — were “role models of the true faith.”
Müller reflected on his early life, noting that the cardinal showed great “athletic abilities” and “high intellectual talent,” which would have brought him “a brilliant career in the world.” But, Müller continued, Pell eschewed worldly goals and opted to “follow Christ’s call to the priestly service.”
Cardinal Gerhard Müller at the requiem Mass on Jan. 10, 2024, marking the first anniversary of Cardinal George Pell’s death. Credit: Elizabeth Alva
Pell was renowned for his quick wit and towering stature. Müller, reflecting on his personal relationship with the late cardinal, highlighted Pell’s commitment to “marriage and family in the spirit of Christ, teachings against relativization by secularist-minded participants in the Synod of this topic.”
Müller also touched upon the darkest chapter of Pell’s life, which stands as “a great testimony of Christian patience.”
Cardinal George Pell gives an interview to EWTN News in Rome, Italy, on Dec. 9, 2020. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.
Pell was convicted on Dec. 11, 2018, on five charges of sexual abuse while he served as archbishop of Melbourne in the late 1990s. After serving 404 days in solitary confinement, Australia’s high court unanimously overturned the convictions, based on reasonable doubt of the appellate proceedings, in April 2020.
“He was relentlessly pursued by a bloodthirsty mob and made himself a victim of justice by anti-Catholic agitators in the media and the police apparatus,” Müller remarked regarding the vilification of the late cardinal in mainstream media.
Auxiliary Bishop Richard Umbers of the Archdiocese of Sydney spoke with EWTN after the Mass, noting that the evening was an opportunity to mark “the anniversary of a man who was a lion in the Church. I think it’s giving due recognition to someone who’s been very important in the life of Australia, if not in fact the whole world.”
While recognizing that Pell was a “lightning rod for the Church,” Umbers explained that he was a man “of great strength and tremendous courage.”
Pell’s legacy is not just limited to his theological acumen or reforms of the Vatican’s handling of financial affairs, but it is most tangibly seen in the revitalization of the Church in Sydney.
“I think the impact of Cardinal Pell is very visible in Sydney,” Umbers said. “He was a big man with great vision, and the last 20 years in the Archdiocese of Sydney have seen real growth and leadership amongst a number of young Catholics.”
“You find an environment there which is quite extraordinary. A lot of life, especially in the area of university chaplaincy. He [Pell] invested heavily in that area and took great interest in the next generation of leaders,” Umbers added.
According to Father Hamilton, one of the hallmarks of Pell’s legacy will be his example of strength and unity for the Church as it is going through a period marked by division and is mired in crises.
“We are one Catholic Church, we have one faith, we have one pope, we’re one people. If we stand together, we’re strong. If we’re divided, we’re weak, and I think that his [Pell’s] witness to us and his legacy to the Church is that it is one, holy, catholic, apostolic Church that he was proud to serve and that he was proud, in a very humble way, to be a confessor of. I think that that leaves us an astonishing and shining example,” he said.
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