Vatican City, Sep 7, 2018 / 04:14 am (CNA/EWTN News).- God needs Christians to be his hands and feet on earth, and to speak out about injustice wherever it happens, especially when hidden by silence, the pope said in an interview published Friday.
Speaking with “Sole 24 ore,” a daily Italian newspaper, Francis said, “the Lord promises rest and liberation to all the oppressed in the world, but he needs us to make his promise effective.”
“He needs our eyes to see the needs of our brothers and sisters. He needs our hands to help. He needs our voice to denounce the injustices committed in silence, sometimes complicit, of many.”
“Above all,” he continued, “the Lord needs our heart to manifest God’s merciful love for the least, the rejected, the abandoned, the marginalized.”
Speaking in the context of migration and helping those in need, Pope Francis said Catholics must “not stop being witnesses of hope.”
It is important for migrants to be respectful of the laws and culture of the country they have come to, and it is important for governments to help immigrants to integrate and to not stoke fear, giving a “dignified welcome to many brothers and sisters who call for help,” he said.
“It is important that our projects and proposals be inspired by compassion, vision and courage, so as to seize every opportunity to advance the construction of peace.”
In an almost 4,000-word interview for the economics-focused newspaper, the pope spoke at-length about community, the dignity of work, and the importance of the economy being at the service of the human person, rather than the idol of money.
“When the person is no longer at the center, when making money becomes the primary and only objective we are outside ethics and we build structures of poverty, slavery and waste,” he stated, pointing out that current economic structures “need conversion.”
“There is a lack of awareness of a common origin, of belonging to a common root of humanity and of a future to be built together,” he said, and to gain this awareness would provide the stimulus for new attitudes and lifestyles.
Noting that economic activity originates with the human person, he said some people wrongly think “money is made with money,” when real money is created by human work and “it is work that gives dignity to man, not money.”
Francis also decried the high rates of unemployment affecting several European countries, saying it is one consequence of an economic system which worships money.
But in the midst of these and other problems, there is still hope, he said. And Christians can struggle together to put the family and the human person at the center.
More than simple optimism, hope “carries us forward.” It is “like the embers under the ashes,” he said, and urged Catholics to help themselves by “blowing on the ashes.”
He said it is important to work together for the common good and to build a “new humanism of work,” promoting work that respects the dignity of the person, “knowing that the good of people and the good of the company go hand in hand.”
“Let us help ourselves to develop solidarity and to realize a new economic order that no longer generates waste,” he said, “by enriching economic activity with attention to the poor and the reduction of inequality.”
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Vatican City, Oct 25, 2020 / 06:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis said Sunday that he will create 13 new cardinals, including Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory, at a consistory on Nov. 28, the eve of the First Sunday of Advent.
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen speaks during a press conference at the presidential office in Taipei on Dec. 27, 2022. / Photo by SAM YEH/AFP via Getty Images
Rome Newsroom, Jan 24, 2023 / 11:30 am (CNA).
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has written a letter to Pope Francis underlining the importance of maintaining peace with China and a commitment to the island’s sovereign democracy.
“The war that erupted between Russia and Ukraine last February has brought home to humanity just how valuable peace is,” Tsai wrote in a letter to the pope published by her office on Jan. 23.
“Preserving regional security has become a key consensus shared by national leaders.”
Tsai sent the letter in response to Pope Francis’ message for the 2023 World Day of Peace, the pope’s annual letter sent to all foreign governments around the world to mark the new year.
The president of Taiwan, formally called the Republic of China (ROC), cited a speech that she gave last October following a dramatic rise in tensions between Beijing and Taipei over the summer.
“In my 2022 National Day address, I underscored that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait are the basis for the development of cross-strait relations and that armed confrontation is absolutely not an option,” Tsai said.
“I made clear that only by respecting the commitment of the Taiwanese people to our sovereignty, democracy, and freedom can there be a foundation for resuming constructive interaction across the Taiwan Strait.”
Vatican City State is the only remaining country in Europe that recognizes Taiwan as a country.
Taiwan, an island less than 110 miles off the coast of China with a population of more than 23 million people, has maintained a vibrant democracy with robust civil liberties despite increased pressure from Beijing regarding the island’s status.
The Holy See has had formal diplomatic relations with the ROC since 1922, while the Church has not had an official diplomatic presence on the mainland People’s Republic of China (PRC) since it was officially expelled by Beijing in 1951.
Only 14 states worldwide still have full diplomatic relations with Taiwan, among them Guatemala, Haiti, and Paraguay. The Chinese Communist Party government in mainland China views Taiwan as a rebel province and has put pressure on countries to cut diplomatic ties with the island.
Amid concern over what a Vatican decision to renew its 2018 provisional accord with Beijing would mean for the Holy See’s diplomatic relationship with Taiwan, a spokesperson for Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in 2020 that it had received assurances from the Vatican regarding the renewal of the Vatican-China deal.
Tsai, the first female president of Taiwan, noted that last year marked the 80th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Republic of China and the Holy See.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it,” she said.
“Taiwan aspires to serve as a light in the world and will work closely with the Holy See to create a society of greater justice and peace for humanity.”
Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica, where Bernini’s gorgeous bronze monument to the Chair of Peter acts as a massive
bronze reliquary for the historic wooden chair. / Credit: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Nov 9, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
For the first time in over a century, the historic Chair of St. Peter, a wooden throne symbolizing the pope’s magisterial authority, has been removed from its gilded bronze reliquary in St. Peter’s Basilica to be displayed for public veneration.
Pilgrims and visitors can now behold this storied relic directly in front of the basilica’s main altar, just above the tomb of St. Peter, where it will remain on display until Dec. 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.
The last major public viewing of the chair occurred in 1867, when Pope Pius IX exposed the Chair of Peter for the veneration of the faithful for 12 days on the 1,800th anniversary of the martyrdoms of St. Peter and St. Paul, according to Pietro Zander, head of the Necropolis and Artistic Heritage Section of the Vatican.
It was the first time that the centuries-old wooden throne had been exhibited to the public since 1666 when it was first encased within Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s monumental bronze sculpture under the stained-glass Dove of the Holy Spirit window at the basilica’s apse.
The historic wooden Chair of St. Peter as it is currently on display in St. Peter’s Basilica. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA
Formally known as the Cathedra Sancti Petri Apostoli, or more simply as Cathedra Petri, the chair has held a revered place in Catholic tradition over the centuries, representing papal authority from St. Peter to the present.
“The chair is meant to be understood as the teacher’s ‘cathedra,’” art historian Elizabeth Lev told CNA. “It symbolizes the pope’s duty to hand down the teaching of Christ from generation to generation.”
“It’s antiquity [ninth century] speaks to a papacy that has endured through the ages — from St. Peter who governed a church on the run trying to evangelize with the might of the Roman Empire trying to shut him down, to the establishment of the Catholic Church and its setting down of roots in the Eternal City, to our 266th successor of St. Peter, Pope Francis,” she explained.
Pope Francis venerates the Chair of St. Peter at the end of the closing Mass of the Synod on Synodality on Oct. 27, 2024, the first day the chair was displayed for public veneration. Credit: Vatican Media
A storied history
The wooden chair itself is steeped in history. According to the Vatican, the wooden seat was likely given by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles the Bald to Pope John VIII in A.D. 875 for the emperor’s Christmas coronation in the old St. Peter’s Basilica. A depiction of the emperor appears on the crossbeam of the chair, and its ivory panels illustrate the labors of Hercules along with other scenes from Greek mythology.
The informational sign near the chair in St. Peter’s Basilica informs visitors that “shortly after the year 1000, the Cathedra Petri began to be venerated as a relic of the seat used by the apostle Peter when he preached the Gospel first in Antioch and then in Rome.”
The Fabric of St. Peter, the organization responsible for the basilica’s upkeep, maintains that “it cannot be ruled out that this ninth-century imperial seat may have later incorporated the panel depicting the labors of Hercules, which perhaps originally belonged to an earlier and more ancient papal seat.”
Before returning the chair to its place within Bernini’s monumental reliquary, Vatican experts will conduct a series of diagnostic tests with the Vatican Museums’ Cabinet of Scientific Research. The ancient seat was last removed and studied from 1969 to 1974 under Pope Paul VI but was not shown to the public.
Closer details can be seen of the historic relic of the Chair of St. Peter. For the first time in over a century, the wooden throne symbolizing the pope’s magisterial authority has been removed from its gilded bronze reliquary in St. Peter’s Basilica to be displayed for public veneration. Credit: Daniel Ibanez
The recent restoration of Bernini’s works in the basilica, funded by the Knights of Columbus in preparation for the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, made it possible for the chair to be moved from the bronze sculpture in August.
Pope Francis got a sneak peak of the relic in early October and a photo of the moment — showing him sitting in a wheelchair before the Chair of St. Peter — quickly went viral. Afterward, the pope requested that the relic be displayed for public veneration.
Francis ultimately decided that the Chair of St. Peter — a symbol of the Church’s unity under the instruction of Christ — would be unveiled for the public at the closing Mass for the Synod on Synodality.
“Pope Francis has been exceptionally generous to the faithful about displaying relics,” Lev said. “He brought out the bones of St. Peter shortly after his election, he had the Shroud of Turin on view in 2015, and now he has taken the Chair of Peter out for veneration in the basilica.”
“In our virtual age, where much confusion reigns between what is real and what is not, Pope Francis has encouraged us to come face to face with these ancient witnesses of our faith and our traditions.”
Pope Francis venerates the Chair of St. Peter at the end of the closing Mass of the Synod on Synodality on Oct. 27, 2024, in Rome. Credit: Vatican Media
Feast of the Chair of St. Peter
The Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, celebrated each year on Feb. 22, dates back to the fourth century. St. Jerome (A.D. 347–420) spoke of his respect for the “Chair of Peter,” writing in a letter: “I follow no leader save Christ, so I enter into communion with … the Chair of Peter, for this I know is the rock upon which the Church is built.”
As Pope Benedict XVI explained in a 2006 catechesis: “‘Cathedra’ literally means the established seat of the bishop, placed in the mother church of a diocese, which for this reason is known as a ‘cathedral.”
“It is the symbol of the bishop’s authority and in particular, of his ‘magisterium,’ that is, the evangelical teaching which, as a successor of the apostles, he is called to safeguard and to transmit to the Christian community,” he said.
When a bishop takes possession of the particular Church that has been entrusted to him, he sits on the cathedra, Benedict explained: “From this seat, as teacher and pastor, he will guide the journey of the faithful in faith, hope, and charity.”
“The Church’s first ‘seat’ was the upper room, and it is likely that a special place was reserved for Simon Peter in that room where Mary, mother of Jesus, also prayed with the disciples,” he added.
Benedict XVI described Peter’s ministry as a journey from Jerusalem to Antioch, where he served as bishop, and ultimately to Rome. He noted that the See of Rome, where Peter ultimately “ended his race at the service of the Gospel with martyrdom,” became recognized as the seat of his successors, with the cathedra representing the mission entrusted to Peter by Christ.
“So it is that the See of Rome, which had received the greatest of honors, also has the honor that Christ entrusted to Peter of being at the service of all the particular Churches for the edification and unity of the entire people of God,” he said.
The Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica, where Bernini’s bronze monument to the Chair of Peter acts as a massive bronze reliquary for the historic wooden chair. Credit: Vatican Media
Bernini’s Baroque masterpiece
Bernini’s monumental reliquary for the chair, commissioned by Pope Alexander VII and completed in 1666, is one of the most iconic artworks in St. Peter’s Basilica. Bernini encased the wooden relic within a bronze-gilded throne, dramatically raised and crowned by a stained-glass depiction of the Holy Spirit, symbolized as a dove, surrounded by sculpted angels.
The bronze throne is supported by massive statues of four doctors of the Church — two from the West, St. Augustine and St. Ambrose, and two from the East, St. John Chrysostom and St. Athanasius — symbolizing the unity of the Church through the ages, bringing together the teachings of both the Latin and Greek Church Fathers. And at the top of the throne, cherubs hold up a papal tiara and keys symbolizing papal authority.
On the chair itself, there are three gold bas-reliefs representing the Gospel episodes of the consignment of the keys (Matthew 16:19), “feed my sheep” (John 21:17), and the washing of the feet (John 13:1-17).
The ongoing restoration of Bernini’s monument at the Altar of the Chair, along with the recently finished restoration of the baldacchino, is significant not only in light of the 2025 Jubilee Year but also the upcoming 400th anniversary of the consecration of the current St. Peter’s Basilica in 2026.
“Celebrating the ‘Chair’ of Peter,” Benedict XVI said, “means attributing a strong spiritual significance to it and recognizing it as a privileged sign of the love of God, the eternal Good Shepherd, who wanted to gather his whole Church and lead her on the path of salvation.”
Yes, I will speak out against injustice: your injustice. Your injustice in refusing to respond for two years to the dubia. Your injustice in twisting Scripture on virtually a daily basis to support your heterodox interpretations. Your injustice in filling the college of cardinals and the episcopal college around the world with homosexuals and their advocates. Your injustice in covering up homosexual abuse in the Unired States, Chile, Argentina, Italy, to name only a few. Your injustice in refusing to respond to the Just and likely true accusations of Archbishop Viganò about your moral corruption and that of your Curia. Your injustice in destroying the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate and the Order of Mata. Your injustice in squandering millions of dollars and thousands of gallons of fuel on useless and debauched “synods” rugged to advance your agendas while you condemn us for using air conditioning and plastic straws. Your injustice in condemning and ridiculing victims of sexual abuse and orthodox conservative Catholics for their belief and hope in Christ and His Church. Your injustice in making the papacy a slave of promoters of abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, and contraception.
“Let us help ourselves to develop solidarity and to realize a new economic order that no longer generates waste,” he said, “by enriching economic activity with attention to the poor and the reduction of inequality.”
Does the “reduction of inequality” include the open investigation of Bishops, Cardinals and even yourself as individuals “not above the law?”
Why must “the poor” answers the questions of so many people but not Bishops, Cardinals and yourself? Is this a new form of “solidarity?”
Will the Vatican Bank and the private residences of Maradiaga, Wuerl and the almost forgotten Myers of Newark be a part of this “new economic order?” Will the inevitably many more closed parishes also be a part of this “new economic order?”
Was appointing Msgr. Battista Ricca as your “eyes and ears” in the Vatican Bank and manager of Casa Santa Marta where you reside, an act of justice or an injustice?
And what of the Christians speaking out about pederast and unchaste bishops, and those who cover up for them?
Yes, I will speak out against injustice: your injustice. Your injustice in refusing to respond for two years to the dubia. Your injustice in twisting Scripture on virtually a daily basis to support your heterodox interpretations. Your injustice in filling the college of cardinals and the episcopal college around the world with homosexuals and their advocates. Your injustice in covering up homosexual abuse in the Unired States, Chile, Argentina, Italy, to name only a few. Your injustice in refusing to respond to the Just and likely true accusations of Archbishop Viganò about your moral corruption and that of your Curia. Your injustice in destroying the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate and the Order of Mata. Your injustice in squandering millions of dollars and thousands of gallons of fuel on useless and debauched “synods” rugged to advance your agendas while you condemn us for using air conditioning and plastic straws. Your injustice in condemning and ridiculing victims of sexual abuse and orthodox conservative Catholics for their belief and hope in Christ and His Church. Your injustice in making the papacy a slave of promoters of abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, and contraception.
God help us.
We can’t be free of this maniac fast enough.
“Let us help ourselves to develop solidarity and to realize a new economic order that no longer generates waste,” he said, “by enriching economic activity with attention to the poor and the reduction of inequality.”
Does the “reduction of inequality” include the open investigation of Bishops, Cardinals and even yourself as individuals “not above the law?”
Why must “the poor” answers the questions of so many people but not Bishops, Cardinals and yourself? Is this a new form of “solidarity?”
Will the Vatican Bank and the private residences of Maradiaga, Wuerl and the almost forgotten Myers of Newark be a part of this “new economic order?” Will the inevitably many more closed parishes also be a part of this “new economic order?”
Was appointing Msgr. Battista Ricca as your “eyes and ears” in the Vatican Bank and manager of Casa Santa Marta where you reside, an act of justice or an injustice?