Pope Francis visits a local charity in Rome with a message of solidarity

Vatican City, Jul 7, 2018 / 01:43 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Joined by heads of Christian Churches in the Middle East, Pope Francis Saturday condemned the “complicit silence” and indifference of the world to the conflicts tearing the region apart, and urged Christians to pray for peace.

“Indifference kills, and we desire to lift up our voices in opposition to this murderous indifference,” the pope said July 7.

As Christians, “we want to give a voice to those who have none, to those who can only wipe away their tears,” he said. “For the Middle East today is weeping, suffering and silent as others trample upon those lands in search of power or riches.”

“On behalf of the little ones, the simple ones, the wounded, and all those at whose side God stands, let us beg, ‘Let there be peace!’”

Pope Francis spoke at the opening of a prayer encounter during his July 7 daytrip to Bari for an ecumenical gathering of patriarchs and heads of Christian churches in the Middle East, which holds the theme “Peace be upon you! Christians together for the Middle East.”

Located in the southern Italian region of Puglia, Bari is known as the “porta d’Oriente,” or the “Eastern Gate,” because of its connection to both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches through the relics of St. Nicholas, who is highly venerated in both traditions.

The ecumenical gathering in Bari drew the participation of some 19 leaders of Eastern Catholic Churches and Orthodox Churches, the Assyrian Church of the East, as well as ecclesial communities.

Upon his arrival, the pope was greeted by local authorities before heading to the Basilica of St. Nicholas, where he personally greeted the 19 patriarchs who came to the event and venerated the relics of the saint alongside them in the basilica’s crypt.

After the prayer gathering, the pope and ecumenical leaders will return to the Basilica of St. Nicholas for a closed-door meeting opened by Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The group will then have lunch before Francis heads back to Rome.

In his address during the prayer gathering, Pope Francis said veneration of St. Nicholas “crosses seas and bridges boundaries between Churches,” and prayed that the saint would intercede “to heal the wounds that so many people bear within them.”

The Middle East, he said, is the place where Jesus lived and died, and is therefore the place where “the light of faith spread throughout the world.”

However, despite the rich monastic and cultural traditions in the region, the Middle East has been overshadowed by “dark clouds of war, violence and destruction, instances of occupation and varieties of fundamentalism, forced migration and neglect,” Francis said, noting that all this has taken place “amid the complicit silence of many.”

The Middle East, he said, “has become a land of people who leave their own lands behind. There is also the danger that the presence of our brothers and sisters in the faith will disappear, disfiguring the very face of the region. For a Middle East without Christians would not be the Middle East.”

Francis recalled how at the beginning of the day, while the heads of churches were praying in front of the relics of St. Nicholas, he lit an oil lamp with a single flame as a symbol of unity.

As Christians, “we want to kindle a “flame of hope” in the Middle East, he said, and prayed that light from this lamp would be a sign of the light that continues to shine in darkness.

“Christians are the light of the world not only when everything is bright around them, but also when, in dark moments of history, they refuse to be resigned to the encircling gloom but instead feed the wick of hope with the oil of prayer and love,” he said.

Pope Francis closed his address urging those present to join in prayer for peace in the Middle East, and for all those who suffer.

He offered a special prayer for Jerusalem, which has been the center of religious and political tensions for years, and which became a fresh source of conflict following U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a decision that goes against the position taken by the United Nations.

The Lord “continues to weep” for Jerusalem, the pope said, and prayed for peace in the city, which is “beloved of God and wounded by men.”

Francis closed his address praying for all those who suffer, asking that “the God of all consolation, who heals the brokenhearted and binds up every wound, hear our prayer.”

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Pope Francis before the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica during the convocation of the Jubilee of Mercy, April 11, 2015. / L’Osservatore Romano.

Vatican City, Feb 22, 2022 / 09:00 am (CNA).

The Vatican is holding a worldwide competition to choose the official logo for the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year.

A Jubilee is a special Holy Year of grace and pilgrimage in the Catholic Church, which typically takes place every 25 years.

As preparations for the Jubilee year get underway in Rome, the Vatican’s evangelization office has opened up a contest to decide the year’s official logo.

The competition was announced on Feb. 22, and submissions can be uploaded to the website from April 1 to May 20.

Both teams and individuals can enter, and the winning submission will be chosen by a panel of judges from the Pontifical Council for the Promoting the New Evangelization.

The motto for the 2025 Jubilee, approved by Pope Francis, is “Pilgrims of Hope.”

“The logo must portray the essence of the Jubilee event, with particular attention given to the motto,” according to the submission guidelines.

The 2025 Jubilee will be the Church’s first ordinary jubilee since St. John Paul II led the Great Jubilee of 2000. The Jubilee of Mercy opened by Pope Francis in 2015 was an extraordinary jubilee.

Other required features for the Holy Year’s official logo are that it be original and unpublished, distinctive, adaptable to printing on different materials, and usable in both color and black and white.

The logo should also include the Latin phrases “Iubilaeum A.D. MMXXV,” which means “Jubilee 2025,” and “Peregrinantes in spem,” which means “Pilgrims of Hope.”

The Vatican’s evangelization office said that the competition was “open to all” and “anyone can participate, subject to acceptance of the rules and regulations.”

The pontifical council recalled that the winner of the logo contest for the Holy Year of 2000 was a 22-year-old woman studying at an art institute.

Her entry “has become part of history,” it said.

“The Jubilee’s logo symbolically conveys a message in an immediate and fitting way, and is an expression both of the universality of the Church’s message and of the particular spiritual needs of our contemporaries, who find comfort in this message, inspired by the theme of hope,” the evangelization council said.

In a letter published earlier this month, Pope Francis called for a “great symphony of prayer” ahead of the Jubilee Year in 2025.

The pope made the appeal in a Feb. 11 letter to Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.

“As is customary, the Bull of Indiction, to be issued in due course, will contain the necessary guidelines for celebrating the Jubilee of 2025,” he wrote.

“In this time of preparation, I would greatly desire that we devote 2024, the year preceding the Jubilee event, to a great ‘symphony’ of prayer.”

Jubilees have biblical roots, with the Hebrew Bible describing how jubilee years were held every 50 years for the freeing of slaves and forgiveness of debts as manifestations of God’s mercy.

The practice was re-established in 1300 by Boniface VIII. Pilgrims to Rome were granted a plenary indulgence. Between 1300 and 2000, 29 jubilee years were held in Rome.

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Pope Francis waves to pilgrims during his March 28, 2018 general audience in St. Peter’s Square. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.

Vatican City, Jun 6, 2021 / 05:30 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Sunday urged the Norbertines to always keep their hearts open to others in a message marking the 900th anniversary of the foundation of the Abbey of Prémontré.

In the message dated June 6, the pope traced the life of St. Norbert of Xanten, who founded the Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, in northern France in the 12th century.

He said: “From the beginning, the Premonstratensians have shown great commitment to people outside the community, welcoming them willingly. Thus, new communities which followed Norbert’s lifestyle were born rapidly. Several existing communities asked to be affiliated with Prémontré.”

“Dear sons and daughters of St. Norbert, always keep this open heart, which also opens the doors of your house, to welcome those looking for a spiritual counselor, those who ask for material help, those who wish to share your prayer.”

The pope’s message, released in Italian by the Vatican and in English on the order’s website, was addressed to Fr. Jozef Wouters, Abbot General of the Premonstratensian Canons Regular, which is marking the 900th anniversary with a jubilee.

The pope offered a detailed account of St. Norbert’s life, from his birth around 1075, in the German town of Xanten, to his death in 1134.

He described the saint as “one of the most zealous architects of the Gregorian reform,” referring to the reform movement inspired by Pope Gregory VII, who reigned in 1073-85.

The pope recalled that as a young man Norbert questioned the Church’s alignment with worldly powers and decided to reject courtly life.

“Ordained a deacon and a priest on the same day, he abandoned the refined apparel of a courtier and put on the habit of a penitent,” he wrote.

After encountering a community of reformed canons regular who based their life on the Rule of St. Augustine, Norbert began to preach penance and conversion while leading a life of prayer and mortification.

The pope said that he celebrated the Eucharist often, possibly daily, an uncommon practice at the time.

“The communities of your order have accepted this inheritance and, for nine centuries, have carried out their mission in the spirit of the Rule of St. Augustine, in faithfulness to the meditation and preaching of the Gospel, drawing on the Eucharistic Mystery, source and summit of the life of the Church,” the pope said.

Norbert then opted for an itinerant life, traveling across Europe on foot with only one garment, a cloak, and a stick.

“Norbert’s biographies tell how he healed the sick along the way, chased away evil spirits, and managed to placate ancient feuds between noble families,” the pope wrote.

“These reconciliations brought peace to the regions where the population suffered greatly from the continuous local wars. For this, Norbert is considered an apostle of peace. He did the work of God, acting in the name of Christ’s charity.”

“The ancient authors insist that Norbert always gathered in prayer before setting out to mediate and to foster reconciliations and restore peace and that he was always faithful to celebrate the Eucharist to meet the Lord whose work he desired to undertake.”

While journeying to meet with Pope Callixtus II, Norbert encountered Bartholomew, bishop of Laon, who encouraged him to settle in his diocese. Norbert chose to form a community in the valley of Prémontré.

“Since many of them, like himself, were canons, all made canonical profession according to the Rule of St. Augustine, on Christmas Day 1121, the date that marks the foundation of the community of Prémontré,” Pope Francis wrote.

He said that the community aspired to emulate the early Church described in the Acts of the Apostles.

Addressing the order’s approximately 1,300 current members present in 25 countries, he said: “Your founder lived in many and different environments, but in every circumstance he let himself be guided by the Gospel: whether as an itinerant preacher, superior of a community or bishop, he continued to listen to God and his brothers, and was able to discern the way to be followed in the various circumstances of life, without losing sight of its fundamental inspiration.”

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