CNA Staff, Dec 8, 2020 / 02:01 pm (CNA).- The Vatican Secretary of State was admitted to a Roman hospital Tuesday for a scheduled surgery to treat prostate enlargement.
“It is expected that in a few days he will be able to leave the hospital and gradually resume his work,” the Holy See Press Office said Dec. 8.
Pietro Cardinal Parolin is being treated at Agostino Gemelli University Policlinic.
The cardinal, who is 65, was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Vicenza in 1980.
He was consecrated a bishop in 2009, when he was appointed apostolic nuncio to Venezeula.
Cardinal Parolin has served as Vatican Secretary of State since 2013, and he has been on the Council of Cardinals since 2014.
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Pope Francis invokes the Virgin Mary as Queen of Peace and Mother of Mercy at a prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter’s Basilica, Friday, Oct. 27. / Credit: Courtney Mares
Vatican City, Oct 27, 2023 / 13:19 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis consecrated the Church and the world to the Blessed Virgin Mary in a Eucharistic adoration prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter’s Basilica on Friday, Oct. 27, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Holy Land.
Invoking the Virgin Mary as the Queen of Peace and Mother of Mercy, Pope Francis implored her to “intercede for our world in danger and turmoil” and to “convert those who fuel and foment conflicts.”
“Mother of God and Our Mother, we come before you and we seek refuge in your Immaculate Heart,” the pope prayed.
“To you we entrust and consecrate our lives and every fiber of our being, all that we possess and all that we are, forever. To you we consecrate the Church, so that in her witness to the love of Jesus before the world, she may be a sign of harmony and an instrument of peace. To you we consecrate our world, especially those countries and regions at war.”
Pope Francis consecrated the Church and the world to the Blessed Virgin Mary in a Eucharistic adoration prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter’s Basilica on Friday, Oct. 27, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Holy Land. Credit: Courtney Mares
The prayer was the culmination of a worldwide day of fasting, prayer, and penance for peace in the world called for by the pope amid the escalating war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Pope Francis presided over the prayer of the sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary, the Litany of Loreto, and Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
Pope Francis presides over a prayer vigil at the Vatican for peace in the Holy Land.
During Eucharistic adoration, the congregation asked the Lord Jesus to console those who suffer, enlighten those who govern, break the plots of war, dissolve hatred, strengthen hope, reconcile hearts, protect the poor, and welcome those who have died, praying, “Da pacem Domine in diebus nostris,” meaning “Grant peace, O Lord, in our time.”
A view of the prayer vigil for peace on Oct. 27. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis spoke from a chair off to the side from the main altar of the basilica. He reflected on the Virgin Mary’s humility and strength during her son’s crucifixion: “When on Calvary a sword pierced your heart … you kept alive the hope of Easter through the night of sorrow.”
“Now, Mother, once more take the initiative for us, in these times rent by conflicts and laid waste by the fire of arms,” he said. “Teach us to cherish and care for life — each and every human life — and to repudiate the folly of war, which sows death and eliminates the future.”
Pope Francis did not mention Israel, Gaza, or the Holy Land by name in his prayer, but asked the Virgin Mary to “grant that glimmers of light illuminate the dark night of conflict.”
Pope Francis at the prayer vigil for peace on Oct. 27. Credit: Vatican Media
“Dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, inspire the leaders of nations to seek the paths of peace. Queen of all peoples, reconcile your children, seduced by evil, blinded by power and hate,” he said. “Mother, Queen of Peace, pour forth into our hearts God’s gift of harmony.”
After the congregation sang the Eucharistic hymn, “Tantum Ergo” and the Divine Praises, the Blessed Sacrament was placed back in the Tabernacle and the choir sang Psalm 117: “Praise the Lord, all you nations. Extol him, all you peoples. His mercy for us is strong; the faithfulness of the Lord is forever.”
Vatican City, Jan 15, 2020 / 10:53 am (CNA).- Pope Francis has named Dr. Francesca Di Giovanni as undersecretary for multilateral affairs in the Vatican Secretariat of State, marking the first time that a woman has been appointed to a managerial position in the secretariat.
Di Giovanni, 66, was appointed undersecretary for the Section in Relations in States. She has worked as an official in the department for more than 25 years, with specialties including humanitarian law, communications, migrants and refugees, and the status of women, according to Vatican Media.
She will now work with Monsignor Miroslaw Wachowski, who also serves as undersecretary for the Section in Relations in States, but focuses on bilateral affairs. Di Giovanni’s field of multilateral affairs focuses on the interactions between inter-governmental organizations such as the United Nations.
Di Giovanni hails from Palermo, Italy. She has a degree in law and has worked for the Focolare Movement.
She told Vatican News and L’Osservatore Romano that her appointment shows the pope’s commitment to involving women in the Vatican.
“A woman may have certain aptitudes for finding commonalities, healing relationships with unity at heart,” she said. “I hope that my being a woman might reflect itself positively in this task, even if they are gifts that I certainly find in my male colleagues as well.”
She recalled the words of Pope Francis in his homily this year for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God: “Women are givers and mediators of peace and should be fully included in decision-making processes, because when women can share their gifts, the world finds itself more united, more peaceful.”
Di Giovanni said she hopes to cooperate with the other men and women in her working group and hopes to live up to the trust that Pope Francis is placing in her.
She told Vatican News and L’Osservatore Romano that she was surprised by her appointment, although the discussion has arisen in recent years about the need for an additional undersecretary in the field.
The multilateral sector, she said, is “a delicate and demanding sector that needs special attention, because it has its own procedures, in some ways different from those of the bilateral sphere.”
The sector covers multilateral treaties, which Di Giovanni said are significant “because they embody the political will of States with regard to the various issues concerning the international common good: this includes development, the environment, the protection of victims of conflicts, the situation of women, and so on.”
She reiterated the pope’s commitment to the multilateral sector, which she said “has a fundamental function in the international community.”
Di Giovanni noted that in his recent address to the Holy See’s Diplomatic Corps, Pope Francis praised the accomplishments of the United Nations while calling for reform in the multilateral system.
“In the international community, the Holy See also has the mission of ensuring that the interdependence between people and nations be developed in a moral and ethical dimension, as well as in the other dimensions and various aspects that relations are acquiring in today’s world,” she said.
She stressed the importance of dialogue and diplomacy and said the Holy See views the UN “as a necessary means for achieving the common good,” while at the same time calling for reform and change where necessary.
Wishing Pietro Cardinal Parolin good health. God bless.