Year: 2020

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News Briefs

Vatican asks Instagram to investigate “Like” by Pope Francis’ account

November 20, 2020 CNA Daily News 0

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 20, 2020 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- The Vatican said that no one in the Holy See “liked” a racy photograph while logged in to Pope Francis’ Instagram account, and has requested that Instagram open an investigation into how or why such a “like” appears to have happened.

“We can rule out that the ‘like’ comes from the Holy See, which has turned to Instagram for explanations,” the Holy See Press Office told CNA Nov. 18.

On Nov. 13, it was widely reported and observed that Pope Francis’ verified, official Instagram account, “Franciscus,” had “liked” a racy photo of model and streamer Natalia Garibotto.

In the picture, Garibotto is wearing a lingerie outfit that resembles a school uniform, and her mostly-uncovered posterior is visible in the picture.  

The photo was no longer liked on November 14, shortly after CNA requested comment from the Holy See’s Press Office. At the time, the office declined to speculated about what could have happened.

Pope Francis does not run his own social media accounts, which are overseen by a team.

It is unclear which devices are used to update the pope’s Instagram and Twitter accounts, and it is also unclear if those who are responsible for updating the pope’s accounts also use personal social media accounts from the same devices. Instagram allows for multiple accounts to be logged in on a single device.

Pope Francis does not follow anyone on his Instagram account, and has 7.3 million followers. Garibotto has 2.3 million followers.

Garibotto’s management and publicity firm, COY Co., used the papal account’s like for publicity purposes, posting on its account Friday that the firm had “received the POPE’S OFFICIAL BLESSING.”

On her personal account, Garibotto posted a photo featuring the same outfit in the picture liked by the pope’s account, and directed people to sign up for a subscription to her website.

“On this very day I was blessed, you could be too,” she wrote, along with the address of her site. Subscribers to her website receive “sexy content, follow back on socials, [the ability to] chat with me directly, monthly cash prize giveaways, signed Polaroids, and more!”

 


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No Picture
News Briefs

Michigan Catholic deacon recovering after stabbing

November 20, 2020 CNA Daily News 1

CNA Staff, Nov 20, 2020 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- A deacon who was stabbed outside a Michigan church this month is recovering in a rehabilitation hospital, the Diocese of Kalamazoo reported this week.

“We’re happy to share that Deacon Joe Schmitt is doing well. He’s been released from the hospital and working with rehabilitation services to work on improvement in strength and endurance. We’re grateful for all those who have prayed for Deacon Joe and his wife Becky and we continue to hold him in prayer for continued healing,” the diocese said in a statement released Nov. 17.

Schmitt, 71, was stabbed multiple times Nov. 5 outside St. Mary’s Church in Kalamazoo.

The deacon, who is assigned to a different parish, went to St. Mary’s the evening of Nov. 5 for a Mass. But according to his wife, he had gotten the date of the Mass wrong, and there was no one at the parish when he arrived.

Becky Schmitt, the deacon’s wife, told WWMT News that as he stood outside the church, a man approached and demanded her husband’s wallet. After the deacon said he wasn’t carrying a wallet, the mugger stabbed him repeatedly in the neck and shoulder, she said.

“Joe was able to stand back up, he lost his shoe, lost his glasses, lost his alb and stole and was able to walk,” she told WWMT. “He knew there was a daycare nearby, so he was able to go there. He said he was holding his mask over his wound.”

After daycare workers called 911, the deacon was taken to a hospital only seven blocks away. He had emergency surgery for a punctured trachea, and several stab wounds. Doctors told Schmitt’s family the deacon had lost 20% of his blood.

This week he was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital.

Kalamazoo police are searching for a suspect.

Schmitt, who was ordained a deacon in 1989, is expected to return home next week. His wife said parishes and other organizations have reached out with support. She also said she hopes for both justice and mercy for her husband’s attacker.

“I think there are a lot of desperate people around because of the circumstances of coronavirus, poverty, job loss, racism, all that stuff,” she told WWMT, encouraging prayer for both justice and mercy. 


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No Picture
News Briefs

Pope Francis urges Passionists to help ‘the crucified of our age’

November 20, 2020 CNA Daily News 5

Vatican City, Nov 20, 2020 / 04:30 am (CNA).- Pope Francis urged members of the Passionist order Thursday to deepen their commitment to “the crucified of our age” as they mark the 300th anniversary of their founding. 

In a message to Fr. Joachim Rego, superior general of the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ, the pope challenged the order to focus on helping the poor, the weak and the oppressed.

“Do not tire of accentuating your commitment to the needs of humanity,” the pope said in the message issued Nov. 19. “This missionary calling is directed above all towards the crucified of our age — the poor, the weak, the oppressed and those discarded by many forms of injustice.” 

The pope sent the message, dated Oct. 15, as the Passionists prepared to launch a Jubilee year celebrating the foundation of the order by St. Paul of the Cross in Italy in 1720.

The Jubilee year, whose theme is “Renewing our mission: gratitude prophecy, and hope,” will begin on Sunday, Nov. 22, and end on Jan. 1, 2022.

The pope said that the order’s mission could only be strengthened by an “inner renewal” among the Passionists’ over 2,000 members, present in more than 60 countries. 

“The implementation of this task will require a sincere effort of inner renewal on your part, which derives from your personal relationship with the Crucified-Risen One,” he said. “Only those crucified by love, as Jesus was on the cross, are able to help the crucified of history with effective words and actions.” 

“In fact, it is not possible to convince others of God’s love only through a verbal and informative proclamation. Concrete gestures are needed to make us experience this love in our own love that is offered by sharing the situations of the crucified, even totally spending one’s life, while remaining aware that between the proclamation and its acceptance in faith there is the action of the Holy Spirit.”

At 10.30 a.m. local time on Nov. 22, the Passionist Jubilee will begin with the opening of the Holy Door in the Basilica of Sts. John and Paul in Rome, followed by an inaugural Mass. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin will be the principal concelebrant and the event will be livestreamed.

The Jubilee year will include an international congress, on “The wisdom of the cross in a pluralistic world,” at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome on Sept. 21-24, 2021.

There will also be a number of opportunities to gain indulgences throughout the year, including by visiting the founder’s birthplace of Ovada in the northern Italian region of Piedmont.

The Passionists trace their origins back to Nov. 22, 1720, the day that Paul Danei received the habit of a hermit and began a 40-day retreat in a small cell in the Church of San Carlo in Castellazzo. During the retreat, he wrote the Rule of “The Poor of Jesus,” which laid the foundations of the future Congregation of the Passion.

Danei took the religious name Paul of the Cross and built up the order that would come to be known as the Passionists because of their commitment to preaching the Passion of Jesus Christ. He died in 1775 and was canonized in 1867 by Pope Pius IX.

Passionists wear a black habit with the distinctive emblem over their hearts. The Passion Sign, as it is known, consists of a heart with the words “Jesu XPI Passio” (the Passion of Jesus Christ) written inside. There are three crossed nails beneath these words and a large white cross at the top of the heart.

In his message to Passionists, the pope quoted from his 2013 apostolic exhortation “Evangelii gaudium.” 

“This significant centennial anniversary represents a providential opportunity to move towards new apostolic goals, without giving in to the temptation to ‘leave things as they are,’” he wrote. 

“Contact with the Word of God in prayer and reading the signs of the times in daily events will enable you to perceive the creative presence of the Spirit whose outpouring over time, points out the answers to humanity’s expectations. No one can escape the fact that today we live in a world where nothing is the same as before.”

He continued: “Humanity is in a spiral of changes that call into question not only the value of the cultural currents that have enriched it so far, but also the intimate constitution of its being. Nature and the cosmos, subject to pain and decay due to human manipulation, take on worrying degenerative traits. You too are asked to identify new lifestyles and new forms of language in order to proclaim the love of the Crucified One, thus giving witness to the heart of your identity.”


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