Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga tests positive for COVID-19

Lima, Peru, Jun 2, 2017 / 04:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Italian priest and exorcist Fr. Sante Babolin said that “the devil, Satan, exists” and that “evil is not an abstraction,” in response to recent comments from Fr. Arturo Sosa, Superior General of the Society of Jesus.

In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Fr. Arturo Sosa said that “we have made symbolic figures, like the devil, to express evil.”

“Social conditioning can also represent this figure, since there are people who act [in an evil way] because they are in an environment where it is difficult to act to the contrary,” Fr. Sosa added.

Speaking to ACI Prensa June 2, Fr. Babolin recalled several places in documents and statements of the Church that show the true existence of the devil.

Fr. Babolin recalled the documents of the IV Lateran Ecumenical Council in 1215, state that Christians “firmly believe and simply confess” that God created “from nothing…the spiritual and the corporal, that is, the angelic and the mundane, and then the human. “

“(T)he devil and other demons were created by God good in nature, but they themselves through themselves have become wicked,” notes the text of the council.

Fr. Babolin, known as the “exorcist of Padua,” also recalled two speeches of Pope Paul VI in 1972, which also confirm the existence of the devil “to the faithful, who tend to doubt the existence of Satan…his presence and action. “

On June 29, 1972, Paul VI, alluding to the contemporary situation of the Church, said in his homily that it seemed “the smoke of Satan” entered the temple of God. That same year, on November 15, Paul VI warned that “one of the major needs of the Church” is to defend ourselves “from that evil that we call the Devil.”

Fr. Babolin also noted that the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the devil exists in reality, not in the abstract. In the section of the Catechism regarding the “deliver us from evil” petition of the Our Father, in para. 2851, it states that “in this petition, evil is not an abstraction, A person, Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God. The ‘devil’ (dia-bolos) is the one who ‘crosses’ in the design of God and his work of salvation fulfilled in Christ.”

Fr. Babolin said that the faithful should see the statement of the Fourth Lateran Ecumenical Council, the assertions of Paul VI and what is recorded in the Catechism as “three irrefutable points” about the existence of the devil.

[…]

Santiago, Chile, Sep 6, 2018 / 02:07 pm (ACI Prensa).- The Church in Chile’s capital celebrated the National Day of the Migrant September 2 with a Mass of Thanksgiving and a charitable collection for the more than one million displaced people who currently live in the country.

In Santiago, Catholics of more than 20 nationalities gathered at Our Lady of Pompeii parish to celebrate the Eucharist and share their traditions. The parish is locally known as the “Latin American parish” because its members hail from many different Latin American countries.

Auxiliary Bishop Cristián Roncagliolo of Santiago presided over the Mass. He noted that the Church “is a migrant people which traverses the world and announces the Gospel, which constantly calls us to conversion.”

The bishop highlighted that in the midst of different charisms, gifts, nations and rites, “the unity of the Church comes through faith – we’re different but we are members of one and the same faith.”

In his homily, Bishop Roncagliolo encouraged those present to take up the challenge of working for communion, integration and welcome.

“In Chile in recent years, we have taken in a great number of migrants. For us Chileans, this is not just a sociological issue but an issue of charity, to help our brothers from different parts of the world feel at home,” he said.

After Mass, participants enjoyed more than 20 stands with typical food from different countries, cooked by migrants as a way to share their culture and thank the Chileans who have welcomed them.

As part of the observation of the National Day of the Migrant, a collection was held in all dioceses throughout the country, raising money for the Chilean Catholic Migration Institute, which assists migrants, primarily from Venezuela and Haiti.

The fund-raising campaign will last the entire month of September through online donations.

In neighboring Argentina,  the Church commemorated the Day of the Migrant and Refugee September 2 with a call to “welcome, protect, assist and integrate those experiencing this situation.”

The Argentine Bishops’ Committee on the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People offered a series of online resources including Pope Francis’ message for the 2017 World Day of Migrants and Refugees, and liturgical suggestions for the day.

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

[…]

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jul 19, 2017 / 01:53 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Maximiliano Acuña is a garbage collector in Buenos Aires who earlier this year was injured in a serious accident that left him without legs.

On Tuesday, he was surprised to receive an unexpected phone call from Pope Francis.

The Pope offered words of encouragement, 33-year-old Acuña told the Argentine Morfi Television program.

On March 22, the father of five children had been collecting garbage in a Buenos Aires neighborhood when he was struck by a car going some 80 miles an hour.

As a result of the accident, both of his legs had to be amputated.

A Buenos Aires legislator, Gustavo Vera, decided to tell Pope Francis what happened in an e-mail, in which he explained that the “doctors’ prognosis was for the worst.”

“In the best case scenario, he was expected to be in a vegetative state or to have serious neuronal damage, and in the worst case it was going to be the end for him,” Vera told the Holy Father.

However, Acuña surprised doctors when he came out of the coma on the third day. Two days later, he was moved from intensive care to a regular hospital room. “In a few weeks he was already home with his five children,” Vera related in his message to the Pope.

This July 18, Acuña was getting ready to be honored at a ceremony at the Buenos Aires Legislature when he got a special call.

“I’m Pope Francis. A friend (Vera) sent me a letter, and I was moved and struck by how much strength you have,” the voice said on the other end of the line. “Always go forward, because you’re an example.”

Acuña recounted these words with emotion at a ceremony in front of hundreds of other garbage collectors.

Now, Vera is working with the general secretary of the Truckers Union, Pablo Moyano, to propose that March 22 be declared “Waste Collectors’ Day,” in tribute to this young collector.

“God gave me my life back, because they removed both legs, but everything that is happening to me is beautiful,” Acuña said.

“I always believed in God, I always went to church, praying everyday asking him for work, and that he take care of me day by day.”

“God exists,” Acuña continued. “I want to give everyone this message, that God exists and that he has given me a new opportunity.”

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