A pro-life poster campaign in Poland organized by the Our Children Foundation / Archive
CNA Staff, Mar 19, 2021 / 08:00 am (CNA).- Catholics in Poland launched a week of prayer for the protection of life on Friday, the feast of St. Joseph.
The week-long pro-life initiative, starting on March 19, is supported by Catholic bishops in dioceses across the country.
Magdalena Guziak-Nowak of the Polish Association of Human Life Defenders, which is overseeing the prayer week, said: “Our intention is to include all unborn children, their mothers, and parents receiving a difficult prenatal diagnosis.”
“We will pray for nurses, midwives, and doctors, for politicians and journalists, and for all those who demand the killing of unborn babies.”
The prayer week comes amid a furious debate in Poland over abortion.
The country’s constitutional court ruled Oct. 22 that a 1993 law permitting abortion for fetal abnormalities was unconstitutional.
The ruling, which cannot be appealed, could lead to a significant reduction in the number of abortions in the country.
The court’s decision triggered mass protests. Demonstrators disrupted Masses while holding signs supporting abortion, left graffiti on Church property, vandalized statues of St. John Paul II, and chanted slogans at clergy.
Following the publication of the ruling on Jan. 27, abortion will continue to remain legal in cases of rape or incest and risk to the mother’s life.
The week of prayers includes the daily recitation of the litany to St. Joseph and a prayer composed by St. John Paul II, taken from the Polish pope’s 1995 encyclicalEvangelium vitae.
At the end of January, the secretariat of the Polish episcopal conference sent material on the week of prayer for the protection of life to all dioceses.
According to Bishop Artur Miziński, secretary of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, “common prayer is so necessary in the current situation, when pro-abortion groups provoke social unrest.”
The Life Protection Prayer Week will end on March 25, the feast of the Annunciation and the Day of the Sanctity of Life in Poland.
“In a world that divides children into ‘wanted’ and ‘unwanted,’ in a world where indifference and false compassion is killing us, we need to hear the gospel of life anew,” the organizers said.
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The March for Life in Rome, Italy, on May 22, 2021. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.
Rome Newsroom, May 28, 2021 / 12:00 pm (CNA).
An Italian bishop at the March for Life in Rome said that Catholics have a responsibility to stand up for the sacredness of hu… […]
CNA Staff, Jan 17, 2021 / 09:00 am (CNA).- Archbishop Georg Gänswein said on Sunday that the image known as the Holy Face of Manoppello conveys the “incomparable news” of Christ’s resurrection.
Pope Francis prayed before a relic of St. Therese of Lisieux at the beginning of his general audience in St. Peter’s Square, and shortly before going to the hospital for an abdominal surgery, on June 7, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Vatican City, Jun 7, 2023 / 04:37 am (CNA).
One of Pope Francis’ last gestures before undergoing abdominal surgery on Wednesday was to pray before a relic of St. Therese of Lisieux.
A relic of the French Carmelite nun, also known as St. Therese of the Child Jesus, was present on the platform in front of St. Peter’s Basilica during the pope’s weekly general audience June 7.
Before beginning the audience, Francis venerated the relics of St. Therese in a moment of silent prayer. He also placed a single, white rose on the table in front of the reliquary.
Pope Francis was taken to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for abdominal surgery under general anesthesia at the end of the morning audience, shortly after 11:00 a.m. Rome time, the Vatican said.
Relics of St. Therese’s parents, Sts. Louis and Zélie Guérin Martin, were also present at the meeting with the public June 7. The relics of all three saints will visit different churches in Rome through June 16.
Relics of St. Therese of Lisieux and her parents, Sts. Louis and Zelie Guerin Martin, were on the platform in front of St. Peter’s Basilica during Pope Francis’ general audience June 7, 2023. The relics made a pilgrimage to Rome June 6-16, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Pope Francis said Wednesday he intends to publish an apostolic letter on St. Therese of Lisieux, “patroness of the missions,” to mark the 150th anniversary of her birth.
“She was a Carmelite nun who lived her life according to the way of littleness and weakness: she defined herself as ‘a small grain of sand,’” he said in St. Peter’s Square.
“Having poor health, she died at the age of only 24,” he added. “But though her body was sickly, her heart was vibrant, missionary.”
“Here before us are the relics of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, universal patroness of missions,” he said. “It is good that this happens while we are reflecting on the passion for evangelization, on apostolic zeal. Today, then, let us allow the witness of St. Therese to help us. She was born 150 years ago, and I plan to dedicate an apostolic letter to her on this anniversary.”
🎥HIGHLIGHTS | Before commencing the General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis shared a beautiful moment of prayer before the sacred relics of St. Therese of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church and Patroness of the Missions. As a symbol of his devotion, the Holy Father… pic.twitter.com/lRJeWuSx8n
St. Therese of Lisieux was born on Jan. 2, 1873, in Alençon, France. Her mother died when she was four, leaving her father and older sisters to raise her. She received papal permission to enter the Carmelite Monastery at the young age of 15, where she lived until her death from Tuberculosis at the age of 24.
She was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by St. Pope John Paul II in 1997 and is the patron saint of missions.
Pope Francis reflected on the saint’s life as part of a series of lessons on evangelical zeal.
“She is patroness of the missions, but she was never sent on mission,” Francis explained in his catechesis. “She recounts in her ‘diary’ that her desire was that of being a missionary, and that she wanted to be one not just for a few years, but for the rest of her life, even until the end of the world.”
St. Therese did this, he said, by becoming a spiritual sister to several missionaries, whom she accompanied through her prayers, letters, and sacrifices from within the monastery walls.
“Without being visible, she interceded for the missions, like an engine that, although hidden, gives a vehicle the power to move forward,” the pope said.
“Missionaries, in fact — of whom Therese is patroness — are not only those who travel long distances, learn new languages, do good works, and are good at proclamation,” he added. “No, a missionary is anyone who lives as an instrument of God’s love where they are.”
Pope Francis spoke about St. Therese of Lisieux, the patroness of missions, during his general audience June 7, 2023. Relics of St. Therese and her parents, Sts. Louis and Zelie Guerin Martin, were present on the platform beside the pope for the audience. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Pope Francis recounted two episodes from St. Therese’s life that help to explain the source of her zeal and missionary strength.
The first happened during Christmas 1886, when Therese was almost 14 years old.
St. Therese was pampered as the youngest child of the family, he explained. But her father was tired after midnight Mass for Christmas and did not feel like being present when his daughter opened her gifts, so he said he was glad it was the last year she would receive gifts.
“Therese, who was very sensitive and easily moved to tears, was hurt, and went up to her room and cried,” the pope said.
“But she quickly suppressed her tears, went downstairs and, full of joy, she was the one who cheered her father,” he said. “What had happened? On that night, when Jesus had made himself weak out of love, her soul became strong: in just a few moments, she had come out of the prison of her selfishness and self-pity; she began to feel that ‘charity entered her heart’ — so she said — ‘with the need to forget herself’ (cf. Manuscript A, 133-134).”
“From then on, she directed her zeal toward others, that they might find God…”
The second event happened after St. Therese became a Carmelite. Pope Francis said the nun became aware of a hardened criminal, Enrico Pranzini, who was sentenced to death by guillotine for having murdered three people.
Therese had a special zeal for saving sinners, and so “she took him into her heart and did all she could: she prayed in every way for his conversion, so that he, whom, with brotherly compassion she called ‘poor wretched Pranzini,’ might demonstrate a small sign of repentance and make room for God’s mercy,” Francis said.
The day after his execution, she read in the newspaper that before laying his head on the chopping block, Pranzini had, “‘all of a sudden, seized by a sudden inspiration, turned around, grabbed a Crucifix that the priest handed to him and kissed three times the sacred wounds’ of Jesus,” he continued.
“Then his soul,” St. Therese wrote, “went to receive the merciful sentence of the One who declared that in Heaven there will be more joy for a single sinner who repents than for the ninety-nine righteous who have no need of repentance!”
Pope Francis said: “With so many means, methods, and structures available, which sometimes distract from what is essential, the Church needs hearts like Therese’s, hearts that draw people to love and bring people closer to God.”
“Let us today ask this saint, whose relics we have here,” he added, “let us ask this saint for the grace to overcome our selfishness and for the passion to intercede that Jesus might be known and loved.”
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