Pope Francis greets people at the Paul VI Audience Hall after a screening of the documentary “Francesco”, May 24, 2021. / Vatican Media.
CNA Staff, May 25, 2021 / 04:20 am (CNA).
Pope Francis greeted homeless people and refugees at the Vatican on Monday evening after a screening of a documentary about his life.
The pope met with a group of around 100 people on May 24 following the screening of the 2020 film “Francesco,” directed by Evgeny Afineevsky.
/ Vatican Media.
Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, said that the meeting took place at the atrium of the Paul VI Audience Hall, following the screening organized by the director and the Laudato Si’ Foundation.
He said that those present were invited to watch the film while food packages, offered by the organizers, were distributed to them.
/ Vatican Media.
Afineevsky’s film gained international attention when it was premiered at the Rome Film Festival last October as it included a line from Pope Francis in a video interview calling for the passage of civil union laws for same-sex couples.
Featuring interviews with Vatican figures including Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle and other collaborators of the pope, “Francesco” looks at the pope’s advocacy for migrants and refugees, the poor, his work on the issue of clerical sexual abuse, the role of women in society, and the disposition of Catholics and others toward those who identify as LGBT.
Discovery+ acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film, streaming it from March 28.
After greeting the group, Pope Francis returned to his residence, the Casa Santa Marta.
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Vatican City, Aug 7, 2017 / 11:51 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday morning Pope Francis descended to the grotto beneath St Peter’s Basilica, where many past Popes are buried, to pray at the tomb of Bl. Paul VI.
According to a Vatican communique, the Pope spent about half an hour in “a moment of recollection” and prayer before the tomb Aug. 6, the 39th anniversary of the late Roman Pontiff’s 1978 death.
Best known for his encyclical Humanae vitae, on the regulation of birth, and his role in the Second Vatican Council, Paul VI was beatified by Pope Francis in 2014.
Not only has Francis acknowledged the important contribution of Bl. Paul VI to the universal Church, he has also followed closely in the late Roman Pontiff’s steps, particularly in his travels abroad, going to several of the places where his predecessor had become the first Pope ever to step foot.
This year also marks the 50th anniversary of Bl. Paul VI’s encyclicals Populorum Progressio, on the development of peoples, and Sacerdotalis caelibatus, on the celibacy of the priest. Populorum Progressio was a key point of reference in Pope Francis’ establishment this year of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
Bl. Paul VI was born Giovanni Montini in 1897 in the town of Concesio in the Lombardy region of Italy. Ordained a priest in 1920 and consecrated as a bishop in 1954, he was appointed to the college of cardinals in 1958.
At the age of 66 he was elected Bishop of Rome and chose the name Paul VI, in reference to the missionary spirit of the Apostle Paul.
He re-convoked the Second Vatican Council, which had automatically closed with the death of his predecessor, St. John XXIII, and improved ecumenical relations with the Eastern Orthodox Churches.
In a historic move in December 1965, Bl. Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople mutually lifted the excommunications that had been leveled against the leaders of both Churches in 1054.
Montini’s cause for canonization was opened in 1993. In December 2012, Benedict XVI recognized the heroic virtue of Paul VI, giving him the title Venerable. In 2014, the Vatican approved a miracle attributed to his intercession, allowing for his beatification.
In his Oct. 19, 2014 homily for the beatification, Francis hailed Paul VI as “the great helmsman of the [Second Vatican] Council.”
He cited Bl. Paul VI’s words at the closing of Vatican II’s final session: “Perhaps the Lord has called me and preserved me for this service not because I am particularly fit for it, or so that I can govern and rescue the Church from her present difficulties, but so that I can suffer something for the Church, and in that way it will be clear that he, and no other, is her guide and saviour.”
“In this humility,” Pope Francis continued, “the grandeur of Blessed Paul VI shines forth: before the advent of a secularized and hostile society, he could hold fast, with farsightedness and wisdom – and at times alone – to the helm of the barque of Peter, while never losing his joy and his trust in the Lord.”
Pope Francis takes a figure of the Christ child in his arms at the end of the Vatican’s Mass for the Nativity of the Lord on Dec. 24, 2023. / Vatican Media
CNA Staff, Dec 24, 2023 / 16:31 pm (CNA).
In his Christmas homily, Pope Francis shared a message for anyone who may be feeling sad or discouraged with a reminder that the Lord was born to save the world and to give us a hope that is greater than all of our problems.
“Dear brother, dear sister, to God who changed history … you are not a number but a face. Your name is written on his heart,” Pope Francis said on Dec. 24.
“Leave behind the prison of your sorrows and embrace the tender love of the God who became a child. … Cast your cares on him and he will care for you (cf. Ps 55:22). He became flesh; he is not looking for your achievements, but for your open and trusting heart. In Him, you will rediscover who you truly are: a beloved son or daughter of God.”
Pope Francis presided over Mass for the Nativity of the Lord in St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve
The Mass began with a cantor chanting the traditional Kalenda Proclamation of the Birth of Christ from the Roman Martyrology. Children from Mexico, India, South Korea, the Ivory Coast, and Italy then placed flowers before a figure of the Christ child enthroned in front of the altar.
Children place flowers before a figure of the Christ child enthroned in front of the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica. Vatican Media
“Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him from finding room in the world,” Pope Francis said, calling to mind the war in the Holy Land and the ongoing violence in the place of Jesus’ birth.
The pope underlined that God “revolutionizes history by becoming a part of history.” The Lord “does not eliminate pain, but transforms it,” he said. “He does not remove problems from our lives, but grants us a hope that is greater than all our problems.”
“God so greatly desires to embrace our lives that, infinite though he is, he becomes finite for our sake. In his greatness, he chooses to become small; in his righteousness, he submits to our injustice,” Pope Francis said in his homily.
“Brothers and sisters, this is the wonder of Christmas: not a mixture of sappy emotions and worldly contentment, but the unprecedented tenderness of a God who saves the world by becoming incarnate.”
The pope urged people to “rediscover worship” by learning from the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, the shepherds, and the Magi who “stood gazing upon Jesus with their hearts set on him.”
In his homily, Pope Francis quoted a letter J.R.R. Tolkien wrote to his son in 1941: “‘I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament. … There you will find romance, glory, honor, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth.’”
Christmas Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on the night of Dec. 24, 2023. Vatican Media
The pope underlined that worship in adoration is never a waste of time, but makes “our time a dwelling place for God.”
“[To worship] is to let the seed of the Incarnation bloom within us; it is to cooperate in the work of the Lord, who, like leaven, changes the world. To worship is to intercede, to make reparation, to allow God to realign history.”
During the Mass, the choir sang traditional Christmas carols, including “The First Noel,” “Silent Night,” and “O Come All Ye Faithful.”
About 6,500 people were present inside of the basilica for the Mass, according to the Vatican.
“While those who exercise power seek to take their place with the great ones of history, the King of history chooses the way of littleness. None of the powerful take notice of him: only a few shepherds, relegated to the margins of social life,” Pope Francis said.
Christmas Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on the night of Dec. 24, 2023. Vatican Media
Pope Francis explained that the Lord saves us, not by waving a “magic wand” or “pushing a button,” but by drawing near to us, in order to change our world from within.
“If you look to your own heart, and think of your own inadequacies and this world that is so judgmental and unforgiving, you may feel it difficult to celebrate this Christmas. You may think things are going badly, or feel dissatisfied with your limitations, your failings, your problems, and your sins,” he said.
“Today, though, please, let Jesus take the initiative. He says to you, ‘For your sake, I became flesh; for your sake, I became just like you.’”
Pope Francis brings a figure of the Christ child over to the nativity scene inside of St. Peter’s Basilica at the end of Mass. Vatican Media
“Tonight the Lord was born to light up your life; his eyes are alight with love for you,” he added.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, served as the main celebrant at the altar for the Christmas Mass.
At the end of Mass, the 87-year-old pope was brought up in a wheelchair to the front of the altar, where he kissed a figure of the Christ child and brought it over to the nativity scene inside St. Peter’s Basilica.
“Brothers and sisters, tonight love changes history,” Pope Francis said. “Make us believe, Lord, in the power of your love, so different from the power of the world. Lord, make us, like Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the Magi, gather around you and worship you. As you conform us ever more to yourself, we shall bear witness before the world to the beauty of your countenance.”
CNA Staff, Mar 30, 2021 / 05:00 pm (CNA).- Pro-lifers in the U.K. are urging authorities to end temporary permission for at-home medical abortions, describing measures introduced at the start of the coronavirus crisis as a “cruel experiment.”More than … […]
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