The Vatican Apostolic Library, pictured on Feb. 24, 2016. / Alexey Gotovskiy/CNA.
Vatican City, Nov 3, 2021 / 14:00 pm (CNA).
The Vatican’s historic library has created a new space for hosting temporary art exhibitions.
Pope Francis will inaugurate the gallery and visit its first exhibit on Nov. 5.
The Vatican’s librarian Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça said in a Nov. 3 press release: “The Vatican Apostolic Library inaugurates a new exhibition hall to support the culture of encounter.”
“Our challenge is to strengthen the cultural role of the Vatican in the contemporary world,” he added, describing the contrast between ancient works and contemporary art as “history meet[ing] the present.”
The modern iteration of the papal library is believed to date back to the 14th century, though there is evidence that the Catholic Church has preserved a library and archive from as early as the fourth century.
The building that houses the library today was built in the latter part of the 16th century.
From November through the end of February, the new exhibition hall will display unpublished works by the contemporary artist Pietro Ruffo in an exhibit called “EVERYONE: Humanity on its way.”
The Roman artist said that “the encounter with the immense patrimony of the Vatican Apostolic Library was for me a journey into knowledge, geography, and the history of humanity.”
The Vatican said that historic treasures from the library would also be on display, including a nearly 20-feet-long map of the Nile, created by Ottoman explorer Evliya Çelebi in the 17th century.
The map, according to the Vatican’s press release, will be “in dialogue” with artist Ruffo’s contemporary “reinterpretation.”
“The dialogue between my research and the terrestrial and celestial maps of different eras and cultures outlines a humanity that is increasingly interconnected and responsible for the fragile relationship with its ecosystem,” the artist said.
In the Vatican Library’s Sala Barberini, a narrow room lined with 17th-century wooden bookshelves, Ruffo has built “a site-specific installation that transforms the space into a lush tropical forest,” the Vatican said.
The exhibit will be open to the public every Tuesday and Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. by reservation.
According to its website, the Vatican Library “preserves over 180,000 manuscripts (including archival units), 1,600,000 printed books, about 9,000 incunabula, over 300,000 coins and medals, more than 150,000 prints, thousands of drawings and engravings and over 200,000 photographs.”
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict embrace each other at the Vatican’s Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, June 30, 2015. / L’Osservatore Romano.
Vatican City, Jan 2, 2023 / 13:00 pm (CNA).
In the first hours after his election on March 13, 2013, Pope Francis thought of his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
Moments after making his first public appearance as pope, from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, Francis said: “First of all, I would like to offer a prayer for our bishop emeritus, Benedict XVI. Let us pray together for him, that the Lord may bless him and Our Lady may keep him.”
Leading the crowds in praying an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be for his predecessor, Pope Francis marked the beginning of what would become almost 10 years of a fraternal relationship between “the two popes.”
Ten days after his election, Pope Francis flew by helicopter to Castel Gandolfo to visit Benedict, where he was staying at the Pontifical Villas, before his return to the Vatican on May 2, 2013.
It was the first of numerous visits Pope Francis would make to his predecessor, usually for special occasions, such as Benedict’s birthday on April 16, for Christmas or other special anniversaries.
Benedict’s secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, revealed in 2014 that Pope Francis would always visit Benedict before taking an international trip.
In a book of published interviews in 2016, Benedict said he saw “a new joy” in Pope Francis’ pontificate, a papal reign that has “no contradictions” with his own.
“Every time I go to visit him I feel like that, I take his hand and get him to talk. He speaks little, slowly, but with the same depth, as always — because Benedict’s problem is his knees, not his head,” he said.
In 2022, Pope Francis called his predecessor “a prophet” for predicting that the Catholic Church would become a smaller but more faithful institution in the future.
The pope said he believed that this was one of the pope emeritus’ most “profound intuitions.”
Later the same year, Francis praised Benedict as a “leader” in responding to the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.
In 2016 Benedict, speaking publicly for the second time after his resignation, said Pope Francis’ “goodness is a place in which I feel protected.”
Speaking to Francis and a group of cardinals on the 65th anniversary of his priestly ordination, the pope emeritus said: “Thank you, Holy Father — your goodness, from the first day of your election, every day of my life here moves me interiorly, brings me inwardly more than the Vatican Gardens.”
Pope Francis also visited Benedict XVI during his final days on this earth.
On Dec. 28, 2022, Francis paid a visit to the dying pope emeritus at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in Vatican City.
Earlier on the same day, in his weekly public audience, he had asked for prayers for Benedict, whose health had taken a sudden turn.
“I ask to all of you a special prayer for the pope emeritus Benedict, who, in silence, is sustaining the Church,” he said.
“Remember him — he is very ill — asking the Lord to console him and to sustain him in this testimony of love for the Church until the end.”
Benedict XVI died three days later, on Dec. 31, 2022.
The President of the Communications Commission of the 2024 International Eucharistic Congress, Father Livingston Olivares (left), accompanies EWTN Vice President for Programming and Production Peter Gagnon (center-right), EWTN Vice President for Spanish-language Production, Marketing, and Radio Enrique Duprat (center-left), EWTN Production Director Michael Holmes (far right), and IEC Quito 2024 Communications Coordinator Marcelo Mejía (front, kneeling) at the Monument to the Equator, the exact location of the Equator (from which the country of Ecuador takes its name) on the outskirts of the country’s capital city of Quito, site of the 2024 International Eucharistic Congress. / Credit: Communications Commission of the 2024 International Eucharistic Congress
ACI Prensa Staff, May 21, 2024 / 06:40 am (CNA).
The 53rd International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) has chosen EWTN as the official channel for providing live coverage of the event, which will take place from Sept. 8–15 in Quito, Ecuador.
“The 53rd International Eucharistic Congress, which will be held in Quito Sept. 8–15, has chosen EWTN as its official channel, which will broadcast everything related” to this great event, said Father Juan Carlos Garzón, secretary-general of the IEC Quito 2024, in a statement sent from Rome to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.
The theme for this year’s International Eucharistic Congress is “Fraternity to Heal the World.” On Monday, the Vatican also announced that Pope Francis designated Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect for the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life, as pontifical legate to the congress.
Garzón was in Rome last week as part of a delegation, chaired by Alfredo Espinoza Mateus, archbishop of Quito and primate of Ecuador, “to hold a series of meetings with the main papal authorities.”
Since the beginning of the preparations for IEC 2024, Garzón added: “EWTN has been present at the orientation and training for IEC 2024 communications personnel.”
Logo for the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress that will take place in Quito, Ecuador, from Sept. 8-15, 2024. Credit: Communications Commission of the 2024 International Eucharistic Congress
EWTN preparations for IEC Quito 2024
In tandem, to coordinate EWTN’s transmissions of IEC Quito 2024, a team from the network visited the Ecuadorian capital, including the Quito Metropolitan Convention Center, where the congress will be held.
The team was comprised of EWTN Vice President for Programming and Production Peter Gagnon, EWTN Director of Production Michael Holmes, and EWTN Vice President for Spanish-language Production, Marketing, and Radio Enrique Duprat.
Gagnon said EWTN transmissions of the event will be offered in Spanish, English, and German. “This will be a wonderful event for those attending and for those watching,” Gagnon said.
“For EWTN, it is an immense joy to be the channel for the Quito 2024 International Eucharistic Congress,” Duprat said. “It is essential for us to be the platform on which, no matter where our audience is, everyone can enjoy the most important Catholic events in the Church.”
As for coverage details, Duprat said: “The plan is to be able to offer this International Eucharistic Congress live and direct from Quito and in multiple languages [Spanish, English, and German] both through our television and radio signals, the internet, and through our digital app.”
The event coincides with the 150th anniversary of the 1874 consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1886, Quito was also the site of the first National Eucharistic Congress.
During their preparatory visit, the EWTN team traveled the route of a procession that will take place on Sept. 14 in the historic center of Quito, which will begin with a Mass in San Francisco Plaza and then head to the Basilica of the National Vow, where benediction will be given.
They also visited the IEC offices, where they were received by Garzón, who explained how the organization of the event is progressing, including the schedule of a theological symposium to be held Sept. 4–7, just prior to the Sept. 8–15 congress.
The EWTN delegation also visited the Middle of the World Park and Monument to the Equator, marking the equator dividing the northern and southern hemispheres and where a Liturgy of the Word is planned with emphasis on care for creation.
Registration underway
Registration for the International Eucharistic Congress, both for the theological symposium and for the congress itself, is underway and available through the event website.
The largest Catholic media organization in the world, EWTN’s 11 global TV channels and numerous regional channels are broadcast in multiple languages 24 hours a day, seven days a week to over 425 million television households in more than 160 countries and territories. EWTN platforms also include radio services transmitted through SIRIUS/XM, iHeart Radio, and more than 600 domestic and international AM and FM radio affiliates and a worldwide shortwave radio service.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., EWTN News operates multiple global news services, including Catholic News Agency; The National Catholic Register newspaper and digital platform; ACI Prensa in Spanish; ACI Digital in Portuguese; ACI Stampa in Italian; ACI Africa in English, French, and Portuguese; ACI Mena in Arabic; CNA Deutsch in German; and ChurchPop, a digital platform that creates content in several languages. It also produces numerous television news programs including “EWTN News Nightly,” “EWTN News In Depth,” “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly,” and “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
The sisters Madeleine and Marie-Liesse together with Louis Antona at the entrance of Greece. The three young people covered the distance from Paris to Jerusalem on foot, arriving in mid-May 2024. “I needed to walk 4,500 kilometers to understand that Jesus is not just in Jerusalem, but was by my side every step of the way,” Antona told CNA. / Credit: Photo courtesy of French pilgrims Madeleine and Marie-Liesse
Jerusalem, Jun 18, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
On Sept. 17, 2023, two sisters left Paris and walked for approximately eight months to Jerusalem. Madeleine and Marie-Liesse, 19 and 22, who grew up in a Catholic family, decided to become pilgrims to grow in their faith.
“We needed to make the faith our own,” they told CNA. “This pilgrimage was to discover God, to truly search for him and deepen our faith. We learned that we can trust God; he takes care of us in everything. The Gospel is not a joke.”
Two months later, in mid-November 2023, Louis Antona, 24, also left Paris on foot, bound for Jerusalem. The three young people met providentially in Albania, walked together through Turkey, then parted ways and reunited in Jerusalem. They shared the story of their pilgrimage with CNA.
“I needed to walk 4,500 kilometers to understand that Jesus is not just in Jerusalem but was by my side every step of the way,” Antona told CNA. He walked a total of 189 days and arrived in Jerusalem on May 18.
Madeleine and Marie-Liesse — who asked that their last name not be used to protect their privacy — left from the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre in the center of Paris with the blessing of their parents and a priest.
“It was a calling from God,” Madeleine said of the decision she and her sister made to leave. “There’s no need for reasons when God calls; you simply need to follow what he tells you.”
Madeleine and Marie-Liesse during a moment of their journey, between Slovenia and Croatia. “The faith of the people struck us: during Advent, tradition dictates that Mass be attended every morning at 6, and every time we went, the church was packed with people,” they told CNA. The two sisters left Paris on September 17, 2023, and walked for about eight months to Jerusalem. Credit: Courtesy of French pilgrims Madeleine and Marie-Liesse
The sisters created a simple blog to keep friends and family updated on their pilgrimage. The photos and brief stories reveal all the freshness of two young people on a journey while not hiding moments of doubt and difficulty.
“We chose to embark on this journey as beggars,” Marie-Liesse told CNA. “We left with just a few clothes and nothing else — no food, no money. We wanted to surrender ourselves into the hands of providence. Every evening, we knocked on people’s doors asking for shelter, a bed, and food. The Lord always provided.”
Their days were marked by walking and prayer.
“We didn’t have a strict rule because we had to adapt every day to the people who hosted us, the place, and the situation,” Marie-Liesse explained. “But we had a framework: We knew we had to pray in the morning, at midday, at night… It was important for us to be faithful to God. Every day, we also recited a rosary, praying for the intentions entrusted to us.”
The most challenging moment was making the decision to continue the journey after hearing that war had broken out in the Holy Land. “We were in Germany and full of doubts about whether to go on.”
Their journey led them to cross Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia. In Croatia, “the faith of the people struck us: during Advent, tradition dictates that Mass be attended every morning at 6, and every time we went, the church was packed with people,” the sisters wrote on their blog.
They stopped for a month in Medjugorje (Bosnia and Herzegovina), where their family joined them for Christmas.
“It was a difficult time. Again, we didn’t know what to do. But after a period of discernment, we realized that Christ was calling us back on the road again,” Madeleine said.
Madeleine and Marie-Liesse crossed Montenegro and arrived in Albania, where they encountered Antona.
“I had just finished my studies and wanted to offer something to God,” Antona told CNA. “I wasn’t sure what, but I thought that the best thing I had at that time was time itself. So, I decided to offer God a year of my life by embarking on a journey. It was a challenge; I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy walking and being alone.”
Louis Antona, 24, during a moment of his journey. “I had just finished my studies and wanted to offer something to God,” he told CNA. “I thought that the best thing I had at that time was time itself. So, I decided to offer God a year of my life by embarking on a journey.” Credit: Photo courtesy of Louis Antona
Antona decided to leave, despite the war. “I believe the hardest part of a pilgrimage like this is deciding to start. I knew that if I gave up because of the war, I would never do it again. Anyway, I thought that by the time I arrived, the war would already be over.”
Madeleine and Marie-Liesse are filled with wonder at the manifestation of providence in every detail of their pilgrimage, in the beautiful weather and in the rain, in every small encounter — those who hosted them after seeing them at the bus stop, those who taught them how to make bread, the gentleman who opened his door just before a downpour. “If we had arrived a minute later, we wouldn’t have met him,” they said.
The encounter with Antona wasn’t coincidental either. The two sisters had prayed to God to give them a travel companion.
“We planned to not go through Turkey because we were two women alone, but we would have liked to go that way. So we asked God to meet one pilgrim, and we met him,” the sisters explained.
The three crossed Macedonia and Greece, arriving in Turkey on Palm Sunday. In this predominantly Muslim country, they celebrated Easter, warmly welcomed by the small French-speaking community there.
The sisters Madeleine and Marie-Liesse together with Louis Antona received a blessing from a priest during a Mass in Turkey. They arrived in Turkey on Palm Sunday 2024. In this predominantly Muslim country, they celebrated Easter, warmly welcomed by the small French-speaking community there. Credit: Photo courtesy of Louis Antona
“Every day of this pilgrimage was a miracle,” Antona said. “Every day we have met people who smiled or were nice to us. I have to say that in Turkey we found the most welcoming people.”
“It is not uncommon for the Turks to spontaneously lend us a hand,” Madeleine and Marie-Liesse wrote on their blog. “In Turkey, we encountered an infinite respect for passing strangers and for Christianity, even though Christians here are forced to protect themselves from regular attacks.”
The arrival of Madeleine and Marie-Liesse in Albania. In the photo, Marie-Liesse is in front of a statue of Mother Teresa, who was originally from this country. “Every evening, we knocked on people’s doors asking for shelter, a bed, and food. The Lord always provided,” they told CNA. Credit: Photo courtesy of French pilgrims Madeleine and Marie-Liesse
Upon leaving Turkey, the paths of the three pilgrims split again. The sisters’ route went through Cyprus but they could not find a way from there to Jerusalem by sea due to suspension of transportation because of the war. Providentially, they met someone in Cyprus who offered to pay for airfare, and the sisters arrived in Tel Aviv on May 6. Three days later, on the feast of the Ascension, they were in Jerusalem.
“Many times, we thought we couldn’t reach Jerusalem,” Madeleine said. “We learned that the journey is even more important than reaching the goal. Being here is a great gift, just to be here.”
“We unpacked our bags once and for all, knelt before this Holy Land, and prayed. What peace, what a moment of grace! As we admired the sunrise and the golden light that brought color to the roofs of the old city, we could reread the wonders of God and meditate on the Gospels. His infinite love overwhelmed us,” the two sisters wrote on their blog.
The sisters Madeleine and Marie-Liesse received a blessing from a Franciscan friar at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher after their arrival in Jerusalem. “The greatest gift is to be here and understand what happened here, to see with our own eyes, to witness the actual places,” Madeleine said. “We were able to pause in every place, to pray and meditate in silence.” Credit: Photo courtesy of French pilgrims Madeleine and Marie-Liesse
Madeleine has no doubts: “Prayer is what carried us. When you’re weak, that’s when you’re strongest because that’s when God can act in you; you don’t take up all the space. Trusting in God can be challenging, but when you understand that God only wants you to be happy and will give you everything you need, then you realize you have everything to be happy in this moment; you can trust him.”
Ten days later, on the eve of Pentecost, Antona also arrived in Jerusalem. “Even if I had to stop somewhere else, at least I would have aimed to reach Jerusalem. This is a very important city for Christians, but the journey you take to reach it is also very important.”
French pilgrim Louis Antona arrived in Jerusalem on May 18, at the vigil of Pentecost. “Every day of this pilgrimage was a miracle,” he said. Credit: Photo courtesy of Louis Antona
The three pilgrims are still in the Holy Land. They have had the opportunity to participate in various celebrations and to visit the holy places in addition to many other sites in the area.
“The greatest gift is to be here and understand what happened here, to see with our own eyes, to witness the actual places,” Madeleine said. “We were able to pause in every place, to pray and meditate in silence.”
A journey like this isn’t for everyone, but all three of the pilgrims agree that “if God calls you, go in peace. If God helps you, everything becomes possible.”
The French pilgrims rest under the portico of the Church of the Beatitudes on a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee. In the photo is Louis Antona. A journey like this isn’t for everyone, but, the three young people said, “if God calls you, go in peace. If God helps you, everything becomes possible.” Credit: Photo courtesy of French pilgrims Madeleine and Marie-Liesse
I suppose only fully “vaccinated” people will be able to visit….sigh