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Madrid, Spain, Apr 22, 2022 / 12:45 pm (CNA).
The Plenary of Spain’s national council of the judiciary has questioned the draft law on “the real and effective equality of trans people and for the guarantee of LGTBI … […]
My father died a year ago, and when I preached at his funeral Mass I was struck by the fact that when my grandfather died 32 years earlier and my father (then a Reformed minister) […]
Pope Francis takes part in a video call with Patriarch Kirill, March 16, 2022. / Vatican Media.
Vatican City, Apr 22, 2022 / 09:48 am (CNA).
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Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz in 2016. / Shutterstock
Rome Newsroom, Apr 22, 2022 / 05:22 am (CNA).
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Pope Francis at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square on April 20, 2022. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Apr 22, 2022 / 04:52 am (CNA).
Pope Francis’ agenda was cleared on Friday for needed medical checkups, a Vatican spokesperson said.
Francis, who is 85 years old, has been suffering from pain in his right knee, causing him to take smaller roles in some Vatican liturgies and to remain seated more often.
“The pope has slowed down his activities today because of medical checkups that are needed today. That is why the schedule is empty today,” Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, said on April 22.
The pope’s movements have been visibly more limited since the start of the year.
At a general audience on Jan. 26, he said the reason he was unable to greet pilgrims as usual was because of a temporary “problem with my right leg,” an inflamed knee ligament.
With a smile, he added: “They say this only comes to old people, and I don’t know why it has come to me, but … I don’t know.”
On Good Friday, Pope Francis did not prostrate himself on the ground before the cross as he usually does during the liturgy for the Lord’s Passion.
Unexpectedly, the pope also opted to not celebrate the Vatican’s Easter Vigil Mass on Holy Saturday, though he attended, delivered the homily, and baptized several new Catholics.
And on Easter Sunday, he had to sit down part way through his delivery of the Urbi et Orbi message and blessing.
Pope Francis has also received more assistance walking and going up and down stairs in recent weeks.
Pope Francis boards the papal plane before a visit to Iraq March 5, 2021. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Apr 22, 2022 / 03:45 am (CNA).
A bishop of South Sudan said on Thursday that during this summer’s expected papal visit, Pope Francis wi… […]
Members of the Manitoba Métis Federation meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican, April 21, 2022. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Apr 21, 2022 / 18:00 pm (CNA).
As the Catholic Church continues to engage Canada’s Indigenous people and questions of … […]
The Catholic Church is clear that life begins at conception. The exact moment of death is harder to determine. The Church teaches in the Catechism that at death “life is changed, not ended,” and that […]
Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov’s Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene (1835)
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 21, 2022 / 17:00 pm (CNA).
Catholics recognize Easter — when Christ rises from the dead after sacrificing his life for all of humanity — as the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox. But, as it turns out, they can continue saying “Happy Easter” into June.
Easter lasts for a total of 50 days, from Easter Sunday until the feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit comes upon the apostles, Mary, and the first followers of Christ.
This year, 2022, Easter runs from April 17 until June 5.
Easter explained
Catholics observe Easter in different stages. Easter Sunday is the greatest Sunday of the year, and it marks the start of the “Easter Octave,” or the eight days that stretch from the first to the second Sunday of Easter (also known as Divine Mercy Sunday). The Church celebrates each of these eight days as Solemnities of the Lord — a direct extension of Easter Sunday.
The entire Easter season lasts 50 days, and includes the Solemnity of the Ascension of Christ, which falls on the 40th day of Easter, which this year is May 26. It ends with Pentecost, which is derived from the Greek word “pentecoste,” meaning “50th.”
“The fifty days from the Sunday of the Resurrection to Pentecost Sunday are celebrated in joy and exultation as one feast day, indeed as one ‘great Sunday,’” according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. “These are the days above all others in which the Alleluia is sung.”
The USCCB calls Easter “the most important of all liturgical times.”
“It celebrates Jesus’s victory of sin and death and salvation for mankind,” the U.S. bishops say. “It is God’s greatest act of love to redeem mankind.”
In the traditional Roman rite
In the traditional form of the Roman rite, Easter is known properly as Paschaltide, which includes three parts: the season of Easter, Ascensiontide, and the Octave of Pentecost. It thus lasts one week longer than the Easter season in the calendar of the Missal of St. Paul VI.
The season of Easter begins with the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday, and runs through the afternoon of the Vigil of the Ascension.
Ascensiontide begins the evening before the Ascension, with First Vespers of the feast, and ends the afternoon of the Vigil of Pentecost – marking the first novena.
The Octave of Pentecost is an extension of the feast of Pentecost, beginning with the Vigil Mass of Pentecost and ending the afternoon of the following Saturday, which this year falls June 11.
Original painting of the Divine Mercy, by Eugeniusz Kazimirowski in 1934. Wikimedia Commons 4.0. / null
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 21, 2022 / 16:07 pm (CNA).
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