Farmers and pet owners alike brought out their beloved animals to the Vatican for a special blessing on the feast of St. Anthony Abbot, Jan. 17, 2023. / Alan Koppschall/EWTN. See CNA article for full slideshow.
Vatican City, Jan 17, 2023 / 12:20 pm (CNA).
St. Peter’s Square was filled with horses, cows, donkeys, dogs, goats, geese, and rabbits on Tuesday for the feast of St. Anthony Abbot.
Farmers and pet owners alike brought their beloved animals to the Vatican for a special blessing on Jan. 17.
While many American Catholics associate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi with a blessing of animals, in Italy farmers traditionally celebrate the feast of St. Anthony Abbot, the patron saint of domestic animals.
Farmers and pet owners alike brought out their beloved animals to the Vatican for a special blessing on the feast of St. Anthony Abbot, Jan. 17, 2023. Alan Koppschall/EWTN
St. Anthony Abbot was a fourth-century hermit known for his asceticism and as a father of monasticism. His holy life in the Egyptian desert was recorded by St. Athanasius in “The Life of St. Antony.”
The annual Vatican tradition had been canceled for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Farmers and pet owners alike brought out their beloved animals to the Vatican for a special blessing on the feast of St. Anthony Abbot, Jan. 17, 2023. Credit: Alan Koppschall/EWTN
Despite the cold and rainy weather, many people showed up to celebrate again with their furry friends.
Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, greeted many of the animals after offering the blessing.
Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, individually greeted many of the animals after offering a blessing on the feast of St. Anthony Abbot, Jan. 17, 2023. Alan Koppschall/EWTN
The cardinal kicked off the day’s celebration with a Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica, where farmers brought up cheese, eggs, and other farm products as part of the offertory.
After Mass, a mounted police band led a parade of horses down the main street leading to Vatican City.
Farmers and pet owners alike brought out their beloved animals to the Vatican for a special blessing on the feast of St. Anthony Abbot, Jan. 17, 2023. Alan Koppschall/EWTN
In his homily, Gambetti recalled how St. Anthony was sought after for his wisdom: “He said that in addition to Scripture, his book was Creation in which he read the thoughts of God.”
Acknowledging that farmers have faced difficulties this year with a rise in production costs linked to the energy crisis in Europe, Gambetti said that “the Lord never fails to provide his providential help.”
“The fruit of the earth that turns into good food that nourishes life is the caress of God,” the Italian cardinal said.
Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, individually greeted many of the animals after offering a blessing on the feast of St. Anthony Abbot, Jan. 17, 2023. Alan Koppschall/EWTN
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Pope Francis at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square on May 17, 2023. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Nov 9, 2023 / 09:17 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has underlined that it is “everyone’s responsibility” to aid women who are victims of abuse and domestic violence by giving a “voice to our voiceless sisters.”
In a message to an Italian campaign to end violence against women published on Nov. 8, the pope urged the importance of educational action that “places the dignity of the person at the center.”
“It is our duty, everyone’s responsibility, to give voice to our voiceless sisters: women who are victims of abuse, exploitation, marginalization, and inappropriate pressure,” Pope Francis said.
“Let us not remain indifferent! It is necessary to act now, at all levels, with determination, urgency, and courage.”
According to the United Nations, nearly 1 in 3 women worldwide has been subjected to some form of either physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, a statistic that does not include sexual harassment. Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo were found by a Reuters survey in 2018 to be among the most dangerous countries for women.
Italian government data released in 2022 showed that on average one woman is killed every three days in Italy, many of them by an act of violence from an intimate partner or ex-partner.
“How many women are overwhelmed by the burden and trauma of violence,” the pope said in his message. “How many are mistreated, abused, enslaved, victims of the tyranny of those who think they can control their bodies and lives, forced to surrender to the greed of men.”
The pope said that violence against women must be “eliminated from its roots” — namely prejudiced ideas that see people as “objects” that can be dominated, obscuring their human dignity.
“The Lord wants us free and in full dignity! Faced with the scourge of physical and psychological abuse of women, there is an urgent need to rediscover just and equitable relationship patterns based on respect and mutual recognition,” Pope Francis said.
The Vatican released the message two weeks after Pope Francis signed it on Oct. 27 — the same day that the Holy See Press Office announced that the pope had decided to lift the statute of limitations in the case of Father Marko Rupnik, a priest accused of serious abuses against women, after news that the priest had been returned to priestly ministry in Slovenia sparked outrage and disappointment from many Catholics and abuse victims over the handling of the clerical sex abuse allegations.
Pope Francis encouraged women’s shelters in Italy to continue raising awareness about violence against women. The pope’s message addressed a campaign by CADMI, which provides housing and legal support for women who have suffered from domestic violence, and D.i.Re, a network of women’s shelters and organizations in Italy.
“From the heart and flesh of a woman salvation came into the world; our degree of humanity is revealed by how we treat women, in all her dimensions,” the pope said.
Archbishop Gintaras Grušas, accompanied by Father Andriy Zelinsky of the military chaplaincy, met wounded Ukrainian soldiers and their families. / Photo courtesy of Father Andriy Zelinsky
Rome Newsroom, Jul 21, 2022 / 04:15 am (CNA).
The presid… […]
Pope Francis greets Archbishop Rino Fisichella in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall, Sept. 17, 2021. / Vatican Media.
Vatican City, Sep 17, 2021 / 07:30 am (CNA).
Pope Francis said on Friday that he instituted the new ministry of catechist with the hope that it would help to “awaken this vocation.”
Addressing participants in a meeting organized by the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization on Sept. 17, the pope referred to his decision to formally institute the new lay ministry in May.
Vatican Media.
He said: “We must insist on indicating the heart of catechesis: the risen Jesus Christ loves you and never abandons you! We can never tire or feel we are being repetitive about this first proclamation in the various stages of the catechetical process.”
“This is why I instituted the ministry of catechist. They are preparing the rite for the, I quote, ‘creation’ of catechists. So that the Christian community may feel the need to awaken this vocation and to experience the service of some men and women who, living the celebration of the Eucharist, may feel more vividly the passion to transmit the faith as evangelizers.”
Vatican Media.
The pope established the new ministry through the apostolic letterAntiquum ministerium (“Ancient ministry”) on May 11.
While catechists have served the Church since New Testament times, an instituted ministry is a type of formal, vocational service within the Catholic Church.
Vatican Media.
The newly instituted ministry of catechist is for lay people who have a particular call to serve the Catholic Church as a teacher of the faith.
In the apostolic letter, the pope said that the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments would “soon publish” the Rite of Institution of the new ministry.
Vatican Media.
In his address, the pope noted that last Sunday he celebrated the closing Mass of the International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest, Hungary.
He said that catechesis “can be effective in the work of evangelization if it keeps its gaze fixed on the Eucharistic mystery.”
“We cannot forget that the privileged place of catechesis is precisely the Eucharistic celebration, where brothers and sisters come together to discover ever more the different forms of God’s presence in their lives,” he said.
Vatican Media.
Speaking in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall to Catholics responsible for catechesis in Europe, the pope fondly recalled the two catechists who prepared him for First Communion.
“I felt a great respect, even a feeling of thanksgiving, without making it explicit, but it felt like veneration,” he said.
“Why? Because they were the women who had prepared me for my First Communion, together with a nun. I want to tell you about this experience because it was a beautiful thing for me to accompany them to the end of their lives, both of them. And also the nun who prepared me for the liturgical part of Communion: she died, and I was there, with her, accompanying her. There is a closeness, a very important bond with catechists…”
Referring to the Directory for Catechesis, released in June 2020, he said that catechesis should not be understood as “an abstract communication of theoretical knowledge to be memorized as like mathematical or chemical formulas.”
“It is rather the mystagogical experience of those who learn to encounter their brothers and sisters where they live and work, because they themselves have met Christ, who has called them to become missionary disciples,” he said.
He then referred to his address on Monday in St. Martin’s Cathedral, Bratislava, in which he encouraged Slovakian Catholics to draw inspiration from Sts. Cyril and Methodius, who translated the Bible into the Slavonic language.
He told catechists in Rome: “They beat new paths, invented new languages, new ‘alphabets,’ to transmit the Gospel, for the inculturation of the faith.”
“This requires knowing how to listen to the people, to listen to the peoples to whom one is proclaiming: listening to their culture, their history; listening not superficially, already thinking of the pre-packaged answers we carry in our briefcase, no! To truly listen, and to compare those cultures, those languages, even and above all the unspoken, the unexpressed, with the Word of God, with Jesus Christ, the living Gospel.”
“And I repeat the question: is this not the most urgent task of the Church among the peoples of Europe? The great Christian tradition of the continent must not become a historical relic, otherwise, it is no longer ‘tradition.’”
He continued: “Tradition is either alive or it is not. And catechesis is tradition, it is trador [in Latin], to hand down, but as living tradition, from heart to heart, from mind to mind, from life to life. Therefore: passionate and creative, with the impetus of the Holy Spirit.”
“I used the word ‘pre-packaged’ for language, but I fear catechists whose heart, attitude, and face are ‘pre-packaged.’ No. Either the catechist is free, or he or she is not a catechist. The catechist lets herself or himself be struck by the reality he or she finds, and transmits the Gospel with great creativity, or is not a catechist. Think about this well.”
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