Pope Francis prays in St. Peter’s Square on March 8, 2023. / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Mar 30, 2023 / 10:00 am (CNA).
In the month of April, Pope Francis has asked the world to pray in a special way for a culture of nonviolence and peace.
“Living, speaking, and acting without violence is not surrendering, losing, or giving up anything but aspiring to everything,” the pope said in a video message released March 30.
He urged both countries and citizens to “resort less and less to the use of arms.”
In the video, images of Pope Francis delivering his message are interspersed with scenes of war zones, bombed-out cities, people fleeing war, police at crime scenes, and peace protesters.
In some of the video clips, the faces of iconic people associated with peace — Pope John XXIII, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi — are superimposed on the scenes.
“As St. John XXIII said 60 years ago in his encyclical Pacem in Terris, war is madness,” the pope said. “It’s beyond reason.”
“Any war, any armed confrontation, always ends in defeat for all,” he said.
Pacem in Terris, subtitled “On establishing universal peace in truth, justice, charity, and liberty,” was published 60 years ago on April 11.
Pope Francis urged the world to “develop a culture of peace” and to “remember that, even in cases of self-defense, peace is the ultimate goal, and that a lasting peace can exist only without weapons.”
The pope’s monthly prayer intention is promoted and published by The Pope Video initiative, run by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.
“Let us make nonviolence a guide for our actions, both in daily life and in international relations,” Pope Francis said.
More information about the pope’s prayer intention for April can be found here.
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Thousands protest outside Dodgers Stadium June 16, 2023, while the Dodgers’ honored the controversial group the “Sisters of the Perpetual Indulgence.” / Photo courtesy of CatholicVote
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 19, 2023 / 15:30 pm (CNA).
Thousands of Catholics and other Christians marched in a prayerful procession Friday protesting the Los Angeles Dodgers honoring an anti-Catholic drag group called the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.”
As thousands marched outside of Dodger Stadium, inside the stadium the Dodgers honored the drag group with a “Community Hero Award.”
The recognition ceremony took place 40 minutes before the game and was sparsely attended, with Dodger Stadium largely empty when the Sisters received their award, according to Savanah Hernandez, a reporter for Turning Point USA.
Video taken by Hernandez shows the Dodgers announcer recognizing two of the Sisters to scattered applause and a couple of people booing inside the stadium.
DODGER STADIUM-The “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” are recognized for Pride night to a mostly empty audience.
Outside thousands prayed the rosary, chanted, and sang hymns in reparation and protest for offenses against Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Controversy over the group erupted in May after the Dodgers announced they would be honoring them.
The Sisters are known for using Catholic religious imagery and themes in sexualized performances. The performers call themselves nuns and regularly use the likenesses of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and women religious in ways that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has called “blasphemous.”
Protestors pray outside Dodger Stadium in California on June 16, 2023, while the Dodgers honored two members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence with award. Photo courtesy of CatholicVote
Prominent Catholics and other Christian leaders across the country criticized the Dodgers’ decision to honor the Sisters, including Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, who called the Sisters “a group that insults Jesus and mocks Catholic believers.”
Gomez celebrated a special Mass on the day of the game in reparation for the group’s performances.
“Religious freedom and the respect for the beliefs of others are hallmarks of our nation,” Gomez said during the Mass. “When God is insulted, when the beliefs of any of our neighbors are ridiculed, it diminishes all of us.”
Tommy Valentine, a spokesman for the Catholic advocacy group CatholicVote who attended and spoke at the prayer protest, told CNA that the Mass was “simply beautiful.”
“The environment was truly one of love, prayer, and reparation,” Valentine said, adding that he estimated “at least” 5,000 people participated.
“Many people brought religious art and family heirlooms and rosaries — the traditions and symbols which are so important to us which are mocked by this hate group,” Valentine explained. “It made quite a contrast between the huge prayerful crowd inside compared to the two bigots being honored inside a nearly empty stadium.”
Knights of Columbus join protestors to pray outside Dodger Stadium on June 16, 2023. Photo courtesy of CatholicVote
Shortly after the Dodgers announced they would honor the Sisters, CatholicVote revealed it would be raising $1 million for an ad campaign to boycott the team.
According to Valentine, CatholicVote’s boycott campaign is “just getting started.”
“We smashed our million-dollar fundraising goal and put some of the money aside to keep running,” Valentine said, adding that “people are still donating.”
Valentine said that the ad campaign has thus far garnered nearly 10 million views and listens on TV and radio.
The campaign has faced some opposition as well, according to Valentine.
After purchasing airtime for an ad on Spectrum SportsNet LA, the channel then rescinded its agreement with CatholicVote and refused to run the ad. Spectrum SportsNet LA is partially owned by the Dodgers.
Thousands raise their arms in prayer to protest the Dodgers’ event honoring the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence on June 16, 2023. Photo courtesy of CatholicVote
Valentine said that Lamar, Clear Channel, and Outfront also refused to rent out any billboards for the boycott campaign.
“We asked them what specifically they objected to and how we could revise the wording. They ignored us,” Valentine said. “So, we got mobile billboard trucks to circle Dodger Stadium before, during, and after all games.”
CatholicVote also had billboard trucks circulate outside Dodgers’ co-owner Mark Walter’s Malibu house as well as in Manhattan for the MLB owners’ meetings last week, according to Valentine.
Valentine also said that though plans for additional ads are still in the works, he could not disclose any more details.
Non-violence is a weapon of the strong. Non-violence and truth are inseparable and presuppose one another. We may never be strong enough to be entirely nonviolent in thought, word and deed. But we must keep nonviolence as our goal and make strong progress towards it – Mahatma Gandhi
Non-violence is a weapon of the strong. Non-violence and truth are inseparable and presuppose one another. We may never be strong enough to be entirely nonviolent in thought, word and deed. But we must keep nonviolence as our goal and make strong progress towards it – Mahatma Gandhi