Pope Francis spoke about the Christian roots of Hungary during his general audience in St. Peter's Square on May 3, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Vatican City, May 3, 2023 / 02:21 am (CNA).
Pope Francis said Wednesday that freedom is under threat in Europe, as people choose consumerism and individualism over building families and community.
Even today, “freedom is under threat,” he said May 3. “Above all with kid gloves, by a consumerism that anesthetizes, where one is content with a little material well-being and, forgetting the past, one ‘floats’ in a present made to the measure of the individual.”
“This is the dangerous persecution of modernity that advances consumerism,” he underlined.
“But when the only thing that counts is thinking about oneself and doing what one likes, the roots suffocate,” he warned. “This is a problem throughout Europe, where dedicating oneself to others, community feeling, the beauty of dreaming together and creating large families are in crisis. All of Europe is in crisis.”
Pope Francis spoke about Europe, its roots, and the problem of consumerism, during his weekly audience with the public.
Speaking about his visit to Budapest, Hungary, April 28-30, he asked those present at the audience to think about “the importance of preserving roots, because only by going deep will the branches grow upwards and bear fruit.”
He began his reflection on the three-day trip to Hungary’s capital city by recalling the European country’s Christian roots and the ways those were tested in the 20th century.
“Their faith, as we have heard from the Word of God, has been tested by fire,” he said, noting the atheist persecution in the 1900s, when “Christians were struck down violently, with bishops, priests, religious, and lay people killed or deprived of their freedom.”
“But while attempts were made to cut down the tree of faith, the roots remained intact,” he said, pointing out the steadfastness of the “hidden Church” in Hungary.
“In Hungary, this latest persecution, the Communist oppression was preceded by the Nazi oppression, with the tragic deportation of a large Jewish population,” the pope added.
“But in that atrocious genocide, many distinguished themselves by their resistance and their ability to protect the victims; and this was possible because the roots of living together were firm,” he said. “Thus the common bonds of faith and people helped the return of freedom.”
Quoting St. Pope John Paul II, Pope Francis also spoke about Hungary’s “many saints and heroes, surrounded by hosts of humble and hard-working people.”
He noted, in particular, the devotion of Hungary’s St. Stephen, to the Virgin Mary.
“I want to recall, at the beginning of the month of May, how very devoted the Hungarians are to the Holy Mother of God,” he said.
“Consecrated to her by the first king, St. Stephen, they used to address her without pronouncing her name, out of respect, calling her only by the titles of Queen,” Pope Francis said. “To the Queen of Hungary, therefore, we entrust that dear country; to the Queen of Peace, we entrust the building of bridges in the world; to the Queen of Heaven, whom we acclaim at this Easter time, we entrust our hearts that they may be rooted in the love of God.”
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Vatican City, Jun 16, 2017 / 05:19 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- As rumors abound concerning a Vatican commission to reinterpret Humanae vitae in light of Amoris laetitia, the controversial president of the Pontifical Academy for Life has rejected these rumors.
“I can confirm that there is no pontifical commission called to re-read or to re-interpret Humanae vitae. However, we should look positively on all those initiatives, such as that of professor Marengo of the John Paul II Institute, which aim at studying and deepening this document in view of the 50th anniversary of its publication,” Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia told CNA.
Vatican reporter Marco Tosatti first reported in May, citing unnamed Vatican sources, that Pope Francis had, or was about to, form a “secret commission” to examine and suggest modifications to the Church’s teaching on contraception, as laid out in Bl. Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae.
And on Wednesday, Roberto de Mattei of Corrispondenza Romana reported that Msgr. Gilfredo Marengo, a professor at the John Paul II Institute, would coordinate the commission.
Corrispondenza Romana said the commission was composed of Msgr. Pierangelo Sequeri, head of the John Paul II Institute, Professor Philippe Chenaux, a professor of Church history at the Pontifical Lateran University, and Msgr. Angelo Maffeis, head of the Paul VI Institute in Brescia.
Citing Msgr. Marengo’s previous writings, de Mattei presented the priest as someone who would be in favor of reviewing Bl. Paul VI’s teaching against the use of contraceptives.
Speaking to CNA, Msgr. Marengo dismissed what he described as the “imaginative report” about him heading a commission to review Humanae vitae, and referred to his own writings on Amoris laetitia to “fully understand my theological path.”
He has written that Amoris laetitia shows Pope Francis’ path “toward a decentralization of doctrinal issues,” and that “whenever the Christian community falls into the error of proposing models of life derived from too-abstract and artificially constructed theological ideals, it conceives its pastoral action as the schematic application of a doctrinal paradigm.”
Msgr. Marengo told CNA that “the issue of a conciliation between Amoris laetitia and Humanae vitae is not in the agenda.”
“I have found it always harmful to invent answers to useless questions,” said Msgr. Marengo, though he added that “theological and pastoral reflection have still a long way to go in order to gain a proper and fruitful understanding of both Paul VI’s and Pope Francis’ texts.”
Archbishop Paglia also told CNA that “there is in fact no doubt that the heart of Humanae vitae – the value of human procreation – is a theme on which we all need to reflect with much attention; the breaking of the marriage-family-procreation triptych is a risk which the Church and all of human society cannot take.”
And while Archbishop Paglia was head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, the dicastery organized seminars on marriage and family life in which many of the participants suggested a “penitential path” that would allow the divorced-and-remarried to receive sacramental Communion while still engaging in sexual relations. The seminars’ lectures were published with a foreword by Archbishop Paglia.
Interest in the reception of Humanae vitae is increasing, as the encyclical nears the 50th anniversary of its publication. In view of the anniversary, papers and studies on the text will be prepared and published.
A source in the Pontifical Lateran University, speaking on background, told CNA there is ongoing research in the university archives on the encyclical’s genesis.
It may be that what has been reported as a “papal commission” is one of the many study groups on Humanae vitae created as its major anniversary approaches.
In fact, the source at the Pontifical Lateran University told CNA that “many studies are underway” and that “Pope Francis has been informed of them, and has encouraged them.”
Seminarians at Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Nigeria’s Kaduna state where four students were kidnapped and one, Michael Nnadi, was killed in 2020. / Credit: Good Shepherd Major Seminary Kaduna/ Facebook
ACI Africa, Jan 26, 2024 / 11:40 am (CNA).
Last year, 2023, was a difficult year for Brother Peter Olarewaju, a postulant at the Benedictine monastery in Nigeria’s Ilorin Diocese who was kidnapped alongside two others at the monastery. Olarewaju underwent different kinds of torture and witnessed the murder of his companion, Brother Godwin Eze.
After his release, Olarewaju said his kidnapping was a blessing, as it had strengthened his faith. He even said that he is now prepared to die for his faith.
“I am prepared to die a martyr in this dangerous country. I am ready any moment to die for Jesus. I feel this very strongly,” Olarewaju said in an interview with ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, on Nov. 26, 2023, days after he was set free by suspected Fulani kidnappers.
The late Brother Godwin Eze who was kidnapped from the Benedictine monastery in Nigeria’s Ilorin Diocese and murdered by his kidnappers in October 2023. Credit: Benedictine monastery, Eruku
The monk’s testimony is not an isolated case in Nigeria, where kidnapping from seminaries, monasteries, and other places of religious formation has been on the rise. While some victims of the kidnappings have been killed, those who survived the ordeal have shared that they have come back stronger — and ready to die for their faith.
Seminarian Melchior Maharini, a Tanzanian who was kidnapped alongside a priest from the Missionaries of Africa community in the Diocese of Minna in August 2023, said the suffering he endured during the three weeks he was held captive strengthened his faith. “I felt my faith grow stronger. I accepted my situation and surrendered everything to God,” he told ACI Africa on Sept. 1, 2023.
Father Paul Sanogo (left) and Seminarian Melchior Maharini (right) were kidnapped from their community of Missionaries of Africa in Nigeria’s Diocese of Minna. Credit: Vatican Media
Many other seminarians in Nigeria have been kidnapped by Boko Haram militants, Fulani herdsmen, and other bandit groups operating in Africa’s most populous nation.
In August 2023, seminarian David Igba told ACI Africa that he stared death in the face when a car in which he was traveling on his way to the market in Makurdi was sprayed with bullets by Fulani herdsmen.
Seminarian Na’aman Danlami died when the Fulanis attacked St. Raphael Fadan Kamantan Parish on the night of Sept. 7, 2023. Credit: Photo courtesy of Aid to the Church in Need
In September 2023, seminarian Na’aman Danlami was burned alive in a botched kidnapping incident in the Diocese of Kafanchan. A few days earlier, another seminarian, Ezekiel Nuhu, from the Archdiocese of Abuja, who had gone to spend his holidays in Southern Kaduna, was kidnapped.
Two years prior, in October 2021, Christ the King Major Seminary of Kafanchan Diocese was attacked and three seminarians were kidnapped.
Seminarian David Igba during a pastoral visit at Scared Heart Udei of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi. Credit: David Igba
In one attack that attracted global condemnation in 2020, seminarian Michael Nnadi was brutally murdered after he was kidnapped alongside three others from Good Shepherd Major Seminary in the Diocese of Kaduna. Those behind the kidnapping confessed that they killed Nnadi because he would not stop preaching to them, fearlessly calling them to conversion.
After Nnadi’s murder, his companions who survived the kidnapping proceeded to St. Augustine Major Seminary in Jos in Nigeria’s Plateau state, where they courageously continued with their formation.
The tomb of seminarian Michael Nnadi, who was brutally murdered after he was kidnapped alongside three others from the Good Shepherd Major Seminary in the Catholic Diocese of Kaduna in 2020. Credit: Father Samuel Kanta Sakaba, rector of a Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Kaduna
As Christian persecution rages in Nigeria, seminary instructors in the country have shared with ACI Africa that there is an emerging spirituality in Nigerian seminaries that many may find difficult to grasp: the spirituality of martyrdom.
They say that in Nigeria, those who embark on priestly formation are continuously being made to understand that their calling now entails being ready to defend the faith to the point of death. More than ever before, the seminarians are being reminded that they should be ready to face persecution, including the possibility of being kidnapped and even killed.
Father Peter Hassan, rector of St. Augustine Major Seminary in the Archdiocese of Jos, Plateau state, said that seminaries, just like the wider Nigerian society, have come to terms with “the imminence of death” for being Christian.
Father Peter Hassan, rector of St. Augustine Major Seminary in Jos, Nigeria, walks with an unnamed companion. Credit: Father Peter Hassan
“Nigerian Christians have been victims of violence of apocalyptic proportions for nearly half a century. I can say that we have learned to accept the reality of imminent death,” Hassan said in a Jan. 12 interview with ACI Africa.
He added: “Nevertheless, it is quite inspiring and comforting to see the many young men who are still ready to embrace a life that will certainly turn them into critically endangered species. Yet these same young men are willing to preach the gospel of peace and embrace the culture of dialogue for peaceful coexistence.”
Shortly after Nnadi’s kidnapping and killing, St. Augustine Major Seminary opened its doors to the three seminarians who survived the kidnapping.
Hassan told ACI Africa that the presence of the three former students of Good Shepherd Major Seminary was “a blessing” to the community of St. Augustine Major Seminary.
“Their presence in our seminary was a blessing to our seminarians, a wake-up call to the grim reality that not even the very young are spared by those mindless murderers,” Hassan said.
Back at Good Shepherd, seminarians have remained resilient, enrolling in large numbers even after the 2020 kidnapping and Nnadi’s murder.
Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Kaduna, Nigeria. Credit: Father Samuel Kanta Sakaba, rector of a Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Kaduna
In an interview with ACI Africa, Father Samuel Kanta Sakaba, the rector of Good Shepherd Major Seminary, said that instructors at the Catholic institution, which has a current enrollment of 265 seminarians, make it clear that being a priest in Nigeria presents the seminarians with the danger of being kidnapped or killed.
ACI Africa asked Sakaba whether or not the instructors discuss with the seminarians the risks they face, including that of being kidnapped, or even killed, to which the priest responded: “Yes, as formators, we have the duty to take our seminarians through practical experiences — both academic, spiritual, and physical experiences. We share this reality of persecution with them, but for them to understand, we connect the reality of Christian persecution in Nigeria to the experiences of Jesus. This way, we feel that it would be easier for them to not only have the strength to face what they are facing but to also see meaning in their suffering.”
“Suffering is only meaningful if it is linked with the pain of Jesus,” the priest said. “The prophet Isaiah reminds us that ‘by his wounds, we are healed.’ Jesus also teaches us that unless the grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it will remain a single grain, but that it is only when it falls and dies that it yields a rich harvest. Teachings such as these are the ones that deepen our resilience in the face of persecution.”
Seminarians and their instructors at St. Augustine Major Seminary in Jos, Nigeria. Credit: Father Peter Hassan
Sakaba spoke of the joy of those who look forward to “going back to God in a holy way.”
“Whatever happens, we will all go back to God. How joyful it is to go back to God in a holy way, in a way of sacrifice.” he said. “This holiness is accepting this cross, this pain. Jesus accepted the pain of Calvary, and that led him to his resurrection. Persecution purifies the individual for them to become the finished product for God. I believe that these attacks are God’s project, and no human being can stop God’s work.”
However, the rector clarified that those who enroll at the seminary do not go out seeking danger.
“People here don’t go out putting themselves in situations of risk,” he said. “But when situations such as these happen, the teachings of Jesus and his persecution give us courage to face whatever may come our way.”
Sakaba said that although priestly formation in Nigeria is embracing the “spirituality of martyrdom,” persecution in the West African country presents “a difficult reality.”
“It is difficult to get used to pain. It is difficult to get used to the issues of death … to get familiar with death,” he said. “No one chooses to go into danger just because other people are suffering; it is not part of our nature. But in a situation where you seem not to have an alternative, the grace of God kicks in to strengthen you to face the particular situation.”
Sakaba said that since the 2020 attack at Good Shepherd Major Seminary, the institution has had an air of uncertainty. He said that some of the kidnappers who were arrested in the incident have been released, a situation he said has plunged the major seminary into “fear of the unknown.”
“It hasn’t been easy for us since the release,” Sabaka told ACI Africa. “The community was thrown into confusion because of the unknown. We don’t know what will happen next. We don’t know when they will come next or what they will do to us. We don’t know who will be taken next.”
Seminarians at St. Augustine Major Seminary in Jos, Plateau state, Nigeria, during a Marian procession. Credit: Father Peter Hassan
In the face of that, however, Sabaka said the resilience of the seminary community has been admirable. “God has been supporting, encouraging, and leading us. His grace assisted us to continue to practice our faith,” he said.
The jihadist attacks, which continue unabated in communities surrounding the seminary, do not make the situation easier.
Church at the Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Kaduna, Nigeria. Credit: Father Samuel Kanta Sakaba, rector of Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Kaduna
“Every attack that happens outside our community reminds us of our own 2020 experience. We are shocked, and although we remain deeply wounded, we believe that God has been leading us,” he said.
This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.
Vatican City, Apr 23, 2019 / 10:16 am (CNA).- Pope Francis celebrated the feast of his patron St. George – Jorge in Spanish – by giving away rosaries to 6,000 young people from Milan, asking them to pray for him through Mary’s interce… […]
14 Comments
“Freedom is under threat in Europe.” He just noticed that? It’s under threat EVERYWHERE.
I’m sorry to be so sarcastic but with every passing day it becomes increasingly difficult for me to take this man seriously.
“This is the dangerous persecution of modernity that advances consumerism,”
This is the most nonsensical statement ever made by any human being in human history. An evil result “persecutes” a presumed good, subsequently described as an evil for promoting the evil that gave rise to the evil that performed the persecution in the first place.
Francis refuses to understand how evil exists in the human experience because his ego is so consumed with ignoring how the moral absolutes he often trivializes despite their origins from the mind of God. He is a secular elitist at heart and believes the world’s progressives can engineer evil out of existence with enough attacks on impersonal forces requiring structural reforms rather than personal redemptive actions.
Contemplating the rising storm clouds in 1940, the Anglo-Catholic T.S. Eliot already mourned over the loss of freedom–and truth–across what had once been Christendom. He made some initial proposals for a “Community of Christians” buoyed in part of Education. He wrote:
“[in this essay] I was less concerned with the more superficial, through important differences between the regimens of different nations [Britain contrasted with Germany and Russia], than with the more profound differences between pagan and Christian society [….]
“To justify Christianity because it provides a foundation of morality, instead of showing the necessity of Christian morality from the truth of Christianity, is a very dangerous inversion [….]
“It is not enthusiasm [he cites a flicker of Anglican “revivalism” in 1938], but dogma [!], that differentiates a Christian from a pagan society” (“The Idea of a Christian Society,” 1940).
In our now more septic state of paganism, wondering here if progressive and big-tent Synodality in 2023 (where even rudimentary sexual morality is up for grabs) will even try to catch up with Eliot in 1940?
I suppose we need to credit Pope Francis for finally recognizing that freedom is under threat in Europe (and not just there!) He does need to investigate the source a little more rigorously. It comes not from some abstract consumerism, however evil and empty that theory is. Rather it originates from the ideas and actions of his friends and allies in the EU, the Democrat Party, the international banking cartels, the tech and pharmaceutical industries, and other pillars of the Great Reset for which he serves as chaplain.
Materialism/consumerism is responsible for Ireland losing its Catholic soul & it set the stage for outside interests to successfully lobby for the acceptance of feticide, homosexual unions, & the rest of it. “Hate” laws are just the next chapter.
Sadly, the Protestant North has held on to their traditional views on family & marriage a whole lot better than the Catholic South has. I never thought I’d be praising Ian Paisley, but that sort of stubbornness has its virtues.
Well, yes, I can sort of see the progression of regressions you delineate here, although consumerism by itself did not bring Ireland or us to this unhappy place. A large dose of cultural Marxism it its many versions – feminism, multiculturalism, critical race theory and others – was added to the mix to make that happen. I will grant that consumerism helped to weaken resistance to this posion.
Freedom is realized in the exercise of our human rights, faith, family, sufficient and secure living conditions. Pope Francis’ policy on migration, largely from Muslim Africa and the Near East, described by Vat Secy of State Card Parolin to Italy’s PM Giorgia Meloni as, Welcome, Protection, Promotion and Integration – are antithetical to those rights. As they are to the rights of Americans with Pres Biden’s open border policy promoted by our USCCB in fealty to Pope Francis. The open border EU policy and the Biden administration’s policy is highly favored by Francis and actually defines his definition of Modernism.
Giorgia Meloni is strongly opposed to this policy which puts her at odds with Vatican policy. She argues we’re stripping Africa of its geological resources and leaving little in terms of development, while simultaneously stripping Africa of its vital human resources, causing irreparable damage to migrants exploited by Mafia, [in America by the Mexican drug cartels] unable, unwilling to integrate, hostile to Christianity [actually polls indicate most S American migrants renounce their Catholicism].
If the Vatican were prepared to alleviate the human misery of world migration Pope Francis should use his influence with his friends George Soros, Bill Gates to foster investment in the impoverished, exploited areas of Africa and the Near East. Then ‘consumerism’ might become a blessing for those peoples.
“Freedom is under threat in Europe.” He just noticed that? It’s under threat EVERYWHERE.
I’m sorry to be so sarcastic but with every passing day it becomes increasingly difficult for me to take this man seriously.
Sarcasm is likely the most polite response possible, especially in reply to one who is very much at the heart of the problem.
“This is the dangerous persecution of modernity that advances consumerism,”
This is the most nonsensical statement ever made by any human being in human history. An evil result “persecutes” a presumed good, subsequently described as an evil for promoting the evil that gave rise to the evil that performed the persecution in the first place.
Francis refuses to understand how evil exists in the human experience because his ego is so consumed with ignoring how the moral absolutes he often trivializes despite their origins from the mind of God. He is a secular elitist at heart and believes the world’s progressives can engineer evil out of existence with enough attacks on impersonal forces requiring structural reforms rather than personal redemptive actions.
May the Almighty have mercy on us. I’ll pray today for unity in the Church from one of the seven images of Fatima’s Madonna, in Venice.
Conversion is an ongoing and a never-ending opportunity. “Democracy is not a state in which people act like sheep” – Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Contemplating the rising storm clouds in 1940, the Anglo-Catholic T.S. Eliot already mourned over the loss of freedom–and truth–across what had once been Christendom. He made some initial proposals for a “Community of Christians” buoyed in part of Education. He wrote:
“[in this essay] I was less concerned with the more superficial, through important differences between the regimens of different nations [Britain contrasted with Germany and Russia], than with the more profound differences between pagan and Christian society [….]
“To justify Christianity because it provides a foundation of morality, instead of showing the necessity of Christian morality from the truth of Christianity, is a very dangerous inversion [….]
“It is not enthusiasm [he cites a flicker of Anglican “revivalism” in 1938], but dogma [!], that differentiates a Christian from a pagan society” (“The Idea of a Christian Society,” 1940).
In our now more septic state of paganism, wondering here if progressive and big-tent Synodality in 2023 (where even rudimentary sexual morality is up for grabs) will even try to catch up with Eliot in 1940?
I suppose we need to credit Pope Francis for finally recognizing that freedom is under threat in Europe (and not just there!) He does need to investigate the source a little more rigorously. It comes not from some abstract consumerism, however evil and empty that theory is. Rather it originates from the ideas and actions of his friends and allies in the EU, the Democrat Party, the international banking cartels, the tech and pharmaceutical industries, and other pillars of the Great Reset for which he serves as chaplain.
So this explains a lot! You know how Bergoglio always seems to be trying to destroy the Church?
That’s not what he’s doing at all!
He’s just trying to give Catholics enough adversity to shake us out of our lethargy!
Makes perfect sense!
LOL!
Is consumerism to blame for the unbelievable new “hate speech” law in Ireland? Try harder, Holy Father!
Materialism/consumerism is responsible for Ireland losing its Catholic soul & it set the stage for outside interests to successfully lobby for the acceptance of feticide, homosexual unions, & the rest of it. “Hate” laws are just the next chapter.
Sadly, the Protestant North has held on to their traditional views on family & marriage a whole lot better than the Catholic South has. I never thought I’d be praising Ian Paisley, but that sort of stubbornness has its virtues.
Well, yes, I can sort of see the progression of regressions you delineate here, although consumerism by itself did not bring Ireland or us to this unhappy place. A large dose of cultural Marxism it its many versions – feminism, multiculturalism, critical race theory and others – was added to the mix to make that happen. I will grant that consumerism helped to weaken resistance to this posion.
Freedom is realized in the exercise of our human rights, faith, family, sufficient and secure living conditions. Pope Francis’ policy on migration, largely from Muslim Africa and the Near East, described by Vat Secy of State Card Parolin to Italy’s PM Giorgia Meloni as, Welcome, Protection, Promotion and Integration – are antithetical to those rights. As they are to the rights of Americans with Pres Biden’s open border policy promoted by our USCCB in fealty to Pope Francis. The open border EU policy and the Biden administration’s policy is highly favored by Francis and actually defines his definition of Modernism.
Giorgia Meloni is strongly opposed to this policy which puts her at odds with Vatican policy. She argues we’re stripping Africa of its geological resources and leaving little in terms of development, while simultaneously stripping Africa of its vital human resources, causing irreparable damage to migrants exploited by Mafia, [in America by the Mexican drug cartels] unable, unwilling to integrate, hostile to Christianity [actually polls indicate most S American migrants renounce their Catholicism].
If the Vatican were prepared to alleviate the human misery of world migration Pope Francis should use his influence with his friends George Soros, Bill Gates to foster investment in the impoverished, exploited areas of Africa and the Near East. Then ‘consumerism’ might become a blessing for those peoples.
It’s true that Latin American immigrants are increasingly non Catholic but many are Pentecostal rather than non believers.
From this man, a hymn to freedom rings hollow.