Pope Francis calls for release of 6 religious sisters taken hostage in Haiti

Pope Francis speaks at a Mass on the World Day of Consecrated Life, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, on Feb. 2, 2024, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Feb 2, 2024 / 13:55 pm (CNA).

On the 28th World Day of Consecrated Life, Pope Francis spoke about the importance of cultivating “an intense spiritual life” that is nourished by Eucharistic adoration, intercessory prayer, and silence.

Pope Francis presided over Mass on Feb. 2 for the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, a feast that coincides each year with a day of prayer established by John Paul II for men and women with consecrated vocations in the Church.

“Ours is a world that often runs at great speed, that exalts ‘everything and now,’” Francis said.

“In such a context, where silence is banished and lost, waiting is not easy, for it requires … the courage to slow our pace, to not be overwhelmed by activities, to make room within ourselves for God’s action.”

The pope underlined that modern society has “lost the ability to wait,” which he said poses a problem because “waiting for God” is an important part of the journey of faith.

“It is necessary then to recover the lost grace: to return, through an intense interior life, to the spirit of joyful humility, of silent gratitude,” he said.

“This is nourished by adoration, by the work of the knees and the heart, by concrete prayer that struggles and intercedes, capable of reawakening a longing for God, that initial love, that amazement of the first day, that taste of waiting.”

Francis reflected on the importance of cultivating an interior life on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, which is also called Candlemas. On this day, many Christians bring candles to church to be blessed. They can then light these candles at home during prayer or difficult times as a symbol of Jesus Christ, the Light of the World.

The Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica began in candlelight with priests, bishops, and cardinals carrying lit candles in procession through the darkened church. Men and women present in the congregation also held small candles.

Addressing consecrated men and women, Pope Francis warned against “turning even religious and Christian life into having ‘many things to do’ and neglecting the daily search for the Lord.”

“Let us be careful, then, that the spirit of the world does not enter our religious communities, ecclesial life, and our individual journey, otherwise we will not bear fruit,” Pope Francis said.

Brazilian Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, the prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, was the celebrant of the Mass at the basilica’s main altar.

More than 300 consecrated men and women from over 60 countries met in Rome this week for a conference organized by the dicastery to coordinate their preparations for the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee.

“The Christian life and apostolic mission need the experience of waiting. Matured in prayer and daily fidelity, waiting frees us from the myth of efficiency, from the obsession with performance and, above all, from the pretense of pigeonholing God, because he always comes in unpredictable ways, at times that we do not choose and in ways that we do not expect,” Pope Francis told men and women religious.

“Every day the Lord visits us, speaks to us, reveals himself in unexpected ways and, at the end of life and time, he will come,” he said.

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Pope Francis’ general audience of April 19, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Nov 21, 2023 / 04:55 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has expressed deep reservations about the direction of the Catholic Church in Germany, warning that concrete steps currently being taken “threaten” to undermine unity with the universal Church.

In a striking personal intervention, the pope wrote a letter to four German Catholic laywomen that was published in the German newspaper Welt on Nov. 21.

“I, too, share concerns about the numerous concrete steps that large parts of this local church are now taking that threaten to move further and further away from the common path of the universal Church,” the pope wrote in his letter, which was written in German and signed “Francis.”

Chief among the pope’s concerns is a push to establish a permanent “Synodal Council,” a mixed body of laity and bishops that would govern the Catholic Church in Germany. The pope underscored that this kind of “advisory and decision-making body … cannot be reconciled with the sacramental structure of the Catholic Church,” and referenced a previous prohibition the Vatican had issued on the topic.

Leadership of the controversial German Synodal Way recently met in Essen on November 10. They aim to establish a Synodal Council in Germany no later than 2026.

The pope proposed a different path forward for the Church in Germany.

“Instead of looking for ‘salvation’ in ever new committees and always discussing the same topic with a certain self-absorption,” the pope urged the Catholic Church in Germany to “open up and go out to meet our brothers and sisters, especially those who are … on the thresholds of our church doors, on the streets, in the prisons, in the hospitals, in the squares and in the cities.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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