Pope Francis prays for victims of Dominican Republic nightclub roof collapse

Vatican City, Jun 12, 2017 / 04:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In order to foster collegiality, Pope Francis has added to the usual schedule of bishops’ ad limina visit to Rome: one additional meeting with the heads of the Vatican dicasteries.

The ad limina apostolorum – “to the tomb of the apostles” – visits are the meetings that groups of bishops from each ecclesiastical region in the world have with the Pope every five years. In such occasions they also visit and celebrate Mass at the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul.
 
Before meeting the Pope, the bishops from a particular country or region visit all the dicasteries Vatican dicasteries and can schedule personal meetings with the head of each dicastery to discuss particular matters.

During such visits, bishops’ conferences prepare exhaustive reports for each dicastery, describing the status of the Church in the country or region.
 
Before Pope Francis, the meeting of the bishops with the Pope included an exchange of speeches: the president of the bishops’ conference delivered a speech to describe the state of the region, and the Pope delivered a speech in his turn which provided pastoral recommendations and priorities.
 
After the exchange of speeches, the Pope held a short conversation with each bishop individually.
 
But since the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis chose the format of an open conversation with the whole group of bishops. All of them are allowed to ask questions, and the Pope responds off the cuff.
 
The Pope also prepared a formal speech, a copy of which was provided to each bishop.
 
With time, even the delivery of the papal speech fell into disuse. Now, no official papal text is prepared and therefore the press only knows of the matters discussed during the visit from the bishops who attended it.
 
Pope Francis has made an additional, recent change: the bishops have now a meeting presided over by Pope Francis with many heads of the Vatican dicasteries.

Not all the heads of Vatican dicasteries take part in the meeting, but only those whose dicasteries are in some way related to pastoral care or some of the main issues at stake in the ecclesiastical region visiting Rome.

Bishop Thomas Dowd, auxiliary bishop of Montreal, told CNA that “for the first time with our group, the Pope met twice with the bishops: before in a meeting with several heads of the Vatican dicasteries, and after for the usual exchange of opinions, which lasted about two hours.”

Bishop Dowd described it as a working meeting which included representatives from the Secretariat of State, the Congregation for Clergy, the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, and the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.

Thanks to provided translation, the Pope, prefect, and bishops of Quebec had “an open exchange of opinions about the Church in the region and its needs. We got advice from the Curia. We gave our input to them, the Curia officials gave their input to us.”

Bishop Dowd added that “the Pope listened to us, and we had coffee together at the end.”

The auxiliary bishop of Montreal recounted: “The Pope basically said: ‘We want to hear from you about what is your situation. Tell us your experience’. The various dicasteries had prepared remarks based on the reports that we sent in advance to the ad limina visit.”

He added that, as the discussion went on, “some of the dicasteries read the texts they prepared, but most of them did not read the texts, but reacted to the experiences raised during the open discussion.”

During the meeting, Pope Francis listened attentively to all the discussions. He spoke at the end, to summarize the discussions and provide an overall reaction.

The bishops of Peru followed next in May, with the same new extra meeting.
 
Archbishop José Antonio Eguren Anselmi of Piura told CNA that the double meeting, first with the heads of the dicasteries and then only with the bishops “gives great attention to the local Churches, since we have the possibility to spend at least four hours with the Pope.”

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Pope Francis waves to pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square gathered for his weekly general audience on April 3, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, May 1, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of May is for the formation of men and women religious and for seminarians.

“Every vocation is a ‘diamond in the rough’ that needs to be polished, worked, shaped on every side,” the pope said in a video released April 30.

“A good priest, sister, or nun must above all else be a man, a woman who is formed, shaped by the Lord’s grace, people who are aware of their own limitations and willing to lead a life of prayer, of dedicated witness to the Gospel,” he said, adding: “Beginning in the seminary and the novitiate, their preparation must be developed integrally, in direct contact with the lives of other people. This is essential.”

The Holy Father pointed out that “formation does not end at a certain moment but continues throughout life, integrating the person intellectually, humanly, affectively, spiritually.”

“There’s also preparation to live in community — life in community is so enriching, even though it can be difficult at times. Living together is not the same as living in community.”

He concluded with a prayer: “Let us pray that men and women religious, and seminarians, grow in their own vocational journey through human, pastoral, spiritual, and community formation that leads them to be credible witnesses of the Gospel.”

Pope Francis’ prayer video is promoted by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which raises awareness of monthly papal prayer intentions.

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Pope Francis offers Mass on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 12, 2020. / Vatican Media

Vatican City, Aug 23, 2023 / 04:30 am (CNA).

Our Lady of Guadalupe proclaimed the Gospel in “mother tongue,” Pope Francis said Wednesday in a message that highlighted the important role mothers play in passing on the faith to the next generation.

In his catechesis on evangelization on Aug. 23, the pope spoke about how the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531 helped to spread the Gospel across the Americas, praising her as an inspired model of motherhood and inculturation.

“The Virgin of Guadalupe … appears dressed in the clothing of the native peoples, she speaks their language, she welcomes and loves the local culture. Mary is Mother, and under her mantle, every child finds a place. In her, God became flesh and, through Mary, He continues to incarnate Himself in the lives of peoples,” Pope Francis said in his general audience in Paul VI Hall.

“Our Lady, in fact, proclaims God in the most suitable language, the mother tongue. And to us too Our Lady speaks in our mother tongue, the one we understand well. … And I would like to say thank you to the many mothers and grandmothers who pass the Gospel on to their children and grandchildren: faith is passed on with life; this is why mothers and grandmothers are the first evangelizers.”

When Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego on Tepeyac hill in Mexico City on Dec. 12, 1531, she told him: “Let nothing frighten you or trouble your heart: […] Am I not here, I who am your mother?”

Pope Francis highlighted this quote as an example of how the Virgin Mary always “consoles us, makes us go forward and thus allows us to grow, like a good mother who, while following in her son’s steps, launches him into the world’s challenges.”

“Our Lady always chooses those who are simple, on the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico, as at Lourdes and Fatima: speaking to them, she speaks to everyone, in a language suitable for all, comprehensible, like that of Jesus,” Francis said.

In the apparition on December 9, Our Lady of Guadalupe entrusted Juan Diego with a mission to go to the bishop to ask him to build a church where she had appeared. Juan Diego was met with great difficulty when the bishop did not believe him and turned him away, the pope explained, making a joke about bishops.

“Here is the difficulty, the trial of proclamation: despite zeal, the unexpected arrives, sometimes from the Church itself. To proclaim, in fact, it is not enough to bear witness to the good, it is necessary to know how to endure evil,” Pope Francis said.

“A Christian does good but endures evil. Both go together; life is like that. Even today, in so many places, inculturating the Gospel and evangelizing cultures requires constancy and patience, not being afraid of conflict, not losing heart. I am thinking of countries where Christians are persecuted because they are Christians and cannot practice their religion in peace.”

Pope Francis pointed out that it was the Blessed Virgin Mary who encouraged St. Juan Diego to persevere in this moment of trial. And his obedience to her message led to the miraculous image on his tilma that can be seen today in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, a shrine that receives more than 10 million pilgrims each year.

The Virgin Mary asked Juan Diego to go to the arid hilltop to pick flowers, he explained. “It was winter, but, nevertheless, Juan Diego found some beautiful flowers, put them in his cloak, and offered them to the Mother of God, who invited him to take them to the bishop as proof.”

“He goes, waits his turn patiently, and finally, in the presence of the bishop, opened his tilma … to show the flowers—and behold! The image of Our Lady appeared on the fabric of the cloak, the extraordinary and living image that we are familiar with.”

“This is God’s surprise. When there is willingness and obedience, he can accomplish something unexpected, at the time and in ways we cannot foresee. And so, the shrine requested by the Virgin was built.”

Pope Francis underscored the importance of Marian shrines and pilgrimage destinations, like the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, as places where the Gospel continues to be proclaimed today.

“We need to go to these oases of consolation and mercy, where faith is expressed in a maternal language; where we lay down the labors of life in Our Lady’s arms and return to life with peace in our hearts, perhaps with the peace of children,” Pope Francis said.

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