Pope Leo XIV appoints Boston auxiliary Mark O’Connell to lead Diocese of Albany, New York

Vatican City, Feb 9, 2020 / 06:15 am (CNA).- Pope Francis appealed Sunday for the protection of women and children fleeing violence in northwestern Syria, as more than half a million people have been displaced in two months.

“Painful news continues to arrive from the northwest of Syria, in particular on the conditions of many women and children, people forced to flee due to military escalation,” Pope Francis said Feb. 9.

At least 520,000 people have been displaced from their homes since December during the Russian-backed Syrian government’s offensive in Idlib province, Syria’s last rebel-held territory, which borders Turkey.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 80% of those displaced have been women and children.

“This latest wave of displacement compounds an already dire humanitarian situation on the ground in Idlib,” David Swanson, spokesman for the UN humanitarian office said Feb. 4.

Calling for peaceful negotiation and humanitarian protection, Pope Francis prayed a Hail Mary for Syrians threatened by the violence in Syria’s northwest.

“I renew my heartfelt appeal to the international community and to all the actors involved to make use of diplomatic instruments, dialogue and negotiations, in compliance with international humanitarian law, to safeguard the life and fate of civilians,” Pope Francis said during his Angelus address.

Pope Francis also called for prayer to eliminate “the plague” of human trafficking following the World Day of Prayer, Reflection, and Action against Trafficking in Persons, which occurs each year on the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita.
 
Human trafficking is a $150 billion business with 25 million victims worldwide, according to International Labor Organization statistics.

The pope said “everyone’s commitment is needed” to end human trafficking’s exploitation of the weakest. “It’s a real plague,” he said.

“In the face of violence, injustice, oppression, the Christian cannot close in on himself or hide in the safety of his own fence; even the Church cannot close in on herself. She cannot abandon her mission of evangelization and service,” Pope Francis said.

Francis prayed to the Blessed Virgin Mary to help each Catholic to be salt and light in the world, caring for the little ones and the poor and bringing the good news of God’s love to everyone.

“The Church listens to the cry of the least and the excluded because she is aware of being a pilgrim community called to extend the salvific presence of Jesus Christ in history,” he said.

[…]

Vatican City, Aug 31, 2019 / 05:29 am (CNA).- Pope Francis has named Msgr. Dario Edoardo Vigano, former head of Vatican communications, to a new position of vice chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Scie… […]

Marcin Bogacki of Warsaw, Poland (far right) prays before walking through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica with his mother and 4-year-old son on Feb. 21, 2025. / Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/CNA

Vatican City, Feb 21, 2025 / 11:20 am (CNA).

Local Catholics and jubilee pilgrims in Rome are praying for Pope Francis’ recovery as he marks one week in the hospital for treatment for pneumonia.

Pilgrim groups and individuals from around the world continue to travel to Rome for the 2025 Jubilee Year, and though they won’t catch a glimpse of the pontiff, he is close to their hearts.

As they prepared to walk through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, a group of about 50 pilgrims from Our Lady of Nantes Parish in France told CNA they are praying for the pope’s full recovery.

The group was planning to attend the Angelus with the pope on Feb. 23, but now, “we pray for him and we hope that everything will be OK,” seminarian Aymeric Dor said.

Dor recalled that one of the conditions to receive the Holy Door plenary indulgence is to pray for the pope’s intentions, which he said they are doing: “We are praying for his health too.”

Agata Eccli, who is part of a pilgrimage of 57 people from different parishes and towns in Poland, said her group is not only praying for Pope Francis during their visit to St. Peter’s Basilica but also at each of the stops they make on an Italy-wide pilgrimage, including the tomb of St. Anthony in Padua, St. Francis in Assisi, St. Peter in Rome, and St. Pio of Pietrelcina in San Giovanni Rotondo.

Families are also keeping the ailing pontiff in their prayers, including Italian couple Andrea Paradisi and Chiara Costa, who brought their 4-month-old baby Margherita on a pilgrimage to Rome over the weekend for the jubilee. 

Marcin Bogacki of Warsaw, Poland, told CNA he has fond memories of visiting Rome as a child during the Jubilee Year in 2000 and wanted to have the same experience with his own young family. 

Though his wife is expecting their second child and was unable to fly at this time, Bogacki brought his mother and his 4-year-old son. He said they are praying for Pope Francis, for the Church, for a private family intention, and for his wife and their unborn baby.

Rome prays

Across Rome, local Catholics are offering Masses and special prayers for Pope Francis’ health. 

The chaplain of Gemelli Hospital — where the pontiff is receiving treatment — is offering Mass for Francis every day at 1 p.m. in the hospital’s chapel.

On Feb. 22, the feast of the Chair of St. Peter — a day that commemorates the authority Jesus gave to the pope — a group of Catholics will gather outside Gemelli Hospital to pray a rosary for the pope’s health.

At the Basilica of St. Mary Major, every Mass is being offered for the pope, the basilica’s communications director told CNA, including Masses celebrated in the chapel of the ancient Salus Populi Romani image of Mary — a favorite of Francis, who spends time in prayer in the chapel before and after every international trip.

[…]