Pope Francis spoke on the phone at the end of his general audience Aug. 11, 2021. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA.
Vatican City, Aug 11, 2021 / 04:15 am (CNA).
Pope Francis made an unknown phone call at the end of his weekly general audience on Wednesday.
A livestream video of the Aug. 11 audience in the Vatican’s Pope Paul VI Hall showed the pope giving his apostolic blessing, then being approached by one of his assistants. The two could be seen speaking together for a moment before Pope Francis was handed a cellphone which he put to his ear.
According to people present in the hall, the pope spoke on the phone for around two minutes, then gestured to the crowd that he would return soon and left the room. He came back shortly afterward to greet the people gathered to see him.
Pope gets a phone call during the Audience. Haven’t seen this before. Then he quickly leaves and says he will be back. pic.twitter.com/npCuPzdnxP
No other information is currently known about the mysterious phone call.
The moment took place at the end of Pope Francis’ Wednesday general audience, after the Our Father was prayed in Latin.
The papal audiences were paused during July for a summer break, but have resumed this month.
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The relic of Bl. Carlo Acutis, a fragment of his pericardium, that is visiting the U.S., at Holy Family parish in Queens, April 6, 2022. / Courtesy DeSales Media.
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 9, 2022 / 06:00 am (CNA).
The U.S. bishops recentl… […]
Pope Francis smiles during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square Sept. 27, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Vatican City, Sep 27, 2023 / 06:52 am (CNA).
To deal properly with the crises it faces, Europe must first have hope, Pope Francis said Wednesday at his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square.
“Hope needs to be restored to our European societies,” the pope said Sept. 27, “especially to the new generations.”
“Our societies, many times sickened by individualism, by consumerism and by empty escapism, need to open themselves, their souls and spirits need to be oxygenized, and then they will be able to read the crisis as an opportunity and deal with it positively,” he continued.
During his Wednesday audience with the public, Pope Francis spoke about his Sept. 22-23 visit to Marseille, France, to participate in the “Rencontres Méditerranéennes,” or Mediterranean Encounter, a meeting of bishops, mayors, and young people to confront issues facing the Mediterranean region, including immigration.
The pope spoke at the meeting on its second-to-last day Sept. 23.
Pope Francis reaches to bless a young child during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square Sept. 27, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
“What came out of the Marseille event? What came out is an outlook on the Mediterranean that I would call simply human, not ideological, not strategic, not politically correct nor instrumental; no, human, that is, capable of referring everything to the primary value of the human person and his or her inviolable dignity,” he said.
He also noticed, he added, that there was a hopeful and fraternal outlook, even, surprisingly, from those who “have lived through inhuman situations.”
“This hope, this fraternity must not ‘evaporate;’ no, rather, it needs to be organized, concretized through long, medium and short-term actions so that people, in complete dignity, can choose to emigrate or not to emigrate,” he urged.
“In fact, how can we welcome others if we ourselves do not first have a horizon open to the future?” Francis said. “How can young people, who are poor in hope, closed in on their private lives, worried about managing their own precariousness, open themselves to meeting others and to sharing?”
Pope Francis said he saw a lot of passion and enthusiasm during his visit to Marseille, a port city in southern France, including at the Mass he celebrated on Sept. 23.
He encouraged the continent of Europe to also cultivate this passion and enthusiasm so that the Mediterranean region can be “a mosaic of civilization and hope,” rather than “a tomb” or a “place of conflict.”
“The Mediterranean Sea,” the pope said, “is the complete opposite of the clash between civilizations, war, human trafficking.”
Pope Francis addresses a crowd of people in St. Peter’s Square during his weekly general audience on Sept. 27, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Francis said the Mediterranean Sea is a channel of communication between Africa, Asia, and Europe, and though “the sea is always an abyss to overcome in some way, and it can even become dangerous,” still, “its waters safeguard treasures of life; its waves and its winds carry vessels of all types.”
The Gospel of Jesus Christ even departed from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, he noted.
At the end of his audience, Pope Francis recalled that on Sept. 27, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast day of St. Vincent de Paul, a French Catholic priest who co-founded the Congregation of the Mission, or the Vincentians.
“Today’s liturgical memorial of St. Vincent de Paul reminds us of the centrality of love of neighbor,” the pope said. “I urge everyone to cultivate the attitude of caring for others and openness to those who need you.”
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The Our Father was prayed in Latin. There’s your clue. Should be in Italian, don’t you know?
TOO FUNNY! So is the Devil out for retribution and was the Devil calling to warn him?
Stay tuned!
Was it confirmation that an asteroid or UFO is hurtling toward earth?
Biden. St. Peter. God.
Maybe the mailman arrived with another bullet.
Could it be that COVID test results or biopsy turned up positive.
Or it’s long past time for a bag-change.
Dominus Vobiscum: May we all cope well in the interim and may Mary protect us from whatever evil plans next.