Pope Francis presents new cardinals to Benedict XVI in the chapel of the Vatican’s Mater Ecclesiae Monastery on Nov. 28, 2020. / Vatican News.
Vatican City, Apr 13, 2022 / 11:31 am (CNA).
Pope Francis visited Benedict XVI on Wednesday, ahead of the Pope emeritus’ 95th birthday.
The Holy See press office said that the pope went to the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, the retired German pope’s residence in Vatican City, shortly after 6 p.m. local time on April 13.
Benedict XVI will celebrate his 95th birthday on April 16, Holy Saturday. He was born in 1927, also on Holy Saturday, in Marktl, Bavaria. He led the Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013, when he became the first pope in almost 600 years to resign.
“After a brief and affectionate conversation, and after praying together, Pope Francis returned to Casa Santa Marta [his residence],” the press office said.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Vatican City, Oct 10, 2018 / 04:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his general audience Wednesday, Pope Francis said that abortion “suppresses innocent and helpless life in its blossoming.”
“Is it right to take a human life to solve a problem? It’s like hiring a hitman,” Pope Francis said in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 10, in a departure from his prepared remarks.
“Violence and the rejection of life are born from fear,” the pope added.
For this reason, parents who learn that their unborn child will have a disability need “real closeness, true solidarity to face reality; overcoming understandable fears,” he explained.
Pope Francis lamented that parents receiving a difficult prenatal diagnosis often “receive hasty advice to stop the pregnancy.”
It is contradictory to suppress “human life in the womb in the name of safeguarding other rights,” the pope insisted.
“How can an act that suppresses innocent and helpless life in its blossoming be therapeutic, civil, or simply human?”
The pope’s remarks on abortion came during a reflection on the fifth commandment, “Thou shall not kill.” In recent weeks, the pope has dedicated his weekly general audiences to a series of lesson and reflections on the Ten Commandments recorded in the scriptural books of Exodus and Deuteronomy.
“One could say that all the evil done in the world is summarized in this: contempt for life,” Pope Francis told the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
“What leads man to reject life? They are the idols of this world: money, power, success. These are incorrect parameters to evaluate life. The only authentic measure of life is love, the love with which God loves it!”
The positive meaning of the fifth commandment is that “God is a lover of life,” he continued.
“In every sick child, in every weak old man, in every desperate migrant, in every fragile and threatened life, Christ is looking for us, he is looking for our heart, to disclose the joy of love. It is worthwhile to accept every life because every man is worth the blood of Christ. We can not despise what God so loved!” Pope Francis said.
While a sick child or an elderly person who needs assistance can be viewed as a burden, this can actually be “a gift from God,” explained the pope. This vulnerable life can “pull me out of self-centeredness and make me grow in love.”
Rows of daffodils decorate St. Peter’s Square during Easter Sunday celebrations at the Vatican on April 20, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
CNA Newsroom, Apr 20, 2025 / 06:10 am (CNA).
Under clear spring skies and surrounded by thousands of faithful gathered in a St. Peter’s Square adorned with vibrant yellow daffodils, Pope Francis’s Easter Sunday homily called Christians to actively seek the risen Jesus in their daily lives, urging believers to “run” just as the disciples did after discovering the empty tomb.
“We must look for him without ceasing,” emphasized the pope’s text, which was delivered by Cardinal Angelo Comastri on April 20. “Because if he has risen from the dead, then he is present everywhere, he dwells among us, he hides himself and reveals himself even today in the sisters and brothers we meet along the way.”
Earlier in the morning, at approximately 11:30 a.m., Pope Francis held a brief private meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance at the Casa Santa Marta. The meeting, which lasted only a few minutes, provided an opportunity for the two to exchange Easter greetings.
Vice President Vance previously met Cardinal Pietro Parolin on Saturday to international relations, religious freedom, and humanitarian concerns.
A panoramic view of St. Peter’s Square filled with faithful attending Easter Sunday Mass at the Vatican on April 20, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
The homily described how the Gospel account of Easter features the disciples “running” to discover Christ’s resurrection. This physical movement, the text explained, symbolizes the spiritual dynamism required of Christians.
“The protagonists of the Easter narratives all ran!” the homily stated. “This ‘running’ expresses, on the one hand, the concern that the Lord’s body had been taken away; but, on the other hand, the running of Mary Magdalene, Peter and John expresses the desire, the yearning of the heart, the inner attitude of those who set out to search for Jesus.”
The prepared text emphasized that followers of Christ “cannot remain stationary” but must “take action” to seek Jesus “in life,” “in the faces of our brothers and sisters,” and “in everyday business” — “everywhere except in the tomb.”
Cardinal Angelo Comastri, papal delegate, delivers the Easter Sunday homily during Mass at the Vatican on April 20, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Pope Francis warned against confining Christ “to a fairy tale” or thinking of him “as a statue in a museum,” insisting instead on the living presence of Jesus in the world today.
The homily highlighted the radical nature of the Easter faith, describing it as “anything but a complacent settling into some sort of ‘religious reassurance.’” Rather, “Easter spurs us to action” and “invites us to have eyes that can ‘see beyond.’”
Swiss Guards stand at attention during Easter Sunday liturgical celebrations at the Vatican on April 20, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
The homily concluded with a prayer asking for renewal: “Lord, on this feast day we ask you for this gift: that we too may be made new, so as to experience this eternal newness. Cleanse us, O God, from the sad dust of habit, tiredness and indifference.”
Musicians in formal blue uniforms perform during Easter Sunday celebrations at the Vatican on April 20, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
This year’s Easter celebration took on special significance as it coincided with the current Jubilee Year, with the homily specifically noting how “the Jubilee invites us to renew the gift of hope within us.”
Leave a Reply