Emergency crew members work at the scene after a bus accident near Venice on Oct. 3, 2023, in Mestre, Italy. / Credit: Stefano Mazzola/Getty Images
CNA Staff, Oct 6, 2023 / 10:20 am (CNA).
Pope Francis this week extended his condolences and prayers for the victims of a deadly bus crash in Venice, Italy, the Vatican said in a bulletin on Thursday.
The Holy See Press Office said in a release that the Holy Father had dispatched a “telegram of condolence” to those who had been affected by the Tuesday crash, which occurred when a bus ran off an overpass in the Venetian borough of Mestre.
Authorities reported that the bus broke out in flames after crashing. At least 21 people were reported dead by Friday morning, with nearly as many injured.
In the telegram, addressed to Patriarch of Venice Francesco Moraglia, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said that “having learned of the serious road accident that occurred in Mestre, in which several people lost their lives, including children,” Francis asked Moraglia “to convey his affectionate proximity to the families of those who died so tragically.”
The pope “assur[ed] them of a special prayer for their repose,” Parolin said, “and as he implores the consolation of faith for the relatives, he invokes from the Lord prompt healing for the injured and sends his heartfelt paternal apostolic blessing.”
The cause of the crash was as of Friday morning still unclear. Luca Zaia, the president of the Veneto region of Italy of which Venice is the capital, told the state-owned Radiotelevisione Italiana that it was “difficult to understand how it happened.”
“The bus was new and electric, and that street wasn’t particularly problematic,” Zaia told RAI.
The president said elsewhere that authorities were assuming the bus driver had “fallen ill” before the crash, according to Reuters.
The bus was reportedly carrying foreign tourists to a camping site.
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Vatican City, Mar 23, 2017 / 06:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After four people died in an apparent terrorist attack in London yesterday, Pope Francis has voiced his sorry and solidarity for the victims and their families, entrusting them and the nation to God’s mercy.
“Deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and of the injuries caused by the attack central London, His Holiness Pope Francis expresses his prayerful solidarity with all those affected by this tragedy,” a March 23 letter signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin read.
The Pope commended the souls of those who died “to the loving mercy of Almighty God,” and prayed for “divine strength and peace upon their grieving families,” while assuring of his prayer for the entire nation.
Francis’ letter comes the day after a deadly March 22 attack on London’s Parliament took the lives of four people.
During the attack, a car apparently plowed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before crashing into the fence surrounding the Parliament building. The assailant then attempted to enter the Parliament building with a knife, stabbing one police officer before being shot by other officers on the grounds.
According to the Guardian, four people were killed, including the police officer who was stabbed and one man believed to be the assailant. About 20 others were reported injured, some severely.
Nearby government buildings were placed on lockdown while authorities worked to ensure the safety of the area. Scotland Yard said the attack is being treated “as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise.”
The incident marks the first mass-casualty terrorist attack in Britain since the 2005 bomb attack on London that claimed the lives of 52 people when four bombers blew themselves up in the city’s public transportation system.
March 22 also marks the one-year anniversary of the Brussels airport bombings that left more than 30 dead and 300 injured. Those bombings were declared the deadliest act of terrorism in Belgium’s history.
The use of a vehicle as a weapon yesterday’s London attack is reminiscent of the methods used last year by terrorists in Nice and Berlin.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, issued a March 23 statement to the priests and parishes of his diocese saying yesterday’s attacks “have shocked us all.”
“The kind of violence we have seen all too often in other places has again brought horror and killing to this city,” he said, and urged pastors to lead their people in prayer, particularly for the victims and their families.
He offered special prayers for victim Aysha Frade, who was killed by the car on Westminster Bridge and whose two young children attend the diocese’s St. Mary of the Angels Primary School.
He also offered special prayers for Frade’s husband and a group of French students who were injured in the attack, as well as police officer Keith Palmer, the officer who died, and his family.
“Let our voice be one of prayer, of compassionate solidarity and of calm,” the cardinal said.
“All who believe in God, Creator and Father of every person, will echo this voice, for faith in God is not a problem to be solved, but a strength and a foundation on which we depend.”
Pope Leo XIV greets a young child before his Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 10, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media
ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 10, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).
In his general audience on Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV explained that cries of pain, like those of Jesus in his final moments on the cross, instead of a sign of weakness, can express desire, surrender, and prayer.
A rainy morning in Rome prevented the Holy Father from spending much time greeting the faithful in St. Peter’s Square. Aboard the popemobile, he toured the square amid applause and cheers, stopping to give his blessing, especially to children.
The pope dedicated his catechesis at the weekly audience, which began just over five minutes late, to reflecting on the value of crying.
“At times, what we are unable to say in words, we express with the voice,” Leo said. “When the heart is full, it cries. And this is not always a sign of weakness; it can be a profound act of humanity.”
Although we are accustomed to thinking of crying as something disorderly to be repressed, the Gospel gives our cry a value, reminding us it can be “an invocation, a protest, a desire, a surrender,” the pope said.
“It can even be the extreme form of prayer, when there are no words left,” he continued.
“One cries not out of desperation, but out of desire. Jesus did not cry out against the Father, but to him. Even in silence, he was convinced that the Father was there,” the pontiff said. “And, in this way, he showed us that our hope can cry out, even when all seems lost.”
Pope Leo XIV waves at the crowds of people who braved a rainy morning for the general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 10, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media
A cry that manifests the greatest love
Addressing pilgrims huddled under umbrellas in protection against sporadic rain showers, Pope Leo meditated on the “culmination of Jesus’ life in this world: his death on the cross.”
Specifically, he highlighted an important detail worthy of faithful contemplation: That “on the cross, Jesus does not die in silence.”
The pontiff explained that after fulfilling his mission on earth, from the cross, “Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last.” For the Holy Father, “that cry contains everything: pain, abandonment, faith, offering. It is not only the voice of a body giving way, but the final sign of a life being surrendered.”
He also recalled that the cry was preceded by a question, “one of the most heart-rending that could be uttered: ‘My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?’”
Pope Leo XIV emphasized that, in that final moment, Jesus experiences silence, absence, and the abyss. However, according to the pontiff, “it is not a crisis of faith, but the final stage of a love that is given up to the very end.”
“Jesus’ cry is not desperation, but sincerity, truth taken to the limit, trust that endures even when all is silent,” he emphasized.
He added that “it is there, in that broken man, that the greatest love manifests itself. It is there that we can recognize a God who does not remain distant, but who traverses our pain to the very end.”
Pope Leo XIV spoke about the value of crying during his weekly audience with the public in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 10, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media
Jesus teaches us not to fear crying
The pope also explained that to cry can be a “spiritual gesture,” since it is often one’s first act after birth and a way to stay alive.
“One cries when one suffers, but also when one loves, one calls, one invokes. To cry out is saying who we are, that we do not want to fade away in silence, that we still have something to offer,” he added.
Leo invited those listening not to hold back their tears, because keeping everything inside “can slowly consume us.”
The pontiff insisted that “Jesus teaches us not to be afraid to cry out, as long as it is sincere, humble, addressed to the Father. A cry is never pointless, if it is born of love.”
At the end of his message, Pope Leo XIV encouraged the faithful to learn from the Lord to give a “cry of hope when the hour of extreme trial comes.”
“Not to hurt, but to entrust ourselves. Not to shout at someone, but to open our hearts. If our cry is genuine, it can be the threshold of a new light, of a new birth,” he said.
Pope Leo XIV greets newlyweds and sick and disabled people, including a young child in a wheelchair, in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall after the Wednesday general audience on Sept. 10, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Mar 11, 2020 / 11:19 am (CNA).- Cardinal Peter Turkson sent a message Wednesday encouraging Catholics to see the sacrifices required to slow the spread of coronavirus as a chance to deepen their relationships with God and their neighbors.
“Prayer is our strength, prayer is our resource. Here then is the favorable moment to rediscover the fatherhood of God and our being children,” Turkson said in the March 11 message.
He encouraged “the most tested communities” to not experience “everything as a privation.”
For those who cannot gather for the celebration of Mass, he said, “we are called to an even more deeply rooted journey on what sustains the spiritual life: prayer, fasting, and charity.”
“If we cannot meet in our assemblies to live our faith together, as we usually do, God offers us the opportunity to enrich ourselves, to discover new paradigms, and to find personal relationships with Him again,” he said.
The prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Turkson addressed his letter to health workers, chaplains, the sick and their families, volunteers, civil authorities, bishops in charge of pastoral work in healthcare, the heads of bishops’ conferences, and all people of good will.
His message was sent as countries around the world increase measures to fight the spread of coronavirus.
In Italy, public Masses were canceled starting March 8. Most dioceses in Japan have also suspended public Masses.
Worldwide, there are 109,577 confirmed cases of coronavirus, and 3,809 deaths.
The new strain of coronavirus causes a respiratory disease, COVID-19, and has a fatality rate of roughly 3%. The vast majority of cases and deaths have been in China.
In his message, the cardinal reminded Catholics of Christ’s words in Matthew’s Gospel: “when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”
He also recalled the many times Pope Francis has encouraged Catholics to keep the Bible nearby and to pray with scripture.
“The effort made to contain the spread of Coronavirus is accompanied by the commitment of each individual faithful for the greater good: the reconquest of life, the defeat of fear, the triumph of hope,” he said.
The cardinal noted the importance of solidarity during this time and asked people to think of their “neighbor, office colleague, school friend, but above all the doctors and nurses who risk contamination and infection to save the infected.”
Turkson asked political and economic authorities to not neglect social justice amid the new economic crisis caused by the virus and to continue to look for ways to support health workers all over the world, especially in the places in most difficulty.
“So let us pray to God the Father to increase our faith, help the sick in healing and support health workers in their mission,” the cardinal said.
“We ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate the efforts of scientists, health workers and governments, and we entrust all the populations affected by the contagion to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Mother of humanity.”
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