Pope Francis at the Synod on Synodality’s closing Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 29, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
CNA Staff, Oct 31, 2023 / 16:00 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis’ prayer intention of the month of November is for himself — the pope.
“Pray to the Lord that he will bless me,” Pope Francis said in a video released Oct. 31. “Your prayer gives me strength and helps me to discern and to accompany the Church, listening to the Holy Spirit.”
“The fact that someone is pope doesn’t mean they lose their humanity,” he added. “On the contrary, my humanity grows each day with God’s holy and faithful people.”
The Holy Father called his role as pope “a process.”
He explained that throughout the process, a pope “learns how to be more charitable, more merciful, and, above all, more patient, like God Our Father, who is so patient.”
“I can imagine that at the beginning of their pontificate, all the popes had this feeling of trepidation, apprehension, knowing that he will be judged harshly,” he said. “For the Lord will ask us bishops to give a serious account.”
Pope Francis asked the faithful to “judge benevolently” and to “pray that the pope, whoever he might be — today it is my turn — may receive the help of the Holy Spirit, that he may be docile to that help.”
He concluded with a prayer: “Let us pray for the pope, so that in the exercise of his mission, he may continue to accompany in the faith the flock entrusted to him by Jesus, always with the help of the Holy Spirit. And pray for me! Favorably!”
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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Abortion supporters celebrate as petitions for the abortion amendment arrive at the Arkansas Capitol Building on July 5, 2024. On Wednesday, July 10, Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston rejected a pro-abortion group’s request to add a far-… […]
A smiling Pope Francis arrives in St. Peter’s Square on April 13, 2025, in a surprise visit at the end of the outdoor Palm Sunday Mass. / Credit: Bénédicte Cedergren/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Apr 13, 2025 / 10:50 am (CNA).
Marking another in a series of recent surprise public appearances, Pope Francis on Sunday briefly greeted thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square to celebrate Palm Sunday.
“Happy Palm Sunday and beginning of Holy Week!” the Holy Father said with some difficulty to the cheers of the large crowd that filled the square and spilled out along the Via della Conciliazione.
Unable to participate in the Palm Sunday Mass, the 88-year-old pontiff, still convalescing after a serious bout of double pneumonia that kept him hospitalized for 39 days, arrived in a wheelchair toward the end of the outdoor liturgy, smiling and without nasal tubes as he passed by clergy, religious men and women, and lay people standing near the altar.
Pope Francis offers a blessing to the gathered faithful from a ramp at St. Peter’s Basilica during Palm Sunday celebrations, April 13, 2025. The Holy Father made a brief appearance following the main liturgy presided over by Cardinal Sandri. Credit: Bénédicte Cedergren / EWTN News
Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, vice dean of the College of Cardinals, presided over the Mass as the pope’s delegate and read the Holy Father’s written homily to crowds of people waving palms and olive branches under overcast skies.
In his prepared homily, the pope exhorted Christians to “experience the great miracle of mercy” by accompanying Jesus in his journey to the cross.
“Let us decide how we are meant to carry our own cross during this Holy Week: if not on our shoulders, in our hearts,” the pope shared. “And not only our cross, but also the cross of those who suffer all around us.”
Pope Francis’ homily focused on Simon of Cyrene who, in St. Luke’s gospel, “unexpectedly found himself caught up in a drama” of Christ’s crucifixion.
“As we make our own way towards Calvary, let us reflect for a moment on Simon’s actions, try to look into his heart, and follow in his footsteps at the side of Jesus,” the pope observed.
Religious sisters hold palm fronds and olive branches during Palm Sunday celebrations at St. Peter’s Square, April 13, 2025. The traditional symbols commemorate Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem as crowds laid branches before him, marking the beginning of Holy Week. | Credit: Bénédicte Cedergren / EWTN News. Credit: Bénédicte Cedergren / EWTN News
Though the man from Cyrene did not take up Jesus’ cross and follow him out of “conviction” but, rather, of “coercion,” the Holy Father praised him for being present to help the suffering Jesus and, in an “unexpected and astonishing way,” becomes “part of the history of salvation.”
“Between him and Jesus, there is no dialogue; not a single word is spoken. Between him and Jesus, there is only the wood of the cross,” the pope wrote.
“When we think of what Simon did for Jesus, we should also think of what Jesus did for Simon — what he did for me, for you, for each of us: he redeemed the world,” he added.
Placing emphasis on Christ’s infinite love which, “in obedience to the Father,” bore the sins of all humanity, the pope highlighted that Christians believe in a God who “suffered with us and for us.”
“Let us remember that God has made this road a place of redemption, for he walked it himself, giving his life for us,” the pope urged.
Pope’ Angelus message
In his Palm Sunday Angelus address released by the Vatican, the Holy Father asked Christians to continue to pray for those who are suffering in the world because of war, poverty, and disasters.
“The 15th of April will mark the second sad anniversary of the beginning of the conflict in Sudan, in which thousands have been killed and millions of families have been forced to flee their homes,” he said in his message.
“The suffering of children, women and vulnerable people cries out to heaven and begs us to act,” he added.
On Friday, Sudanese paramilitaries killed the entire nine-member staff of the last medical clinic in a refugee camp in the western region of Darfur, Sudan, according to a report in the New York Times, citing aid groups and the United Nations. In all, at least 100 people were killed in an assault on the camp, which is populated by a half-million people displaced by the country’s civil war, the report said.
Noting other ongoing civil wars affecting populations in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, the pope asked people to pray for peace in Congo, South Sudan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and Myanmar.
In his address, the Holy Father also asked people to remember the victims and families of the Santo Domingo disaster, in the Dominican Republic, which killed more than 200 people after a nightclub roof collapsed on April 8.
“May Mary, Mother of Sorrows, obtain this grace for us and help us to live this Holy Week with faith,” Pope Francis said.
Washington D.C., Jul 14, 2021 / 11:00 am (CNA).
The Archdiocese of St. Louis announced Monday that face masks will be optional at its Catholic schools this fall. The announcement comes after the U.S. Centers for D… […]
1 Comment
His Holiness Pope Francis is a world leader blessed with a dynamic spirituality. People of good will in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania keep praying for the wellbeing and good health of the Supreme Pontiff.
His Holiness Pope Francis is a world leader blessed with a dynamic spirituality. People of good will in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania keep praying for the wellbeing and good health of the Supreme Pontiff.