‘Extra omnes:’ Cardinals closed in conclave begin the election of the new pope

Pope Francis creates 21 new cardinals from across the world at a consistory in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 30, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Dec 1, 2024 / 09:30 am (CNA).
Five Italians have been chosen by Pope Francis to become ca… […]

Vatican City, Sep 13, 2017 / 09:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wendesday Pope Francis recalled his recent visit to Colombia, saying the desire for peace in the country is proof that the violence of their past doesn’t have the last word, but rather, the love and mercy of Christ.

“Colombia, like most Latin American countries, is a country in which the Christian roots are strong,” the Pope said in his Sept. 13 general audience.

“And if this fact makes the pain due to the tragedy of the war that has torn it apart even more acute, at the same time it constitutes the guarantee of peace, the solid foundation of it’s reconstruction, the lifeblood of it’s invincible hope,” he said.

Given it’s recent bloody past, Francis said “it’s evident that the Evil One wanted to divide the people in order to destroy the work of God, but it is equally evident that love of Christ and his infinite mercy is stronger than sin and death.”

The Pope spoke to pilgrims present at his general audience, which took place just two days after he returned from his Sept. 6-11 visit to Colombia.

The visit, which marked Francis’ third tour of South America since his election in 2013, took him to a total of four cities, including Bogotá, Villavicencio, Medellín and Cartagena.

In his audience address, the Pope said that while in Colombia, he felt a strong continuity with Bl. Paul VI and St. John Paul II, who visited the country in 1968 and 1986, respectively. He described it as “a continuity strongly animated by the Spirit, which guides the people of God on the streets of history.”

Pointing to the theme of the trip, “Let us take the first step,” he said it refers to the process of reconciliation Colombia is going through after more than 50 years of conflict between the government and guerrilla and paramilitary groups.

Colombia, he said, is trying “to go out of a half century of internal conflict, which has sown suffering and enmities, causing many wounds that are difficult to heal.”

However, he said that “with the help of God the path is now underway,” adding that during his visit he wanted to “bless the effort of that people, confirm them in faith and in hope, and receive their testimony, which is a richness for my ministry and for the entire Church.”

“This visit was intended to bring the blessing of Christ, the blessing of the Church, to the desire for life and peace which overflows from the heart of that nation,” he said.

Francis then recounted the different stages of his visit to Colombia, recalling how in Bogotá he was able to see this desire in the eyes of the “thousands and thousands of children, teenagers and young people” who came to meet him at the Apostolic Nunciature, where he stayed during his visit.

He also noted that he was able to meet the bishops of Colombia and all of Latin America, and gave thanks “that I could embrace them and for having given them my pastoral encouragement for their mission in service to the sacramental Church of Christ.”

Then in Villavicencio, the day was dedicated to reconciliation, and included a large gathering for national reconciliation and a Mass in which the Pope beatified the two modern martyrs Bishop Jesús Emilio Jaramillo Monsalve and Fr. María Ramírez Ramos.

The two martyrs, he said, was a reminder “that peace is founded also and above all on the blood of the many witnesses of love, truth, justice and even the true and real martyrs killed for the faith, like the two mentioned.”

Listening to their biographies “was moving to tears: tears of pain and joy together,” he said. And in front of their relics and their faces “the holy people of God felt their own identity strongly, with pain, thinking of the many, too many, victims, and with joy, for the mercy of God extending toward those who fear him.”

Then in Medellín, the perspective for the day was that of “Christian life as discipleship: vocation and mission,” Francis said.

“When Christians commit themselves until the end in the journey following Jesus Christ, becoming true salt, light and leaven in the world, and the fruits are seen abundantly,” he said, explaining that one of these fruits was the children’s home he visited for youth who have lost their families due to violence or poverty.  

Finally, the Pope drew attention to his visit to Cartagena, where St. Peter Claver lived. The saint, who was referenced in many of Francis’ speeches during the trip, was an “apostle of the slaves,” he said.

St. Peter Claver and St. Maria Bernarda Bütler, a missionary in Colombia, “gave their lives for the poor and marginalized, and so revealed the path to true revolution; evangelical, not ideological, which truly frees people and society from the slavery of yesterday and, unfortunately, today,” he said.

In this sense, “taking the first step” means above all “drawing near, bending down, touching the flesh of the wounded and abandoned brother,” the Pope said. “And in doing it with Christ, the Lord became a salve for us. Thanks to him there is hope, because he is mercy and peace.”

Pope Francis closed his address by entrusting Colombia to the care and intercession of Our Lady of  Chiquinquirá, whose statue he venerated in the cathedral of  Bogotá.

“With the help of Mary, each Colombian can everyday take the first step toward their brother and sister, and so build together, day by day, peace and love, in justice and in truth.”

After his audience, Pope Francis greeted individuals and groups of pilgrims from different countries around the world, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who became Catholic in 2007 and has established several foundations and non-profit organizations based on faith and global advancement.

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Vatican City, Oct 5, 2018 / 10:26 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney apologized to young people on behalf of Church leaders in a speech at the Synod of Bishops Friday.

“For the failure of too many bishops and others to respond appropriately when abuse was identified, and to do all in their power to keep you safe; and for the damage thus done to the Church’s credibility and to your trust: I apologize,” Fisher said Oct. 5, while speaking in the Vatican’s synod hall in the presence of Pope Francis and more than 200 bishops.

Youth delegates auditing the 2018 Synod of Bishops were also present in the synod hall in a historic first.

The archbishop’s apology extended beyond the Church’s mishandling of sex abuse to address catechetical and pastoral failures, apologizing on behalf of priests for “poor preaching, catechesis or spiritual direction that fails to convert.”

Fischer offered an apology to young Catholics “for when we’ve sold you short not encouraging you to live heroically your baptismal call to holiness and the paschal path to life through self-renunciation.”

“For the times when you were searching for your sexual, ethnic or spiritual identity, and needed a moral compass, but found Church people unsympathetic or ambiguous: I apologize,” he said during the fifteenth ordinary general session of the Synod of Bishops, which is treating young people, the faith, and vocational discernment.

The archbishop told CNA that greater transparency is needed in the Church, particularly with the handling of sex abuse cases.

“We have to be absolutely honest about this. We have to own up to the times that we have failed,” he said, “That means we have to investigate it properly, get outsiders with some objectivity to help us to investigate it, get to the truth of the matter and own up to that.”

The Catholic Church in Australia recently accepted the majority of recommendations offered by a five-year government inquiry examining sex abuse in Australian schools, churches, and sports clubs by Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Australia’s bishops also worked with the government to set up a program to financially compensate victims this summer.

One of the lessons Fisher recommends to bishops facing similar inquiries into the Church’s past sexual abuse cover-up in other parts of the world is to “be ashamed, be humiliated, and be purified in the process.”

“Through humiliation comes humility, through being ashamed comes repentance and greater holiness,” he explained.

The full text of Archbishop Fisher’s intervention is below:

Today in your presence, Holy Father, and amidst my brother bishops, I want to say sorry to young people for all the ways we’ve failed them.

For the shameful deeds of some priests, religious and lay people, perpetrated upon you or other young people just like you, and the terrible damage that has done; and for the failure of too many bishops and others to respond appropriately when abuse was identified, and to do all in their power to keep you safe; and for the damage thus done to the Church’s credibility and to your trust (IL 59 and 66): I apologize.

For the times Catholic families, parishes and schools have failed to introduce you to the person of Jesus Christ, his saving word, and his plan for your life; and for the times we’ve seemed to you unwelcoming, distant or harsh, or have not demonstrated the sheer joy of being Christians; and for the times when you were searching for your sexual, ethnic or spiritual identity, and needed a moral compass, but found Church people unsympathetic or ambiguous: I apologize.

For when we’ve sold you short not encouraging you to live heroically your baptismal call to holiness and the paschal path to life through self-renunciation; or when we’ve provided too little youth ministry or other support, so you’ve found living as a young person of faith and ideals lonely in a secular, often cynical world; or when unbeautiful or unwelcoming liturgies have failed to inspire or include you, and when you’ve been denied the Church’s treasury of examination of conscience, reconciliation, adoration, pilgrimages, penances and devotions: I apologize.

For poor preaching, catechesis or spiritual direction that fails to convert, and for lack of imagination or enthusiasm for that new evangelization to which the recent popes have called us; and for our failures to demonstrate God’s mercy, as Pope Francis has insisted we must, and to involve you in campaigns for Christ-centred justice and in works of mercy; and for families, dioceses and religious orders that with a contraceptive mentality have given up on generating new vocations and so have not nurtured yours: I apologize.

To any young person we have let down in these or other ways: from the bottom of my heart I apologize to you. And to the Lord I pray: Kyrie eleison.

But I say to young people also: never give up on Jesus because of our failures. Never give up on the Church that you can help make more faithful. Never give up on the world that, with Christ and the Church’s help, you can make a better place.

In Jesus Christ, the Ancient of Days is made young – for you. The Creator of this beautiful universe comes close to your life to save you. He calls you to ‘come, follow’ him and become his young disciple. He sends you out as a missionary to our world. You can be a hero, for nothing is so exciting as the adventure of the Gospel!

So: when you are lost and need direction, know that the young Jesus is the eternal Way for you!  When you are confused and need sound teaching, know that the young Jesus is the eternal Truth for you! When you are searching for the vocation that will most fulfil you, know that the young Jesus is eternal Life for you!

In the presence of the Holy Father and amidst my brother bishops, I recommit myself to young people and to drawing them closer to Christ who is always there for them.

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