Articles by CNA Daily News

Vatican City, Mar 11, 2018 / 05:12 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday Pope Francis said that to be a Christian isn’t easy, but means having faith and striving to live a moral life even when it’s hard, trusting in God and his love during moments of weakness and anxiety.

“Christianity doesn’t offer easy consolations, it’s not a shortcut, but requires faith and a healthy moral life which rejects evil, selfishness and corruption,” the Pope said March 11.

A faithful and moral life, he said, “gives us the true and great hope in God the Father, rich in mercy, who has given us his only son, thus revealing to us his immense love.”

Pope Francis spoke to pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square for his Sunday Angelus address, which he focused on the day’s passage from John’s Gospel when Jesus speaks to Nicodemus, explaining what will happen to those who believe and walk in truth, and what will happen to those who don’t.

Jesus’ affirmation that “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him,” synthesize the core of Christian message, Francis said.

Namely, this message is that “even when the situation seems desperate, God intervenes, offering man salvation and joy.” God, the Pope said, doesn’t stand aside, but “enters into the history of humanity to animate it with his grace and to save it.”

Christians, he said, are called to listen to this announcement and to reject the temptation to be too sure of themselves, wanting to “do without God,” and be “liberated” from him and his word.

“When we find the courage to consider ourselves for what we are, we realize that we are people called to deal with our fragility and our limits,” he said, noting that at times thinking about these weaknesses can lead people to be anxious for the future, or afraid of illness and death.

This, Francis said, is the reason many people look for “a way out,” turning to “dangerous shortcuts such as the tunnel of drugs, superstitions or ruinous magic rituals.”

However, Christianity offers a different path. Though it’s not easy, it leads to hope, he said, and pointed to the image of Jesus on the cross, which he said is the “greatest manifestation of God’s love.”

“It’s good to know our limits,” he said. Not to become discouraged, “but to offer them to God, and he helps us in the path of daily life. He takes us by the hand, but he never leaves us alone, never. Because of this we have joy.”

Turning again to the passage in the day’s Gospel where Jesus says that he didn’t come to condemn the world, but to save it, Pope Francis said if Christians root themselves in this affirmation, then “our trust is unshakable.”

To do this, he said, “is a matter of opening the heart.” And during Lent in particular, this means opening means increasingly opening oneself to God in a better way.

“Only in this way can we live a life animated by justice and charity, and become testimonies of this divine love; a love which is not only given to those who earn it, doesn’t ask for recompense, but is offered freely, without conditions.”

Jesus went to the cross “to heal us,” he said, and in off-the-cuff comments urged faithful to look to the crucifix and say: “God loves me. It’s true, there are sins, (but) God loves us in our weakness, in our infidelity, in our fragility…let’s look to the crucifix and go forward.”

Pope Francis closed his address asking that Mary would help obtain for each person this certainty that they are loved by God.

“(God) is close to us in moments when we feel alone, when we feel tempted to surrender to the difficulties of life,” he said, and prayed that those present would be able to communicate the message of Jesus, so that Lent would become “an experience of forgiveness, welcome and charity.”

After leading pilgrims in praying the Angelus, the Pope greeted pilgrims present from around the world, offering a special welcome the students, mentors and tech experts who participated in the March 8-11 first-ever Vatican “Hackathon.”

Speaking directly to the students, he told them “it’s beautiful to place intelligence, which is a gift from God, at the service of the truth and those most in need.”

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Vatican City, Mar 9, 2018 / 04:16 pm (CNA).- Speaking at a presentation of a book on Humanae Vitae, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, stressed Wednesday that attempts to change the Chur… […]

Vatican City, Mar 9, 2018 / 03:54 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- As the number of civilian victims in Syria’s bloody civil war continues to climb, Cardinal Mario Zenari, apostolic nuncio in Syria, said the situation is “hell on earth,” especially for vulnerable children.

Referring to a statement recently made by the regional director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Zenari said Syria is currently “one of the most dangerous places for children.”

“It’s terrible. I always say, it’s a massacre of the innocents,” he said, and recalled how a few years ago near Damascus, where the nunciature is located, he met a 10-year-old girl who had both of her legs amputated after being hit by shrapnel from a mortar shell.

He recalled another story of a 15-year-old girl who was on her way back from school with a friend when a splinter from an explosion tore through her cheek and up through her head, killing her instantly.

There is “so much suffering,” Zenari said, adding that Pope Francis’ Christmas message for 2017 was “one of the most touching for me,” because it was entirely dedicated to the suffering of children.

From a humanitarian perspective, the situation is “out of control,” he said, and one could write “a book of lamentations” on the Syrian crisis alone.

Zenari, who has served as apostolic nuncio since 2008 and was named a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2016, spoke at a March 9 event for the “Open Hospitals” project, developed by the AVSI organization in 2016 in partnership with the Gemelli Foundation and the pontifical charity branch “Cor Unum.”

The project aims to provide medical care for those living in poverty and supports the activities of four non-profit hospitals in Syria.

Since the beginning of the country’s civil war in 2011, more than 13.5 million Syrians, including 6 million children, have been affected by a dire humanitarian crisis, with the majority of the population living in situations of food insecurity and without access to basic supplies.

According to U.N. estimates, some 11.5 million people, 40 percent of whom are children, do not have access to adequate medical care. Hospitals have routinely been targeted in the fighting, and since the beginning of the war, nearly two-thirds of Syria’s medical staff have fled the country.

With money needed to pay for staff, general management, monthly bills, and the renewal of old facilities, patients increasingly file into the few hospitals that are left with both routine healthcare needs and war injuries, making the financial strain near crippling.

As of November 2017, roughly one million euros (nearly $1.2 million) had already been raised by the Open Hospitals project to support the four hospitals with whom they partner.

In his speech for the March 9 event, Cardinal Zenari showed a 2-minute video portraying images of buildings destroyed by shelling and people injured in bombings, many of them small children with bloody face, covered in dust.

The social fabric of society is being “attacked,” he said, and “the deep wounds, above all in these children, are worse than what is seen.”

The number of civilian victims of the war has drastically increased in recent weeks, after Russian-backed Syrian forces on Feb. 18 launched a series of deadly airstrikes and artillery fire on besieged Easter Ghouta enclave, which sits just northeast of Damascus.

Home to some 400,000 people, Eastern Ghouta is the last rebel-held area east of Damascus and has been a target of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces since 2013 in a bid to drive the rebels out.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, some 900 civilians have died so far in the fighting. Although the U.N. Security Council demanded a 30-day ceasefire go into effect Feb. 24, fighting has continued, and efforts to get humanitarian aid into areas where citizens are trapped were recently halted due to fear of chemical attacks.

Cardinal Zenari said that of all the world disasters he’s witnessed, “I have never seen so much violence as in Syria,” and likened the situation to the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

At times, Zenari said he asks himself, “Does the Lord not see this?” However, he said he is consoled when he thinks of the Jesus’ own suffering and death, because “Jesus in his passion sweat blood, from his whole body…(the) blood of the entire Church, the blood of the martyrs.”

“We are in the eighth year of the Passion” in Syria, he said.

He lamented the fact that no agreements have yet been reached to put an end to the violence, saying that so far the discussions either fail to yield a deal, or a deal is made but falls apart.

The cardinal also pointed to the millions who have fled Syria and are now living in other countries, including a high number of youth. Because of this, he said, Syria is rapidly becoming “a society without youth, a Church without youth.”

He closed his hour-long address with an appeal for prayer, asking attendees to pray for “our dear friends, brothers and sisters in Syria.”

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Vatican City, Mar 9, 2018 / 01:58 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A March 8-11 “hacking marathon” at the Vatican is in full swing, with 120 students of different backgrounds, faiths, and disciplines working to “hack” into global social problems in 36 hours of innovative brainstorming.

“VHacks” is the first-ever Vatican hackathon, and the young participants and organizers have said that the location is an integral part of the event’s impact and appeal.

“It still sounds so strange: a hackathon at the Vatican,” said Cameron, a 21-year-old participant. “And that’s what makes it so amazing – the fact that you wouldn’t expect it.”

Cameron is an electrical engineering student at Harvard and on the organizing committee of VHacks. He told CNA that fact that VHacks is taking place at all says a lot “about how the Vatican, especially with Pope Francis’ style, is embracing technology a little bit more than it has before.”  

Hailing from 60 different countries, participants work in teams to tackle challenges related to the broader themes of social inclusion, interfaith dialogue, and refugees and migrants.

Each team chooses a challenge to “hack” during the conference, working nearly round-the-clock to come up with creative, technological solutions. At the end, all the teams will present their solutions to judges who choose the top projects and the final winners.

Ibrahim, 21, is from Pakistan and is studying industrial engineering and management at Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany.

He told CNA that the themes of VHacks are good in and of themselves, “but to have [the event] at such an important place just adds to it and adds to how serious we are in figuring out and solving these problems.”

A Muslim, he considers the Vatican a “landmark,” and a “sacred place,” which adds to the overall environment of the hackathon. “I think this is an extremely amazing initiative,” he said.

Hailing from Buenos Aires in Argentina, Sebastian, 24, told CNA that he has participated in hackathons before, but this one is “on another scale,” and that’s what first piqued his interest.

As a Catholic, he was also glad to see the Church getting involved in something like a hackathon, he said, noting that he has been invited to different hackathons before but decided against participating because compared to VHacks, “something was always missing.”

Lucy, 29, told CNA that she is really excited by “how invested this hackathon is in the human perspective and understanding what the user’s needs are.” She is a master’s student studying human-centered design thinking at Georgetown University.

Her team members, who all came from Georgetown, a partner in the event, chose the migrants and refugees challenge. “When you think about refugees in the big scope, it seems like there’s no point of entry that’s going to succeed,” she said.

“So how do we as individuals or as groups find an entry into that? I really think it is through this human-centered design” that VHacks is focused on.

The hackathon is also interspersed with educational opportunities, including panels and workshops on topics related to the themes. Participants can also avail themselves of advice and guidance from experienced “mentors” present to help throughout the conference.

“It’s not just a hackathon but a learning experience and a team-building experience,” Lucy said.

The event will conclude with Mass and sightseeing in St. Peter’s Basilica March 11, followed by attendance at the Pope’s Sunday Angelus and his papal blessing in St. Peter’s Square.

Dominican Fr. Eric Salobir, a co-chairman of VHacks and a consultor for the Secretariat of Communications, told CNA that having the hackathon at the Vatican is very symbolic, and allows big issues to be tackled from the global perspective offered by the Church.

Salobir is also the founder of the OPTIC network, a disruptive technology think-tank which frequently collaborates with the Holy See.

Explaining the term hackathon, Cameron clarified that while the words “hack” or “hacking” can have negative connotations, the phrase in this case is used to mean “hacking into a problem that has no clear start.”

“It just comes down to finding an entry point and saying, ‘This is where we’re going to start looking at it.’”

He acknowledged that it is unrealistic to think that solutions to these problems can possibly be found in just 24 or 36 hours. But what they want to do is “plant a seed” and create something to expand on in the future.

The environment of the hackathon, which lacks the usual pressures found in a career setting, makes it really “conducive to innovation,” he stated.  

In the end, it is hoped that some of the new ideas produced will be brought to fruition by the corporations, foundations and private donors sponsoring the hackathon.

A lofty goal, Salobir said they even hope to have some examples “of how technology can help to solve problems” in place by the time of the synod on the youth in October. “We hope to be able to show very practical, useful solutions,” he said.

“We saw from our experiences [putting on hackathons] in San Francisco and Paris that the students are incredibly creative in the way to use technology positively, in a way the older generations cannot imagine. They were born in this time of digital technology and sharing economy and they can provide a lot.”

“I have no clue what they will do practically, I have just the experience of other hackathons. But at other hackathons they really came with amazing ideas. I hope that this time it will be the same and they will really blow our minds with their creativity.”

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Vatican City, Mar 9, 2018 / 12:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- At his annual Lenten penitential service on Friday, Pope Francis said that it is not God who abandons us when we sin, but we who separate ourselves from him by choosing to sin, and that no matter what we do, God never stops loving us.

“We know that the state of sin distances us from God. But in fact, sin is the way that we distance ourselves from him. Yet that does not mean that God distances himself from us,” the Pope said March 9.

“The state of weakness and confusion that results from sin is one more reason for God to remain close to us,” he continued. “The certainty of this should accompany us throughout our lives.”

Pope Francis gave a brief homily during an annual Lenten penitential service in St. Peter’s Basilica. He reflected on a passage from the first letter of John, which speaks about God’s love for his children.

God’s love is greater than anything we can imagine, reaching beyond even the worst sins we find within us, he said.

“His is an infinite love, one that knows no bounds,” he reflected. “The words of the Apostle are a reassuring confirmation that our hearts should trust, always and unhesitatingly, in the Father’s love: ‘No matter what our hearts may charge us with, God is greater than our hearts’ (1 Jn. 3:20).”

Following the homily, Pope Francis led a silent examination of conscience. Then, as in other years, the Pope was the first to go and make his confession to a fellow priest before hearing the confessions of several others.

Other priests were also available throughout the basilica to hear individual confessions.

The penitential service also marked the beginning of the “24 Hours for the Lord” initiative held yearly on the fourth Friday and Saturday of Lent.

Led by Pope Francis, “24 Hours for the Lord” is a worldwide initiative that points to confession as a primary way to experience God’s merciful embrace. It was launched in 2014 under the auspices of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.

The event gives Catholics an opportunity to go to confession and take part in Eucharistic adoration at participating churches. This year’s theme is “With you is forgiveness” taken from Psalm 130.

Earlier on March 9, Pope Francis spoke to participants in the Apostolic Penitentiary’s annual course on the internal forum, which is attended primarily by young priests, seminarians, and penitentiary priests specifically appointed to hear confessions and administer penance.

This year, ahead of the Synod of Bishops on youth, the course focused on the relationship between sacramental confession and vocational discernment.

In his speech, Francis noted how young priests have an “advantage – so-to-speak” when it comes to hearing the confessions of other young people, a proximity of age “favors even sacramental dialogue.”

On the other hand, there are limitations and challenges to being at the beginning of their ministry and therefore lacking in the experience of an older confessor, he said.

With these thoughts in mind, he asked, how do we go about listening to sacramental confessions, especially of the young, when it comes to vocational discernment?

“First of all, I would say that it is always necessary to rediscover, as St Thomas Aquinas says, the instrumental dimension of our ministry,” he said. “The priest confessor is not the source of Mercy or of Grace; he is certainly the indispensable tool, but always just an instrument!”

Being intentionally aware of this can help keep priests from becoming what Francis called “masters of consciences” instead of humbly listening to the Holy Spirit. He emphasized that seeing oneself as an instrument is not a lessening of the priest’s role in confession, but “the full realization of [the ministry].”

The Pope also stressed that confessors should listen carefully to any questions before offering answers, and when these two elements come together in sacramental dialogue, it can help to open up the journey of prayer and prudence that is vocational discernment.

Concluding, he encouraged the present and future confessors to be “witnesses of mercy, humble hearers of young people and God’s will for them, always respectful of the conscience and freedom of those who approach the confessional.”

He reminded them to entrust penitents to Mary, “who is the Refuge of sinners and Mother of mercy.”

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