Pope Francis meets participants in the plenary assembly of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches at the Vatican’s Clementine Hall, Feb. 18, 2022 / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Apr 17, 2023 / 11:55 am (CNA).
On Monday Pope Francis introduced… […]
Father Marko Rupnik. / Credit: Screen shot/ACI Prensa
ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 17, 2023 / 11:00 am (CNA).
Various media reported that Father Marko Rupnik, accused of having sexually abused numerous nuns, could leave Rome and be assigned to a resid… […]
Theodore McCarrick / U.S. Institute of Peace / CC BY NC 2.0
Boston, Mass., Apr 17, 2023 / 10:01 am (CNA).
Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been criminally charged with fourth-degree sexual assault in Wisconsin for an incident that alleged… […]
Pope Francis at the Wednesday general audience on Dec. 28, 2022. / Vatican Media.
Vatican City, Apr 16, 2023 / 08:30 am (CNA).
Pope Francis asked people to pray for Sudan on Sunday, that the country’s rival military factions might lay down thei… […]
Pope John Paul II, circa 1979. / L’Osservatore Romano.
Vatican City, Apr 16, 2023 / 08:00 am (CNA).
A message by Pope John Paul II for Divine Mercy Sunday, written prior to his death, was read April 2, 2005 — the day of his death — at the end of the first funeral Mass celebrated for the pontiff.
Then-Archbishop Leonardo Sandri read the text before the recitation of the Regina Coeli, which during the Easter season replaces the Angelus.
The feast of divine mercy, celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter, was dear to the late pontiff, who instituted the feast day in 2000.
“To all of mankind, who so often seems lost and dominated by the power of evil, egoism, and fear, the risen Lord offers as a gift his love, which pardons, reconciles, and opens the soul again to hope,” the pope had written. “It is a love that converts hearts and gives peace. How the world needs to understand and welcome divine mercy!”
In his text, the pope commented on the Gospel reading in which the risen Christ appears to the apostles and shows them his punctured hands and side. “Those glorious wounds that he made an incredulous Thomas touch eight days later reveal God’s mercy who ‘so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,’” the pope’s text read.
“Lord, who with your death and resurrection revealed the Father’s love, we believe in you and with trust we repeat today: Jesus, I trust in you, have mercy on us and on the entire world,” the text continued.
“May the liturgical solemnity of the Annunciation, which we will celebrate tomorrow [in 2005 the Annunciation, March 25, fell on Palm Sunday, so the liturgical feast was moved to the Sunday after the second Sunday of Easter], encourage us to contemplate with the eyes of Mary the immense mystery of this merciful love that bursts forth from the heart of Christ,” he concluded.
This story was originally published on CNA on April 2, 2005, and was updated April 14, 2023.
Pope Francis delivered an address before praying the Regina Caeli on Divine Mercy Sunday April 16, 2023. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Apr 16, 2023 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Despite its failures and imperfection, within the community of the Church is w… […]
Pope Francis at the Regina Caeli on April 16, 2023 (L) and a tapestry of St. Pope John Paul II from his canonization on April 27, 2014 (R). / Vatican Media (L) and Lauren Cater/CNA (R)
Vatican City, Apr 16, 2023 / 06:10 am (CNA).
Pope Francis o… […]
The tomb of St. Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938) in Łagiewniki, Poland. / Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk
Washington D.C., Apr 16, 2023 / 04:00 am (CNA).
Forty-two years ago, a family of three from Massachusetts packed their bags and headed to Poland se… […]
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis introduces U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, not pictured, at the start of a climate crisis event at the Arvada Center for Performing Arts in Arvada, Colorado, on March 6, 2023. / Jason Connolly/AFP via Getty Images
D… […]
Pope Francis greets pilgrims at the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on March 22, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Apr 15, 2023 / 06:50 am (CNA).
Pope Francis said Friday that he plans to visit Mongolia, the world’s most sparsely populated sovereign country.
In off-the-cuff remarks to employees of the Italian airline company that staffs the papal plane for his international trips, the pope said that he will travel to Mongolia after his scheduled trips to Hungary and France in the coming months.
“In two weeks’ time, God willing, I will leave for my 41st pilgrimage, by going to visit Hungary. And then there will be Marseille, then Mongolia,” Francis said at a Vatican audience with ITA Airways on April 14.
An apostolic journey to Mongolia would make Pope Francis the first pope to visit the Asian country that shares a 2,880-mile border with China, its most significant economic partner.
Mongolia has a population of about 1,300 Catholics in a country of more than 3 million people.
The first modern mission to Mongolia was in 1922 and was entrusted to the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. But under a communist government, religious expression was soon thereafter suppressed, until 1992. Mongolia’s first native priest was ordained in 2016.
Last year, Pope Francis named an Italian who had served as a missionary in Mongolia for nearly 20 years as the world’s youngest cardinal. Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, 48, is the apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, which serves the entire country.
Roughly the size of Alaska, Mongolia has 5 people per square mile. About 30% of its population is nomadic or semi-nomadic. Bordering Russia to the north and China to the south, Mongolia is also the second largest landlocked country in the world with the vast Gobi Desert covering one-third of its territory.
Pope Francis first spoke about the possibility of traveling to Mongolia in February during an in-flight press conference on his return trip from South Sudan. He told reporters at the time that “there is a possibility from Marseille to fly to Mongolia.”
What countries will Pope Francis visit in 2023?
Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Budapest, Hungary at the end of this month from April 28-30 in what will be his second visit to the central European country in three years.
The pope is also expected to travel to Portugal during the 2023 World Youth Day in Lisbon taking place August 1-6.
The French Diocese of Marseille announced this week that Pope Francis will preside over a Mass on Sept. 23 as part of a meeting of Mediterranean bishops in the port city in southern France.
Due to the pope’s recent comments, it is expected that a potential papal trip to Mongolia would depart directly from Marseille.
Pope Francis has also said that he hopes to travel to India next year in response to an invitation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
© Catholic World Report