The Franciscan friar Fr. Placido Cortese (1907-1944). / Il Messaggero di Sant’Antonio via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Vatican City, Aug 30, 2021 / 09:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has advanced the sainthood causes of a Franciscan friar who helped to r… […]
Professor Aleksander Bańka. / episkopat.pl.
Warsaw, Poland, Aug 30, 2021 / 07:30 am (CNA).
A Catholic layman will represent the Church in Poland at the official opening of the synodal process leading to the 2023 synod of bishops meeting in Rome…. […]
Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, president of the Polish bishops’ conference. / episkopat.pl.
Warsaw, Poland, Aug 30, 2021 / 05:30 am (CNA).
The Catholic Church in Poland will hold a “day of solidarity” with the war-weary population of Afghanistan … […]
The EWTN affiliates and partners’ European meeting in Poland, Aug. 26-29, 2021. / Andrzej Niedźwiecki/EWTN Poland.
Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Poland, Aug 30, 2021 / 04:00 am (CNA).
The president of Poland’s Catholic bishops’ conference sent his bles… […]
Pope Francis at the general audience on Aug. 18, 2021. / Vatican Media
Rome, Italy, Aug 30, 2021 / 00:00 am (CNA).
Despite ongoing rumors, there is no confirmation that Pope Francis is drafting a document that defines the role and tasks of a Pop… […]
An Afghan mother and her children rest in a tent at a makeshift IDP camp in Share-e-Naw park in Kabul. / Paula Bronstein/Getty Images.
Denver Newsroom, Aug 29, 2021 / 20:45 pm (CNA).
5 things you need to know about Christians in Afghanistan nowA… […]
Pope Francis gives the Angelus message from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Aug 29, 2021 / 06:35 am (CNA).
Complaining and blaming others is a waste of time; the way to defeat evil is to conquer it first within our own hearts, Pope Francis said Sunday.
“If we look inside, we will find almost all that we despise outside. And if, sincerely, we ask God to purify our heart, that is when we will start making the world cleaner,” the pope said in his weekly Sunday Angelus message.
“Because there is an infallible way to defeat evil: by starting to conquer it within yourself.”
From a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis spoke Aug. 29 about the need to stop blaming others for everything wrong in the world and in our lives.
“We often think that evil comes mainly from the outside: from other people’s conduct, from those who think badly of us, from society,” he said. “How often we blame others, society, the world, for everything that happens to us! It is always the fault of ‘others’: it is the fault of people, of those who govern, of misfortune, and so on.”
According to Pope Francis, it is easy to spend time assigning blame, “but spending time blaming others is wasting time.”
“We become angry, bitter and keep God away from our heart,” he explained, pointing to the Pharisees, as described in the day’s Gospel from St. Mark, who are scandalized that Jesus and his disciples “eat without purifying themselves.”
“Complaining poisons, it leads you to anger, to resentment and to sadness, that of the heart, which closes the door to God,” the pope stressed.
“Let us ask in prayer for the grace not to waste time polluting the world with complaints,” he said, “because this is not Christian. Jesus instead invites us to look at life and the world starting from our heart.”
He urged people to ask the Lord to free them from blaming others today and he recalled a message of the Fathers of the Church, who said the first step on the path to holiness is to “blame yourself.”
“How many of us, during the day, in a moment during the day or a moment during the week, area able to blame ourselves within?” Francis said. “Try to do it, it will do you good. It does me good, when I manage to do so, but it is good for us, it is good for everyone.”
“May the Virgin Mary, who changed history through the purity of her heart, help us to purify our own, by overcoming first and foremost the vice of blaming others and complaining about everything,” he concluded.
Pope Francis speaks during the Angelus prayer. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Aug 29, 2021 / 05:30 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Sunday urged Christians to intensify their prayer, penance, and fasting for the situation in Afghanistan, as he entrusted… […]
Bishop-elect Guido Marini walks beside Pope Francis on Ash Wednesday 2021 in St. Peter’s Basilica / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Aug 29, 2021 / 04:40 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Sunday appointed the Vatican’s papal master of ceremonies, Msgr. Guido Marini, bishop of a northern Italian diocese.
Marini, who has been in charge of papal liturgies since his appointment by Benedict XVI in 2007, was Aug. 29 named Bishop of Tortona, a diocese of around 280,000 people.
Marini, 56, grew up near Tortona in the city of Genoa, where he served as chief liturgist for four years. The bishop-elect has degrees in canon and civil law. Prior to his appointment to the Vatican he was chancellor of the Archdiocese of Genoa and a spiritual director in the seminary.
Since 2019, Marini has also been responsible for the Sistine Chapel Choir. According to a biography by the Vatican, “from his priestly ordination to today, he has also carried out his ministry in the field of preaching spiritual exercises, spiritual direction, accompaniment of some youth groups, and as a spiritual assistant of some religious communities.”
There are eight papal masters of ceremonies, of which Marini was the head. They are responsible for organizing and overseeing all liturgical celebrations of the pope. Since 2007, with few exceptions, Msgr. Marini could be seen at the side of Pope Benedict XVI and then Pope Francis during papal Masses and other liturgies both at the Vatican and abroad.
Marini’s replacement was not announced Aug. 29, though there are three candidates for the position, according to sources who spoke to CNA earlier this summer.
One is Msgr. Diego Ravelli, a 56-year-old priest from northern Italy who has been head of the office of papal almoner since 2013 and also serves as one of the masters of ceremonies.
Another candidate for the role is Fr. Giuseppe Midili, director of the liturgical office of the Vicariate of Rome, and the third is Msgr. Pietro Moroni, dean of the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical Urban University and consultor of the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.
The change in papal master of ceremonies is one of a number of recent personnel changes to Vatican offices and dicasteries, part of Pope Francis’ continued reform of the Roman Curia.
Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke during the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, June 29, 2019. Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 28, 2021 / 21:38 pm (CNA).
Raymond Cardinal Burke issued a personal statement via Twitter Saturday night, thanking his doctors, all those who have offered prayers on his behalf, and especially God “who has brought me to this point of healing and recovery.”
Coming a week after the last public update on his health, Cardinal Burke’s tweet provided another positive sign that his condition has improved since being placed on ventilator Aug. 14 due to complications from COVID-19. He said he now faces an “intensive rehabilitation.”
“I have been transferred out of the Medical Intensive Care Unit and settled in a hospital room where the doctors, nurses, and numerous hospital staff have provided vigilant, superb, and steadfast medical care,” the 73-year-old American cardinal tweeted.
“For these dedicated professionals, too, I offer heartfelt thanks, as well as to the priests who have ministered to me sacramentally. To those who have offered innumerable Rosaries and prayers, lighted candles, and requested the offering of the Holy Mass, I extend my sincere gratitude, and I ask the Lord and His Mother to bless you all. I also thank my brother bishops and priests who have offered Mass for me or prayed for me at the altar.
“This generous outpouring of grace unites me to you in a special way, as I am also particularly united to all victims suffering from the effects of the COVID-19 virus,” the tweet continued.
A leading prelate in the U.S. Catholic Church known for his outspoken defense of traditional Catholicism, Cardinal Burke is the former leader of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and the Diocese of La Crosse in his home state of Wisconsin.
Now based in Rome, Cardinal Burke fell ill while visiting Wisconsin and was transferred to a hospital as his condition worsened.
In a prior update on Aug. 21, the Shrine of Our Lady of Gaudalupe in La Crosse revealed that he had spoken to his sister by phone able to speak by phone with his sister on Saturday morning and “expressed his deep gratitude for the many prayers offered on his behalf.”
In his tweet Saturday, Cardinal Burke reflected on the significance of the motto he took when he was selected for the episcopacy: “Secundum Cor Tuum” (“According to Your Heart.”)
“All things ordered in and through the Divine Will have as their origin the Sacred Heart of Our Savior, whose fundamental motivation is His Eternal Love for His Father and for His children,” he stated.
“Since Divine Providence has governed that I remain hospitalized for the present, I now reaffirm that same episcopal conviction: suffering, united with the suffering of Jesus Christ, is truly efficacious in His Divine Plan for our salvation when accepted willingly and wholeheartedly. Saint Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, teaches us the meaning of our suffering: ‘Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church’ (Col 1:24.)”
Cardinal Burke said in his tweet that he regrets he is unable to respond personally to the many letters, phone calls, and other expressions of support he has received during his illness. He said the Shrine of Our Lady of Gaudalupe will continue to handle communications on his behalf during his recovery.
© Catholic World Report