Pope Francis among the delegates of the Synod on Synodality, held in October of 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Oct 27, 2023 / 14:00 pm (CNA).
As the final week of this year’s gathering unfolds amid increasingly contentious discussi… […]
Pope Francis invokes the Virgin Mary as Queen of Peace and Mother of Mercy at a prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter’s Basilica, Friday, Oct. 27. / Credit: Courtney Mares
Vatican City, Oct 27, 2023 / 13:19 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis consecrated the Church and the world to the Blessed Virgin Mary in a Eucharistic adoration prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter’s Basilica on Friday, Oct. 27, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Holy Land.
Invoking the Virgin Mary as the Queen of Peace and Mother of Mercy, Pope Francis implored her to “intercede for our world in danger and turmoil” and to “convert those who fuel and foment conflicts.”
“Mother of God and Our Mother, we come before you and we seek refuge in your Immaculate Heart,” the pope prayed.
“To you we entrust and consecrate our lives and every fiber of our being, all that we possess and all that we are, forever. To you we consecrate the Church, so that in her witness to the love of Jesus before the world, she may be a sign of harmony and an instrument of peace. To you we consecrate our world, especially those countries and regions at war.”
The prayer was the culmination of a worldwide day of fasting, prayer, and penance for peace in the world called for by the pope amid the escalating war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Pope Francis presided over the prayer of the sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary, the Litany of Loreto, and Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
Pope Francis presides over a prayer vigil at the Vatican for peace in the Holy Land.
The pope has called everyone to pray and fast for peace today. pic.twitter.com/n3IwuDrOB6
— Courtney Mares (@catholicourtney) October 27, 2023
During Eucharistic adoration, the congregation asked the Lord Jesus to console those who suffer, enlighten those who govern, break the plots of war, dissolve hatred, strengthen hope, reconcile hearts, protect the poor, and welcome those who have died, praying, “Da pacem Domine in diebus nostris,” meaning “Grant peace, O Lord, in our time.”
Pope Francis spoke from a chair off to the side from the main altar of the basilica. He reflected on the Virgin Mary’s humility and strength during her son’s crucifixion: “When on Calvary a sword pierced your heart … you kept alive the hope of Easter through the night of sorrow.”
“Now, Mother, once more take the initiative for us, in these times rent by conflicts and laid waste by the fire of arms,” he said. “Teach us to cherish and care for life — each and every human life — and to repudiate the folly of war, which sows death and eliminates the future.”
Pope Francis did not mention Israel, Gaza, or the Holy Land by name in his prayer, but asked the Virgin Mary to “grant that glimmers of light illuminate the dark night of conflict.”
“Dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, inspire the leaders of nations to seek the paths of peace. Queen of all peoples, reconcile your children, seduced by evil, blinded by power and hate,” he said. “Mother, Queen of Peace, pour forth into our hearts God’s gift of harmony.”
After the congregation sang the Eucharistic hymn, “Tantum Ergo” and the Divine Praises, the Blessed Sacrament was placed back in the Tabernacle and the choir sang Psalm 117: “Praise the Lord, all you nations. Extol him, all you peoples. His mercy for us is strong; the faithfulness of the Lord is forever.”
Wyatt Olivas, a university student from the United States, at a press conference on the Synod of Synodality in Rome being held this month, Oct. 2023. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/ACI Prensa
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Synod members, led by Cardinal Gabetti, process into Saint Peter’s Basilica to pray the Rosary for Peace. / Credit:
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Bishop Robert Barron speaks to EWTN’s Colm Flynn about evangelizing the culture today. October 2023. / Credit: Word on Fire
Vatican City, Oct 26, 2023 / 14:30 pm (CNA).
Bishop Robert Barron said he regrets the Catholic Church’s “hand-wringing” in recent decades over how to share the Christian message with a secular culture.
In an exclusive interview with EWTN News this week, the 63-year-old bishop of Winona-Rochester said he wants to see the Church today embrace sharing the Gospel with the same gusto and confidence as when Sts. Peter and Paul evangelized Rome.
“Much of my adult life — and I say this with regret — the Church has been in a kind of hand-wringing mode of, ‘Well, what do we know, and who are we to tell you? And we’re here, really, to learn more from you.’ Come on!” Barron said during an interview at the North American College in Rome.
“Peter and Paul came to this town a long time ago and they weren’t here just to listen to Roman culture,” the bishop continued. “They were here with a message: ‘euangelion,’ there’s good news, and it’s good news that will change the world. And in fact it worked.”
“The fact that over there [St. Peter’s Basilica], Peter lies buried to this day, but dominating this once imperial capital is the cross of Jesus. That didn’t come welling up from Roman culture. That came from a message that these [apostles] brought. We should do our work with the same energy and the same panache and the same confidence,” Barron encouraged.
Barron, founder of the Word on Fire media apostolate, is in Rome to participate in the Oct. 4–29 session of the Synod on Synodality.
He said despite the apparent decline in faith and rise in what have been described as spiritual “nones” — people with no belief whatsoever — he still has hope in Christ and in the message of the Catholic Church.
“Being here in Rome with the synod, every day, people from all corners of the world — well, that means there’s something in Catholicism that is still very compelling to people, and that when it’s laid out in a way that’s intellectually satisfying and aesthetically pleasing and morally compelling, they respond to it,” he argued.
The bishop said he does not believe the “new atheist nonsense” will hold people’s hearts and minds in the long run.
“And the Church?” Barron added. “I look out at the city of Rome here: [The Church has] been around for a long time and we’ve been through a lot worse than we’re going through right now. So we will endure.”
“So Christ gives me hope and the Holy Spirit gives me hope,” he said. “We’ve been through a lot worse and there’s still nothing better on the table. There’s no fresher fish on the market than Christianity. It’s still the most beautiful, compelling message that we’ve got.”
The popular speaker and writer also said he does not think disagreements in the Church are worse than they were in the ’60s, ’70s, or ’80s.
People are not only critical of Pope Francis, he said, noting that Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI were also attacked during their papacies, though without social media so it may not have been as much on people’s radars.
Barron also attended the Synod of Bishops on young people in October 2018.
Practically speaking, he said, the synodal assembly this month is more comfortable than the youth synod.
Prior synods were held in the Vatican’s New Synod Hall, which has theater-like seating. Barron described it as “a somewhat claustrophobic room” and like sitting in “the middle seat on an airplane.”
He added that the larger space of the Paul VI Hall, with tables and chairs, as well as wearing suits instead of cassocks every day, is also “more comfortable, more humane … easier to get through.”
“The best part of [the Synod on Synodality]” is being with Catholics from all over the world, he said.
He recalled the “cacophonous sound” of hundreds of people speaking in different languages at the three-day retreat held ahead of the synodal assembly in a town outside Rome.
“It was the universality of the Church in all of us,” he said, “a kind of cacophonous wonder. There’s no other group or society in the world, I don’t think, that could muster that kind of international universality, and that is an extraordinary thing.”
Watch EWTN’s full interview with Bishop Barron below.
A police officer blocks access to the road to Sparetime Recreation on Oct. 26, 2023, in Lewiston, Maine. Police are still searching for the suspect in the mass shooting, Robert Card. / Credit: Scott Eisen/Getty Images
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