Dakar, Senegal, Sep 7, 2019 / 02:58 pm (CNA).- A prestigious Catholic school in the Senegalese capital of Dakar is going ahead with a ban on students wearing Islamic headscarves, local media is reporting.
The Sainte-Jeanne d’Arc Institute in Dak… […]
Antananarivo, Madagascar, Sep 7, 2019 / 10:06 am (CNA).- Jesus has called you and has entrusted a mission to you, Pope Francis told a crowd of young people at a prayer vigil in Antananarivo, Madagascar Saturday.
“Through you, the future is coming to Madagascar and to the Church,” the pope said in the diocesan Soamandrakizay field Sept. 7.
“The Lord is the first to trust in you, but he also asks you to trust in yourselves and your own skills and abilities, which are many,” he continued. Jesus “wants to change us and to make our lives a mission.”
According to organizers, there were about 100,000 people present for the meeting, so far the largest gathering during the pope’s six-day trip to the African countries of Mozambique, Madagascar, and Mauritius.
In his message, Francis preached against falling into bitterness, which he said can be a temptation for young people, especially when they lack basic necessities or the means to pursue studies, or cannot find a stable job. “Beware of this bitterness, beware!” he added.
But, he said, “the Lord is the first to tell you no! [Bitterness] is not the way to go.”
“The Lord calls each of us by name and says: Follow me! He does not call us to run after mirages, but to become missionary disciples here and now.”
“He is the first to reject all those voices that would lull you to sleep, make you passive, numb and apathetic, and thus prevent you from seeking new horizons,” he continued. “With Jesus, there are always new horizons to be sought.”
Jesus also tells Catholics not to be afraid to get their hands dirty, he pointed out, explaining that Jesus’ disciples “must not keep still, complaining or looking inward. They need to be on the move, acting, committed, certain that the Lord is supporting and accompanying them.”
Pope Francis said he thinks of every young person as a seeker: “Each person shows it differently, but deep down all of you are looking for the happiness that no one will be able to take from us.”
The pope responded to two testimonies he heard from young adults in the course of the vigil. One was from a 27-year-old man named Rova Sitraka Ranarison.
Pope Francis commented on the story of the young man, who had recounted that he had for a long time felt a desire to visit prisoners, so he had begun to help a priest’s prison ministry, and eventually became more and more involved, adopting it as his “personal mission.”
“You realized that your life is a mission. This search, born of faith, helps make the world in which we live a better place, more in accord with the Gospel,” Francis told Rova.
He also noted the transformation the young man experienced, that it “changed your way of seeing and judging people. It made you a fairer and more sensitive person.”
Rova, the pope said, learned to see people as the Lord sees people. “He does not call us by our sins, our errors, our faults, our limits, but by our name; each of us is precious in his eyes.”
He added that Jesus never abandons his children; no matter how far they have wandered, he is always there, calling and waiting for them to return to him and start over.
Pope Francis also pointed to the testimony of a 21-year-old woman, Vavy Elyssa Nekendraza, who he said made this point well: that “it is impossible to be a missionary disciple all by ourselves.”
An encounter with Jesus as individuals and as a community is essential, he said.
“Certainly, we can accomplish great things on our own, but together we can dream of and undertake things undreamt of! Vavy put it nicely: we are invited to find the face of Jesus in the face of others.”
Francis said no one can say, “I don’t need you,” and asked the young people to repeat three times the phrase “No one can say, ‘I don’t need you,’” which they did in Malagasy.
Catholics, he continued, are one great family that has a mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, patroness of Madagascar.
“That young woman is now the Mother who watches over her children as they walk in life, often weary and in need, but always anxious that the light of hope not be extinguished,” he said, adding that this is what he desires for Madagascar: “that the light of hope not be extinguished.”
“She, Our Mother, looks at this great assembly of young people who love her and seek her in the silence of their hearts, despite the noise of the world and the chatter and distractions of the journey,” he concluded.
“To Mary I entrust the lives of each of you, and those of your families and your friends. May you never lack the light of hope, and may Madagascar be increasingly the land the Lord has dreamt of.”
Antananarivo, Madagascar, Sep 7, 2019 / 08:05 am (CNA).- Pope Francis told Madagascar’s bishops Saturday that the Catholic Church should participate in public life in order to promote the common good and that the bishops should not be afraid to v… […]
Antananarivo, Madagascar, Sep 7, 2019 / 04:37 am (CNA).- The path to holiness is made up of small, daily acts of obedience and love, Pope Francis told the contemplative nuns of Madagascar in impromptu remarks Saturday.
“I know that all of you cl… […]
Antananarivo, Madagascar, Sep 7, 2019 / 02:31 am (CNA).- In an address to the civil authorities of Madagascar Sept. 7, Pope Francis urged the leaders to embrace the “soul” of their country and to work toward an “integral development&r… […]
Harare, Zimbabwe, Sep 6, 2019 / 05:01 pm (CNA).- On Thursday the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe began a three-day meeting to consider the cause of canonization of John Bradburne, a lay missionary to the area in the 1970s, who could become the country’s first canonized saint.
At the Sept. 5-7 meeting, Catholic leaders will hear arguments in favor of and against the sainthood cause of Bradburne, who was killed during the Rhodesian Bush War in 1979.
The meeting began on the 40th anniversary of Bradburne’s death and will determine whether his cause for official sainthood can proceed.
Bradburne was born in 1921 in England, the son of an Anglican clergyman. He served in the British army in World War II, and he converted to Catholicism in 1947 after staying with the Benedictines of Buckfast Abbey.
Although he wanted to become a monk at Buckfast, he had not been in the Catholic Church long enough, and so he became a wanderer throughout Europe and the Middle East, living out of one bag. He also became a prolific poet.
During his wanderings, he stayed at other Benedictine abbeys, with Carthusians, the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion, and even tried living as a hermit on Dartmoor in England. Bradburne became a Third Order Franciscan in 1956.
According to the John Bradburne Memorial Society’s website, after 16 years of wandering, Bradburne wrote to his friend Father John Dove and asked: “Is there a cave in Africa where I can pray?”
He arrived in the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe) in 1962, and shortly thereafter he told a Franciscan priest that he had three wishes: to serve leprosy patients, to die a martyr, and to be buried in the habit of St Francis.
Through a Jesuit friend in Southern Rhodesia, Bradburne came to serve at the Mutemwa Leper Settlement in 1969, and would spend the last 10 years of his life there.
Southern Rhodesia declared independence in 1965, and the Rhodesian Bush War was fought from 1964 to 1979 among the white minority government, the Marxist Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army, and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU).
ZANU was chaired from 1975 to 1980 by Robert Mugabe, who then served as prime minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987, and as president from 1987 to 2017. Mugabe died Sept. 6.
As the war intensified and ZANU guerrilla forces approached Mutemwa, Bradburne was urged to leave, but he insisted on remaining. According to The Telegraph, even after the white Catholic priests of the area had been evacuated, the white British Bradburne “refused to leave, and continued to attend to lepers, write poetry and play his harmonium in the tin hut in which he lived.”
Bradburne was abducted, and shot and killed Sept. 5, 1979. According to the Memorial Society, during Bradburne’s funeral, a pool of blood could be seen collecting beneath his coffin. After the funeral, the coffin was opened but no sign of blood could be found. However, when it was noticed that Bradburne had not been buried in a Franciscan habit, per his wishes, a Franciscan habit was brought and Bradburne was dressed in it for his burial.
According to Independent Catholic News, two people have claimed miraculous cures through Bradburne’s intercession: a woman in South African who regained the use of her legs, and a man in Scotland cured of a brain tumor.
The Jonn Bradburne Memorial Society is supporting the investigation into his life and virtues. The group was led by Bradburne’s niece, Celia Brigstocke, until her death on August 2018. Brigstocke’s eldest daughter, Kate Macpherson, now leads the efforts.
Maputo, Mozambique, Sep 6, 2019 / 05:10 am (CNA).- Jesus calls his followers to a high standard – to forgive their enemies, to pray for those who have hurt them, and to seek reconciliation, Pope Francis said at Mass in Mozambique Friday.
“… […]
Maputo, Mozambique, Sep 6, 2019 / 04:06 am (CNA).- Visiting the Zimpeto health clinic Friday, Pope Francis told the community that their care for the suffering recalls for him the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Zimpeto DREAM clinic, which opened in 2002, is focused on HIV prevention and antiretroviral treatment. The facility is run by the Community of Sant’Egidio, a lay movement centered on peace and helping the poor.
“I cordially greet the director, the healthcare workers, the patients and their families, and all those present. Seeing the competence, professionalism and love with which you receive and care for so many suffering persons, particularly patients with HIV-AIDS, and especially mothers and children, makes me think of the parable of the Good Samaritan,” the pope said in his prepared remarks Sept. 6 at the clinic in Maputo.
“All those who come here, with despair and anguish, are like the man lying on the side of the road. Those of you here have refused to walk by or continue on your way … This Centre shows us that there are always people ready to stop and show compassion, who do not yield to the temptation to say ‘There is nothing to be done’ or ‘It’s impossible to fight this scourge’. Instead, you have set about finding solutions.”
He commended them for heeding the “almost inaudible” cry of marginalized women: “That is why you opened this house, where the Lord lives with those lying on the side of the road – to those suffering from cancer or tuberculosis, and to hundreds of the malnourished, especially children and young people.”
Francis told the community that each of them are “a sign of the heart of Jesus,” and that in hearing the cry of the suffering they “realize that medical treatment, however necessary, is not enough. So you deal with the problem in its entirety, restoring dignity to women and children, and helping to point them towards a better future.”
He affirmed their humility, and their efforts “to find sustainable means in the search for energy and for gathering and storing supplies of water.”
“The parable of the Good Samaritan ends with his bringing the wounded man to an inn and entrusting the innkeeper with part of the expenses and a promise to pay the remainder upon his return,” the pope recalled.
He said those cured at the hospital “are part of the payment that the Lord has left with you. Having emerged from the nightmare of suffering, and without concealing their condition, they are now a sign of hope for many persons. Their willingness to dream can serve as an inspiration to many people lying on the wayside who need a welcoming hand.”
“For your part, you will be repaid by the Lord ‘when he returns’, and this should fill you with joy,” Francis said.
He exhorted the community to “keep receiving those who come to you, go out and look for the wounded and helpless in the peripheries… Let us not forget that their names are written in heaven with the inscription: ‘These are the blessed of my Father’. Renew your efforts to ensure that this hospital will always be a place that gives birth to hope.”
Maputo, Mozambique, Sep 5, 2019 / 09:44 am (CNA).- Pope Francis urged Church leaders in Mozambique Thursday to avoid being part of conflicts and divisions, but to go out of their way to visit others and to encourage dialogue and solutions.
“The Church in Mozambique is invited to be the Church of the Visitation,” the pope told Mozambican bishops, priests, seminarians, religious men and women, consecrated, and catechists in Maputo Sept. 5.
The Church in Mozambique, he continued, “cannot be part of the problem of rivalry, disrespect and division that pits some against others, but instead a door to solutions, a space where respect, interchange and dialogue are possible.”
“You, at least the older ones among you, witnessed how division and conflict ended in war. You must always be ready to ‘visit’ to shorten distances,” like Mary did at the visitation to her cousin Elizabeth, he said.
The meeting took place in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in the afternoon of the first full day of Pope Francis’ visit to three African countries Sept. 4-10.
Before the meeting at the cathedral, he met privately with a group of people from the port city of Xai-Xai, which is about 139 miles north of Maputo.
In February 2000 the city, which sits on the Limpopo river, was hit by flooding and submerged in nearly 10 feet of water and mud.
Francis told the roughly 2,500 people present, all active in the Church’s ministry, that they “are called to face reality as it is.”
“Times change and we need to realize that often we do not know how to find our place in new scenarios,” he noted, advising people to look to Mary’s ‘yes’ at the Annunciation as an example of what to do.
“The announcement of the incarnation is made in Galilee, in a remote and conflict-ridden region and a little town – Nazareth,” he said.
“It takes place in a house, not a synagogue or a religious place, and is made to a layperson and a woman. What has changed? Everything. And in this change, we find our deepest identity.”
The pope addressed the crisis of priestly identity, noting that what he would say is also applicable to bishops, seminarians, and consecrated men and women.
He said sometimes, without necessarily meaning to, priests can start identifying with their daily activity as priests, with certain activities, meetings, rituals, and with certain important and solemn places.
Instead, he said, the image of Mary, “that simple young woman in her home, as opposed to all the activities of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem, can be a mirror in which we see the complications and concerns that dim and dissipate the generosity of our ‘yes.’”
“Renewing our call has to do with choosing to say yes and to let our weariness come from things that bear fruit in God’s eyes, things that make present and incarnate his son Jesus.”
“The priest is the poorest of men unless Jesus enriches him by his poverty, the most useless of servants unless Jesus calls him his friend, the most ignorant of men unless Jesus patiently teaches him as he did Peter, the frailest of Christians unless the Good Shepherd strengthens him in the midst of the flock,” Francis said.
He drew a contrast between Mary and Zechariah, who, when he was told his wife Elizabeth would bear a son, “could not overcome his desire to control everything.” Instead Mary, “surrendered herself; she trusted.”
The weariness of a priest should not be from expending energy measuring one’s work against one’s “due” from God, he argued, but should be related to the “ability to show compassion.”
“We are to rejoice with couples who marry; we are to laugh with the children brought to the baptismal font; we are to accompany young fiancés and families; we are to suffer with those who receive the anointing of the sick in their hospital beds; we are to mourn with those burying a loved one,” he urged.
“Take this, eat this…” he said. “These are the words the priest of Jesus whispers repeatedly while caring for his faithful people: Take this, eat this; take this, drink this… In this way our priestly life is given over in service, in closeness to the People of God… and this always leaves us weary.”
The pope said he hopes young people will find in their priests an example of how to follow Jesus “radiant with the joy of a daily commitment, not imposed but fostered and chosen in silence and prayer.”
He also encouraged Mozambican women to live out their baptismal call to evangelize.
Pope Francis quoted a catechist, who had spoken earlier in the meeting and said: “‘We are a Church that is part of a heroic people’ that has experienced suffering yet keeps hope alive.”
“With this holy pride that you take in your people, a pride that invites a renewal of faith and hope, all of us want to renew our ‘yes,’” he said. “How happy is Holy Mother Church to hear you manifest your love for the Lord and for the mission that he has given you!”
At the end of the meeting, Pope Francis said a prayer for vocations and led the Our Father before giving his apostolic blessing.
His next stop will be to make a private visit to the Matthew 25 House, a charity run by the local Catholic church with the apostolic nunciature and about 20 religious congregations. It provides warm food and hygienic and health services to street children and youth.
Maputo, Mozambique, Sep 5, 2019 / 05:02 am (CNA).- Pope Francis encouraged young people of different faiths in Mozambique Thursday to not give up in the face of their country’s challenges, but to confront them with joy and hope.
“How do yo… […]
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