Pope Francis speaking to seminarians at the Vatican, Oct. 26, 2022 / Vatican media
Rome Newsroom, Oct 26, 2022 / 09:11 am (CNA).
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Pope Francis arriving for the general audience on St. Peter’s Square, Oct. 26, 2022 / Daniel Ibáñez / CNA
Rome Newsroom, Oct 26, 2022 / 04:02 am (CNA).
Pope Francis explained on Wednesday how times of spiritual desolation — described by St. Ignatius of Loyola as feelings of unquiet, temptation, sadness — can also help bring us closer to God.
“No one wants to be desolate, sad. We would all like a life that is always joyful, cheerful and fulfilled. Yet this, besides not being possible — because it is not possible — would not be good for us either,” the pope said during the general audience on Oct. 26.
In fact, he added, feelings of sadness or remorse can be the impetus for turning away from a life of vice.
Pope Francis continued his lessons on discernment with a reflection on spiritual desolation at his weekly gathering with the public in St. Peter’s Square.
Quoting from St. Ignatius of Loyola’s spiritual exercises, he said desolation is defined as: “Darkness of soul, disturbance in it, movement to things low and earthly, the unquiet of different agitations and temptations, moving to want of confidence, without hope, without love, when the soul finds itself all lazy, tepid, sad and as if separated from its Creator and Lord.”
He said one thing to know about desolation is that it is an invitation to self-reflection.
“It is important to learn how to read sadness,” Francis said. “We all know what sadness is: everyone. But do we know how to read it? Do we know what it means for me, this sadness of today?”
“In our time, [sadness] is mostly considered negatively, as an ill to avoid at all costs, and instead it can be an indispensable alarm bell for life, inviting us to explore richer and more fertile landscapes that transience and escapism do not permit,” he added.
The pope also pointed to St. Thomas Aquinas’ definition of sadness in the Summa Theologica as a “pain of the soul: like the nerves for the body, it redirects our attention to a possible danger, or a disregarded benefit.”
He compared the feelings to a red traffic light warning us to stop.
Pope Francis said we should also be aware of how the devil may try to use feelings of sadness or desolation to tempt us away from intentions to live with virtue.
“For those, on the other hand, who have the desire to do good, sadness is an obstacle with which the tempter tries to discourage us,” he explained.
“Think of work, study, prayer, a commitment undertaken: if we abandoned them as soon as we felt boredom or sadness, we would never complete anything,” he continued. “This is also an experience common to the spiritual life: the road to goodness, the Gospel reminds us, is narrow and uphill, it requires combat, self-conquest.”
He described a common experience: “I begin to pray, or dedicate myself to a good work, and strangely enough, just then things come to mind that need to be done urgently.”
“It is important, for those who want to serve the Lord, not to be led astray by desolation,” he warned, encouraging people to first pause and consider their state of mind before taking any drastic decisions.
“A wise rule says not to make changes when you are desolate,” he said without the help of a good spiritual guide.
The pope concluded by paraphrasing the encouraging words of St. Paul, who wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:13, that no one will be tempted beyond his or her ability, because the Lord never abandons us, and with him near, we can overcome every temptation.
And if we do not succeed today, he said, let us rise up and try again tomorrow.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle speaking at the Vatican on Oct. 21, 2021. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.
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Pope Francis and Emmanuel Macron at the Vatican, Oct 24, 2022 / Vatican Media
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Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy), speaks at a press conference at the party electoral headquarters overnight on Sept. 26, 2022. in Rome. Italy’s national elections on Sept. 25 saw voters poised to elect Meloni, a Catholic mother, as the country’s first female prime minister. / Photo by Antonio Masiello/Getty Images
Rome Newsroom, Oct 24, 2022 / 05:15 am (CNA).
Pope Francis offered a prayer for Italy on Sunday as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni became the country’s first female leader.
“And today, at the start of a new government, let us pray for unity and peace in Italy,” the pope said at the end of his Angelus address on Oct. 23.
Hours after the handover ceremony between Meloni and her predecessor Mario Draghi in Rome’s Chigi Palace, the new prime minister thanked Pope Francis for his comments.
Meloni wrote on social media: “I thank His Holiness #PopeFrancis for his thoughts on Italy on this very important day for the government I have the honor to preside over.”
Ringrazio Sua Santità #PapaFrancesco per il pensiero che ha voluto rivolgere all’Italia in questa giornata così importante per il Governo che ho l’onore di presiedere. @Pontifex_it
— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) October 23, 2022
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian bishops’ conference, sent his “sincerest congratulations” to Meloni after the new government’s swearing-in ceremony at the Quirinal Palace.
“With you also opens a historic page for our country: the new government is the first led by a woman in the role of Prime Minister,” Zuppi said.
The cardinal highlighted the many challenges that Italy is facing, listing what he described as the Italian bishops’ main concerns: “poverty, the demographic winter, the protection of the elderly, regional disparities, the ecological transition and the energy crisis, employment and job opportunities for young people, the reception and integration of migrants, the streamlining of bureaucratic procedures, and reforms of state democratic structures and electoral law.”
Zuppi added: “Looming over all these is the tragedy of the ongoing war that requires the commitment of all, in full harmony with Europe, in the inescapable and urgent search for a just path that can finally lead to peace.”
The cardinal promised that the Catholic Church in Italy “will not fail to engage in a constructive dialogue inspired solely by the desire to contribute to the pursuit of the common good of the country and to the protection of the inviolable rights of the person and the community.”
Meloni has described herself in speeches as a Christian and has publicly expressed her admiration for St. John Paul II and her desire to meet Pope Francis in person.
“I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am a Christian, and you can’t take that away from me,” she said in a speech in 2019.
Meloni’s party won the general election on Sept. 25 with a platform that supports traditional families, tax cuts, cracking down on illegal immigration, and Italy’s Christian roots. In a speech earlier this year, she said, “no to the LGBT lobby, yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology, yes to the culture of life.”
The prime minister heads the Brothers of Italy party, which she co-founded in 2012. Before and amid her party’s electoral victory, Meloni’s views have been described in the media as “far-right” and even as “fascist” — labels that she has rejected.
In an interview with Reuters, Meloni dismissed any suggestion that her party was nostalgic for the fascist era and distanced herself from comments she made in 1996, as a teenager, when she said Benito Mussolini “was a good politician.”
Italy’s new government comprises a coalition that includes Matteo Salvini’s League party and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia.
Meloni delivered a strong rebuke to Berlusconi last week and said that the former prime minister risked losing influence in the new government after Berlusconi boasted of having recently exchanged gifts of vodka and sparkling Italian red wine with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Italy, with its head high, is part of Europe and the (NATO) Atlantic alliance,” Meloni said, according to AP. “Whoever doesn’t agree with this cornerstone cannot be part of the government, at the cost of not having a government.”
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Pope Francis delivers the Angelus address on Oct. 23, 2022. / Vatican Media
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Pope Francis on Oct. 12, 2022 / Daniel Ibáñez / CNA
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Pope Francis greeting pilgrims on St. Peter’s Square, Oct. 19, 2022. / Daniel Ibáñez / CNA
Warsaw, Poland, Oct 21, 2022 / 06:45 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has welcomed the establishment of a Center for Catholic-Jewish Relations in Poland and called for a deepening appreciation of a common heritage.
The Abraham J. Heschel Center for Catholic-Jewish Relations is a new scientific and educational institution of the John Paul II Catholic University in Lublin. Its purpose is to deepen Catholic-Jewish relations internationally on the scientific, educational, and cultural levels.
The inauguration ceremony took place Oct. 17. The inauguration was attended, among others, by the scholar Susannah Heschel, daughter of Abraham J. Heschel; the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa; and representatives of the Jewish and Catholic communities.
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) was a Polish-born American rabbi and influential thinker who also contributed to Jewish-Christian relations.
On Wednesday, Pope Francis told Polish pilgrims at his general audience in Rome: “The need to research one’s own life also applies to entire nations. It is worthwhile to learn about the history of one’s own country in order to recognize the traces of God’s presence in it.”
The pope stressed that he was pleased that a center for Catholic-Jewish relations had been opened in Lublin.
“I hope it will promote appreciation of the common heritage not only of the two religions but also of the two peoples. I bless you with all my heart,” he said.
Speakers at the livestreamed opening ceremony included Rabbi Abraham Skorka; Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, president of the Polish Bishops’ Conference; and Archbishop Stanisław Budzik of Lublin.
The initiator and founder of the Abraham J. Heschel Center for Catholic-Jewish Relations at the Catholic University of Lublin is Father Miroslaw Kalinowski, rector of the John Paul II Catholic University in Lublin.
The inaugural director is Father Miroslaw Wróbel, head of the Biblical Sciences Section of the Catholic University of Lublin.
The new center’s deputy directors are Witold Mędykowski, a historian and specialist on the history of Polish Jews and the Holocaust, and Father Paweł Rytel-Andrianik, a biblical scholar and orientalist who holds a doctorate in Judaic and Hebraic studies from Oxford University.
The Catholic Church in Poland marks an annual Day of Judaism at the start of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which takes place Jan. 18–25.
In Poland, the Catholic Church also observes a Day of Islam at the end of the ecumenical week.
© Catholic World Report