A screenshot from Pope Francis’ May 4 video message to young people attending World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal. / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, May 4, 2023 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has sent a video message to the teens and young adults preparing to attend World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, in August.
“I’ll see you in Lisbon,” he said, according to an English translation of the message, delivered in Spanish. The message was published on the Vatican’s YouTube page on May 4, just under three months before the Aug. 1-6 international gathering.
“Dear young people, you are getting ready for World Youth Day,” Pope Francis said. “There are three months to go. I can imagine the things you must have on your mind… how you’re going to: make it happen, request your work or study permit, get what you need for your trip, so many concerns, but always looking towards that horizon, that dream.”
“To participate in WYD is something beautiful,” he said. “Prepare yourselves with that enthusiasm. Put hope in that. Have hope… because one grows a lot at an event like WYD.”
World Youth Day was established by Pope John Paul II in 1985. The weeklong gathering usually attracts hundreds of thousands of young people.
Pope Francis said the Portuguese capital would host the global Catholic gathering of young people at the closing Mass of the last international World Youth Day in Panama City in January 2019.
The event is typically held on a different continent every three years, with the presence of the pope. In 2020, the Vatican announced that World Youth Day would be postponed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lisbon, a city of 505,000 people, is about 75 miles from Fatima, one of the most visited Marian pilgrimage sites in the world. A report on “European Young Adults and Religion,” published in 2018, found that Portugal has one of the highest levels of weekly Mass attendance among young people in Europe.
In his video message, Pope Francis also shared “a secret” to preparing well for World Youth Day.
“To prepare well, it’s good to look towards your roots,” he said, encouraging young people to spend time with the elderly before the gathering.
“Many of you have grandparents. Visit your grandparents and ask them: ‘In your time did World Youth Day exist?’ — Surely not. ‘And what do you think I must do?’ Talk a little with your grandparents. They’ll give you wisdom.”
Pope Francis spoke about the Christian roots of Hungary during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square on May 3, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Vatican City, May 3, 2023 / 02:21 am (CNA).
Pope Francis said Wednesday that freedom is under threat in Europe, as people choose consumerism and individualism over building families and community.
Even today, “freedom is under threat,” he said May 3. “Above all with kid gloves, by a consumerism that anesthetizes, where one is content with a little material well-being and, forgetting the past, one ‘floats’ in a present made to the measure of the individual.”
“This is the dangerous persecution of modernity that advances consumerism,” he underlined.
“But when the only thing that counts is thinking about oneself and doing what one likes, the roots suffocate,” he warned. “This is a problem throughout Europe, where dedicating oneself to others, community feeling, the beauty of dreaming together and creating large families are in crisis. All of Europe is in crisis.”
Pope Francis spoke about Europe, its roots, and the problem of consumerism, during his weekly audience with the public.
Speaking about his visit to Budapest, Hungary, April 28-30, he asked those present at the audience to think about “the importance of preserving roots, because only by going deep will the branches grow upwards and bear fruit.”
He began his reflection on the three-day trip to Hungary’s capital city by recalling the European country’s Christian roots and the ways those were tested in the 20th century.
“Their faith, as we have heard from the Word of God, has been tested by fire,” he said, noting the atheist persecution in the 1900s, when “Christians were struck down violently, with bishops, priests, religious, and lay people killed or deprived of their freedom.”
“But while attempts were made to cut down the tree of faith, the roots remained intact,” he said, pointing out the steadfastness of the “hidden Church” in Hungary.
“In Hungary, this latest persecution, the Communist oppression was preceded by the Nazi oppression, with the tragic deportation of a large Jewish population,” the pope added.
“But in that atrocious genocide, many distinguished themselves by their resistance and their ability to protect the victims; and this was possible because the roots of living together were firm,” he said. “Thus the common bonds of faith and people helped the return of freedom.”
Quoting St. Pope John Paul II, Pope Francis also spoke about Hungary’s “many saints and heroes, surrounded by hosts of humble and hard-working people.”
He noted, in particular, the devotion of Hungary’s St. Stephen, to the Virgin Mary.
“I want to recall, at the beginning of the month of May, how very devoted the Hungarians are to the Holy Mother of God,” he said.
“Consecrated to her by the first king, St. Stephen, they used to address her without pronouncing her name, out of respect, calling her only by the titles of Queen,” Pope Francis said. “To the Queen of Hungary, therefore, we entrust that dear country; to the Queen of Peace, we entrust the building of bridges in the world; to the Queen of Heaven, whom we acclaim at this Easter time, we entrust our hearts that they may be rooted in the love of God.”
Father Dario E. Viganò, president of the MAC Foundation, shares about the foundation in a May 2, 2023, presentation at the Vatican’ Apostolic Library / Credit: Father Dario E. Viganò
Rome Newsroom, May 3, 2023 / 13:00 pm (CNA).
Unveiled this we… […]
Metropolitan Anthony, chairman for external church relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, greets Pope Francis after his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square on May 3, 2023 / Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, May 3, 2023 / 06:15 am (CNA).
Pope Francis greeted the chairman for external church relations of the Russian Orthodox Church after his weekly public audience on Wednesday.
The brief encounter in St. Peter’s Square with Metropolitan Anthony comes amid heightened scrutiny of diplomatic signals involving the Holy See’s desire to broker a peaceful settlement to the ongoing fighting in Ukraine.
In his press conference Sunday on his flight back to Rome from Budapest, Pope Francis told reporters that the Holy See is involved in a secret peace mission to end the conflict. Both Ukrainian and Russian officials were quick to deny that negotiations were taking place, but a close papal aide confirmed the pope’s statement in an interview with an Italian news outlet published Wednesday.
In the livestream video of the May 3 general audience, Metropolitan Anthony, 38, could be seen approaching the pope and shaking his hand. Francis kissed the bishop’s pectoral cross. The two spoke for just under one minute and exchanged small gifts.
Pope Francis has wanted to meet with the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine. A planned meeting between the two leaders in Jerusalem last summer, which would have taken place during a trip to Lebanon, was canceled.
On the second day of his trip to Budapest, Hungary, April 28-30, the pope had a private meeting with Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Archbishop Hilarion. During his in-flight press conference April 30, the pope commented on meeting Hilarion, saying he is someone “for whom I have much respect, and we have always had a good relationship.”
“Hilarion is an intelligent person with whom one can talk, and such relationships must be maintained, because if we talk about ecumenism, we can then say ‘I like this, but I don’t like that …’ We must extend our hand towards everyone, and also accept the extended hand of others,” he said, according to a Vatican transcript of the press conference. The metropolitan was also present at Francis’ Sunday Mass in Budapest.
Metropolitan Anthony, chairman for external church relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, walks with Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza, regent of the Pontifical House, in St. Peter’s Square on May 3, 2023. The metropolitan had a brief exchange with Pope Francis after the pope’s general audience on May 3, amid heightened scrutiny of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Russia. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Pope Francis also said during the in-flight press conference that he has only spoken once with Kirill since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The two spoke, he said, for 40 minutes over a Zoom video call.
He also said that Metropolitan Anthony, who replaced Hilarion as chairman for external church relations, “comes to see me.”
“He is a bishop who was a pastor in Rome and knows the situation well, and through him I am in contact with Kirill,” he added.
Anthony was a clergyman in Rome from 2011-2019.
Responding to the pope’s comments about secret talks, an official in the Ukrainian presidential office told CNN on May 1 that he was “not aware” of a peace mission. “If there are talks, they are taking place without our knowledge,” he said, according to CNN.
According to TASS news agency, a spokesman for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, said Tuesday that Russia also “has no knowledge” of this mission.
However, economist Stefano Zamagni, until recently the president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, has reportedly confirmed the veracity of Pope Francis’ comments about a peace mission.
Zamagni, thought to be a close advisor to Pope Francis, was quoted in the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano on May 3 saying, “the pope has been working continuously for peace for more than eight months. But it’s no surprise: It is obvious that both the Kremlin and Kyiv deny it because there is still no official document.”
The economist said the Vatican is carrying forward a seven-point plan for the peace process he outlined last September.
Rome Newsroom, May 2, 2023 / 08:30 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has praised the Billings method of natural family planning as “a valuable tool” for married couples that also provides needed education about the meaning… […]
Pope Francis stands on an altar erected outside the Parliament Building in Budapest’s Kossuth Lajos’ Square during a public outdoor Mass on April 30, 2023. / Vatican Media
CNA Staff, Apr 30, 2023 / 05:47 am (CNA).
During an outdoor Mass in Budapest on Good Shepherd Sunday, Pope Francis called on Hungarians to be “open and inclusive,” reflecting on how Jesus wants his flock to share the abundant life they’ve received from him.
“Though we are diverse and come from different communities, the Lord has brought us together, so that his immense love can enfold us in one embrace,” the pope said in his April 30 homily, speaking in bright sunshine to more than 50,000 people gathered in and around the Hungarian capital’s picturesque Kossuth Lajos Square.
“[A]ll of us are called to cultivate relationships of fraternity and cooperation, avoiding divisions,” he said, “not retreating into our own community, not concerned to stake out our individual territory, but rather opening our hearts to mutual love.”
Prior to Mass, held outside the city’s majestic neo-Gothic Parliament building, the pope was transported in his wheelchair to a specially constructed altar platform flanked by banners in the colors of the Vatican and Hungarian flags and simply adorned with a towering wooden crucifix.
Pope Francis and Cardinal Peter Erdő, the archbishop of Budapest (left) are shown at the outdoor Mass held in Budapest, Hungary, on April 30, 2023. Erdő was the principal celebrant of the Mass; since the pope’s knee injury has impeded his mobility, he has called on cardinals to take his place at the altar. Vatican Media
Cardinal Peter Erdő, the archbishop of Budapest, was the principal celebrant of the Mass; since the pope’s knee injury has impeded his mobility, he has called on cardinals to take his place at the altar.
In his homily, Francis zeroed in on “two specific things that, according to the Gospel, [the Good Shepherd] does for the sheep. He calls them by name, and then he leads them out.”
“The history of salvation does not begin with us, with our merits, our abilities, and our structures. It begins with the call of God,” the pope said.
“[T]his morning, in this place, we sense the joy of our being God’s holy people. All of us were born of his call.”
Pope Francis said he spoke especially “to myself and to my brother bishops and priests: to those of us who are shepherds.” He called on the faithful to be “increasingly open doors: ‘facilitators’ — that’s the word — of God’s grace, masters of closeness; let us be ready to offer our lives, even as Christ … teaches us with open arms from the throne of the cross and shows us daily as the living Bread broken for us on the altar.”
Seeing closed doors is “sad and painful,” the pope said. He referred specifically to the “closed doors of our selfishness with regard to others; the closed doors of our individualism amid a society of growing isolation; the closed doors of our indifference towards the underprivileged and those who suffer; the doors we close towards those who are foreign or unlike us, towards migrants or the poor.”
The pope’s plea was, “Please, let us open those doors! Let us try to be — in our words, deeds, and daily activities — like Jesus, an open door.”
As open doors, the Lord of life can enter our hearts, Pope Francis assured, with “words of consolation and healing.”
Pope Francis speaks during a public outdoor Mass in Kossuth Lajos Square in Budapest, Hungary, on April 30, 2023. Vatican Media
Speaking to his Hungarian hosts, he urged them to be “open and inclusive” and “in this way, help Hungary to grow in fraternity, which is the path of peace,” an apparent reference to the country’s contested migration policies.
While the pope has praised the country for being a leader in assisting persecuted Christians in other countries and welcoming more than a million war refugees from neighboring Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s curbing of migrants from the Middle East and Africa is generally seen as being at odds with the pope’s call to openness. During the migrant crisis of 2015, Orbán sealed Hungary’s southern border with Serbia, closing off the main land route into Europe.
Pope Francis ended his homily with a reminder that Jesus “calls us by name and cares for us with infinitely tender love. He is the door, and all who enter through him have eternal life. He is our future, a future of ‘life in abundance.’
“Let us never be discouraged,” the pope said. “Let us never be robbed of the joy and peace he has given us. Let us never withdraw into our own problems or turn away from others in apathy. May the Good Shepherd accompany us always: with him, our lives, our families, our Christian communities and all of Hungary will flourish with new and abundant life!”
In his Regina Caeli reflection after the Mass, the pope referenced the ongoing fighting in Ukraine.
“Blessed Virgin, watch over the peoples who suffer so greatly. In a special way, watch over the neighboring, beleaguered Ukrainian people and the Russian people, both consecrated to you,” he said.
“You, who are the Queen of Peace, instill in the hearts of peoples and their leaders the desire to build peace and to give the younger generations a future of hope, not war, a future full of cradles not tombs, a world of brothers and sisters, not walls and barricades.”
Ending his three-day visit to Budapest, the pope is scheduled to deliver a speech on culture and academics Sunday afternoon at the Péter Pázmány Catholic University. He then will have a farewell ceremony at 5:30 p.m. local time before departing on his return flight to Rome.
Pope Francis smiles during a meeting on April 29, 2023, with children and adults who are visually impaired and have other disabilities at a Catholic institute in Budapest, Hungary, dedicated to Blessed László Batthyány-Strattmann. / Vatican Medi… […]
A screenshot from Pope Francis’ May 4 video message to young people attending World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal. / Vatican Media
