Speaking in his Angelus address on March 3 about the Israel-Hamas war, Pope Francis made an emotional plea for negotiations to reach a deal that both frees the hostages immediately and grants civilians access to humanitarian aid. / Credit: Vatic… […]
Pope Francis addresses the faithful at his Wednesday general audience on Feb. 28, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media
ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 1, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).
The Archdiocese of Toledo, Spain, has demanded that two priests apologize for commen… […]
The superior general of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), Father Andrzej Komorowski, met with Pope Francis on Feb. 29, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Pater Stefan Reiner, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Vatican Media
Rome Newsr… […]
Pope Francis meets with members of the French-based academic organization Research and Anthropology of Vocations Institute on March 1, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Mar 1, 2024 / 10:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Fr… […]
In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual state of the nation address at the Gostiny Dvor conference center in central Moscow on Feb. 29, 2024. / Credit: GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
CNA Staff, Feb 29, 2024 / 16:05 pm (CNA).
Russian President Vladimir Putin in a speech on Thursday cautioned that any Western military intervention in support of Ukraine could potentially lead to nuclear conflict.
“[The West] must understand that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory,” Putin, who is widely expected to hold onto power in an upcoming election, said in a Feb. 29 speech to Russia’s Federal Assembly.
Warning of “tragic consequences” if NATO forces were ever deployed to Ukraine, Putin continued, as reported by the Washington Post: “All this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization. Don’t they get that? … [Russia’s] strategic nuclear forces are in a state of full readiness.”
Putin’s speech came two days after French President Emmanuel Macron suggested that the deployment of foreign forces to Ukraine remained an option.
“We will do everything needed so Russia cannot win the war,” Macron said at a news conference. He said there is no consensus to “send in” troops on the ground, but said “nothing can be ruled out.”
In response to Macron’s remarks, the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said the idea that Europe could send ground troops to Ukraine opens a “frightening scenario” that could “bring about the escalation that we have always tried to avoid from the beginning.”
“It’s a scenario that I wouldn’t call apocalyptic because perhaps that’s an exaggerated word at this moment, but certainly it’s fearsome,” Parolin said Feb. 27, as reported by Vatican News.
The cardinal, who has called for peace in Ukraine but also previously warned of the dangers of escalation, lamented that “no prospect of a solution on the horizon, be it military or negotiated.”
“It would be ideal to really find a way to get the two sides to start talking and dialoguing,” Parolin added to Vatican News. “I believe that if we talk, a solution will be found.”
Pope Francis has spoken before of the danger of the possibility of a nuclear war “that will extinguish us.” The pope’s words came shortly after the start of the war in Ukraine, at the start of which Putin ordered Russian nuclear forces to be put on high alert, raising fears of the possibility of a nuclear war.
Pope Francis at the Easter Vigil Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on April 8, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Feb 29, 2024 / 12:10 pm (CNA).
The Vatican has released Pope Francis’ schedule for Holy Week 2024, which will include five papal liturgies, Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum, and other traditions to mark the most sacred week of the year.
Easter is the highest feast in the Catholic Church, known as the “solemnity of solemnities,” celebrating Jesus’ resurrection and defeat of sin and death, and the Vatican celebrates Holy Week with pomp, reverence, tradition, and a busy schedule.
The 87-year-old pope is scheduled to preside over liturgies on each day of the Easter Triduum as well as Palm Sunday.
The Holy See Press Office published the pope’s Holy Week schedule one day after Pope Francis visited the hospital for diagnostic tests. Reuters reported that the pope had a CT scan during the hospital checkup. Last year, Pope Francis was discharged from the hospital one day before presiding over Palm Sunday Mass.
Holy Week 2024 begins on March 24 with Palm Sunday and culminates with Easter on March 31. Here is the Vatican’s full schedule:
On Sunday morning, March 24, Pope Francis is scheduled to preside over Mass for Palm Sunday, also known as Passion Sunday or the Commemoration of the Lord’s Entrance into Jerusalem.
The Mass, which will be in St. Peter’s Square at 10 a.m. local time, will kick off with a grand procession of deacons, priests, bishops, cardinals, and laypeople carrying palms.
The procession includes olive tree branches, palm fronds, and the large, weaved palms called “parmureli,” all blessed by Pope Francis.
Pope Francis is set to start Holy Thursday with a chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at 9:30 a.m. in the presence of cardinals, bishops, and priests living in Rome.
During the Mass, Pope Francis, as the bishop of Rome, will bless the oil of the sick, the oil of catechumens, and the chrism oil to be used in the diocese during the coming year.
The Vatican has yet to release the details for where Pope Francis will celebrate Holy Thursday Mass 2024. Last year, the pope offered Mass at the juvenile detention center Casal del Marmo, the same detention center where he offered Holy Thursday Mass in 2013 shortly after his election.
Continuing the liturgies of the Triduum, Pope Francis is also scheduled to preside over a celebration for the Passion of the Lord on Good Friday at 5 p.m. in St. Peter’s Basilica.
During this liturgy, which is not a Mass, Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, the papal preacher, typically preaches instead of the pope.
In the evening, Pope Francis will lead the Stations of the Cross devotion at 9:15 p.m. in Rome’s Colosseum illuminated by candlelight.
On Holy Saturday, Pope Francis is set to preside over the Easter Vigil at 7:30 p.m. in St. Peter’s Basilica.
The Easter Vigil, which takes place on Holy Saturday night, “is the greatest and most noble of all solemnities,” according to the Roman Missal.
The liturgy begins in darkness with the blessing of the new fire and the preparation of the paschal candle. At the Vatican, cardinals, bishops, and priests process through the dark basilica carrying lit candles to signify the light of Christ coming to dispel the darkness.
Pope Francis also typically baptizes new Catholics at this Mass.
The morning of Easter Sunday, Pope Francis will preside over Mass in St. Peter’s Square at 10 a.m. on a flower-decked parvise.
After Mass, he will give the annual Easter “urbi et orbi” blessing at noon from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.
“Urbi et orbi” means “to the city [of Rome] and to the world” and is a special apostolic blessing given by the pope every year on Easter Sunday, Christmas, and other special occasions.
In 2023, local authorities estimated that there were close to 100,000 people present in St. Peter’s Square for the blessing.
Pope Francis greets the faithful from his wheelchair during his Feb. 28, 2024 general audience at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media
CNA Staff, Feb 28, 2024 / 16:49 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis was hospitalized Wednesday morning after a public audi… […]
Pope Francis meets at the Vatican with bishops from the Armenian Catholic Church o Feb. 28, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media
CNA Staff, Feb 28, 2024 / 10:30 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Wednesday urged the bishops of the Armenian Catholic Church to “… […]
Pope Francis greets pilgrims at his Wednesday general audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican on Feb. 28, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Feb 28, 2024 / 07:44 am (CNA).
Pope Francis, still visibly suffering from a “col… […]
Pope Francis appears in a wheelchair at his general audience on Feb. 28, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Feb 28, 2024 / 07:43 am (CNA).
Pope Francis went to the hospital on Rome’s Tiber Island on Wednesday morning after meeting with… […]
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