A banner featuring Pope Francis for the World Day of the Poor, 2022 / Daniel Ibáñez / CNA
Rome Newsroom, Nov 9, 2022 / 05:14 am (CNA).
On Sunday, Nov. 13, the Catholic Church will celebrate the 6th World Day of the Poor.The day was established … […]
Pope Francis speaking at the general audience on St. Peter’s Square, Nov. 9, 2022 / Daniel Ibáñez / CNA
Rome Newsroom, Nov 9, 2022 / 03:34 am (CNA).
Pope Francis said Wednesday his trip to the Gulf kingdom of Bahrain was a new step on the journey to create “fraternal alliances” between Christians and Muslims.
The pope spoke about his Nov. 3-6 visit to Bahrain, a small, overwhelmingly Muslim country in the Persian Gulf, during his weekly public audience in St. Peter’s Square Nov. 9.
“The journey to Bahrain should not be seen as an isolated episode,” he said. “It was part of a process initiated by Saint John Paul II when he went to Morocco.”
This is why, he continued, “the first visit of a pope in Bahrain represents a new step on the journey between Christian and Muslim believers — not to confuse things or water down the faith, but to create fraternal alliances in the name of our Father Abraham, who was a pilgrim on earth under the merciful gaze of the one God of Heaven, the God of peace.”
“And why do I say that dialogue does not water down [the faith]?” Francis said. “Because to dialogue you have to have your own identity, you have to start from your identity. If you do not have identity, you cannot dialogue, because you do not understand what you are either.”
The motto of Pope Francis’ visit to Bahrain was “Peace on earth to people of goodwill.” The trip included encounters with government officials, Muslim leaders, and the small Catholic community, including a Mass with around 30,000 people in Bahrain’s national soccer stadium.
The small Christian minority in Bahrain is mostly made up of immigrants, especially from India and the Philippines.
More than 70% of the total population — 1.5 million — is Muslim, while there are only about 161,000 Catholics living in the country, according to 2020 Vatican statistics.
Pope Francis said Wednesday it was “marvelous” to see the many Christian immigrants in Bahrain.
“The brothers and sisters in the faith, whom I met in Bahrain, truly live ‘on a journey,’” he said. “For the most part, they are immigrant laborers who, far from home, discover their roots in the People of God and their family within the larger family of the Church. And they move ahead joyfully, in the certainty that the hope of God does not disappoint.”
The pope pointed out that the Kingdom of Bahrain is an archipelago of 33 islands, which “helps us understand that it is not necessary to live by isolating ourselves, but by coming closer” — something which aids peace.
He said “dialogue is the ‘oxygen of peace,’” not only in a nation but also in a family: Dialogue can help bring peace to a husband and wife who are fighting, for example.
Throughout his visit to Bahrain, Francis said, he heard several times the desire to increase encounters and strengthen the relationship between Christians and Muslims in the country.
He recalled a custom in that part of the world to place one’s hand on the heart when greeting another person. “I did this too,” he said, “to make room inside me for the person I was meeting.”
“For without this welcome, dialogue remains empty, illusory, it remains on the level of an idea rather than reality,” he said.
Francis encouraged Catholics to have “open hearts,” not closed, hard hearts, and said he would like to transmit the “genuine, simple, and beautiful joy” of the Christian priests, religious, and lay people he met in Bahrain.
“Meeting each other and praying together, we felt we were of one heart and one soul,” he said.
At the beginning of the general audience, Pope Francis drew attention to two “courageous” children who had approached the platform where he was sitting.
These children “didn’t ask permission, they didn’t say, ‘Ah, I’m afraid’ — they came directly,” he said. “They gave us an example of how we are to be with God, with the Lord: go for it.”
“He is always waiting for us,” he continued. “It did me good to see the trust of these two children: it was an example for all of us. This is how we must always approach the Lord: with freedom.”
Pope Francis prays on St. Peter’s Square, Oct. 5, 2022 / Daniel Ibáñez / CNA
Rome Newsroom, Nov 8, 2022 / 04:12 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has sent a message to victims of a plane crash in Tanzania. He said he is praying for those who have died and their families.
The airline confirmed Nov. 7 that 19 people died after a commercial airplane crash-landed in Lake Victoria on its way to the town of Bukoba in north Tanzania on Sunday. Another 24 people have survived.
“Pope Francis sends condolences and offers the assurance of his spiritual closeness to all those affected by this tragedy, especially the families of the victims,” a Vatican telegram said.
The message, sent Monday night, was signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.
Pope Francis “prays in particular for the eternal repose of the deceased, the healing of the injured and strength for those involved in the rescue and recovery efforts,” the message said. “Upon all, His Holiness invokes the consolation and peace of Almighty God.”
The Precision Air flight left Tanzania’s commercial capital of Dar es Salaam on the morning of Nov. 6, before being caught in bad weather and crashing in Lake Victoria, one of the African Great Lakes, according to media reports.
The plane was carrying 39 passengers and four crew members. The two flight attendants survived, while the two pilots, who initially survived the crash, died before they could be rescued, Albert Chalamila, the chief administrator of Tanzania’s Kagera Region, told Reuters.
The African continent’s largest lake by area, Lake Victoria, spans northern Tanzania and southern Uganda and reaches partly into Kenya. The town of Bukoba, the flight’s destination, is on the lake’s southwestern shore.
The Catholic bishops of Tanzania extended their condolences to victims of the plane crash in a message Monday.
They said the country’s bishops’ conference “wishes the family members and all Tanzanians strength during this difficult time.”
“Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen,” the bishops wrote.
Pope Francis and Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. / Mazur/cbcew.org.uk/ Олег Чупа via Wikimedia (GFDL).
Rome Newsroom, Nov 7, 2022 / 08:39 am (CNA).
The leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Ch… […]
Pope Francis addressing members of the Claretianum Institute of the Theology of the Consecrated Life at the Vatican, Nov. 7, 2022. / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Nov 7, 2022 / 08:03 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Monday asked religious not to succum… […]
Pope Francis meets with Catholics living on the Arabian Peninsula during a prayer service in Sacred Heart Church in Manama, Bahrain, on Nov. 6, 2022. / Vatican Media.
Rome Newsroom, Nov 6, 2022 / 03:20 am (CNA).
In Bahrain on Sunday morning, Po… […]
More than 2,400 contestants raced through Rome in the 14th annual All Saints’ Day 10K, the Corsa dei Santi (Race of the Saints), Nov. 1, 2022. Competitors ran the streets traversed by many saints over the centuries. / Photo credit: Alan Koppscha… […]
Natalia Tsarkova works on a portrait of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in her studio in central Rome. / Daniel Ibáñez / CNA
Rome Newsroom, Nov 3, 2022 / 07:03 am (CNA).
Natalia Tsarkova, official portrait artist to the popes for more than 20 years,… […]
Pope Francis praying in St. Peter’s Basilica on All Souls’ Day, Nov. 2, 2022. / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Nov 2, 2022 / 06:53 am (CNA).
On All Souls’ Day, Pope Francis urged Christians not to “compromise with the Gospel” but to take Jesus’ words seriously when he says we will be judged by how we treat the poor.
“Often, out of convenience or comfort, we tend to tone down Jesus’ message, to water down his words. Let’s face it, we have gotten pretty good at compromising with the Gospel,” the pope said in St. Peter’s Basilica on Nov. 2.
“From simple disciples of the Master we become masters of complexity, who argue a lot and do little, who seek answers more in front of the computer than in front of the Crucifix, on the internet rather than in the eyes of our brothers and sisters; Christians who comment, debate, and expound theories but do not know even a poor person by name, have not visited a sick person for months, have never fed or dressed someone, have never made friends with someone in need,’” he said.
Pope Francis offered Mass on All Souls’ Day for the repose of the souls of more than 150 deceased bishops and cardinals who died in the past year.
In his homily, the pope reflected on Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Matthew: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.”
All Souls’ Day Mass at the Vatican
“May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.” pic.twitter.com/BVZCChYK5w
— Courtney Mares (@catholicourtney) November 2, 2022
The pope said that these words in the Gospel help prepare for death and the final judgment. He said God is “waiting for us among the poor and wounded of the world.” Pope Francis warned that there is a continual risk to “put the expectations of the world before the expectation of God” and to end up “losing sight of what matters.”
“The best careers, the greatest achievements, the most prestigious titles and awards, the accumulated wealth and earthly gains, all will vanish in an instant, everything,” he said.
The pope said that All Souls’ Day is a good occasion to ask “if our desires have anything to do with heaven.”
The Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica was offered for the 9 cardinals and 148 bishops and archbishops who died between Oct. 30, 2021, and Oct. 17, 2022.
Among the deceased cardinals listed in a booklet accompanying the Mass were Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the former Vatican secretary of state; Cardinal Claudio Hummes, the former archbishop of São Paulo, Brazil, who had a significant role in the 2019 Amazon Synod; and Cardinal Antonios Naguib, the former patriarch of Alexandria and head of the Coptic Catholic Church.
Bishops who died in the past year included Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Anthony Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, Texas; Archbishop Emeritus Stanislaw Nowak of Czestochowa, Poland; Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Cheng Tsai-Fa of Taipei, Taiwan; and Bishop Emeritus Lawrence Donald Soens of Sioux City, Iowa.
After the Mass, Pope Francis made a private visit to a cemetery inside Vatican City. The Teutonic Cemetery, located next to St. Peter’s Basilica, is the burial place of people of German, Austrian, and Swiss descent, as well as for people from other German-speaking nations, particularly members of the Archconfraternity of Our Lady.
The cemetery is built on the historic site of Nero’s Circus, where early Christians in Rome were martyred, including St. Peter.
On All Souls’ Day and throughout the month of November, the Church makes a special effort to remember, honor, and pray for the dead. There are many different cultural traditions around this period, but one of the most consistently honored is the practice of visiting cemeteries.
Last year, Pope Francis visited a military cemetery in Rome on All Souls’ Day. In 2018, Pope Francis offered Mass in a cemetery for deceased children and unborn babies called the Garden of Angels, located in the Laurentino Cemetery on the outskirts of Rome.
Archbishop Ludwig Schick / Rudolf Gehrig / CNA
CNA Newsroom, Nov 1, 2022 / 07:52 am (CNA).
Pope Francis accepted the resignation of a German archbishop on Tuesday. Archbishop Ludwig Schick of Bamberg had been in charge of the Bavarian arch… […]
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