Archbishop Georg Gänswein and Pope Francis on St. Peter’s Square, May 21, 2014. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
CNA Newsroom, Apr 12, 2024 / 10:25 am (CNA).
Not for the first time, it has been reported that Pope Francis is considering a diplomatic … […]
Pope Francis greets pilgrims at the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on March 22, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Vatican City, Apr 12, 2024 / 06:45 am (CNA).
Pope Francis will travel to the Southeast Asian countries of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore later this year, the Vatican announced Friday.
The 11-day multi-country voyage from September 2 to 13 will be the longest international trip of Francis’ papacy.
The trip announcement comes after the 87-year-old pope has slowed down his travel schedule in recent months as health issues have forced him to cancel some public appearances. Francis, who often uses a wheelchair, has not traveled internationally since September 2023.
Indonesia
Pope Francis’ first stop will be Indonesia, home to the largest Muslim population in the world. The country’s 229 million Muslims make up more than 12% of the global Muslim population. Nearly all of Indonesia’s Muslims are Sunni.
Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo of Jakarta welcomed the news that the pope will visit Indonesia from Sept. 3 to 6.
“Catholics throughout Indonesia want to shake hands with the pope one by one, but we all know that is impossible,” Suharyo said in a video message announcing the visit.
More than 29 million Christians live in Indonesia, 7 million of which are Catholic. Pope St. Paul VI visited the country in 1970 and Pope St. John Paul II traveled there in 1989.
“Hopefully, with this visit, Indonesian Catholics will become more courageous in voicing the truth and become an example for people of other religions in terms of truly religious life, namely love above all, as the pope always emphasizes,” the Indonesian cardinal told UCA News.
Papua New Guinea
Pope Francis will be the second pope to visit Singapore, East Timor, and Papua New Guinea after John Paul II.
The pope will visit the cities of Port Moresby and Vanimo in Papua New Guinea from September 6 to 9.
Papua New Guinea is a country of nearly nine million people on the eastern half of the island of New Guinea. The other side of the island consists of two Indonesian provinces. Papua New Guinea is a nation of considerable cultural diversity, comprised of hundreds of ethnic groups indigenous to the island with 851 indigenous languages spoken in the country.
Nearly all Papua New Guinea citizens are Christians, and 26% of the population is Catholic.
East Timor
The pope’s next stop on his Southeast Asia tour will be Dili, the capital city of East Timor from September 9 to 11.
East Timor is a small country on the island of Timor. It gained independence from Indonesia in 1999, following decades of bloody conflict as the region vied for national sovereignty.
More than 97% of East Timor’s population of 1 million people are Catholic. It is one of only a few Catholic-majority countries in Southeast Asia.
A Catholic bishop from East Timor, Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, received the Nobel Peace Prize together with the country’s second president, Jose Manuel Ramos-Horta, in 1996 for their efforts to reach a peaceful and just end to fighting in the country.
The Vatican confirmed in 2022 that Belo has been under disciplinary restrictions since September 2020 due to accusations of sexual abuse of minors.
Singapore
Pope Francis will conclude his trip with a visit to the island country of Singapore from September 11 to 13.
Singapore has the highest GDP per capita in Asia and the second-highest population density of any country in the world. The Archdiocese of Singapore has a diverse population of 395,000 Catholics, offering Masses predominantly in English, Chinese, Tamil, as well as other languages from Southeast Asia.
Nearly 75% of Singapore’s population is ethnic Chinese, according to the 2020 census, which also lists 13% of the population as ethnic Malay and 9% ethnic Indian.
The U.S. Report on International Religious Freedom states that among ethnic Indians in Singapore, 57.3% are Hindu, 23.4% Muslim, and 12.6% Christian. The ethnic Chinese population includes Buddhists (40.4%), Christians (21.6%), Taoists (11.6%), and 25.7% with no religion.
Pope Francis has long expressed interest in visiting Indonesia and other neighboring island nations in Southeast Asia. A papal trip to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that the pope’s full schedule for this apostolic journey will be published at a later date.
Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery on the Doctrine of the Faith, speaks during a press conference about a new Vatican document on human dignity on April 8, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Vatican City, Apr 8, 2024 / 12… […]
Born via surrogacy in the United States in 1991, Olivia Maurel is now a leading campaigner for the abolition of “womb renting,” a practice which Pope Francis has called “deplorable.” / Credit: Fabio Gonnella/EWTN News
Vatican City, Apr 7, 2024 … […]
The Divine Mercy image is displayed at St. Peter’s Square before Pope Francis Regina Caeli prayer on April 7, 2024. / Credit: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images
Vatican City, Apr 7, 2024 / 09:10 am (CNA).
Pope Francis during the Regina Caeli on Divine Mercy Sunday noted that the “fullness of life” comes not from the pursuit of transitory pleasure but is “realized in Jesus.”
“To have life,” the pope said, “it is enough to fix one’s eyes on the crucified and risen Jesus, encountering him in the sacraments and in prayer, recognizing that he is present, believing in him, letting oneself be touched by his grace and guided by his example, experiencing the joy of loving like him. Every living encounter with Jesus enables us to have more life.”
Divine Mercy Sunday, instituted by St. John Paul II during the Jubilee Year of 2000, is celebrated on the Second Sunday of Easter.
The pope drew upon the disciples, despondent and secluded in the upper room, who “are going through the most tragic moment in life” to showcase how Christ’s coming to them was a deeply transformative moment, one that not only reveals his mercy but also promises a new life.
“The Risen One comes to them and shows them his wounds,” the pope said. “They were the signs of suffering and pain, they could stir feelings of guilt, yet with Jesus they become channels of mercy and forgiveness.”
“The disciples see and touch with their hands the fact that with Jesus, life wins; death and sin are defeated. And they receive the gift of his Spirit, which gives them a new life, as beloved sons, imbued with joy, love, and hope.”
Pope Francis presented this message in contrast with today’s prevalent narratives of what constitutes a good life and the pursuit of happiness, observing that it is “a frenetic race to enjoy and possess many things.”
Cautioning against this materialistic and myopic view, he stressed that “by following the path of pleasure and power one does not find happiness.”
“Indeed, many aspects of existence remain unanswered, such as love, the inevitable experiences of pain, of limitations, and of death. And then the dream we all have in common remains unfulfilled,” the pope continued.
To counter this tendency the pope encouraged the faithful to ask the following questions: “Do I believe in the power of the resurrection of Jesus, in his victory over sin, fear, and death? Do I let myself be drawn into a relationship with him? And do I let myself be prompted by him to love my brothers and sisters, and to hope every day?”
At the end of the Regina Caeli, the pope reiterated his long-standing call for a “lasting peace” in “the tormented Ukraine” as well as in Palestine and Israel by imploring leaders to find a way to de-escalate tensions and to negotiate.
The pope’s plea comes six months after the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023, which to date has left over 33,000 civilians dead in the Gaza Strip.
Cardinal Angelo De Donatis. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Apr 6, 2024 / 08:57 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has transferred the vicar of Rome Cardinal Angelo De Donatis to a different post as head of the Vatican’s Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vati… […]
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger celebrates the special “pro eligendo summo pontifice” (to elect Supreme Pontiff) Mass at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City on April 18, 2005. / Credit: MARCO LONGARI/AFP via Getty Images
CNA Staff, Apr 1, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis said he was “used” in the 2005 conclave in an effort to block the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, though he supported the candidacy of the man who soon became Pope Benedict XVI.
“He was my candidate,” Francis said of his predecessor in excerpts from the forthcoming book “The Successor,” published by the Spanish newspaper ABC on Easter Sunday.
In the book, Pope Francis told Spanish journalist Javier Martínez-Brocal that his name, then-Cardinal Jose Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, was put forward as part of a “complete maneuver” by an unnamed group of cardinals to manipulate the conclave’s outcome.
“The idea was to block the election of [Ratzinger],” he explained. “They were using me, but behind them they were already thinking about proposing another cardinal. They still couldn’t agree on who, but they were already on the verge of throwing out a name.”
Francis said that at one point of the conclave, which began on April 18, 2005, he was receiving 40 of the 115 total votes. If cardinals continued to support him, Ratzinger would not have reached the necessary two-thirds threshold to be elected, likely prompting a search for an alternative candidate.
Francis said that he realized the “operation” was afoot on the second day of voting and told the Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillón to not “joke with my candidacy” and cease supporting him, “because I’m not going to accept” being elected.
Austen Ivereigh, the pope’s English-speaking biographer, has previously written that Bergoglio, “almost in tears,” had begged not to be elected.
Ratzinger, who had been the longtime prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope John Paul II, was elected that same day.
Pope Francis did not say who this group of conclave manipulators consisted of nor who they planned to introduce as a third candidate, but the Argentinian prelate said that the group of cardinals “did not want a ‘foreign’ pope.”
Several accounts from the time have claimed that a group of liberal European cardinals, known as the Saint Gallen Group, attempted to manipulate the outcome of the 2005 conclave. Three members of the group, German Cardinals Walter Kasper and Karl Lehmann and Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, also participated in the 2013 conclave that elected Francis. According to Ivereigh, they advocated for Bergoglio after first securing his assent, a claim the cardinals have denied.
According to Universi Dominici Gregis, an apostolic constitution governing papal conclaves, cardinal electors must refrain from “any form of pact, agreement, promise, or other commitment of any kind which could oblige them to give or deny their vote to a person or persons” under threat of automatic excommunication.
Conclave proceedings are, by definition, secretive, as the term is derived from a Latin word that means a “locked room.” But in “The Successor,” Francis said that while cardinals are sworn to secrecy regarding conclave proceedings, “the popes have license to tell it.”
Pope Francis also revealed that while others were putting his name forward in the hopes of forcing a stalemate, he believed Ratzinger “was the only one at that time [who] could be pope.”
“After the revolution of John Paul II, who had been a dynamic pontiff, very active, with initiative who traveled … there was a need for a pope who maintained a healthy balance, a transitional pope,” the Holy Father said of his predecessor, who served from 2005 to 2013.
Francis also said that he left Rome happy that Ratzinger had been elected and not himself.
“If they had chosen someone like me, who makes a lot of trouble, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything,” he said. “At that time, it would not have been possible.”
Nonetheless, Pope Francis added that the papacy “wasn’t easy” for Benedict XVI, who “encountered a lot of resistance within the Vatican.”
Pope Francis was also asked what the Holy Spirit was saying to the Church through the election of Benedict XVI.
“’I am in charge here,’” Francis said of the Spirit’s response. “’There is no room for maneuver.’”
“The Successor” is part of a flurry of Francis-focused books being released in the 87-year-old Jesuit’s 11th year as pontiff, which also includes “Life: My Story Through History,” the pope’s first autobiography.
The new book, which focuses on the relationship between Pope Francis and Benedict XVI, is set to be published in Spanish on Wednesday, April 3, with no details yet available on an English edition.
Pope Francis presides over Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square on March 31, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Mar 31, 2024 / 08:15 am (CNA).
Pope Francis presided over Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday 2024 before giving the traditional urbi et orbi blessing in the presence of approximately 60,000 people.
On a warm and windy Easter Sunday at the Vatican, Pope Francis proclaimed: “Jesus Christ is risen! He alone has the power to roll away the stones that block the path to life. He, the living One, is himself that path. He is the Way.”
“Only the risen Christ, by granting us the forgiveness of our sins, opens the way for a renewed world,” the pope added.
Speaking from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in his urbi et orbi blessing, Pope Francis said that “today throughout the world there resounds the message proclaimed 2,000 years ago from Jerusalem: ‘Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, has been raised!’”
St. Peter’s Square was adorned with an array of over 21,000 flowers and plants from the Netherlands.
Three hundred priests, 18 bishops, and 34 cardinals concelebrated the Easter Sunday Mass on March 31. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re celebrated at the altar due to Francis’ difficulty walking and standing.
The Gospel reading, John 20:1-9, was proclaimed in Latin and Greek. The passage recounts the moment in which Mary Magdalene and the apostles Peter and John found the empty tomb after Jesus’ resurrection.
Christ is Risen! Alleluia!
Easter hymns of joy from the Vatican: pic.twitter.com/USjIomFVwV
— Courtney Mares (@catholicourtney) March 31, 2024
As is his custom, Francis did not give a homily after the Gospel but stayed a few moments in silent prayer. Pope Francis gave a homily at the Easter Vigil Mass, which can be read here.
The pope also participated in the “Resurrexit,” an ancient rite honoring an icon of the Holy Savior. At the conclusion of the liturgy, Pope Francis rode through St. Peter’s Square on the popemobile greeting enthusiastic pilgrims who waved flags and cheered.
In his urbi et orbi message following the Mass, the pope reflected on the “amazing discovery of Easter morning” as the women discovered an empty tomb.
“The tomb of Jesus is open and it is empty! From this, everything begins anew!” Pope Francis said.
“A new path leads through that empty tomb: the path that none of us but God alone could open: the path of life in the midst of death, the path of peace in the midst of war, the path of reconciliation in the midst of hatred, the path of fraternity in the midst of hostility.”
Pope Francis prayed for peace in Israel, Palestine, Ukraine, and other parts of the world suffering from war and violence.
“On this day when we celebrate the life given us in the resurrection of the Son, let us remember the infinite love of God for each of us: a love that overcomes every limit and every weakness,” he said.
“And yet how much the precious gift of life is despised! How many children cannot even be born? How many die of hunger and are deprived of essential care or are victims of abuse and violence? How many lives are made objects of trafficking for the increasing commerce in human beings?”
“May the light of the Resurrection illuminate our minds and convert our hearts, and make us aware of the value of every human life, which must be welcomed, protected, and loved. A happy Easter to all!” Pope Francis said.
Students and teachers from Jerusalem Christian schools walk the Way of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. The yearly event was organized by the Custody of the Holy Land on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, on the occasion of Lent. / Credit: Marine… […]
St. Mark’s Square in Venice, Italy. / Shutterstock|maziarz
Vatican City, Mar 25, 2024 / 11:45 am (CNA).
Pope Francis will travel by motorboat along Venice’s canals and offer Mass in St. Mark’s Square during his visit to the “floating city,” the Vatican announced Monday.
The Holy See Press Office has released the schedule for the pope’s upcoming day trip to Venice — the pope’s only scheduled trip so far in 2024.
Pope Francis will preside over a public Mass in St. Mark’s Square at 11 a.m. on Sunday, April 28, as he visits the Vatican pavilion at the Venice Biennale art exhibition.
The 87-year-old pope will travel by helicopter from Vatican City to Venice in under two hours and will land on Giudecca Island, home to Venice’s women’s prison.
The pope’s first meeting will be with inmates in the prison, where he will also tour the Vatican art exhibit being displayed there and meet with the featured artists.
Pope Francis will then travel by motorboat from Giudecca Island to Venice’s Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute, a place of pilgrimage in the city built in thanksgiving to the Virgin Mary for saving Venice from the terrible plague of 1630.
The pope will give a speech to young people from dioceses throughout Italy’s northern Veneto region in the piazza in front of the basilica before crossing a bridge over the Grand Canal to arrive at St. Mark’s Square.
After the Mass, Pope Francis will privately venerate the relics of St. Mark the Evangelist inside the basilica. He will leave St. Mark’s Square via motorboat to arrive at a heliport on Sant’Elena Island, where he will depart by helicopter at 1 p.m. after having spent only five hours in Venice.
Pope Francis will be the first pope to visit the prestigious Venice Biennale art exhibition, which will be open to the public from April 20 to Nov. 24.
The Vatican has participated in the Art Biennale since 2013. The first Holy See Pavilion was commissioned by Pope Benedict XVI, who also visited Venice in 2011 and traveled across the Grand Canal in the same gondola as Pope John Paul II did in 1985.
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