Vatican

No Picture
News Briefs

Pope Francis joins UN chief’s appeal for Ukraine war Easter truce

April 21, 2022 Catholic News Agency 1
Pope Francis on Palm Sunday 2022 in St. Peter’s Square. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Apr 21, 2022 / 06:40 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has joined the head of the United Nations and the leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in a call for a four-day truce in Ukraine for the Triduum and Easter.

The Eastern Orthodox churches and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church follow the Julian calendar, meaning they will celebrate Easter on April 24 this year.

The appeal for an Easter truce was launched on April 19 by Antonio Guterres, secretary general of the UN, in agreement with Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk.

“Easter is a season for renewal, resurrection and hope. It is a time for reflection on the meaning of suffering, sacrifice, death — and rebirth. It is meant to be a moment of unity,” Guterres said at UN headquarters in New York

“This year, Holy Week is being observed under the cloud of a war that represents the total negation of the Easter message,” he said, calling for a four-day pause on fighting, beginning on Holy Thursday, April 21, to allow for the opening of humanitarian corridors and the safe delivery of aid.

The Vatican announced on April 21 that Pope Francis had joined the UN chief’s appeal, after the pope had called for an Easter truce in Ukraine during Palm Sunday Mass on April 10.

“In the knowledge that nothing is impossible for God, they invoke the Lord so that the population trapped in war zones may be evacuated and peace may soon be restored, and they ask those in charge of the Nations to listen to the people’s cry for peace,” a Vatican press release said.

At the end of Mass on Palm Sunday 2022, Pope Francis urged the laying down of weapons for an “Easter truce.”

Before an estimated 65,000 people in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis said that “nothing is impossible for God.”

“He can even bring an end to a war whose end is not in sight, a war that daily places before our eyes heinous massacres and atrocious cruelty committed against defenseless civilians. Let us pray about this.”

[…]

No Picture
News Briefs

Pope Francis: Catholic education is vital in ‘an age awash in information’

April 21, 2022 Catholic News Agency 1
Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square on April 18, 2022. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Apr 21, 2022 / 03:05 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has said that Catholic education and formation are more important than ever in “an age awash in information often transmitted without wisdom or critical sense.”

“As educators, you are called to nurture the desire for truth, goodness and beauty that lies in the heart of each individual, so that all may learn how to love life and be open to the fullness of life,” Pope Francis wrote in a message delivered to a delegation from English-speaking Catholic universities on April 20.

“Catholic education is also evangelization: bearing witness to the joy of the Gospel and its power to renew our communities and provide hope and strength in facing wisely the challenges of the present time,” he said.

Pope Francis met with a delegation from the Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education (G.R.A.C.E.) at the Vatican’s apostolic palace on Wednesday morning.

The GRACE project is a collaboration between five Catholic universities in Europe, the United States, and Australia.

In written remarks prepared for the meeting and given to the delegation, the pope encouraged the Catholic university representatives to discern “innovative ways of uniting research with best practices so that teachers can serve the whole person in a process of integral human development.”

“In short, this means forming the head, hands and heart together: preserving and enhancing the link between learning, doing and feeling in the noblest sense. In this way, you will be able to offer not only an excellent academic curriculum, but also a coherent vision of life inspired by the teachings of Christ,” Pope Francis said.

“In this sense, the Church’s work of education aims not only ‘at developing the maturity of the human person … but is especially directed towards ensuring that those who have been baptized become daily more appreciative of the gift of faith which they have received’” (Second Vatican Council’s Declaration Gravissimum Educationis, 2).

Through the GRACE project, a long-term partnership has been formed between Boston College in the U.S., the University of Notre Dame in Australia, Mary Immaculate College Limerick in Ireland, Saint Mary’s University Twickenham in the U.K. and the International Office of Catholic Education in Rome.

The group organizes webinars and meetings, and supports doctoral students in research projects focused on Catholic education.

The pope opted to speak off the cuff to the group in Italian, apologizing for not speaking in English and noting that he “understood almost everything” that the delegation had said.

“I lived in Ireland, in Dublin, in Milltown Park, to study English. I studied English, but I forgot, excuse me!” he joked.

In his off the cuff remarks, the pope spoke about the relationship between tradition and progress.

He said: “Without roots, no progress can be made. Only with the roots do we become people: not museum statues, like some cold, starched, rigid traditionalists, with the thought that providing for life means living attached to the roots.”

“There is a need for this relationship with the roots, but also to move forward. And this is the true tradition: taking from the past to move forward. Tradition is not static: it is dynamic, aimed at moving forward.”

The pope met with the delegation ahead of his Wednesday general audience, where he spoke about the importance of honoring the elderly.

“May the joy of these days of Easter fill your hearts, and may your meeting here in the Eternal City strengthen you in fidelity to the Lord and his Church, and enrich your efforts to highlight the distinctiveness of our Catholic vision of education,” the pope’s written message to Catholic educators said.

“I trust that this study visit will inspire each of you to rededicate himself or herself with generous zeal to your vocation as educators, to your efforts to solidify the foundations of a more humane and solidary society, and thus the advancement Christ’s kingdom of truth, holiness, justice and peace,” he said.

[…]

No Picture
News Briefs

Pope Francis: To discard the elderly ‘is a grave sin’

April 20, 2022 Catholic News Agency 1
Pope Francis at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square on April 20, 2022. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Apr 20, 2022 / 03:20 am (CNA).

To not honor the elderly as God commands, and to treat them as something to discard, “is a grave sin,” Pope Francis said on Wednesday.

During his weekly meeting with the public in St. Peter’s Square on April 20, the pope said “this commandment to honor the elderly gives us a blessing.”

“Please, care for old people,” he urged, “because they are the presence of history, the presence of the family. And it is thanks to them we are here. Please, do not leave them alone.”

Honoring the elderly is a form of love, giving life not only to those honored, but to those doing the honoring, he said.

For the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pope’s Wednesday general audience was back in St. Peter’s Square.

The pope’s lesson focused on seven verses from the book of Sirach, including Sirach 3:12-13: “My son, be steadfast in honoring your father; do not grieve him as long as he lives. Even if his mind fails, be considerate of him; do not revile him because you are in your prime.”

“Honor is a good word to frame this aspect of returning love that concerns old age,” Pope Francis said. “We have received this love from our parents, now we return this love to our parents, to our grandparents.”

“Love for the human person that is common to us, including honoring a life lived, is not a matter for the old. Rather it is an ambition that will bring radiance to the youth who inherit its best qualities. May the wisdom of God’s Spirit grant us to open the horizon of this true cultural revolution with the necessary energy,” he stated.

Pope Francis encouraged parents to bring their children around the elderly often. And if their grandparents are in a nursing home, to bring them to visit.

He recalled that he would often visit the nursing homes in Buenos Aires, Argentina, when he was there. One time, he said, he spoke to a woman who had four children, and when he asked her if they came to visit, she said “yes.” But later, a nurse told Francis that in fact, it had been six months since the woman had seen her children, but she had lied because she did not want to speak badly of them.

This is treating the elderly like something disposable, he said. “This contempt, which dishonors the elderly, actually dishonors all of us.”

“Let us think carefully about this beautiful expression of love which is honor,” he urged. “Even care for the sick, the support of those who are not self-sufficient, the guarantee of sustenance, can be lacking honor.”

“This special love that paves the way in the form of honor — tenderness and respect at the same time — intended for the elderly is sealed by God’s commandment,” he continued.

We have all thought at one moment or another that our grandparents were annoying, he said. “Do not say, ‘no,’ it is ‘yes.’ We have thought that.”

“‘Honor thy father and mother’ is a solemn commitment,” he said. “It is not just about one’s own father and mother. It is about their generation and the generations before, whose leave-taking can also be slow and prolonged, creating a time and space of long-lasting coexistence with the other ages of life. In other words, it is about the old age of life.”

[…]

No Picture
News Briefs

Pope Francis appoints Montana priest as coadjutor bishop of Great Falls-Billings diocese

April 19, 2022 Catholic News Agency 0
A bishop’s pectoral cross. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA.

Vatican City, Apr 19, 2022 / 04:50 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has named a priest of Helena, Mont., Father Jeffrey Fleming, coadjutor bishop of the state’s other diocese, Great Falls-Billings.

Fleming, 56, has been Chancellor and moderator of the Curia of western Montana’s Diocese of Helena since 2020. He has been a priest of the diocese for almost 30 years.

As coadjutor bishop, Fleming will serve alongside the current bishop of Great Falls-Billings, Michael Warfel, and will automatically succeed him upon his resignation.

Warfel, 73, has led the eastern Montana diocese since January 2008.

The Diocese of Great Falls-Billings covers over 93,000 square miles, the eastern two-thirds of Montana. It has 50 parishes and serves 31,813 Catholics. The total population of the diocese is 427,358.

Coadjutor bishop-elect Fleming was born in Billings, Mont. in 1966. He studied religious education and theology at Carroll College in Helena and completed his priestly studies at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon, where he also received a master’s degree in theology.

He holds a license in canon law from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

In his nearly 30 years as a priest, Fleming has been parochial vicar and pastor at various parishes in the Diocese of Helena. He was also director of campus ministry at Carroll College.

In addition to his duties as chancellor of the diocese, since March, Fleming also serves as pastor of St. Mary Catholic Community in Helena.

[…]

No Picture
News Briefs

Pope Francis: ‘Come out of the tomb of fear’

April 18, 2022 Catholic News Agency 2
Pope Francis led the “Regina Caeli” on Monday, April 18, 2022, at St. Peter’s Square. / Daniel Ibáñez | CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 18, 2022 / 10:40 am (CNA).

Fear is like a tomb that can “bury us,” Pope Francis said Monday, but the Risen Lord’s words to the women who were the first to announce his resurrection apply to us, as well: “Be not afraid.”

Jesus knows that “our fears are our daily enemies” and that “our fears hide from the great fear, that of death: fear of fading away, or losing loved ones, of being sick, of not being able to cope further,” the pope said.

But Easter marks the day that Jesus conquered death, he added, “so no one else can tell us in a more convincing way: ‘Do not be afraid.’”

Pope Francis led the "Regina Caeli" on Monday, April 18, 2022, at St. Peter's Square. Daniel Ibáñez | CNA
Pope Francis led the “Regina Caeli” on Monday, April 18, 2022, at St. Peter’s Square. Daniel Ibáñez | CNA

Pope Francis spoke Monday afternoon to a large crowd in St. Peter’s Square on La Pasquetta, or “Little Easter,” a national holiday in Italy. The day’s Gospel reading, from the twenty-eighth chapter of Matthew, records how Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” encounter Jesus while running to bring the news of his rising to his disciples.

“Brother, sister, who believe in Christ, do not be afraid! Jesus says: ‘I tasted death for you, I took your pain upon myself. Now I have risen to tell you: I am here with you forever. Do not be afraid!'” Pope Francis said.

The Holy Father noted that the Lord gives the women another instruction: “Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Fear “closes us in on ourselves,” the pope said, but we can overcome fear by answering Jesus’ call to proclaim the resurrection to others.

Pope Francis led the “Regina Caeli" on Monday, April 18, 2022, at St. Peter's Square. Daniel Ibáñez | CNA
Pope Francis led the “Regina Caeli” on Monday, April 18, 2022, at St. Peter’s Square. Daniel Ibáñez | CNA

We may doubt our ability to share that news, but it is important to note that “the women were not perhaps the most suitable and prepared to proclaim the resurrection” either, the pope said. Nevertheless, “that did not matter to the Lord.”

Jesus cares only that “we go forth and proclaim … because the Easter joy is not to be kept to oneself,” he said. 

“The joy of Christ is strengthened by giving it, it multiplies sharing it,” Pope Francis added. “If we open ourselves and bear the Gospel, our hearts will open and overcome fear. This is the secret: We proclaim and overcome fear.”

In addition to fear, there is another obstacle to sharing the Gospel, the pope noted: falsehood.

Falsehood can be seen in the “counter-proclamation” of the soldiers who guarded the tomb and lied saying that Jesus’s body was stolen by his disciples, the pope said.

“The Gospel says [the guards] were paid ‘a sum of money,’ a good sum, and received these instructions: ‘Tell people, “His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep”’’” Pope Francis said.

But there is a contradiction: If the soldiers were sleeping, how did they see the disciples steal Jesus’ body? The payment they received explains their contrived narrative. Money is “the other lord that Jesus says we must never serve,” the pope said.

“Before the Risen Lord, there is another ‘god’ – the god of money that dirties and ruins everything, that closes the door to salvation,” Pope Francis said. “This is present everywhere in daily life with the temptation to adore the god of money.”

Pope Francis said that when deceit and lies are discovered by the media within the lives of people, it causes scandal. 

“But let us give a name also to the obscurity and falsehoods we have in ourselves! And let us place our own darkness and falsehoods before the light of the Risen Jesus,” he said. 

Jesus wants to “bring hidden things to light to make us transparent and luminous witnesses to the joy of the Gospel, of the truth that will make you free,” he said. 

He then asked “Mary, Mother of the Risen One,” to “help us overcome our fears and give us passion for the truth.”

[…]