Pope Francis’ general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Sept. 1, 2021. / Vatican Media.
Vatican City, Sep 1, 2021 / 06:00 am (CNA).
At the general audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis asked Catholics to reflect on how they live the fai… […]
Pope Francis is interviewed by Carlos Herrera, a journalist at the Spanish radio station COPE. / COPE.
Vatican City, Sep 1, 2021 / 03:30 am (CNA).
Pope Francis addressed the Vatican financial scandals in a sit-down radio interview that aired Wed… […]
Pope Francis attends a general audience at the Vatican. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.
Vatican City, Aug 31, 2021 / 07:32 am (CNA).
In a new interview, Pope Francis said that a nurse saved his life, in reference to a medical issue he had earlier this sum… […]
Pope Francis meets with members of Lazare Association from France at the Vatican, Aug. 28, 2021. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Aug 30, 2021 / 12:00 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis on Saturday tossed a speech he had prepared to give to a group of formerly… […]
The Franciscan friar Fr. Placido Cortese (1907-1944). / Il Messaggero di Sant’Antonio via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Vatican City, Aug 30, 2021 / 09:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has advanced the sainthood causes of a Franciscan friar who helped to r… […]
Pope Francis gives the Angelus message from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Aug 29, 2021 / 06:35 am (CNA).
Complaining and blaming others is a waste of time; the way to defeat evil is to conquer it first within our own hearts, Pope Francis said Sunday.
“If we look inside, we will find almost all that we despise outside. And if, sincerely, we ask God to purify our heart, that is when we will start making the world cleaner,” the pope said in his weekly Sunday Angelus message.
“Because there is an infallible way to defeat evil: by starting to conquer it within yourself.”
From a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis spoke Aug. 29 about the need to stop blaming others for everything wrong in the world and in our lives.
“We often think that evil comes mainly from the outside: from other people’s conduct, from those who think badly of us, from society,” he said. “How often we blame others, society, the world, for everything that happens to us! It is always the fault of ‘others’: it is the fault of people, of those who govern, of misfortune, and so on.”
According to Pope Francis, it is easy to spend time assigning blame, “but spending time blaming others is wasting time.”
“We become angry, bitter and keep God away from our heart,” he explained, pointing to the Pharisees, as described in the day’s Gospel from St. Mark, who are scandalized that Jesus and his disciples “eat without purifying themselves.”
“Complaining poisons, it leads you to anger, to resentment and to sadness, that of the heart, which closes the door to God,” the pope stressed.
“Let us ask in prayer for the grace not to waste time polluting the world with complaints,” he said, “because this is not Christian. Jesus instead invites us to look at life and the world starting from our heart.”
He urged people to ask the Lord to free them from blaming others today and he recalled a message of the Fathers of the Church, who said the first step on the path to holiness is to “blame yourself.”
“How many of us, during the day, in a moment during the day or a moment during the week, area able to blame ourselves within?” Francis said. “Try to do it, it will do you good. It does me good, when I manage to do so, but it is good for us, it is good for everyone.”
“May the Virgin Mary, who changed history through the purity of her heart, help us to purify our own, by overcoming first and foremost the vice of blaming others and complaining about everything,” he concluded.
Pope Francis speaks during the Angelus prayer. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Aug 29, 2021 / 05:30 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Sunday urged Christians to intensify their prayer, penance, and fasting for the situation in Afghanistan, as he entrusted… […]
Bishop-elect Guido Marini walks beside Pope Francis on Ash Wednesday 2021 in St. Peter’s Basilica / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Aug 29, 2021 / 04:40 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Sunday appointed the Vatican’s papal master of ceremonies, Msgr. Guido Marini, bishop of a northern Italian diocese.
Marini, who has been in charge of papal liturgies since his appointment by Benedict XVI in 2007, was Aug. 29 named Bishop of Tortona, a diocese of around 280,000 people.
Marini, 56, grew up near Tortona in the city of Genoa, where he served as chief liturgist for four years. The bishop-elect has degrees in canon and civil law. Prior to his appointment to the Vatican he was chancellor of the Archdiocese of Genoa and a spiritual director in the seminary.
Since 2019, Marini has also been responsible for the Sistine Chapel Choir. According to a biography by the Vatican, “from his priestly ordination to today, he has also carried out his ministry in the field of preaching spiritual exercises, spiritual direction, accompaniment of some youth groups, and as a spiritual assistant of some religious communities.”
There are eight papal masters of ceremonies, of which Marini was the head. They are responsible for organizing and overseeing all liturgical celebrations of the pope. Since 2007, with few exceptions, Msgr. Marini could be seen at the side of Pope Benedict XVI and then Pope Francis during papal Masses and other liturgies both at the Vatican and abroad.
Marini’s replacement was not announced Aug. 29, though there are three candidates for the position, according to sources who spoke to CNA earlier this summer.
One is Msgr. Diego Ravelli, a 56-year-old priest from northern Italy who has been head of the office of papal almoner since 2013 and also serves as one of the masters of ceremonies.
Another candidate for the role is Fr. Giuseppe Midili, director of the liturgical office of the Vicariate of Rome, and the third is Msgr. Pietro Moroni, dean of the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical Urban University and consultor of the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.
The change in papal master of ceremonies is one of a number of recent personnel changes to Vatican offices and dicasteries, part of Pope Francis’ continued reform of the Roman Curia.
St. Peter’s Basilica / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Aug 28, 2021 / 08:20 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Saturday made several temporary changes to the Vatican’s Chapter of St. Peter, a group of retired priests who pray and assist in the liturgical activities of St. Peter’s Basilica.
The new norms cut the chapter’s expenses and move its financial management under the Fabric of St. Peter, the office which manages St. Peter’s Basilica.
The pope issued the changes to the Chapter of St. Peter Aug. 28. They go into effect Oct. 1 and have a duration of one year while the chapter’s juridical statutes are under revision.
Pope Francis said the changes have been made “in order to facilitate the start of the reform of the Chapter of St. Peter in the Vatican.”
The Chapter of St. Peter was established in 1043 by St. Leo IX to guarantee regular prayer in St. Peter’s Basilica and, in the earlier years, to assist the pope in managing patrimonial goods donated to the papacy, including real estate.
The group is chaired by the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, currently Cardinal Mauro Gambetti. It has a vicar and 34 members. The members are chosen from among the most remarkable personalities in the Catholic Church when they retire.
Many of them come from the Roman Curia and receive a Vatican pension in addition to the fee paid to chapter members for their service. One of Pope Francis’ Aug. 28 reforms was to state that members can only receive the emolument from the chapter if they are not also receiving another commission, pension, or salary from the Vatican.
The priests will be appointed by Pope Francis for two roles: canon or coadjutor, according to the new norms. Canons will “provide the service of liturgical and pastoral animation at St. Peter’s Basilica.”
Coadjutors will “work in liturgical celebrations, in pastoral works and in other tasks that can be entrusted to them by the Archpriest together with the Chapter.”
Pope Francis also transferred some of the economic activities of the chapter, the Treasury Museum and sale of religious objects, to the management of the Fabric of St. Peter.
The chapter will continue to administer the real estate and financial assets already under its management, though a large part of the patrimony had already been transferred under the Administration of the Apostolic See (APSA), according to a former member of the chapter.
Priests of the Chapter of St. Peter are “professionals of prayer,” Benedict XVI said in a private audience with the group in 2007.
The commitment to prayer is central to their activity. Until the middle of the 20th century, the chapter members had to be in the basilica on a daily basis to pray the hours, be in adoration, and serve in the liturgical celebrations.
The chapter is now mainly involved on Sundays and feast days, or in celebrations with the pope.
The reform of the Chapter of St. Peter is happening alongside a reform of the organization and schedule of St. Peter’s Basilica. Pope Francis forbid private Masses in the upper part of the basilica earlier this year. Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the new archpriest, wants to go further and have only two Masses per day, in Italian, broadcast by the Vatican communications service.
Our Lady Queen of Peace Cathedral in Broome, Australia. / null
Vatican City, Aug 28, 2021 / 05:45 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Saturday accepted the resignation of Australian Bishop Christopher Alan Saunders, who had been on administrative leave fr… […]
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