Vatican City, Jan 4, 2021 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- Australia’s Catholic bishops are considering raising questions with the country’s financial watchdog authority about whether any Catholic organizations were among the recipients of billions of Au… […]
Vatican City, Jan 4, 2021 / 09:30 am (CNA).- Archbishop Georg Gänswein urged Catholic journalists Monday to act with the courage of EWTN founder Mother Angelica.
Preaching at a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica Jan. 4, the personal secretary to Benedict XVI also encouraged those working in Catholic media to convey “the essence of the Christian message” in the spirit of Renaissance artist Michelangelo.
“In doing so, imitate Mother Angelica and Michelangelo. Be brave like Mother Angelica! And reach for the stars like Michelangelo,” Gänswein said, according to CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, which published the full text of the archbishop’s homily.
Mother Angelica began broadcasting from a converted garage in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1981. By the time of her death in 2016, EWTN had become the largest religious media network in the world.
The Mass, attended by EWTN employees, took place in the Chapel of the Pietà, which houses Michelangelo’s celebrated sculpture of Mary cradling Jesus Christ after the Crucifixion. The artist carved the image out of Carrara marble in 1498–1499, when he was 24 years old. It is the only artwork he ever signed.
Referring to the Pietà, Gänswein said: “The creative act of the sculptor is the removal of everything unnecessary, as we see here. In this respect, sculptors are particularly similar to God, who often only takes away the unnecessary in order to create something new.”
“Michelangelo also removed everything superfluous from the marble block from Carrara, in which this sculpture had been hidden for millions of years. In this sense, this marvel just had to be freed. It was, so to speak, the invisible essence in this raw marble block that Michelangelo recognized and exposed with his genius.”
“Finally, I can and will recommend this technique to you as Catholic media people.”
The 64-year-old archbishop told a German magazine last month that he was “grateful to God that 2020 was over.”
Gänswein, from the Black Forest region of Germany, is prefect of the Papal Household, but has been on leave from his duties as prefect since February in order to be able to dedicate his time exclusively to the former pope as Benedict XVI’s private secretary.
Following treatment for kidney problems in September, Gänswein told the magazine Bunte that he had had a “clarifying, very fortifying and encouraging meeting with Pope Francis” about his removal from active duty as prefect, which he stressed he knew was not a “punishment.”
Gänswein celebrated Christmas and the New Year with the Pope Emeritus at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican Gardens, where the two men and four Italian nuns reside.
In his homily on Monday, the archbishop urged journalists to imitate Michelangelo’s approach to sculpture by omitting “everything unnecessary in your reporting that all media report on anyway.”
“Instead, keep getting to the essence of the Christian message and make it as free as the young Michelangelo, without any competition,” he said.
“Because in all news on Earth — about all tragedies, catastrophes, wars or pandemics — the most important essence is always the good news of the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.”
“It is precisely this message that we see here before us. Therefore, never cease to tell about it above all and to expose the beauty of this news to the best of your ability.”
Bridgeport, Conn., Jan 2, 2021 / 04:35 pm (CNA).- The Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport has announced that Bishop Frank Caggiano is in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 last Wednesday.
Bishop Caggiano has been systematically testing for COVID… […]
Vatican City, Jan 2, 2021 / 09:00 am (CNA).- Coronavirus vaccines are scheduled to arrive in Vatican City next week, according to the Vatican director of health and hygiene.
In a statement released Jan. 2, the head of the Vatican health service, Dr. A… […]
Vatican City, Jan 1, 2021 / 09:37 am (CNA).- The Virgin Mary’s motherly care encourages us to use our God-given time for building up the world and peace, not destroying it, Pope Francis said on New Year’s Day.
“The reassuring and com… […]
Vatican City, Dec 31, 2020 / 10:20 am (CNA).- Pope Francis explained Thursday why the Catholic Church gives thanks to God at the close of a calendar year, even years that have been marked by tragedy, such as 2020’s coronavirus pandemic.
In a hom… […]
Vatican City, Dec 31, 2020 / 09:20 am (CNA).- Because of sciatic pain, Pope Francis will not preside at the Vatican’s liturgies on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, according to the Holy See press office.
Pope Francis was scheduled to lead vespers on Dec. 31, and to offer Mass on Jan. 1, for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, in St. Peter’s Basilica.
The director of the Vatican press office, Matteo Bruni, stated Dec. 31 that the pope would no longer be doing so “due to a painful sciatica.”
Pope Francis has suffered from sciatica for a number of years. He spoke about it during an in-flight press conference returning from a trip to Brazil in July 2013.
He revealed that “the worst thing” that had happened in the first four months of his pontificate “was an attack of sciatica – really! – that I had the first month, because I was sitting in an armchair to do interviews and it hurt.”
“Sciatica is very painful, very painful! I don’t wish it on anyone!” Francis said.
The pope will still recite the Angelus on Jan. 1, the Vatican statement said. During the Christmas season, Francis has been giving his Angelus message via livestream from the library of the Apostolic Palace, due to holiday coronavirus restrictions in Italy.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the secretary of state, will offer the Jan. 1 Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica.
First Vespers, the singing of the “Te Deum,” and Eucharistic adoration Dec. 31 was led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, deacon of the College of Cardinals.
CNA Staff, Dec 30, 2020 / 05:29 pm (CNA).- Priests and parishioners in Southern California are praying for the safe return of Bishop Moses Chikwe, the auxiliary bishop of Owerri Archdiocese in Nigeria, who served for several years in the Diocese of San Diego as a priest before returning to his country.
Bishop Moses was ordained a priest on July 6, 1996, in Nigeria, after which he completed his Master’s degree in educational administration at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and his Ph.D. in education at UCLA. Fr. Moses served for six years as a priest in residence at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in downtown San Diego and at the VA Hospital in La Jolla as chaplain; he also frequently said Mass at St. Mark’s parish in San Marcos, CA.
He returned to his home diocese to where he became director of education and was ordained Auxiliary Bishop on December 12, 2019, but he kept “strong ties with the community and came back during the summer for four consecutive years, except for this last summer,” Fr. Bruce Orsborn, pastor of St. Mark’s and a good friend of Bishop Moses told CNA.
During his summer visits, then-Fr. Moses would resume celebrating masses and preaching at St. Mark’s. “Everybody loves Fr. Moses, he is extremely humble and gentle, and he is very intelligent, he is extremely prayerful and people were amazed at his homilies,” said Fr. Orsborn.
Fr. Peter M. Escalante, current pastor of Mission San Diego de Alcala and former pastor of the Cathedral in downtown San Diego, told CNA that “it was in mid-2008 that he took residence at St. Joseph’s Cathedral while completing his doctoral studies at UCLA and working on his dissertation. He helped with daily and weekend masses at the Cathedral and he is still fondly remembered there.”
Fr. Escalante has maintained a friendship with Bishop Moses, even traveling to Nigeria with two parishioners last December for the occasion of his Episcopal Ordination. “He is a wonderful human being and Churchman. We are praying fervently for his safety and release.”
In a December 29 statement, the Archbishop of Owerri Anthony Obinna urged “all Christ’s faithful and people of goodwill” to disregard reports that kidnappers had killed Bishop Moses. “This information is unconfirmed, misleading and does not come from the Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri,” he added.
Fr. Orsborn sent an urgent email to all St. Mark’s parishioners, announcing a time of special prayer at St Mark’s for the safety of Bishop Moses. The prayer service will be held on Sunday, January 3 2021 at 2:30 pm.
Vatican City, Dec 30, 2020 / 07:00 am (CNA).- Twenty Catholic missionaries were killed across the world in 2020, the information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies said Wednesday.
Agenzia Fides reported Dec. 30 that those who lost their lives… […]
Vatican City, Dec 30, 2020 / 03:25 am (CNA).- Catholics can change the world by being “bearers of gratitude,” Pope Francis said at the general audience Wednesday.
In his address Dec. 30, the pope said that thanksgiving was a hallmark … […]
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