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Pope Francis apologizes for losing patience with woman who grabbed him

January 1, 2020 CNA Daily News 7

Vatican City, Jan 1, 2020 / 06:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis apologized Wednesday for losing his patience with a woman who grabbed his arm in St. Peter’s Square on New Year’s Eve.

“Many times we lose our patience; me too. I apologize for yesterday’s bad example,” Pope Francis in a departure from his prepared remarks for the Angelus prayer Jan. 1.

While greeting the crowd in front of the Vatican nativity scene Dec. 31, a woman yanked the pope’s arm. Visibly upset, Pope Francis slapped her hand and walked away frustrated.

After his impromptu apology, the pope said that contemplating the nativity scene helps one to see with the eyes of faith a vision of “the renewed world, freed from the dominion of evil and placed under the royal lordship of Christ, the Child who lies in the manger.”

Christ’s salvation involves the “patience of love,” he said. “Love makes us patient.”

“Dear brothers and sisters, let us descend from the pedestals of our pride – we all have the temptation of pride – and ask the blessing of the Holy Mother of God, the humble Mother of God,” Pope Francis said in his Angelus address.

Earlier on Jan. 1, the pope celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, a holy day of obligation in the Church.

Pope Francis said in his homily that the Church finds its unity in the Blessed Virgin Mary. He prayed, asking the Mother of God to bring unity among Catholics.

“The enemy of our human nature, the devil, seeks instead to divide, to highlight differences, ideologies, partisan thinking and parties,” he said.

“As her sons and daughters, invoke today the Mother of God, who gathers us together as a people of believers. O Mother, give birth to hope within us and bring us unity,” the pope prayed.

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Pope Francis: Honor the dignity of women for a better world in 2020

January 1, 2020 CNA Daily News 2

Vatican City, Jan 1, 2020 / 05:15 am (CNA).- Pope Francis began the new year with a call for the dignity of women to be honored — not exploited for profit and pornography — in 2020.

“How many times is the woman’s body sacrificed on the profane altars of advertising, profit, pornography, exploited as a surface to be used,” Pope Francis said in St. Peter’s Basilica Jan. 1.

“If we want a better world, which is a house of peace and not a war zone, we have to care for the dignity of every woman,” the pope said.

Pope Francis said that our level of humanity can be judged by how we treat a woman’s body, “the most noble flesh in the world” and “the culmination of creation.”

“Women are sources of life. Yet they are continually offended, beaten, raped, coaxed into prostitution and to kill the life that occurs in their womb. Any violence inflicted on women is a profanation of God, born of a woman,” the pope said.

In his homily for the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, Pope Francis said that women must be honored and respected.

He said that today’s world humiliates motherhood by only valuing economic productivity, when women embody the “purpose of creation itself — the generation and custody of life.”

“When women can transmit their gifts, the world finds itself more united and more peaceful. Therefore, an achievement for women is an achievement for all humanity,” Pope Francis said.

“So let’s start the year in the sign of Our Lady, a woman who has woven the humanity of God,” he urged.

Pope Francis said that the Church rediscovers her unity in Mary as “the enemy of human nature, the devil, instead tries to divide it, putting differences, ideologies, and partisan thoughts and camps in the foreground.”

The pope asked everyone in St. Peter’s Basilica to pray together acclaiming “Holy Mother of God” three times.

“We children today invoke the Mother of God, who unites us as a believing people. O Mother, generate hope in us, bring unity to us. Woman of salvation, we entrust you this year, keep it in your heart,” he said.

 

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Pope Francis asks families to put down their phones on Holy Family feast

December 29, 2019 CNA Daily News 1

Vatican City, Dec 29, 2019 / 05:30 am (CNA).- On feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth Sunday, Pope Francis encouraged families to get off their cell phones and talk to one another.

“In your family, do you know how to communicate with each other, or are you like those kids at the table — each one has their own cell phone, chatting? In that table there is a silence as if they were at Mass, but they don’t communicate with each other,” Pope Francis said in his Angelus address Dec. 29.

“We need to retake communication within the family: parents, children, grandparents and siblings must communicate with each other,” the pope said. “This is your assignment for today for the feast of the Holy Family.”

Pope Francis said that the Holy Family is a model for families today in “following the Gospel, the foundation of holiness in a family,” as they prayed, worked, and communicated with each other.

“The Holy Family of Nazareth represents a choral response to the will of the Father. The three members of this exceptional family help each other to discover and carry out God’s plan,” he said.

“The family is a precious treasure: we must always support and protect it,” the pope said.

The Holy Family was “totally available to God’s will,” he said, providing an example of obedience and openness for families today.

The pope pointed to Mary’s obedience to God at times when she did not fully understand God’s plans for her.

“Mary silently meditates, reflects and worships the divine initiative. Her presence at the foot of the cross consecrates this total availability,” the pope said.

“As for Joseph, the Gospel does not bring us a single word: he does not speak, but acts by obeying,” Francis added.

An example of this was Joseph’s trust in God’s will as he fled with his family to Egypt.

“Under the guidance of God, represented by the Angel, Joseph removes his family from the threats of Herod,” he said. “The Holy Family is thus in solidarity with all the families of the world forced into exile, solidarity with all those who are forced to abandon their land because of repression, violence, war.”

Pope Francis asked for prayers for the victims of a car bomb in Mogadishu, Somalia that killed over 70 people Dec. 28, and expressed his closeness to all family members mourning their loss.

“Let us entrust to Mary, ‘Queen of the family,’ all the families of the world, especially those experiencing suffering or unease, and we invoke her maternal protection on them,” Pope Francis said.

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