Vatican City, Mar 20, 2020 / 11:05 am (CNA).- Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, has said that the coronavirus pandemic may justify the use of general absolution, in extraordinary circumstances, for Catholics unable to go to i… […]
Vatican City, Mar 20, 2020 / 06:41 am (CNA).- The Vatican’s Apostolic Penitentiary has granted a plenary indulgence for people with COVID-19 and for those who care for them, including medical staff and family members, and for those who pray for t… […]
Vatican City, Mar 20, 2020 / 05:01 am (CNA).- Pope Francis spoke Friday about the importance of returning to God, the loving Father, in the sacrament of reconciliation.
“But think of this: to return to God is to return to the embrace, the embrac… […]
Vatican City, Mar 19, 2020 / 02:17 pm (CNA).- The prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life on Wednesday encouraged religious to intensify their prayer during the coronavirus outbreak, and to obey requests of religious and civil authorities for health’s sake.
“The most effective testimony we can provide is, in first place, the serene and convinced serenity to what we are requested from those who govern us, both at the state and church level, to everything that is requested to the protection of our health, as private citizens and as communities,” read a March 18 letter to consecrated men and women signed by Joao Cardinal Braz de Aviz and Archbishop José Rodriguez Carballo, the prefect and secretary, respectively, of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
“It is a duty of both charity and gratitude that each one of us, individually and as a community, may intensify constant prayer for all those who are helping us overcome this difficult moment. Authorities, members of government, health professionals at all levels, volunteers, all those who offer their valuable work for this calamity may be object of our prayer and the offering of our sacrifices!”
Cardinal Braz de Aviz noted that we are living this Lent “in a very particular manner,” that “no one could have thought of or imagined, and that really requires each day from each one of us a change in our style and way of living.”
“Normally during Lent we multiply charitable initiatives and intense moments of prayer and meditation to prepare ourselves with a renewed and purified spirit for the Easter celebrations, and in our communities the times of celebration and gathering become also more intense. Nevertheless, this year we are called to live the intense time of faith, always with the same intensity, but in a completely different manner.”
Addressing contemplative communities, he urged them to intensify their prayer “even with greater energy … with the certainty that the Lord will not take longer to listen and in his infinite mercy will push away this grave scourge.”
Those who cannot assist at Mass he urged to “offer up to the Lord with joy” this “great sacrifice,” and to live it “in communion with all those who cannot attend regularly because of the lack of priests.”
“For those who can, please do not stop providing concrete signs of closeness with our people, always in conformity with the norms established by the authorities and in full fidelity to our own charisms.”
The cardinal recalled that “the means at our disposal to eradicate misfortunes and calamities in our highly technologically advanced times are the same that were used by our forefathers” Prayer, sacrifice, penance, fasting, and charity; powerful weapons to obtain from the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus the grace of full healing from such a devastating disease.”
Vatican City, Mar 19, 2020 / 12:19 pm (CNA).- Due to the coronavirus outbreak, Pope Francis suspended Thursday non-urgent trials in the Vatican City State’s judicial system until after April 3.
The suspension was made at the request of the sosti… […]
Bergamo, Italy, Mar 19, 2020 / 08:30 am (CNA).- Italian dioceses surrounding Milan have reported the deaths of 30 priests during the coronavirus outbreak.
Avvenire, the Italian newspaper owned by the Italian bishops conference, attributes at least 28 … […]
Vatican City, Mar 19, 2020 / 04:45 am (CNA).- On the Solemnity of St. Joseph, the protector of families and the Church, Catholics in Italy will pray the rosary together from their homes for protection from the coronavirus.
Pope Francis said he will also be praying the rosary from his home at the Vatican.
“Mary, Mother of God, health of the sick, leads us to the luminous and transfigured face of Jesus Christ and to her Heart, to whom we turn with the prayer of the rosary, under the loving gaze of St. Joseph, Custodian of the Holy Family and of our families,” he said March 18.
The Italian bishops have asked people across Italy to pray the rosary together March 19 at 9:00 pm.
A rosary will be live broadcast at that hour on the local Catholic television station and online from Rome’s Basilica of St. Joseph al Trionfale.
The president of the Italian bishops’ conference, Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, has also invited families to place a lit candle in the window of their home at that time.
Bassetti said he will be the first “to join in the prayer that will unite us in emphasizing faith, hope and, above all, that love which becomes a red thread from the Valley d’Aosta to Sicily, the red thread of charity, which is much stronger than the red zone.”
At his morning Mass in the Santa Marta guesthouse March 19, Pope Francis said he was thinking about the Church.
St. Joseph, in the midst of his ordinary life as a carpenter, was able to enter into the mystery of God, he said.
“Our faithful, our bishops, our priests, our consecrated men and women, the popes: are they capable of entering into the mystery?” he asked.
“When the Church loses the ability to enter into the mystery, she loses the ability to worship,” he stated. “The prayer of adoration can only be given when one enters the mystery of God.”
On the feast of St. Joseph, the pope prayed that the Church will be given the grace to live both the concreteness of daily life and the “concreteness” of the mystery.
Without this understanding of the mystery, the Church will just be a “pious association” of rules, lacking in adoration of God, he said.
“To enter into the mystery is not dreaming; to enter into the mystery is precisely this: to worship.”
Francis added that “to enter the mystery is doing today what we will do in the future, when we arrive in the presence of God: worship.”
“May the Lord give the Church this grace,” he prayed.
Pope Francis’ daily Masses are being livestreamed during the coronavirus emergency.
At the end of Mass, the pope invited everyone following along through the internet or TV to make a spiritual communion with him.
“I adore you in the Sacrament of Your love, I wish to receive you in the poor abode which my heart offers you,” he prayed.
“In anticipation of the happiness of sacramental communion, I want to possess you in spirit. Come to me, O my Jesus, that I come to you. May Your love inflame my whole being, for life and death. I believe in you, I hope in you, I love you.”
He then led Eucharistic adoration and gave benediction.
Pope Francis’ March 19 Mass was offered for prisoners during the coronavirus outbreak.
“They suffer so much,” he said, “because of the uncertainty of what will happen inside the prison, and also thinking about their families, how they are, if someone is sick, if something is missing.”
“We are close to prisoners today who suffer so much in this moment of uncertainty and pain,” he said.
Rome, Italy, Mar 18, 2020 / 02:30 pm (CNA).- “When people need us, we satisfy their need for God,” said Fr. Cesare Pluchinotta, a chaplain in Rome’s primary hospital for Covid-19 patients. The difference in Pluchinotta’s ministr… […]
Vatican City, Mar 18, 2020 / 05:49 am (CNA).- Showing and receiving God’s mercy are central aspects of Christian life – and everyone is in debt to God for the mercy he has already been shown, Pope Francis said during his general audience ad… […]
Vatican City, Mar 18, 2020 / 04:40 am (CNA).- While many are stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis says that there are many small acts of love and kindness one can do for others without leaving the house.
“We must rediscover the concreteness of little things, small gestures of attention we can offer those close to us, our family, our friends. We must understand that in small things lies our treasure,” Pope Francis said in an interview in an Italian newspaper published on March 18.
“For example, a hot meal, a caress, a hug, a phone call… They are familiar gestures of attention to the details of everyday life that make life meaningful and that create communion and communication among us,” the pope said.
Pope Francis said that the quarantine many people are living through right now provides a particular opportunity to grow in personal relationships at home, but this requires disconnecting from technology to spend quality time together.
“In their homes, families often eat together in great silence, but not as a result of listening to each other, rather because the parents watch television while they eat, and children are on their mobile phones,” he said. “Here there is no communication, whereas listening to each other is important because that’s how we can understand the needs, efforts, desires of the other.”
The pope also asked everyone to reach out to those who are alone or who have lost loved ones. “Consolation must not be everyone’s commitment,” he added.
In the interview with Italian journalist Paolo Rodari published in La Repubblica, Pope Francis explained what was on his mind when he made a short walking pilgrimage through the empty streets of Rome on Sunday to pray in front of a Marian icon in the Basilica of St. Mary Major and a crucifix in another church that had been used in prayer processions during the plagues in Rome’s history.
“I asked the Lord to stop the epidemic: ‘Lord, stop it with your hand.’ That’s what I prayed for,” he said.
Nearly 200,000 people have been infected by COVID-19, a respiratory illness that has been linked to the deaths of 7,954 people worldwide as of March 18, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Italy has been the hardest hit country outside of China with over 31,500 documented coronavirus cases, and 2,941 deaths, mostly in the north of the country.
Francis urged people to remember that one’s personal choices and actions have consequences for the lives of others.
The pope cited an article written by Italian journalist, Fabio Fazio, who said that people’s failure to pay their taxes in Italy has hurt the country’s ability to provide for all those who are sick.
“He [Fazio] is right, for example, when he says: ‘It has become evident that those who do not pay taxes do not only commit a felony but also a crime: if there are not enough hospital beds and artificial respirators, it is also their fault’. I was very impressed by this,’” Pope Francis said quoting the journalist.
Pope Francis also said that people can find strength in their families and in the love of the people around them, even if they do not yet have the gift of faith.
“They are all God’s children and are looked upon by Him. Even those who have not yet met God, those who do not have the gift of faith, can find their way through this, in the good things they believe in: they can find strength in love for their children, for their family, for their brothers and sisters,” he said.
“During these difficult days we can find small, concrete gestures expressing closeness and concreteness towards the people closest to us, a caress for our grandparents, a kiss for our children, for the people we love. These are important, decisive gestures. If we live these days like this, they won’t be wasted,” Pope Francis said.
© Catholic World Report