Vatican City, Dec 25, 2019 / 05:30 am (CNA).- On Christmas, Pope Francis prayed for Christ to bring light to the instability in Iraq, Lebanon, Venezuela, Yemen, Ukraine, Burkina Faso, and other parts of the world experiencing conflict.
“The Son … […]
Vatican City, Dec 24, 2019 / 02:21 pm (CNA).- A person’s weakness and sin does not change Christ’s love for them, and Catholics should strive to treat others the same way, serving anyone and not only those they consider worthy, Pope Francis… […]
Vatican City, Dec 22, 2019 / 08:23 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Sunday attended a party with the children and families receiving treatment and help at the Vatican’s 98-year-old free health clinic.
“Giving children joy is a really great thing,” he said Dec. 22, greeting around 300 sick children and their families.
“Also, when parents know how to play with children, they do a really great thing,” he added. “Playing with children, the expression of children who are innocence, promise, many good things.”
Receiving “gifts” from three children dressed as the three magi, the pope spoke about hope, love, and peace.
“What is more beautiful, war or peace?” he asked the kids. “Peace!” they responded.
“To defeat war, love is needed,” he continued. Hope, he said, means “looking to the future, looking to the horizon, with the hope that always comes from the Lord, and even from our labor, a better world.”
The children are guests of the Vatican’s Santa Marta Pediatric Dispensary, which was started in 1922 to give free powdered milk to the poor children of Rome, the idea of an American woman with stock in a powdered milk company.
It continued to operate through the Second World War, and in 1952, the Vatican governorate asked to also host a pediatric unit at the same premises.
The services expanded to include medical visits for children and mothers, the distribution of various relief items, and home visits.
It also continued to give out “farina lattea,” a kind of baby food made from powdered milk and grains.
The dispensary went through several changes of location and scope before officially becoming a charitable foundation of the pope in 2008.
Today the Santa Marta Dispensary hosts 310 ill children from around the world, providing healthcare for them and their families.
It is run by 55 doctors, nurses, volunteers, and sisters of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.
It is financially supported by the pope, the Secretariat of State, the Vatican City State Governorate, and benefactors and friends.
Vatican City, Dec 22, 2019 / 04:57 am (CNA).- In a difficult situation, St. Joseph put his whole trust in God and was obedient, an example for all Catholics to imitate, Pope Francis said during the Angelus Sunday.
St. Joseph “does not preach, do… […]
Vatican City, Dec 21, 2019 / 04:20 pm (CNA).- In recent weeks, CNA has been covering a Vatican financial scandal involving a multi-million-dollar investment fund, money donated by Catholics to support charity and Vatican ministries, and a pair of banks… […]
Vatican City, Dec 21, 2019 / 07:54 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Saturday accepted the resignation of Cardinal Angelo Sodano as dean of the College of Cardinals and declared that the position will now have a five-year term limit with the possibility of renew… […]
Vatican City, Dec 21, 2019 / 05:44 am (CNA).- The very first way the Child Jesus revealed the love and goodness of the Father was in smiling at his parents, just “like every newborn baby in this world,” Pope Francis said Saturday.
“W… […]
Vatican City, Dec 21, 2019 / 05:02 am (CNA).- To carry out the continuing reform of the Church requires a willingness to change and a commitment to personal conversion, Pope Francis said Saturday, during his annual Christmas greeting to the bishops and… […]
Rome, Italy, Dec 20, 2019 / 07:42 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Friday made a surprise visit to a high school in Rome, where he spoke to about 800 students and answered questions about war, peace, and the coexistence of different cultures and religions.
The Pilo Albertelli State High School is close to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. The pope arrived there by car in the morning Dec. 20.
According to Matteo Bruni, Holy See press office director, students performed a song for Francis and the dean of the school gave an address.
Pope Francis rang the school bell and wished everyone a Merry Christmas.
He also answered several questions from students, Bruni said, including one about different cultures and religions living together. The pope answered the question by speaking about immigration, also in his own country of Argentina, and about the “need to live together.”
“In addressing non-believers, he emphasized the value of witness to awaken curiosity about the Gospel and faith,” Bruni said
Pope Francis reminded the students about the importance of leisure and dreams, which bring “oxygen to the soul.” He also addressed the problem of loneliness, which can lead to melancholy, and spoke about the difficult road of gratuitous love which is made possible through patience and “small sacrifices.”
He also spoke about the important relationship between a teacher and a student.
One student asked him about the seeming contradiction in using war to bring about peace and security. The pope spoke about the difficult situations in some countries and referenced a video message on the theme of peace he recorded earlier the same day with the secretary general of the United Nations.
At the start of the visit, Francis greeted faculty and staff with the director of L’Osservatore Romano, Andrea Monda, who was formerly a religion teacher at the high school.
As religion teacher, in 2018 Monda led a group of 15 students in writing the meditations for the pope’s Way of the Cross at the Colosseum on Good Friday March 30, 2018.
Pope Francis also greeted these students during his meeting.
Monda told CNA in 2018 that he sees the pope’s choice to entrust young people with the Via Crucis reflections as being in line with the greater focus of his pontificate, “trying to give a voice to those who have no voice.”
In Monda’s view, young people are also often at the peripheries. But Pope Francis says not to speak only about youth or to youth, but to “let the youth talk and then listen to them.”
Vatican City, Dec 20, 2019 / 07:40 am (CNA).- Pope Francis and the United Nations Secretary General António Guterres recorded a video message together at the Vatican Friday in which the two leaders urge the importance of religious freedom, human dignity, and environmental protection.
“We must not remain indifferent to the human dignity trampled on and exploited, to attacks against human life, whether it is yet to be born or that of every person in need of care,” Pope Francis said in the video message recorded with the the UN Secretary General at the Vatican Apostolic Palace Dec. 20.
“We cannot, we must not turn away when the believers of various faiths are persecuted, in different parts of the world. The use of religion to incite hatred … cries out for God’s justice,” the pope said.
The UN Secretary General added: “Tragically we see Jews being murdered in synagogues, their gravestones defaced with swastikas; Muslims gunned down in mosques, their religious sites vandalized; Christians killed at prayers, their churches torched. We need to do more to promote mutual understanding and tackle rising hatred.”
“Our meeting is especially meaningful during this Christmas season. This is a time of peace and goodwill and I am sad to witness Christian communities – including some of the world’s oldest – unable to celebrate Christmas in safety,” Guterres said.
Antonio Guterres, former prime minister of Portugal, has served as the UN Secretary General since 2017. He first met Pope Francis at the Vatican as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in 2013, and again as secretary general during the pope’s 2015 visit to UN headquarters in Geneva.
“You are a messenger for hope and humanity – for reducing human suffering and promoting human dignity,” the UN Secretary General told the pope.
He thanked Pope Francis for being a “clear moral voice” and for promoting interfaith relations, particularly through the Abu Dhabi declaration on human fraternity with the Grand Imam of Al- Azhar.
“This declaration is extremely important when we see such dramatic attacks on religious freedom and the lives of believers,” he said. “The United Nations has also launched a Plan of Action to Safeguard Religious Sites and a strategy to combat hate speech.”
In August, the UN General Assembly inaugurated the first International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief to be marked each year on Aug. 22.
UN Secretary General also thanked Pope Francis for highlighting the issue of climate change in his encyclical Laudato Si.
“To promote love of people and care for our planet. To uphold our common humanity and protect our common home. Our world needs that more than ever. Coming to Rome from the COP25 in Madrid, I call on all countries around the globe to commit to carbon neutrality by 2050, in line with what the scientific community tells us is necessary to rescue the planet,” Guterres said.
Pope Francis said that the need to reduce polluting emissions is “urgent and necessary” for an integral ecology. “Let’s do something before it’s too late,” he said.
In a 40-minute private meeting at the Vatican, the two leaders discussed “the crisis of multilateralism” in addressing global issues such as migration, human trafficking, climate change, and disarmament, according to the Holy See Press Office.
They also focused on the implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and current conflict situations and humanitarian emergencies.
Following the meeting, the UN Secretary General also met with Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Secretary for Relations with States Richard Gallagher.
“Confidence in dialogue between people and between nations, in multilateralism, in the role of international organizations, in diplomacy as a tool for understanding and understanding, is indispensable for building a peaceful world,” the pope said in the video message.
“Christmas, in its genuine simplicity, reminds us that what really matters in life is love,” he said. “These are days when our eyes are turned to the heavens to entrust to God the people and situations that we most cherish.”
© Catholic World Report