Vatican City, Jan 14, 2019 / 04:05 am (CNA).- A former papal representative to the U.S. has written an open letter to Archbishop Theodore McCarrick that urges the archbishop to repent publicly of the sexual abuse and misconduct of which he stands accus… […]
Vatican City, Jan 13, 2019 / 05:38 am (CNA/EWTN News).- At Mass in the Sistine Chapel Sunday, Pope Francis baptized 27 babies, reminding their parents that the first space in which children learn and witness the faith is at home.
“Yes, when they… […]
Vatican City, Jan 12, 2019 / 06:01 am (CNA).- The Vatican announced Thursday the start of the first official sports association inside of the small city-state, including among its membership two young African migrants living in Italy, to show how sport… […]
Vatican City, Jan 11, 2019 / 07:57 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican announced Friday that Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Vatican communications department, has amended the organizational structure of the Holy See Press Office to include a senior advisor… […]
Vatican City, Jan 11, 2019 / 03:53 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican confirmed Friday that Pope Francis will travel to Romania to the cities of Bucharest, Iaşi, and Blaj, and to a Marian shrine in eastern Transylvania, at the end of May and beginning of June.
The trip is set for May 31 to June 2 and will include a stop at a Marian shrine located in the Șumuleu Ciuc neighborhood of the city of Miercurea Ciuc, which is in a Hungarian ethno-cultural region of Romania.
CNA reported in November that Pope Francis had told the Romanian bishops during their ad limina meeting Nov. 9 that he would be visiting their country this year, though the precise date was not confirmed at the time.
Francis’ visit to the country follows exactly 20 years after Pope St. John Paul II was the first pope to go to Romania in 1999.
The motto of the visit is “Let’s Walk Together.” The trip’s logo, in blue and gold, depicts a group of Romanian people walking beneath an image of Our Lady, which according to a statement from the Holy See Press Office, evokes the Virgin Mary’s care and protection of the Romanian people.
The press office also noted that Romania has often been called “the garden of the Mother of God,” which is a phrase also used by Pope St. John Paul II during his visit to the country.
“The visit of Pope Francis takes up this Marian accent, inviting everyone to join forces under the protective mantle of the Madonna,” the statement continued.
As of 2011, the Catholics in Romania numbered 870,774; making up 4.3 percent of the population. The Catholic Church is the second largest denomination after the Romanian Orthodox Church.
The Romanian bishops’ conference is composed of 17 bishops, including both bishops of Roman Catholic dioceses and Greek Catholic dioceses, that is, dioceses of the Byzantine rite.
The pope will be in Romania just one week before the Feast of Pentecost, which is for many Romanian and Hungarian people an important day of pilgrimage to the Șumuleu Ciuc neighborhood.
The pilgrimage is made in commemoration of the Catholic Szekely population’s resistance to pressure from the Hungarian King John II Sigismund Zapolya to convert to Protestantantism. The group refused to abandon the Catholic faith and emerged victorious in a battle which took place on the Saturday before Pentecost in 1567.
Vatican City, Jan 10, 2019 / 11:59 am (CNA).- The Synod of Bishops released Thursday an English translation of the final document of the 2018 session on young people, faith, and vocational discernment. The document encourages young people to seek an au… […]
Vatican City, Jan 9, 2019 / 05:13 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Persevere in prayer, remembering that God the Father is waiting to answer his children – even if the result is to change the person, not the circumstance, Pope Francis said at the general aud… […]
Vatican City, Jan 8, 2019 / 04:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- To serve the poor and sick in a generous manner is a powerful form of evangelization, Pope Francis said Tuesday in a message for the upcoming World Day of the Sick.
“The Church – as a … […]
Vatican City, Jan 7, 2019 / 11:49 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Upholding the dignity of the human person, and the rule of law, are essential for good politics, Pope Francis said Monday to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See.
Such politics promote the common good and establish and maintain peace between nations, he said, by considering “the transcendent dimension of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God.”
The pope made his annual address to the diplomatic corps Jan. 7 in the Vatican’s Sala Regia.
“Respect for the dignity of each human being is thus the indispensable premise for all truly peaceful coexistence,” he said, “and law becomes the essential instrument for achieving social justice and nurturing fraternal bonds between peoples.”
Human rights must be reaffirmed, he added, “lest there prevail partial and subjective visions of humanity that risk leading to new forms of inequality, injustice, discrimination and, in extreme cases, also new forms of violence and oppression.”
Francis emphasized that “politics must be farsighted and not limited to seeking short-term solutions,” noting that political leaders “should listen to the voices of their constituencies and seek concrete solutions to promote their greater good.”
“Yet this,” he said, “demands respect for law and justice both within their national communities and within the international community, since reactive, emotional and hasty solutions may well be able to garner short-term consensus, but they will certainly not help the solution of deeper problems; indeed, they will aggravate them.”
The Holy See has diplomatic relations with 183 states, as well as the European Union and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Of these, 89 states maintain embassies to the Holy See in Rome.
The pope told the diplomatic corps that “fidelity to the spiritual mission” of Christ’s command to the Apostle Peter to “feed my lambs,” impels him and thus the Holy See “to show concern for the whole human family and its needs, including those of the material and social order.”
The Holy See “has no intention of interfering in the life of States,” he stressed, but wants to be an attentive and sensitive listener to the issues involving humanity; “the same concern leads the Church everywhere to work for the growth of peaceful and reconciled societies.”
Structured on St. Paul VI’s 1965 speech of to the United Nations, the pope emphasized in his lengthy address the importance of increasing multilateral diplomacy, promoting justice, defending the vulnerable, and building peace.
Quoting St. Paul VI’s UN address, he said, “You sanction the great principle that relationships between nations must be regulated by reason, justice, law, by negotiation, not by force, nor by violence, force, war, nor indeed by fear and deceit.”
This still an important idea for today, especially as, according to Pope Francis, nationalistic tendencies have grown, many relationships within the international community, and the multilateral system, have entered a difficult period.
Reasons for this include, he said, an “inability of the multilateral system to offer effective solutions to a number of long unresolved situations, like certain protracted conflicts” and to confront present challenges in a satisfactory way.
National policies based on “quick partisan consensus” rather than pursuit of the common good and an increase in powerful and influential interest groups and “new forms of ideological colonization” have also contributed, he said.
“In part too, it is a consequence of the reaction in some parts of the world to a globalization that has in some respects developed in too rapid and disorderly a manner, resulting in a tension between globalization and local realities,” he added. “The global dimension has to be considered without ever losing sight of the local.”
The pope listed several grave issues facing humanity in the coming year, namely, ongoing international conflicts, especially in the Middle East; the refugee and migrant crisis; violence against women; the rights of workers; climate change; and the prevalence of nuclear arms.
He also highlighted the issue of abuse against minors, which he noted has “sadly” involved members of the Catholic clergy. “The abuse of minors is one of the vilest and most heinous crimes conceivable,” he said.
“The Holy See and the Church as a whole are working to combat and prevent these crimes and their concealment,” he said, adding that a February meeting with bishops is intended as a “further step in the Church’s efforts to shed full light on the facts and to alleviate the wounds caused by such crimes.”
Cairo, Egypt, Jan 7, 2019 / 04:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis sent Christmas and New Year’s greetings to Coptic Christians and all Egyptians upon the inauguration of a major Coptic cathedral, jointly opened with a larger mosque at the same … […]
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