Vatican

Rome, Italy, Oct 23, 2018 / 06:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Young people in Rome prayed for Saint John Paul II’s intercession in the final week of the 2018 Synod of Bishops for young people, the faith, and vocational discernment.

The adoration holy hour on Saint John Paul II’s feast day included meditations on the pope’s Gospel reflections in St. Lawrence in Piscibus, a church which John Paul II rededicated as a youth center in the 1980s.

Saint John Paul II “asked us, ‘Be not afraid.’ He told us, ‘You are the future,’” Mayda Rojas told CNA at the prayer vigil.

“Now it is the future, and we remember all of the things that he has taught us,” continued Rojas, who helped to organize the event with World Youth Alliance.

“The youth, the young people who sang tonight, they have questions about eternity,” she said.

Some synod fathers, including Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of South Africa and Hungarian Greek Archbishop Péter Fülöp Kocsis, joined the young people in their prayer vigil.

Among the evening’s meditations was an excerpt from “Crossing the Threshold of Hope,” a book by John Paul II:

“What is youth? It is not only a period of life that corresponds to a certain number of years, it is also a time given by Providence to every person and given to him as a responsibility. During that time he searches, like the young man in the Gospel, for answers to basic questions; he searches not only for the meaning of life but also for a concrete way to go about living his life. This is the most fundamental characteristic of youth.

“Every mentor, beginning with parents, let alone every pastor, must be aware of this characteristic and must know how to identify it in every boy and girl. I will say more: He must love this fundamental aspect of youth,” wrote the pope.
 

The San Lorenzo Center is located just steps away from St. Peter’s Square. It serves young Romans, and those passing through on pilgrimage with spiritual and social activities. The youth center also houses the original World Youth Day cross.

“Young people are very interested to know about the life of a missionary,” Mayda Rojas said. “They don’t want the easy way … They want to know the real experience.”

Rojas, a native of Mexico, worked for many years as a missionary in Latin America. After having a child, Rojas’ life of faith changed in ways that she had not expected.

“I am a mother of an autistic child and my life is changing, but I understand that this is another kind of mission,” she said.

“Jesus Christ is the only answer and he knows what is in our hearts,” she continued. “We want all these young people and bishops to remember that we know what is the answer: Jesus Christ is the answer to everything.”

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Vatican City, Oct 22, 2018 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- When drafting Humanae vitae, Pope St. Paul VI showed pastoral concern while emphasizing doctrinal clarity, the Vatican’s secretary of state said Oct. 18

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Vatican City, Oct 22, 2018 / 10:16 am (CNA).- The 15th ordinary Synod of Bishops is meeting now to discuss young people, the faith, and vocational discernment. Many have referred to this nearly month-long meeting as the “Youth Synod.” This … […]

Vatican City, Oct 22, 2018 / 08:43 am (CNA/EWTN News).- John Paul II spent much of his papacy speaking to youth. Now some of those youth are bishops.

On the feast of Saint John Paul II, one synod bishop reflected on how the Polish pope inspired generations of young people, including himself, to pursue holiness.

“Catholic youth want to implement ‘the civilization of love’ that was promised by John Paul II,” French Archbishop David Macaire said at a Vatican press conference Oct. 22.

The archbishop of Saint-Pierre and Fort-de-France in Martinique is in Rome for the 2018 Synod of Bishops convened Oct. 3-28 to discuss young people, the faith, and vocational discernment.

“I attended my first World Youth Day when I was 19 years old in Santiago de Compostela,” Macaire said in French.

The 1989 World Youth Day in Spain was the fourth global meeting for young people established by the John Paul II, who went on to celebrate a total of 19 World Youth Days in his pontificate with millions of young people from all over the world.

“John Paul II guided me through my youth,” Archbishop Macaire said.

Synod fathers should convey the Gospel, he continued, because “young people will receive this legacy.”

Earlier in the day, Pope Francis prayed at the tomb of Saint John Paul II in St. Peter’s Basilica. In April 2014, Pope Francis canonized John Paul II along with Pope John XXIII.

The Synod of Bishops did not meet Monday, while committees complete writing the draft of the final document and the synod letter to young people.

The draft document of the post-synod apostolic exhortation will be presented Oct. 23 and synod fathers will be able to propose their changes individually or as groups, Paolo Ruffini, Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Communications, announced.

It is up to Pope Francis to decide when the document will be made available to the public, Ruffini added.

As the synod nears its close, Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut said Monday that bishops and other diocesan leaders need to bring “synodality” to the local level.

“The document that we will receive tomorrow … is an attempt to speak to a global community,” Caggiano said.

“Let’s be realistic, young people in Bridgeport have a very different experience from young people in Nairobi or young people in Caracas,” he continued.

One unique experience was shared by a young girl from Guinea, Henriette Camara, who told the synod her story of growing up in a Muslim family. Camara converted to Catholicism, despite parental disapproval, through the witness and community that she encountered in a Catholic scouting group.

“The pursuit of holiness is recognizing the will of God and choosing to do it,” said Bishop Caggiano. “This entire synod has been an ecclesial exercise to unlock that pursuit of holiness.”

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Vatican City, Oct 21, 2018 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- A bishop from Lebanon shared at the 2018 Synod of Bishops how his online catechesis program in Arabic has helped him to unite young Catholics across the Middle East.

“Thanks to the web I am able to connect many young people from the Middle East. We’ve also had conversions of young people who have recognized Jesus through our social presence,” Bishop Joseph Naffah said at the a Vatican press conference Oct. 19.

Synod fathers from Africa, South America, and the Middle East spoke Friday about their hopes for the future of evangelization and catechesis in a digital age.

Bishop Naffah is the auxiliary bishop of the Maronite Catholic eparchy of Joubbé, Sarba, and Jounieh in Lebanon.

For five years Naffah has been running an online catechetical program that connects over 500 Arabic-speaking Catholic students in conversations about the faith.

Students in the online program include youth in prison, as well as young people with disabilities.

“I’ve been moved in particular by one person who is totally paralyzed,” Bishop Naffah said.

While positive about the potential of online catechesis, the Maronite bishop also expressed concern that there are websites that contain false Catholic teaching online.

Naffah sees a need for a mechanism for Vatican approval of catechesis and teaching shared online, such as a special office to monitor Catholic webpages and then certify sites that accurately reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Bishop Kofi Fianu of Ho, Ghana has also found success connecting with young people in Africa through the daily online Bible reflections that he shares with them.

“From this apostolate of digital reflections I have been in contact with many of the youth,” said Bishop Fianu. “They interact with me. They ask questions about what I have written in the reflection.”

“All of us, first of all, we the bishops, clergy need to be real ministers of the word. When we are able to drink deeply into the word of God, when we are on fire for this word, we can transmit it faithfully and more actively to the youth and the rest of the members of the Church,” Fianu continued.

Father Valdir Jose Castro from Brazil said that young people know the language and the grammar of the world of social media and are crucial in assisting the Church to reach out and open the doors.
 
“The Church needs to study in depth and improve its understanding of technology and the internet in particular so as to discern how she should live there and where fertile soil can be found,” Father Castro said.

The internet is a venue where the Church can encourage young people to be “protagonists in evangelization, not just the beneficiaries.”

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Vatican City, Oct 21, 2018 / 05:24 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The throne of Jesus Christ is the cross upon which he gave his life for the world, and those who wish to follow him must be prepared to sacrifice everything, Pope Francis said Sunday.

“The … […]

Vatican City, Oct 21, 2018 / 04:00 am (CNA).- St. John Paul II used the occasion of his first homily as pope to offer a fervent prayer that God would make him, first and foremost, a servant.

The former Cardinal Karol Wojtyla delivered the first homily of his 26-year pontificate before a packed assembly in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Oct. 22, 1978— 40 years ago this week.

His election was a few days before, on Oct. 16.

John Paul II began his homily by reaffirming the words that had once been uttered by the apostle Peter in the presence of Jesus: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

“Yes, Brothers and sons and daughters, these words first of all,” the newly-elected pope said. “He who is infinite, inscrutable, ineffable, has come close to us in Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary in the stable at Bethlehem.”

The pope exhorted those seeking God, those who already believe, and those struggling with doubt to pay attention to Peter’s profession of faith in Jesus. Peter’s faith and obedience to a higher calling led him to leave his simple way of life as a fisherman and journey to Rome.

“What else but obedience to the inspiration received from the Lord guided him and brought him to this city, the heart of the Empire?” the pope said. “Perhaps the fisherman of Galilee did not want to come here. Perhaps he would have preferred to stay there, on the shores of the Lake of Genesareth, with his boat and his nets. But guided by the Lord, obedient to his inspiration, he came here!”

“Son of Poland”

On the day he began his new mission as Bishop of Rome, Pope John Paul admitted he was “a bishop full of trepidation, conscious of his unworthiness.”

As a self-proclaimed “son of Poland,” John Paul was the first non-Italian pope in more than 400 years. In this moment, as he took over the See of Peter, he proclaimed that the unbroken tradition of the papacy had made him a Roman, too.

“Inscrutable is the design of Divine Providence!” he said. “How could one not tremble before the greatness of this call and before the universal mission of this See of Rome!”

To his fellow Polish Bishops and to the many Polish pilgrims present, John Paul II said:

“Everything that I could say would fade into insignificance compared with what my heart feels, and your hearts feel, at this moment. So let us leave aside words. Let there remain just great silence before God, the silence that becomes prayer…Remember me today and always in your prayers!”

Humility and service

John Paul II chose not to wear a papal tiara, or crown; the last pope to be crowned was Paul VI in 1963. He said he didn’t want to return to “an object considered, wrongly, to be a symbol of the temporal power of the Popes,” but rather to immerse himself in “humble and devout meditation on the mystery of the supreme power of Christ himself.”

The “power” exercised by the popes is service, John Paul II said; service to help all the people of God share in the mission of Jesus as Priest, Prophet, and King. This power expressed itself in “charity and truth” rather than in “the language of force.”

“Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power,” the saint said. “Help the Pope and all those who wish to serve Christ and with Christ’s power to serve the human person and the whole of mankind.”

“Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of States, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization and development. Do not be afraid.”

Though his homily was in Italian, John Paul II— a famous polyglot— also offered greetings to pilgrims in French, English,German, Spanish, Portuguese, Czechoslovakian, Russian, Ukrainian and Lithuanian, asking all of them for prayers.

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Vatican City, Oct 20, 2018 / 08:47 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As the youth synod wrapped up its third week, the bishops and auditors discussed the sexual abuse crisis in parts of the world and how to respond to young people experiencing same-sex attraction.
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