Vatican

Rome, Italy, Feb 7, 2018 / 01:49 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Roman Colosseum will be illuminated by red lights later this month to draw attention to the persecution of Christians around the world, and especially in Syria and Iraq.

On Saturday, Feb. 24, at 6 p.m. the Colosseum will be spotlighted in red, to represent the blood of Christians who have been wounded or lost their lives due to religious persecution.

Simultaneously, in Syria and Iraq, prominent churches will be illuminated with red lights. In Aleppo, the St. Elijah Maronite Cathedral will be lighted, and in Mosul, the Church of St. Paul, where this past Dec. 24, the first Mass was celebrated after the city’s liberation from ISIS.

The event, sponsored by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), follows a similar initiative last year, which lit-up London’s Parliament building in red, as well as the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Paris and the cathedral in Manila, Philippines. In 2016, the famous Trevi Fountain in Rome was lit.

Alessandro Monteduro, director of ACN, told journalists Feb. 7 that the “illumination [of the Colosseum] will have two symbolic figures: Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian condemned to death for blasphemy and whose umpteenth judgment is expected to revoke the sentence; and Rebecca, a girl kidnapped by Boko Haram along with her two children when she was pregnant with a third.”

“One of the children was killed,” he said, “she lost the baby she was carrying, and then became pregnant after one of the many brutalities she was subjected to by her captors.”

Once she was freed and reunited with her husband, she decided she “could not hate those who caused her so much pain,” Monteduro said.

Aid to the Church in Need released a biennial report on anti-Christian persecution Oct. 12, 2017, detailing how Christianity is “the world’s most oppressed faith community,” and how anti-Christian persecution in the worst regions has reached “a new peak.”

The report reviewed 13 countries, and concluded that in all but one, the situation for Christians was worse in overall terms for the period 2015-2017 than during the prior two years.  

“The one exception is Saudi Arabia, where the situation was already so bad it could scarcely get any worse,” the report said.

China, Eritrea, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Syria were ranked “extreme” in the scale of anti-Christian persecution. Egypt, India, and Iran were rated “high to extreme,” while Turkey was rated “moderate to high.”

The Middle East is a major focus for the report.

“Governments in the West and the U.N. failed to offer Christians in countries such as Iraq and Syria the emergency help they needed as genocide got underway,” the report said. “If Christian organizations and other institutions had not filled the gap, the Christian presence could already have disappeared in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East.”

The exodus of Christians from Iraq has been “very severe.” Christians in the country now may number as few as 150,000, a decline from 275,000 in mid-2015. By spring 2017 there were some signs of hope, with the defeat of the Islamic State group and the return of some Christians to their homes on the Nineveh Plains.

The departure of Christians from Syria has also threatened the survival of their communities in the country, including historic Christian centers like Aleppo, ACN said. Syrian Christians there suffer threats of forced conversion and extortion. One Chaldean bishop in the country estimates the Christian population to be at 500,000, down from 1.2 million before the war.

Many Christians in the region fear going to official refugee camps, due to concerns about rape and other violence, according to the report.

ACN also discussed the genocide committed in Syrian and Iraq by the Islamic State and other militants. While ISIS and other groups have lost their major strongholds, ACN said that many Christian groups are threatened with extinction and would likely not survive another attack.

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Vatican City, Feb 7, 2018 / 01:42 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The delegate appointed by Pope Francis to hear testimony from abuse victims in Chile will also travel to the United States for a meeting with a man alleging that Bishop Juan Barros witnessed sexual… […]

Vatican City, Feb 7, 2018 / 05:24 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After a massive earthquake and a string of aftershocks in Taiwan killed at least seven and injured hundreds more, Pope Francis Wednesday sent a telegram assuring of his prayer for the victims and those engaged in rescue efforts.

Signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and addressed to Bishop Philip Huang Chao-ming of Hwalien, the Feb. 7 telegram expressed the Pope’s solidarity “with all those affected by the earthquakes in Taiwan these past days.”

Francis, the telegram said, “offers the assurance of his prayers for those who have lost their lives and for those who have been injured.”

“As he encourages the civil authorities and emergency personnel engaged in rescue efforts, His Holiness willingly invokes upon all the Taiwanese people the divine blessings of strength and peace.”

The Pope’s telegram was sent after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck the East China Sea just 13 miles north of the Taiwanese city of Hwalien late Feb. 6.

Tremors were felt as far north as the capital city of Taipei, which sits roughly 74 miles from Hwalien. At least 15 aftershocks followed, measuring as high as 4.8, and could still be felt Wednesday morning.

According to CNN, at least seven people have been killed and some 258 injured, with dozens still missing. Extensive damage was done to city structures such as buildings and bridges, with many either collapsing or being held up by makeshift beams.

As aftershocks continued to rock the island Wednesday morning, some 600 military personnel and more than 750 firefighters were deployed to comb through rubble to look for survivors and help with rescue efforts.

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Vatican City, Feb 7, 2018 / 04:43 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday Pope Francis touched on a topic close to home for both parish priests and people in the pews, offering his recipe for what makes a good homily, saying they should be short and well-prepared.

However, he also pointed to the amount of complaining that happens when people are unenthusiastic about homilies, and told faithful that even when bored, they also have to make an effort by actively listening, and being patient with the limits of their pastor.

“Those listening have to do their part too,” the Pope said Feb. 7, saying Mass-goers must give “the appropriate attention, thus assuming the proper interior dispositions, without subjective demands, knowing that every preacher has both his merits and his limits.”

“If sometimes there’s reason to get annoyed about an overly long homily, one that lacks focus or that’s incomprehensible, other times it’s actually the prejudice [of the listener] which creates obstacles,” he said.

However, he also urged those giving the homily, whether it’s a priest, deacon or bishop, to remember that they are “offering a real service to all those who participate in Mass.”

The homily has been a source of pastoral concern and interest for the Pope since the beginning. He devoted a large portion of his 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium – often seen as a blueprint for his papacy – to the homily.

Quoting the document, Francis said the homily “is not a casual discourse, nor a conference or a lesson, but a way of ‘taking up anew that dialogue which has already been opened between the Lord and his people.”

Rather, “it’s a resumption of that dialogue which has already been opened between the Lord and his people, so that it finds fulfillment in life.”

“Whoever gives the homily must be conscious that they are not doing their own thing, they are preaching, giving voice to Jesus, preaching the World of Jesus,” he said. Because of this, homilies “should be well prepared, and they must be brief!”

To drive the point home, Francis told a story, recounting how a priest had once told him that when visiting another town where the priests’ parents lived, the father had said “I’m happy, because me and my friends found a church where they do the Mass without a homily.”

“How many times have we seen people sleeping during a homily, or chatting among themselves, or outside smoking a cigarette?” he said. When people laughed at the notion, Francis responded, saying “it’s true, you all know it…it’s true!”

“Please,” he said, “be brief…no more than 10 minutes, please!”

Pope Francis spoke during his weekly general audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, continuing his catechesis on the liturgy. After reflecting on the Liturgy of the Word last week, today he focused on the Gospel and the homily.

Just as with the liturgical celebration, in scripture “Christ is the center and the fullness,” Francis said. “Jesus Christ is always there are the center, always.”

On the readings, he noted that while all the readings are significant, the Gospel is especially important, which is seen by the fact that the priest kisses the text and incenses it before reading the daily passage, and the congregation stands to listen to the reading on their feet.

“From these signs the assembly recognizes the presence of Christ who brings them the good news which converts and transforms,” he said, explaining that we don’t stand to hear the Gospel itself, but Christ, who speaks to us through the reading.

“It’s for this reason that we are attentive, because it’s a direct conversation,” he said.

Because of this, the Gospel isn’t read during Mass simply to “know how things went,” but to increase our awareness that these are the things Jesus himself said and did.

“The Word of Jesus which is in the Gospel is living and arrives to my heart,” he said. And because Jesus still communicates with us through the Gospel readings, every Mass we must give him a response, Francis said, adding that “we listen to the Gospel and we must give a response in our lives.”

According to the Vatican Gendarme, roughly 8,000 people attended the Pope’s audience. After his address, they were all treated to a performance with juggling, balancing acts and other tricks by members of the Rony Rollers Circus. The spectacle has become a regular appearance in general audiences, with different circus troupes performing every few weeks.

Francis also noted how tomorrow marks the World Day of Prayer against Human Trafficking and voiced support for the event, which takes place annually on the Feast of St. Josephine Bakhita.

He also gave a shout-out to the Winter Olympics, which opens on Friday in Pyeongchang in South Korea, and which will be attended by Msgr. Melchor Sanchez de Toca, Undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture, who is representing the Holy See at the opening ceremony Friday, Feb. 9.

This year’s games will hold a special importance, he said, noting how the delegations from both North and South Korea will march in together under one flag depicting the entire Korean peninsula, and will compete as one team.

“This fact gives hope for a world in which conflicts are resolved peacefully with dialogue and mutual respect, as sports teaches (us) to do,” he said, and prayed that the Olympics would be “a great celebration of friendship and sport.”

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Vatican City, Feb 7, 2018 / 02:18 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a rare new letter penned by Benedict XVI, the retired pontiff said he is in the last phase of his life, and while his physical strength might be waning, he is surrounded by a “love and goodness” that he never imagined.

“I can only say that at the end of a slow decline in physical strength, inwardly I am on pilgrimage home,” Benedict XVI said in the letter, published Feb. 7 in Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

He said that “it’s a great grace for me to be to be surrounded in this last piece of the road, which is at times a bit tiring, by a love and goodness that I could never have imagined.”

Benedict addressed the letter to Italian journalist Massimo Franco of Corriere della Sera, who was charged with the task of presenting the retired pontiff with letters expressing concern and asking about his well-being five years after resigning from the papacy.

He shocked the world when he announced his resignation Feb. 11, 2013, declaring that the See of Peter would be vacant as of 8 p.m. on Feb. 28. A conclave was called to name his successor, and on March 13, 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected Bishop of Rome, and took the name Francis.

In his letter, published Feb. 7 on the front page of Corriere della Sera, Benedict said he was moved that so many readers from the paper “want to know how I’ve spent this last period of my life.”

He said he considers the questions and concerns of the readers part of the love he has experienced, and sees them as “an accompaniment” on the last phase of his life.

“Because of this,” he said, “I cannot but be thankful, on my part assuring you all of my prayers. Best regards.”

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Vatican City, Feb 6, 2018 / 01:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A delegation from the Holy See is in South Korea this week to participate in the opening of the Winter Olympic games, and for the first time, to observe a key strategic meeting ahead of opening ceremony.

Msgr. Melchor Sánchez de Toca, Undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture, will be the Holy See’s official representative at the event. He will be accompanied by Stefano Calvigioni of the Italian Olympic Committee, who helps coordinate between his own organization, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Vatican.

Opening Feb. 9 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, this year’s games will last until Feb. 25. The main skiing, snowboarding and sliding events will take place in Pyeongchang, which is part of South Korea’s Gangwon province, and sits near the border with North Korea.

Other events such as skating, hockey and curling events will take place in the city of Gangneung, about an hour’s drive from Pyeongchang.

In addition to representing the Holy See at the opening ceremony, Sánchez de Toca is also participating as an observer in the Feb. 5-7 IOC Olympic Session, marking the first time they’ve been invited to attend the meeting.

The Holy See has been present at the Olympics before, having attended the opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016. However, the invite to the Olympic Session marks a first for the Vatican.

In comments to CNA, Sánchez de Toca said the Holy See received the invitation from Thomas Bach, president of the IOC, and that the invite, particularly to attend the Olympic Session, “is important,” especially since the Holy See has no Olympic committee of its own.

The IOC session is a large, general meeting in which all members of the IOC, the National Olympic Committees (NOC), the presidents of Federations of Olympic sports and other organizations meet to discuss major themes on the agenda for the Olympics. Candidate cities for future Olympic events are also chosen in the session, and numerous strategic projects are approved.

Sánchez de Toca told CNA that the Holy See is present as a sovereign entity, but as representatives of the Holy Father, they bring “the voice of the conscience and morals, which ultimately come from the message of Christ and of the Gospel.”

Referring specifically to ongoing tensions between North and South Korea over the former’s nuclear programs, he said the Holy See backs any efforts for reconciliation that have been made and that will be made during the games.

After a year ripe with heightened nuclear tensions, this year’s Winter Olympics carries a significant weight, since North Korea will have 22 athletes participating in the games.

The two Koreas have endured years of diplomatic freeze over the North’s nuclear programs, and fears over a possible nuclear war have been especially acute in recent months.

However, the two Koreas have agreed to march under a unified flag at the opening ceremonies for the Games, and the two have even gone so far as to form a unified women’s hockey team, with 12 North Korean players joining South Korea’s team.

In addition to their athletes and Vice Sports Minister Won Kil U, North Korea is expected to send some 230 spectators, plus 140 more artists, journalists and taekwondo experts. The last time North Korea sent a large delegation to the South was for the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, west of Seoul.

Some experts on the region have argued that the North is planning to use increased ties with the South as a means of weakening U.S.-led sanctions against the country.

“North Korea is projecting this idea that the sanctions regime against North Korea is very artificial and also an obstacle against the improvement of inter Korean relations,” Go Myong-hyun, an analyst at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, told VOA News.

In his comments to CNA, Msgr. Sánchez de Toca said “we support the small gestures of peace which are able to invite the delegates of other countries to continue negotiations for peace.”

He voiced hope that the Holy See will be able to participate in future Olympic events, saying the eventual goal is to “establish some time of permanent relationship between the Holy See and the IOC.”

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Vatican City, Feb 6, 2018 / 10:15 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Tuesday the Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the second miracle needed for the canonization of Blessed Pope Paul VI, allowing his canonization to take place, possibly later this year.

According to Vatican Insider, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the miracle by a unanimous vote Feb. 6. The next step is for Pope Francis to also give his approval, with an official decree from the Vatican. Then the date for the canonization can be set.

The miracle attributed to the cause of Paul VI is the healing of an unborn child in the fifth month of pregnancy. The case was brought forward in 2014 for study.

The mother, originally from the province of Verona, Italy, had an illness that risked her own life and the life of her unborn child, and was advised to have an abortion.

A few days after the beatification of Paul VI on Oct. 19, 2014, she went to pray to him at the Shrine of Holy Mary of Grace in the town of Brescia. The baby girl was later born in good health, and remains in good health today.

The healing was first ruled as medically inexplicable by the medical council of the congregation last year, while the congregation’s consulting theologians agreed that the healing occurred through the late pope’s intercession.

Today’s meeting with cardinals was the final step before Cardinal Angelo Amato, head of the congregation, will take the miracle to Pope Francis, who has the final say in its approval.

After the Pope issues a decree approving it, the date of the canonization will be announced during a consistory. According to Vatican Insider, the canonization may take place in October of this year, during the Synod of Bishops on the youth.

The miracle for Paul VI’s canonization echoes that of his beatification. That first miracle took place in the 1990s in California. A then-unborn child was found to have a serious health problem that posed a high risk of brain damage. Physicians advised that the child be aborted, but the mother entrusted her pregnancy to Paul VI.

The child was born without problems and is now a healthy adolescent. He is considered to be completely healed.

Pope Paul’s cause for canonization was opened in 1993. In December 2012, Pope Benedict XVI recognized the “heroic virtue” of Paul VI, giving him the title “venerable.” He was beatified in Rome on Oct. 19, 2014.

Paul VI was born Giovanni Montini in 1897 in the town of Concesio in the Lombardy region of Italy. He was ordained a priest at the age of 22. He served as Archbishop of Milan before his election as Pope in 1963. He died in 1978.

As pope, he oversaw much of the Second Vatican Council, which had been opened by Pope St. John XXIII. He also promulgated a new Roman Missal in 1969.

Paul VI published the encyclical Humanae Vitae in 1968, which reaffirmed the Church’s teaching against contraception and reaffirmed the merits of priestly celibacy.

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Vatican City, Feb 6, 2018 / 05:29 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his message for the upcoming Lenten season, Pope Francis urged people to renew their enthusiasm for the faith, using this season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving as an opportunity to stoke the flame of charity in their heart.

“Above all, I urge the members of the Church to take up the Lenten journey with enthusiasm, sustained by almsgiving, fasting and prayer,” the Pope said in his message, published Feb. 6.

“If, at times, the flame of charity seems to die in our own hearts, know that this is never the case in the heart of God! He constantly gives us a chance to begin loving anew.”

At the Easter Vigil, we will light the Easter candle, he said, explaining how it symbolizes a “new fire,” and will “slowly overcome the darkness and illuminate the liturgical assembly.”

“May the light of Christ rising in glory dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds,” he continued. “By listening to God’s word and drawing nourishment from the table of the Eucharist, may our hearts be ever more ardent in faith, hope and love.”

Written on the Solemnity of All Saints, the Pope’s message for Lent is on the theme: “Because of the increase of iniquity, the love of many will grow cold (Matt. 24:12).”

In the message, he warned against both cold hearts and “false prophets,” which he said tempt us to be led and enslaved by our emotions, or by a desire for wealth. “How many of God’s children are mesmerized by momentary pleasures, mistaking them for true happiness!” he wrote.

This is the core of Pope Francis’ Lenten message: to draw attention to the fact that there are many experiences which “whittle away all of [our] enthusiasm and zeal” for the faith, Cardinal Peter Turkson told CNA Feb. 6.

Head of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, he said that living as a disciple of Jesus has a lot of challenges, and therefore Francis’ message highlights the need to re-kindle the fire of our faith.

“Love can become cold because there are very many things which prevent it from sustaining the warmth of enthusiasm that it had,” Turkson explained. Therefore, this message invites us, through prayer, fasting and almsgiving, to re-inspire our love of God and neighbor.

“And this is crucial because all the good works that we decide to do… are all animated by a sense of love,” he continued.

Seeing the problems in the world and within ourselves, the solution is to turn to the Church, Pope Francis said, because along with the truth, she “offers us in the Lenten season the soothing remedy of prayer, almsgiving and fasting.”

One of the biggest obstacles to charity, he continued, is the evil of greed of money, which is what almsgiving helps to counteract.

“How I would like almsgiving to become a genuine style of life for each of us!” the Pope said. “How I would like us, as Christians, to follow the example of the Apostles and see in the sharing of our possessions a tangible witness of the communion that is ours in the Church!”

Almsgiving is very fitting during Lent, he continued, but added that he hopes that “even in our daily encounters with those who beg for our assistance, we would see such requests as coming from God himself.”

Almsgiving, along with prayer and fasting, are intended as instruments to fight both sin within ourselves and its effect on the world. For from greed, follows “the rejection of God and his peace,” he said. We begin to prefer “our own desolation rather than the comfort found in his word and the sacraments.”

Greed also may lead us to violence, he noted, pointing to how we lash out, in particular, at those we think threaten the “certainties” of our lives, such as the unborn child, the elderly and infirm, the immigrant, or even just the neighbor “who does not live up to our expectations.”

Almsgiving is a way of setting us free from greed, acknowledging that “what I possess is never mine alone.”

In fasting, too, we are given the opportunity to grow, he said, both by experiencing the hunger that many people around the world experience daily, and by expressing our own “spiritual hunger and thirst for life in God.”

“Fasting wakes us up. It makes us more attentive to God and our neighbor. It revives our desire to obey God, who alone is capable of satisfying our hunger,” he said.

He explained that devoting more time to prayer also helps us to root out vice from our hearts and to find consolation in God, who is our Father and who “wants us to live life well.”

“Lent summons us, and enables us, to come back to the Lord wholeheartedly and in every aspect of our life,” the Pope said. “With this message, I would like again this year to help the entire Church experience this time of grace anew, with joy and in truth.”

He also said that the Church would again be celebrating the “24 Hours for the Lord” initiative, which is a day for the whole Church to focus on the celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation, within the context of Eucharistic adoration.

This year, it will take place March 9-10, he said, inspired by the words of Psalm 130:4, “With you is forgiveness.” In each diocese, at least one church will remain open for twenty-four consecutive hours, he said, offering opportunities for adoration and sacramental confession.

Led by Pope Francis, “24 Hours for the Lord” is a worldwide initiative which points to confession as a primary way to experience God’s merciful embrace. It was launched in 2014 under the auspices of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.

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Vatican City, Feb 5, 2018 / 01:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Monday, Pope Francis and the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, met at the Vatican, discussing the situation in the Middle East, in particular the status of Jerusalem, and the need for peace and stability in the region.

According to a Feb. 5 Vatican communique, the “cordial discussions,” which lasted around 50 minutes, highlighted “the need to promote peace and stability in the [Middle East] through dialogue and negotiation, with respect for human rights and international law.”

The two also discussed the bilateral relations between Turkey and the Holy See and the condition of the Catholic community in the country, as well as the challenges of receiving refugees and the efforts being made in this regard, the communique stated.

This was the second meeting between the two leaders and the first time a Turkish president has visited a pope in 59 years. The first meeting between Francis and Erdo?an occurred Nov. 28, 2014, during the Pope’s three-day visit to Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey.

Near the end of their meeting, the Pope gifted Erdo?an a small medallion, depicting an angel of peace choking a demon of war, and told Erdo?an that it is the symbol of a world based on peace and justice.

He also gave the president an etching of St. Peter’s Basilica, depicting the basilica as it looked in the 1600s, as well as the customary gift of copies of his environmental encyclical Laudato Si and his message for the World Day of Peace 2018.

Erdo?an gave the Pope a large image made of hand-painted tiles, depicting a panoramic view of Istanbul, including the Hagia Sophia and the historic Sultan Ahmet Mosque, also known as the “Blue Mosque.” Seeing the painting, Francis said, “beautiful, beautiful.”

He also gave the Pope four books by Rumi Mevlana, an Iranian theologian who lived with dervishes in Turkey for many years, along with a copy of the Masnavi, which is a poem written by the Persian Sufi poet Rumi, and as two books about the poet’s life.

There were around 20 people in Erdo?an’s delegation, including his wife and son, and his son-in-law, Turkey’s Minister of Energy. At the end of the meeting, Pope Francis accompanied the first lady to the door. Francis asked her to “pray for me,” to which Erdo?an said, “we too expect a prayer from you.”

Afterward, Erdo?an met with Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher.

Kurdish demonstrators in Rome protested the meeting, because of Turkey’s military offensive on Kurdish areas in northern Syria, which began last month.

When Erdo?an left the Vatican, protesters tried to make their way into St. Peter’s Square, but were stopped by riot police, and at least one person was injured in the altercation.

Demonstrators had also tried to enter St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, but were blocked by police. 150 protesters also set up on Monday near Rome’s Castel Sant’Angelo, a monument close to the Vatican, holding Turkish Workers’ Party (PKK) flags.

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Vatican City, Feb 5, 2018 / 12:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Chilean survivor of sexual abuse says that he wrote a letter to Pope Francis in 2015, claiming that Bishop Juan Barros of Chile witnessed abuse perpetrated by his friend, Father Fernando Karadima… […]