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Pope Francis: Don’t Be ‘Tourists’ On The Spiritual Journey Of Faith

April 1, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis: Don’t Be ‘Tourists’ On The Spiritual Journey Of Faith

2014-03-31 Vatican Radio  (Vatican Radio) Where are you on your spiritual journey? Are you wandering aimlessly like a tourist? Have you stopped or lost your way? Or are you heading straight for your destination? Those questions were at the heart of Pope Francis’ reflections during his homily at Mass in the Casa Santa Marta on Monday morning.  Reflecting on the day’s readings from Isaiah and St John’s Gospel Pope Francis distinguished between three different types of Christians and how they live their spiritual lives. Before God asks anything of us, the Pope said, He always promises us a new life of joy, so the essence of our Christian life is always to journey in hope and trust towards those promises.…Continue Reading

Pope Angelus: Be Open To The Light Of Christ

March 31, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Angelus: Be Open To The Light Of Christ

2014-03-30 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) A the heart of the Pope’s message during his Angelus address on Sunday was not to remain blind in one’s soul. Pope Francis was referring to the day’s Gospel reading from John where it is written that Jesus gives sight to the blind man and thus sees the light of Christ.The Holy Father compared the man blind from birth and whose sight is restored, to “those who supposedly have sight but continue to remain blind in their soul”.  The Pope went on to say that “While the blind man gradually approaches the light, on the contrary the doctors of the law slip ever deeper into inner blindness. Locked in their arrogance, he continued,  they believe…Continue Reading

Pope: God Always Forgives, Celebrates Every Person’s Return To Him

March 30, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope: God Always Forgives, Celebrates Every Person’s Return To Him

2014-03-28 Vatican Radio  (Vatican Radio) God always forgives and does not know how to do otherwise, said Pope Francis in his homily at Friday morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta. The Lord always waits for us and forgives us, he said. He is “the God of forgiveness” and he celebrates every person’s return to him. The Pope went on to say that God longs for us when we distance ourselves from him. Drawing on the day’s first reading from Hosea, he observed that the Lord speaks to his people with tenderness. Even when God invites us to conversion and uses stern words, God’s words always include “this loving longing” and the exhortation of the Father who says to the son:…Continue Reading

Pope Emphasizes Mercy In Discourse On Sacrament Of Reconciliation

March 29, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Emphasizes Mercy In Discourse On Sacrament Of Reconciliation

2014-03-28 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday spoke to participants of a “Course on the Internal Forum,” which deals with the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the ministry of Confessors. In his discourse, Pope Francis spoke about how the annual course helps “the Church and Confessors to better carry out the ministry of mercy, which is so important.” He reminded priests that the Holy Spirit is the “protagonist” of the ministry of reconciliation, calling on them to “always be ‘men of the Holy Spirit.’” As such, priests must welcome penitents not with the attitude of a judge, but with “the charity of God, with the love a father who sees the son returning, the shepherd who has found the…Continue Reading

Vatican Statement On Meeting Of Pope Francis And President Obama

March 27, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Vatican Statement On Meeting Of Pope Francis And President Obama

  2014-03-27 Vatican Radio   (Vatican Radio) The Vatican Press Office has released a statement on Thursday morning’s meeting between Pope Francis and U.S President Barack Obama. The statement notes that the two leaders discussed “current international themes” and expressed the hope that “in areas of conflict there would be respect for humanitarian and international law and a negotiated solution between the parties involved.” The statement goes on to say that in the context of bilateral relations between the U.S. and the Holy See, the Pope and the President discussed “questions of particular relevance for the Church in that country, such as the exercise of the rights to religious freedom, life and conscientious objection, as well as the issue of…Continue Reading

Pope Francis To Meet US President Obama Today

March 27, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis To Meet US President Obama Today

2014-03-27 Vatican Radio  (Vatican Radio) US President Barack Obama’s trip to Rome on March 27 will be his first audience with Pope Francis. It will be the second time that President Barack Obama has been received at the Vatican, after an audience with Pope Benedict XVI on July 10, 2009. Barack Obama is the ninth US President to make ​​an official visit to the Vatican. The first, Woodrow Wilson, received by Pope Benedict XV after the end of the First World War. The next audience for a sitting president came thirty years later, when Blessed Pope John XXIII, received President Dwight Eisenhower in 1959. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the first (and thus far, only) Catholic president, met with Pope Paul VI…Continue Reading

Pope Francis: Salvation is a gift to be received with a humble heart, just like Mary

March 26, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis: Salvation is a gift to be received with a humble heart, just like Mary

English Español Français Italiano Português                       Google Facebook Twitter Youtube RSS Flickr Instagram Fides News Agency L’Osservatore Romano Press Office VIS Vatican Radio CTV From the Pope  2014-03-25 Vatican Radio  (Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis said salvation can’t be bought or sold but is a gift that requires a humble heart like that of Mary.  The qualities needed for salvation were the focus of his homily at Tuesday’s Mass in the Santa Marta residence, taking place on the Solemnity of the Annunciation.  The Pope recalled how pride of heart led Adam and Eve to disobey God but said this knot of disobedience was then loosened by Mary with her act of obedience.   “The Lord is walking alongside his people.   And…Continue Reading

Pope Francis: Humility Is The Path To Salvation

March 25, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis: Humility Is The Path To Salvation

2014-03-24 Vatican Radio  (Vatican Radio) Our salvation is not just in observing the Commandments, but in the humility to always feel the need to be healed by God. This was the message voiced by Pope Francis during Mass on Monday morning at the Casa Santa Marta. Pope Francis’ homily on Monday found inspiration in these words that Jesus addressed to his fellow citizens in Nazareth: “No prophet is accepted in his hometown”. It was a place where he never worked miracles because “they had no faith”.  Jesus recalls two biblical episodes: the miracle of the healing of the leper Naaman, and the meeting of the prophet Elijah with the widow of Serapta who shared her last morsel of food and…Continue Reading

Pope Francis: Do Not Turn Away With Prejudice, The Encounter With Jesus That Changes Our Lives

March 24, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis: Do Not Turn Away With Prejudice, The Encounter With Jesus That Changes Our Lives

2014-03-23 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday urged his listeners not to be afraid, judgmental or prejudiced, the Lord’s mercy – he said – is far greater than any prejudice. Speaking to some 40,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Sunday Angelus, the Pope reflected on the reading from John that tells of the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. “When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?’ In this way – the Pope explained – he cut across the barriers of hostility that existed between Jews and Samaritans, crushing the prejudice that existed in relating to women. The Pope said that…Continue Reading

Lenten Reflection For Pope, Curia Focuses On St. Augustine

March 23, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Lenten Reflection For Pope, Curia Focuses On St. Augustine

2014-03-21 Vatican Radio  (Vatican Radio) The theology of the great Doctors of the Church are the focus of a series of Lenten reflections prepared by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, ofmcap for Pope Francis and the Roman Curia in these weeks remaining ahead of Easter.  In his second sermon in the series, Fr. Cantalamessa, the preacher for the Papal Household, examines St. Augustine in a reflection entitled “I Believe the Church Is One and Holy.” Below, please find the official English translation of his Sermon: 1. Moving from the East to the West In the introductory meditation last week, we reflected on the meaning of Lent as a time of going into the desert with Jesus, fasting from food and images presented…Continue Reading