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Pope Francis: Homily for Mass of Palm Sunday

March 20, 2016 breaking Comments Off on Pope Francis: Homily for Mass of Palm Sunday

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday presided at the Procession and Mass for Palm Sunday, as the Church enters into the celebration of Holy Week. Palm Sunday commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem one week before His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. The crowds in Jerusalem joyfully welcomed Jesus, the Pope said in his homily, and “we have made that enthusiasm our own: by waving our olive and palm branches we have expressed our praise and our joy, our desire to receive Jesus who comes to us.” The Holy Father continued, “Nothing could dampen their enthusiasm for Jesus’ entry. May nothing prevent us from finding in him the source of our joy, true joy, which abides and brings peace;…Continue Reading

Father Cantalamessa preaches fifth Lenten sermon to Roman Curia

March 18, 2016 breaking Comments Off on Father Cantalamessa preaches fifth Lenten sermon to Roman Curia

(Vatican Radio) The Preacher of the Pontifical Household, Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap., on Friday preached his fourth Lenten Sermon of 2016 in the presence of Pope Francis and his associates. The full text of the sermon is below Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, ofmcap. Fifth Lenten Sermon 2016 THE PATH TO UNITY AMONG CHRISTIANS Reflections on Unitatis redintegratio 1. The ecumenical path after Vatican II Modern hermeneutics has familiarized us with Hans-Georg Gadamer’s principle of the “history of effects” (Wirkungsgeschichte). According to this method, to understand a text we need to take into account the effects it produced in history, placing oneself within that history and dialoguing with it.[1] This principle is highly useful when applied to the interpretation of Scripture. It…Continue Reading

At the General Audience Francis calls on nations- Doors open to immigrants

March 16, 2016 breaking Comments Off on At the General Audience Francis calls on nations- Doors open to immigrants

2016-03-16 L’Osservatore Romano So many “migrants who suffer the cold, are without food. They cannot enter”, because in some border areas the doors are closed in their faces. Thus, it so pleases Pope Francis when he hears word that “nations and authorities open the heart and open the doors!”. He shared these thoughts with the faithful who gathered in St Peter’s Square for the General Audience on Wednesday, 16 March. The following is a translation of the Holy Father’s catechesis, which he delivered in Italian. Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning. In the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, Chapters 30 and 31 are called the “Book of Consolation”, because in them God’s mercy is presented with his great capacity to…Continue Reading

Pope: ‘the Lord walks with us through the “dark valleys” of our lives’

March 15, 2016 breaking Comments Off on Pope: ‘the Lord walks with us through the “dark valleys” of our lives’

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday spoke of a series of events and situations that shed shadows on our lives and lead us to ask difficult questions. Speaking during morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta, the Pope remembered a homeless man who recently died of the cold here in Rome; he recalled the sisters of Charity who were killed in an attack in Yemen; and his thoughts flew to the many people who continue to fall ill in the so-called “triangle of death” in the southern Italian region of Campania where the illegal burning of toxic waste causes cancer and despair. As we are forced to face these “dark valleys” of our time, he said, the only answer is…Continue Reading

Saturday Audience: True love is service

March 12, 2016 breaking Comments Off on Saturday Audience: True love is service

(Vatican Radio) As part of ongoing celebrations of the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis held a special General Audience on Saturday morning. The special Saturday Audiences are being held once each month throughout the Jubilee Year. During his Audience, Pope Francis focused on the topic of Mercy and Service, basing his reflections on the words of Jesus after He washed the feet of His disciples (John 3:12-14).Dear Brothers and Sisters: As we draw near to Easter in this Holy Year of Divine Mercy, we reflect today on the Lord’s gesture of washing the feet of His disciples. In this striking act of humility, Jesus tells them, and us, to do the same for one another. He gave us a clear…Continue Reading

Pope Francis approves new rules for funds of Saints’ Causes

March 11, 2016 breaking Comments Off on Pope Francis approves new rules for funds of Saints’ Causes

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has given provisional approval to a new series of norms governing the establishment and management of funds for the advancement of investigations into the lives of people proposed for sainthood. Given by Papal rescript, the approval ad experimentum for a period of three years governs the way funds for the Causes of Saints are established and managed, especially at the so-called “Roman phase” of the process, which follows initial evidence collection at the diocesan level and the preparation of a position paper – often thousands of pages long and containing painstakingly assembled intimate details of the proposed saint’s earthly life and career – to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome, which forms the…Continue Reading

German Catholic Bishops Publish Interview Promoting the Idea of Women Cardinals

March 8, 2016 breaking Comments Off on German Catholic Bishops Publish Interview Promoting the Idea of Women Cardinals

Maike Hickson The Vatican celebrates Women’s Day on 8 March, 2016. With the help of the organization Voices of Faith (http://voicesoffaith.org/), an event is taking place at the Vatican where women “share their stories of strengthening the Church’s mission through their leadership,” according to the website of Voices of Faith. This event is the occasion for an interview with the journalist Gudrun Sailer (http://www.katholisch.de/aktuelles/aktuelle-artikel/mehr-auf-den-rat-von-frauen-horen) which has been published today on the official website of the German Catholic Bishops, katholisch.de. Sailer has been working for the German Branch of Vatican Radio since 2003. She has written extensively on the role of women in the Vatican. In the interview with katholisch.de, Sailer bemoans that for women in the Church today it is…Continue Reading

U.S. bishop warns push for gay ‘equality’ will ‘destroy everything Christian’

March 5, 2016 breaking Comments Off on U.S. bishop warns push for gay ‘equality’ will ‘destroy everything Christian’

ORLANDO, Florida, March 4, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — A U.S. Catholic bishop is warning that the pro-LGBTQ lobby’s fight for so-called “equality” has become so out of control that Christians should expect increasing persecution for simply believing and living according to basic Christian truths involving marriage, family, and morality. “We’ve had bakers refuse to bake cakes for gay ‘marriages’ and as a result, they are imprisoned or fined. They have to go out of business. We’ve seen florists who don’t supply flowers. I’m convinced that there is going to be every effort made to destroy everything Christian that would in the least bit oppose this kind of degeneration,” stated Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, former head of the Lincoln Diocese, in an exclusive…Continue Reading

We’ve entered the calm before the Vatican storm

March 2, 2016 breaking Comments Off on We’ve entered the calm before the Vatican storm

John-Henry Westen Analysis March 1, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – The sparring between so-called progressive and traditional cardinals and bishops that has died down since the Synod on the Family is about to be sparked again. Many have asked about the relative silence even in the face of significant papal faux pas such as the contraception remarks on the return flight from Mexico and the praise for Italy’s leading abortion promoter. Timing is a key to understanding the current state of affairs. As was hinted at earlier, Pope Francis’ post-synod Apostolic Exhortation is to be released this month. According to papal biographer Austen Ivereigh, the signature date – not the release date – is March 19. Given the controversy from the Synods…Continue Reading

Pope Francis: Divine mercy forgives and forgets

March 1, 2016 breaking Comments Off on Pope Francis: Divine mercy forgives and forgets

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican on Tuesday morning. In remarks to the faithful following the readings of the day, the Holy Father spoke on the season of Lent as a privileged time in which to prepare our hearts to receive God’s forgiveness and to forgive our neighbors in turn, forgetting the faults of others. The Holy Father’s address focused on God’s infinite capacity for forgiveness as a perfection of his nature, which contrasts sharply with the inability of fallen human nature to make even the slightest concession to its own frailty. Without memory Taking as his starting point the Gospel account of Peter’s well-known question to Jesus regarding…Continue Reading