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The Pope to officially convoke the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy tomorrow

April 11, 2015 breaking Comments Off on The Pope to officially convoke the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy tomorrow

Vatican City, 10 April 2015 (VIS) – At 5.30 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday 11 April, the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday, in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Pope will officially convoke the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy with the publication of the Bull of Indiction, “Misericordiae vultus”. The Jubilee Bull, aside from indicating the duration, opening and closing dates, and the main ways in which the Holy Year will unfold, constitutes the basic document for understanding the spirit in which it was convoked, as well as Pope Francis’ intentions and the fruit he hopes the Year will bear. For the proclamation, the Holy Father, accompanied by the cardinals, will proceed to the entrance of the Vatican Basilica. At the side of the Holy…Continue Reading

Pope Francis: Do not be “silent”about persecuted Christians

April 10, 2015 breaking Comments Off on Pope Francis: Do not be “silent”about persecuted Christians

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday expressed his hope that the international community does not look on, “silent and inactive”, in the face of the “unacceptable crime” of the persecution of Christians around the world. The Holy Father was speaking to the Shalom Community at the end of his Easter Monday Regina Coeli Address. The Community had sponsored a relay which ended in St. Peter’s Square to show solidarity with and raise awareness of persecuted Christians. “Your itinerary on the streets is over, but what must continue on the part of all is the spiritual journey of prayer, intense prayer; the concrete participation and  tangible help in the defense and protection of our brothers and sisters, who are persecuted, exiled,…Continue Reading

The Holy Father addresses the Patriarchal Synod of the Armenian Catholic Church

April 9, 2015 breaking Comments Off on The Holy Father addresses the Patriarchal Synod of the Armenian Catholic Church

Vatican City, 9 April 2015 (VIS) – This morning Pope Francis received in audience twenty bishops of the Synod of the Armenian Catholic Church, who will attend next Sunday’s Holy Mass to be celebrated for faithful of Armenian rite in St. Peter’s Basilica, during which St. Gregory of Narek will be proclaimed a Doctor of the Church. In the discourse he addressed to the bishops, the Holy Father remarked that on Sunday they will “raise a prayer of Christian intercession for the sons and daughters of your beloved people, who were made victims a hundred years ago”, and invoked Divine Mercy “so that it might help all, in the love for truth and justice, to heal every wound and to…Continue Reading

Pope Francis at Audience: Children are Greatest Blessings

April 8, 2015 breaking Comments Off on Pope Francis at Audience: Children are Greatest Blessings

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis held his weekly General Audience on Wednesday, during which he continued his catechetical series on the family, concluding his reflections on the role of children in family life. Below, please find the English summary of the Holy Father’s prepared remarks. *********************************** Dear Brothers and Sisters: Today we continue our reflection on children, the greatest blessing which God has bestowed on man and woman. I wish to focus our attention on the suffering which many children are experiencing. From the first moments of their lives, some are rejected, abandoned, and robbed of their infancy and future. There are those who say it is a mistake to bring these children into the world, due to their fragility, and…Continue Reading

Pope Francis: Let our lives be conquered and transformed by the Resurrection

April 7, 2015 breaking Comments Off on Pope Francis: Let our lives be conquered and transformed by the Resurrection

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis recited the Regina Coeli on Easter Monday, leading the pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square in a rousing chant of “Christ is risen!” “In Him, through our Baptism, we are risen, we have passed from death to life, from the slavery of sin to the freedom of love,” said the Pope. “This is the Good News that we are called to carry to others in every environment, animated by the Holy Spirit,” he said. “Faith in the resurrection of Jesus and the hope He has brought to us is the most beautiful gift that a Christian can and must offer his brothers and sisters,” continued Pope Francis. “To one and all, therefore, do not tire of repeating:…Continue Reading

Pope at Easter Vigil: Entering the Mystery

April 5, 2015 breaking Comments Off on Pope at Easter Vigil: Entering the Mystery

(Vatican Radio) The Easter Vigil is a time for us “to enter into the Mystery which God has accomplished with His vigil of love.” That was the message of Pope Francis as he celebrated the Easter Vigil in Saint Peter’s Basilica on Saturday night. Sean Patrick Lovett’s report: Pope Francis focused his reflections on the women who, going out early Sunday morning to anoint the Body of the Lord, were the first to see the empty tomb. “We cannot live Easter,” he said, “without entering into this mystery.” Entering the Mystery Entering into the mystery, Pope Francis explained, “means the ability to wonder, to contemplate; the ability to listen to the silence and to hear the tiny whisper amid great…Continue Reading

Pope Francis Celebrates The Lord’s Passion

April 4, 2015 breaking Comments Off on Pope Francis Celebrates The Lord’s Passion

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis presided over the liturgy of Our Lord’s Passion in St Peter’s Basilica on Good Friday. The celebration, recalling the events leading up to Jesus’ Crucifixion and death on the Cross, included reflections given by the preacher of the Papal Household, Father Raniero Cantalamessa. Please find below an English translation (by Marsha Daigle Williamson) of Father Cantalmessa’s reflections: “ECCE HOMO!” We have just heard the account of Jesus’ trial before Pilate. There is one point in particular in that account on which we need to pause. Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and clothed him in a purple robe; they came up…Continue Reading

Pope: The Easter Triduum Is The Apex Of Our Christian Life

April 3, 2015 breaking Comments Off on Pope: The Easter Triduum Is The Apex Of Our Christian Life

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has urged the faithful to see the signs of the Risen Lord and open their hearts to a “present that is full of the future”. Speaking on Wednesday during the weekly General Audience, the Pope reflected at length on the celebration of the Sacred Triduum which begins on Holy Thursday, and during which we commemorate Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection. The Easter Triduum – the Pope said – is the apex of our liturgical year and it is also the apex of our lives as Christians. We begin the Triduum – he continued – by celebrating the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, as we recall Christ’s offering of his body and blood to the Father, which…Continue Reading

Pope Francis to priests: Christ is our strength in ministry

April 2, 2015 breaking Comments Off on Pope Francis to priests: Christ is our strength in ministry

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated the Chrism Mass on Thursday morning in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Chrism Mass is the liturgy in which the oils – of the infirm, of the catechumens, and the sacred chrism – are blessed for use in the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders, and Annointing of the Sick, throughout the year. It is also an occasion on which bishops traditionally reflect on the nature of priestly ministry, with the priests of their diocese. In his homily, Pope Francis focused on three particular forms of weariness that can affect priests, especially, in their lives: the weariness of the crowd, which the Holy Father described as, “[A] good and healthy tiredness,” which is “the exhaustion of…Continue Reading

Bull of Indiction for the Jubilee of Mercy: 11 April in St. Peter’s Basilica

April 1, 2015 breaking Comments Off on Bull of Indiction for the Jubilee of Mercy: 11 April in St. Peter’s Basilica

Vatican City, 31 March 2015 (VIS) – Following the first announcement of the next extraordinary Holy Year by Pope Francis on 13 March, the Holy Father will proceed with the official indiction of the Jubilee of Mercy with the publication of the Bull of Indiction on Saturday 11 April, at 5.30 pm in St. Peter’s Basilica. The rite of publication will involve the reading of various passages of the Bull before the Holy Door of the Vatican Basilica. Pope Francis will subsequently preside at the celebration of First Vespers of Divine Mercy Sunday, thus underlining in a particular way the fundamental theme of the extraordinary Holy Year: God’s Mercy. The term bull (from the Latin bulla = bubble or, more…Continue Reading