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Pope Urges Laity To Live Their Vocation In The World

March 16, 2015 breaking Comments Off on Pope Urges Laity To Live Their Vocation In The World

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met members of the Rome-based lay association Seguimi (Follow Me) on Saturday on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. In his message, the Pope spoke of the importance of the lay vocation in the Church. Lay people are called to permeate the family, work and social environments with Christian values through their witness and words and by meeting people in the concrete situations of their lives, so that they may live in “full dignity” and be “reached by the salvation of Christ,” said Pope Francis. “Jesus is the fullness for every human person, revealing the mystery of the Father and of his love,” he said. “As lay people, you are immersed in the world and you…Continue Reading

Pope Francis condemns attacks against Christians in Pakistan

March 15, 2015 breaking Comments Off on Pope Francis condemns attacks against Christians in Pakistan

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has made an appeal for peace in Pakistan and for solidarity with the country’s persecuted Christian minority, in the wake of a pair of terror attacks that left at least 14 people dead and scores of others wounded in the city of Lahore, and accused the world of, “trying to hide” the persecution of Christians. “With pain, with much pain,” said Pope Francis to the crowd of pilgrims and tourists gathered for the Angelus peayer this Sunday in St. Peter’s Square, “I learned of the terrorist attacks today against two churches in the city Lahore in Pakistan, which have resulted in numerous deaths and injuries.” The twin attacks took place on churches only a few hundred…Continue Reading

Pope Francis says society today needs good, well paid teachers

March 14, 2015 breaking Comments Off on Pope Francis says society today needs good, well paid teachers

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has denounced poor wages for teachers, saying computers can teach content but  it takes a good teacher to instill values and hope in young people today and create harmony in society. Receiving the Unione Cattolica Italiana Insegnati, Dirigenti, Educatori, Formatori (UCIIM) on their 70th anniversary, the Pope addressed them as colleagues, saying he had fond memories of his own days in the classroom, when he too was a teacher. He then said: “teaching is a beautiful profession, … it’s a pity teachers are badly paid…because it is not just about the time they spend in school, but the time they spend in preparation, the time they spend on each individual student”. The Pope referred to his…Continue Reading

Pope: there is no middle way to love God

March 13, 2015 breaking Comments Off on Pope: there is no middle way to love God

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says a true Christian must not compromise: he must let himself be touched by God’s mercy and he must love his brother wholeheartedly or else he will end up being a hypocrite and do more harm than good. The Pope was speaking during Mass at the Casa Santa Marta on Thursday morning. At the beginning through the Prophets, and later with the testimony of Saints, God has built up his relationship with men in time. And yet, the Pope pointed out, notwithstanding the excellence of those chosen to relay His message through their teachings and their actions – the history of Salvation is far from perfect, it is paved with hypocrisy and unfaithfulness. God weeps for…Continue Reading

Pope Francis To Confessors: Be Authentically Merciful

March 12, 2015 breaking Comments Off on Pope Francis To Confessors: Be Authentically Merciful

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday received a group of priests and bishops participating in a special formation initiative of the Apostolic Penitentiary on the internal forum. The Apostolic Penitentiary is the Church tribunal that deals primarily with issues that arise in and around the Sacrament of Confession, as well as the lifting of excommunications reserved to the Holy See, and the issuing and regulation of indulgences: it is headed by an official known as the Major Penitentiary, whose appointment to the office does not cease with the Pope’s death or resignation – so that the Church’s work of pardon can continue without interruption, especially in the most grave and urgent cases. The annual course is offered during the season…Continue Reading

Pope Francis, To Receive Pardon, We Must Give Pardon

March 11, 2015 breaking Comments Off on Pope Francis, To Receive Pardon, We Must Give Pardon

(Vatican Radio) In order to ask forgiveness from God, we must follow the teaching of the “Our Father”: we must repent sincerely for our sins, knowing that God always forgives, and just as willingly forgive others. This was the centerpiece of Pope Francis’ remarks to the faithful following the readings of the day at Mass in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence in the Vatican. Focusing primarily on the reading from the Gospel according to St Matthew (18:21-35), in which the Lord counsels His disciples to forgive “seventy times seven” times, i.e. always and without stint, the Holy Father addressed the close connection between God’s forgiveness of our sins and our forgiveness of others. Drawing on the Old Testament…Continue Reading

Pope Francis: God’s Style Is Humility, Simplicity

March 10, 2015 breaking Comments Off on Pope Francis: God’s Style Is Humility, Simplicity

(Vatican Radio) God acts in humility and in silence; “spectacle” is not His style. That was Pope Francis’ message at Mass on Monday in the Casa Santa Marta. Jesus rebukes people of Nazareth for their lack of faith In the Gospel of the day, Jesus rebukes the inhabitants of Nazareth for their lack of faith: at first, the Pope said, they listened with admiration, but later they exploded “with anger, with outrage”: “In that moment, this people, who had heard with pleasure what Jesus had said, but did not like what He had said to one, two, or three of them; and perhaps some gossip had stood up and said, ‘But who is this who’s come to talk to us?…Continue Reading

Pope Francis: Open your hearts to Jesus’ mercy

March 9, 2015 breaking Comments Off on Pope Francis: Open your hearts to Jesus’ mercy

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated Mass at the parish of Santa Maria Madre del Redentore Sunday evening in the Roman suburb of Tor Bella Monaca. In his homily, Pope Francis warned Christians they cannot fool Jesus, acting like saints when they are in church, but living like pagans in their daily lives. Jesus knows what is in the heart of man, he said, and he calls those who live this double life “hypocrites.” The Pope said Christians would do well to look into their hearts and there “to look upon Jesus.” The Lord, he said, knows that people are sinners but there is no need to be afraid to acknowledge this sinfulness. Many sins can be found in one’s heart:…Continue Reading

Pope Francis: Let Us Allow Jesus To Cleanse Our Hearts

March 8, 2015 breaking Comments Off on Pope Francis: Let Us Allow Jesus To Cleanse Our Hearts

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday based his Angelus address on the Gospel account of Jesus cleansing the Temple. Jesus’ prophetic words and actions, the Pope said, which refer to His death and resurrection, “are fully understood in the light of His Pasch.” Jesus Christ Himself, in His Resurrection, becomes the meeting place between God and man. During Lent, the Pope continued, we prepare for Easter, when we will renew our baptismal promises. The Holy Father called on each of us to follow Jesus, so that people might encounter God in us and in our witness. But this leads us to ask ourselves if we allow the Lord “to ‘cleanse’ our hearts and to drive out the idols, those attitudes…Continue Reading

Pope Francis in the footsteps of Blessed Paul VI fifty years on

March 7, 2015 breaking Comments Off on Pope Francis in the footsteps of Blessed Paul VI fifty years on

Vatican Radio) On Saturday March 7th, Pope Francis travels across Rome to mark fifty years since an historic event for the Catholic Church took place in the Roman Church of ‘Ognissanti’. It was the morning of the 7th of March 1965, the first Sunday in Lent of that year when in this very same Church Blessed Paul VI celebrated Holy Mass for the first time in the vernacular rather than in Latin, as was the custom at the time. “As you witnessed this morning”, he said on this occasion, “the spoken language has officially entered the liturgy in all parishes and churches. Across the world this date marks the first time a new way of praying, of celebrating Holy Mass has been…Continue Reading