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Pope Francis calls Patriarch in solidarity with Iraqi Christians

July 23, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis calls Patriarch in solidarity with Iraqi Christians

2014-07-23 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis has reassured the Patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church Ignatius Youssef III Younan that he is following news out of Iraq with concern, particularly the dramatic situation of Christians in Mosul who have been threatened with death and seizure of their homes by Islamic militants demanding they leave or convert to their form of Islamic belief.  Christians have lived in Iraq’s second largest city for nearly two thousand years;  there are few, if any, left now in Mosul. The Patriarch told the Italian Catholic news agency SIR (Religious Information Service), that Pope Francis called him Sunday 20 July to express his solidarity with Iraqi Christians.  During the 9 minute phone call, the Patriarch…Continue Reading

Pope Francis Marks Day For Life In UK, Ireland With Call To Cherish Life

July 22, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis Marks Day For Life In UK, Ireland With Call To Cherish Life

2014-07-22 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis is marking the upcoming Day for Life in the UK and Ireland with a call to all people of good will to cherish life, particularly the life of society’s most vulnerable. In a message sent to the Church in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, signed by the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Pope urges Catholics to “to bring the merciful love of Christ as a life-giving balm to those troubling “new forms of poverty and vulnerability” increasingly evident in contemporary society (cf. Evangelii Gaudium 210).” The theme of this year’s Day for Life – celebrated on July 27th – is #livelife Protect and Cherish Life from its beginning to its natural…Continue Reading

Pope Francis Prays For Peace In The Middle East

July 21, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis Prays For Peace In The Middle East

2014-07-21 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday expressed his concern for the plight of Christian communities in the Iraqi town of Mosul and in other parts of the Middle East. Speaking after the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope turned his thoughts to those Christians who are now persecuted in the lands they have lived since the beginning of Christianity, offering – he said – a precious contribution to the good of society. “Today our brothers are persecuted” – the Pope said – “they are banished from their homes and forced to flee without even being able to take their belongings!” And, assured them of his closeness and constant prayer he said: “My dear brothers and sisters who…Continue Reading

Pope’s Angelus: Imitate Jesus in Patiently Waiting for God’s Victory Over Evil

July 20, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope’s Angelus: Imitate Jesus in Patiently Waiting for God’s Victory Over Evil

Vatican City, July 20, 2014 (Zenit.org) Before reciting the Angelus prayer at noon today, Pope Francis explained the meaning today’s Gospel reading and the parable of the wheat and the tares. The parable, he said, is a teaching of Jesus which addresses “the problem of evil in the world and highlights the patience of God.” The Pope explained how the Devil sows evil amidst the good seed of the world, but God is patient, separating the wheat and the tares at his final judgment. He stressed that unlike mankind, which is “sometimes in a hurry to judge, classify, place the good here and the bad beyond, God knows to wait.” “He looks at the ‘field’ of every person’s life with patience and…Continue Reading

Pope Prays for Victims of Malaysian Airliner and Their Loved Ones

July 19, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Prays for Victims of Malaysian Airliner and Their Loved Ones

The Pope has made a heartfelt appeal for peace on hearing of the Malaysia Airlines flight shot down above Ukraine, claiming some 300 lives, including a much-loved Australian nun and teacher and a group of HIV/AIDS researchers. According to a statement issued by the Vatican press office this afternoon, the Pope learned with consternation the news of the disaster of the Malaysia Airlines flight in the eastern region Ukraine, marked by strong tensions. It added that the Pope raises his prayers to the numerous victims of the incident and for their loved ones, renewing to the parties in conflict his heartfelt appeal for peace and commitment to finding solutions with dialogue in order to prevent further loss of innocent human…Continue Reading

POPE TO VISIT CASERTA ON SATURDAY 26 AND MONDAY 28 JULY

July 18, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on POPE TO VISIT CASERTA ON SATURDAY 26 AND MONDAY 28 JULY

Vatican City, 17 July 2014 (VIS) – Pope Francis will visit the city of Italian city of Caserta on 26 and 28 July, the Holy See Press Office confirmed today. In the afternoon of Saturday 26, upon invitation by the bishop of the diocese Giovanni D’Avise, he will meet with the Catholics of the city and celebrate the Mass of St. Ann, probably in the park of the Royal Palace of Caserta. The Holy Father will return to the Vatican that night and on Sunday 27 he will pray the Angelus with the faithful in St. Peter’s Square, as usual. On Monday, 28 July, he will return to Caserta to pay a private visit to his friend, the Protestant pastor…Continue Reading

The Pontiff To A Group Of Economists-Enough Throwing Away

July 17, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on The Pontiff To A Group Of Economists-Enough Throwing Away

2014-07-14 L’Osservatore Romano On Saturday, 12 July, Pope Francis met with the participants of an international conference which took place in the Casina Pio iv at the Vatican, on the theme of “For an ever more inclusive economy”, which was proposed in his Apostolic Exhortion, Evangelii gaudium. In his off-the-cuff address, the Pontiff criticized the reigning “anthropological reductionism”. “I believe that this moment is the most powerful time of anthropological reductionism”, he stated and then asked: When man loses his humanity, what awaits us? The answer elicits a theme dear to the magisterium of Pope Bergoglio, who said that what happens can be called “throwaway” politics, sociology, attitude: what isn’t needed is thrown away, because man is not at the centre.…Continue Reading

Pope Francis’ Message to Mexico-Holy See Colloquium on Human Migration and Development

July 16, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis’ Message to Mexico-Holy See Colloquium on Human Migration and Development

“Migration is still seen as an emergency, or as a circumstantial and sporadic fact, while instead it has now become a hallmark of our society and a challenge.”  Mexico City, July 15, 2014 (Zenit.org) Here below is a translation of Pope Francis’ message to the Mexico-Holy See colloquium on human migration and development, taking place in Mexico City.  I would like to extend my greetings to the organizers, speakers, and participants in the “Mexico Holy See colloquium on human migration and development”. Globalization is a phenomenon that challenges us, especially in one of its principal manifestations which is emigration. It is one of the “signs” of this time that we live in and that brings us back to the words of Jesus, “Why do…Continue Reading

Prayer for peace is never in vain – Pope Francis’ concerned appeal to break the spiral of violence in the Holy Land

July 15, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Prayer for peace is never in vain – Pope Francis’ concerned appeal to break the spiral of violence in the Holy Land

“Now, Lord, help us! Grant us peace, teach us peace, guide us toward peace. Open our eyes and our hearts and grant us the courage to say: ‘no more war!’; ‘with war all is destroyed’!. Instill in us the courage to perform concrete actions to build peace…. Make us willing to listen to the cry of our citizens who ask that our arms be transformed into instruments of peace, our fears to trust and our tensions to forgiveness”. This, on Sunday, 13 July, was Pope Francis’ prayer for peace in the Holy Land. Once again the Pontiff prays and asks that others pray for peace, despite the fact that the language spoken in those lands still have the acrid taste…Continue Reading

Pope Francis Sends Greetings To The Sick And Elderly

July 14, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis Sends Greetings To The Sick And Elderly

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday told the sick to be witnesses that God’s love is more precious than material wealth or power. In a video message to the patients and staff of the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, Pope Francis said that those who experience the fragility of the human body can be powerful witnesses of the fact that the Gospel and the love of God are worth much more than riches and power. In his message the Pope apologized for having had to cancel a visit to the Hospital scheduled for June 27th. And he expressed his sorrow for the disappointment caused by his last-minute defection to the many who had organized the visit, and to the sick who…Continue Reading